Galapagos Landscapes

 There are 15 large islands in the Galapagos, but on any cruise through the area you will also see many of the 100+ rocks and islets which are smaller than a single square kilometer but make for very striking landscapes. This is a fine example of a rocky islet that most people pass by and has been largely untouched by man.

 Even the larger islands have a feeling of desolate weirdness which takes awhile to get used to. We landed on the island of Santa Cruz at a place called Dragons Hill which has lush vegetation around the base and then very parched and dried out trees reaching up part of the hill. Ecuador is trying very hard to prevent any further plant and animal introduction on the islands so the plant and animal life there is largely unlike anything we'd seen anywhere else.

Kicker Rock is particularly striking from this angle. For scale, the small white dot at the lower left tip of the island is a boat for about 20 people, so the cliffs are sheer and the spires are looming. This particular formation is very different from the back, with the spanish name being 'Leon Dormido' or 'sleeping lion' as the back looks like a giant cat with its head on its paws.

Ecuador and the Galapagos

 We recently took a trip down to Ecuador, a spanish-speaking and largely catholic country in equatorial south america. We landed in the city of Quito, the political but not economic capital of the country, located in the centre of the country. We spent slightly over a week in the galapagos and then 5 days in the amazon rainforest in the eastern end of the country.

 While they are 972km from the coast of Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands are still part of the country and consist of dozens of islands and smaller rocks created by a volcanic hotspot. Though they look small on most maps, there were too many to visit in a single trip, so our cruise held predominantly to the east end of the archipelago, following a path similar to the one below.

The people of Ecuador were incredibly helpful and friendly throughout and we both encourage anyone considering a visit down there to prioritize it on their list. From mountain cities to volcanic islands to rainforest we saw a lot of variation, and Ecuador actually boasts the highest level of biodiversity per square kilometer of the country. The environment is a priority to the people as well and is legally protected by their constituion, though I'm sure that the reality on the ground is often different as they are also one of the largest oil exporters in south america.

Marine Mammal Roundup

This summer marked my third year of volunteering with Marine Mammal Rescue.  The season is going super long with 157 seals coming in over the summer.  It's incredibly rewarding especially seeing small newborn pups grow up to me big huge fat seals.  I was lucky too as I got to go on 2 releases, one with the marine police!  I'll do a release post later.  The success rate this year was around 80% which is excellent. There are still 40-something animals on site.  One of the highlights this year was Flash Gorden: a California Sea Lion who had swallowed some salmon tackle and it was embedded in his esophagus.  Fortunately this stately fellow survived his 50% chance and was released on the island several weeks back.

Another interesting story is that of Jack. Jack is a male harbour porpoise who was beaching himself (basically trying to die).  He was only 6 weeks old when he was brought in.  He had somehow lost his mom and pod.  He had lost muscle tone and had to be in a sling as he could not support himself.  He is 12 weeks old now and doing really well.  Here he is with me at 10 weeks old.  We play with him to exercise his muscles.  I am in a dry suit and really bouyant.  He pushed me over then swam over top of me and pushed me around a bit by my arm. 

And below is a Yarrow who is known for supervising the whole site.  He is big enough now to peek over his tub and takes an active interest in watching all the stuff going on.  He will be going into the pre-release pool soon and then home! 

Quebec and Ottawa Highlight Reel

We still have a few topics and travels to cover from our summer in Quebec and Ottawa, but since the highlight reel is close enough to done, I figured we'd get it out and online sooner than later. Since this trip was more work and visiting than extreme animals it has a different feel than our Africa footage but I'm still pleased with it and feel that it captures the vibe of our time out east nicely.

Many of the events in the footage already have their own posts so if you want more details on anything you see there it is likely already available. Thanks once again to Yves, Anne, Jason, Natasha, Eugene, Carrie, Ben, Paul, Alex and Susan for helping to make such a fun and memorable trip. Hope to see you all out west before too long.

I sometimes find Vimeo is picky about playing embedded like this, so if it won't play for you, just right click on it and choose 'Watch on Vimeo' and it will work... I normally prefer Youtube for these things, but the music was disabled because I would apparently have cost Robert Plant thousands of dollars :P

Panoramic Parliament

 One highlight of Parliament Hill for me was the visit of the interior. Since it was summer and the royals were in town there was no danger of anything being closed off to us as all the politicians were on break. All the pictures below are panoramic and can be clicked to enlarge.

The House of Commons has a green motif, likely as a throwback to the times when people would meet in the village square. At the back is a viewing gallery where the public and press can sit and watch when the house is in session. This is where our elected representatives endlessly butt heads.

 Below is the library with its huge selection of books. Each shelf has a provincial crest on it, and there's a statue of Queen Victoria in the middle since she was monarch at the time the library was constructed and since people seem to like wedging her likeness into pretty much everywhere. The most expensive book in there is apparently one of Audobons books of birds with original paintings.

 The senate is more regal and red than the house of commons and the walls are decorated with paintings commemorating the First World War. Again there is a viewing gallery at the back. The senate is appointed rather than elected and seems to primarily maintain the status quo to stop whatever party is in power from changing things too much and to take on real issues.

The Gargoyles of Parliament Hill

 Like any good gothic structure, the buildings on Parliament Hill are quite covered in gargoyles and grotesques of all sorts, both inside and out. The sunlight was more ideal than the dim interior lighting (I am pretty sure Harper would be destroyed by direct sunlight anyways) so they're all exterior pieces below but the inside stuff was very nice too. If you look at our previous post you can just make out 4 of these guys at each corner of the top of the Peace Tower.

 Not every piece is an 8-foot protruding epic either, this little dog/fish was only a few feet across with a little dragon opposite him by some of the archways at the ground level. Most of the smaller pieces were unique and unrepeated as well, making the hunt for their various faces all the more enjoyable.

 The crest of Canada was done up at the front gate with the lion on the left and the unicorn below on the right. I particularly like its dropped jaw and protruding tongue. Infact, looking at this image and the one above makes me think that most of the gargoyles posing for the building are actually just teenagers feel awkward about having their photos taken.

Parliament Hill

 Canada may not have many castles (as we have already lamented) but we have some pretty spectacular parliament buildings all across the country, and the gothic ones in Ottawa are no exception. Most of the original parliament buildings were actually destroyed in a fire in 1916 and had to be rebuilt.

 The main surviving structure from the original parliament buildings was the library, which was saved from the fire by a particularly quick librarian that managed to close some enormous doors and keep the worst of the fire from spreading to there. As any librarians will no doubt appreciate, fire is bad in a room full of books.

 The Peace Tower is the central tower at the front of the building and is worthy of a closer look. While the outside is dotted with gothic gargoyles of all types, just below the clock you can see a row of windows. There is an interior tour available that takes you to an observation deck above the bells. This includes a chance to see the Memorial Chamber which contains books listing all the names of soliders killed in Canadas wars since the First World War. Every day one of the guards turns the pages in each book so that every soldiers name has one day a year facing up to be remembered.