7AM: Breakfast before our last panga ride into Puerto Ayora to meet Ruben and taxi to the Charles Darwin Research Station. The first pen had four males, one wading in a pond, and two of them posturing threat displays at each other- standing tall, outstretching necks and opening mouths wide. The next pen had a single female, and then opposite of a partition, several other females. Next up was Lonesome George in a pen he shared with two saddle-backed females. We were welcome to walk respectfully through the prior pens, but Lonesome George’s was observation-only- it was an honor to be able to see the last remaining individual of his species, the Pinta Island Galapagos Tortoise. A juvenile mockingbird caught my eye, perched on a cactus, it allowed us to approach really close to take photos. Last of the tortoise pens was the nursery, where the tortoises would be protected from predators for the first three years of their lives, prior to release. Each one had numbers painted on their carapace near the tail to keep track of them.
10AM: We left the research station to take a bus, ferry across Itabaca channel, take another bus, and finally to the airport on Baltra Island. Our flight departed at 1045AM from Galapagos to Quito via Guayaquil.
3PM: Arrival at the Quito airport, met by Luis and began our journey to Hacienda Pinsaqui, in Otavalo, approximately a 3 hour bus ride. We stopped half-way in a town called Cayambe, known for oven-baked biscocho and learned about the baking process and its history. A small store had fruit snacks, and I selected a guayaba (guava) flavored one, which was delicious. The rest of the trip was through the Ecuadorian farmland, and a lot of their livestock is ground-tied to graze.
7PM: We arrived after dark to Hacienda Pinsaqui, and checked into our enormous rooms before making our way to the bar for welcome cocktail hour. A band played while we sipped licorice-flavored tea and snacked on delicious empanadas. They even played Guantanamera- which had become a staple of our nights on the Aida Maria. The Hacienda’s owner gave us a welcome speech before dinner was served- chicken salad sandwiches with tiramisu for desert. We spent the rest of the evening exploring the property.