Charles Darwin and the Andes

11/10/10

(Handwritten by Christopher, transcribed by parents, edited by Christopher)

                Today we went to the Darwin Station, named after Charles Darwin.  At the Darwin Station they take care of tortoises.  They keep the eggs incubated for three and a half months.  When they hatch, they put them in a cage for two years because the rats and dogs eat the babies.  After two years, they put them in a pen; they are too hard for the rats to eat.  After four years in the pen, they release them into the wild; they are now too hard for the dogs. These tortoises are protected because they are now endangered.  They are endangered because pirates in the seventeenth century brought goats, which eats their food, and also the pirates ate the tortoises themselves.  When they started eating the toirtoises, they would kill them and eat them a while later.  It didn’t taste very good because the meat was salty.  So they tried a new method.  They took the smaller tortoises and carried them to the ship.  The pirates ate the meat and it wasn’t salty.  After a long time, the pirates noticed they didn’t have to feed the tortoises.  Since the pirates got small tortoises, which are female, the tortoises weren’t reproducing, so they were in danger of extinction.  On the Galapagos Islands there is one different kind of giant tortoise per island.  One is in danger of extinction.  This tortoise is from Pinta Island, and only one is left.  Lonesome George.  Lonesome George is a boy so he can’t make babies.  The idea to make the population grow, is for him and a female to make a baby.  The female is a different kind, so 50% will be like Dad, 50% like Mom.  The problem is, Lonesome George has been alone for his whole life, and he doesn’t want to mate.  We saw a tortoise called Super Diego who mates like crazy!  They are thinking about putting Lonesome George with Super Diego, so Lonesome George can learn.  After we saw Super Diego, we saw six colossal tortoises. I got a picture of a head of one!  After that, Dad got me a t-shirt, and we left for the airport.  We flew back to Quito and I watched soccer and ate dinner.  After dinner, I felt sick.

Baby tortoises - 2-4 years old

Lonesome George

11/11/10

                At 7:45 am we got picked up for a three day tour to Cuenca, Ecuador.  We had many stops on the way.  Our first stop was in a hat factory.  We were allowed to go inside and see the steps.  These hats were made of sheep wool or alpaca wool.  In that building there are 130 people working!  This company makes unfinished hats and sell them to places.  The places they sell them to, finish the hat.  Finished hats at the factory cost about $30.  In Texas, a place they sell the hats to, sell them for about $300.  At the factory, I got an unfinished hat for $4.  Our next stop was a drying out lake.  We saw wild horses, birds, and a mountain called Sincholagua.  After that we got to a beautiful garden with flowers.  There was also a small museum with a picture of mountain Cotopaxi.  Next, we went to an Incan house with a “Inca Wall”.  The “Inca Wall” is a wall made of rock with no cement, and you can’t fit a piece of paper between two rocks!  We got to have some tea called canelazo, which means cinnamon.  It tasted really good!  Then we had lunch.  I had potato cheese soup, shrimp, and a fruit cup.  Next, we visited a greenhouse that grew roses.  There were lots of colors.  Orange and yellow, green, red, pink, purple, and white. Last we got to our hotel.  Our hotel room was about a thousand square feet.  Next we had a nice dinner.  We got back to the hotel and slept.

Me wearing my new hat

Our hotel room