Galapagos Brown Pelican

One of the most amazing things to see here in the Galapagos is a pelican while its flying.  It reminds me a bit of what a pterodactyl might have looked like.

When this one came by it poohed on Frankie!  Mummy said that was good luck. Splat ha ha good luck Frankie!

"It's mine, you can't have it!

We sometimes go down to the place in Pelican Bay, where the fishermen come in from fishing trips, and we see them cutting up the fish and macheteing the lobster’s bottoms off. The bits of fish and lobsters they can’t sell, they just give to the pelicans and sealions to eat for themselves. Normally they fight for every piece aggressively and noisily.

Pelicans are really greedy and even try to eat whole fish all at once!  This one had a big chunk of fish head in its mouth.

On another day, we all saw a big pelican on the side of the road and it had something in his mouth, but we could not really get a look inside. It looked like a dinosaur’s claw and it seemed as if it was going to break through his jaw pouch* because it was so wide and pointy. He was trying to swallow it at first but when he realised he couldn’t he tried to get it out by shaking his mouth around furiously and then also tried to scrape it along the ground to dislodge this claw from its jaw. Then a kind fisherman came along and held the pelican firmly on the ground and while it was flapping around he carefully pulled out what was stuck and revealed the answer. It was a gigantic crab claw!

Here is a short video of a pelican flying.

facts

Many young find it difficult to master the feeding technique and end up dying of starvation.

Brown Pelicans measure around 41 inches in length and have a wingspan of 90 inches. The Galapagos population of the Brown Pelican is said to be endemic.

*   The saggy sack under the beak is called the gular sac 

By Louis

Peace at last.......

Peace.  
Some find it in the mountains.  
Some find it in the desert.  
Some find it on a highland moor, or perhaps on a boat far out at sea. 
On a beautiful sunny day or under a cloudless night sky, far, far from any city. 

The irony is, we weren't even searching for peace particularly when we came to the Galapagos, but rather a fun and educational wildlife experience together that the boys will remember. And yet, here, 1000 kilometres away from the continental mainland, we've experienced something quite unexpected.

A movie is hardly an adequate medium to try to convey this. (Although to be fair, we haven't added any music this time).  Nevertheless, we've tried to capture the essence. Perhaps you'll even be able to hear a pin drop.

The Lava Heron

We were walking one night on San Cristobal in the Galapagos and we had seen so many sealions already and first of all we saw this egret-looking bird but that wasn't the striated heron...then we saw our destiny!  It was a dark coloured bird about 20 cm in height and with a long shiny beak.  

Don't photograph me with my mouth full PLEASE!

We decided to watch it's hunting skills for a while and just then he picked up a spider from nowhere...but then dropped it and the spider must have thought "yes, I'm free!"  Sadly he then said "ouch" and got grabbed again by the long, pointy beak.  On that day we saw him catch four insects in about 10 minutes.  Every evening he is in the same rich picking place and seems to have a very successful technique.

The one we saw was probably a female because the female is less colourful than the male.  It is also called the Little Heron.

The striated heron is very clever because he has a very interesting way of getting prey sometimes. He puts some food out on the water, like little insects, and then fish come to it and he strikes at the fish and catches it. 

By Frankie

Daddy writes:  Since Frankie wrote this, our friend Lee Dingain, a very keen birder, has explained that this is in fact a lava heron, endemic to the Galapagos, and it is part of the striated heron family.  Ironically we saw one the very next day eating this fish, so we thought we'd update the entry with the latest photograph and a short video of it swallowing the fish whole!)

From Morretes to Ilha do Mel

Following Bonito and the wildlife experiences of the Pantanal, we headed across towards the Brazilian coast. 

This took us via Curitiba, and the memorable mountain train (where we met Tom Cruise :)) to a little village called Morretes.  Pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but officially somewhere in the Atlantic rainforest, we found a Pousada where our room was a lovely little jungle cabin, seen here with the boys and Chico, one of the owners dogs.  He liked fighting lizards. 

There were some trails where you could go off in search of wildlife on your own steam and this gave the boys a chance to refine their map reading skills.  The trails were fun, although in the moments after Louis encountered a giant flying rhino beetle thing, (which he promises was the size of a plate but no-one else saw it) he would probably disagree.....

One evening the boys noticed this spooky looking moth on the door, which looked like it had a skull emblazoned on its back.  Fortunately thanks to our our moth-loving friend David whom we met at Regua, we can reveal that this is in the genus Caviria, within the family Lymantridae (tussock moths), a more informative definition than our "scary white moth."

The kind owners, Nicolas and Lucca and their family, would even bring us a delicious breakfast on our little balcony, from which Frankie will remember munching on a hibiscus flower, which I suppose might have constituted one of his “five a day” on that particular morning.

After Morretes, we headed for the coast and following a couple of hours on a boat, found ourselves on Ilha do Mel, a delightful little sandy island with no roads or cars, just sandy paths.  We took advantage of an offer of help with our rucsacs on our arrival, although I don’t think the poor chap appreciated it when the boys jumped on the back too!

