Our expedition in the enchanted Islands continues with our visit today in Santa Cruz Island. After breakfast we disembarked at the municipal dock of Puerto Ayora (the main town of the island) in order to explore the rearing center of giant tortoises located in the facilities of the national park service. All guests were very excited because for the first time in their journey, they came across the emblematic species of the Galápagos, the giant tortoises. Moreover it was very special to get to see the rearing program step by step, starting with the newborn hatchlings and the ones ready to be transported back into the wild.
Our visit to the rearing center was followed by some time to walk through town and a quick visit to a farm where a nice local family showed us their sugar cane mill as well as some products they manufacture with sugar cane juice.
After a wonderful lunch in the highlands, we boarded buses to go on with the other part of the trip, which included a hike on grasslands to find the endemic Santa Cruz giant tortoise in the wild, and a walk inside a small lava tunnel. It was a successful visit since there were many big giant tortoises among us.
The day came to an end with a delicious dinner aboard and some endemic musicians from town that played Galapagos songs and performed beautiful dances wearing traditional hand-painted dresses.
