What is the island of Santa Cruz like?

It takes 45 minutes to travel by bus from one end of the island over the mountain in the center of the island to the city on the coast, Puerto Ayora, on the opposite side of the island. That is what we did after we landed at the airport that is on another very small island not far off the coast of Santa Cruz. That journey passes through Bella Vista which is the second largest city on the island. It is quite small. Puerto Ayora has the largest number of the approx. 22,000 people who live on the island and is largely contained in a 3 mile square. That is my guess. It is not a square however, only people who live in cities designed by Brigham Young live where all the streets are perpendicular to one another. Things grow organically in most places. A main street develops and then things spread out. There are two rocky cliffs (probably only 2-3 stories high) extending inland from the ocean that limit the city from expanding easily width wise. Growth is away from the water and up the hill. 

My perspective is very limited however because I have only been on the major road across the whole island and the places I have walked to within the city. (We also did some serious walking below the town of Bella Vista before we found the house we were looking for outside of town.) The government has created and sells a map with names of all the streets within the city but the taxi drivers and the people who live here do not know them. There are only a couple of street name signs and they are only in the tourist area down near the sea. The taxi drivers don't need to know the street names. They know the name of every business in town and probably the names of the people who live in most of the houses. People just state the barrio where they want to go and what their destination is near. It makes it very difficult for strangers to get around but it seems to work just fine for the people who live here. (It doesn't translate well on MLS - the church membership record software. Lewis is trying to improve the record keeping here in the branch and faces an uphill battle.)

It has not rained since we have arrived until today (didn't last long), except up in the mountain where it sprinkles often. It has been hot and humid. We are very happy that we have an air conditioner in the living room and one in our bedroom. We are happy that the apartment is furnished. The bed is good and the pillows will do. Our kitchen equipment is minimum. We have no oven but there is a microwave and a toaster oven. Lewis can't bake bread and we can't do cakes and cookies so we have not been doing a lot of cooking. We usually eat scrambled eggs with sauteed onions and peppers and toast for one meal of the day.  The other meal is very simple as well. We figure we don't want to buy a lot of things or stock up on food we will just have to leave behind. We do not know how long we will be here. President Torres said two or three months. We have been here for five weeks now. 

So many people in the world dream of traveling here. I want to share the experiences we have had so you can learn more about this island. I mentioned Tortuga Bay before. We went in the morning without eating anything first and I was very tired by the time we got back. We didn't realize that it is a 45 min walk to the beach, a long walk along the beach to the lagoon and then you retrace all that to return. It was well worth it but we should have been better prepared for a hike and have enough time to sit and enjoy the view before returning. Most of the island is part of a National Park that is protected and controlled. The considerations are for the animals and the people must be hardy enough to get themselves to the locations and back again. No motor vehicles are allowed. We were delighted to see tracks in the sand made by marine turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs. We didn't see any turtles but we could see where they had been. They have the dunes with vegetation roped off to protect the nests. One of the member's daughter works with the rangers and she said that if one turtle lays her eggs on top of another the weight of the eggs will crush those beneath. We saw a dozen or more marine iguanas sunning themselves on the beach. We also saw a baby shark in the clear water very near the shore. Other tourists were trying to photograph it. We first met Andre there. He saw our tags and said Hello. He and his family are members of the branch. He works as a guide and is often traveling and not at church. He speaks English. Wish I could sit and ask him a million questions about all the interesting things here. 

The Charles Darwin Scientific Center where they raise the baby tortoises is a must. They collect eggs from the various islands, incubate them and hatch the babies. (Did you know that the temperature in the incubator determines the sex of the tortoise!? Females like it warmer. I'll bet that didn't surprise you.) They keep them for three to five years, until they have reached a specific size and learned to climb the rocky lava mountains that will be their home. They implant some sort of identification just under the skin in each one so that if they happen to catch it again they can keep records. They have the empty "corral" (their Spanish word) where Lonesome George lived. He died in 2012 and was the last of his specific specie. They were never able to produce offspring. So it seems his particular specie is gone, at least for this lifetime. They have three land iguanas on display and gardens of endemic plants. We hope to back and explore further.

We have been to La Playa de Los Alemanes. One has to take a water taxi for 70 cents/each and cross over to the other side of the port. From there it is a 5 min walk past rural houses and hotels to a lovely beach that also has some mangroves. We passed a couple of areas that were roped off. There were signs that said the areas were marine iguana nesting areas. We didn't see any marine iguanas there that day but we enjoyed the sun and the sand. We saw a few birds--pelicans, frigates and finches. It would be lovely to spend a vacation week there. If we were as rich in money as we are in family we could rent a couple of hotels and all come for a Galapagos Beach Week. Wouldn't that be fun?

