A Galapagos Dog Rescue

Since many in our group are dog lovers and dog rescuers, Alejandra found a way for us to visit the dog rescue in Puerta Ayora. The group began just before the pandemic, when the family realized that there were many abandoned dog in the city. During the pandemic it got worse, and they continued to try to help with the dog population. The very humble business began with just one dog - Juanchito - and now they house over 40 dogs and 30 cats, either at their facility or in foster homes. It is not an easy job in a culture like the Ecuadorian, as animals are typically not considered as important. But this family believes strongly in what they are doing, and they make sure their snimals are spayed or neutered before they are adopted out. The only requirement they have for families who take the dogs is that the people have a house with a fenced yard. Their primary cost is food, but they have many other costs as well. They receive some help from international foundations, and our group did donate some to them, too. They are doing good work, and I hope they are able to continue doing so.

An Entrepreneur Extraordinaire

Many years ago a young man, Adriano Cabrera, arrived in the Galapagos with only one sucre (the currency at the time) in his pocket. He was determined to make a life for himself, and he began to farm and work. Now, at 84 years old, he is still running his business, and it is the most extraordinary farm I have ever seen. First, he showed us how he extracted sugar juice from sugar cane. It is a process done by hand, using a large piece of wood that he turns by hand. At times he would use a donkey to turn it, but frequently he or his family would turn it themselves. Then he takes the sugar cane, ferments it with a bacteria for 24 - 48 hours, boils it, collects the condensate and creates alcohol that is 50% proof. He makesv two different kinds - anis and regular - but I have no idea what to call it - maybe a liqueur? We tasted it, and it had quite the kick, at least to me. His still looks like it belonged in the swamps of Kentucky during Prohibition. He also grows coffee, and he showed us how he dries the coffee beans (originally they look like red cherries)in the sun for several weeks, then he crushes the beans to get the husk off the beans. Using a hand fan, he then separates the husk from the bean. Finally, he roasts them over a small fire while pushing the container back and forth over the fire. He does what he calls automatic, using a rope that keeps it going. Once they are roasted, he bags the beans for coffee. Don really liked the coffee, and hence, we are taking home two bags of it. We were treated to bananas fresh off the tree (similar to eating pineapple in Hawaii - much better than eating them in Kansas), and we learned a little about his production of chocolate, too. One interesting aspect of his farm is that his crops are intermixed. This avoids many pests that might take out a whole crop if planted together, and it allows for the mixing of tastes in the fruits. Such a fascinating business, still done the old-fashioned way - and quite successful doing it that way.

Things that happen only on the Equator

While we were on the boat we learned about some other interesting facts of being near the equator. Besides water going down drains in opposite ways in each hemisphere but going straight down on the equator, we balanced an egg on a nail, tried to stand on the line with our eyes closed, and experimented with other phenomenon. Alejandra also told us why Ecuador does not experience hurricanes or cyclones. The currents in the Pacific ocean that affect the equator are the Humboldt, the Panama, and the Cromwell. The Humboldt and the Panama are in the southern hemisphere and the Cromwell in the northern hemisphere come together, they cancel each other out so that a hurricane or a cyclone cannot form. This is the Coriolis Effect, and at the equator the Coriolis force is zero - hence no rotation! Physics - wish I had taken it as a course.

Snorkeling

It has been a lot of years since we have snorkeled, and I could tell. I dropped into the water, and panic swept over me. I had forgotten what to do. Luckily, Alejandra had a life saver that she let me use, and I put it in front of me and paddled along. That worked well, and I was able to see many fish I had only seen in aquariums. We came upon some fur seals and some Galapagos sea lions, and they came into the water and swam with some of the snorkelers. Some of the fish has gorgeous colors, but my favorite was the small cobalt-colored fish that may have been a baby wrasse. We chose not to go on the second snorkel where some saw a hammerhead shark, but the next day we chose to try it again. Much easier this time. We were again treated to seals, marine iguana, ghost crabs, anemones, sea urchins, star fish, white-tipped sharks, and numerous other fish. What a difference between today and yesterday. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Frigate Birds

