Day 12 in Ecuador - Giant Tortoises & Charles Darwin

After a hard day of hiking yesterday, we wake up in the harbor of Santa Cruz, the largest city in the Galápagos Islands established in 1929.

There are twenty-four islands in the Galápagos, and only four are inhabited.  Numerous cruise boats and private yachts fill the harbor as we take the dinghy to town.

Alberto is a fourth generation Galápagos native.  His great-grandfather settled here from Chile after seeing the islands as a sailor with the Chilean navy.  His family has a large concrete building on the main street ocean side consisting of both their home and multiple businesses the family own and operate.  They also have an ecotourism farm with horseback, biking, and hiking trails.

His grandmother remembers one cargo ship arriving every six months when she was growing up.  Now multiple ones arrive each week.  In 1970’s tourism started, and the first twenty years were difficult.  Now there are multiple tours, flights, and hotels all catering to tourists.

Hawaii and different island countries advised the Galápagos Islands to not make their mistakes.  In 1970, the islands were declared a National Heritage site, and in 1998, became a National Park with the goal of a love and sustainability of nature.

Airport and harbor security is strict and penalties severe.  It costs 1 million dollars/year for a business badge to bring cargo to the islands.  A specific gas is used to sterilize each cargo container.  At least 51% of all businesses and investments on the islands must be owned by native residents.  

All dogs and cats have to be sterilized.  Fishing is strictly controlled, and fishermen are told where to fish, when, and how much they can catch.  Two years ago, a boat containing shark fins for export was captured.  The fine?  The boat was seized by the government permanently, the owner fined one million dollars, and six people on board were sent to jail for one year.

The islands’ new constitution gives rights specifically to nature - plants, animals, rivers, and soil.  Even tour groups are told when and where they can snorkel!

In 2001, an oil spill from a ship wreck created havoc in the islands, and a search for an alternative energy source began.  With a goal to have clean energy, the island now has electricity generated by 30,000 solar panels at the airport along with windmill turbines.  Alberto did not have air conditioning as a child, and electricity was only available 6 AM-10 PM each day.

The population has increased by 20,000 in the past 20 years.  The only reason anyone can bring a car to the islands is farming.  If one is purchased, it must be traded on the mainland at least every five years for a newer model to decrease pollution.  Therefore, you don’t see any old cars here!  Several years ago, families….and only families…were given an option to purchase an electric vehicle.

Recycling is a huge effort in the islands where residents and businesses must purchase bags for recycling (blue) or compost waste (green) from the local government.  These bags are priced by size and each is coded with the specific resident’s or business’s ID.  If recyclables are found in the trash, the culprit is heavily fined.  I watch as garbage collectors sort through public cans!

Our first stop is a short nature hike where Alberto explains about invasive species one of which is the blackberry.  It is not enough to cut the plant down since the roots also need to be dug up.  It has been extremely difficult to eradicate since birds eat the fruit and carry the seeds dispersing them throughout the islands.

Spanish moss hang from the trees.  

There are no hummingbirds and only one type of bee in the islands so colorful flowers to attract pollinators do not exist.  The native plants only have yellow or white flowers.  There are nine different types of orchids.

There are no land mammals and no frogs.  Reptiles are best at colonization since females can store sperm inside her body for months or years.  This means that two of a species don’t need to be present to reproduce.

A sinkhole is filled with foliage including another invasive species, the quinine bush.  When it was discovered that quinine was a treatment for malaria, it was planted in the islands.  It is now considered a pest.

  

More birds

  

and a couple of scientists from the Charles Darwin Research Center.  

They are hanging traps to attract and catch the vampire fly which probably arrived in the Galapagos on contaminated fruit.  The fly lays her eggs in the nest of finches.  When the larvae emerge, they enter the brains of baby finches and kill them with 100% mortality.  This is an example where an invasive species could destroy a complete species of animals here.

There are no native trees on the islands so dandelions have grown into giants to fill this niche.  They have multiple small yellow heads of flowers but are huge when you think of the dandelions in your yard.

  

In Spanish, turtle is “Galapagos”; therefore, the name of the islands.  Long ago sailors stopped at the islands to capture turtles for food.  Young turtles are called “galapagositas”!

