Galapagos
My holiday in the Galapagos Islands is going to end soon, but I'll probably remember these days forever. Not only because I visited wonderful places and I enjoyed spending time with all kinds of animals living here, but also for the people I met here. Before coming to the Galapagos, I wasn't really sure this was a backpackers destination. But just after getting to the main island, I realised that it was full of backpackers like me, travelling alone or in groups.
Isabela Island is for sure the place I loved the most, the main town is so little that it easily gives the opportunity to meet everyone is staying in the island. I got used to spend evenings at the Casa Rosada, a nice pub on the beach, just in front of my hostel. Yes, my hostel was 1 minute walk from the beach! Where I had to cross the street there was a sign saying "iguana crossing, please drive slowly" and here iguanas really cross the street!
Isabela Island is the biggest one in the Galapagos archipelago, but unfortunately it's impossible to access to most of the places on a daily tour. If you want to visit the central and north part of the island you must have lot of money and take a cruise. Because this wasn't on my budget, I just decided to take some daily tour in the southern part of the island.
On the first day I visited Los tunnels, a spectacular volcanic formation. During the volcano eruptions, the most superficial layer solidified forming a tunnel where liquid lava could flow. When the lava flew away, it left empty tunnels that can be seen now. Then we went snorkeling to observe sea horses, giant marine tortugas, mantas and white tip sharks. I never get tired snorkeling, I could do it every day. Swimming with sea lions and giant turtles is for sure the most exciting experience here.
On the second day I hiked to the Sierra Negra volcano. It's a 16 km hike, but quite easy. Here you can see the second biggest caldera in the world, with its black lava. The last Galapagos volcanic eruptions was in 2008 and from what the local told us, this was very impressive. As we got near the top of the volcano, the trail became irregular and we had to walk on volcanic stones. The stones colour changed from black to red, brown, yellow, blue and purple, due to oxidation process. The view was spectacular, absolutely worth the hike. Our guide was so funny, because he was getting tired very easily, so every 15 minutes he was stopping us to rest. But on the way back it started raining, and we had to walk in the mud. Not so funny!
On the third day I visited Las Tintoreras, a water tunnel where you can observe sharks and iguanas. Then some snorkeling and after that a visit to the turtles breeding center. Here there are hundreds of turtles, most of them born in captivity. The most delicate part of their lives is during the first years. The introduction of different species in the past years (like for example dogs, cats, rats, cows) put young turtles lives in danger. These turtles will be freed to their natural habitat when they'll reach an adult age and their shell will be strong enough to protect them from predators.
On the last day I walked for about 15 km to see the Muro de Lacrimas, the tears wall (not to be confused with Muro del pianto in Jerusalem). At the end of the 50s, 300 prisoners were brought to this island to spend their detention period and to keep them busy, they made them build a big wall with volcanic stones. What a waste of time...
When I came back to the main square, the atmosphere was quite strange. The town seemed to be like a ghost town, almost no human presence : after few minutes I realised it was Sunday! Every shop and tour agency in the town was closed, maybe still tired from the party of the night before. We are in the election period here in Ecuador and they love to organise parties with music and barbecue. Every excuse here is good to have a party.
Unfortunately the time to leave Isabela Island arrived and I went back to Santa Cruz. Here I booked immediately my last tour to Floreana island for the day after. The population of this island doesn't overcome 130 people. I can't imagine how is to live isolated from the rest of the world in this island. There was a time, when only two people, a naturists couple , lived in this island...
Turtles of this island are completely extincted, so some years ago they moved here 3 different species of turtles from different islands to repopulate this area. Right now more than 40 turtles live in the turtles center.
Iguanas of this island are very colorful (red, brown, green, blue). The guide told us that this depends on a particular algae they usually eat. The beach where we spent the afternoon was a black sand beach, colour due the erosion of volcanic stones. After spending days at ultrawhite beaches, this was a nice surprise. Here there was a possibility to snorkel with turtles, but our tour agency didn't provide us the equipment as they promised (after complaining with the agency and the ministry of tourism I got a small refund). Fortunately I took with me my swim goggles. There were many giant turtles, but most of them they were swimming near the rocks to get food. There the stream was very strong and even for me that I'm a good swimmer, was quite difficult to swim. Hitting the underwater rocks could be very dangerous.
Yesterday was a sad day. I had to say goodbye to some of the people I met here. I know that meeting people and saying goodbye is part of travelling, but I still didn't get used to it.
