January 22

Ps. Quiz deadline is 9pm Wednesday.

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REPORT FROM THE WALK:

Hi, it’s me, Wally, again. Say, last evening we came up real close to this much smaller boat as we approached the first Galapagos Island, and we stopped for a while. They couldn’t see us of course – being invisible is so cool. This other boat had about 10 young guys diving with these bags. They were collecting something off the ocean floor. Captain Nemo checked it out and figured out what was going on. Captain said they were getting sea cucumbers. Sea cucumbers are animals shaped kinda like cucumbers.

It can be quite a mess to grab them because one of their defenses is to squirt out their internal organs – lots of slimy stringy stuff. Anyway, there is a short legal season for ‘harvesting’ these guys in the Galapagos, so they won’t get over harvested and hurt their population. See in parts of Asia, people eat sea cucumbers because they think they are an aphrodisiac. (Although they taste really bad.) Well, the legal season in the Galapagos ended in mid-December so these guys were as illegal as they get.

Late last night, several of us sneaked over to their boat and took their whole catch. We’ll be putting them back on the ocean floor as we move about the Islands.

Captain Nemo said if we see that boat on our way back to Peru, we’ll tow them all the way to the mainland. Well, we did see them as we were leaving the islands and we did attach a tow cable under their bow. When we started towing them they went ballistic. They didn’t know what was happening. They gunned their engines at full speed trying to stop the towning and for a while it wasn’t clear if we could out-power them. But we held our own after everyone got on deck and started walking and jogging on the power track. Soon they gave up and I can still see them back there getting pulled to Peru.

Tourism is another big deal at the Galapagos. At Puerto Villamil they had just opened up an international theme park Would you believe it, right there on the equator, where it has never snowed, they had a Winter Wonderland Exhibit and Ride. One of our top walkers, Rita and some friends checked it out, but there was a tragic accident. Rita reports: “I felt like I was doing so well until last evening when I slipped on the ice and broke my right ankle.  Not much fun!!  I can't drive for 4 to 6 weeks and can put no pressure on my right foot.  They said to walk with the crutches as if I had no right leg.  Bet my doctor never tried it as it is quite a stunt.  Takes me 5 minutes to go from the bedroom to the kitchen!

     Anyway, I will have to stay in Galapagos for a little while until I can find a way out. 

    Good luck--I will be all fit for next year

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