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| Right in front of our hotel |
We can't really say we're heading home, we don't have one! It is safe to say we're heading back to our base, which is NaNa's house on AMI. Packing is always pretty easy for us. I think we've mastered the art of traveling light. Packing for the journey back is even easier, just throw it all in, surely it needs washing even if it's "clean".
For our final full day in San Cristobal we hired a taxi for a little island tour. The island is fairly large, however, the great majority is protected land. There is one road that crosses from Puerto Baquerizo Moreno to the other side of the island ending at Puerto Chino beach. It's about a forty minute drive across but there were a few interesting places along the way. There is a fairly steep grade to the middle of the island where there is a long dormant volcano ((El Junco). There is a hiking trail around the caldera which is now filled with water to form a freshwater lake. Unfortunately it was raining and very foggy at the top of the volcano so we had to scrap the hike. Based on what we read, this is frequently the case even though it can be clear and sunny at lower elevations.
Next we stopped at La Galapaguera Semi Natural Tortoise Reserve. The "semi natural" is because the tortoises are free to roam in what is a fairly large area. Additionally, there is a breeding station located there. We were looking at the young ones that were around a year old. It was strange to think that some of those little guys will probably still be around in the year 2160!
We got the biggest kick out of seeing one of the full grown tortoises in an all out sprint for food. The keepers delivered some freshly cut vegetation to a spot about 50 yards away from where he was grazing. Suddenly he either smelled or sensed that fresh food was just down the path so off he went. It was like Moses parting the Red Sea, watching as visitors movied to the sides of the path so he could walk through.
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| If all goes as it should Tortoise #12 should still be kicking it around in 2160 |
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| The big fella wasn't going to let anything get in his way of fresh food. |
Then we spent some time at Puerto Chino which was a very nice looking beach although we opted to just sit and stare instead of getting in the chilly water. On the way back we made one final stop at a place that advertised itself as having the worlds widest Kapok Tree. It was actually kind of cool. They had built a large multi-room tree house. The restroom was a little hard to get to, you actually had to go down a ladder into the trunk of the tree to get to it.
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| Panoramic of Puerto Chino |
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| Pondering Darwin's Theories |
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| Advertised as the world's widest Kapok Tree............we have no arguments otherwise |
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| Up in the tree house |
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| The "restroom" was down inside the trunk. Beth's leading the way down the ladder. |
We finished up the day with a final swim at Playa Man. Once again we were surrounded by playful sea lions in the water and slumbering sea lions on the beach. Quite a place!
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| Lunch at Fresco Café. A small place overlooking the water. Great food, awesome views and hammocks to top it all off. |
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| Stir fry noodles and vegetables @ Fresco Café. They also had killer Carrot Cake. It didn't last long enough to get a picture! |
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| A fitting end to this South American Adventure! |
It's 9:30 now and check out is 10:00. Time to pack it up!
