Location: Yacht Darwin
We woke up at 6am this morning, and by 6am, I mean 5am because we failed to recognize the time change (cough Michelle). In order to pass the time, we gathered around the Ping-Pong table to play a competitive game. Once breakfast came around, we had a once in lifetime experience with the breadbasket! Our hotel serves a heaping breadbasket each morning filled with fresh breakfast rolls and yummy jam.
After breakfast, we gathered up our things and made our way to the pier where we boarding the Darwin Yacht. This would be our home for the next four days. We were pumped since we were the only people aboard this boat, aside from the 6-person crew! The boat was beautiful and spacious. We each had a room for two people and although the rooms were small, they were very clean and quaint. The tiny rooms made us feel like true sailors living at sea. The boat had plenty of shared living space (indoor and outdoor) with a dining room for our meals and more. After the crew greeted us and gave us a brief safety talk, we sat down for lunch on board. Shortly after lunch, we traveled back to land for our first excursion. First, we visited two giant sinkholes and then, we visited giant land tortoises! We must have seen over 100 of them in their natural habitat. Our guide told us that the tortoises migrate to this area naturally, mainly because there is plenty of fresh guava fruit trees all around and the turtles snack on the guava, bath in the water and hang out in the mud all day. They were HUGE! We also toured an underground lava tunnel, which was impressive and surprisingly cool in temperature. After our tour we sat down in the restaurant at the center and our guide, Skylar, wiggled her way into an old turtle shell and did push-ups and a plank walk. Then, we snacked on some fresh empanadas and lemongrass tea. It was a great afternoon excursion.
On the way back to the boat, we stopped for ice cream and snacks. Once back at the boat, we had a delicious dinner of rosemary chicken and broccoli. After dinner, we sat down to have a forum, a deep talk led by our guides. This time our forum was about respect. We bonded as wrote in our journals and each shared stories and ideas about respect. Soon we went to bed, excited for the next day.