Our meal last night as guests of Felipe at the Iguana Crossing Hotel was lovely … delicious food, a stylish setting and great company. What a treat and it underlines what friendly and hospitable people the Ecuadorians are.
This morning we hired bikes to cycle the 12 kilometre round trip to the Wall of Tears, an iconic folly dating back to the 1950s when Isabela was a penal colony. The prisoners were put to work building this giant wall as punishment, and judging by the temperature today, it would indeed have been punishing labour. The cycle trail tracks the beach through the Galapagos National Park, undulating through the dry forest across the domain of iguanas and turtles. We saw plenty of the former (they really are ten a penny) and none of the latter but plenty of smelly evidence of them! Say no more …..
There were a number of viewpoints along the route, Tunel del Estero (an ancient lava tunnel through which red hot lava flowed into the sea), Cerro Orchilla (a rocky outcrop/hill with stunning views over both the coast and inland)
and finally a sweaty hour later we crested the final hill to reach Muro de los Logrimas (the wall of tears).
On our return trip we stopped off at La Playita, a deserted beach for a cooling dip in the surf. Heaven! And later for good measure we went snorkelling with the sealions at La Perlas. We're now back on board, shattered and saddle sore but happy!
Yes, i read lots of the prisoners died in the process.
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