06:45 by Mrs D's 3rd grade class: Hello! How many years did it take Diego to breed? We think Diego rocks! Do birds fly into the open air classrooms? Spencer is dreaming of a Blue Footed Boobie coming to sit on his desk during Math. We are excited for you to come back because we miss you in library. We have a secret......Ms. Font was an elephant! We figured it out...

13:30 by Ms Lockwood: A few comments about the bilingual school...

The students have lessons in Spanish and Quichwa. (Sort of like you all having classes in English and Spanish, but I think they have some Quichwa everyday). I think their parents speak some of both languages as well. I was in two classrooms-- their equivalents of Kindergarten and 2nd grade. The students each had their own desks. There was a roof on their classrooms, but the walls only went halfway up. The rest was open air. (It doesn't rain here very often and it doesn't get very cold). The students wearing the native costumes were wearing black wool on the bottom (pants or long skirts) and white shirts on the tops. The boys wore black ponchos as well. I didn't get any pictures with my camera, but I will have some from my friends when I get back to school. Most of the students walk or ride in a car to school. The biggest sport around here (BY FAR!) is soccer.

13:14 by Ms Lockwood: Hi all,

When you visit the Galapagos, you can get very close to all of the animals. Because they have evolved in such a protected environment, they are not afraid of people. However, because most of the islands are National Park land, there are very strict rules. You are not allowed to touch any of the animals. You cannot take anything natural (like a rock, stone or feather) off the islands. You cannot bring food on to the uninhabited islands. And you have to wash your shoes when you leave one island and go to another to make sure you don't accidentally transport anything from one place to another.

It would be hard to pick a favorite animal so far. The seal lions are incredibly cute and playful. I have about a million pictures of them because every one seems cuter than the last. The Blue Footed Boobies are also really cool because they look so goofy when they are standing but incredibly graceful when flying-- they streak into the sea like arrows looking for fish. The marine iguanas and the tortoises have extremely expressive faces and look like they are thinking deep thoughts. And swimming as fast as I could after the little penguin was a highlight.

And now for Diego...

In the 1960s, the tortoise population of Espanola Island came so close to extinction that all of the remaining tortoises-- twelve females and two males-- were brought to the Charles Darwin Research Station for protection and a breeding program. In 1971, there was a successful hatching of eggs. The Station kept the baby turtles for between three and five years and then introduced them into the wild.

In the meantime, the Station was frantically searching around the world for another male Espanola tortoise. They thought there might be one that had been collected off the island and put in a zoo somewhere. And they found one in the San Diego Zoo. After naming the male Diego, the Station brought him back to the Galapagos and introduced him to the other Espanola tortoises. Unlike poor George, Diego was a very successful breeder. Because of him and the program at the Charles Darwin Station, 1,400 tortoises have been reintroduced to Espanola. Diego still lives at the station and is working hard on being a father.

06:45 by : Mrs. Lockwood, We enjoyed your photo gallery. There were so many different cool animal species. We are sad to hear the eggs are no longer living, but can't wait to hear about Diego. We have a few questions. Do you have a favorite animal you've seen so far? Were you allowed to touch or feed George?

See you soon, Ms. Zukowski's class

17:57 by Ms Lockwood: Hi ACDS,

Today was tortoise day. First we visited the Charles Darwin Research Station, which is an organization dedicated to many conservation efforts including breeding endangered tortoises and reintroducing them into the wild. It is estimated that there used to be 250,000 tortoises on the Galapagos archipelago, but now there are only about 30,000. In the late 19th and early 20th century, sailors, whalers and pirates would stop on the islands to pick up as many tortoises as they could. Tortoises can live for up to a year with no food or water, so the sailors would keep the tortoises in the bottom of their boats and just kill one as needed for food. That is how their numbers got to be so low. This is where Lonesome George lives.

I saw George today. He is called El Solitario George in Spanish. He is the last remaining Pinta tortoise. He is about 100 years old and 500 pounds. He was moved from Pinta Island to the Darwin Center in 1972 and placed with two female tortoises that are the most genetically similar to his species. Unfortunately, he did not successfully breed. I told you at school that one of the females laid some eggs recently and scientists were hopeful. I am sorry to report that they have determined that the eggs are no longer living. (However, tomorrow I will tell you the story of Super Diego and help you to feel better!)

This afternoon we went into the highlands and saw many tortoises in their natural habitat. They are fascinating creatures. Their faces are very expressive. They look quite a bit like E.T. The tortoises on the different islands adapted to the unique food that was available one each island and now the tortoises from the different islands look quite different from each other.

