Today we dropped anchor in front of the most populated islands in the Galápagos. After a dry landing on the town of Puerto Ayora, we soon arrived at the Charles Darwin Research Station and the Breeding Center of the Galápagos National Park Service, where we learned a lot about their current projects and all the efforts being invested to protect the endemic species living in this enchanted archipelago. It is fascinating to see Super Diego, the tortoise saving the species from Española Island, or even visit the corral where Lonesome George used to live, and to watch the baby tortoises that just hatched and one day will be over 500 pounds. All these projects will soon lead to a sustainable ecosystem where these species used to inhabit before.
After a walk along town where we had the chance to stop at the fishermen’s market and photograph the catch of the day, we soon rode buses to the highlands of Santa Cruz. The landscape all changed from arid brown to all green. Many vegetation zones had passed since we left the coastline and now it is the humid zone where we stopped. We arrived at a local hacienda where we learned about the artisanal way of transforming sugar cane juice into sugar and alcohol. After the visit to the local farm we headed out to have lunch.
In the afternoon we had the choice to explore the highlands and look for tortoises in the wild. We found several tortoises grazing the grounds and enjoying some nice time in the rain water ponds. These giants have plenty of food here in the humid zone and this is basically a tortoise paradise. Females usually migrate down to the littoral zone to lay their eggs but some were spotted eating the grass and the guava fruits near the ponds. After looking for giant tortoises we entered a lava tube and hiked into it; this was a great opportunity to learn about the geology of the Galápagos Islands while we were walking several meters underground.
After a beautiful expedition on this island we were surprised by having a local band aboard the National Geographic Islander to perform for us with traditional Andean and Galapaguean music for us.
