Southern Isabela
The southern side of Isabela Island has a different landscape, much different from what we have seen so far in our voyage around the Galápagos Islands. As we looked at the horizon towards the coastline, we noticed that the beach is dotted with colorful roofs and palm trees, which one can clearly deduce as a town, but where are the volcanoes? We have usually two of them imposing their presence at the horizon, far beyond where the town of Pto Villamil lays, but not today. The local mist, known as well as garua, had eclipsed its presence and won the battle. The volcanoes however were laying behind the thick layers of cloud that surrounded them, waiting for eager hikers to take their chance and try to conquer them. Our goal this morning was to climb one of them, Sierra Negra; an imposing (over four thousand feet) volcano that erupted last in October, 2005.
It was shortly after breakfast that we got engaged with the mission, and off we headed to the rim of the Caldera, one of the top ten largest in the world!
Sure enough we entered the mist zone where fine, pure water sprayed our faces. It felt really good, as if we were trying one of those expensive facial treatments, but for free.
The surrounding vegetation was the prefect habitat for birds, which varies songs sounded as encouragement to continue with our quest. Once at the rim, as if magic had anything to do with it, the veil of mist disappeared, revealing an imposing Caldera full of inert lava flows at the bottom. We went around the volcano rim and continue with our hike heading north, trying to get a better view of the last lava flows from last year.
After we were done with our hike, we boarded our local white pick-up trucks to bring us back to reality, leaving behind a memory… a dream. Today I woke up and climbed a volcano, how many times in your life can you say that?
The southern side of Isabela Island has a different landscape, much different from what we have seen so far in our voyage around the Galápagos Islands. As we looked at the horizon towards the coastline, we noticed that the beach is dotted with colorful roofs and palm trees, which one can clearly deduce as a town, but where are the volcanoes? We have usually two of them imposing their presence at the horizon, far beyond where the town of Pto Villamil lays, but not today. The local mist, known as well as garua, had eclipsed its presence and won the battle. The volcanoes however were laying behind the thick layers of cloud that surrounded them, waiting for eager hikers to take their chance and try to conquer them. Our goal this morning was to climb one of them, Sierra Negra; an imposing (over four thousand feet) volcano that erupted last in October, 2005.
It was shortly after breakfast that we got engaged with the mission, and off we headed to the rim of the Caldera, one of the top ten largest in the world!
Sure enough we entered the mist zone where fine, pure water sprayed our faces. It felt really good, as if we were trying one of those expensive facial treatments, but for free.
The surrounding vegetation was the prefect habitat for birds, which varies songs sounded as encouragement to continue with our quest. Once at the rim, as if magic had anything to do with it, the veil of mist disappeared, revealing an imposing Caldera full of inert lava flows at the bottom. We went around the volcano rim and continue with our hike heading north, trying to get a better view of the last lava flows from last year.
After we were done with our hike, we boarded our local white pick-up trucks to bring us back to reality, leaving behind a memory… a dream. Today I woke up and climbed a volcano, how many times in your life can you say that?
