Well. First the Sulidae sank and now Lonesome George has died. It seems like we got there just in time to see some 100+ year old Galapogos icons before they were lost forever.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/2012/06/25/rip-lonesome-george-the-last-of-his-kind-galapagos-tortoise/
And, finally, finally, I have finished posting my pictures. I have no excuse for my lateness.
A quick final word on our trip back. It was fairly uneventful. As we waited at the departure desk at Quito, four men were taken away to 'talk to the authorities.' This made us start to give a second thought about what Val's new giant bag may have contained in the past. But apparently, whatever it contained, it did not warrant notice by the dogs or the 'authorities'. It turns out our biggest issue was my little ceramic hummingbird that I bought on the last day. It sits on a post, a post which I hadn't noticed was basically a metal shiv until the nice bag checker lady pointed it out to me. She really didn't want to let me go through. She even demonstrated rather graphically how it could be used to shank someone. Then she started to eye up the metal beak on the bird. This was getting serious. I turned on the puppy eyes, looked horrified that my innocent souvenir could be considered a threat to anyone and basically whined until she got the manager. He let me through, probably because he hadn't seen the killing thrust demonstration performed by the first woman. But I had to go through at least two more checks before I could transfer the post to my check in. I spent each of them agonizing that I was going to lose my hummingbird. But no one else even batted an eye. Whew.
Oh and one last thing. Air Canada, in their immense generosity, has offered us 10% off our next flight, if taken within one year. Well then, it was all worth it.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/2012/06/25/rip-lonesome-george-the-last-of-his-kind-galapagos-tortoise/
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| Lonesome George, not yet dead but not exactly lively when we saw him. |
A quick final word on our trip back. It was fairly uneventful. As we waited at the departure desk at Quito, four men were taken away to 'talk to the authorities.' This made us start to give a second thought about what Val's new giant bag may have contained in the past. But apparently, whatever it contained, it did not warrant notice by the dogs or the 'authorities'. It turns out our biggest issue was my little ceramic hummingbird that I bought on the last day. It sits on a post, a post which I hadn't noticed was basically a metal shiv until the nice bag checker lady pointed it out to me. She really didn't want to let me go through. She even demonstrated rather graphically how it could be used to shank someone. Then she started to eye up the metal beak on the bird. This was getting serious. I turned on the puppy eyes, looked horrified that my innocent souvenir could be considered a threat to anyone and basically whined until she got the manager. He let me through, probably because he hadn't seen the killing thrust demonstration performed by the first woman. But I had to go through at least two more checks before I could transfer the post to my check in. I spent each of them agonizing that I was going to lose my hummingbird. But no one else even batted an eye. Whew.
Here we are with our enormous amount of baggage.
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| That's Val's big bag on the bottom. then my backpack to the right, my two 'carry on' on top of Val's bag and Val's sensible tiny backpack as her carry on on the top. |
Oh and one last thing. Air Canada, in their immense generosity, has offered us 10% off our next flight, if taken within one year. Well then, it was all worth it.
