The Juliens: Galapagos: Day 4

15 August 2014

Galapagos: Day 4

This morning I woke up early so I could take a hike before the conference started. It was still drizzling when I awoke at 6am. Plus, my phone hadn’t charged overnight. So I delayed leaving until 6:30. I had tried to get various people to accompany me, but no one was interested in getting up that early. In the end, the only time I’ve had to myself for the last five days has been to sleep and shower (since there is no Internet in the rooms, even checking email/chatting with the kids/etc. has been done in the company of others). So I really enjoyed some quiet “me” time.

I walked all the way across town from the hotel on the roughly southern side of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno to the Interpretation Center at the northern side.This was about a 20 minute walk through town. On the way I passed Playa Man, a beach at the end of the waterfront. The beach was covered with sleeping sea lions. I continued down a dirt road. I did not take the recommended path, which was blocked by a cone labeled “Do not enter” and “Iguana nesting area.” Instead, I took an adjacent path and started walking up. The goal was Cerro Tijeretas (Tijeretas Hill). Tijereta is the name of the frigate bird, which frequent this hill. On the way up, I saw lots of finches and a crazy awesome centipede (maybe millipede? I’ve never known the difference). On the way down, I saw more finches and some little lizards. The top of the hill had great views back into Puerto Baquerizo Moreno and out in the direction of Kicker rock. But most of all, at the top were tons of frigate birds. They would perch on the trees just in front of the overlook. They also soared around the air above the cove, making it really easy to see how their tail scissors to help guide them (this is where the name Tijereta comes from). I spent about 20 minutes watching the birds and enjoying the view before I headed back to the hotel for a five minute shower before the start of the conference at 9am.