Today we rented bikes and biked to Muro de las Lágrimas (Wall of Tears). What a great day, and the day started at our AirBNB (Casa de Marina). Ash loves this place, it is right on the beach in Puerto Villami. There aren’t sea lions at this beach but the AirBNB is near perfect. First, there is no one else here, it has three rooms but we are the only occupants. It has a great seating area with a table, plus hammocks nearby. The kitchen is pretty good, and separate from our room. And the room has a view of the beach, with the sound of waves cascading through our room all the time.
As you may recall, we almost rented bikes in San Cristobal. We are glad we waited. The ride out to the wall of tears (about 6km) was mostly uphill but we saw several Tortosises (5 to be exact) during the day.
Isabela Island was a radar station to protect the panama canal from Japanese attack during WWII. After WWII, the government of Ecuador kicked the USA out and turned the island into a penal colony. From 1945 to 1959, it was a penal colony where prisoners (mostly political dissidents) suffered horrible conditions. One thing they did was make them build a wall out of lava rocks by hand, but the wall serves no purpose. The wall remains as a testament to the suffering they endured.
We hiked past the wall and took in the gorgeous view.
Then we biked back down. On the way down, we stopped at every chance seeing beautiful beaches, some flamingos, lots of crabs and iguanas, a few birds and just beautiful sights. We had the best weather so far today, so we really took in the pristine blue-green waters and stark landscapes.
Once back, we grabbed an afternoon snack of cokes, chips and cookies. Then headed off to do some snorkeling. Yeah, we have been crazy active – we call it fitcation. We heard that Galapagos is for ”old people” but I doubt they could keep the physical activity pace we have. We snorkeled the same spot we did on Monday, catching some starfish, pufferfish, and frolicking with sea lions in the lagoon. Oh, it was magical.
But our time in Isabela is coming to a close, we head to Santa Cruz tomorrow via ferry. 5:30am board time. Ouch.
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