Galapagos: Last Full Day


On our last full day in the Galapagos, we decided to take the "short walk" to Playa de los Alemanes. It is indeed a short walk to the entrance of this park -- probably 15 minutes, which had us scoffing at the books that advised us it was a 45-60 minute walk away. But, once you make it past the guard office, there is indeed another 1+ mile walk to get to the beach, and then another .25 mile walk to get to a beach that doesn't have surf that will kill you.

On this particular day, it seemed that many residents from Puerto Ayora had had the same idea (though they had gotten up much earlier than us, and were already returning back to town by the time we arrived -- smart, given the heat of the day). Still, don't take any of this as complaining, because look what we were rewarded with. And given the small population on the island overall, even having half the town there meant we had unusual privacy.


Of note -- the finches in all of the Galapagos are fearless. Much like, say, any critter we would consider bothersome at the beach -- seagulls, for example -- they just walk right up to you, land on your backpacks, sit next to your feet and hands -- all in the hope of getting some food scraps, but also safe in generations of knowledge that humans won't hurt them.

This is a Darwin finch  -- this picture is taken with my iPhone, without any zoom -- just sitting there at my feet, after having hopped off my backpack.


And here's a Whimbrel, just doing his thing.


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