Day 4 - Ecuador - Galapagos 3

   Our last day in Galapagos started off with an early afternoon walk, about 2 km, to Tortuga Bay. Tortuga Bay is a beautiful white sand beach, great for swimming and even surfing, lying just outside of Puerto Ayora. In my experiences, it is probably one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been to. The water was a crystal clear blue and there was no sea weed, or even litter! However, the most unique aspect of this beach is the iguanas. This large lizards can be seen crawling freely all over the place! You could go very close to them and they would not try to hurt you. I had a lot of fun chasing some to try to get a picture with them.

   After a long walk back in the sun, we met up with our day guide who took us to Los Gemelos, or the twins. Los  Gemelos refers to  twin craters formed on Santa Cruz Island hundreds of years ago. It is believed that the lava from an erupting volcano spread out onto the land and loosened the soil, which caused the ground to collapse. It was interesting to look down into the craters and see how deep they were.

   Next, our guide took us to one of my favorite parts of the trip - The Highlands National Park Tortoise Reserve. When we arrived to the site, we walked around a trail and observed many old tortoises in their natural habitat. About 4,000 tortoises live in this area for a lifespan of over 200 years! We learned about the the shells of the animals, more significant than one may think. Did you know that a tortoises's shell can store the amount of water to last a turtle a whole year? These creatures may be slow, but they are wonderful to observe. 

   Finally, to end our tour for the day, we went to a giant Lava Tube. These giant wormholes are caused when the exterior portion of lava flow hardens while the interior lava continues to flow. Eventually the lava flow diminishes and there is not enough lava left to fill the hollow tube. My family and I were able to walk through a tunnel, using our ipods as flashlights to guides us over and around the rocks. At one point, we had to army crawl through a narrow hole to be able to get to the other side. This was a very exciting experience that I never expected.