Galapagos Island Adventure, days 4, 5, 6, 7

Hello!  Sorry for the absence.  We've had 11 of our children and grandchildren visiting over the last few weeks.  It was wonderful and we loved every minute!  You have probably had a few things going on in your lives as well and have now forgotten what we were doing here a month ago.

So, to recap a bit -- we were in the Galapagos Islands and were probably up to about day four of our adventure.  Something like that.  At the very beginning Bob made a map of where we went and somehow it fell off and disappeared, so let's try that again and maybe that will help.

Or not.  Hmmm.  This looks like the Los Angeles freeway system in the old Johnny Carson monologue:  "You take the San Diego Freeway to the Ventura Freeway to the Slauson Cutoff ..." Anyway, the red dashes represent days 1-5 and the black, 6-10.

We are in Santa Cruz at this point.  We went swimming at Bachas Bay and saw these little fellows streaking along in the shallow water.  They are a variety of small shark that you could almost think of as kind of cute.

And a parrot fish looking all dressed up for a date.

We went hiking at Cerro Dragon and were lucky enough to see a few flamingos.

Nap-time

Cerro Dragon Santa Cruz

Finally, we arrive at Puerto Ayora.  This is what we have been waiting for -- the Giant Tortoises!

Santa Cruz Highlands

Although the Galapagos Islands are a national park, they are inhabited by about 30,000 people mostly on the larger islands.  In the upper area of Santa Cruz where the largest tortoises are found, the park essentially pays landowners to allow the tortoises to walk freely on their land and to permit tourists in to see them.  We were told the landowner here was paid about $20,000 a month.  The arrangement includes an agreement to not build fencing that would impede the tortoises from moving as they wished.  

We never saw any park rangers or anyone employed there aside from people in a small picnic area selling refreshments.  Groups of tourists like us arrived and strolled around supervised only by their guides.  You could certainly take a taxi up there by yourself and be supervised by no one at all.  I am picturing tortoises covered in the graffiti.  Fortunately we saw nothing like that. 

What we did see was fairly breath-taking when we first arrived -- these enormous walking boulders everywhere!  They were sleeping in the sun, munching on the lush grass, sitting in mud holes and just living as they have for millions of years.  

Santa Cruz Highlands

They are not quite so oblivious to humans as the iguanas are.  I had the distinct impression that although they tolerated us, they found us annoying.  If you got too close to their faces, they absented themselves from the conversation as all tortoises do.

Keep a respectful distance though and they are more or less content to pose.  

It was lovely up there in the Highlands -- lush and green, sunny, but cool for the equator.  We discovered a side benefit that surprises us when we spotted smooth-billed anis in the trees and on the grass.  It's kind of a primitive-looking bird, but we were nevertheless very happy to see it.  We had chased this particular bird for two visits to Texas, making a dash to where we heard they had been seen only to be told they left the day before.  Well, there he was right in front of us and we only had go to 600 miles off Ecuador to see him.

Then we went back to town to the Charles Darwin Research Station.  

Darwin Research Center Santa Cruz

What we were told is happening here is research and tortoise breeding.  I thought there would be -- I don't know -- researchers?  At least a few employees walking around.  Instead it's a rather sleepy place. They are having funding issues, which is worrying.  

It was also going on mid-afternoon, on the coast, on the Equator and getting real hot.  Maybe that's it.  

Then an interesting thing.  This was Lonesome George's home for over 40 years.  

Lonesome George is perhaps the most famous of the giants tortoises -- although that would be a pretty short list.  In 2012 Lonesome George was found dead in his corral.  It made the news here and all over the world.  There was a great outpouring of sadness.  He was not the oldest tortoise and he was not the largest.  He was the last of his kind.  There are (or were) 10 subspecies of giant Galapagos tortoises.  That fact actually was Darwin's particular interest in them.  To make a long story too short, they don't migrate, if they were born on a particular island, they stayed and developed adaptations to the different environments of each island and thus became different from each other.  In 1971 George was found wandering on Pinta Island.  This was exciting news as Pinta tortoises had been thought to be extinct.  Alas, he was alone on his island.  He was eventually brought to the Darwin Center and provided a large comfortable pen, which his caretakers thoughtfully populated with attractive lady tortoises.  They hoped he would produce offspring that were half Pintas.  But he was having none of it.  In one especially silly episode, they thought that he had forgotten how these things were done and they played videos for him of tortoises mating. Yes, really.  And so it went until the sad day in 2012.  He is still famous and still loved.  His remains are on display at the Smithsonian and wood carvings of his image can be found can be found in any souvenir shop.  The real one is gone now, all of them are.  Perhaps some of George's DNA will be used to create a new line of Pinta tortoises.  But it won't be quite the same, will it?

   

This was George's enclosure.  When he was alive there was a plaque there that read:  "Whatever happens to this single animal, let him always remind us that the fate of all living things on Earth is in human hands."

In other pens, there are lots of babies.  Each has a sign showing their subspecies and the date they hatched.  They are so cute!  They stump around like toddlers exploring their world.  Amazing to look at them and know that, given luck, these babies will live 200 years and weigh 500 pounds.  

We wish them all luck and leave the Darwin Center.  It is a long walk out.  And it's really really HOT now.  We were all drawn as if by magic to the first place we came to that sold beer.  Some time later we are revived enough to continue to the pier where we will be picked up by our panga.  

Oh good -- a parade!  They love them in South America.  They all must feature local beauty queens and this one seems to have a large blue footed booby.

Home, James!