And that's the charm of it: you can imagine being in the world, a million years ago and this is what it probably looked like.” The pristine state of the islands, he explains, is partially thanks to the strict rules that have been set to preserve both the fauna and flora. When visitors disembark on islands, they are asked to stay on paths so as not to disturb the endemic creatures that live and breed in these dry, stony and volcanic landscapes. While McCurry admits that, for a photographer, not being allowed “off-piste” to venture where he wants had its challenges, the rules have clearly paid off. Today, species that elsewhere have died have thrived here: blue-footed boobies that lay one or two eggs on little indents in the rocks; albatrosses that fly from the other side of the globe to nest on cliffs; giant old tortoises that wander through the greenery. As he says, without rules, “you’d have had people camping and leaving food around; people would be fishing. The restrictions are the only reason some of these animals still exist.” The landscape here is as remarkable as the creatures that inhabit it. Unlike many island nations, this one is made of isolated patches of earth from totally different ages. While some islands are new in geographic terms, and their surfaces still covered in hardened ropes and waves of twisted and blackened lava, other islands closer to the Ecuadorean mainland were created more than 4.3 billion years ago, and are now covered with soil and forests that are home to tropical creatures. Even on the driest islands, though, as McCurry discovered, there’s life. On a little sheltered hill there might be a single lava cactus, bristling with golden spikes, or in a crack, a long fine strip of gold that turns out to be the stem of a plant that sheds its leaves in dry season but will burst into life when rain arrives. There are tiny finches that gave Charles Darwin evidence for his theory of evolution, flamingos that live on algae, iguanas that have evolved to be as black as the rocks on which they sunbathe. This diversity of creatures and landscapes, from brutal rock formations to soft-flowing lava, McCurry explains, is partly what makes the islands so fascinating. “There’s a visual abundance,” he says. “There’s also absolute tranquillity when you’re walking around and exploring, where everything slows down and is peacefully quiet. There are no cars. No electricity. It’s completely untouched apart from the trails.” Even better, boats can only visit specific islands at specific times, so areas never feel overrun with other visitors. “It’s not like Venice, for instance, where you might be worried about being stampeded by crowds in the street, and by having to share the sights with several hundred thousand tourists. In the Galápagos, there’s a kind of quiet magic, for which you are grateful.” After five years of cruising through the pristine waters of the archipelago, Silver Galapagos will be taken off duty on 18 July 2020 and replaced by the all-new Silver Origin. silversea.com • –Lisa Grainger From top: the moon-like lava fields of Bahía de Sullivan on Santiago Island were created in 1897; a pair of baby cormorants – the only example of its species that, in the course of its two million-year evolution, has lost its ability to fly; opposite: a sea lion and a blue-footed boobie share a moment on San Cristóbal Island CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 69
The Tables of Babel Gleefully unorthodox young chefs, world-class local ingredients and a delicious hot pot of immigrant cultures: Los Angeles has become the most exciting food city in America By Kevin West Photography by Jessica Sample Clockwise from top left: Row DTLA, home to Hayato; a cocktail at Ma’am Sir; the bar at Guerrilla Tacos; Tsubaki co-owner Charles Namba; chicken katsu sandwich, okonomiyaki and the Ode to Mos Burger at Ototo; the Silver Lake neighbourhood; the trompo at Tacos 1986; zensai at n/naka; diners at Nightshade; outside Ma’am Sir; chef Minh Phan (far right) and her team at Porridge + Puffs; scallop on the half-shell with uni at Ceviche Project; a spread at Porridge + Puffs 70 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
