Galapagos Part III

Tuesday - San Cristobal

Yesterday was a water day, so today was a land day. After another good breakfast we took a 30 min bus ride to El Junco Park. It was very misty and muddy there, something that will become a theme for all our highlands activities. We hiked about half a kilometer uphill (at least Dario said it was 500m, who knows how far it was). The Grandmas had a really hard time making it up the hill...they were way behind the group and finally appeared covered in mud from head to toe, including their glasses, from slipping and sliding and falling...it was pretty funny, they were really good sports about it! (A few other people fell too, and all our shoes were disgusting by the end of it.)

At the top there was a small weather station, (really small) and that was about all we could see for all the fog. There was a lake / lagoon up there, which is the only source of fresh water for the whole island, as well as several of the other islands. We walked around it. Only one grandma (Grandma Tilly) came with us. She made it almost all the way around, then turned around to go back the way we came, thinking that she was less than half way....Graham had to go running after her to get her to come the right way.

We then took a bus to La Galapaguera, a Giant Tortise Breeding Area. Many many tortises were killed in the Galapagos many years ago, and they are still trying to restore the population. Here they breed Middle Sadle Giant Tortises, which are those native to San Cristobal (each island has its own kind). This kind is the 4th largest in the world. They are really big - up to 200 kg!! We got to see two tortises fight, here, which was very lucky! We spent quite a bit of time observing these tortises.

We also saw the area where they keep the babies until they are big enough to survive on their own. In the 5 years the center has been open, they have only gotten 20 babies. They keep the babies until they are 5 to 10 years old then release them back to their natural habitat. They might keep a couple to continue the breeding program.

We got back on the bus to go to a nice lookout point for our boxed lunch. Then we headed to the beach. There were two sealions waiting for us in the middle of the beach...one was nursing. Mitch swam a bit, and we relaxed in the sun. While relaxing Darwin Finches decided to nip at Mitch´s toes!

We went back to the main city, Puerto Baquerizo Morero for a short stroll, but there wasn´t much there. We took the dingy back to the boat, as always, and the Grandmas sat across from eachother and held hands so they wouldn´t fall off. We were only going 5 km an hour! I couldn´t look at Mitch because every time I saw his face I started to laugh hysterically.

Back on the boat Mitch decided to take a shower....and halfway through the crew decided to change the batteries that power the water...so he was covered in soap. He must have spent 20 min in teh shower (no hot water) for about 2 min of water...as he always says he gets the short end of the stick. He says he froze his balls off.

We had a good dinner of cauliflower pie and meat, with pudding for dessert. We were both very tired by 7 30 but Mitch stayed up until 9 to watch us pull away from the port...We were expecting another very bumpy night...

To be continued!

Here is Mitch on the beach in the afternoon:


Here is Mitch with the nursing sea lions on the beach in the afternoon:



Here are two Giant Tortises fighting, in the morning:

Here is Mitch and I overlooking the lagoon in El Junco, in the morning:

Here is Mitch at the entrance to El Junco: