GEEO Galápagos Google Earth Presentation

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USA

Today, I’d like to share with you a great experience I had while traveling to Ecuador and the Galápagos through a non-profit organization called GEEO. GEEO helps educators travel abroad so that they can learn more about different cultures to share with their students. I was joined on my trip by educators and retired teachers from all around the United States.

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South America

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Ecuador and the Galápagos

💡TIP: We recommend turning on gridlines for the start of this presentation. In the Google Earth web version, go to the menu and select “Map Style.” Then toggle on “Turn on gridlines” to show latitude/longitude lines.

As you can see, Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands are very close to the yellow line marking the Equator.

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Quito

💡TIP: You can turn off the gridlines now for a cleaner map view.

Our program started in Quito, which is the capital of Ecuador. The name Quito comes from the Quitu tribe that used to live in the area. The Quitu tribe were conquered by other tribes and eventually became part of the Inca Empire.

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El Panecillo

El Panecillo is a hill overlooking the city of Quito. There was once a temple at the top of the hill where the ancient inhabitants of Quito would worship the sun before the temple was destroyed by the Spanish Conquistadors. There is a large statue of the Virgin Mary at the top of the hill.

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Independence Plaza

Independence Plaza is a public square at the center of old Quito. Quito is a unique city because of its high elevation, because of its proximity to the equator, and because the whole city has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site because it is considered the best preserved historic center in Latin America.

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Basílica del Voto Nacional

The Basílica del Voto Nacional is the largest neo-Gothic basilica in the Americas. The building is noted for its grotesques (stone carvings) in the form of native Ecuadorian animals such as armadillos, iguana, and Galápagos tortoises instead of the more traditional gargoyles. You can climb to the top of the towers for amazing views of the city.

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La Mitad del Mundo

La Mitad del Mundo is a monument that is supposed to straddle the equator, but modern GPS equipment shows that the actual equator is 240 feet north of the monument.

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Galápagos Islands

We took a flight early in the morning from Quito to the Galápagos Islands. Before I tell you more about the Galápagos, can anyone tell me why the Galápagos Islands are well known? Charles Darwin, who first developed the theory of evolution, sailed around the world to study wildlife and fossils. During that voyage, the Galápagos were an interesting place for Darwin to study because they were “geographically young.” The islands were formed by hot mantle material coming from the Earth’s core rising up to the Earth’s crust. After millions of years, this formed underwater volcanoes that grew large enough to become the islands that exist there today.

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Baltra

We flew from Quito to the tiny island of Baltra, which is where the islands’ main airport is located.

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Santa Cruz Island

We then took a short boat ride to Santa Cruz Island, which is the second largest in the Galápagos. The island is sometimes called Indefatigable after the British ship that visited the Galápagos Islands in 1812, the HMS Indefatigable.

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Puerto Ayora

Puerto Ayora is the most populated town in the Galápagos. About 12,000 people live there.

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Charles Darwin Research Station

The Charles Darwin Research Station in Puerto Ayora conducts scientific research and environment education focused on conservation.

We visited the place where the research station is located and got to see many different species of tortoises up close at the Fausto Llerena Breeding Center.

One more reason why Charles Darwin found the Galápagos a good place to study wildlife was because the islands had a large number of endemic species. This means that a large number of the wildlife in the Galápagos can only be found on a specific Island. Darwin was able to compare the differences between the animals on each island and see how they were adapted to their environments and ecosystems in isolation.

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Las Grietas

On our first morning in the Galápagos, we hiked through a forest of enormous cacti and over rugged lava rock formations to one of the most unique swimming holes in the Galápagos Islands. Las Grietas, which literally means “the cracks,” is a series of volcanic crevices that were formed during the cooling of molten lava. Las Grietas is a popular swimming destination for locals and visitors alike.

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Floreana Island

We then traveled by speedboat to Floreana Island, which is also known as Charles Island or Santa Maria Island. It is called Floreana after Juan Jose Flores, who was the first President of Ecuador.

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Puerto Velasco Ibarra

Puerto Velasco Ibarra is the name of the main village on the island of Floreana. Floreana has the longest history of human habitation of all the islands. There are only 200 people living on the island today, with one hotel and one restaurant. It is the only island with a fresh water source—a spring that tourists can visit and that provides fresh water for all the people there.

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Isabela Island

We then took a boat to Isabela Island, the largest island in the Galápagos making up half of the islands’ total land mass. The line of the equator runs through the northern tip of the island. Isabela is one of the youngest islands in terms of formation.

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Puerto Villamil

Puerto Villamil is a small village on the island of Isabela. Of the 2,200 people that live on the island, most of them live in this town. There is a tortoise breeding center in Puerto Villamil where we were able to see tortoises of various ages.

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Sierra Negra Volcano

The Sierra Negra volcano on Isabela Island is one of the most active volcanoes in the Galápagos. It last erupted in summer 2018. Here is a video from that eruption.

We went on a group hike to see the crater. It was very muddy!

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Tintoreras Shark Alley

We had the option to visit a small island called the Tintoreras to watch the whitetip reef sharks that swim in those channels. Here’s a picture of a whitetip reef shark. The sharks are called Tintoreras in Spanish, which is where the island gets its name.

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Giant Tortoise Breeding Center

Isabela is the only island in the Galápagos with multiple species of tortoises all on one island. The distance between the volcanoes and the different environments allowed for five different species of tortoise to evolve. We visited the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center to see examples of the different tortoises up close. These tortoises can live for over one hundred years and weigh almost 900 lbs.

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Tortuga Bay

We then traveled by speedboat one last time back to Santa Cruz Island, where we were able to walk to Tortuga Bay, a white sand beach. This beach is preserved for wildlife, and it’s not uncommon to see iguanas, birds, and giant tortoises here. Some of us went kayaking or surfing, enjoying the end of our time in the Galápagos Islands.