Galapagos, Day 1

We were up early Tuesday to begin our journey to the Galapagos Islands. We flew out of the Mariscal Sucre Airport on its last day of being open. This airport was located in the city of Quito and I mean in the city! Check out these photos via USA Today and an article from the Sydney Morning Herald. It was kind of cool to fly out of an airport on the last day it was open.

From Quito we flew to Guayaquil and then onto Baltra Island in the Galapagos with Tame Airlines. Baltra Island once was home to the US Air Force during World War II. There is not much on this island other than the airport. The warm weather and sunshine was welcomed after experiencing cool weather in while in the Andes.

View from the backside of the airport on Baltra Island.

Upon arrival to Baltra, we then boarded a bus to take us to the ferry landing. There we boarded a small boat to shuttle us across the channel to the Island of Santa Cruz.

Once on Santa Cruz Island, we boarded another bus to bring us to the other side of the island and the town of Puerto Ayora. A few miles into our bus ride, we stopped off at the twin craters, Los Gemelos. These craters were created when the roofs of empty magma chambers collapsed. I was amazed at the size of these craters.

Panoramic view of one of the craters. 

Closer view of the crater.

We continued on to the town of Puerto Ayora, where we stayed at the Hotel Silberstein. Toby and I shared a room that was located across the street from the main hotel, above a dive shop. Our room was pretty cool. It had a nice patio with a hammock, table with an umbrella, and chairs. We had a nice view of the main street where many shops we located.

Nice patio!

A store in tribute to Lonesome George.

View of Hotel Silberstein from our patio.

View down the street from our patio.

After checking out our room, we ventured off to the Charles Darwin Research Center. Toby and I sported our school t-shirts for the occasion. 

Toby and I at the Charles Darwin Research Center.

The Darwin Center was unbelievable! Here we got our first glimpse of the Galapagos Giant Tortoise. We were also able to see land iguanas, lava lizards, various species of cacti, and birds. Here we learned about the conservation and restorative efforts to keep populations healthy and increasing. One effort was with the tortoise nursery where they keep newborns in order to protect them from predators in the wild. They also house eggs in incubators. A cool fact that I learned is that they can control the sex of the tortoise by the temperature of incubation. If the temperature is 29.5 degrees Celsius the tortoise will become female and at 28 degrees Celsius will become male. I will look to my biology friends to explain that one! Here are a few pictures from the center.

First glimpse of a giant tortoise!

Land Iguana

A shedding land iguana 

Giant Tortoise

Lava Lizard