Day 6 - Another Day Another Island

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Kirsten was complaining that we are do not get to sleep in at all on our trip. Today we were able to set the alarm for 7 am! For us, that was sleeping in. Chester was in bed last night early with her ear all jacked up, and Kirsten stayed up watching horrible television. We both still got plenty of sleep and were up and ready to go! Today was a travel day to another island after our morning excursion. That meant we needed to pack up everything before we left. Packing up everything didn’t mean the little lizard that was crawling around in Kristen’s suitcase before she finished packing. We definitely have some little creatures in our bags that are probably coming home with us.

Jorge, our guide, picked us up at 8:30 for a hike to the beach. We figured we were going to be back on the main road for 45 minutes toward the port. We have been on that road every day! But much to our surprise, the drive was only 8 minutes at the most and we were at the trail. It was a 2.5 KM hike on a paved path. The path is lined with mangroves and lizards and birds everywhere. It was easy and peaceful. When we hit the beach, out flip flops immediately came off as we were now walking on the whitest, sandiest beach! The sand was soft and clean and the surf was crashing down making a serene sound. Many people were also on the same journey, but we were all paced enough apart, no one was a bother to anyone else.

We walked along the beach and there were marine iguanas everywhere just sunning themselves on the sandy beach. On the main part of the beach you cannot swim there because the current is too dangerous. We made our way to the lagoon side where swimming was allowed. This is where everyone was either laying on the beach, or in the water snorkeling or having fun. The water, as always, was quite refreshing. We waded into the water up to our knees and called it good. We had an hour on the beach, so that meant nap time.

When our hour was up, we were back on the trail of sand and surf, back to the path and back to our taxi. We had lunch right by our hotel and we still had over an hour to kill before we left Santa Cruz Island. Kirsten took a nap and Chester read her book to pass the time.

Jorge was right on time at 1:15 to pick us up to take us to the boats for us to go to Isabella Island. Again, we assumed we were on the long road back to the port. Nope, we were in the car, maybe 3 minutes. We could have seriously walked to where we needed to catch the boat taxis. Now, one thing we have noticed about the Ecuadorean people is how efficient they are and how planned out they are. We were in our lines for the taxi and boats would come up one after another and take passengers to the speed boat they needed. As for once luck was on our side and we were the first ones onto a new taxi boat, but that also meant, we would be the last ones onto the speed boat. Seating was probably not going to be great. We boarded our vessel, which was actually held together with duct tape. They didn’t even spring for the white duct tape though, which would have made a huge difference. As we were the last to get on, we got lucky again. We go the last two seats outside by the engines. It was a good spot to be in; we stayed dry and we had a breeze keeping us cool. We thought we were going to have the space for just us, but then some German woman came running back, leaving her husband inside, and wanted to sit in the corner wedged between Chester and another woman. Chester moved just enough to allow the “Inga” plenty of space, but also keep enough space between Kirsten and herself. There were really no comfortable places to sit, and we were all jostled around like crazy in the rough sea. There were 5-6 foot swell the entire trip. So Inga keeps trying to crowd Chester and for once, she’s not having it. Kirsten is really rubbing off on her and she stood her ground. At one point she is slapping Chester’s leg trying to get her to move over. She stood up and moved maybe 1 inch over. That was all she was getting. Chester quickly put on her earbuds and closed her eyes to listen to music the rest of the way. The boat ride lasted almost 2 hours. We have Inga the angry Germany to one side of us, and then an incredibly sick man on the other side. Chester could not bear to watch the guy puking in a bag as sea sickness took its toll on the poor fellow But Kirsten Kept trying to get her to look. He was a white as a ghost.

Finally, we reach the port, where we have to hop into another water taxi. We get our bags and meet our new guide. She immediately took us to see the flamingos, and then to our hotel. The hotel is very quaint. The owner greeted us and made us feel very welcome. One thing is for sure, we will not be drinking much on this island. We have to climb stairs to get to our room, and the way Kirsten keeps tripping, it would only spell disaster.

We walked to main street for dinner and a cute this place called CoCo Surf. Our guide highly recommended it. We wish she would have told us it would take FOREVER to get our food. It was super small and cute, but they were totally slammed having every table seated and there were only 4 people working the entire place. Now it is small, but with one person working the grill, it was rough. The food was good, but it was pain as they moved our table around a few times to accommodate more damn Germans! They were getting rained on, but it was their choice to sit out there. So, after a stupid-long dinner we were back at the hotel! Isabella Island is very small, only about 2,000 people live on it. There is not much of a nigh- life so we just came back home.

Tomorrow we have a hike to the volcano and some snorkeling! 10 mile hike.

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