Santa Cruz Island
We have moved toward the central part of the enchanted archipelago to visit Puerto Ayora, which is the main town of this island and considered the “metropolis” of Galápagos, where about 16,000 people live today. This picturesque town is home to the Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galápagos National Park Service. Here we find several of their administration buildings, but more important of all, the breeding centers of both Galápagos land iguanas and giant tortoises. Walking through Puerto Ayora is an experience on its own. It is interesting to see how people live in the Galápagos: kids walking with their tight uniforms to school, women and men riding their bicycles to work, mariners at the main dock ready to embark the yachts and ships where they labor, fisherman cleaning fish in Pelican Bay. A busy town with intense life. The afternoon took us to the highlands to have lunch in the home of two inhabitants of this island, surrounded by lovely plants, in a place completely isolated and lost in the woods of Santa Cruz. We found some tortoises in the wild as well, and enjoyed the view of one of the most interesting geological formations of the island, the Pit Craters. I love coming to Santa Cruz, especially if one considers that this is the island where I was born and where I have spent most of my life.
We have moved toward the central part of the enchanted archipelago to visit Puerto Ayora, which is the main town of this island and considered the “metropolis” of Galápagos, where about 16,000 people live today. This picturesque town is home to the Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galápagos National Park Service. Here we find several of their administration buildings, but more important of all, the breeding centers of both Galápagos land iguanas and giant tortoises. Walking through Puerto Ayora is an experience on its own. It is interesting to see how people live in the Galápagos: kids walking with their tight uniforms to school, women and men riding their bicycles to work, mariners at the main dock ready to embark the yachts and ships where they labor, fisherman cleaning fish in Pelican Bay. A busy town with intense life. The afternoon took us to the highlands to have lunch in the home of two inhabitants of this island, surrounded by lovely plants, in a place completely isolated and lost in the woods of Santa Cruz. We found some tortoises in the wild as well, and enjoyed the view of one of the most interesting geological formations of the island, the Pit Craters. I love coming to Santa Cruz, especially if one considers that this is the island where I was born and where I have spent most of my life.
