Twins, Tortoises and Tunnels

This morning our little tour group (same as yesterday, looks like we are all on the same itinerary) piled into our minibus for a tour of the highlands of Isla Santa Cruz. The drive up is about 30 minutes and we were in the clouds for the whole time. It was much cooler up there, about elevation 700 meters. It was misty as well so I made sure to keep my camera wrapped up in my scarf to protect it from condensation.

First we stopped to see two false craters known as The Twins. They were formed when a gas bubble was trapped beneath the ground and later collapsed. They were filled with vegetation with tall cliffs surrounding them. We saw plenty of bird life at the lip of the crater with small, medium and large ground finches. The males are black and the females are brown. They have small beaks like parrots. The finches were very cute, hopping around and looking inquisitively at us.

We then drove to a farm where people raise and rehabilitate giant tortoises. The ground was quite muddy so we all were given rubber wellingtons. I´m glad we had them as it was quite a messy slog through the jungle to see the tortoises! They are large, slow and very odd looking. The tortoises have long claws on their stumpy legs but subside only on plants and fruits. When we got too close to them, they would hiss and withdraw into their shells. Some tortoises were sitting in big muddy pools of water. We joked it was a tortoise spa.

The first three we saw were relatively small, about three feet long. Large, but not enormous. Finally near the end of our walk we saw a huge male, maybe 5 feet long! He was so impressive.

Our guides also gave us some fruits to try, as we passed many varieties of trees. We tried a ¨large guava¨ which is so odd--it looks like a giant bean maybe 2 or 3 feet long, and when opened reveals fuzzy white pods that look like milkweed pods. The fuzzy stuff is sweet and inside each pod there is a large shiny purple seed the color of an eggplant. Our guide told us these guavas were introduced. We also tried passion fruit, which was tart and not very sweet. I also found a ripe coffee bean, which is covered in a shiny red outer layer similar to a guava, and then the bean itself is slimy and green. When it dries it is then roasted to form the brown bean that is so familiar to us.

After the tortoise farm we went to a lava tube to walk inside for a bit. The lava tube was formed during an eruption when the flowing lava cooled and hardened on the outside, then the lava kept flowing on the inside. The tube looks just like a subway tunnel, complete with dim florescant lighting. There are small stalactite and mineral formations that are slowing growing inside, as the inside of the tube is damp with water dripping from the ceiling. The tube was about 10m tall.

Now we are back at the hotel for lunch and afterward we will take a boat to Isla Floreana. I´m quite excited to stay there because it is not inhabited and the lodge where we will sleep is an eco lodge. The boat takes about 2 hours. Then, on Monday we go to Isla Isabella, where they filmed Master and Commander. I´m not sure when my next update will be as there is no internet on Isla Floreana.