When we went to the tortoise reserve we saw a whole lot of tortoises. They were all really big. There were also a lot of guava trees and our guide told us that the tortoises eat the guava and they also eat grass.

The tortoises are free to leave or stay in the preserve. They will go in mud pools to cool off. They didn’t move much. They were really really big and they just pretty much sat there. We saw a few walking. We saw one of them trying to bite another one.

There was one really big tortoise and our guide told us he was 120 years old. We were supposed to stay seven feet away from the tortoises but they put their head in their shells if we got too close.

The giant tortoise species got to Galapagos by floating on rafts of driftwood and leaves. Sailors found them there. The sailors also brought goats and dropped them off on the islands. There was nothing on the islands to eat the goats (except the sailors), and after a while there were so many goats that they ate all the tortoises’ food. The sailors also brought rats, which eat the tortoises’s eggs.

Then people started a big program to kill the goats by shooting them. They also have programs to help protect the eggs. They keep the baby tortoises in special breeding places so the rats won’t eat them, and when they’re older they let them go.

The biggest tortoise we saw was so big it would be hard to jump over one. I enjoyed seeing the tortoises and how they acted and moved. I like to watch them eat. They were funny. They chewed very slowly.

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Editor’s note:  The trip to the tortoise preserve was part of our tour of the highlands of Isla Santa Cruz.  We also got to walk through a lava tunnel and visited “Los Gemeni,” which are two giant holes in the ground where lava tubes collapsed many years ago.

We also dined in the Kiosk section of town.  After 6 pm, they block off traffic and put tables in the street.  There were lots of people out tonight dining and watching the Copa America final.