Whether circling our ship, spying on our excursions or puffing up to attract a mate, the frigate birds were an ever-present feature of our trip. These birds have an interesting motis operandi--they hover in the sky watching for birds that have food for their young stored in their gullet. Then they swoop in, yank on the other bird's tail feathers in mid-air until the victim drops its food out of fear and stress. Named after the pirate ships, these animals are not as friendly as they look.
These guys were challenging to find in the brush of one of one of the islands. They are very territorial, so we got to see one chase another across the island.
Unlike the land iguanas, the marine iguanas are hard to miss. In fact, they're hard to avoid tripping over on the black lava. They eat only algae. They are harmless except for the incessant spitting they do.
When you're in love, a crab on your back seems like such a minor problem.
We traveled to the next islands during each night (sometimes extremely rough ocean). We crossed the equator a total of 8 times during the trip. I tested it...no, the sink did not swirl in opposite directions on each side of the equator.
Yes, one of my excursions was a day of scuba diving (two dives, down to 80 feet in about 70-degree water). The highlight was when we held onto the rocks at the bottom to stay put in the strong currents and watch the school of 30-50 white tip reef sharks circling right in front of us. There was also a group of about 4 hammer head sharks too far for a good picture. We watched this school for about 20 minutes before we letting go and letting the current carry us quickly around a corner.
Blue-Footed Boobies
These characters with their bright blue feet perform their mating dance (see video above). But when snorkling in the nearby water, don't be surprised if they dive bomb from the air and reach 20 feet below the surface for a snack.
We saw many sea lions that were born that same day. They even had their placenta sitting on the beach next to them, being eaten by mocking birds (I'll spare you those pictures for now).
We saw many subspecies of Giant Tortoises, including "Lonesome George." George is the last known member of his subspecies. He is about a hundred years old, so if a mate is not found in the next hundred years, they will be extinct.
After the Galapagos, we trekked to Peru. We took a boat from Puno across Lake Titicaca to the floating Uros Islands where the inhabitants live as they have for hundreds of years--on floating islands made out of reeds.
We traveled to Aguas Callientes, from which we ascended Machu Picchu. We didn't do the 4-day hike up the Incan Trail, but check out the mountain in the background of this picture that we climbed for the picture below.
After exploring Machu Picchu, we decided we needed a better vantage point. We climbed Huayna Picchu for an hour of agony as we ascended as quickly as our lungs could process the thin air. Then, with the most amazing view in front of us, a beautiful mountain caracaras (type of falcon) in juvenile plumage landed a few feet away and raised one of its talons as if to mock our difficulty climbing.
Our final destination in Peru was the mystical Nazca Lines. Ever since I was a kid, playing Zak McKracken with my brother, I have wanted to some day see the images of animals, objects, shapes and people carved in the desolate Nazca desert two thousand years ago. The figures are too large to be seen except from an airplane, so who were they made for?