Day 2: January 2nd
Early wake up! Headed down for breakfast and enjoyed some interesting breakfast foods but all were delicious! We then headed to the airport to catch our flight to the Galapagos! To get into the Galapagos, we had to pay $20 each for our bags at the airport and then a $100 fee when we landed since the Galapagos is a National Park. Today's flight left on time and since it was a 1.5 hour flight, we were given a snack (turkey sandwich with a pesto sauce) and beverage service. We landed on Baltra with no problem and walked on the tarmac towards the small airport on the island. Customs was a breeze and after grabbing our luggage, we headed to a bus that would take us to a boat. The bus ride was fairly short and the scenery reminded me of a desert - just sand, rocks, and some cacti here and there. After reaching the dock, and thanking the gods above for getting me off that super packed bus, we loaded onto a taxi boat that took us across the water to Santa Cruz. There we met with our local guide and hopped on a bus. On our way to the hotel, we talked about some super important topics like the goat eradication that occurred on some of the islands - Diego is a biologist who actually took part in the eradication! - and also how DEET and DDT are poisoning the endemic birds. Our first stop was at Los Genelos or "the twins" which were craters created when the island was forming and the plates coming together caused an air bubble to form which then caused the land to collapse as the land was being forced down. Our second stop was the tortoise ranch. The rule on the islands is to stay at least 3 meters (10 feet) away from all wildlife as the lotions/perfumes/soaps we use cause harm to the tortoises. It was amazing to walk around and see these giants so close! While we were there, we also walked through lava tunnels which were created when lava moved through the ground like a river. The ranch had complimentary lemon grass tea and coffee in a restaurant area that also had carapaces and tortoise bones.
After taking a short break there, we made our way to our hotel where we sat down for lunch. Lunch here was pretty interesting: fish soup with yucca and plantains as the starter and a pork dish with cabbage salad, yucca, and rice as the entree. We had some down time before heading out for our next adventure! Via taxi boat, we headed to Las Grietas which is an awesome place to swim in cool ocean water between two tall cliffs where the earth has opened up like a crack. The emerald green water is a stark contrast to the black volcanic rock that comes up from the bottom. After swimming and watching others cliff jump, we headed back along the trail and sat on a small beach to watch the sunset. After taking the taxi boat back, we had some time before dinner to roam the shops or head back to shower - I of course picked to shop! The main road had a lot of shops but most seemed to sell the same things. I ended up getting something for my little brother, myself, and my mom. Dinner time! Chicken with rice, mixed veggies, and fried plantain. Before our nightly meeting, we all had time to shower off and get comfy. Lori and I gave our presentation on Biodiversity in the Galapagos and the Amazon - click here to see it. After Lori and I finished, Tait gave us the run down of the next day and then we all headed to bed.
After taking a short break there, we made our way to our hotel where we sat down for lunch. Lunch here was pretty interesting: fish soup with yucca and plantains as the starter and a pork dish with cabbage salad, yucca, and rice as the entree. We had some down time before heading out for our next adventure! Via taxi boat, we headed to Las Grietas which is an awesome place to swim in cool ocean water between two tall cliffs where the earth has opened up like a crack. The emerald green water is a stark contrast to the black volcanic rock that comes up from the bottom. After swimming and watching others cliff jump, we headed back along the trail and sat on a small beach to watch the sunset. After taking the taxi boat back, we had some time before dinner to roam the shops or head back to shower - I of course picked to shop! The main road had a lot of shops but most seemed to sell the same things. I ended up getting something for my little brother, myself, and my mom. Dinner time! Chicken with rice, mixed veggies, and fried plantain. Before our nightly meeting, we all had time to shower off and get comfy. Lori and I gave our presentation on Biodiversity in the Galapagos and the Amazon - click here to see it. After Lori and I finished, Tait gave us the run down of the next day and then we all headed to bed.
