After about 36 hours of boats, planes, airports (airport security in Iquitos, Lima and Quito), an airport bus, a short ferry and a taxi we arrived at our first Galapagos hotel a little weary. The Galapagos Islands are a part of Ecuador and are located about 620 miles from the mainland. We're staying in the city of Puerto Ayora on the Island of Santa Cruz. This laid back coastal town has a population of around 12,000 and is the largest city in the Galapagos Islands.
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| To get from the airport, which is on Baltra Island, to Santa Cruz you take a short ferry ride. Suitcases are stacked on top. I'm sure one or two have had to be fished out on choppy days. |
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| The ferry ride is only about five minutes and costs $1.00 |
Even though we were dragging a bit it was mid afternoon so we wanted to keep going until early evening. After checking in at the Galapagos Suites Hotel and getting some very helpful advice from the staff we headed out. Our first stop was the Charles Darwin Research Center which is an easy 15 minute walk from the hotel. The center offered some information on Darwin's work and is now very involved in conservation efforts of the giant Galapagos Tortoises. Thanks to their work the tortoise population is no longer endangered on the islands. It was fun to see these massive adults right on down to small hatchlings that were born earlier this year.
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| He tried but after a few minutes she got bored and slowly walked away. |
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| Tortoise Buddies |
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| The Research Center even has a swimming pool! |
The Research Center is located right along the coast and there were a couple of paths that led to down to the water. It was along this path that we encountered another animal common to the islands, the Marine Iguana. I've seen a lot of Iguana's in my day, but not any as large as these guys. There were hundreds of them along the path, beach and rocks. One thing that we had heard was that the animals in the Galapagos are oblivious to humans and we're finding that to be true. If an iguana had decided to rest in the middle of the path you simply had to walk around him.
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| An obstacle along the path |
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| He was at the Charles Darwin Center. Not a native of this island. |
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| Darwin Research Center Beach |
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| Handsome Young Man! |
After the Research Center we headed down into the main part of town. It has an interesting feel to it. Although the streets are lined with touristy t-shirt shops and tour operators it really doesn't have a "touristy" feel to it. There was a local fish market where fisherman were bringing in their catch of the day. There was a seal hanging out at the fishmarket that was just sitting with the vendors like he was one of the gang. It's illegal to feed them but I'm sure a scrap or two falls off the table every once in a while.
After a stroll around to get our bearings for future reference we headed back to the hotel. We were asleep by 8:00PM. Needless to say, neither one of us needed to be rocked to sleep.
