Sulfur Mines and Swimming with Sharks

On Thursday we hiked a long 25 km to see sulfur mines, which ended up being completely worth it. These holes in the ground of crystallized, bright yellow sulfur that spewed sulfur gas were beautiful. The only problem was that the gas irritated my lungs and thus I couldn't take too many close-up pictures of this stunning view. After the sulfur mines we made a stop at the Flamingo Lake that hosts these giant, pink fellows. They stood out wildly against the brown and blue background of the lake as they stepped from one foot to the other. Flamingos never put both feet down at the same time to minimize heat loss.

On Friday we went snorkeling in a lava tunnel area where we encountered giant sea turtles that were as big as me and sleeping sharks in caves that were just 4-6 feet long. Though small they still gave me that freaky feeling of being surrounded by one of nature's greatest predators. It seemed counter intuitive, but upon seeing sharks we immediately began chasing after them. They seemed more afraid of us than the other way around. The sea turtles could not have cared less whether we were there or not. The guide told us that people have hugged them and they don't even flinch, though it is illegal to be within 6 feet of the wildlife in the Galapagos.