We began our day with a walk to the Fausto Llerena’s Breeding Center for Galápagos giant tortoises; there we saw these emblematic animals in different stages, from the small babies to the breeding adults. This center has proved to be a great success and some populations that were almost extinct have been restored. After our walk in the breeding center we headed to the town of Puerto Ayora; this was a great opportunity to explore and experience the life of this town.
This morning we headed to the highlands of Santa Cruz Island to bike, or to go to a local school, and to a farm where we learned about the different uses for sugar cane and how to process coffee. This is one of the typical farms found in the highlands, where a whole family works together.
After the activities in the highlands ended we went to a local restaurant to have lunch. This place has a great location and is surrounded by vegetation from different areas. At the end of lunch we departed to another farm, this one is located on the boundaries with the National Park. Here we looked for Galápagos giant tortoises in the wild and we found many feeding on the vegetation as well as many Galápagos finches of different species, all looking for seeds and fruits to feed on to.
At the end of the afternoon we returned aboard to have our recap session and after dinner we were entertained by a local group of musicians. It was a great way to end our day on Santa Cruz Island.
