Day 20 in Santa Cruz!

 ¡Buenas!

We woke up bright and early for our 8am complimentary breakfast at our hotel this morning. It was exquisite as always, with scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage, fresh fruit, an assortment of baked goods, and most importantly, coffee. After fueling up, we ventured out to brave the busiest street on the island and obtain surveys. We talked to so many different people from all walks of life. From residents to tourists, from far-off places like Germany, Netherlands, and Chicago. Interacting with all these people usually makes me hungry, so to combat this, we met up at a local restaurant for lunch. We had a delicious lunch ranging from fish to shrimp to chicken. This was our second time eating at this local spot for lunch and it does not disappoint. After lunch, we made our way back to the hotel to get ready for our afternoon excursion. Today, we ventured to the Charles Darwin Research Station. We walked a trail to get there which was bursting with gorgeous plants and spectacular wildlife. At the research station, we saw many tortoises including the infamous, Lonesome George. George was the last giant tortoise found on the island, Pinta. He was then transported to a breeding center yet nature never took its course and George seemed to enjoy his solitary life. He died in 2012 and was turned into taxidermy to display at Fausto Llerena Tortoise Breeding Center. We were all able to view him today and he is supposed to be a symbol of hope for the species and conservation. I’m not going to lie, George freaked me out a tad, especially when I looked into his glass eyes. Anyways, we then finished up our time at the research station with a photo shoot naturally (see photos attached below). After this adventure we walked back to our hotel and shopped along the way. We stopped at souvenir shops, supermarkets, and of course the heladería. When we finally got back to the hotel, we rested up then met downstairs for pizza and a movie. Tonight, we watched Mamma Mia and I was struggling to not sing along the whole movie. After the movie, we attempted the Dirty Dancing lift to end the night and lets just say, it did not go well. We then said our good nights and parted ways to get a good night’s rest to prepare us for another day on this amazing island! 

See y’all next week!