From now-on I will publish my articles in English for two reasons:
- I have been asked by many people if I could write in English in order for them to have access to my blog.
- it's becoming harder for me to write in French without making mistakes. as I do not speak it oftenly..
Santa Cruz island might be the most known island of the Galapagos archipelago. It's main city is Puerto Ayero, located on the south part of the island. It is a really touristic place where you can find all you need: from grocery stores to supermarket, banks, restaurants, bars, hotels, tour operators etc.
The transfer from San Cristobal to Santa Cruz takes two hours by speedboat and costs 30$. There are two departures daily, one at 6am, the second at 2pm.
There are a lot of free activities to do, if as me, you do not want to spend 3000$ a week (yes it is possible trust me). For the first day on the new island, we decided to go to "la Estacion Darwin", which is a research center where scientists are working daily on the fauna and flora of the Galapagos Islands. You do not require to pay anything, just need to sign up at the entrance between 6 am and 5pm.
There is a beach, called 'la playa de la Estacion", where you can relax, snorkel, or tan with hundreds of iguanas. Further on the road you will reach the Darwin Center which you can visit for free as well, and see baby turtles, birds, understand the history of the Galapagos Islands and how Charles Darwin discovered it.
At night, the Main Street, called Calle Darwin, plenty of bars and restaurants are welcoming you for few drinks and good food. The overall prices are higher than on the continent. For a regular bottle of Pilsener (local beer), you would pay $5 in the Galapagos, while paying $1,75 - 2 on the continent. Same problem with the food. A main dish costs between $10 to $20 depending on what you want to eat. The chicken and the meat are usually cheaper than the fish or other products from the sea, which is kind of weird because we are next to the ocean.
