Santa Cruz Island
Today we dedicated the whole day to the unparalleled Galápagos giant tortoises. Early in the morning we all woke up with the sight of the picturesque town of Puerto Ayora in the horizon. We all had high hopes to see the giants of the Galápagos in their home islands. Right after breakfast we started our expedition. After disembarking at the Galápagos National Park dock and a short walk, we arrived to the Charles Darwin Research Station’s Tortoise Breeding Center. We began observing many young hatchlings that today were very active moving all around their pens. For many of our visitors, one of the most thrilling moments of the day, and probably of the week, was when we observed the already legendary “Lonesome George.” This admired tortoise is unfortunately the last remaining individual from Pinta Island. Today George was full of life moving from one side to the other in his ample enclosure. George is not so lonely after all for it is accompanied by two attractive female tortoises from Española Island who happened to be genetically speaking, George’s closets relatives. Next in popularity was another famous tortoise individual, Diego. This tortoise lived in the San Diego Zoo for many decades after coming back to help save his vanishing race. Diego has been extremely successful for he is the proud and fecund father of hundreds of Galápagos baby tortoises that are, little by little, repopulating Española Island.
After visiting the Darwin Centre we had the delight to stroll along the colorful streets of Puerto Ayora, capital of Santa Cruz Island and home of around twenty thousand souls. We rode buses once again and went to the exuberant highlands of Santa Cruz Island to have lunch at a local restaurant. We all made a brief but interesting stop before arriving to restaurant. We visited a sugarcane press, at Bellavista Town, where a local Galápagos family showed us how they process and make a living by growing sugar cane and coffee. We even had time to cross a long lava tunnel that is strategically located for it finishes right in front of the restaurant’s entrance.
After lunch, a bus ride took us to see the giant tortoises in the wild. We saw many of them and we all had the rare but unforgettable opportunity to contemplate in a relaxed fashion while mingling among these antediluvian-looking giants. We counted way over 60 giant tortoises roaming around; some of them were seen waddling in a mud pond. Tortoises use these ponds to cool down and to clean themselves from ectoparasites that live on their thick skin.
The icing of the cake of the day was a group of local professional dancers and musicians that came aboard in the evening to entertain us with their joyful choreographies and lively music. We all went to bed after this long day, perhaps a little tired, but with our hearts and minds replenished with new memories and feelings that will stay with us forever.
