Today was our day for adventure. Ty and Jake got up extra early to catch their dive boat and the rest of us got up a little later. We were meeting our naturalist in town at 8:30am.
Our naturalist seemed like a really cool guy telling us about what we would be doing for the day. Our guide said the hike would only be 2 K which is super short for us. I was a little disappointed thinking the hike would be longer but it'd still be fun! We were also informed that we would be going to El Trapiche which is a chocolate, coffee and sugarcane plantation too! How exciting! I love the beginning of an adventure.
We all hopped into a van and were on our way to our first destination, the lava tunnels! On our way, our guide was telling us the history of the towns on Santa Cruz island. And once we all jumped out and were excited for the start of our adventure!
We started our walk to the lava tunnels and got distracted by every plant along the way. Our guide went and got us grapefruits, oranges and some small plum-like fruit that was himento or something. Below is a picture of it. It was very sweet and had a milky inside that made your mouth dry and chalky if you ate a lot of it.
So as lava flows down a hill, the outside hits the cool air and hardens, leaving the inside to continue flowing. After many years, the tubes get smaller and smaller from consecutive flows (the outside hardening each time making layers on the walls). Sometimes these layers cave in as they disconnect from the outer walls and rocks cave in, we saw some of that and told Marlon to protect us!
After the lava tunnels we drove to our trail-head where we would hike up to the top of Santa Cruz island - Cerro Crocker. The start of the trail was pretty vertical and we took many breaks and talked about Darwin's finches, some of the local plants and more history of the island. I loved every minute of it. Below left is Miconia, a plant native to the Galapagos and below right is a super cool, fuzzy fern that Marlon had to look up in his Galapagos guidebook. Its a type of club fern.
We took a half-way break stop at some buildings that were closed up but had some shade to sit and drink some water. It was about 10:45/11 at this point and I was already starving for lunch but we still had to get to the top! We all splashed some cistern water on our heads and then hiked a little ways (up a very steep trail) to the top of half moon which is one of the sunken craters. We had a beautiful view of Puerto Ayora down below. Then back down to the buildings to start our trek up to the top of the mountain!
About 15 minutes in, we all started getting a little tired. We had definitely gone more than 2K and Marlon kept saying, just a little further! In the distance we saw a hill with some antennae on it and I remember thinking, no, we aren't going all the way over there. But as we passed the hill that I thought was the top and kept going up, I quickly realized that those antennae were probably where we were going! I had turned on my hiking app and not even to the top, we had already gone 2 miles!!
After the 2 mile mark, we all quieted down and focused on the hike. I was exhausted but kept pushing because of my hunger. The quicker we get up, the quicker we get down and I get to eat lunch!
There was one last ridge, we hiked up to and saw the other side of the island. It was beautiful. We could see all the way to Baltra (the island north of Santa Cruz that we flew in on)!
We hiked along this ridge to the top. Cant stop now! We had made it to the top of the island! That hill way in the distance that we thought was not our destination! Here was a view from the top at 864 meters or about 2,500 ft. It was stunning. No picture could do it justice.
Our naturalist seemed like a really cool guy telling us about what we would be doing for the day. Our guide said the hike would only be 2 K which is super short for us. I was a little disappointed thinking the hike would be longer but it'd still be fun! We were also informed that we would be going to El Trapiche which is a chocolate, coffee and sugarcane plantation too! How exciting! I love the beginning of an adventure.
We all hopped into a van and were on our way to our first destination, the lava tunnels! On our way, our guide was telling us the history of the towns on Santa Cruz island. And once we all jumped out and were excited for the start of our adventure!
We started our walk to the lava tunnels and got distracted by every plant along the way. Our guide went and got us grapefruits, oranges and some small plum-like fruit that was himento or something. Below is a picture of it. It was very sweet and had a milky inside that made your mouth dry and chalky if you ate a lot of it.
Then we descended into the tunnels after a short history of the geology of the island, oh boy was I nerding out! As our guide, Marlon, was telling us about the island, he also killed my dream of becoming a Galapagos guide. He said that you have to be a Galapagos native to become a guide, there goes my life dream... lol.
The tunnels were HUGE! Here are some pictures, the lights in the tunnels were at about 7 feet to give you some perspective.