Day 3: January 3rd
We had some free time in the morning before our boat ride to Isabela so myself and a few others went back to Las Grietas to hike along some of the trails and take pictures. We all met up around 10:30 so that Abby, Angelique, and Elana could give their presentation on Ecotourism. As the girls pointed out, ecotourism allows you to travel to pristine and protected places all while educating the traveler. The three places that they focused on were Galapagos, Quilatoa, and Cotopaxi all of which have various activities for the adventurous nature lover. At Cotopaxi, there is mountain climbing, downhill biking, and horseback riding. At Quilatoa there is a hiking loop that takes 3-5 days to complete but it goes through various villages along the ten stops. In the Galapagos the majority of activities include maritime fun like cruises, diving, snorkeling, and kayaking. However, all these places have negative impacts on the environment such as air and water pollution, ecosystem degradation, soil erosion, and invasive species. Although ecotourism is great for a big group of environmentalists like us and brings in a lot of income for the locals, there are obvious negative impacts to the environment. After the presentation, we headed to the marina to eat lunch - I had pumpkin soup to start and spaghetti with meat sauce as my entree. Our boat ride to Isabela was two hours long and in between my cat naps, I saw some blue footed boobies, dolphins, and a bunch of smaller islands. When we reached Isabela, we had to load onto a smaller taxi boat to get to the dock but once we made it to dry land, we met our local guide, Paola, and then loaded everything up into a safari type bus - open back with no doors or windows. After checking in to the hotel, we went on a bike ride to see some American flamingos that live in an old mining area. The flamingos were introduced but there are only 300 left on Isabela however, the world population is healthy. The mine was used for mining lava rocks which were used to help build houses but banned once the National Park was established. After taking pictures, we biked back to drop off our bikes and then had some free time before dinner so a small group of us went to the beach. While we were there, we got to see a sea lion eating a fish head as well as a ton of crabs and iguanas. We had dinner at a small restaurant since the hotel we were staying at didn't serve dinner but they worked out something with this small place so that we could get lunches and dinners while we were on Isabela. Dinner included carrot soup, chicken, beans, rice, and cake. We didn't have a meeting planned for tonight so I walked with a group along the main road and we hung out on the beach before heading to bed.
Day 4: January 4th
Today wasn't an early morning but I still got up to eat breakfast and have some time to prepare for the day. We went in groups to go snorkeling and for a small hike on one of the islands. My group went out and went snorkeling first. Before most of us made it into the water, Greg accidentally touched a sea urchin and Tait had to take him to the emergency room - luckily he was okay after they took out all of the spines and gave him some medicine for the pain. While we were snorkeling, I saw so many sea turtles (my inner child was ecstatic!!), sea stars, sea urchins, and various fish. Our guide for the morning actually caught a puffer fish and held it above the water for us to see him all puffed up - the fish was okay as the guide would put him below the water every once in a while and let him go after about 5 minutes. We were able to snorkel for about an hour before we headed to a small island called Tintorera. The island was formed from one of Sierra Negra's vents and the lava that flowed from the vent cooled very quickly and this defined the shape of the rocks. The rocks were still very warm for hundreds of years and with the waves hitting them constantly, salt stayed in them which also kept other minerals in the rocks. Aside from the waves, rain can also shape the rocks. Because there was a seasonally low tide while we were there, our guide let us wander onto a beach that is normally covered by water. While we were down there, we got to see marine iguanas and see lions (even some babies!). After we all got a million pictures, we headed back to the main part of the island and walked past a marine iguana nesting site before heading back on the boat to go back to Isabela. On the boat ride to and from Tintorera, we were able to see penguins swim by our boat! Once we docked, we thanked our guide and crew and then headed back to the hotel to change and get ready for lunch - for me I ate fried rice and veggies, piña juego, and jello. After lunch, we headed to Sierra Negra with Paola and as the bus was moving more inland and higher in elevation, it got drastically cooler and it started to rain. Sierra Negra is the only volcano open to the public on the islands, is about 4,000 ft in elevation (800 m), and has a diameter of 10 km. It last erupted in 2005 but now only the northwest portion of the volcano is active. Along the trail the most invasive species is the guava and because there are so many small birds such as mocking birds, warblers, and finches, the seeds continue to be spread.
