Hear Me Roar

After resting for a bit and getting some lunch on the Kiosk Street, we met with our guide to visit La Estación Científica de Charles Darwin, or the Charles Darwin Scientific Station. The Galapagos Islands became world famous after they were ‘discovered’ by Charles Darwin during his voyage on the Beagle, during which he collected scientific data for his paper On The Origin Of Species, which gave way to the theory of evolution.

One of the most famous endemic species of the Galapagos is its giant tortoises, which the scientific station houses. Before we saw the tortoises, I immediately noticed the tree-like cacti. They are absolutely spectacular! They towered over other plants and had woody trunks, but were cacti. We walked around the scientific station and learned about some of the diversity on the Galapagos, Darwin’s finches, and the history of the islands. We eventually got to see tortoises of different ages and populations. We learned that when the Spanish arrived, they killed many of the Española tortoises, which caused a steep decline in their populations. This is still a problem today because there is a limited gene pool. They were picked off until there about 15 individuals.

We also learned about Lonesome George. George was born before 1912 and died June 24, 2012. He was a male Pinta Island tortoise and the last known individual of the subspecies. He was known as the rarest creature in the world and served as a symbol for conservation efforts in the Galapagos Islands and internationally.

After our visit to the scientific station we walked around Puerto Ayora and got dinner with some of our friends in the other tour group. We went to a nice restaurant that gave us little pieces of bread with different toppings while we were looking at the menu. It was probably the nicest pre-dinner food I’ve had from a restaurant. I don’t know what that’s technically called, but most places just give you chips or bread. It was a lot of fun, but we were all exhausted, so we went back to the hostel after dinner and relaxed.