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LAVA TUNNELS OF THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS Tommaso Santagata, Livia Savioli We take a map of the world and try to put our finger along the equator, off the coast of Ecuador, in line with those green splodges scattered in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It seems almost impossible to even think about trying to reach somewhere so remote. And yet, after a twenty-hour journey involving two stopovers, we land in one of the few places in the world where nature can be still said to be truly untainted: the archipelago of the Galapagos. Our first stop is the island of San Cristobal, dedicated to Saint Christopher, the patron saint of sailors. The authenticity that characterises these islands emerges the moment you leave the airport: we understand immediately that we have reached a corner of the world far removed
The giant tortoises at the Charles Darwin Centre on the island of Santa Cruz
from our idea of space and time, a place where it is nature that beats out the rhythm of everyday life. Tranquillity envelopes us and creates a delightful, relaxing atmosphere. Straight away, we come across some of the animals that will accompany us for the rest of the journey and which represent an unusual feature of these islands: sea lions, swallow-tailed gulls, tropical birds and sea iguanas. We will have to wait a few days yet, though, before we can get up close and personal with the giant tortoises. Charles Darwin: we all know him for his masterpiece, On the Origin of Species, one of the cornerstones of the history of biology and science in general. It was specifically his observations of the fauna of the Galapagos, and in
