Today we arrived to the island of Santa Cruz where we find the largest human population in the archipelago and also the Charles Darwin Research Station’s main headquarters and the “Fausto Llerena” breeding center for giant tortoises. At this site the National Park has approximately 1,100 juvenile giant tortoises from different islands. As they turn four years old, they will be repatriated to the same island where their parents were born.
Another emblematic species of reptiles from the archipelago are the Galapagos land iguanas which had their own reproductive program, but at this moment it is on hold as this species seems to be doing great on their own.
After seeing the breeding center we had a great opportunity to explore the town of Puerto Ayora and as the morning was ending we had a couple of activities. Some of our guests went on a fun bike ride to a local farm in the highlands while others took a bus to the same place. This local farm produces sugarcane, coffee, and bananas. There we learned how to roast coffee, make molasses, and the local way to make “aguardiente” which is strong alcohol for some of the local drinks and it comes from sugarcane.
We left the farm at the end of the morning and headed to a local restaurant for lunch. After lunch we went to “El Manzanillo” farm that is next to the tortoise reserve and went there looking for these reptiles. We were very successful and found several tortoises including a couple that was mating in middle of the forest. After exploring this area we returned to Puerto Ayora where we stayed anchored the rest of the evening.
