12. January 2024

Day 17: Galapagos - Tortoise

What a day! I started with a Run from Puerto Ayora towards Bellavista. As in San Cristobal, they have a dedicated lane for bicycles along the main road, which makes running easy! After around 2km, I just spotted Giant Galapagos Tortoises on the side of the road. Galapagos is amazing!

Then, a bit later, the rain started like crazy. It took around 5 minutes to soak me thoroughly. Thankfully, it was warm enough not to be an issue, so let’s call it the morning shower.

After this fantastic experience, it was time for breakfast in our Hotel. It wasn’t our best, but it gave us energy for the day. Next was the pickup of the E-Bikes (better than taking the taxi to the top, right?!), and then we made our way to Los Gemelos, two craters close to each other.

Our first stop was, of course, the Tortoises I spotted during my Run. Thankfully, these guys are slow and lazy, so we found them in the same spot I saw them 2 hours earlier.

After that, we climbed quite a bit, from sea level to 600 meters. Along the way, we saw many more Tortoises and realized they are normal here. They were all wild and free, mind-blowing!

At the craters, we did a quick hike (around 600 meters), which takes you from one viewpoint to the next. Most people there just took a Taxi and visited the place. That’s lamer than our E-Bikes!

Then the downhill started, but just until Santa Rosa, where we took a turn and made it to the Giant Tortoise Reserve, there were (at least) two of them directly next to each other. El Chato Ranch and Rancho Primicias. At random, we decided to go to El Chato Ranch first.

We couldn’t 100% figure out what they are, or to put it in another way, we think they put a restaurant there and started to charge money for a tour you can do. But it wasn’t clear how much they do for the animals.

The Tortoise you see on these Ranches are free, so they can (and sometimes) leave. But the area is prepared in a way that the Tortoises really like, so they mostly just stay and enjoy life.

For El Chato Ranch, you pay 10$ for entrance and then have a tour included. Only the two of us were there, but the guide was in a strange mood (maybe because of us 🙃). Some facts were interesting, but the overall experience was a bit underwhelming. Besides, of course, the Tortoises themselves were as impressive as ever.

Before the Tour, we also had a quick lunch, which was decent for a place like this. Most of the restaurant was filled with groups of 20+ people brought in with shuttle buses.

After this experience, what’s the only right thing to do? Of course, check out the other Ranch! 😂 Rancho Primicias, here we come!

But this was a good thing in the end. Both of the ranches also have a lava tube, but the one on the second Ranch was way more significant. And also the Tour, or to be precise the guide, was a completely different experience. Together with an older American couple, we had a great time and a lot of fun on this Tour. We even saw the Tortoises mate, which apparently doesn’t happen too often.

Still remembering all these fantastic experiences, it was time to start the way back home. There was only a little time before we had dinner at Almar. Where we had the same Waiter as the day before (but in another restaurant), this provided a good laugh. But the explanation was simple: Almar was closed yesterday, and he helped out at Bahía Mar 💡