03/11/00 Saturday - Ricardo and the Capitan spent the night on board with us and the rest of the crew were able to spend the night with their families in town. (Ricardo would get the next night off, and the captain's home and family are in Guyaquil.) We rose at the luxurious hour of 6:00 for breakfast at 6:15. Alejandro had obviously returned to the boat early enough to serve us our usual bounteous repast: cereal, etc. w/tree tomato juice, scrambled eggs, cocktail wieners, & warm bread.

We rearranged our daypacks for a day on shore and left for shore around 7:00. We traversed the familiar walkway to the Darwin Station and encountered the requisite marine iguana on the way. The old lava stone paths/streets have been replaced by tidy pavers and the station itself has grown as well. We viewed the video in the visitor center then toured the baby tortoise corrals.

The same group we keep running into (including the two european lost souls) overtook us and quickly moved on while we sat in the luxury of the shade and quizzed Juanito about tortoise recovery programs and solutions to Lonesome George's problem. Birdwatched at all the pools of fresh water in the turtle pens and had a good up-close look of adult tortoises in the pen where they let you mingle with them. Spent some more sucres at the souvenir kiosks. We all want to support the Station.

Juan left us shortly after with instructions to meet him in front of the postoffice and we were free to roam the streets of Pto Ayora. Managed to purchase a few more shirts and a cookbook with english translation then spent the rest of the time window shopping, looking for Ecuadoran chocolate and buying stamps for postcards. Only had about a 10 minute wait before the bus showed up and Juan shortly after. Piled ourselves and our packages into the bus and headed up into the highlands. How much more lush and tropical the terrain is.

Lunch at the Restaurante Mutiny: Tiny cheese pizza appetizers w/ a glass of thick orange juice. 1st course was spaghetti w/garlic & tomato sauce, followed by grilled chicken, julienned carrots, cucumber salad, fried papas, and a sweet crunch biscuit drizzled w/chocolate sauce for dessert. Lovely view of the drylands and the breaking surf far away. Strange to see 3 empty tortoise shells with holes bludgeoned in them. No telling how old they were, but they made me uncomfortable (especially after our visit to the Darwin Station) even though I know this is part of the history of the place.

We left in the bus and entered the Parque Nacional. We stopped at a pullout and took a trail through the undergrowth with the daisy trees overhead to two impressive sinkholes. We carefully and quietly made our way to the other side of another large sinkhole across the road from the original ones trying to spot as many birds as possible. Juanito is an accomplished pisher and tries to call as many birds to us as possible. The highlight was the lovely vermillion flycatchers.

We returned to the bus and drove to a private ranch where the tortugas are allowed to wander freely among the fields, We encountered our first tortoise on the road into the ranch and had to detour around her in the bus. She was a small young one (15 yrs) and it's nice to see the next generation is surviving and growing. We left the bus behind from that point and marched through long wet grasses until we encountered more large lumps which turned out to be tortoises. We were able to get much closer to these guys than the ones in the previous visit so I'm anxious to see the pictures.

We made our way to a structure at the top of a hill overlooking the far shore and the surrounding fields & were treated to a spectacular tea made of the local lemon grass. Several large beautiful clumps surrounded the verandah where we spent the next half hour. A local puppy entertained us as well. Our drive back to town was periodically halted to view the local vegetation. We saw many of the fruits: guava, banana, passion fruit, etc. as well as the tall spanish cedars, bamboo and other introduced species. We had not found the brand of chocolate we had hoped to (only Nestle's in the local Supermercado). So, since we were early, Juan took us on a tour of several small local groceries and were able to find the brand we'd been served earlier in the week. We bought six bars to distribute. We waited in the shade for the panga and returned to the boat happy to be home.

A short wait to dinner spent topside with beers then the dinner bell rang (slightly early so the crew could spend one more evening in town.) We enjoyed mixed veggies (Brussel sprouts, carrots, and baby corn), a greenbean, onion and tomato salad, brown rice with lentils, and, with many apologies from Alejandro who assumed we'd have beef in the highlands, pollo! (in a yummy, rich sauce.) Dessert was flan which elicited oohs & aahs from (almost) everyone. We finished quickly so the crew could skedaddle and returned topside to enjoy the night. Most of us turned in early, but PLP and I stuck it out until 9:00 pm before succumbing.

To Cerro Dragon and Sombrero Chino

Santa Cruz:

Darwin Station &

Highlands

(click for larger image)