Today we anchored off the bay that protects the largest town in the archipelago, Puerto Ayora. After a lovely breakfast, we had a dry landing and headed to visit the breeding center of the Galapagos National Park. We also passed by the buildings of the Charles Darwin Foundation, and learned about the many projects that scientists are currently developing in the Galapagos archipelago. The breeding center had a number of species of tortoises from different islands and different sizes and ages. One of the main objectives here is to obtain the tortoise’s eggs bred in captivity, incubate them, and repatriate them back to their home islands, once they have reached a safe age. We did see an interesting individual of the breeding center called Diego, a giant tortoise from Espanola Island who was living in the San Diego Zoo for forty years before returning home to save his species from extinction. Right after that, we visited a small local hacienda where we learned about the processes of sugar cane juice transformation into sugar, alcohol and syrup, together with a tasty homemade coffee production. There was a group that reached there by bike, while the rest did it by bus. The alcohol we tasted, several times, called “aguardiente” was 150 proof. As a result, I think we danced a bit, I don’t really remember well…
After lunch, we went to visit the giant tortoises in the wild. Many very old male tortoises were spotted, some walking in the middle of the road, while others were feeding or cooling off in the rain water ponds. This was basically tortoise paradise, where the green grass kept these giants happy and returning every season. We also entered a double-decker lava tube. It is a large geological feature very common in volcanic islands like the Galapagos, but can be unsettling to those not used to it. My group walked in all holding hands. It was a nice end top another day in paradise…
