Day 171, Year 1: Muro de las Lacrimas–The Wall of Tears
Date: Thursday, April 6, 2006
Weather: Beautiful Day—Clear, Blue Skies
Location: Puerto Villamil, Isabella Island, Galapagos
The Wall of Tears is a physical reminder of a part of Isabella’s history that gives it the reputation as the black sheep of the Galapagos. In the mid-1940’s, a penitentiary was opened in Isabella about a two to three hours’ walk from Puerto Villamil. The 200 convicts that were sent here were sentenced to hard labor and were forced to build a wall of big lava blocks. The wall is 50 meters long, five meters wide, and eight meters tall. It stands as a scar on the face of Isabella. The cruelty of the guards is legendary and as you stand at the base and look up at the massive creation, you can almost feel the human misery that must have been endured here. The penitentiary was blown up in 1959 and currently the mayor is working hard to change the image of this beautiful island in order to open the doors for ecotourism here.
We took a taxi out to the wall, walked around it, and up some steps to the top. We then took the taxi back to the first view point and walked back to town from there. We enjoyed the view from the first vista and walked the many paths that have been built to make it easy to enjoy the area. There was an estuary, many lagoons, a lava tunnel leading out into the sea, and then the beautiful white sand beach that stretches as far as you can see. On our way back to the embarcadero, we saw Mathias, our guide from yesterday’s trip up Sierra Negra. Mathias had mentioned that he was a musician, but he had not told us about the CD he has for sale. It is called Musica del Ultimo Paraiso-Galapagos. We immediately went to buy it and each of the songs is about a different animal or plant that exists here. Mathias sees the Galapagos, and especially Isabella, as the ultimate paradise on earth, and he explained that he wants to make sure that these beautiful islands not only preserve the endemic species that live here, but that they also have “endemic” music.
We returned to the boat and got ready for one last snorkel here. We went out to the area where the family of six Galapagos penguins live and were able to snorkel right up to them. A couple of them jumped in the water and I was able to swim with them for just a minute. Then off they flew through the water. I was thrilled and will always hold dear the memory of swimming with the little penguins.
We returned to the boat and prepared a TexMex dinner of soft-shelled tacos, and beans and rice for Doug and Sylvia from Windcastle. We will not see them again until the Marqueses, so we wanted to celebrate our pending passage. It was a lovely last evening in Isabella and tomorrow morning we take off early for Santa Cruz.
