Santa Cruz Island
It is Christmas morning on Puerto Ayora, the largest inhabited settlement in the Galápagos Islands. The streets look nearly desolated; some stores and a few restaurants are opened however, and of course, the National Park Breeding Center, where tortoises from different islands are bred and raised in captivity as part of effective restoration programs. A marine iguana seems to be one of the few creatures meandering along the main road of town. It’s a male, bright in colors, probably feeling the call of the breeding season, or, if we want to be more creative, the call of the season’s holidays, as it’s painted in red with hints of green.
The one place where there is a lot of activity is the fishermen’s dock, where not only people, but also pelicans, frigates, and sea lions are involved into either commercializing fish, or, cleaning any leftovers. It’s delightful to observe how human beings and animals do not interfere with each other, know their boundaries, and share plenteousness. This is Galápagos!
And talking about abundance I must mention the dozens of Galápagos giant tortoises we encountered in the wild, roaming in the highlands of Santa Cruz. At night, we enjoyed the visit of Swen Lorenz, the Charles Darwin Foundation executive director, who tells us about conservation, its challenges and successful stories.
There is a delicious dinner, with turkey, gravy, pannetone, hot chocolate, and ham in pineapple—the musts in an traditional Ecuadorian Christmas dinner; then we enjoy the visit of musicians from town, we dance, feel joyful, and at peace. What better place to celebrate a happy holyday than this enchanted archipelago, which brings out the best in all of us!
