Santa Cruz is where our expedition took place today. It is the second largest island in Galápagos, yet the most populated. To be able to visit an island with those features gave our guests a very unique experience during this week because in addition to seeing the marvelous flora and fauna, they were able to get to know more about the local people.
The iconic species of the Galapagos Islands was seen for the first time on our expedition, “the giant tortoise.” In the morning when visiting the National Park’s rearing center, all guests had the chance to watch giant tortoises from several islands with different morphologic features in their shells. Perhaps one of the highlights was to observe the rearing process step by step, it was hard to believe the little hatchlings found at this place were going to become giants in the future.
After having a close encounter with the giant tortoises of the rearing center, all guests had time by themselves to explore the town of Puerto Ayora, the most populated in all four inhabited islands in the archipelago. Shortly afterwards a bus took us to the highlands to visit a “trapiche,” a small sugar cane mill situated inside a farm. We were able to meet a local family and observe the way they make a living out of the production of sugar cane juice, coffee, and moonshine.
Lunch was served in a nice restaurant strategically located near a tortoise reserve. Right after the meal we boarded buses to go on the search of a population of giant tortoises in the wild. Our search was very successful, many big tortoises were found! It was a great day in this marvelous paradise.
