Galapagos: Santa Cruz (Round 1)

As many of you know, I spent the last few weeks of June/first week of July in the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador. I went with a group of 16 people for a class at the University. It was an absolutely incredible trip! Since I could literally fill a book (and I did while there) with all the stories and things I saw, I'm just going to do a photo highlight to keep it shorter. With that in mind this is part 1 of 4 (5 if you count the video), and since I took close to 4,000 pictures and videos it's still probably going to be longer! I've given up on short posts. Expect the rest to come out periodically throughout the summer!  

The first 3 days of our trip we stayed in Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz. This is the largest city in the Galapagos with about 12,000 inhabitants.  

 After a travel day from hell, me and Araceli got first class! 

 Our hotel in Quito, Ecuador. Too bad we were only there 4 hours!

Quito, Ecuador.

 Ecuador. On our way to the Galapagos.

 They love soup in South America. Never mind that it's 80+ degrees out!

Our hotel with a Marine Iguana on the roof. 

Baby Marine Iguana.

 Me with a Marine Iguana on our first day in Puerto Ayora.

 Marine Iguanas. 

Boats in the Harbor of Puerto Ayora.

Sunset.

A lizard climbed onto Brett when he leaned against a tree.

We ventured to the market our second day on Santa Cruz. [Liv, Brett, Elise, Lan, Deb]

Our destination for the day.

Opuntia cactus on the trail. 

Hidden along the trail was the Italian Consulate. 

Walking. [Liv, Kara, Brett, Forest]

                                                                 Las Grietas.

Swimming.

German Beach.

Puerto Ayora from the roof of our hotel. 

Elise.

Laundry out to dry.

Gecko. Sadly later this little guy got eaten by a bigger gecko.

First of MANY sea lion sightings.

Our third day in Puerto Ayora we hiked to Tortuga Bay.

Tortuga Bay.

 Marine Iguana.

Beach bummin.

Group lunch.

Lonesome George, last of the Pinta tortoises. Since this picture was taken George died, meaning the extinction of his entire species. :( 

Jaz and Liv.

Forrest.

 Drawer of finches at the invertebrate lab at the Charles Darwin Research Station. This is where my professor works for the summer.

Sir David Attenborough's name in the visitor log. The BBC was filming at the station the week prior.

The next day we left Santa Cruz for our week long boat tour on the Yacht Darwin. Post will be coming in the next week!