Day 2: The Adventure Continues Part Two
We had in fact been dropped out at Los Gemelos. Los Gemelos translates to “the twins”; henceforth why it’s called “the twin craters” (Santa Cruz II, 2016).
Also, these craters were created as boiling hot magma rose from under earth’s surface during an volcanic eruption, the earth caved in to fill the “gaps” left by the magma
After about a half hour of hiking and taking group pictures we were on the move again.
Also, these craters were created as boiling hot magma rose from under earth’s surface during an volcanic eruption, the earth caved in to fill the “gaps” left by the magma
After about a half hour of hiking and taking group pictures we were on the move again.
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El Chato RanchThis time it was a Giant Turtle Reserve- this would be the first of many turtle reserves we would go to. The only real “rules” of this reserve is that you keep at least 5m away when taking pictures of them, so not to stress them out. Again we spent about a half an hour walking around the reserve, taking pictures with turtles and learning about their habits and nature. We even ran into two tortoises mating!
Some fun facts about Giant Tortoises include:
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After this fun affair, we all loaded onto the bus to make our way to our hotel. The bus ride was about an hour long ride. When we made it to our hotel -Ninfa Puerto Ayora- , our luggage was sitting outside the main office. This was sort of strange to see, for if that were to happen in the United States, there’s not a doubt in my mind that all of our stuff would have been stolen. But here, even though we were in the ‘city center’ ish area of Santa Cruz, there was not a care in the world. After we checked in, we all got the free lunch at the hotel, since most of the rooms were not clean yet. For lunch I ate soup, rice and beaf. Soon after, we took a look around the beautiful hotel and pool before finally being able to go into our hotel rooms. Again, I only had to share a room with Victoria, so we both got our own beds, which was amazing! About an hour later (around 3 or 4 pm) we were on the road to our next destination. We ended up going to this really cool beachy area, which had by far some of the most odd vegetation I have ever seen. Again the area at which we were at had such an odd yet beautiful mix of scenery. What I mean is, the first part of the area was a beautiful beach surrounded by mangroves and lots of people but, the further you walk down the beach the further you got to the more black rocky, area. The vegetation here was mainly giant cactuses. On the path to the the cave structure we'd be swimming in, we did stop at the pink salt farm. The look and smell was unlike anything I have ever seen before. Diego then explained why the salt was pink instead of white. Basically as the ocean meets the salt a chemical reaction takes place and makes the salt pink. Overtime the salt just sinks out in the sun and sort of ‘dries out’. After some time the salt is collected into a large pile, before being moved. This area was such a beautiful yet contrast to the blue wave beach we had previously walked past. Then as we continued on the path we made our way to this cave- like swimming area. The entrance had a little dock to get in and also areas above the water to look out over this cave.If wanted to you could swim the entirety of this structure, however, the further you went from the dock the closer to the sharks you got. More than half of us decided to go in and swim it, while some students, as well as Diego and Tait refused to go in. The rest of us; however, had a great hour and half swimming. Victoria, Lor and I sat on the rocks while we watched the guys (Aidan, Hunter, Kevin) jump from the rocks into the water. Although this areas was absolutely beautiful we were surrounded by marine life, the rocks that you would have to walk/swim over were painful as heck to run into!! Once we all made it out of the water, the entire group met up on the beach to watch the sunset. We took lots of group pictures and just relaxed for once. Then soon after we were on our way, back to the hotel. We had one hour to shower and get ready for the free dinner at the hotel. After dinner it we about (10:30 PM) we all met up in Jackalyn’s room for Becky and Lori’s presentation on biodiversity. Some notes on this presentation can be found below! The meeting finished around midnight, which; late nights, is what we all expected. Afterwards we all went back to our rooms to get some rest, since we again were going to have a busy day the next day! |
Biodiversity in the Galapagos Islands:
- Darwin wrote his origin species on the Galapagos finches
- The different habitat zones of the include: aird, marine, shore, transition and humid (Galapagos Conservation Trust 2018).
- There are only six native mammals to the islands (Galapagos Conservancy 2018):
- Galapagos Sea Lion, Galapagos Fur Seal, Rice Rats, Bats, Dolphins & Whales
References
Galapagos Conservancy. (2018). Mammals. Retrieved from https://www.galapagos.org/about_galapagos/about-galapagos/biodiversity/mammals/
Galapagos Conservation Trust.(2018). Discovering Galapagos: Ecology and Habitats. Retrieved from http://www.discoveringgalapagos.org.uk/discover/life-on-the-islands/ecology-and-habitats/habitat-zones/
Santa Cruz II. (2016, September 2). The Mysteries of Galapagos Geology. Retrived from https://www.santacruzgalapagoscruise.com/galapagos-geology/
Galapagos Conservation Trust.(2018). Discovering Galapagos: Ecology and Habitats. Retrieved from http://www.discoveringgalapagos.org.uk/discover/life-on-the-islands/ecology-and-habitats/habitat-zones/
Santa Cruz II. (2016, September 2). The Mysteries of Galapagos Geology. Retrived from https://www.santacruzgalapagoscruise.com/galapagos-geology/
Images
El Chato Ranch: https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g297533-d5292878-i168361463-Reserva_El_Chato-Puerto_Ayora_Santa_Cruz_Galapagos_Islands.html