Isabela

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The big event on Isabela obviously was the unexpected eruption of Volcano Cerro Azul. It was all completely safe as Puerto Villamil, the only village on the island and where I stayed, is 50 km away from the volcano. Some reports said that neither the giant tortoises nor humans were in danger - note the order, giant tortoises first!

JoAnnie (a girl from Quebec with whom I spent most of the time on Isabela) and I sat for hours on my balcony watching the eruption. Not that it changed so much over time, but we just couldn't take our eyes off. None of us had ever seen anything alike before. Even Tungurahua was nothing compared to this.

JoAnnie and I had tried to get a boat trip organised to get much closer to the volcano and to watch it from the other side. However, as basically everything else on this island, it was a mission impossible. By the way, this was not our idea. In the morning we had been asked by a local guide whether we would be interested in this boat trip at night. In the late afternoon we were then told it had been cancelled, as they had not found people interested and as it was cloudy and we would not see anything anyway. However, a short time later the sky cleared and so JoAnnie and I walked around asking people if they would join a trip. We also talked to a number of boat operators and guides. Just to be told at the end of our tour around te village that it wasn't allowed at all to go take a boat into the sea after 4pm!! Why had none of the guides and operators mentioned this before? Probably they just need to pay a little money... - ??

The other ventures we were planning proved to be equally difficult. Whatever question you ask people on this island you will get as many different answers as you ask people. Our plan was to do a complete loop of the volcano Sierra Negra, going to Volcano Chico and the Sulphur Mines, with staying one night in a tent on the rim. Some people told us it was indeed possible, but the majority said it was not. All insisted that for any hike on the crater we needed a guide, not necessarily a certified guide, but at least a local who knows the place. Galapagos National Park regulation. It did not make it easier that the park staff were on strike during these days. They were fighting with the government for a life-long employment at the park rather than their current yearly contracts.

We had the name of a guy working at the park, though and asked our way through the village. In the end we found the man and knew about half of this population of 2000. He suggested that we go one day to Cerro Chico, come back to the guard house, stay there, and go the next day to the Sulphur Mines on the other side of the rim. Which we basically did, just that we went back to Puerto Villamil to sleep. Both trips were very impressive, although very different. See pictures (please note that there are two pages of pictures)!

Also interesting is the walk (or bike ride) to the Muro de las Lagrimas (Wall of Tears), which was built by convicts in the 50s. It was supposed to be a prison, but many of the convicts died when trying to heave up the heavy rock blocks, so finally this was abandoned- For me it was also kind of a hike of tears, as my bike soon had a puncture and so I had to hike in my sandals, with lots of blisters and bloody feet in the end... Still, it was worth it, as the walk has a lot of side trails to lagoons, beaches, mangrove areas etc.

From Isabela I took a tiny plane on to San Cristóbal, the third inhabited island on the archipelago.

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Photos

My house by the beach
..well, In just had the room under the right red roof.

Awaiting enlightenment under the banyan tree?
No, it's actually a soap tree.