Frigate birds are probably the most interesting birds we have seen. They have scissor tails, much like a swallow, but they are very large birds. They fly incessantly, looking for food mostly, and they stay aloft for hours. One study in the Indian Ocean tracked a frigatebird aloft for two months. In the Galapagos, two kinds of frigate birds live here - the great and the magnificent. The Great Frigate Bird is the most common on the islands where we were, and they have several interesting characteristics. First they cannot get their wings wet, and so they fish by swooping down and snatching fish that have been forced to the surface by other fish. They also are known as pirate birds, as they may steal food from other birds and they occasionally eat other birds' chicks. On one of our trips, a frigatebird was found sitting in the ocean. Alejandra, our guide, seemed distressed, because frigatebirds normally cannot get their wings wet. A large bird came swooping by, and the one in the water flapped its wings and very awkwardly managed to fly to the cliff. Alejandra thought it was probably a juvenile bird, and it was lucky to have the strength to get out of the water onto the cliff. Disaster averted. The most interesting thing about the frigatebirds, however, is the way the males attract their mates. The males have a red pouch on their throat, and when they want to attract a mate, they inflate the red pouch. It takes enormous energy for the males to inflate their pouches, and if they do not attract a mate and "abort the mission," the pouch slowly deflates and the bird must wait another year to try to attract a female. The males reach mating age about 10 or 11 years of age, an thev females about 9 to 10 years. When a female decides to mate with a male, she swoops down next to him, he puts his wing over her, and they engage in what the natives call "honeymooning." Then they lay their eggs, and after the eggs are laid (which are about 6% of the female's body weight), they take about 4 weeks to hatch, and then the parents spend up to 4 - 6 months taking care of their babies. Seeing all of the red pouches in the trees was quite the experience. We are lucky to have seen so many of them!

Palo Santo - Incense Tree

The Palo Santo, or Incense Tree, is a prolific plant in the Galapagos. It loses its leaves at various times of the year, but it blooms with yellow flowers. The wood is very aromatic, and it smells like frankincense. It is also used as a bug repellant and it is used in religious ceremonies as incense. It can be purchased in the United States as Palo Santo Incense.

Boobies - or bobbies

My Uncle Tom always used to joke that his favorite bird was the red headed, yellow breasted mattress thrasher. I think he might get a kick out of birds called boobies. One of the most familiar birds in the Galapagos is the booby . . . very colorful, plentiful, and of course, the name. One of the primary characteristics of the booby is that they dive for their food, kamikaze-style, sometimes up to 28 mph. This is very dangerous if they do not hit the water straight on or if the water is too shallow. The first booby we met was on the dinghy trip the first day. We came to one of the nesting areas of the blue-footed booby. They nest on the ground and mark their nests by pooping in a circle. Because they are near the coast, they lay up to three eggs, and sometimes, particularly if food is more scarce, the biggest chick may push the other one or two chicks out of the circle. If the chick is not within the circle, the parents may not feed them - or not - and potentially the baby may die. The blue feet and blue beak are part of their ability to attract a mate, so some are more blue than others. The more blue the feet, the better health of the bird, so females tend to try to find a male with the bluest feet. The Nazca booby is white, it nests on the ground also, and it has gray feet. It lives more inland, and if the female lays more than one egg, frequently the older sibling will kill the younger one. Recent studies have shown that the Nazca booby is more aggressive, potentially as a response to the stress of being the one to kill the other sibling. The red-footed booby has red feet, obviously, and lives farther inland. Because food is harder to find in the interior, the red-footed booby only lays one egg, and they nest in trees. Both parents incubate the nest, and their chick is tended by both parents. It may take four months before the baby flies, and the parents usually stay together for several years. One interesting habit that the red-footed booby has adopted over time is that they will not breed on islands where their major predator, the Galapagos hawk, lives.