Located at the center of the Galapagos, Santa Cruz is the second largest and the most populated island. Named after the Holy Cross, its English name (Indefatigable) was given after the British vessel the HMS Indefatigable. This island is a large dormant volcano whose last estimated eruption occurred around a million and a half years ago. Puerto Ayora, the capital of Santa Cruz, hosts the largest human population in the archipelago and the headquarters of Galapagos National Park and Charles Darwin Foundation.
After breakfast we landed at Puerto Ayora, heading to the Galapagos National Park’s breeding center. We visited the Espanola Island giant tortoise’s corral, and there, Diego, the most famous living tortoise in the Galapagos, delighted us with his tameness and curiosity. Diego has been the key of the most successful breeding program that recovered completely the devastated populations of tortoises in Espanola that in the 1960’s was around 14 and nowadays is almost 3 thousand. Like this project there are many others not only with tortoises, but also with land iguanas and of course we observed them in other corrals. After visiting the tortoises our guests had chance to visit “El Trapiche”, a farm located in the highlands, a perfect place to cultivate not only coffee, but also cacao and some different kinds of fruits such as bananas, pears, oranges, watermelons, papayas and many others. Our guests had the chance to observe the complete process to produce alcohol and roasted coffee as it was more than 40 years ago, when there was no electricity in this area and farmers used donkeys to squeeze the sugar cane to obtain the juice. After visiting the El Trapiche Farm, we moved higher on the island to the restaurant where we enjoyed a delicious meal with a beautiful view of the island and the ocean.
After lunch we headed to “El Chato”, another farm where our guests had the chance to observe giant tortoises in their natural habitat. Along the trails many giant tortoises fed on grass of ripe fruits while in the small ponds of muddy water others rested peacefully. Afterwards we had chance to cross an incredible lava tunnel, which inside was very wide like an empty chamber, but with another smaller lava tunnel inside. Walking inside the tunnel we noticed how the tube became narrower at the end, making it possible to distinguish the second deck of the small lava tube inside, a unique formation created after explosive eruptions a long time ago. We finally returned to Puerto Ayora where local residents played soccer or ecuavolley (an Ecuadorian version of volleyball). At night our guests were delighted with traditional choreography and a local band that played such happy music that it was impossible to avoid dancing and admire those unique instruments used by them.
