The Return of Mrs. Phred

Mrs. Phred has returned from her expedition to the remote islands off the coast of Ecuador and mountaintops of Peru. She mailed some pictures back to me.

Mrs. Phred and her friend Felicia are in the foreground above a scene of Machu Picchu

15th-century Inca citadel, located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru, on a mountain ridge 7,970 ft above sea level. It is located in the Cusco Region, Urubamba Province, Machupicchu District in Peru, above the Sacred Valley, which is 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows, which cuts through the Cordillera and originates a canyon with tropical mountain climate.-WIKI

Some sort of lizard or dragon? ...ooh...it's a Galapagos land iguana....it eats cactus pads...

The mountaintop at Macchu Picchu gets about 65 inches of rain. It was a good place to grow things. I read that mists float up from the river past near-vertical cliffs on three sides.

Machu Picchu is situated above a bow of the Urubamba River, which surrounds the site on three sides, where cliffs drop vertically for 1,480 ft to the river at their base. The area is subject to morning mists rising from the river. The location of the city was a military secret, and its deep precipices and steep mountains provided natural defenses.-Wiki

A group of seals is called: "bob, colony, crash, harem, herd, pod, rookery, spring, and team".

That is some impressive agricultural terracing.

Heavy rainfall required terraces and stone chips to drain rainwater and prevent mudslides, landslides, erosion, and flooding. Terraces were layered with stone chips, sand, dirt and topsoil, to absorb water and prevent it from running down the mountain. Similar layering protected the large city center from flooding. Multiple canals and reserves provide water throughout the city that could be supplied to the terraces for irrigation and to prevent erosion and flooding.-Wiki

An island in the Galapagos. Lot's of cactus pads for the land (non-marine) branch of the iguana family. There is a 3rd species of pink iguana on Isabella but you can't visit them.

She was on a boat about this size for a week. There were three similar boats anchored. This might be hers. Or not.

The blue-footed booby below has a relationship with the strange vampire finch. The vampire finch pecks the booby's neck to drink its blood. Boobys spend a lot of time in courtship with foot display. Those with the bluest feet are considered younger, healthier and more desirable as mates. Not sure if masked boobys or red-footed boobys can inter-breed with these...for sure they don't want to...

Booby

 Mrs. Phred taking a break

The islands were named after these giant tortoises. You put one upside down in the ship's hold and you have no-maintenance fresh meat for months. Galapagos is an archaic Spanish word meaning tortoise.

n his April 26, 1535 letter to Charles VI of Spain, Berlanga reported his detour to islands which he did not name, and informed His Majesty of what he saw there:
“… muchos lobos marinos, tortugas, higuanas, galápagos, … .” “… many sea lions, turtles, iguanas, tortoises, … .”