So as lava flows down a hill, the outside hits the cool air and hardens, leaving the inside to continue flowing. After many years, the tubes get smaller and smaller from consecutive flows (the outside hardening each time making layers on the walls). Sometimes these layers cave in as they disconnect from the outer walls and rocks cave in, we saw some of that and told Marlon to protect us!
After the lava tunnels we drove to our trail-head where we would hike up to the top of Santa Cruz island - Cerro Crocker. The start of the trail was pretty vertical and we took many breaks and talked about Darwin's finches, some of the local plants and more history of the island. I loved every minute of it. Below left is Miconia, a plant native to the Galapagos and below right is a super cool, fuzzy fern that Marlon had to look up in his Galapagos guidebook. Its a type of club fern.
We took a half-way break stop at some buildings that were closed up but had some shade to sit and drink some water. It was about 10:45/11 at this point and I was already starving for lunch but we still had to get to the top! We all splashed some cistern water on our heads and then hiked a little ways (up a very steep trail) to the top of half moon which is one of the sunken craters. We had a beautiful view of Puerto Ayora down below. Then back down to the buildings to start our trek up to the top of the mountain!
About 15 minutes in, we all started getting a little tired. We had definitely gone more than 2K and Marlon kept saying, just a little further! In the distance we saw a hill with some antennae on it and I remember thinking, no, we aren't going all the way over there. But as we passed the hill that I thought was the top and kept going up, I quickly realized that those antennae were probably where we were going! I had turned on my hiking app and not even to the top, we had already gone 2 miles!!
After the 2 mile mark, we all quieted down and focused on the hike. I was exhausted but kept pushing because of my hunger. The quicker we get up, the quicker we get down and I get to eat lunch!
There was one last ridge, we hiked up to and saw the other side of the island. It was beautiful. We could see all the way to Baltra (the island north of Santa Cruz that we flew in on)!
We hiked along this ridge to the top. Cant stop now! We had made it to the top of the island! That hill way in the distance that we thought was not our destination! Here was a view from the top at 864 meters or about 2,500 ft. It was stunning. No picture could do it justice.
Then was the hike back down. It was about 1 pm at this point. We were all tired and hungry and our hunger was powering us back down that mountain. By the time we got back to the buildings, our legs were tired and wobbly, but we kept going. A little ways after, we all stopped to regroup and we had definitely worn our guide out! Many times Jean, Jakes mom, asked Marlon how old he was and he would say, too old, but she was persistent and finally told us that he was 40. 40 Marlon?! "You're closer to my age than theirs (meaning my parents and Jean)!" I said. 40 is not old. But the older folks could have probably run circles around Marlon. Props for being in shape ;)
Finally, we got back to our van and tore into our lunches and glass-bottle gatorade! It was probably the best lunch I had on the island, but it could have been because I was so hungry. In the end we hiked close to 6 miles which was about 9K. We joked with Marlon about the 2K he promised us at the beginning of the day and for the rest of the trip... "Ahh, its only about 2 K!" lol
Now it was time for us to visit El Trapiche. We were all so tired but the thought of sampling coffee, chocolate and alcohol was pretty exciting. First we were shown how to squeeze the juices out of sugarcane, with my mom volunteering to be the donkey. Then we watched the process of unhusking and roasting coffee. We got to try some of the sugar from the sugarcane, some of the cacao and chocolate! It was all so delicious. Then was the fun part, we got to see how the alcohol was fermented and processed and take a shot! It was very strong, but not bad. And then we all just hung out and chatted about everything while we had coffee and sugarcane mixed drinks. Of course I bought some of the coffee and chocolate. Below is a picture of one of the pods with my hand next to it for size!
What an exciting and exhausting day. We all got back to the house around 3:30pm, showered and took a short siesta before heading out for dinner. We went to Binford street in Puerto Ayora. They close the area to cars and the restaurants set up tables in the street!
We found a place where all 8 of us could sit and everyone but me got the fish which was locally caught. They also had drink specials so my mom and I got the daiquiris in strawberry, passion fruit and blackberry. Delish!
There was also a taste test going on where many peeps tried the eyeballs and tongues of their fish. The reactions were pretty hilarious. Jake of course ate everything, he would try everything. On his last night in Ecuador he ate a whole guinea pig. But thats a different story Haha.
PS High five for Ty and I this day was our 3 year anniversary. What a way to spend it in the Galapagos!
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