My oh My

As the weekend comes to a close I've got to say it was one of the most relaxing places all summer.

This weekend the whole group decided to head south to a large island called Isabela. It's the one that looks like an L in the Archipelago. Taking off early on Friday our ferry left at 2 to blue skies and the sun on our backs. This boat, much like the one I took to San Cristobal has about 15 people on it getting pulled around by a 3, 200hp engines. I'm enjoying the huge swells of the open ocean, as this German guy looking white in the face insisted on coming to the back of the boat. Two minutes later he was throwing up and a half hour later I have this man on the right dry heaving over the side while Joe is now to my left is regretting eating lunch an hour ago. As I pretend not to smell the grossness surrounding me, were cruising by these massive volcanic cones sticking out of the open ocean. To get a sense of size...imagine a football stadium about a mile long and equally wide sliced open like a pie, delicately coated in a layer of bird shit. Huge features that puts into perspective this island chain and whats going on.

We cruise into the port of Villamil, the only town on the entire island. Mind you this town is only about 2 miles long almost entirely on the coast. But as we pull into the harbor penguins curiously greet the boat at the same time looking at a massive beach with palm trees waving in the wind. I already feel far removed from Santa Cruz which is great. We eagerly get picked up by some guy who says his hostel is the best! Doubtful, but we went anyways which brought us to the outskirts of town to this small hostel with about 5 rooms. Joe and I got our own rooms, had a kitchen, bathroom, shower, wifi, the Olympics on tv, and hammocks strung on anything that would support the weight of a person. Not bad for $10 dollars a night. Still antsy with light in the day Joe and I set out to look around. This town is strictly centered on the people who come for the weekend. Bars, hostels, hotels, and restaurants...that's about it. Were walking down the main strip and stumble upon this bright pink surf hostel that has the best atmosphere in the entire Galapagos. We quickly put our names down for Saturday and Sunday and planned to move in the next morning.

I wake up on Saturday to pouring rain...the most we've seen the entire trip down here. But we were eager to go and took a taxi to Casa Rosala our new place. Our room was basic, two beds, no bath, or shower. The lobby I would say is more like the ultimate living area. It had a living area with leather couch's, a huge kitchen with island in the middle, dinner table, a bathroom that looks more like a giant roman washroom. As instrumental hip hop is bumping at the perfect level I sank into the comfort of a real couch and read as many Dr. Seuss books as I could. As the rain lightened up I walked into town for some break fast...This town by the way has roads made of sandy gravel, so I haven't worn shoes all weekend...again the best town ever. As alot of people were discouraged by the weather, I put on my yogo attitude on (You Only Galapagos Once) and went snorkeling at a small cove about a two mile walk. Not much to see but it was great cruising around in the chilly water. From there the weather turned from rainy to cloudy...which was enough for the rest of the day to walk around and check out the beach. I also somehow taught myself to slackline on the line rigged up by the outdoor bar.

By the time the night rolls around our room is soaked flooded and smells like clean laundry...something broke in the room next door and creeped into our room. Lucky for us we got upgraded to a pad on the second floor with a balcony overlooking the ocean. BOOM. However, a rat ran in our room as we were quietly watching a movie...not cool it scared the hell out of us. So now we have the ladder of our bunked bed conveniently blocking the space under the door.

Today we woke up slow to a cloudy yet not rainy sky. I slacked in the morning jamming to some tunes as the tide was coming in. From there we were headed up to a place called the "Wall of Tears." Back in Isabela's history the Ecuadorian government tried setting up a penal colony for prisoners. Using an old US Military base, operating as a radar station during the construction of the Panama Canal, they constructed a prison to house 300 inmates and 30 guards. The man in charge was an odd fella and decided to have his prisoners build a wall, yet with no reason why. Just a wall, that still stands, about 25 feet high and 50 yards long. They were to built it, disassemble it, then build it again. Aimless work to further torture the sanity of the prisoners. Hiking a pretty unmaintained trail past the wall we were able to get on top of one of many old parasitic cones littering the coast of Isabela. With a view spanning over the entire, now dwarfed city, we had a surprisingly picturesque view of how uninhabited as well as large this island actually is.

Cruising back down the hill on the way back we were flying by giant land tortoises, probably could of went over some of them but that's probably highly frowned upon. Beat from hiking, and biking, I slacked some more and to a point where I can now walk backwards. But as I tried not to nap I quickly fell asleep in the hammock. This island paradise has more hammocks than it does people.

Between the beach, hammocks, bakery, food, supa good Internet, slackline, hostel bar, one of the coolest places I've showered, best place I've went to the bathroom, palm trees, atmosphere, and more Isabela is thee coolest island ever.