The ferry ride from Baltra to Santa Cruz is short, and a few moments after disembarking, we find ourselves following the crowd and jumping on an express bus to the Galapagos capital, Puerto Ayora.

The road through the scalesia forest is spectacular. It is like a straight line, which we realise when glancing back from one of the highest viewpoints in the landscape. The route across the island goes through several biomes, and as we approach Puerto Ayora, we are thrilled to spot a few stunning highland tortoises by the roadside.

A glimpse of a tortoise | Photo: Travel In Culture

Quite surprised unexpectedly to come across some of the gigantic reptiles, within less than 30 minutes after leaving the airport, we already feel the excitement of arriving on the unique islands – the islands where Charles Darwin did essential fieldwork and research for his book On the Origin of Species.

In Puerto Ayora, we are dropped off at the so-called bus station in town – which is just a stop on a street corner.

We are not the only ones to look bewildered when the bus leaves us behind. The eyes of another couple flutter just as much as ours, searching for signs that point us in the right direction towards White House Galapagos – a small local family-run hotel a bit off Puerto Ayora’s most touristed streets.

Our hotel in Puerto Ayora: White House Galapagos | Photo: Travel In Culture

We spend the first day exploring Puerto Ayora, soaking up all first impressions. Soon, we recognise that the streets are often messy, houses incomplete and the pavements random and uneven with occasional holes. Construction sites appear here and there, and workers are welding buildings without shields right above our heads when we pass.

Only the visible fronts of the houses are painted, whereas the backs are not. We must admit that what we see slightly differs from our vague ideas of what the town would be like. The picture we now get is not quite compatible with one of the orderly streets and houses we had drawn up in our minds, based on knowing that wealthy tourists contribute to the economy by spending a fortune during their holidays cruising the Galapagos Islands.

Photo: Jedediah White / Pixabay

Absorbing this, we fall in love with the atmosphere, the unknown flavours, the scent of exotic and delectable fruits, the open-air cooking, the ubiquitous animals, people’s joyfulness, the relaxed attitudes and the friendliness. The local market offers a range of fruits and vegetables, fruit drinks and slaughtered chicken. People are outgoing and straightforward, sit and chat outside, and all contribute to the charm and charisma we experience. The town features a good mixture of local South American and Caribbean ambience with a touch of luxury that the tourists also require.

In the afternoon, we visit Charles Darwin Research Station, a foundation with an ambitious tortoise breeding programme to increase the number of giant tortoises in the Galapagos Islands and, in this way, conserve the biodiversity of the archipelago. You can find tortoises of all ages here and get a lot of helpful info about the tortoises and their life in their natural habitat.

Scorpionfish | Photo: Travel In Culture

Charles Binford Street is an attractive restaurant street (‘Los Kioskos’) in Puerto Ayora, where people gather in the evening to have lobster, fish or other seafood dishes served by the restaurants. In the evening, the street is emptied of traffic, and the restaurants fill it with tables instead. Of course, we must try some of the Puerto Ayora specialities here – for instance, the delectable scorpionfish! A plate of bananas is brought to our table even before ordering, seemingly replacing the bread we are used to at home. Everything here is extremely reasonably priced, and the open-air restaurant in the vibrant Charles Binford Street is a fantastic experience!

We notice that plantains (large yellow-orange banana-like fruits that tend to be straight in shape) with their fine, sweet taste are also extremely popular as side dishes in Ecuadorian cuisine. Ecuador is the largest exporter of bananas in the world, with an annual export value of 3 billion US$! It corresponds to 25% of total banana exports!

Puerto Ayora, the largest town in the Galapagos Islands, is definitely a vibrant town. At the beginning of the day, it may appear quiet and sleepy, seemingly only inhabited by ubiquitous roosters crowing at the break of dawn. That is how we are woken up every day!

Meet the locals going for a walk in Puerto Ayora | Photo: Travel In Culture

Returning from the harbour on our morning walk, we have an unusual experience. What we see is a sea lion strutting towards us on the pavement. We are not really prepared for this meeting! However, there is no need to say hello since the animal continues, completely unaffected when passing us, leaving a noticeable, wet track behind!

The abundance of wildlife everywhere here inevitably results in animals integrating into the civilisation in town. Sea lions and marine iguanas together with pelicans and frigate birds are strikingly frequent visitors along the waterfront, around the harbour and at the fish market. It is really a great place both for animal-watching (and people-watching)!

Photo: Travel In Culture

Our hotel hosts have recommended visiting the local lava tubes at the other end of Puerto Ayora. It is an alternative to climbing through the longer lava tubes located elsewhere on Santa Cruz Island, including one at the ranch El Chato. Nevertheless, if you are not so eager to climb through the muddy tubes in complete darkness, the local lava tubes are a good option to get an impression of this geological phenomenon created by flowing lava millions of years ago – and spewed in a gigantic volcano eruption. We climb down without hesitation since daylight enters the short tunnel further ahead due to an earlier collapse.

The town is multifaceted with its weird, unfinished constructions, laundry hanging on the flat roofs, roosters walking around in the streets, local habits, genuine atmosphere and kind and helpful people, and we love it!

We buy breakfast at the local bakery and market a few streets behind our accommodation in Puerto Ayora. Bananas and thick-skinned plantains dominate the market street. They come in all sizes, shapes and shades of yellow and green and play a significant role in nutrition here. For cooking, for eating uncooked as a tasty snack, as salted banana chips or with the meal. We have them for breakfast here every day – and our favourite snack soon becomes the chifles, the thinly sliced and deep-fried crisps.

