The DAY of the Iguana

Big Tortoises
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I don’t know how many giant iguanas (land and marine) we saw today but it was probably less than 10,000! We started out on the biggest island of the Galapagos archipelago, Isabela where we went ashore in the dinghy. Within 50 steps of the beach we discovered the biggest land tortoise we had ever seen. The size of a refrigerator! And that wasn’t even what we were looking for! Another 50 yards and we found the biggest lizard we had ever seen … the size of a big dog … It was going to be a good day! Just to walk within a few feet of these enormous animals in their natural habitat is an awesome experience!

Land Iguana
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After the hour long hike we had an hour to snorkel. Tyler (wearing only his green swimming trunks) and the boys (wearing wet suits) went in but the water was a little too cold for me! That afternoon we visited the island of Fernandina. There we found the marine iguana … again thousands of them! They were all black and melted right in with the lava rock. Quite sinister and prehistoric looking, they’re actually quite harmless to touch. Of course rule # 1 of the Galapagos is: DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING!

Marine Iguanas
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That evening our kids taught some others to Salsa dance around an empty swimming pool while the adults enjoyed cigars and red wine (From a box! We bought it in a Quito supermarket!). A lady passenger started the conversation with a grave concern. She complained, “A teenage snorkeler shoved a turtle!” I think she thought it was one of our kids. She looked around the room. Her eyes swept our family. “And he wasn’t wearing a wet suit. Just green swimming trunks” Tyler couldn’t help smirking. He was BUSTED!