  

A three-mile dirt paved road leads us to a restaurant and farm filled with giant tortoises.  I am amazed when the first one I see is along the road, and then another one, and another in the middle of the road!  I thought these animals were almost extinct!

It is illegal to kill a giant tortoise even accidentally if the animal is in the middle of the road.  Recently a tour bus hit a turtle and was fined $10,000.  Since the animal did not die, the driver was not sent to jail!

We walk through a grassy field and see multiple animals plodding along, munching on grass, or just hanging out.  I walk towards one, and can’t believe their size!

  

These gargantuan creatures are almost all males which are larger than the females.  The females have probably gone to the “dry” zone to lay their 20-40 eggs since it is just past mating season.

  

The eggs incubate in holes dug in the ground by the mothers for 180 days.  Turtles’ DNA lack the “sex” gene, and male/females are determined by the temperature of the nest during incubation.  At 28 degree centigrade, the eggs will hatch as males.  At 29.5 degree centigrade, the eggs will be females!

When they hatch, the youngsters will remain in their “nursery” area for about 20 years before they follow food sources and end up back in the humid area.  Sexually mature adults mate and start the process all over again.  Only 1% survive to adulthood!  Many eggs and baby turtles are eaten by predators.

Alberto guess-timates that these turtles range in age from 80-150 years old.  No one knows the maximum age.

We take lots of pictures, and sometimes pose with these amazing animals!  

  

If we get too near, they hiss and retract their heads.

Some are escaping the day’s heat by relaxing under scrubs

  

or even the patio and plant beds by the restaurant!

  

As you can imagine, these creatures eat a lot and poop a lot.  Balls of turtle poop lay throughout the grassy fields about the size of a large potato.

We turn the corner of some overgrowth, and even our guide is amazed to see turtles mating!  

  

I joke that they thought they had found some privacy only to have 12 people staring at them doing it!  We don’t get too close, but isn’t this incredible!

The farm is named after the manzanillo or poison apple tree.  These fruits can kill humans if ingested.

  

The tortoises have definitely found a cool spot in the pond!  

Ahhhh…a mud bath!

I like to make up expressions for these animals.  “Who gave YOU permission to be here?”

  

As we are leaving for lunch, I just cannot help but grab a few more photos.

  

This is the perfect name for a local beer.

First, shots of locally brewed moonshine!  Too bad for baggage weight limits since I would like to take some of this home.

An Ecuadorian tradition is to add popcorn and dried plantain chips to soup.  Delish!

You eat first with your eyes, and this plate of baked amberjack fish and roasted vegetables is a beauty!  Everywhere we have gone in this country, the chefs and cooks have taken great pride is presenting beautiful plates of food!

Dessert is a choice of chocolate cake, 

coconut flan,

or fruit.  Just look at this simple plate of fruit!

In the museum are turtle shells

including an empty shell.

We stop by a local artisan’s workshop who creates large and small replicas of Galapagos animals.  We are treated to a detailed explanation and demonstration of him creating a miniature giant tortoise from a raw piece of balsam wood.

  

Of course I bought a couple!

In Santa Cruz is the Charles Darwin Research Center.  We walk an outside trail with exhibit pavilions explaining their efforts to protect this national park.

The center is also a large incubator and nursery for baby turtles.  Various enclosures have different size animals.  At five years of age, the animals are released in the wild to hopefully grow to adulthood.

  

Saddleback turtles are named for their shells shaped like a saddle.  They also have longer necks which can reach higher for food than regular giant turtles.

   

This is the man who made the Galápagos Islands famous, Charles Darwin.  

He was only here once for less than thirty days as an unpaid 22 year old naturalist on the English ship, The Beagle, in 1831.  However, he spent his life studying various birds’ beaks and how they adapted to their environment before developing his theory of natural selection and evolution.  He collected different species of finches but called them all “sparrows”, and really concentrated his studies on several different types of mockingbirds.  However, today people refer to “Darwin’s finches”.

  

At the museum’s cafe, I purchase a fruit popsicle.  As I pay, I’m told which can to deposit my popsicle stick and wrapper in.  This is serious recycling!

After visiting some shops in the small town of Santa Cruz, lounging sea lions on the docks send us back to our ship.

After a very restful first night on the Koln, I am not sleeping very well.  Maybe tonight will be better after another delicious dinner.