The trip from Quito to the Galápagos was not particularly interesting, but it did consume a fair amount of our day. Our flight left the capital at 7:15 in the morning and stopped for about 30 minutes in Guayaquil, a fairly large coastal town, before continuing on to Baltras, the main airport for the Galapagos region. I had read that Baltras was desolate, and as we walked off the airplane I saw that it indeed it is a flat, dry, barren place.
At Baltras airport we had to present our passports and other documentation even though we had never actually left Ecuador. We had to even have our luggage inspected again, although this was mostly to make sure that we had brought no food with us. We waited around for a while before we were put on a bus. This took us to a small dock we were met there by a couple dinghies that took us to the ship.
We are passengers on the Marine Yacht Coral II. It is a pretty small boat. Even if were completely filled, I think there would only be about twenty passengers or so. Once we were all onboard, we figured out that there our comrades consisted of a family with three kids from Virginia, another with four girls from New York City, and a newly-married couple from Atlanta. I hope by tomorrow I will know everybody’s name.
From Baltras we went to nearby Santa Cruz Island. This is not the largest island geographically, but it does have the largest population. The volcanic peaks have largely been worn down, but the center of the island is a few hundred meters above sea level, and this is enough for the clouds to gather around it and produce some rain.
From the other side of the boat we could see some of the smaller, uninhabited islands. I think this one is called Daphne. As you can see, it is nothing but the remnants of some ancient volcano.
After we had lunch, we were all placed on two dinghies and we headed to shore. At one point, the boats seemed to be racing one another.
Once on land, we took a forty-five minutes bus ride from one side of the island to the other. It was a moderately interesting ride. We noticed the mangroves along the shore as we disembarked. As we started to climb, we passed through a barren forest landscape. I tried to ask our guide about the plants, but he did not seem to want to leave his prepared talk. I learned later from the Moon Guide that these were called Palo Santo or “Holy Trees” because they usually bloom around Christmas. I saw a couple starting to blossom, but most looked pretty dead.
Our destination for the day was the Charles Darwin Research Station in Puerto Ayora. The center is about a quarter mile or so from the center of town.
The Darwin Station engages in a wide variety of research and conservation activities, but breeding Galapagos Tortoises is the most important. There were at least half a million tortoises when the first Europeans arrived here; there are barely forty thousand left now. Three of the fourteen species are extinct. While the tortoises are no longer hunted by humans today — Darwin thought them quite tasty — rats, dogs, and other non-native species eat tortoise eggs and devour their tiny young. In order for the species to survive, they have to get bred in captivity and later released when they are old enough to survive on their own.
The Galápagos islands get their name from these tortoises. An early Spanish bishop thought that the shells looked like saddles: “galápago” is an old Spanish word for “saddle.” Darwin noted that the shape is an adaptation for survival. These turtle live in arid regions where they need to be able to reach the most food. Having a shell like this allows them to reach their heads much higher to eat leaves from bushes and small trees.
With no natural predators, the tortoises never evolved any aggressive mechanisms or behaviors. They are remarkably gentle creatures.
The children, even the young ones, were remarkably attentive and curious. I would be happy to have any of these kids on a field trip. While they found the turtles interesting, they really loved the iguanas.
There are two main kinds of iguanas in the Galápagos archipelago. The marine iguanas are a drab gray and black. This allows them to blend in on the volcanic rock found on the shore. The land iguanas are a little more colorful. I suspect this is has to do with mating as it does in many species, but I have yet to find anything in the guidebooks or the signage that confirms that.
The many varieties of cactus on the island also show evidence of natural selection. These cacti have enormous tree-like trunks to elevate the protect them from all the creatures that would eat them for water.
Bird life is quite abundant on the islands. I am a member of LA Audubon, but I admit that I am not particularly good at identifying birds. I think this is some kind of finch,
and I am pretty sure are frigate birds.
In the air or on the land, there always seems to be something interesting to look at. And most of the time the animals seem to be looking at you as well. This little guy was definitely checking us out.
I suppose a certain amount of shopping is obligatory on any group trip, and we spent about an hour in Puerto Ayora wandering about so that the people could purchase souvenirs. Puerto Ayora has about 12,000 residents and it is the center of commercial activity for the Galápagos Islands. If you are traveling to Ecuador and have more time than money, you can rent a hotel reasonably cheaply Puerto Ayora and do most of the islands as day trips. When we were younger, I am sure we would have done this instead of our short cruise. As these kinds of towns go, Puerto Ayora is, as the Moon Guide put it, “…hard to hate.” There is an abundance of overpriced tchotchke, but there are also some real galleries and not all that much honky tonk.
There is abundant natural life even here in this relative metropolis.
Some of the animals are quite comfortable living around humans, perhaps even grateful for the pleasant facilities provided.
There was some sense that we are nearly at Christmas. Outside the municipal buildings there was a small crèche.
I am not exactly sure who the visitor to the holy family on the left side is supposed to be, but it looked to me like a cross between a snowman and a Bolivian woman.
We stopped in at the church as well. It was a modern building with absolutely no architectural merit, but somebody did have the good sense to put in some stained glass of the local wildlife.
We returned to the bus and drove back to the ship. I started to doze off on the way back. We cleaned up and had dinner with our friends from Atlanta. Our guide says that tomorrow will be a full day of hiking and snorkeling.
