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| Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz |
After yesterday's adventures, I was exhausted waking up.
Besides, I felt we had reached the peak of the trip. But, today we get to see
giant tortoises . . .the animal the Galapagos is most famous for. It was going to be a much more relaxing day
for mid-week.
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| I thought the scooters were cute |
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| This lake is covered with red fern |
Then, we went to the Darwin Research Center. They are very careful to keep breeding
tortoises with their own species, which are unique from one island to another.
They also collect eggs from the islands to protect them from feral animals. The
hatchlings are numbered and color coded according to island. When they mature,
they are eventually returned to the island where the eggs were found.
We saw the widows of Lonesome George. He never bred with the
females from his species and there are no more males left. The same will
eventually happen to Diego if he doesn't breed. These boys are not very smart
about breeding and don't seem to want to.
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| Diego |
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| Widows |
There is an area with several tortoises from different
islands. These were rescued from people's back yards where they were kept as
pets. They try to mate, but don't have the proper terrain for laying eggs, so
there isn't a risk of interspecies breeding. And, they are also confused. It
sounds painful, but sideways isn't quite right.
The cactuses are really bizarre here. They are large tree trunks with cactus leaves really high. I'm a little fascinated by them. If they survive being eaten by turtles and get large enough where the leaves are out of range of the long necks, they grow this tall.
On the pier, we encountered mini-godzillas.
At lunch, our temporary chef put out a pretty display. This
is an Ok time to talk about the food. It was just OK. The company knew I ate
plant-based and assured me that they were used to it and could accomodate.
Well, it didn't get to the crew somehow and accomodation meant elimination. The
typical breakfast of eggs and meat, for me was toast and tomatoes and fruit.
Lots of fresh fruit and juice. Lunch was salad mostly, but lots of cucumbers,
cabbage, tomatoes, onions, etc. Oh, and lots of fresh fruit and juice. Snacks
were fresh fruit. Dinner was just like lunch. Dessert was fresh fruit. I didn't
think I would get tired of pineapple, papaya, mango . . .but I did. Initially I
loved the variety of juice (with every meal), but right now I don't care if I
never see juice again. And, just let me tell you, when you are eating nothing
but fresh fruit and fresh vegetables of a limited variety . . .well, you know,
some people pay a lot of money to go to a spa for a "fruit cleanse." I got it "gratis" with this trip (bonus?), and this was about the day it started to kick in. It wasn't in my plans, but I got the benefit. I lost 9 pounds by the time I got
home. It's a diet plan!!! Was that TMI? I must admit, greens, grains, legumes, seeds, nuts .
. .would have been amazing. Dinner that
night was in town, and the vegetable quinoa was AMAZING!!!
Anyway, after lunch, we walked through town and saw construction that would not meet OSHA standards.
We found the trailhead to
Tortuga Bay and took the 2.5K hike on winding and hilly pavers to the beach. It
was a soft and white as the best beaches in Florida. It was nice and relaxing,
until the hike back to the pier.
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| This guy came to sit with me on the beach. I did not run away. I felt very brave |
We had dinner in town and walked around a bit. The Musician was chased off a park bench. If he hadn't moved, this cutie would have sat in his lap. Should I be jealous?
This was the half-way point of the trip and a great relaxing day. ZZZZZZZZZZZ.........
