San Cristobal - Galapagos

On March 15 I landed in San Critobal, one of the southern islands of the Galapagos, where there is a town, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, with 7000 inhabitants which is the capital of the Galapagos - or the capital of paradise, as they call it. It is a cute little town with a lovely Malecon (the street along the beach) .
What is most fascinating about the Galapagos is that the animals live in such harmony with the people here. They are not afraid of humans, most of them. There is a large population of sealions in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno and the town actually belongs to them. They are everywhere. And they are the most relaxed animals I have ever seen.

Here a baby drinking at his mother's breast.

and another baby waiting for his mother.

In the evening they come to sleep at the beach right in the middle of town.

There are many more downtown than at the loberia, the beach where they are supposed to be.

At the Loberia you can see more marine iguanas than sealions. They are fascinating animals. They look quite different from the land iguanas in Guayaquil and also from the land iguanas in the Galapagos.

This funny thing tthey have on the top of their head is supposed to be to protect them when they are fighting, as they like to hit head against head.

The sealions prefer to sit on all the benches they can find in town.

so don't have the illusion you might find a bench to sit down.

Even the little birds are not shy. These so called Darwin finches came as close to me as about 20 cm. when I was sitting in the restaurant, they love to eat leftovers and especially sugar out of the sugar bowl on the table and I could not refuse it to them - for the sake of some photos.

When I was walking along the Malecon a pelikan let me come as close as 1/2 m. too him.

It is so much fun to watch them taking off and fishing.

The Loberia is a pretty beach with a colony of sealions and many birds.

You'll have a chance to see many sealions in my next posts.

I just love their relaxed lifestyle. A lot we could learn from them.

My favorite beach in San Cristobal is puerto Chino. A fantastic white sand beach and wonderful warm water to swim.

There are always some blue footed boobies on the rocks, a bird endemic to the Galapagos.

As I cannot put too many pictures in one post I'll continue in the next one. Have a wonderful day!