Friends,
Looking back on my trip to the Galápagos Islands, it occurred to me there are details you only notice when you’re there. Like, there are no donut shops, or, lava tubes can be huge. And so, it felt appropriate this morning to channel my inner David Letterman and share the Top 10 things I never realized about the Galápagos Islands:
Looking back on my trip to the Galápagos Islands, it occurred to me there are details you only notice when you’re there. Like, there are no donut shops, or, lava tubes can be huge. And so, it felt appropriate this morning to channel my inner David Letterman and share the Top 10 things I never realized about the Galápagos Islands:
10. The mountains get nippy and there are cattle ranches up there.
9. Growing up to 45’ tall, the scalesia trees in the rainforests are largest sunflower relatives
8. Another outsized plant are giant opuntia, tree-like cacti which tortoises like to feed on.
7. Scorpionfish are delicious (and have very few bones). Also, I prefer the Spanish name (pez brujo — wizard fish)
6. Sea lions (sea wolves in Spanish) own all park benches and sleep all day, oblivious to the constant paparazzi snapshots.
5. If you want to sound like a native, the really cool-looking red crabs with blue bellies are called Zayapas.
4. Tortoise and iguana limbs can look really awkward when they’re resting (almost like they’re dead).
3. Speaking of iguanas, marine iguanas are half the size I imagined them to be.
2. Galápagos lobsters have no claws, which gives them a giant roly-polie vibe.
1. If you’re looking for a snack, the muyuyo shrub’s white sticky fruits are tasty, and the only edible native fruit.
Then there are all the wonderful things you see on the documentaries. Definitely worth the 600 mile trip from mainland Ecuador.
Happy Friday!
9. Growing up to 45’ tall, the scalesia trees in the rainforests are largest sunflower relatives
8. Another outsized plant are giant opuntia, tree-like cacti which tortoises like to feed on.
7. Scorpionfish are delicious (and have very few bones). Also, I prefer the Spanish name (pez brujo — wizard fish)
6. Sea lions (sea wolves in Spanish) own all park benches and sleep all day, oblivious to the constant paparazzi snapshots.
5. If you want to sound like a native, the really cool-looking red crabs with blue bellies are called Zayapas.
4. Tortoise and iguana limbs can look really awkward when they’re resting (almost like they’re dead).
3. Speaking of iguanas, marine iguanas are half the size I imagined them to be.
2. Galápagos lobsters have no claws, which gives them a giant roly-polie vibe.
1. If you’re looking for a snack, the muyuyo shrub’s white sticky fruits are tasty, and the only edible native fruit.
Then there are all the wonderful things you see on the documentaries. Definitely worth the 600 mile trip from mainland Ecuador.
Happy Friday!
Not dead iguana
Opuntia
It may not look like one but this tree is a cousin to sunflowers
Also, not dead
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