The land of flamingos, penguins, and blue-footed boobies!

Two days ago, we returned from one of the most incredible places on earth - The Galápagos! We spent seven days there snorkeling, hiking up volcanos, swimming with sea lions, and seeing all sorts of interesting wildlife. Compared to the Amazon where we barely had a free minute to shower, this excursion was much more relaxing.
Our half of the group stayed on a boat for the first 4 days, and then on the island Isabela for the last 3 days. On the boat, we usually snorkeled two times daily in various locations, and then did a sort of caminata (short walk) in the afternoon. The boat traveled during the night, so every morning we woke up to a different island and scenery!

Eden, the boat we stayed on

View of Santa Cruz, the first island we visited

First day of class

 Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and gave us a fantastic overview of the geology, natural history, and people of the Galápagos. One aspect that I really enjoy about excursions is that everything is in Spanish. Although we occasionally speak English amongst ourselves, nearly 100% of the information is taught to us in Spanish.

Red-footed boobies on the island Santa Cruz

Our guide Lenín showing us the skull of a dolphin

Snorkling!

Every day, we saw animals we had never seen before, including marine iguanas, giant tortoises, and flamingos.  But for me, the strangest part of the Galápagos is the lack of fear the animals have for humans. Because there have never been terrestrial predators, this instinct never developed in them. Even after seven days of observing, I couldn't get over how weird it was for a blue-footed boobie to walk within a foot of me or for a marine iguana to not move an inch as 13 people walked next to it.

A Nazca boobie on the island of Genovesa

You can get VERY close to sea lions

And swim with them

View from the top of Bartolome

 Flamingos!

We saw an incredible number of tortugas while in the Galápagos. Nearly every time we snorkeled, we saw between 3 and 20 of them. 

Swimming with the turtles

On the island Santa Cruz, we visited a giant tortoise reserve! There were 5,000 on the island, and in total, there are 50,000 on the Galápagos. 

During our time on Isabela, we had more free time to hang out on the beach, slackline, and spend time with our host families. My host dad's job is to dive for octopus, fish, and sea cucumbers, so we had fantastic seafood dinners!

Slacklining on the beach

It's hard to believe I get college credit for this :)