We stayed at a little pousada we’d read about, in Encantadas, one of the two “towns” on the island.  It's owned by Serge and Helene, a kind and welcoming French couple, famed for their crêpes.  As soon as we said that word when contemplating the accommodation options as a family, there was only going to be one choice!  It also gave the boys a week to practice their very rusty French skills on a mostly voluntary basis.  (No French? No crêpe!)

We enjoyed a relaxing week with some lovely white sandy beaches, where we celebrated  Jules “Far Away Birthday”, went on some long coastal walks around the island together, and even managed to continue with the boys Holiday School a little on most days.

This included a “Games afternoon” on the beach, where we played long jump, and the boys did some running races of various lengths.  We’ll spare you the “Chariots of Fire” slow motion film version that the boys are planning to make.  The boys also enjoyed yet another hammock, and indeed the company of a friendly little dog called Whisky, whom, as we reported elsewhere, whilst being blind, loved chasing his tennis ball, and had perfected the art of balancing on it with his front paws. Not something necessarily likely to get Esther Rantzen reaching for the phone to the BBC, I'll admit, but cute nevertheless.  Curiously, he barked incessantly whenever anybody sneezed.

There was a great little spot, at the tip of the island, where you could watch enormous container ships passing through, on their way from Paranagua, the second biggest port in Brazil. It was a nice peaceful place for reading together too. You had to navigate along this narrow labyrinthine path through trees and bushes to get there.  One day, in the pouring rain, we were at our pousada and heard the funnel blast of a passing ship.  We decided to see if we could race the 1/2 kilometre to get to the spot to see the ships before it passed by.   We just made it, but must have looked a bit daft in the process.

After a week, and copious quantities of pancakes, both savoury and sweet, it was time to leave behind Ilha do Mel and move on.

My first movie! - by Louis

This is my first movie.  I learnt how to make movies on I-Movie at Apple Summer Camp before we left.  Its based on the first place we went to called REGUA.  I will make some other movies along with this one later in the trip.

By Louis

My far away birthday!

My birthday was always going to be a little different given the situation. For a start there was nowhere on the Ilha do Mel, this little island off the Brazilian coast, to buy birthday cards. (Although Phil had ample opportunity in previous weeks!!) However there was a little shop that sold beach clothes and little wooden rings and Phil and the boys chose me a lovely coconut wedding ring to replace the one that is safely at home and a nice little beachy number to wear over my bikini. 

I've always loved the French....

Thanks to Louis' new-found film-making skills from Apple Summer Camp, they also put together a movie with some of the better bits from the last month, and this formed part of my birthday celebration that kicked off the moment I woke up. (see album below if you want to enjoy this)

The boys of course jumped on me and sang me happy birthday first of all, and then I opened my solitary birthday card (not counting emails and e cards, thanks for all those!) from Mum and Dad that had survived relatively unscathed in Phil's rucksack. 

After a pancake-based breakfast, we took a boat over to Nova Brasilia, the “Capital” (same as Encantadas but with a couple more restaurants and pousadas) and from there we walked 30 minutes to the “Farol” (lighthouse) and stopped at the beach there to watch a surfing competition.   We ended up having lunch overlooking that beach, and then climbed the hill afterwards to see the lighthouse.  Frankie can probably still tell you how many steps there were (actually just checked and Louis reliably informed me that it was 175 stone steps. We then walked about 4km after lunch along several beaches on the opposite edge of the island to Encantadas, and headed through the forest as darkness fell to get home just in time. 

The boys playing on the rocks before the scary bit

We had something of an adventure along the way when we got to the end of one of the long stretches of beach and there was no longer an obvious route.  We stepped up onto some rocks to see if we could find a way round.  The waves were crashing around the rocks as we stepped a little further on to try and find a way.  We were all wearing ridiculous shoes for this particular adventure.  Phil and I in flip flops and the boys in their crocs, although I’m sure the Brazilian folk wouldn’t have thought so.   The rocks were getting bigger and steeper and the waves seemed to be creeping up on us.  I questioned whether this was a sensible route to take (if it was indeed the route at all). My least favourite pastime is rock-hopping especially in flip flops!  The boys sensed my panic and started to get upset, which I felt very bad about.  Phil said he would have a look a little further and for us to wait while he did.  As he hopped ably over a few more very large rocks the boys dramatically said they didn’t want Daddy to die!  I tried to calm them down feeling extremely guilty that I had caused this total panic in the first place.  Phil beckoned us to come over and we crept slowly across. I was still unsure that we were going the right way but Louis shouted and pointed to an arrow that was painted on one of the rocks.  We all felt  a sense of relief and the boys started hopping more confidently over some very large and pointy rocks.  My heart was in my mouth for most of this as I can’t bear watching them do this.......can’t help having visions of them falling, especially given Frankies' accident in Canada a couple of years ago where his chin still bears the scar from the slippery rock he fell on.

