Biking to “The Wall”

February 28, 2024 Wednesday
Another incredibly beautiful day in Isabela!  On the way into town we met Sandy and Simon (SV Shimshal). Simon is the current commodore of the Ocean Cruising Club.  We told him that we had applied to the OCC but had not completed the1000-nautical-mile uninterrupted passage, a requirement for full membership.  But we would soon!

We rented bicycles and rode west along a sandy road toward the Galapagos National Park.  It was a very interesting ride!  The “road” ran parallel to a long white-sand beach which was deserted except for some marine iguanas.  The water had that turquoise blue-green color with swells breaking along an outlying reef.  It was quite the idyllic scene!

Once inside the park the road was black gravel with a slight upward incline and was lined with small trees and cacti most of the way.  We stopped to see what a couple was taking pictures of by the side of the road and saw an enormous tortoise!  How exciting to see this extraordinary wild creature in its natural habitat!  Now that we knew what to look for, we saw 4 more tortoises during our bike ride…fantastic!

After the 5 ½-mile HOT ride, we finally reached our destination…Muro de las Lagrimas, The Wall of Tears.  Isabela used to be a penal colony and from 1949-1959, prisoners (many of them political prisoners) were forced to build, stone by stone, this very large and totally useless wall in the middle of nowhere.  Impossible to imagine the suffering endured by the prisoners who worked and died here.  In every respect, this wall is a commemoration of misery…a very sad place.

Back to town for lunch and a quick stop by Flamingo Lake.  This place used to be home to about 200 flamingoes.  However, most of the population was wiped out by wild cats about five years ago and is only now starting to come back.  We saw about a dozen birds.