We arrived at the largest town in the Galapagos located on Santa Cruz Island.
After a dry landing, we entered the national park service facilities and saw our first giant tortoises in captivity. Many of these tortoises were part of important conservation projects. Some of these giant reptiles were more than 100 years old, and many were eating the remains of a flame tree that the park rangers offered them. It was sunny, so many of tortoises were seeking shade under the few shrubs within their corrals. Some of these creatures used to be pets a long time ago before the park service existed.
At a different corral within the breeding center is a male giant tortoise that was brought back to the islands from the San Diego Zoo. A big star among many conservation projects, he helped the tortoise species from Espanola Island recover from the threat of extinction. In only a few years, Super Diego (together with 12 females and two other males) produced more than 1,800 offspring that have been successfully repatriated to Espanola. Super Diego was quite a character to meet.
As we headed to the highlands, we visited a sugar cane press, where we learned about products made from sugar cane juice, such as strong “white lightning” alcohol. Some of us got to taste the juice of the sugar cane by chewing the cane itself. We also learned about the coffee-making process.
After lunch we got to see many giant tortoises in the wild. Several of these giant reptiles were seen along the way, some eating while others cooled off in the mud. We also saw pintail ducks enjoying the rain water ponds. It was a completely different ecosystem and landscape once we entered the highlands. At the end we hiked into a lava tube and learned more about the geological structure of places like this. All the interesting features made us feel amazed as we explored the Galapagos underground, where water drops fell from the roof creating an interesting air-conditioned effect with fresh cool air inside.
