Mars

self portrait on Plazas Island
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The more time I spend in the Galapagos, the more I think that this place reminds me of what Mars might look like -- especially if there was actually water on Mars.  It is rugged and jagged and the plants are red and there are lots of cactus and strange birds and it is just fascinating.  I can't imagine what Charles Darwin must have thought when he happened upon this archipelago in the 1830's...

By the way, Darwin was only like 24 years old when he came here.  He left England at the age of 22 on what would end up being a five year expedition to explore the vegetation in South America... he went as the companion to the captain - he was supposed to keep him company - and his journal observations eventually were published as "The Voyage of the Beagle" which is what I have been reading.  Very interesting.  But, he didn't come up with the survival of the fittest theory until many many years after his return to the UK.

beautiful!
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Anyway, yesterday we went to another nearby island called Plazas and saw about a million sea lions and the most striking landscape.  Here are more pics for your viewing pleasure.  We leave this afternoon to return to Quito!