Back at our Pousada, recovered and enjoying dinner, the boys then surprised me with a lovely Birthday cake that Phil had organised.  I think it turned out to be a little bigger than he expected, as it took us several days to wade through, and we were somewhat conflicted because the kind french owners of our pousada made such good pancakes!

All in all though, a lovely day and made better by so many kind emails from family and friends at home.




Here's the video that Phil and the boys made for me........

Floating around in Bonito

We spent a very pleasant few days in Bonito, (translated, means “beautiful”) in Brazil last month, after the Pantanal trip. Following a short flight from Cuiaba to Campo Grande and a four hour van journey, we arrived late in the evening to this town which has established itself pretty much along a very long single road. We were staying a good kilometre past the town so had a good chance to get a look as we drove through, although the boys at this point were decidedly sparko. Bonito is famous for being a centre for all sorts of interesting outdoor activities like swimming, caving, kayaking on some of the clearest river water in the world.

The Pousada Chao de Pedra gave us a simple, clean room altogether, with the obligatory bunks that the boys are loving. Thankfully at this stage there is never any argument, Louis always gets the top, as we’d be more worried about Frankie being able to prevent himself tumbling out. There was a spacious open area where you ate and met other people.  We also managed to catch up on a couple of Skype calls with the family and remember Frankie telling people this is a good place for "relaxisation"!

It was also a good place for our first proper foray into introducing the boys to a little holiday school for part of the mornings while we were there.  Strangely, at a time when we are gradually losing track of time and day, since we have left our watches at home, the thing that struck us was how the boys have gone the other way and suddenly became acutely aware of what day it is.  At home, we could have just had a great weekend together and been back at school for a day, and on Monday night ask “What day is it tomorrow, boys? The response would be entirely random - “Is it Sunday?” they might suggest, and you think “How can you possibly think it’s Sunday, you’ve just been back to school for the first time in three days.....”.  Out here however, the boys will be very quick to point out “its Saturday today so no holiday school!”

We did a few trips to the local swimming baths, “Balneares Municipales” which out here constitute a very pleasant swim in the crystal clear waters of the local river, with fish for company. The local children were very friendly and the boys hooked up with a couple of kids sitting near us who were very generous with fish food.  They kept throwing it in the water just where we were swimming so you felt this flurry of large fish all around you in the water which was fine providing they stick to the fish food.   

At another similar place, there was a little waterfall that you could swim up to, and, with a bit of effort and underwater rock-clambering, actually get behind and look out from!  And I couldn't let the boys down when they chanted for me to go on the zip line, that started up quite high and ended in the water.  No problem, except that its fairly important not to get distracted, since if you don't jump off in the water, you would go crashing into the rocks at the other end!  Health and Safety very much at the other extreme over here to what we are used to at home. 

One of the highlights of Bonito was a trip to Rio Sucuri, where you can swim - or rather float - in the river downstream, with your snorkel and mask, and watch the fish as you go. Its a good row upstream in a little canoe altogether to get to the point of being able to do this. Rowing upstream meant that you couldn’t go at too leisurely a pace or you’d never get there! (Could have done with Croftie in the canoe to get us there with a bit less effort on our part!) 

It was great snorkelling experience for the boys, which they will be doing a lot more of while we are away. It was lovely for us too, just holding hands with one of the boys each and seeing and sort of hearing their excitement as they saw different fish on the way down. They decided to design a little leaflet on the trip that day, which we have copied below this entry. 

We visited an interesting bar called Taboa while we were there and the boys were amazed that you were allowed to write on the walls without anybody getting upset.  We made a few entries ourselves, (including my contribution of “Romanus aeunt domus” which the boys were somewhat puzzled about.)

Frankie has just surfaced as I write this and I just asked Frankie what he remembers about that bar. “Mummy was very jealous for our food.  She had fish with lots of bones. Louis and I had chips, a cube of rice, and a little omelette with bacon, it was very nice.”  Louis has just woken up and not to be outdone in the memory department, chipped in that in fact Daddy had Lasagne. 

Here are the leaflets that the boys created to record their visit. 

First Louis.......

....and then Frankie

"Some animals I have seen" - a presentation by Frankie

This is my definite first presentation and I hope you like the animals I have seen.  We have seen all of these birds and animals just in the Pantanal and REGUA.

By Frankie

Things to do on a long flight - No.41, 42 and 43

No. 41 - Make a shark
You will need:

• Bread roll (preferably shark body shaped  - Taca Airline rolls are particularly well-suited)
• Plastic cutlery (that snaps easily)
• Silver paper (normally comes with hot meal)
• No cheese.  (so you are not really tempted to eat the bread roll anyway.....)

No.42 - Make a shark movie

You will need:

• Similar to No. 41, but add appropriate foreground.  And sound effects.

No.43 - Remake intro to "Jaws"
Similar to No 42 but add victim.