In Puerto Madryn, Argentina, we went on a tour and saw many interesting animals.
One of the animals was the Magellanic penguin. They were named after the founder, Magellan. He was from Portugal. The penguins were small.
They are cute when they waddle!
We saw the parents sitting on nests with their fuzzy gray babies. The nests were in holes or under a bush because their habitat is like the desert.
Another animal was the Patagonia Mara. It lives in the bushes. You can only see it in Argentina. It is a rodent that is smaller than the Capibara. It looks like a bunny but with longer legs.
The best thing was the Right Whales. We saw them at the edge of the road! They’re big, friendly mammals that live in the ocean. They don’t have teeth and they eat small copepods. They are called Right whales because they like to stay “right” by the surface.
We also saw Guanacos. They look like llamas but with different colors.
Last night we went to a tango show. The front was very fancy.
On the stage there was a warning sign because there was fire in the middle of the dance floor. There was a circle that rose up! Also on the stage were horses.
The show started at 10pm and ended at midnight. In the tango, they do a lot of butt swishing. They also did a lot of twisting. There was also an orchestra. You could tell they were professionals because they played really fast. The instruments they played were the violin, cello, bass, and accordion. It was nice music and I liked it very much.
While in Medellin (med-a-jean), we rode on a bus that was two hours long to El Peñon de Gautapè. The rock was HUGE!
To get to the top we had to hike 700+40=740 steps!
About every 25 steps you get a resting spot .. It felt so good!
The steps were numbered to keep you moving. The outside stairs went up and the inside stairs went down. It looked like the inside stairs were the first stairs build because they were very little and old looking.
They say it is the “Best view in the World” but I have not seen the whole world! At the top, the view was of many lakes.
Also, there were shops and restaurants at the top. It was very tiring but great exercise! It was quite the accomplishment!
The hotel was VERY fancy. It had five pools and three hot tubs (that really weren’t hot). In one of the pools, there was a water slide.
It was very fun! The water slide was curvy and at the end it went straight down.
Now inside the hotel, there was free coffee, free food at the executive lounge, soft beds, two separate rooms and an outdoor balcony.
In the executive lounge, we tried a fruit called Maracuya (passion fruit).
It tasted sweet and squishy with crunchy seeds inside. The beds were so soft I slept very well for two days! The two separate rooms were a living room and a bedroom. The outdoor balcony had a view of the ocean and the city.
We spent eight days on a boat in the Galapagos Islands.
Every day we used a dinghy to see lots of animals.
One of the animals was the blue-footed booby. A baby blue-footed booby looks like a fuzzy white ball with gray feet. As they grow, they start eating sardines. The sardines make their feet turn blue.
We also saw marine iguanas. They are the only iguanas that can swim. They get salt water in their nose by diving in the water to get food. To get out the salt water, they squirt it through their nose.
We also saw penguins, sea turtles, sea lions, and manta rays.
My favorite animal that we saw were the dolphins. The dolphins were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! We saw them at Leon Dormido. It is a large rock near San Cristobal island.
First of all, they were friendly. Second of all, they were wild. Third of all, they performed for us and did big jumps! Fourth of all, they looked like the dolphins from the movie Titanic. Fifth of all, they did exactly what we told them like spin moves. I got them to spin by taking my arm and turning it clockwise.
My teacher’s name was Carmen. She was a good teacher. I learned a lot by singing, cutting and gluing pictures, and drawing on the whiteboard. Sometimes I got to have ice cream at the morning break. At the school they had a cat named Melly. She was an orange tabby. She liked to jump up in my lap during class.
In the afternoons we would always have a field trip with some people from the school. Most of the field trips were boring to me because there was too much talking.
This is Felipe. He lived in the local park.
This is used for funerals.
These are some of the bad things about the school. The class is 4 hours long each day from 8am to 12pm. It hurts my head to think that long even though we did take a 30 minute break! To get there we had to walk a long time down the busy streets.
Iguana for salePig Blood and Rice
It was hard work! They said I was the youngest student to complete the classes at their school. On the weekends we went to the water park. They had a pet chicken.
We left Granada on Friday to go to San Juan del Sur. It is on the Pacific ocean. We stayed at a hotel call Bahia Azul. It had a green parrot on the roof. Then we visited a beautiful beach called Playa Hermosa.
We found fast snails, sand dollars, hermit crabs and a surfer!
That was my first time swimming in the Pacific ocean!
I also got to watch the sunset and drink a red Fanta.
The next day we drove to Popoyo.
We stayed at The Barrel Hostel and really liked it. We walked a long time but when we got to the end we saw a tide pool. In the tide pool we saw sea urchins, Sergeant Major fish, starfish, and sea hares.
On the beach we saw several turtles that were dead and a puffer fish. The vultures were already eating them and helping to clean up the beach.
I feel so sad about the turtle and puffer. We also saw lots of shells on the beach. -Riley
First, you pick the cacao from the tree. The color must be yellow to be ripe. Next, you have to ferment the pod and pulp. The pulp is where the flavor is. Then you have to dry the seeds. You know if it is ready or not by the sound it makes when you shake it. You also know it is ready by the color of the seed. The inside should be brown. Then you have to roast the seeds. You roast the seeds on top of fire. When they are ready you will hear a popping sound like popcorn. Then you have to peel the seeds. You either smash the seeds with your hand or peel them fast because the seeds are really hot. After that, you have to grind the seeds. The Mayan used a stone pestle and mortar. It takes hard work to make paste. Last, you put seven cups of paste and seven cups of sugar to make sweet chocolate. You have to spin it for fifteen hours. That is how you make chocolate. – Riley
Let me tell you about my amazing day in Granada, Nicaragua. We went to a restaurant where everyone was deaf for breakfast (Café de las Sonrisas). We ordered by pointing out on the menu what we wanted to eat and drink because we did not speak sign language. I had a chocolate pancake. It was powdered sugar on top of chocolate on top of chocolate on top of butter on a pancake. At the restaurant, they also had bunnies. I got to pet the bunnies.
The best part comes next. We hopped on a horse drawn carriage. We saw that buildings that were built in the 1600’s – 1700’s. The horse names are Brown and Jack. I got to sit up front and steer Brown and Jack!
The driver’s friend had a boat. He took us to the monkey island. In the lake they had leeches and bull sharks in the lake water. On monkey island I got to feed 2 monkeys name Lola and I can’t remember the name of the other one.
Later that night we saw a live volcano. It was so amazing!
Today I wen to an iguana reserve. It was at a very fancy hotel where Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip went! I got to pet the iguanas. I got to hold them and even got to feed them. All iguanas have natural camouflage. The babies are light green like the leaves in the rain forest. The adults have striped tails unless it gets cut off. It grows back but it becomes just brown without stripes. Green iguanas all have three eyes! The third eye only sees black and white. It is used to look out for birds and located on the top of their head. Three iguanas I met are Stargazer, Ziggy, and Gnome. Stargazer is always on the ground because he is afraid of heights. He sleeps on his back like a dog! Something is wrong with his brain. Ziggy got her name because her body is zig-zaggy. She had a bone disease from not enough sunlight. Gnome is 9 years old. He gets to go to schools so kids can pet him. He is the nicest one. You should visit the Green Iguana Conservatory in San Ignacio, Belize. They are in danger! Some Belize people eat them but only the females. -Riley
Ziggy is on top of my head and I am holding Gnome in this picture. My mom and dad are each holding babies that don’t have names yet.
Ziggy hanging on my head.This is the dewlap of the iguana. It helps absorb sunlight.
