Back in Panama!

The Enchanted Islands

Today is the last day of our sailboat tour in Galapagos. After seven days, we
have seen almost everything we came here to see but it is still too
short! We have seen land iguanas pacing their territory, marine
iguanas chewing away algae, giant tortoises strolling green pasture
male frigate birds holding red hearts to win their love, faithful
albatrosses dancing to win their lifetime mates, blue-footed boobies
diving like torpedoes, flightless cormorants drying their stubby
wings, penguins swimming with sea lions in the mangrove lagoon, sea turtles tumbling gracefully in the sea, whales, dolphins and sharks showing how effortlessly they dominate the waters and many many more! Everything we see is so fascinating.
If you haven't visited this place, let's plan a trip so we can come
back with you! If you pick only one place you must vist this lifetime,
it has to be Galapagos!
Pictures to come (satellite connection is very spotty).

Galapagos, sans Chamu

Chamu honors The King of Pop by stealing one of his moves

Learning Curve

Joaquin has been learning things very quickly lately. Today for the first time, he spoke me to on the phone and said "Ma-Ma, Ma-Ma". He also shows very good comprehension of what we are telling him. Today his grandma told him to see if mommy is back, he went to stand by the door and started calling "Ma-Ma" when my car pulled in to the parking lot. Since the last 8 days have been the first time in a while where we are not moving from one place to another, he has been dragging us tired adults to go out. He has already explored every room, looked at every corner and smelled every corner of the yard and he would shake his head when we are trying to get him back to the house. He also learned to say "Ah-Ma (Grandma in Taiwanese)". It seems that he is learning both of his mother tongue and father tongue very well too. If you don't believe us, just try asking him in either Mandarin or Spanish "how old are you?" and watch him tell you that he is ONE!!!

Bossy Boy

A bit of a milestone in communication this week: whereas Joaquin would point before in response to a question (where is the flower?), he started this week to point to things to ask for them, such as "I want to eat THAT corn", or "take me over there outside", or "pass me THAT toy". If you give him or feed him the wrong thing in response, he'll emphatically shake his head to say NO! and so on one goes by process of elimination.

Hokkaido

It has been a fantastic trip in our first stop, Hokkaido. JoJomami, however, finds it difficult to find time to keep up with her blog... Joaquin enjoyed the flowers, the blue sky, the clean air and the delicious milk (and food)!