... the rest of the bartholome day ...

after snorkeling, we had lunch on the boat ... we were all kind of exhausted ... just off of our three legged flight to the galapagos ... early rising ...  the excitement of a long snorkel adventure with shark! penguins! sealion! scary pelican! millions of fish .... so it was nice to relax on the boat .... our sweet guide, alejandro, when we first boarded the  boat, had introduced the captain, the first mate, and the cooker man .... our cooker man was the chef in a boat that was small enough to make you wonder where on earth you do the cooking ... let alone good cooking for 15 people ... his kitchen was the size of a small shower stall (think a kanuga shower stall, those of you who know what that means ...if you drop your soap you have to get out to retrieve it for there is NO bending over without scraping your knees or bumping your head...)  ....

so, in a kitchen where he stood in a single spot (no work triangle, it was all within grasp) the cooker man made a lunch of grilled tuna (might have been baked now that i'm wondering) rice, veggies, salad and dessert ..... dessert was fresh sliced peaches with sweet cream and a chocolate drizzle ... all great ... even nice presentation .... i'm thinking i would have been serving premade sandwiches, right? it was a great meal, eaten in exhaustion, with a sea breeze and a gorgeous view ....

after lunch we boated to another cove ... now, i'm not clear if the cove was on bartholome or on santiago ... i think it was the bit of santiago right next bartholome .... and the beach was all lava ... not hot liquid lava, thank goodness, but lava nonetheless .... black, black, black ... and in some places dark, dark, gray ... but all rocky and creepy and looking freshly dried out from the volcanic eruption ... the eruption was a relatively new one..... two hundred years ago .... apparently darwin had walked those lava bits ....

.. that pic above is drew, not darwin, exploring ...

the variation in the lava was incredible .. bubbles, blobs, flows ... some of it looked like fingerpainting .... it did not look like it belonged on this earth ....it was fun to explore. ... the kids and andy bounded over the terrain while i minutely studied the bits about me ....

and then we boated back to santa cruz, our home for the week .... it was rocky and windy and i had a dramamine ... at one point i woke up in the cabin and saw sweet andy sleeping sitting up, holding sophie in his arms like she was much littler than she is .... with her legs extending out one way ... and drew's head in andy's lap with all six feet of my little boy stretching out the other way on the couch .... they were such a sweet sight, andy taking care of his exhausted, salty, wind worn and slightly seasick children ... they were so sweet that i badly wanted a picture of them ... but i just couldn't get myself to walk the five rocking steps to my camera ...

luckily, that was the only rough sea voyage of all our days ... and we had been warned ahead of time that it would be ... so we were prepared ...

we boated back to the port across from baltra ... we took our dinghy to the dock ... we took our bus to the rendezvous point ... and jaime was  waiting for us in his van .... he drove us home .... how nice it feels to be taken care of!!

we drove by the chickens, the farms, the horses, the one gray horse tied to the fence by the street, the giant turtle in the driveway (why was he always there?), up our long driveway .... and up into the mists for the highlands .... to our galpagos safari camp ...

we were greeted with a smile at the door ....  we were asked when we wanted dinner ... it was six ... we chose seven ...we showered and dressed for dinner ... we had a tamale and a salad starter and the dressing came individually in a little carved out zucchini cup ... way groovy ... the main course was chicken with a pear sacue and rice and veggies .... we had dessert that was beautiful, but at this point i can't remember what it was .... it was gorgeous and delicious every day though ....


and then, at 8.30? we all went to sleep .... no time to journal on monday, i had to catch up later ... sometimes sleep is all you can manage, especially if you have big plans to dream about penguins ... while you're thankful for being in a tent ... and not rocking on a boat ...