Since it was really misting when we got there, Paola and Diego decided that the hike wouldn't be worth it since we couldn't see that far. So instead we would make three stops before heading back to the hotel. Our first stop was Cueva de Sucre or Sucre's Cave. The cave is located on a farm that was bought by the government because of the forest that surrounds it. The cave is another lava tunnel but has lichens that "glow" gold when a flashlight is on them. The cave had no lighting so we all had to use our flashlights or phone flashlights in order to move around. Our second stop was the tortoise breeding center where giant tortoises from each island are kept separate and encouraged to breed. However, since the males reach reproductive age at 15 and the females reach reproductive age at 25, the males and females are kept separated until they are both 25 years old. The best way to tell males from females is by looking at their tail - males have a long tail while females have a short one. Paola explained that there are small containers of sweet water to attract the yellow jackets and cause them to drown since the yellow jackets are the biggest threat to the tortoises. Our last stop was at Mirador "El Mango" which is a beautiful lookout spot perfect for taking pictures of the island. While we were up there, Paola answered any questions we had and pointed out that there was a compost pile burning fairly close to where we were. Since it was our last day with her, we took a group picture with her before heading back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner. Dinner that night was chicken soup, chicken with rice, and horchata. Instead of a presentation, we had a reflection meeting where we discussed some topics that had been on our minds lately. One was the fact that the Galapagos naturalists had told us that wildlife is to be left as is even if the animal is sick or dying and yet there are many breeding centers for tortoises. Tait compared this to Zimbabwe saying that there are man-made watering holes that force the animals to stay in a certain area so that when the tourist groups come through, they're able to see everything they're promised to see. Another topic that we discussed was energy on the islands. Isabela currently runs on diesel but they are switching over to solar thanks to German investors. Because there is foreign donation, this is one reason why the government is hesitant to give money to the islands for repairs or to be put towards the locals. Another topic (that I found super interesting) was the water problems the islands have - they are surrounded by water but are unable to drink from the tap. Isabela has a plant that desalinates water but the membrane was out of commission and the government was refusing to buy a new one so the locals have to buy bottled water to drink and cook with. There are other means to desalinate especially on Isabela - Sierra Negra is generally always surrounded by clouds and therefore cloud capture could result in drinking water. Most of the older islands, like Santa Cruz, have freshwater that they pump from the shore. After our meeting, I went back to my room to get all my stuff ready to go back to Santa Cruz in the morning since we had an early morning ahead of us.
Since it was really misting when we got there, Paola and Diego decided that the hike wouldn't be worth it since we couldn't see that far. So instead we would make three stops before heading back to the hotel. Our first stop was Cueva de Sucre or Sucre's Cave. The cave is located on a farm that was bought by the government because of the forest that surrounds it. The cave is another lava tunnel but has lichens that "glow" gold when a flashlight is on them. The cave had no lighting so we all had to use our flashlights or phone flashlights in order to move around. Our second stop was the tortoise breeding center where giant tortoises from each island are kept separate and encouraged to breed. However, since the males reach reproductive age at 15 and the females reach reproductive age at 25, the males and females are kept separated until they are both 25 years old. The best way to tell males from females is by looking at their tail - males have a long tail while females have a short one. Paola explained that there are small containers of sweet water to attract the yellow jackets and cause them to drown since the yellow jackets are the biggest threat to the tortoises. Our last stop was at Mirador "El Mango" which is a beautiful lookout spot perfect for taking pictures of the island. While we were up there, Paola answered any questions we had and pointed out that there was a compost pile burning fairly close to where we were. Since it was our last day with her, we took a group picture with her before heading back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner. Dinner that night was chicken soup, chicken with rice, and horchata. Instead of a presentation, we had a reflection meeting where we discussed some topics that had been on our minds lately. One was the fact that the Galapagos naturalists had told us that wildlife is to be left as is even if the animal is sick or dying and yet there are many breeding centers for tortoises. Tait compared this to Zimbabwe saying that there are man-made watering holes that force the animals to stay in a certain area so that when the tourist groups come through, they're able to see everything they're promised to see. Another topic that we discussed was energy on the islands. Isabela currently runs on diesel but they are switching over to solar thanks to German investors. Because there is foreign donation, this is one reason why the government is hesitant to give money to the islands for repairs or to be put towards the locals. Another topic (that I found super interesting) was the water problems the islands have - they are surrounded by water but are unable to drink from the tap. Isabela has a plant that desalinates water but the membrane was out of commission and the government was refusing to buy a new one so the locals have to buy bottled water to drink and cook with. There are other means to desalinate especially on Isabela - Sierra Negra is generally always surrounded by clouds and therefore cloud capture could result in drinking water. Most of the older islands, like Santa Cruz, have freshwater that they pump from the shore. After our meeting, I went back to my room to get all my stuff ready to go back to Santa Cruz in the morning since we had an early morning ahead of us.
