Our first stop was the Charles Darwin Research Centre. The people here have been working since the 1960s to protect the wildlife and the land of the Galapagos. It was estimated that when the British first came to the islands in the 1700s there were over 500 000 giant tortoises. By the 1960s there were only 14 of one species left and not many more of others. Through research and a breeding program, they have been gradually restocking the islands with young tortoises. The researchers are also trying to save species of birds that are endangered due to invasive species that are threatening to wipe out a variety of land birds. It was incredible to see the baby tortoises but sobering to consider how much damage was done and the threats that are still present.
There are quite a few adult tortoises at the centre that were once pets of the local people. The government decided that the tortoises shouldn't be used as pets and brought them all to the Centre in the 1980s.
The next part of the day was spent in Peurto Ayora exploring the waterfront area. It was quite touristy with dive shops, galleries and many souvenir places. The highlight for us was the outdoor fish market where a sea lion and a flock of pelicans were fighting over the scraps dropped by the employees.
We then boarded our buses and headed up into the highlands for lunch at a family run restaurant. From there, we drove to another family operation that made both sugar cane products and coffee. We saw the process where cane juice was boiled just like maple sap to form a syrup and later, sugar. A sideline was the production of cane moonshine. This was a definite bonus and somehow I ended up with three samples, all of which were very good! We saw the small scale production of coffee from the beans on the trees to hand sorting and roasting. The end result was one of the best cups of coffee I've tasted.
These are coffee beans before processing. The next shots show traditional methods for making finished coffee beans.
Boiling down sugar cane juice is similar to boiling maple sap.
Sampling the sugar cane moonshine!
The day ended with a walk through some fields where we saw many wild giant tortoises. They are really magnificent creatures and some that we saw were over 200 years old. They watch you as you approach and I found myself crouching down and just looking into what seemed to be very wise eyes more than once. If you approach from the back and startle them, they make a loud hissing noise and pull in their heads. So, you make every effort not to do that. It's really hard to put into words what it was like to be in their presence.
That's about as close as you're supposed to get but sometimes the tortoises would change direction and approach you.
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