Dear Nicalai,
Our genial guide, Ivan, liked to ask us every day, “Oh, my goodNess, did everyone have a WonderFul day in Paradise today?” But tonight was different. “Oh, my goodNess, an earthquake just hit Ecuador!” Fortunately for us, when the announcement was made, Nona, Papa, and others in our tour group — 19 of us total — were safely eating supper on our ship, The Eric, in a harbor way out in the Galapagos Islands. If the earthquake had hit just two days later, Nona, Papa, and I would have been in hard hit Canoa, on the Ecuador coast!
We feel so badly for the thousands of people who have lost their homes and for the hundreds of families who have lost loved ones or have been severely injured. Nona and Papa have made a contribution for earthquake relief, and donations will be needed far into the future. Needless to say, we can’t go to Canoa now.
Still I want to tell you that we are safe, and we have had a wonderful experience with our terrific Ecoventura guides, Ivan and Jose.
I have so much to tell you about Galapagos, but today I’m just going to tell you about one of the 7 reptiles that live in the Galapagos, way up in the highlands.
I think maybe we took this photo while our tortoise friend was still doing his “business.” Sorry!
Ivan and Jose took us to the Santa Cruz (island) Galapagos Tortoise Reserve — Rancho Primias, where we saw the Giant Tortoises. These tortoises come in two types, saddleback or dome. Our friend here is a saddleback type.
This girl came over to see me. She politely ask Nona and Papa if I was some sort of miniature reptile. They said, “No, Solbit is a dinosaur.” She said, “Really? I thought they were extinct.”
Jose showed us something familiar, except it was different, bigger and rounder.
I had seen chicken eggs, because Nona and Papa cook them, but I’ve never saw tortoise eggs before. Aren’t they big?
You don’t want to cook tortoise eggs because we want the eggs to hatch and make more tortoises, which are in short supply.
The Galapagos Tortoise (or Giant Tortoise) needs help to grow its population, because sailors ate almost all of them. You can see Ivan behind the tortoise, giving you an idea how big a tortoise is.
I’ve learned that the tortoise lives mostly or all the time on land, and the turtle lives mostly or all the time in water.
We didn’t see turtles on this trip up into the highlands, but we will when we take our pangas (small boats) around the mangrove forests. Maybe I’ll send you some photos of turtles after that.
Remember to help Ecuador earthquake relief and tell your friends please. Bye!
I’m your friend.
Love,
Solbit
April 2016
*New reader? Get oriented below.
- You may be asking yourself, “Who is Solbit?” Solbit is a fictional character, but she is a real plastic dinosaur, sent to us unsolicited in a package we ordered from Photojojo. So, she’s a plastic jurassic. Solbit is short for the four names given her by our grandchildren: Sparkle, Orangie, Lulu, Breakit. We tend to use her given names for when she’s been naughty. Thank you for visiting Tales of a Plastic Jurassic. Solbit likes company and hopes you’ll come back.
- You can learn more about Solbit at her About page and in the earlier posts, “Solbit: How I Got My Name” and “Solbit: How I Got to Travel.”
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