Day 5 - Ecuador Galápagos

FYI- blogging is super challenging. I’m currently “using an un-supported browser” which causes strange formatting. Grrrrr.
Ok - it’s July 8 and we’re in Quito and here’s the video for Friday, July 5 - Day 5. At the end of the video it shows a little of Day 6, with Dr. Richardson walking toward the plane on the tarmac, and eating dinner at our hotel, Vieja Cuba. 

Breakfast was scheduled for 8-9 this morning. At 6:30, Mrs. Kovalchick  and I walked to a nearby bakery and bought some freshly-baked pastries. I bought five extra sweet breads or croissants to give to lucky early-risers. We returned to the hotel and I gave the goodies to Scout, Danny, Adrian, Matt, and Grant. While talking with Grant and Matt on the 3rd floor open area, we heard a lot of children coming from the direction of the school. I asked them if they wanted to go to the school and all 5 said yes. 

When we arrived we saw teams of students playing basketball on the open courts and one student said to us in Spanish, “Entren”. She told us where to enter and we joined the students as they cheered on their school mates in the basketball game. Each grade level played against other teams in their grade level for 20 minutes. They play games for 3 hours every Friday morning. 

The five Palmyra guys were instantly immersed in Spanish conversations with students from the school.

After breakfast we took two chivas, open-air vehicles, to the Tortoise breeding Center. Our guides explained how the tortoises are bred and cared for in attempt to increase the number of tortoises on the island. We also saw pink flamingos. 

We walked from the breeding center to the beach that we were at yesterday. A group of students played volleyball and then soccer with our three tour guides, while others watched, pplayed cards, drank milkshakes and ate ice cream. 

We ate lunch, played cards and chatted while several took showers and then we took the chivas to the sick and boarded the speed boats for our two-hour trip to Santa Cruz Island. This time nobody was sick and it was an enjoyable ride .