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Giant Galapagos Tortoises

Because we practically didn't sleep for two days in a row, we slept in and had a slow morning. Well, other people slept in. I was wide awake at 7:15 am and was too excited to lay in bed till 8. So I got up and did yoga on our second story patio. The sun, which was struggling to come out behind some wispy clouds, felt amazing on my skin and the warm air was exactly what I had needed that morning. I got my heart pumping a bit and then jumped on the bed to wake Ty up. "We're in the Galapagos! Get up, get up, get up!"

We were waiting for our travel companions to join us for breakfast and a morning exploring the Charles Darwin Research Center, but they never came so we went off to get some of the "best coffee in the Galapagos" and slowly meander through the Research Station, hoping they would join later. Little did we know, Jake was passed out until 11am! He was sick though and needed it to feel healthy for the rest of the trip!

We took our time reading the signs about the local history, evolution, and other sciences taking place on island. It was so fascinating! ...And yes, half in English for us lame single-language speakers.

Then we got to the turtle (tortoise) nursery!
 Look at all those tortoises! They're huge! There were also many small, young, different species of tortoises. There are 14 total species of Giant tortoise with only 12 extant species. We got to see a few different species here. This program helps to raise the tortoises until they can survive in nature and then releases them to their respective islands. The reason why they have been having issues is because of some introduced/invasive species like rats that will eat the eggs. They were also taken on ships to be eaten during the voyage (one tortoise could last 4 months!). We now know that these species are important to the ecosystem (Keystone species) and take a long time to mature and grow. Before humans came along, these animals had no predators on the islands so they could take that time to move, eat, grow and mature. They are such beautiful gentle giants!
 

Then the four of us were ushered into this room. We didn't really know what to expect but had to wait so that the AC  inside the building wouldn't be lost. Inside was one exhibit, the last Pinto Galapagos tortoise, Lonesome George. Just George, stuffed and behind glass. I get he's a big deal but it was still a little strange just looking at him for 5 minutes. They tried to find a mate for him for many years but he died without having any offspring, hence the loneliness...


After we completed the exhibits, we checked out the amazing education building with the store in it. Such a beautiful building, with AC! Yay!

We also explored the beach a little and saw more of those famous marine Iguanas. They tend to just pass out/hang out wherever they want to. This guy was really pretty.



Then was lunchtime. We ate at this pizza place that had pretty good sandwiches and pizza and met up with the rest of our crew after lunch. They wanted to head to the Research Center in the afternoon, so we took a siesta and then went on a mission to get a trip to Bartalome to hike and snorkel for later that week. The first place we went into was our winner. The man didn't speak much English and I didn't speak much Spanish but we were able to communicate and he was super nice. We booked our trip for all 8 of us on Wednesday!



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