Santa Cruz Island is the second biggest in the Galápagos, and where you can find the biggest population in the islands. Santa Cruz is famous because here is where you can find the famous Charles Darwin Station that we visited during the morning. Here we had the chance to see the baby giant tortoises that spend a couple of years here before they are released into the wild, as well the real-sized giant tortoises which were relaxing and waiting for food inside their corrals. Males and females of the dome and saddleback types gave us just what we expected, a great experience and incredible opportunities for making photos.
Later on we had some time for discovering the town of Puerto Ayora and its main attraction, the fishermen’s market, with all the sea lions and birds waiting for some of the leftovers.
Some of us used bikes and others took the buses to go to the highlands first to visit El Trapiche, where they show us the techniques people used in the past for making different products out of coffee and cane sugar. Later we enjoyed an unbelievable lunch in the highlands, full with fresh air and delicious food.
Our very last excursion was to El Manzanillo, a place to see more giant tortoises, this time in the wild. We found some of them resting under trees and in a small freshwater lagoon full with green and red algaes.
It was a fantastic expedition with the wildlife we expected and the weather we needed.
