Gone Fishin'

I'll be in the rainforest from tomorrow until December 5th. Surprisingly enough, I won't be spending too much time on the internet despite how boring it is there. And it costs money. Mainly the former. Since I've already been there I've seen nearly every tree, insect, lizard, and frog. There are only more species of tree in a single hectare (100 meters x 100 meters) than in the entire United States and Canada combined. And only 100,000 species of insects per hectare. And this particular area has the highest concentration of amphibians in the entire world. Actually, it is the most biodiverse place on the planet. Better destroy it for some oil!

You can read more boring statistics about how incredibly diverse eastern Ecuador is or about its unfortunate impending fate. But for now you can watch this highly educational nature documentary series filmed entirely with a cheap point-and-shoot camera.

Watch in HD!

  Episode 2 is sub-par at best.

Now that I have fancy cameras, I have no excuse not to get some incredible footage. I still have to write about Galapagos, but here are all the pictures I took there. See you in a month. 

The Galapagos (videos)

I'll be blogging about the magical islands soon enough but first, here is a video from the last time I was there. This was footage from my friend's GoPro  that I edited together with some music. This inspired me to get a GoPro, although for much less extreme purposes.



And this is a video from the most recent visit to Galapagos.

The highly anticipated sequel to this short film. 
What a magical place.

More thrilling tales from the Enchanted Isles (no, seriously. That's another name for the Galapagos) coming soon.

Lizards Lizards Lizards

Why does anyone go to lovely tropical coastal Ecuador? The lizards, of course. This is probably the most popular tourist activity right behind hiking in the cloud forest by yourself in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, staying at the beach during this time of year was a very different experience.

Fortunately, the only day the sun decided to show up was during our visit to Parque Nacional Machalilla which is Spanish for "lizard heaven." The park is located in a dry forest and happens to have one of the most beautiful beaches in Ecuador within its borders. I don't know how people ever make it to the beach when you literally encounter hundreds of lizards on your way there.

Just one of many beautiful distractions. 

One of the actual reasons for going to the coast was to look at all the primordial creatures that live in tide pools. My opinion on tide pools and their residents hasn't changed since the last time I was there, but this sea slug was quite funky. 

Woah.

Despite the lack of sun for the majority of the trip, the lizards were still out and about, albeit in lesser numbers. But that didn't stop this beautiful gecko from showing up. Or me from watching this same exact individual for three days straight.

Diurnal geckos usually evolve to be pretty. 

His less-pretty nocturnal cousin below is probably quite jealous, but could probably devour him if it wanted; it's about three times larger.

If I took less artsy fartsy pictures you might be able to see the 

size difference between these two lizards.

If you're sick of lizards by now, too bad. Here's another. But this is no ordinary lizard! This is the ancestor of the most famous Galapagos animal: the lava lizards. Forget what you heard about the tortoises, marine iguanas and blue-footed boobies, these are definitely more interesting and widely-appreciated. This also serves as the perfect segue into the next horribly delayed post: The Galapagos.

She's been waiting a while for me to write something too. 

Lizards in order of appearance: Ameiva septemlineata, Gonatodes caudiscutatus, Phyllodactylus reissi, and Microlophus occipitalis. A few more pictures here.