Santa Cruz happens to be the second largest island, yet the most populated in the Galapagos archipelago.
The headquarters of both the National Park and the Charles Darwin Research Station are located in the town of Puerto Ayora, and we visited both today. At the rearing center of giant tortoises, we saw the entire process that hatchlings have to go through before being repatriated to the wild. It was hard to believe that a little tortoise, the size of a cellphone, was going to become giant in approximately one hundred years. Diego, better known as Super Diego was the highlight of our visit in the morning. Our guests were surprised to learn that this tortoise, along with fourteen others from the island of Española, was responsible for producing nearly two thousand babies which have been repatriated during the last decades. Shortly after our morning’s visit, our guests had some free time to spend in town. They enjoyed walking along the main street doing some shopping and interacting with the local people.
The next part of our excursion was done via bus. It was necessary because we had to leave Puerto Ayora and head up to the highlands of Santa Cruz. The bus went by two different villages, where locals live by cattle raising and agriculture. Before arriving to the restaurant for lunch, we stopped at “El Trapiche,” which is a sugar cane mill. We met a local family who live and work here, manufacturing different products made out of sugar cane juice, including moonshine!
In the afternoon after our delicious lunch, we went in search of the endemic giant tortoise from Santa Cruz. It was a successful hike, since we saw a couple of them. One was huge; it seemed to be over one hundred years old. In addition to the tortoise hunt, all guests were offered the chance to walk into a lava tunnel, which gave us an overview of the geology of this marvelous island.
