Santa Cruz Island
I remember this same place several years ago, when I was a little boy growing up in the Galapagos Islands. There was a small sandy beach, instead of the grass and cement of today’s park. It was a beach where, every day after school, we came to play. In the middle of the beach there was a tree, a mesquite tree, where the adults gathered together to sing songs and to talk about the good old days. That is the tree where the “highlanders”, people living in the highlands of Santa Cruz, used to tied up their donkeys, their only means of transportation.
That is the way I grew up. No television, no cinema, no packman. It was the ocean, the beach and the sea lions; and I loved it. Things have changed a lot. Instead of sandy roads there are cemented roads where many cars, maybe more than 200, pass by everyday. Instead of donkeys we use buses to get to the highlands. But I shouldn’t complain. The park areas are unaffected, the animals have not changed their behavior, the waters are yet pristine and both the National Park trails and our lovely towns are clean of any rubbish.
We are just a larger town, and as such, we live up to the modern world. But our hearts and love for nature are, and will always be the same. So today we shared, with Lindblad Expeditions guests, the beauty of civilization together with giant tortoises, vermilion flycatchers and finches. Another great day in the Galapagos islands!
I remember this same place several years ago, when I was a little boy growing up in the Galapagos Islands. There was a small sandy beach, instead of the grass and cement of today’s park. It was a beach where, every day after school, we came to play. In the middle of the beach there was a tree, a mesquite tree, where the adults gathered together to sing songs and to talk about the good old days. That is the tree where the “highlanders”, people living in the highlands of Santa Cruz, used to tied up their donkeys, their only means of transportation.
That is the way I grew up. No television, no cinema, no packman. It was the ocean, the beach and the sea lions; and I loved it. Things have changed a lot. Instead of sandy roads there are cemented roads where many cars, maybe more than 200, pass by everyday. Instead of donkeys we use buses to get to the highlands. But I shouldn’t complain. The park areas are unaffected, the animals have not changed their behavior, the waters are yet pristine and both the National Park trails and our lovely towns are clean of any rubbish.
We are just a larger town, and as such, we live up to the modern world. But our hearts and love for nature are, and will always be the same. So today we shared, with Lindblad Expeditions guests, the beauty of civilization together with giant tortoises, vermilion flycatchers and finches. Another great day in the Galapagos islands!
