San Cristóbal, Guayaquil, and home, 1-4 Oct 2017


Still recovering from our bout of gastro, Jill, Marie and I waved goodbye to our fellow passengers as we rested up for a couple more hours:

Sofia, crewmember, Leysa, Sarah, John, Mariangela, Pedro, Barb, Cedric, Suzanne, Pete, Panga pilot, Francois

When it was time to go, we met everybody at a little cafe in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. A yellow warbler pretended to be our barista:

Yellow Warbler
We walked to the bus; on the way, we saw a very large lizard - I think it is what a Lava Lizard looks like if it gets enough to eat:
Lava Lizard?

At the airport, I took my last wildlife photo on the Galápagos (this trip, anyway):

Grasshopper

Here are Jill and Marie preparing to board the airplane:

Jill and Marie
The flight was uneventful; it was cloudy, so I mostly watched the flight map:

Flight map

We got a taxi to our hotel (back at Parque Historico) and Jill and I did a little more exploring while Marie rested. We saw more hummingbirds:

Short-tailed Woodstar (?)
More dragonflies:

Dragonfly
More Fasciated Wrens:

Fasciated Wrens
Another Sandpiper:

Sandpiper
A Black-crowned Night Heron:

Black-crowned Night Heron

And this moderately large tortoise (I think it is a Red-footed Tortoise but it was very muddy):

Red-footed Tortoise?

Red-footed Tortoise?

We turned in for a good night's sleep, because we had to get up early the next day. The flight from Guayaquil to Panama was uneventful:

Jill and Marie
 We could see the Andes poking out from the clouds on the right side of the plane:

Andes
Disaster unfolded in Panama, though. United put our crew on a very tight turn-around; this means that they were very close to their legal hour limit. Unfortunately, weather delays and ground delays put them over, so the flight was cancelled (while we were sitting on the tarmac!) They sent the plane to a parking lot, took us off on buses, and we had to process through customs in Panama so we could stay at our exotic casino hotel:

Hotel in Panama
A good time was not had by all. The next morning, we got back to the airport, only to experience another long delay by ground processing (the plane took forever to get from the parking lot to the gate). But it eventually took off, and we made it back to the US:

Texas Coast

Strike two - due to the delays, we missed our re-booked connection and had to re-re-book. We made it home over 30 hours later than planned. But we made it home. And here we are!

Previous: Santa Cruz (south)
Back to Index Page

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

August 21, 2017 Total Solar Eclipse

Image
Like millions of other people, we went chasing the Great American Eclipse. We chose Nebraska, since everybody we knew was going to Wyoming, and the climate models suggested a good probability of clear weather. Our initial camp was at Lake McConaughy, which is just inside the line of totality. My sister Danielle and her husband Edward got there early to start scouting. Our plan was to check weather forecasts and then go mobile the day of the eclipse. The morning of August 19 I got up early and snapped this shot of the moon on its way to its date with destiny: Sunday morning we checked the forecasts. It was not looking good for Nebraska in general, but east-central Nebraska seemed better than western according to the forecasts. So we packed up camp and headed out to Camp Augustine, a Boy Scout camp near Grand Island, Nebraska: They had camping spots available, and a large field which would be good for observations. After a rather hot, muggy, sleepless night (dry camping wi
Read more

April 8, 2024 Total Solar Eclipse

Image
On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse crossed a huge swath of the United States. We had been planning a trip to see it ever since the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse . Our chosen destination was at Chalk Bluff River Resort and Park , near Uvalde, Texas, due to statistical likelihood of clear skies in South Texas: The main attraction at Chalk Bluff is Nueces River and the the eponymous bluffs that rise above it: Chalk Bluffs The eclipse was widely publicized. Enough so that the state of Texas found it necessary to put warnings on its highway signs: Texas DOT warning sign Texas DOT warning sign We arrived at Chalk Bluff on April 6. As eclipse day approached, it became clear that the weather was not going to be our friend: NWS blended forecast for eclipse day So, what was originally going to be an "Eclipse expedition, with a possibility of some birding" became a "Birding expedition, with a possibility of seeing an eclipse". It is fortunate that we chose thi
Read more

Pune Adventures

Image
Today, the morning was spent on work email. But this afternoon, Ken and Fred arrived from Germany, and Jeetendra joined us to go on an excursion. We started with some shopping in one of Pune's shopping districts - Ken wanted to buy some things. I may or may not have bought anything - only me and Mr. Visa know for sure. Anyway, I caught this picture of one of the oldest wooden buildings in Pune, with hand-carved wooden decorations: After wrapping our shopping up, Jeetendra took us to a combination theme park / restaurant named Chokhi Dhani - it's kind of like a Rajasthani Cultural Center, or maybe a North Indian Standing Renaissance Faire. The buildings are decorated up like historic buildings in Rajasthan, and there are various exhibits, activities, shows, food, etc. scattered throughout the park. Here are Ken, Fred, and I saying " Namaste " to you all along with Chokhi Dhani's plaster host: This is the main entrance. They really go for the electric light
Read more