Day 1: Your plane arrives in Quito (Ecuador's capital city). You will be met by our staff member and transferred to your hotel. At the hotel, we will have a brief orientation followed by a question and answer session, so you will be ready for next day.
Day 2: Breakfast at nearby restaurant. Depart hotel for flight to Galápagos San Cristóbal (Island. (If it's an early flight, we'll have breakfast in the airport itself.) Meet Galápagos station staff and proceed to La Loberia (sea lion beach) to observe marine iguanas and sea lions. Make sure that your bathing suit, sunscreen, towel, camera, pen and paper are accessible! Depart beach for the field station located in the highlands. Settle in, and receive station orientation. Evening discussion on geology, island formation, ocean currents, and prevailing winds (rain shadows).
Day 3: Climate zone hike in the morning down from the station through varying habitats to down to the intertidal zone where we can create temporary transects. Return to station for lunch. After lunch volunteer work, followed by rest time and an optional visit to a waterfall-pool for a swim. Evening discussion on Galápagos conservation issues.
Day 4: Continued volunteer work in the morning. In the afternoon we'll hike to the higher portion of the reserve to experience of the Miconia zone and (weather permitting) have a beautiful overview of the southern side of the island. After dinner discussion of island biogeography and invasive species.
Day 5: We'll once again take advantage of the morning to collaborate in the station projects. After lunch in the station, we'll take pick-up trucks to visit the Galapagos National Park Tortoise research and reproduction center to view and photograph giant Galapagos tortoises (the species here is one of 10 surviving species - San Cristóbal is thought to be the first island colonized by the ancestors of the tortoises). We'll then proceed down to China Beach for a swim. You will need good walking shoes as trail is made of fractured lava rock. On the way to town we'll visit El Junco, a volcanic crater lake at the top of the island. From there we'll continue on to the small, sleepy, charming port village of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno to check into the hotel.
Day 6: Free morning for exploration and relaxation. After lunch those who didn't bring their own will rent snorkel equipment at additional cost. We'll then go for an easy snorkel in Tijeretas cove, where, aside from the abundance of fish and invertebrate species, we also often see sea lions and sometimes sea turtles. On the way back we'll stop at lookout points along the interpretive trail for dramatic cliff views, followed by our visit to National Park Interpretive Center. Please note that the order of these activities will actually depend on the tides. Dinner. Evening discussion on the fascinating human history of the Galapagos. (Given by students).
Day 7: Breakfast. Proceed for all day snorkel and white sand beach combing along leeward side of island via chartered boats. Day will include visit to Ochoa Beach and Isla Lobos where concentrated populations of sea lions, marine iguanas, blue footed boobies, frigate birds and sea life occur. Boxed lunch during extended boat trip to distant León Dormido, a large isolated rock jutting out of the ocean where snorkeling and diving conditions are especially good. Fish life is even more abundant here and large schools of hammerhead sharks are sometimes seen. Evening evaluation of trip and review of highlights. Farewell dinner in town.
Day 8: Breakfast. Early check in of luggage and time for optional activities: Visit to interpretive center or trail, last walk through town or revisit La Loberia. Flight to Quito.
Day 9: The bus will pick you up from the hotel. Departure to Middle of the world. This is a monument in the Middle of the planet, a sign that announces the latitude 0°. A yellow line that separates two hemispheres: the north and the south; then you just need to take a step to enter in one leaving the other one, in an unique experience that can only happen in the middle of the World, picturesque "city" of colonial reminiscences, located in the outskirts of Quito, capital of Ecuador. We will observe this monument very close and visit the Intiñan Museum, called "The Real Middle of the World" as in this place, you can observe various experiments that show you're in the Middle of the World! Eat lunch at a local restaurant and visit the Artesanal market for last minute shopping. Farewell dinner.
Day 10: Transfer to airport.
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