So far so good! In the last few days we have had a great time in the enchanted Galápagos Islands. Today, early in the morning, we all woke up with the view of the charming town of Puerto Ayora on the horizon. Right after breakfast we started this day of our expedition that is dedicated in its totality to Galápagos giant tortoises.
Santa Cruz Island is the base for the two main institutions that work as partners in the preservation of this enchanted archipelago. The Galápagos National Park Service, which is an Ecuadorian governmental organization, and the world renowned Charles Darwin Research Station, both established coincidentally in 1959. The institutions work together to collect, incubate, reproduce, repatriate, and ultimately save from extinction some of the vanishing Galápagos giant tortoises subspecies.
After disembarking at the Galápagos National Park dock and taking a short walk, we arrived to the Tortoise Breeding Center. We admired the many juvenile little tortoises that, as adults, will repopulate the islands with their descendants. We saw a famous tortoise individual, Diego. This tortoise lived in the San Diego Zoo for many decades before coming back to the Galápagos with the mission of saving his fading race, creating competition, and becoming the prolific father of hundreds of new tortoises.
After this informative and amusing visit we had the delight to stroll along the colorful streets of Puerto Ayora, capital of Santa Cruz Island to enjoy and take part of the routine activities of the local community. The fishermen’s wharf is one of the most interesting places to visit. Today a couple of Galápagos sea lions and some brown pelicans were around the fishermen, who were cutting fish, with the hope to win a morsel.
At around eleven in the morning we went by bus to the highlands to continue with the planned activities of the day. Before lunch we made a brief but interesting stop before arriving to Narwhal restaurant. We visited a sugarcane press that belongs to the Cabrera family. Many members of this Galápagos family showed us how they process and make a living by growing sugar cane and coffee in their property “El Trapiche.”
After lunch as all our guests had high hopes of seeing the giant reptiles of the Galápagos in the wilderness we went to “El Chato.” In this place we had a great time photographing and observing several gentle giants that were all over the place.
Late in the evening we all went to bed after this long but marvelous day, a little tired perhaps, but with our hearts and minds replenished with many feelings that will stay with us forever.