Today, we have planned to hike to Tortuga Bay – a dream of a beach located near Puerto Ayora. It is a 45-minute hike from Puerto Ayora through the cactus forest with lots of interesting vegetation. Just before arriving at the beach, we pass through a mangrove area. Finally, we catch sight of the impressive beach with pristine white sand. However, the first beach is not for swimming since the currents are strong here. Instead, we continue to the next beach, a lagoon with drawing turquoise water. Tortuga Beach is said to be among the most beautiful beaches in the world, and we can only agree!

The lagoon at Playa Mansa, Tortuga Bay | Photo: Travel In Culture

A few hours after arriving, we observe a group of white tip reef sharks coming in at high tide. It is absurd to swim with them in the lagoon – but they are too small to pose any danger to humans! We spend the afternoon swimming, sunbathing and observing marine life in the lagoon. In particular, we enjoy watching the marine iguanas resting at a part of the beach, which seems to be theirs! We even see tiny baby marine iguanas on some lava rocks nearby – it is a cool experience!

Back in Puerto Ayora, we must try the empanadas at the local market recommended by our host family. Every evening, you can get the most delicious deep-fried empanadas at the stalls in the market square, which again at night turns into a vibrant gathering point (like in the morning)! The empanadas are only 1 dollar each, and you can choose between savoury beef, chicken and cheese.

Today, we take one of the public water taxis to the Angemeyer Point on the other side of the bay. From here, there is only a short walk to Playa de los Alemanes, a popular snorkelling beach. Moreover, there is a fascinating diversity of interesting corals and vivid marine life in the shallow water.

From the beach, we continue past the old pink salt lagoons to Las Grietas, a breathtaking crevice in the volcanic rocks with crystal clear and turquoise water. Earlier, people used to jump into the water from the rocks, but this is no longer allowed. Instead, you can use the platform to enter the water, a mixture of saltwater and freshwater coming from both a river and the nearby sea. At moments when the crevice is less crowded, you can observe beautiful colourful fish and other marine life inside it. We spend a lovely afternoon here before heading back towards Puerto Ayora.

Turquoise water in Las Grietas | Photo: Travel In Culture

At the end of the day, we stroll over to Laguna de Las Ninfas, a lagoon with similar salt and freshwater conditions, creating a particular wildlife of birds and fish, such as spotted eagle rays. It is the young people’s favourite place to come in the evening and make themselves comfortable on the boardwalk with music and a drink.

In the late afternoon and particularly in the evening, the town increasingly wakes up. The noise and the jumble of activities culminate at night when the streets are seething with people to the extent that we wonder where they were all during the quiet day.

We pass an old-fashioned sewing room with six people sitting in the tiny room, sewing on each of their outdated sewing machines and only having the most basic gear around. The door and the windows are wide open, allowing us to observe how they work.

In the morning, we set off for a highland tour – by taxi. An acquaintance of our host is a taxi driver, and he is willing to take us to the ranch El Chato, where we can see the giant tortoises that roam there. On the way, we will make a first stop at Los Gemelos, the twin craters once resulting from collapsed volcanic magma chambers. It is also an area of endangered scalesia forest where fascinating mosses grow on the trees and orchids thrive. The scalesia forest is endemic to the Galapagos Islands and consists of several species and subspecies.

Photo: Travel In Culture

Afterwards, we continue to El Chato, where our driver leaves us to explore the area – after paying a small entrance fee to the property owner. Within a short time, we spot the first giant tortoise – and more tortoises follow. The large animals are awe-inspiring! We stay at a proper distance so as not to disturb the solid giants. The naturalist Charles Darwin came to study the tortoises on his HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836, and he made the remarkable observations and theory that the creatures varied in shape depending on which of the Galapagos Islands they belonged to.

On the way back to Puerto Ayora, the driver suggests he can also take us to the secluded and attractive beach Playa El Garrapatero for the afternoon.

Our last day in Puerto Ayora is perfect for a bay tour around Academy Bay. We book seats for the boat tour in one of the local shops in Puerto Ayora.

The first stop is the sea lion island, Caamaño Islet, in the middle of the bay. Fortunately, the boat ride is short as the waves are higher than we have imagined – even if still being close to the coast! Once there, we spot a few sea lions playing in the water. A young one repeatedly climbs a rock and then jumps into the water with a loud splash!

The next stop is a fantastic snorkelling site where we can swim with sea turtles and tropical reef fish. Snorkelling gear is available for all passengers on the boat and is included in the ticket price. Finally, we stop near the coast, where we get close enough to watch three blue-footed boobies sitting on a rock. They are precisely what we had hoped to see – since these birds are so unique. However, there was no guarantee to view them on the tour today, so we consider ourselves extremely lucky.

We get all close to spectacular blue-footed boobies | Photo: Travel In Culture

The tour now takes us through an arid cactus forest and volcanic landscape to Playa de los Perros, a natural beach with plentiful orange Sally Lightfoot crabs and marine iguanas within sight, before we once again pass the pink salt lagoons, Las Salinas, and enjoy the scenic views at Las Grietas.

Hotel: White House Galapagos hotel, Puerto Ayora

Read next: Stay 6 Feet from the Galapagos Iguana and Sally Lightfoot and Have You Seen a Galapagos Shark or a Brujo?

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