Hello everyone,

Today was Saturday, so naturally we had a day off from our service work. We started by visiting a fixture of local life on Santa Cruz, the Saturday Market, where many local residents find their week's food. Very different from a Harris Teeter or a Whole Foods or even a Trader Joe's. Lots of fresh fish, meats, fruits etc, and some other stuff too (example: a DVD of Pirates of the Caribbean. Yes, it was the new one.)

After getting back to the hotel, we got ready for a day at the beach. We'd been to the beach a few times in the Charles Darwin Center, but everyone says the best beach on the island is a bit outside of town at Tortuga Bay.

They are right.

Tortuga Bay is this beautiful, pristine beach in the National Park about 45 minutes' walk out of town. Lots of pictures were taken; had I a card reader I'd put them up here. Tortuga Bay also has large population of Marine Iguanas. It has a variety of wildlife- finches, lava lizards, crabs, blue-footed boobies, herons, sea turtles and other marine creatures.

But the purpose of the day was more than the wildlife. It was also to relax. And relax we did. Swimming, sand castles, a little frisbee on the ocean. We had lunch on the beach and walked back. Then some free time in town and a delicious meal at a restaurant on the main street.

After a few days of work, it's nice to relax and see some of the sites that make this place so popular with foreigners like us. Tomorrow is more siteseeing in the Highlands. before returning to "work" this coming Monday. Hoping to see some tortoises.

Till the next post,

Dan