Check out my Gallery page to see El Solitario George, some baby tortoises, and some different types of tortoise.

15:25 by Sherry: Sounds like things are going very well. However, snorkeling with a shark sounds dicey! The iguanas look to be pretty big. Are they docile?

09:43 by : Greetings from Ms. Holland's class!! We would love to know more about the bilingual school that you visited. How are the classrooms set up? Do they have desks or tables? What are some of the similarities and differences that you noticed between the school in the Galapagos and ACDS? You mentioned the students' native costumes. Can you describe what they look like?

Also, what has been your favorite animal that you have seen so far? We're really interested in hearing about Lonesome George and we look forward to reading your posts each day during Morning Meeting :)

06:49 by Mrs D's 3rd grade class: HI Ms. Lockwood,

We just saw all your pictures and read all your entries. We are wondering about the school culture. How do the kids get to school? How can the kids all communicate if they speak two different languages? How old can sea lions live? What are you planning on bringing back for the school to see ?

20:29 by Ms Lockwood: Hi ACDS,

Thanks for your questions and comments.

I haven't actually seen a red footed booby, yet, but I'll work on that. Tomorrow we are going to the Darwin Research Station, so I will see Lonesome George and probably several baby turtles as well. I will answer all of the tortoise questions that I have after that visit.

I am doing OK with the Spanish. I actually taught an entire class in Spanish the other day. We spent the last three days with 9 teacher from the Galapagos and I have done my best to speak with them in Spanish. And today I visited a bilingual school where the students speak Spanish and Quichwa (a native Ecuadoran language.) I spoke with the students in Spanish. (They wore native costumes and were very cute.)

I have answers to a couple more of your questions:

1. The most recent volcanic activity in the Galapagos was about three months ago on the Island of Isabella.

2. There have been several shark attacks in the last few years. It is believed that the increased number is due to the increase in fishing-- the sharks are starting to associate boats with places were there are big groups of fish. But when the boats have divers instead, it can be a problem. (Fortunately, the the white tip reef shark I saw when snorkling did not feel this way!)

3. And for Mrs. Tacktill's advisory-- yes, there are cute boys here.

08:06 by anonymous: Hi Elizabeth, My class loved the pictures, especially the one of you and the poinsettia. They would like you to find a red footed boobie and a baby turtle!

05:45 by Patrice: What an amazing opportunity! Based on the pics and your updates the experience is all that you thought it would be. Thank you for sharing it with us.

15:05 by : Oops, I forgot to to say that was from me!

15:05 by anonymous: Hi Ms. Lockwood! Wow, your pictures are great and by your readings it sounds like you've been having a great time! Tengo dos preguntas... 1. What's the weather been like? 2. Is the Spanish spoken by the natives easy to understand?

11:08 by Ms Lockwood: This morning we visited Punta Espinoza, a beautiful section of Fernandina Island. This is the youngest island in the archipelago-- only about 50,000 years old. Here was the greatest physical evidence we had seen that the origins of the islands are volcanic. Much of the island was composed of hardened lava. It was amazing to see the life that adapted to live on such a barren landscape.

Fernandina is uninhabited and all of it is part of the Galapagos National Park. It is also the most pristine of the islands-- it is the only one that has no introduced species. We saw another type of marine iguana here. Their coloring was darker. Thousands live on Fernandina. There are thousands of sally lightfoot crabs and this is also the home of the flightless cormorants.

It was incredibly tranquil and had the appearance of being from another time. So far, it was my favorite place. (Of course, I say this every day!)

10:59 by Ms Lockwood: In the afternoon, we snorkeled off of Floreana. We were in water about twenty to thirty feet deep and were able to see a couple of white tip reef sharks and several large rays, in addition to many species of colorful fish.

We then visited Floreana, which has a small human habitation. We were on National Park land and saw no signs that people lived there. This is where the Galapagos Flamingos live-- in a large lagoon of salt water. When we arrived, the flamingos were flying! Imagine a flock of 40 flying flamingos! I did not get any pictures of the flight, but check out my gallery for a photo of the post-flight rest.

We also were able to see several sea turtles and many sting rays.

12:46 by Ms Lockwood: This morning we hiked on one of the uninhabited islands, Espanola. Eighty percent of the endemic species in the Galapagos (the species that are only found in the Galapagos) can be found on Espanola. In fact, there are species on that island that are endemic to THAT island specifically-- in other words, they are found no where in the world, but Espanola! I have never seen such a variety of species in one place-- and so close!

