Galapa-happy-gos!

This is our last night of a whirlwind tour of the Galapagos Islands, and each day has been more incredible than the next. The crew, passengers and ship are more amazing than I ever could have hoped for. How Carlos the cook could have whipped up a delicious farewell cake for us during heavy sea swells is beyond me. In the past week we´ve travelled to six different islands, and my favourite expedition was to Seymour Island.

As soon as we stepped ashore, we were surrounded by shrieks, screeches and cries of frigates, terns and blue-footed boobies. Do you know what those sounds are? Baby-making. It´s mating season here. Blue-footed boobies are very distinctive animals, not just because of their name, but due to their curious nature and signature aqua-blue webbed feet. Like most other animals in the Galapagos, they have never known predators and show no fear of humans. I felt a bit pervy about it, but our guide Alphonso was adamant that we see the booby mating ritual upclose. It goes a little something like this:

Act I
The male booby circles the sky in search of his ideal mate. Spotting one from afar, he lands... and the show begins. In his efforts to impress the female, he fluffs his wings and walks around proudly with his chest thrust out, emitting trumpeting calls. It´s kind of like being at CIF.

Act II
After several minutes of this, the female appears vaguely interested and somewhat responds to the ritual so far. Efforts to attract the female intensifies as the male presents her with a series of gifts ranging from small sticks, grasses and then graduating to bigger sticks.

Act III
While the female peruses through her inventory of presents, the male feigns disinterest and walks away. This time the female follows. The mating ritually becomes an apparent success, and the male finally closes the deal. The pair will remain together for the rest of the mating season.

I think it´s a nice story... I´d like to turn it into a movie, possibly narrated by Morgan Freeman.

Epilogue
Weeks, later, 2-3 eggs hatch in their ground-level nest. Soon one of the hatchlings will emerge as the strongest, and will eliminate their siblings, as the parents only have the resources to raise one offspring. If this happened to humans, my sister Victoria would definitely win out. She was the biggest newborn.

Tomorrow we leave for the coastal city of Guayaquil, and then we´ll make our way to Cusco, Peru. We´ve opted to take the scenic 30-hr bus route instead of flying so we´ll hopefully cross the border in one piece.

-V