Small and somnolent, the main town of the island of San Cristobal has a big name: Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. Such an elegant appellation is appropriate for a place that boasts a naval base, a radio station and is the provincial capital of Ecuador’s Galapagos Province.

General information. Most of the basic utilities are available in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, including a Pacifictel telephone office, a hospital, an airline office, a police station and a bank [Banco del Pacifico, Mastercard ATM only, but changes travelers' checks]. But the town [population 3,000] has a run-down, backwater atmosphere, and from a tourist’s point of view isn’t as pleasant as its sister, Puerto Ayora, over on Santa Cruz. This might change, however, because Puerto Baquerizo Moreno boasts a new airport, which makes it a second gateway to the archipelago.

Places to visit. One of the town’s few tourist attractions is the small natural history museum [Mon-Fri 8.30-11.30am & 3.30-5pm, Sat 8.30am-noon; $1*] full of dusty stuffed birds, iguanas, sea lions and dolphins as well as whalebones, tortoise shells, corals and crabs. The sole living exhibit in the museum is a tortoise called Pepe, who lives in an enclosure behind the main building. Included in the admission to the museums is a fistful of green leaves to feed the gentle giant. Nobody knows how old Pepe is because scientists haven’t found a way of determining the age of tortoises, though it’s known that they often live well over 150 years. It’s possible that Pepe was around when Charles Darwin visited these islands.
A notice on the wall of the museum gives a short version of the horrendous story of one Manuel J. Cobos, who operated a sugar plantation and refinery up in the hills of Chatham, as San Cristobal was then called, at the end of the 19th century. Cobos was a dreadful tyrant with a taste for flogging his convict laborers to death and taking advantage of their women. Rebellious workers murdered him in 1904. In recording the story of Cobos, author of The Enchanted Islands, John Hickman writes: “These stories — and there must be many similar unrecorded incidents — show the Galapagos archipelago as a sinister backdrop against which all human dramas are doomed to tragedy. There seems to be something inimical to human life or at least to human happiness in the very atmosphere.”

Some compensation for this, about twenty-minutes' walk north of the centre along Alsacio Northia is the Centro de Interpetacion, the Galapagos National Park's excellent new exhibition centre [daily 8am-noon & 1-5pm; donation]. The displays cover everything from geology, climate and conservation, to attempts at colonization in the 1920s, and have detailed explanations in Spanish and English. Impressive installations include a hold stuffed with overturned giant tortoises as they would have been stored by the pirates and whalers - one beast has its leg cut off for the boiling pot. Talks, lectures and concerts are regularly held at the open-air theatre and audiovisual projection room within the complex. There's disabled access too, including a raised wooden walkway winding above the vegetation to the entrance.

Behind the last exhibition room at the centre, a path leads up to Cerro de Las Tijeretas, or Frigatebird Hill. It's only twenty minutes through fragrant palo santo forests to the top to a viewpoint, where you'll have a fine panorama of the yachts in Wreck Bay, Isla Lobos to the north, and Leon Dormido to the northeast. Below you a rocky cove echoes with jockeying sea lions while frigate birds revolve in the air above. They nest here in March and April, and are seen less frequently during the cool-dry season. A series of paths network around the hill, so you can do a circuit; it's relatively easy to stay oriented. One trail leads to the cove where you can snorkel, others go down to the road back to town past the interpretation centre. Heading away from town to the north, you'll come to a secluded beach.

A good place near town to spot wildlife is La Loberia, thirty-minutes' walk to the southwest. Here, a trail leads along a rugged coast of pitted black lava buffeted by ocean spray, where you'll find sea lions, marine iguanas and many shore birds, to a small beach. Locals take the shortcut to La Loberia, via the airport along to the southern end of the runway and down the steep embankment at the end. Make sure there are no imminent air arrivals if you follow their example. Otherwise continue on from the southern end of Alsacio Northia down a dirt road heading to the shore. Taxis [$2.5*] or bikes are alternatives to the 45-minute walk.

Entertainment. Though not the most swinging of provincial capitals, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno does have a couple discotecas near the center of town which are most lively Friday and Saturday nights.

Things to do. At the weekends, surfing crowds make their way to the shoreline west of town to catch the waves. Tongo Reef is one of the more popular places, a twenty-minute walk past the Capitania. You'll need to leave identification at the entrance, as this is a military area, then cross the runway through the scrub to the rocky shore. Bring sandals that you don't mind getting wet, as the volcanic rocks somehow combine extreme sharpness with extraordinary slipperiness. It's best to be with someone who knows the place as currents can be strong; you can hire a board and a guide to give you a lesson and show you the way there, or you could befriend some surfers.

Getting there. Air. After Baltra, San Cristobal is the second entry point to the Galapagos Islands from Quito and Guayaquil.
There is also passenger boat service between San Cristobal and Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz run regularly by INGALA. Ask around for the latest schedules. Most tourists visit Puerto Baquerizo Moreno for just a few hours from their cruise boats.

From the airport you can pick up a taxi or truck to the town centre for $1*; it's within walking distance too, only being about 15-20 minutes southwest of the centre along Avenida Alsacio Northia.

Pick-up trucks and taxis can be caught on the Malecon and cost a minimum of $1* and around $2* to El Progreso, $10* to El Junco [return] or about $4* to hire per hour. Island buses to El Progreso pick people up on Avenida 12 de Febrero, though the service is irregular so ask locals for details. If you want to go beyond, for example to El Junco, catch the bus from the market at 12 de Febrero and Juan Jose Flores [Wed & Sat at 2pm]. Tell the driver you want the lagoon and check what time it'll be passing back, usually about ninety minutes later.

*The prices are approximately

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