Day 5: January 5th
Super early morning! We had to be up and ready to go by 5:15 to get the boat back to Santa Cruz. We loaded the bus and headed to the dock to catch a water taxi before loading onto the main boat. We said our final goodbyes to Paola and gave her a huge hug while thanking her for a wonderful time on her island. The boat ride back to Santa Cruz was another 2 hours and aside from taking a few pictures of the sunrise, I decided it would be best to take a nap so that I could really be ready for the day ahead (especially since it was our last day in the Galapagos!). Once we got back to Santa Cruz, we checked back into the same hotel from a few nights ago and got ready to head out to Tortuga Bay beach. We walked to the trail that lead to the beach and although the trail felt like it would never end, it was an absolute relief to see the ocean. We walked to a spot near some mangrove trees that had posts where we could hang some of our things. In this area of the bay, we could rent snorkels or kayaks for a small fee or just swim and lay out in the sun (I did the latter cause I was in need of some Vitamin D). After heading back to the hotel to shower off, change, and eat lunch, we then walked to the Charles Darwin Research Center (CDRC). There we walked along a trail that discussed various topics including when and why Darwin came to the islands. Darwin was originally meant to stay on the islands for 5 weeks to study the mockingbirds' beak size but the finches caught his attention and then sparked an interest causing him to change his course of study. After he concluded his study, he headed back to England with a tortoise. That tortoise was 50 years old when Darwin took it from the island and it lived to be 257 years old! It is believed that the four species of iguanas (marine, terrestrial, iguana de Santa Fe, and iguana rosada) evolved from a common ancestor and that the birds living on the land adapted to feeding in the ocean like the flightless camaran. In total there are 40,000 tortoises in the wild among the 11 species and that the first breeding center was CDRC. Lonesome George was the last of the Pinta Island species and he was found in 1971 and moved to CDRC on Santa Cruz. He was a symbol of the land but he sadly died before ever reproducing because although researchers found tortoises that were close to the Pinta Island tortoise female, George refused to mate with them. Since he was a staple of the center, they decided that George would be stuffed and placed in a case in a special building so that everyone could see him. In the building, you had to enter and stand in a small room for two minutes to get cooled off to the temperature of George's room before going in to see him. The room is dimly lit and George stands tall in his case - flash photography is not allowed so the picture I have is actually the best angle as it catches the light just perfectly enough to see him. Finishing up our tour of the center, Diego pointed out that there is some housing available to the researchers at the center allowing them to really delve into their work. We had some free time before dinner so Lori and I wandered into this small ceramics garden and then walked around, did some shopping, and went to the main dock where we were able to see a juvenile black tipped shark, a sea lion, and a large school of silver fish. A small group of us decided to skip out on the dinner at the hotel and went to go get pizza and since we didn't have a meeting, we explored the town some more and just hung out. I sadly called it an early night as my stomach wasn't feeling well so I went back to the hotel to rest up - little did I know that my night would be filled with hugging the toilet and not being able to sleep as my stomach was turning on me.