First Stop, Santa Cruz

---

I took a speedboat from San Cristobal to Santa Cruz, where I would be meeting up with the rest of my group and my guide. Boats like mine usually have 2 starting dates and 2 ending dates for tours in a week. You can get on or off the boat on Sundays and Thursdays. You can also choose to stay on for 5 days of 8 days. When I got on the boat I was greeted by 7 passengers who had been on since Sunday, and they would be getting off the following Sunday. 3 more Ecuadorian women got on the boat with me, but would only be cruising for the minimum 5 days. This meant that on Sunday my entire group would be getting off, and I would get a whole new group.

Lunch was buffet style, and was VERY delicious. I couldn’t imagine how such an awesome meal was made in a kitchen that was no bigger than my closet. My group was a good mix of people, ranging in age and countries. The girl I was bunking with was a couple years older than me, and was from Israel. There were 3 other couples, one from Switzerland, one from England, and one from New York. They were amazed that at the “ripe” age of 18 I was already travelling by myself. They couple from New York decided they would be my adopted parents for the next few days, because “I was pretty much just out of elementary school”.

Our first trip was on a bus to the highlands of Santa Cruz to visit a tortoise farm. This ranch has an agreement with the Galapagos National Park to protect the tortoises found there, rather than farm the land. There are different subspecies of tortoises on nearly every island, but some island populations have gone extinct. There are two different shell types for tortoises based on what they eat, which depends on the elevation they occur at. For tortoises that eat vegetation low to the ground they have rounded shells, but there is also a saddle-back shaped shell that has a huge indentation that allows the tortoises to reach their necks up to eat from trees.

Later we had some free time in town to go shopping or check our email. I was very content sitting and watching the Galapagonian Christmas concert that was going on downtown. All the little children were dressed up as angels, elves, and Christmas presents.

That night we began sailing to our next destination. I found it a bit difficult to sleep with all the waves… however my bed was exceptionally comfortable for a room again the size of my closet at home.

---