On Friday we (the four of us plus our Smith grandparents) headed to Isabela Island. We left around seven o'clock in the morning from San Cristóbal and arrived at Santa Cruz (the in-between island which is the most populated and the most city like) around 9:30. The tide was low and so there weren't very high of waves for our first trip. When we arrived we actually had to take a water taxi from the boat to the pier that costed fifty cents per person. Then we went on what seemed like a really long walk with all of our luggage (two suitcases, three heavy backpacks and two small bags) to the Darwin Interpretation Center. Lucky for us, the man at the reception desk asked us if we wanted to put our luggage inside, which we did. The main building was closed for construction or something which was a bummer because my dad and grandpa were really looking forward to reading every single sentence of history in there. So we went further and found lots of giant tortoises and lots of baby giant tortoises. And we saw land iguanas which was new to us because on San Cristóbal there aren't land iguanas, only marine iguanas. Then we walked back to the front to get our luggage again and then we walked back into town. We wanted to take a taxi but most of the way was a driveway and everybody said that the taxis don't come back there. Once we got into town we looked for a place to eat that would be cheap. Most of them weren't but we found a really good pizza place that was cheapish. By the time we finished it was about 1:15 so we headed back to the pier to catch our two o'clock boat to Isabela. It cost us another fifty cents per person on the water taxi to get to our boat.
Right when the boat started to move I could tell this trip was going to be a rough one. The waves were much larger than they had been in the morning. Within the first five minutes we had already flown through the air a few times and I was already feeling sick. As we travelled on, a lot of people had their eyes closed as if they were sleeping but I figured it was just an attempt to make them feel a little less sick. Luisa took a nap on my shoulder. The girl I was sitting across from threw-up. Then her friend beside her threw-up. Then the French man in the front threw-up. Then the hippie in the back, and then the first girl again, and then the French man, and then the hippie's boyfriend, and then the second girl again.
Finally after two and half long hours, we were at Isabela. The water taxis came to the boat again and this time it costed us a dollar per person. But nobody cared because everyone just wanted to get onto land. Once we got onto the pier we had to pay five dollars per person just to enter the island or something. Then we got our luggage and went to the parking lot where we looked for the guy that was supposed to pick us up. We didn't know his name or what he looked like but there were only four trucks in the parking lot and three were taken. The fourth was a taxi and it looked like our guy wasn't going to show so we hopped in the taxi and told him which hostal we were looking for. As we drove through town I looked around and loved what I saw. This island, the least populated of the three populated islands, didn't have paved roads. I never thought of paved roads as something that stood out but looking at Isabela it felt like being back in rural Guerrero Mexico. It also felt like a small town where everybody knew and trusted each other and where there is sometimes hot water but mostly there is not. But it's a nice town so nobody cares.
Then we arrived at the hostal which is a three story building with about ten rooms. In front there is a grass hut/pavilion sort of place. A grass pavilion with five hammocks, a TV, a picnic table with fresh fruit on it and a whiteboard with the tours that they offer. Behind that is the open air kitchen that anyone can use to make meals, make coffee or cut up the fresh fruit from the table. There is also a wash station which I haven't seen but I imagine that means washed by hand. Then we saw the little building that says "receptionist" but nobody was in there. The German couple in the kitchen told us that there is another hostal nearby that has the same name as this one and that the same guy runs it. They told us he's normally over there. So my dad went over to get him. A few minutes later my dad came back with the manager. He hadn't remembered that we were coming because we had reserved it over a month ahead of time so naturally he had forgotten. He only had one room with a double and three singles. He said that some people should be leaving tomorrow so we should get another room tomorrow but for now this was all he had. We said it would be fine. Luisa and I can share a single bed.
My grandma was still feeling awful from the boat ride so she went right to bed and requested some 7-up or some other lemony pop for when she woke up. So the other five of us went on a quest for something of that sort and in the third store, we found Sprite. Then we went to a panadería to buy some bread for breakfast. They told us that they open at six in the morning so we just decided to come back when it was breakfast time. We took the pop back to the hostal and then the five of us went out for supper just around the corner. The food was good but there was a lot of food so I was the only one who finished. Then we returned to the hostal and we all took ice cold and/or boiling hot showers and got in bed.
Now my dad and grandpa are having a snoring contest that sometimes Luisa joins into. Ugghhh!
Editor's note: thanks to Grandma Joann's planning and and experience with motion sickness, all of us had appropriate meds and treatments for sea-sickness and did not suffer too much on the boat trips!
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