Galapagos - Santa Cruz Island

Santa Cruz is located in the middle of the Galápagos.  It is the second largest island, but the most heavily populated with more than 12,000 residents.  We got to Santa Cruz by boat.  It was a nearly 3 hr. ride with lots of banging on the waves.  Once we arrived we did a kayak tour of the shoreline.  

This is Ashley and Mark from CA waiting for the rest of the group.

After kayaking we went back to the German Angermeyer hotel to change and catch a water taxi into Puerto Ayora, the main city on the island.  In town we transferred to a van that took us through an agricultural area and on up into the highlands.  We had a tasty BBQ chicken lunch and then drove on to the start of a short hike to a fresh water lake where tortoises are known to hang out.

A cow watches us hike by.

A giant tortoise in the lake covered with a green algae.

We made a quick stop at a lava tube cave located on a farmer's property.  We then moved on to the Charles Darwin Research Center.  Lots of scientists from around the world spend time there doing research.  We had a little free time to "shop" the town before heading back to the hotel for our last dinner as a group.

On Wednesday, March 12th, we water taxi to town, take a van to the north side of Santa Cruz, take a ferry to the island of Baltra and then take a bus to the airport for our flight to Quito.

David and I stay at the airport for a flight to Lima, Peru later that evening.  Amazingly all those connections go well.  We clear customs in Lima around 11pm.  Our flight to Cusco is at a little after 5am.  

We decide to just sleep on the Lima airport floor.  We weren't the only ones!   No photos on this part.

Stay tuned for Cusco and Machu Pichu.