Friday! In the morning, we went to the Charles Darwin Research station where we saw many giant tortoises. We learned about how the tortoises and the cactus-trees evolved. As the tortugas' necks grew, the cactus grew taller. That's a simplification of a millions of year’s process, but its simplicity and slowness is what makes it beautiful. We watched a tortuga eating leaves with its pokey jaw, strong tongue. They are pretty stupid, actually, they can't see very well and drop much of their food.
We also saw Lonesome George who is the last of his species on earth. Despite many attempts, including an attractive Swedish evolutionary biologist helping him out (the imperfect of the word is 'masturbaba,' which is endlessly funny), he just isn't into reproducing. Good thing tortugas live like 200 years and George is only 130 or so.
In the afternoon, we went to Tortuga Bay which is a bay that often has many turtles and fish. Unfortunately, it was raining and cold so there was barely any life in the bay. I saw a sea cucumber which looked, honestly, like poop. Also, many marine iguanas which have very defined claws, move hilariously, and leave a little trail in the sand where their tails drag.
In the evening, a bunch of us went out to a bar and did that bar thing. It was overwhelming for me, as usual. I wish I could just relax and enjoy dancing. Jamie and I left and walked around the pier and looked at pre-teen galapagüeño (isn't that a cool word?) kids harass a sea lion. I went to hang out in the boy's room, which was filled with bugs, attracted to the lights. I was so scared that my room would be empty of people and filled with bugs so I slept on their extra bed on top of the covers. No bugs ate me in my sleep.
Highlights: evolution is awesome, I was not eaten by bugs, dinner was really good.
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