Today was my last day here and I decided to go to Tortugas bay, the first place I visited when I landed here. I love that place.
Bye bye Galapagos!
Next post, from Quito!
Isabela Island is for sure the place I loved the most, the main town is so little that it easily gives the opportunity to meet everyone is staying in the island. I got used to spend evenings at the Casa Rosada, a nice pub on the beach, just in front of my hostel. Yes, my hostel was 1 minute walk from the beach! Where I had to cross the street there was a sign saying "iguana crossing, please drive slowly" and here iguanas really cross the street!
Isabela Island is the biggest one in the Galapagos archipelago, but unfortunately it's impossible to access to most of the places on a daily tour. If you want to visit the central and north part of the island you must have lot of money and take a cruise. Because this wasn't on my budget, I just decided to take some daily tour in the southern part of the island.
On the first day I visited Los tunnels, a spectacular volcanic formation. During the volcano eruptions, the most superficial layer solidified forming a tunnel where liquid lava could flow. When the lava flew away, it left empty tunnels that can be seen now. Then we went snorkeling to observe sea horses, giant marine tortugas, mantas and white tip sharks. I never get tired snorkeling, I could do it every day. Swimming with sea lions and giant turtles is for sure the most exciting experience here.
On the second day I hiked to the Sierra Negra volcano. It's a 16 km hike, but quite easy. Here you can see the second biggest caldera in the world, with its black lava. The last Galapagos volcanic eruptions was in 2008 and from what the local told us, this was very impressive. As we got near the top of the volcano, the trail became irregular and we had to walk on volcanic stones. The stones colour changed from black to red, brown, yellow, blue and purple, due to oxidation process. The view was spectacular, absolutely worth the hike. Our guide was so funny, because he was getting tired very easily, so every 15 minutes he was stopping us to rest. But on the way back it started raining, and we had to walk in the mud. Not so funny!
On the third day I visited Las Tintoreras, a water tunnel where you can observe sharks and iguanas. Then some snorkeling and after that a visit to the turtles breeding center. Here there are hundreds of turtles, most of them born in captivity. The most delicate part of their lives is during the first years. The introduction of different species in the past years (like for example dogs, cats, rats, cows) put young turtles lives in danger. These turtles will be freed to their natural habitat when they'll reach an adult age and their shell will be strong enough to protect them from predators.
On the last day I walked for about 15 km to see the Muro de Lacrimas, the tears wall (not to be confused with Muro del pianto in Jerusalem). At the end of the 50s, 300 prisoners were brought to this island to spend their detention period and to keep them busy, they made them build a big wall with volcanic stones. What a waste of time...
When I came back to the main square, the atmosphere was quite strange. The town seemed to be like a ghost town, almost no human presence : after few minutes I realised it was Sunday! Every shop and tour agency in the town was closed, maybe still tired from the party of the night before. We are in the election period here in Ecuador and they love to organise parties with music and barbecue. Every excuse here is good to have a party.
Unfortunately the time to leave Isabela Island arrived and I went back to Santa Cruz. Here I booked immediately my last tour to Floreana island for the day after. The population of this island doesn't overcome 130 people. I can't imagine how is to live isolated from the rest of the world in this island. There was a time, when only two people, a naturists couple , lived in this island...
Turtles of this island are completely extincted, so some years ago they moved here 3 different species of turtles from different islands to repopulate this area. Right now more than 40 turtles live in the turtles center.
Iguanas of this island are very colorful (red, brown, green, blue). The guide told us that this depends on a particular algae they usually eat. The beach where we spent the afternoon was a black sand beach, colour due the erosion of volcanic stones. After spending days at ultrawhite beaches, this was a nice surprise. Here there was a possibility to snorkel with turtles, but our tour agency didn't provide us the equipment as they promised (after complaining with the agency and the ministry of tourism I got a small refund). Fortunately I took with me my swim goggles. There were many giant turtles, but most of them they were swimming near the rocks to get food. There the stream was very strong and even for me that I'm a good swimmer, was quite difficult to swim. Hitting the underwater rocks could be very dangerous.
Yesterday was a sad day. I had to say goodbye to some of the people I met here. I know that meeting people and saying goodbye is part of travelling, but I still didn't get used to it.
Today was my last day here and I decided to go to Tortugas bay, the first place I visited when I landed here. I love that place.
Bye bye Galapagos!
Next post, from Quito!
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