Lots of choices for how to spend the morning here in town: visit the tortoise breeding center operated by the Galapagos National Park; walk around town on your own; or join our artist-in-residence Amy Wright for a couple hours to sketch the happenings around town – particularly the fisherman’s market where the morning catch is desired by everyone – the two-winged, two-legged and four-flippered residents as well!
Then late morning another series of choices is on offer. One large group joined a staff member to visit two of our successful local artisans in their workshops. This month we have been celebrating “Make Art Make a Difference”, to show how, through Lindblad’s Artisan Fund, we have empowered local people with artistic talent to make art from recycled materials. This opportunity has change their lives as well as the lives of others as they have become teachers themselves; and the whole idea also helps the environment as well by reducing waste.
Then another whole group of us visited a highland farm that grows coffee, cacao, bananas and sugar cane. Of course we all want to see and taste the final products from the cane! Molasses, brown sugar and yes…hooch.
The afternoon however, was the highlight of the day. So after lunch we travelled further into the highlands following the access road of another local farmer into an area where the Galapagos giant tortoises roam. Most (but not all) of the islands in Galapagos have their own population of giant tortoise. Tortoises do not voluntarily enter the ocean to swim, and so these populations have remained separated. Over the millennia, this has resulted in distinct species evolving on each of these islands. Santa Cruz Island is rather unusual on top of all that, in that is has been recently proven by genetic studies to have had two separate introductions of giant tortoises, both of which have remained separate and distinct, despite living on the same island. We visited the southwestern population Chelonoides nigrita.
The inversion layer, typical for this time of year, has dampened the highlands and allowed it to recover from many months of drought. So on with the rubber boots, and into the green meadow and forest we went. But we didn’t have to go far – the tortoises were right there! In fact we had seen them from the windows of the bus driving down! Large tortoises, small tortoises, muddy tortoises, walking tortoises, eating tortoises, drinking tortoises!
On the return journey from our tortoise bonanza, we all stopped by a huge and wonderful lava tube just outside of town. A small segment of roof had collapsed eons ago, so from one end we could see the light coming down, ferns and a few plants brightening the rubble on the bottom of the tube. It is said that the island of Santa Cruz has a perfect angle of repose for the formation of lava tubes – and it is true that the entire island is riddled with them. Ask any farmer in the highlands! Elegant parallel lines showed where the different levels of lava had flowed in the past…one’s imagination can go wild with ideas of where they go and where they come from.
So back on board, showered and changed for dinner, the evening wasn’t entirely over! Visitors from the Charles Darwin Foundation came on for a talk about what they do here in Galapagos; some teachers from the local schools were also invited (we like to invite guests from town whenever we get a chance), and after dinner a colorful show with dancers and “endemic” music.
