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ECUADOR
GALAPAGOS ISLANDS part 2 (May 2007)   photos

Imagine this:

...a big, ripe papaya falls from the tree next to a giant turtle, breaking in half.  The animal gets scared for a moment, but soon approaches the fruit, opens its jaws and slowly bites into the yellow flesh...

...15 meters underwater.  Thousands of little fish swimming past.  Something big appears in the distance.  It´s a giant sea turtle, cruising by as if we were not there.  After a few minutes, a group of hammerhead sharks makes it´s way along the bottom.  I dive down to get a closer look at those huge, magnificent animals.  Later, near the surface, over 10 manta rays swim right past us, some as big as a man.  Their fins move majestically up and down as if they were flying...

...a meter-long marine iguana is sunbathing on black lava that reached the sea during nearby volcano eruption.  It looks at me as I approach and sit down right next to it.  We stare at each other for a few minutes.  I´m contemplating it´s prehistoric beauty, and the iguana?  Who knows, maybe it was trying to look pretty for the photo...

...2 blue footed boobies stand next to each other.  As we get close, one of them slowly lifts one foot up, then puts it down, and lifts the other foot up.  The second bird is just looking at it´s friend´s display, as if it was for him and not for us...

...I sit patiently in my kayak, observing a group of flamingos 2 meters away.  Some of them pretend to be sleeping, standing in shallow water on one of it´s long legs.  Suddenly one of them stretches it´s long, thin neck as high as it can and starts to "shout".  The others reply promptly and everything goes back to normal.  Apart from a couple of flamingos who begin to fight, or maybe just kiss violently...

...A male frigate bird sitting next to a female pumps up it´s huge, red balloon.  Spreads the wings and looks at her with hope, awaiting the verdict.  If she likes his balloon, he will get laid.  Simple, isn´t it?  We could learn so much from the animals...

...I´m snorkeling between sharp lava rocks.  A couple of sea lions swim past and disappear, but soon come back to play.  The bigger one follows me to the bottom and then up to the surface, sticking it´s head above it just as I do.  I put mine underwater, it does the same, looking at me, just inches away.  Suddenly it dives down, only to appear behind me in a few seconds...