Day Five

We have returned to civilization. When I am up in the night I see the lights of a small town out the porthole. This is Santa Cruz Island which is the second larges of the islands and the town of Puerto Ayora is home to the Charles Darwin Research Centre. It is already extremely hot and humid when we get off the Zodiacs at 7:30. The walk from the dock to the centre seems much longer to me than it should and this pattern continues for the rest of the day.

At the research centre they worked diligently through the 60's and 70's to rejuvenate the failing turtle populations on the various islands. The program was hugely successful and now most of the islands have wild populations that are self sustaining. This was the centre where poor Lonesome George lived out his life as the last remaining Pinta Island tortoise which was the only species they did not manage to save. He passed away last year and is currently on exhibit in New York but will be returning to the centre at the end of the year for exhibit. There were pens with everything from the smallest babies to juveniles that are almost ready for placement in the wild. They are not usually repatriated to their islands until they are 15 - remember these tortoise are slow growing and can live close to 200 years so they are on a different time clock than we are. The process for securing and nurturing the eggs is very rigourous. The eggs that are nearer the bottom of the nest are at a different temperature and as temperature determines sex with toroise eggs this preserves the higher ratio of female to male. Although it only about 1 degree celcius that separates the sexes they must carefully calibrate the incubator temperatures. They also discovered that the eggs must stay in the same polarity as they are laid - if they rotate at all then they will not hatch - so each egg must be carefully marked to show which way it must lay in the incubator. Research also led to finding that the urine of the female laying the egg is an insecticide and the mucus that covers the eggs an antimicrobial and antiparasitical. Although the babies are outside early in their lives their pens must be well secured and covered at night even in the research centre. Black rats that arrive with the ships have become a nuisance and the babies have soft shells until they are at least 2 years old making them quite vulnerable.

Nearby pens contained some adult turtles and they were huge. We got to see in close proximity the main difference between the species which is the shape of the carapace. On island where vegetation is low the hood around the head is also low. On islands where the vegetation is up higher the shape of the carapace has adapted to allow the head to reach up quite high for low hanging leaves and branches.
We have a long hot walk into town where we do a little shopping (very little!) and Stan gets some photos at the local fish market. We head to the meet up point at The Rock where I have the best lemonade I have every had in my life and I certainly needed it at this point. It was tangy and sharp and sweet all at the same time and oh so very cold and wonderful.

Truly the day could have ended here but it did not. In fact we were barely half done. We loaded onto busses and headed inland and uphill to the highlands where there is some agriculture. We stop at a micro sugar cane and coffee plantation (about 5 hectares in size) called El Trapiche where we get a brief glimpse of what life was like for the settlers that were sent over from Ecuador in the 1800's. The other highlight for the brave was getting to taste one of the byproducts of the molasses preparation - Galapagian moonshine! For those of you who frequent Starbucks it is worth noting that these farmers are growing the coffee amongst the local flora as it is a shade tolerant variety and Starbucks has contracted to buy most of it. Apparently it is rated as one of the top ten coffees available through them and is ecofriendly.

Lunch is a lovely stop at a restaurant out in the country called Aquelarre that has been in the hands of the same family for many generations. I was so hot and tired that lunch was a bit of a chore but Stan enjoyed his and most of mine. The local Ecuador chickens are very tasty!
At last we reach the main purpose of the day for many of the people on our ship - seeing the land tortoise in the wild. A short drive takes us to the area that is preserved for them and managed hand in hand with the local rancher who has wisely scaled back his cattle and upscaled a lovely shady veranda area where cool drink and fruit are available for the weary. Stan takes off on an adventurous hike through the preserved area; I visit for a time with a juvenile who is about 15 years old and who is graciously grazing near the veranda. I do see the larger tortoise roaming about and am surprised to see how quickly they move across the grassy areas looking for their favourites.

It has been a very long day and I am grateful to be off the Zodiac and into a cool shower. Stan attends the afternoon lecture by the head of the research station who has come on board to speak to us while I listen from the speaker in our room. Linblad is one of the main contributors to the research station and they only send speakers to their ship. We also have Ecuadorian singers and dancers on board for our entertainment but I am afraid they find a very sleepy ship and many dozing spectators.