Reflection: Pre-Trip Meeting #4

"These islands seem to be a little world within themselves--a perennial source of new things."
--Charles Darwin, 1837

In our final logistics meeting, on Tuesday, I was excited to share some tips based on shopping that I've done (FINALLY, I feel like I can contribute to this group of experienced travelers!). I recently found "sneaker balls," designed to reduce odor inside sneakers and gym bags, and I am definitely planning a trip to Dollar Tree to purchase school supplies for our visit . I think I'm done with most of my shopping at this point, but I've still got to face the bugs we'll encounter by purchasing DEET, a head net to go over my hat, and after-bite.

We also watched an IMAX film, Galapagos, that provided yet another look at these fascinating islands.  It would have been great to see this film in an IMAX theater, but a DVD viewing at the HMS library had to suffice. The spelunking shown in this video was different from what I've seen in other documentaries, and I loved the description of the Galapagos tortoise as "built like a half-ton tank." I'm hopeful that we'll see tortoises on all of the islands we visit to gain more insight into some of the observations that helped Darwin come up with his theory of natural selection. I hope I'll recognize the strange-looking cormorant if we see it. I'm not really into birds, since the birds I saw most growing up in New York City were sparrows (not exciting) and pigeons (filthy creatures perhaps best described as flying rats), so I'm hopeful I'll get something out of bird-watching on this trip.

I am constantly amazed by the symbiosis at play on these islands. The Galapagos DVD we viewed mentioned yet another example of a mutually beneficial relationship between two species, this time between the land iguana and cacti that produced the fruit the iguana likes to eat. I was glad to see more video of the marine iguana, one of the animals that most captured my attention at our second meeting. And it basically goes without saying that I can't wait to swim with sea lions! I expect their personalities will be quite different from those of manatees and dolphins, which I've swum with previously. I love the diversity of sea life in the waters of the Galapagos, though I'm a bit scared of the moray eels, and of course, the hammerheads.

The trip is very close--just 2 weeks away--and I cannot believe it is almost here. So... ¡Vámonos!

Image: http://www.seetheglobe.com/modules/wfdownloads/images/screenshots/galapagos_imax.jpg