Today (Tuesday) was our last day on Isabela and we still had so much to do. Last night we planned what we would do today so that we would be sure to get everything in. Yesterday we started a walk that I really liked but it was getting dark so we didn't get to go very far. I knew that there was a lot to see there and I REALLY wanted to go back and see it all. A couple of days ago Luisa and I had gone to the Galapaguera which we had later told our family about and they all wanted to go see it. And we had to do both of these things, find breakfast, and find lunch before one o'clock when a taxi was going to take us to the airport for our two o'clock flight.
So this morning Luisa, my dad and me woke up by 6:15, got dressed and headed to the bakery to buy cheese empanadas for breakfast. We walked, eating our empanadas, downtown to rent bikes. It seemed like not much was open yet so we had ten minutes to spare until seven o'clock when the bike rental shop would be open. My dad decided that he needed coffee so we went to a restaurant and he had some coffee while we finished off our empanadas. The owner of the restaurant pointed us to a bike rental that she said was open early so we walked the block there. The bike rental was actually a general store that also rented bikes. They had ten there and it costed two dollars an hour for each bike. We got bikes and headed down the road along the beach.
At first, this road was sandy and at points it was hard to bike but then after about two kilometers the beach stopped and the road began to move away from the water. At this point there were bathrooms and a sign saying that we were entering the "Humaldes" section of the national park. From here, the end of the road would be about three and a half kilometers ending with the wall of tears. There were lots of little paths to go down on the way to the wall but we didn't stop on the way there. At a couple of spots where there were lots of mangrove trees they formed a tunnel over the road which was really cool. We went through different zones on the way to the wall: first the beach, then the forest, then the area with cactus and shrubs, and then a different kind of forest. The area with the cactus and shrubs had signs that were pictures that meant either don't touch the tortoises or else don't feed the tortoises. This meant that there were supposed to be wild tortoises there but we didn't see any on the way.
We finally got to the end of the road. We got off our bikes and put them in the bike racks and headed down the path to the wall of tears. This wall was made between 1946 and 1959 by prisoners that were on Isabela. They were forced to build the wall with huge blocks of lava. The wall was 7 meters high and 100 meters long and wasn't built for a purpose other than to punish the prisoners. We also could walk up and around the wall to see the other side. Then we walked back to our bikes and headed to Cerro Orchilla which was a steep hill that we walked up to the top to the look-out where we could see a beautiful view of everything. Then we walked back down and biked to El Estero. On the way there we saw three tortoises in the wild! One was eating a piece of prickly pear cactus that had broken off and fallen on the ground. Another was walking across the road. At El Estero there was a walk that had all four types of mangrove: white, black, red and button. It was really dense and felt like we were walking through a tiny tunnel that we had to duck through. Then the path lead out to a tiny beach beside a stream that smelled like sulfur and had lots of mangroves in it. The sign here said that this stream had been the source of water for the prisoners that built the wall of tears. Then we walked back and biked to Poza Escondida (Hidden Lagoon). This lagoon was very hidden. Again we walked through denseness and ended up at a hidden lagoon. It was really pretty because it was completely surrounded by dense mangrove forest. We walked back and biked to Poza Redonda (Round Lagoon). This was another lagoon that had very nice birds. Next we biked to Túnel Del Estero. This was a lava tunnel that had caved in at one spot so that we could go down inside of it. There was also some water in it. The next stop was Mirador Los Tunos. This was a path that took us to two lagoons. The smaller lagoon was surrounded by lava rock because it was a collapsed lava tunnel. That was the last stop and we headed back really fast to be sure to keep our schedule.
We returned our bikes and walked back to our hostal, arriving at about 9:40. My mom, grandma and grandpa had had breakfast on their own while we were gone. Then we all walked toward downtown to catch a taxi to the Galapaguera (1.5 km from town). We asked to get dropped off a little bit farther than the Galapaguera at a man made lagoon where there were nine flamingos. We also saw common gallinules, black necked stilts and white cheeked pintails. We stayed there for a bit, looking at the birds, and then walked to the Galapaguera. The Galapaguera had two types of tortoises: the ones from Cerro Azul (Blue Hill) and the ones from Sierra Negra (Black Mountain Range) (the two southern volcanos on Isabela). There was also a little museum to learn more about giant tortoises. The eggs of giant tortoises are very fragile. They cannot be turned at all which is probably a reason that the mom lays her eggs buried underground. Once baby tortoises hatch underground they have to dig for about 30 days until they get out into the open. The shell of baby tortoises is as soft as an ear cartilage which is why so many tortoise babies die because many animals and people can hurt and kill them. Most of their predators are introduced animals such as wild pigs, donkeys, cows, ants, rats and dogs. Once we were finished in the museum my grandma asked, "Did somebody say there was a gift shop?" So we went to the gift shop. My dad and I bought popsicles, my grandpa bought a cap and my mom bought a couple shirts for friends.
On the way back to town we walked on a really nice path that took us through forest and cactus and across a few lagoons. We saw more white cheeked pintails in those lagoons. Then when we got to town we had an hour before we were supposed to be picked up to go to the airport. So we decided where to eat (which, as always, took forever) and after we had ordered Luisa spotted a couple of guys that were climbing up coconut trees and collecting coconuts. Luisa and my mom went over and bought two from them and they chopped off the tops with their machete and stuck in a straw. Then they came back to our restaurant and we ate a great meal ending at 12:45 which gave us just enough time to walk back to our hostal. Even though the taxi was supposed to pick us up at one it didn't end up coming until 1:30. But that ended up being fine because at the tiny airport all we had to do was show them our bags and they put tags on them and we were ready to get on our six person airplane.
Finally they let us board. We climbed into the plane and it was so tiny all of us had to duck. On the inside it felt the same size as a minivan. After the six of us had gotten in the pilot squeezed his way between us and squeezed into his seat. The airplane ride was short but we got to see a lot. When we took off we could see Los Cuatro Hermanos (islets off of Isabela), Isla Tortuga (a small island off of Isabela), Isla Pinzón (faintly), Isla Santa Cruz, Isla Santa Fe, Isla Floreana (in the distance), and finally, Isla San Cristóbal. The airplane landed and we got our picture taken with the plane.
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