The sea lions pull themselves around the tables while the pelicans compete with them for the fish remnants. The fisherman have brought in their day's catch and are unloading and cleaning them on the tables at the shore. The birds jump around on the cleaning tables while the sea lions stand up to the tables edge to see the fish spread out for cleaning. I am in the Galápagos Islands on the Island of Santa Cruz in the port city of Puerto Ayora, Ecuador.

I'm not sure how it happened but my ticket had stamped on it "TSA Precheck" . Which meant I didn't have to remove my shoes and belt and things like the other passengers that were getting screened did. It was nice, but I don't know how I got so lucky.

 The flight from Memphis through Miami landed me in the capitol city of Ecuador, Quito, in the middle of the night. I waited through the night at the airport for my flight to the Galápagos Islands. You cannot fly directly into the islands. You need to purchase a separate ticket from here to the islands.

The 3 hour flight from Quito to the Galápagos Islands will cost almost as much as the flight from Memphis to Quito cost. Then, when the plane lands, I will have to pay $110 just to set foot on the islands.

The flight leaves the next morning, stopping only in Quayquil, Ecuador to pick up more passengers. The next stop is at the airport on the island of Baltra. We all go through customs and pay the $110 fee . The police dogs check all the bags for drugs before we are allowed near our bags.

The next step is to catch a shuttle bus that takes us on a short trip to the dock. Boats await and take us across the water to the shore of the island of Santa Cruz.

Public busses wait at the dock on Santa Cruz and here you choose a bus for the 45 minute ride to the port town of Puerto Ayora.

Puerto Ayora is located on the southern end of Santa Cruz Island. It's the 2nd largest island in the Galapagos. Puerto Ayora is a lively little port town. Puerto Ayora has about 12,000 residents, the most of any town in the Galápagos Islands. It also has the best developed infrastructure of any of the islands.

After finding a place to stay (where no one spoke any English) and figuring out what to pay for the private room, I went out to explore the town .

Puerto Ayora is headquarters for the Charles Darwin Research Station. Fresh seafood is abundant, prepared from the daily catch. 

Seaside hotels, scuba diving schools, cruise agencies, sourvernier shops and all sorts of night time activities enjoyed by both the traveler and the locals are here in this little place.
 
Along the shoreline in Puerto Ayora I spotted a place where the fishermen were bringing in their catch for the day. Sea Lions, pelicans, and other birds darted around the cleaning area, waiting for any scraps. There were also many iguanas strolling along the sidewalks, and colorful huge crabs climbing over the volcanic rocks along the shore.

The temerpature in the Galápagos Islands, at least in Puerto Ayora, stays around the mid 70's. It's a very pleasant climate. Also, the night temperatures only drop by a couple of degrees. It's a year-round thing!

The sailboats in the bay with the sea lions swimming around and the birds diving for fish while the iguanas roam the sidewalks, with the large colorful crabs crawling over the lava rock along the bay, make this a delightful little place .

The street that runs along the coast is always full of people eating, or dancing, skateboarding or even doing kick-boxing. I saw a parade one night, even. When you watch the video, you can see the dolls the girls in the parade balance on their heads while marching!

Taxis here are white pick-up trucks. You can ride to anywhere in the town for $1. They drive around the streets all day and you just flag one down if you need a ride. If you have boxes, furniture, bicycle, etc. you just pop it in the bed of the truck and off you go, all for $1.00.

Ecuador uses the U.S. Dollar for their currency, but they have their own coins for $1 and less.

The Charles Darwin Research Center is here and I walked to it one day. They rescue the tortoise eggs and incubate them. The temperature of the incubator determines the sex of the tortoise. A temperature of 85F produces a female and 82.4F produces a male. 

The young tortoises are separated by age as they mature. As they age they are moved to sections where the habitate becomes more like the natural one they live in when in the wild. Once mature, they are introduced back into the wild.

Some of these tortoises are HUGE. It is hard to tell the actual size from the photos without anything to compare them to, but trust me when I say these are the largest I have seen.
 
 NEXT: DIRT ROADS AND TEARS