Galapagos: Puerto Ayora



The main town in the Galapagos Islands is Puerto Ayora. About 25,000 people live on the islands, about half of whom live in this one town. The town is definitely catered towards tourists, but elements of daily life (schools, churches, etc) are everywhere, especially if you venture just a block off of the Main Drag.

More than people, though, what strikes you about Puerto Ayora is the comfortable interaction between town life and wildlife. There are critters everywhere. Sea lions are so abundant that locals walk by them nonplussed.



  Even us, by our 5th or 6th day, we expected to run into sea lions in unusual places.



Of course, some tourists can't pass up the chance for a photo op with a sea lion.
 

Puerto Ayora isn't rich, but it is very comfortable and very safe. It is also picturesque, in a non-commercial way.



We started spending our afternoons at the local fish market, located about 1 1/2 blocks from our hotel. At the end of the afternoon, the fishing boats would come in and trade their haul with whoever was buying. The fish market was crowded every day -- not so much with people buying fish, but with people watching the birds vying for fish.



Frigates would swoop down, inches from human heads, trying to steal fish parts off the table. Meanwhile, the pelicans would line up, waiting for scraps while a lone Great Blue Heron would stand off to the side, and was rewarded for its patience by humans tossing fish pieces to it.

 We took to spending our evenings out on the pier, just watching fish. We'd be joined by dozens of others -- tourists and residents -- doing the same. Here are white-tipped sharks, swimming just off the pier. We'd see dozens of them nightly, as well as manta rays.


 It suited us.




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