Our host Sebastian has arranged for a driver to pick us up and take us for a shot hike at Los Gemelos and  to the El Chato Ecological Reserve.  Vincent picks us up at 10 and we are off to the highland area of the island.  We come first to Los Gemelos.

Here is the bike rack.

We walk for a short time and come upon a huge crater.  We assume that it was created by a volcanic eruption, a huge explosion.  We learn from one of the signs that this is not the case.

“Geologists call them collapsed craters.  Most of the islands are made by magma flows from inside the earth that pushed and uplifted land over the ocean.  This spectacular landscape was formed because under the ground you are stepping on, magma flowed until the volcanic activity came to an end.  When the liquid rock cooled down and contracted, unstable zones were left.  As time went by the collapsed and built the holes or craters you are looking at.  Even apparent destruction can create beauty.”

We see these signs along the road.

We carry on to El Chato to see the tortoises.  As we get out of the truck cab in the parking lot we see a HUGE Yucca plant.  On the pointy spines there are eggs.  Leslie recalls reading that they do this to protect people from the very sharp spines on the plant.  Looks kind of like a firework exploding.  😉

Along with the tortoises this location has “lava tunnels”.  These are also formed by flowing lava, leaving the tunnel once the lava stopped flowing.

There are many tortoises here.  They roam freely.  As we approach (always keeping a save distance) they often hiss at us.  Just a little warning.

After we have wandered the property we return to the information center.  They have 3 tortoise shells on display.  These were from very old tortoises who have passed away.  We are encouraged to try them on.  Mine had the top shell separated from the bottom which made it much easier to get into that the single shell that Greg got into.

We return to our hostal by 1pm.

After a bite to eat we decide to go to a place called La Grietas.  We have heard it is very beautiful and we would like to have a swim.

We start with a short water taxi across the bay.  We are to follow a path, then past the first beach and keep going for a while.  The path changes from boardwalk, to large lava rocks and at times muck.  Stu and Greg are way ahead of Leslie and I.  At times we are wondering if we are on the right path???

It is much father than I was imagining.  When we arrive is not at all what I was expecting.  I did read that there were 40m high stone walls, but I did not envision what we saw.  It was very beautiful, but it was also very crowded.  We find that the translation of griestas is “crack”

Leslie and I decide not to go down into the grotto but walk back to the first beach that we passed.  The guys are going in.  We will wait for them at the beach.

We meet this guy on our way back to the beach.

For dinner we go back to the “Fish Street”. Another fabulous meal. It is also Election Night. The streets are teaming with locals out supporting their candidates.

We make our way to the pier where they light up the water so that you can see the fish swimming below. We quite a number of small reef sharks and a few playful sea lions.

Another great day!