Muy bonita

We finally had a morning to sleep in a little and savor a cup of coffee after breakfast. It was nice to catch up on some sleep, having been deprived of a full night due to a rooster, whose clock was completely off. Next door to the hotel resides a rooster that cock-a-doodle-doo’s starting at 2:30 am. I’m not sure what wakes him, but he has woken me the last couple of nights. I’m happy to be leaving him behind.

After taking a taxi to the ferry to a bus, we arrived on the north side of Santa Cruz and got on the Bonita yacht around noon. Surprisingly, we have an internet connection. Our accommodations are very nice, and the yacht is in terrific condition. Gustavo is our naturalist, and we are rooting for David, who has joined us as a naturalist-in-training. After this cruise, he will become certified. Wanting to have a hand in his success, we’ve been very encouraging and doing a lot of fist bumping. Our cabin is on the main deck, with the lounge and the dining area. There is a terrific perch on the top deck, right in front of the bridge. Kim and I spent about an hour sitting with a Belgian couple, watching the frigates glide overhead.

Our first excursion was a low impact hike to Dragon Hill on the northwest side of Santa Cruz. I assumed that the name came from the population of iguanas, since they do have a likeness to dragons; however, it’s a reference to the dragging of their tails. All around the hill you could see burrows, with a long striped path leading into it. The whole area was covered with cacti and seemingly dead trees. Gustavo clarified that the trees were no dead but only dormant. In December, when the wet season begins, the trees will green up and the whole place will be unrecognizable from its current state. He then broke off a tip of a branch to reveal the tree was very healthy, and very much alive. It actually had a strong citronella fragrance. Some of the cacti were also quite unusual, in that they had what looked like a pine tree truck, with corresponding bark, yet flat, rounded cactus leaves (pads?) protruding at the top. Gustavo said they can grow up to 30 feet high on the island. I told Kim that I’m going to call them cactrees, since they can’t decide what they are.

Each night we will be briefed about the next days activities, so we listened to our plans for tomorrow. Dinner followed the briefing, and we sat with a couple from Israel. I immediately prayed that we would avoid politics, but it happened so subtly. Nava asked if we’d be home for the election, and the discussion proceeded downhill from there. It was very uncomfortable, and it made me wish that we’d sat with the old Irish couple that we’d had lunch with.Read more