The Galapagos, day five.

Anchored at Floreana Island this morning and ate banana pancakes. Um, YUM.

First stop was Asilo de la Paz via pickup truck.

finally, a real taxi experience!

If the back of the pickup was a sign of things to come with horseback riding, I am in for a painful day tomorrow. Saw lots of giant tortoises, the last we will see of them this week, eating breakfast.

guess where the ball is, win $0.25

not banana pancakes

Afterward we headed uphill to pirate caves - alleyways of rocks with fencepost/gate holes, sleeping "quarters" and stoves carved in them. I assume they are like the sailer's caves we saw on South Georgia.

arrrr

Also saw the face of Hoaz (?) carved into a rock and ate a fruit that looked like a big seed and tasted like a sour apple. (Actual names of things were unclear and Tour Guide has left for the day.)

oh, come on - you would've done the same thing

interesting...

The views from the top of the hill were amazing...

... and the lichen was abundant and lovely.

tree aht

On the way back I finally got a photo of the elusive Galapagos cow and chicken.

missed the Galapagos pig photo op though

After this we were supposed to go snorkeling. Well, we technically did but it was a huge debacle that I won't go into (thank you, Tour Guide!) but I also won't complain too much about my cuts and bruises from the rocks or the very abbreviated snorkel session because I swam with another sea turtle... And saw a few giant tropical fish I haven't seen before.

Galapagos bruise

Now we are sailing to Isabel, supposedly on whale/dolphin watch but Tour Guide has been asleep all afternoon so if there have been any sightings none of us would know about them. I haven't told my fellow passengers about the dolphins last night. That's mine to keep. (If you're reading, friends, sorry - but I know you have your own moments to keep too.)

Absurd thing o' the day: I didn't have much chance to create my own absurdity today (other than an Ozzy pose in the pirate cave) but I think seeing a pig in the Galapagos is pretty absurd. I'll go with that.

{later} I was sitting at the bow again this evening when we pulled into port. A few miles out from port I caught a glimpse of a fin in the water, and eventually the body of a small shark (type unknown) appeared. With dusk setting and my feet hanging about 10 feet from the water I was suddenly glad my flesh wound from the rocks had closed up...