Boobies and presidents meet

Galapagos, land of red, blue and just plain old beige footed boobies (the latter is actually known as the Nazca booby) was used as the backdrop for a meeting between the Ecuadorian president, Lenin Moreno, and his Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet yesterday.  The meeting is portrayed by the Ecuadorean press as an opportunity to re-establish closer ties between the two South American Pacific nations after relations had cooled down somewhat in the past years.   They met at the Royal Palm hotel – among the few luxury hotels in the islands – in part likely due to a combination of its relatively easy access while at the same time being quite isolated, located in the highlands of Santa Cruz Island, just a few hundred metres off the main road.  This time of year, they were likely socked in by the garua, the low mist-laden clouds that tend to gather over the windward side of higher elevation islands such as Santa Cruz between June and December.