2013-04-06

【Aiden in English】

        Santa Cruz Island was the second-largest island in the Galapagos and home to Puerto Ayora, the largest town in the islands. In 1959, the Republic of Ecuador declared all the islands, except areas already colonized, as the Galapagos National Park. In the same year, the Charles Darwin Foundation was founded to promote scientific research and ensure the conservation of the Galapagos. Not until 1978, the Galapagos Isl

2013-04-05

【Aiden in English】

        In the northeast of San Cristobal Island, we lined up on the deck for a chance to see kicker Rock in an odd form. As a matter of fact, it was a remnant of a vertical tuff formation, abruptly rising almost 500 ft/152 meters from the Pacific Ocean.

        Kicker Rock looked sharp, huge, and nearly bare pieces of rocks protruded out of the ocean. Only the birds seemed to be able to scale the sides. Eve

2013-04-05 

【Aiden in English】

        San Cristobal Island was not only the easternmost island in the archipelago but also one of the oldest eroded volcanoes ascending to moist highlands nearly 2,400 feet/730 meters above sea level geologically. It was the very first island that Charles Darwin visited in the Galapagos in 1835. Several endemic species and subspecies of flora had evolved on San Cristobal, but the human impact had ruptured much of the i

2013-04-04

【Aiden in English】

        North Seymour Island was formed through a series of uplifts of lava that was originally erupted underwater because of the discovery of marine fossils on its plateau surrounded by low cliffs. These sporadic uplifts took more than a million years to bring the island to its present level. The island was now home to abundant and diverse wildlife.

        After lunch, we lined up for deep-sea snorkeling a

2013-04-04

【Aiden in English】

        Santa Cruz Island was the center of the Galapagos archipelago, where the volcanic activity had long ceased. It had the largest human population among any of the few islands that people inhabited.

        By 9:00 am, the sun was already steaming hot. We just began to walk along the northeast coast of Santa Cruz Island. There was a hideout where two US military barges for WWII broke their moorings and ran aground on the b

2013-04-03

【Aiden in English】

        Bartolome Island consisted of an extinct volcano that mixed its colorful with red, orange, green, and black volcanic rock formations like Mars. It was considered the most spectacular setting in the Galapagos. As one of the relatively younger islands, its volcanic origins were easy to be seen with an excellent example of volcanism.

        This afternoon, we took a short but steep hike on the slopes o

2013-04-03

【Aiden in English】

        Here we had the opportunity for a morning hike over a blackened landscape that was nothing less than a geologic wonderland in Sullivan Bay, the northeast of Santiago Island. At every step, we would see the hardened twists and turns of lava that flowed during a volcanic eruption in the 1900s.

        If you were talking about an "evil island", would it be jagged rocks, skeletons, scattered b

2013-04-02

【Aiden in English】

        My first statement after I went outside was: "It's foggy." And that was absolutely true. The fog wasn't the kind you saw every month in your front yard. It looked like a white pillow on top of everything in sight. Even in the old days, superstitious pirates would call the Galapagos Enchanted Islands because the islands would fade away into the mist and disappear for no reason.

2013-04-01

【Aiden in English】

        Mom and I had a quick lunch and then began to get ready for our afternoon activity. This time we visited another island called Rabida, an uninhabited island of red sand, rocks, and dirt made of lavas rich in iron.

        Rabida Island looked as if the top of an old volcanic cone bathed in crimson. The ground was hued brilliant red and sat amid coves and lagoons with clear blue wa

2013-04-01

【Aiden in English】

        The rocks crunched beneath our feet as we walked through tropical forests with singing mockingbirds and buzzing insects. This morning was our first shore excursion to take place on the west bank of Santiago Island in the center of the Galapagos archipelago.

        Puerto Egas was one of the most popular sites in James Bay of Santiago Island, where salt mining operated until the 1960s. After a wet la

Easter，2013-03-31

【Aiden in English】

        I yawned loudly as Mom and I entered our cabin of Celebrity Xpedition. For the whole morning, we were sitting on a seat of LAN Ecuador from Quito, the capital city to Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean after stopped over Guayaquil, the largest Ecuadorian city.

        Galapagos Islands were a volcanic archipelago about 500 miles/926 km west of mainland Ecuador and became a living museum o

2013-03-30

【Aiden in English】

        Pew! Pew! Pew! It went my 3DSXL as Mario got zapped by Bowser Junior's Wadoo magic for the fifth time. Mom and I were waiting for our tour guide for about 10 minutes now and we're getting awfully bored. We were going to cross the equator and heading the northern Sierra for Otavalo in a two-hour drive north of the bustling Quito to see the famous market, particularly on Saturday.

Good Friday，2013-03-29

【Aiden in English】

        Today was Holy Friday and we stayed in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador.

        At an elevation of 9,350 feet/2,800 meters above sea level with the latitude of 0^o15"S, Quito was the highest and only capital situated on the Equator in the world.

        After I put on a new set of clothes, Mom and I went down for breakfast

2013-03-27

        每年三月底或四月初，适逢耶稣受难日─复活节宗教活动，我家童少所在的北宾州学区都要特别选定这个时段，停课休学放羊三天，从星期四至星期一囊括周末，春假满打满算少说足有大半个礼拜。

        坦率地讲，我做梦都没有想到，但凡适龄青少年儿童，都可以向春天讨价问假。在国内，我从未经历这般欢度春假的学生时代；来美后，虽然早有听说，南边墨西哥坎昆城可谓女生笑傲加勒比海的胜地，而东面佛罗里达州代托纳海滩(Daytona Beach)则是男生狂飙大西洋的