Saturday we took an open bus through the occasional drizzle into the highlands to visit a coffee farm. We met the owners of the plantation, who moved to the Galapagos in the 60s, learned how coffee was produced the the traditional way, and saw how it's made now. This plantation produces about four tons of beans a year - if memory serves, about a quarter of the total Galapagos output. It is grown in the shade of tall trees, sometimes bananas, and is produced without pesticides.
Here you see us standing in front of the largest tree on Santa Cruz, which happens to grow on this coffee farm. It provides some serious shade! They say it has to be at least 100 years old. Now, if this tree grew at home it would surely be hundreds and hundreds of years old, so this shows the effect of the fertile volcanic soil and the tropical climate - such a huge tree can grow in "only" a hundred years.
Green coffee beans on low coffee shrubs. They turn red when ripe and are called "cherries."
Roasting coffee the old fashioned way...
Sunday, our final full day in the islands, we boarded a bus at dawn, drove to the port at the north end of Santa Cruz, and took a boat to the island of Bartolome. As one of the youngest islands it is more rugged and looks dramatically volcanic. We climbed to its highest point, then cruised to the beach in the shadow of the iconic pinnacle and snorkeled with tropical fish, Galapagos penguins and a marine iguana. Utterly fantastic, and for many, the favorite experience of all on the islands.
We'll see you tonight!
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