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Introduction
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For more information about upcoming workshops, visit the Workshops homepage or send an email to grijalva@ohiou.edu
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Isla Santa Cruz By Lizzy Simpson
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Introduction
to the |
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For more information about upcoming workshops, visit the Workshops homepage or send an email to grijalva@ohiou.edu
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Isla Santa Cruz By Lizzy Simpson
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There are only two
inhabited islands in the Galapagos, Santa Cruz being the more populated of
the two. Before coming to the islands, I believed that they were completely
uninhabited so it was interesting to get to see the culture of the
archipelago. There is about 17,000 residents living on Santa Cruz, most of
which have migrated from Ecuador in the last 20 years. Almost all business
is geared toward the tourist industry. We shopped and explored the city and
some of us even got to enjoy some local food for lunch. 
Before visiting the
city we took a tour around the Charles Darwin Research station where we were
able to see the efforts researchers are taking to help increase the tortoise
population. We saw two famous tortoises, Lonesome George, the last of his
species, and super Diego, who helped get his species revived. George was
discovered on Pinta Island when someone noticed a moving rock.
Conservationists have not been able to find a female of George’s species and
efforts to breed George with a different tortoise species have failed. They
are still continuing to do all they can. Diego was brought over from the San
Diego Zoo with the realization that his species was near to extinction.
Since then hundreds upon hundreds of Diego’s children have been born, hence
the name “super Diego.” We were fortunate enough to get to see Diego in
action…twice. 
After spending a good
part of the day in town, we traveled into the uninhabited parts of Santa
Cruz to find some tortoises in the wild. While there, I experienced what was
probably the highlight of my trip. I stopped and sat with a particularly
large tortoise for an extended part of time while the rest of the group
moved on. I guess you could say that I felt I had a certain connection with
this tortoise. Slowly he began walking toward me as if I was not the only
one doing the investigating. He eventually came all the way up to me and
starting smelling me. Needless to say, I was thrilled with the occurrence of
having a wild animal interrupting his dinner to learn more about me.
Since the boat was
not leaving until two in the morning, Steve, Neil (the token Brit) and I
decided to have a night on the town. To our disappointment little was open
(being Sunday and Father’s day) but we did find a few bars and were able to
experience some local flavor. All in all, Santa Cruz proved to be just as
interesting as the other islands despite being inhabited.