We went to Premecias up near Santa Rosa (the third city on the island, tiny) to see the larger "wild" tortoises. We hired a taxi driver to take us up on the mountain to see the tortoises. Premecias is a place that is private property with a restaurant and a gift shop. They charge $3 each to come and walk around their property and see several tortoises. You must watch where you step. Galapagos Tortoise poop is big. It is much cooler here and very green with many mature trees up on the mountain. It rains more frequently so the vegetation is dense and there is soil and plant matter instead of just lava rock underfoot. We enjoyed walking around and saw probably five different tortoises of varying sizes. We discovered  they enjoy fruit. There are lots of citrus ? trees - different than California trees for sure, but the tortoises apparently eat the fruit as well as the grass and bushes. 

On the same trip the taxi driver took us to see a lava tunnel. We didn't have a lot of time so we didn't walk the whole way through but were very impressed with the size. When the island was formed there must have been air trapped and/or huge boulders pushed through the molten lava to create tunnels. Or the lava spread over the top of the land and the hotter part beneath melted a parallel path. I don't know but it made an impressive tunnel. I understand there are many throughout the island. The one we went to had very nice stairs built to go down to the entrance. There was a sign and a trash can but no one was there and no entrance fee. We went a couple of curves into the tunnel. It was big enough to be a subway tunnel and it had electric lights every 50 feet or so. Very cool and pleasantly cool in temperature as well. There was some water dripping from the ceiling but it was pleasant. It made me think of how nice it is to be here in Galapagos where it is safe. That could be a perfect place for bad guys to hang out but it seems that there are no bad guys here. People comment that they like living here because it is "tranquilo" and safe. No one has locks on their bikes and the other day I noticed that a brand new scooter was parked with the keys in the ignition in front of the hardware store on the "muelle". People leave their doors and windows open and we walk home at night all the time. The rest of the world could take a lesson from the island of Santa Cruz. 

One of my favorite places is the fisherman's port on Charles Darwin Street in the tourist district. There are two big cement tables and a big cement sink under a canvas to provide shade. Fisherman in small boats pull right up to the dock and bring out camping coolers full of the fish they have caught. They take them to the two women who clean and cut up the fish and pack it away into other coolers. They are surrounded by tourists with cameras, pelicans, a dark gray seagull and one huge sea lion every time I have been by.  The sea lion is right next to the lady and looks soulfully up at her begging for a handout. It often works. The last time we passed by no one was working but the sea lion was there sleeping and there were several pelicans and one seagull. They must be the regulars. 

 So much for the tourist attractions. Our best experiences have been with the missionaries and the people of the branch. We have at least two meetings a week with the missionaries and see them often. We have visited with lots of members and they have been gracious to try to help us correct the records and find information about members who have moved from the area. We have been invited to dinner and to family home evening and to lunch by kind people. The young missionaries are fed dinner (at lunchtime) every day by different families in the branch. They are faithful and come through every day. They provide the greatest part of the missionaries' diet for sure. 

We have spent time in Sunday meetings with the members as well as activities and some random training sessions . There is a branch talent show tomorrow. We may get to know people much better after that experience. There are only two 2010 handbooks here. We have copied important information to share with leaders and are trying to make it possible for them to read and review the instructions with their presidencies and answer their questions. We have met with the family history specialist and helped her see her calling more clearly. We have the Area working on a real Family History Library set up here. The approvals have been obtained. Now the task of getting the equipment and making it happen is next. Normally that would never happen in a branch but there is no stake here and these people are not able to travel without considerable expense. 

Lewis and the financial secretary have been purging old records and cleaning up the office. We collected all of the manuals and church materials and organized them. We are still working on permanent storage for everything. We have organized pictures and teaching materials and things are beginning to look a little better and hopefully will be much easier to find and use. 

The chapel here is lovely. The members are fortunate to have such a nice building. They show their appreciation and diligence by keeping it clean. Every Saturday they sweep and mop all of the floors and clean the bathrooms and keep things in order. It is a big job. I am impressed with their willingness to own their stewardship and comply with the responsibilities that go with it. 

We are enjoying our experiences here in Santa Cruz, one of the Galapagos Islands.