Day 16, Fri, 24.10. /Ship Day 1 AM: Isla Isabela/ Volcano Sierra Negra

… I will skip ahead a bit to the Galapagos Islands. … I will catch up on days 8 to 15 when I have more time 😬 …

This 16th day of our South America trip - simultaneously the start of our 6-day Galapagos Island cruise - unfortunately began just as chaotically as the previous day ended 😳😡😳:

First it was said we would leave the hotel at 6 AM for the ship in the harbor of Puerto Villamil on Isabela, the largest Galapagos island. So we were on time, 5 minutes before 6 AM, with our packed bags outside the hotel. Even the taxi driver was on time this time - and we were both happy that from now on everything seemed to be going according to plan.

But surprise No. 1: the driver informed us that the ride to the ship would now take place at 8:30 instead of 6 AM. So we dragged our bags back up the stairs and laid them down. At 8:15 the driver was again promptly (!) at the door. This time, bags were actually loaded up, and off we went to the ship. However, after 5 minutes, there was a stop and frantic phone calls - Erhard and I became a bit nervous 😨 … but after a few minutes we did continue to the harbor - phew! 😅

And here was surprise No. 2: we were greeted by a very upset tour guide. He and the other passengers of the ship had apparently been waiting for us for almost half an hour 😳 - there was an excursion planned to the crater of the Sierra Negra volcano. So the coordination and flow of information between the agency and the ship had again failed.

I quickly grabbed my hiking boots from the suitcase and off we went to the volcano.

My friend Erhard went - quite upset by the mishaps - directly onto the ship with the bags - the hike was supposed to be quite strenuous.

The drive was in a truck, whose cargo area had been converted with benches and sun protection. It felt like the rear axle was not suspended. This uneasy feeling was confirmed as we went up the paths to the wilderness on unpaved roads at the volcano 😩😆.

At the beginning of the drive, we still had sunshine, but from about 200 m elevation, the ride continued more or less in the clouds up to over 1500 m elevation. In the lower area, there were banana plantations, agriculture, and thereafter livestock farming. And it got colder🥶 - good thing I had taken a warm jacket 😬.

Just before the parking lot at the edge of the caldera, fortunately the sun came out, and the cloud cover here broke up. From the parking lot, we continued on foot into the caldera.

The view of the caldera walls and into the crater was impressive. First, we went steeply down about 150 m along the inner rim of the crater, then about 1500 m in the crater to the inner active volcanic cone, and afterward about 50 m up to the active vent. At this point, the smell of sulfur became stronger. Around the active vent, the lava rock was colored yellow to yellow-orange from the abundant sulfur. One should not stay too long, nor take sulfur crystals as souvenirs - the 'stuff' is toxic!

By now, the clouds had almost completely dissipated, allowing us to see the vast expanse of the crater. Consequently, it became warmer on the way back to the parking lot. The air stood still in the crater and shimmered with heat.

Now it was time for the return journey with a brief stop at a small but lovely lake with flamingos - and then it was my turn to board the ship for the first time - where Erhard welcomed me nonchalantly from the upper deck. Afterward... 😅

… inspecting/settling into the cabin, lunch, siesta 😂