Our last full day in The Galápagos was a huge success! We started out early to take a 40 minute ride to a beach where Bill, Trey, Annette and Grant went kayaking for about 90 minutes. I sat under a tree on the beach to watch Gaby and KC play in the waves!
From the beach, we to a sugar cane and coffee farm. They were literally making “moonshine “ from the syrup of the sugar cane. The cane juice is in a large vat fermenting for two days. From that they make the alcohol and sell it locally. They also raise and sell coffee. The farm had the sweetest golden lab, Max! He loved Grant and the girls and they loved him. We also spotted this cool Barn Owl in the rafters of the hut on the farm!
Next we were off to lunch at this beautiful new hotel/restaurant in town right on the ocean. They even have their own Sea Lion family that lives by the dock! Food was delicious and several people went with Hamburgers that were on the menu. After lunch, we head to the Charles Darwin Museum. Darwin arrived in the Galápagos in 1835. He was the first naturalist to visit the islands and sis credited with helping people understand about the special Tortoises that lived on the islands. Darwin actually died a very young man— in 1861. So many Tortoises were hunted for the food they provided pirates and early explorers. They were hunted also for their oil and for their shells which could hold water.
Lonesome George was a very famous Tortoise— the last of his species. He was a Pinta Tortoise and they brought him to the reserve in 1972 hoping they could find a female for him to breed with. Unfortunately, no others of his kind could be found. So they introduced two similar females hoping he would mate. But because he had lived a solitary existence for so long, he was very aggressive with the females. After a couple of years, he became more interested, but he was never able to produce any young so his species died with him. They brought over a large male Saddle Back Tortoise from the San Diego zoo to mate with females to keep the Saddle Back species from becoming extinct. The Saddleback Tortoise has a very long neck because they inhabit more of an arid area. They have longer legs and necks so they can reach cactuses for food. Diego (from San Diego Zoo) has done his part for his species. To date, he has fathered over 900 babies! (Imagine that child support😁). They now call him Super Diego😊!
After the museum, we made our way to a couple of local stores for a bit of shopping🥰!
(Helping out the local economy!)
I did want to mention how super clean the towns are on this island! Most every one is very conscious about conservation and it results in pretty darn clean streets. I was hard pressed to see any trash anywhere!
Tomorrow we leave to go back to altitude in Ecuador! Next stop is the Hacienda Zuleta—elevation 10,826 feet. It is a working ranch and former home of a President of Ecuador.
Traveling Fullers 