We saws lots of blue footed boobies, frigates birds, albatross, Galapagos hawks, and red billed tropic birds. There was a huge population of marine iguanas and I found the answer to another ACDS student question. On Espanola, male marine iguanas change color from red to green when they are ready to mate. Check out a photo in my gallery!

We saw a lot of birds formerly known as masked boobies. Scientists have determined that the ones on the Galapagos are genetically distinct enough to be their own species, so they have been renamed Nazca boobies.

22:04 by : We celebrated Thanksgiving last night. The owners of our hotel went all out and prepared a turkey dinner. We also had beans and rice and pasta with pineapple. There were dancers who performed traditional Ecuadoran dances and a beautiful salsa dance. It was great.

Today we boarded a big boat for a three-day cruise. We sailed to the other side of San Cristobel island and docked. The bay was surrounded by volcanic rock. We snorkeled from the beach and saw rays and many different types of fish. There were many sea lions and Sally Lightfoot crabs, and a few marine iguanas.

One of my ACDS students asked me to find out about the beaches here. There are sandy beaches some places in the Galapagos. Different beaches are different colors depending on the composition of the materials that broke down to form the sand. Today's beach had very white sand because the rocks and shells that time and water ground down had a high composition of calcium carbonate. Supposedly we will be seeing a greenish beach soon!

Another activity for the duration of our boat ride will be a collaboration with nine teachers from the Galapagos. We are working together to develop lessons relating to the environment that we can both use in our classes. My Spanish is getting a workout.

13:20 by : How do you like the Galapagos? Did you celebrate Thanksgiving? If you did what did you eat?

15:13 by Ms Lockwood: Today I visited the Collegio Ignacio Hernandez and helped to teach an English class. I'm sure I learned more than the students. The students in my class eat fish for breakfast, love soccer, and enjoy Dorritos! Look in the gallery for some pictures of the students.

09:33 by : Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I wonder how you will celebrate. You surely have many creatures to appreciate. Blessings to all.

17:58 by Ms Lockwood: We arrived on San Cristobal yesterday. It is one of the four populated islands. The scenery is fascinating. Although it is the only island with a fresh water lake (in the crater of a volcano!) there is very little water. In the low-lying areas, the plants are mostly short and scrubby, with lots of cacti. In some ways it looks like San Diego. We immediately saw boobies, frigate birds, lava lizards and Sally lightfoot crabs. Our closest neighbors at the hotel are a very large and lazy group of sea lions.

Today we hiked to the top of the crater lake and got very muddy. It was a completely different ecosystem up in the highlands. It was cool and misty and hard to believe we were on the equator. The island uses three windmills near the top of the crater to provide nearly 60% of the islands power. We also visited a working coffee farm (I got to milk a cow!) and a tortoise sanctuary. No Lonesome George yet-- he's on another island.

04:21 by Ms Lockwood: Hi Mrs. Dressendorfer's class! We only saw two alligators in the Everglades. I would have liked to

see more, but not while I was IN the water. I was glad the stick kept them away there! We did see a lot of birds including a really cute baby blue heron.

We are in Ecuador and head off to the Galapagos today. Hasta la vista!

10:16 by Mrs D's 3rd grade class: That question is from Mrs. D's 3rd grade class.

10:15 by : Spencer Talley's grandparents just came and taught us about the Galapagos. We saw a marine iguana video and looked at pictures that they took. The pics were amazing. We want to know.....

How many species of alligators did you see in Everglades National Park? Did the walking stick help you avoid them?

09:42 by Sherry: Can't wait to see the pictures and to hear more. What an exciting beginning! We are all proud that you were chosen to go, but really it is they who are lucky to have you on the trip!

06:48 by : The Everglades National Park was amazing. We went on a "Slough Slog," which involved wading up to our waists in water and using our walking sticks to poke the mucky bottom to make sure we weren't stepping on any alligators! It was unlike anything I've every done before. Our destination was a cyprus dome that was like a cathedral of trees. It looked like we were in the time of the dinosaurs.

Did you know there are seven distinct habitats in the Everglades?

14:52 by Amy: Hope you're having a great time so far! We're looking forward to seeing your pictures. Grandma loves your picture and is very proud of you.

09:16 by : Students and Teachers,

I'd love your comments while I'm gone. Please follow me on my trip and send comments and questions. I'll answer them the best I can!