23 July - Day 49: What am I? A rodent magnet?

I would like to move on from my time at Jatun Satcha, but before I do let me tell you about last night... it´s a mosquito net... not a mouse net!

Last night I get ready for bed and packed up and open my mosquito net - climb up to the top bunk and what runs across the end of my bed... yup, you guessed it - a mouse. Cute, sure, but it scared the crap out of me and my heart stopped beating for a moment and then resumed at triple the normal speed. Holy CRAP! I  jump down and try to shake the ickyness from my arms and legs. After I regain a bit of composure I peak back up and he´s still there! Really, serioulsy, this is NOT happening. That´s it - I´m going to sleep standing up in the middle of the room.

I did manage to force myself back into the bed and I think I slept 15 minutes all night...

Thankfully the taxi´s were ordered to arrive at 8 am and I´m outta here!

The plan was to do a "group" thing at a beach with everyone from Jatun Satcha... I quietly slipped away once we arrived to town and went to my private room.

After hand washing a few essential items, I heard some trumpets and drums and looked out to find a parade coming down my street! It must be some military thing because each set is dressed in their uniforms and holding their various tools - guns, flippers, helmuts, and of course the band with their instruments. I grabbed my camera and rushed out to see.

Hummm... 23 July... what´s the significance? I heard someone say something about independence day, but for all of Ecuador - or maybe when Ecuador finally grabbed onto the Galapagos. The only thing I found in my guide book is that tomorrow is the birth of Simon Bolivar and a public holiday.

Now I have the day free - some "Lisa Time". After photographing sea lions (for the 100th time) I decided to have some lunch and then head to the Interpretation Center. Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is the captial of the Galapagos, but smaller than Puerto Ayora. Being the captial, however, the National Park headquarters are here, and the center of interpretation. It is very nicely done with lots of cultural, geological and biological information. There are wooden walkways of paths leading from the center around the area. I decide to have a look...

I come to a snrokel cove and what do I find....

OMG, they are soooo cute! I am literally 5 feet from them. I didn´t bring any gear so I´m just sitting on the lava filming the sea lions playing. This is a fantastic place to swim with the sea lions.

The big afternoon plan was to find a new hat. I´ve decided that my stinky red visor must go. I can no longer get the smell out, so I´m on the look out for a Galapagos hat.

I´ve had quite a pleasant day. The sun made a few brief appearances - enough that I had to buy some more sun screen. It was so nice to be on my own schedule. I was going to try and meet up with a few people from the group for dinner, but realized that I had just had 9 meals with them at the reserve. I am ready for a peaceful night.