Off the Beaten Path

Before arriving to the islands and since being here we have been warned time and time again not to go off the marked trails that the National Park has created. There have been stories of people disappearing for days or indefinitely because they strayed off a path and could not find their way back. We all wondered how this could be so, since the islands are so "small", but we learned yesterday that it is definitely possible.

This past Sunday, three of my friends and I, along with one friend's host dad (Pablo), 8 year old host sister (Ashanti) and 8 year old host cousin (Ariel), decided to tackle a path that we had heard about to a deserted beach. We had been told it was about a 45 minute hike to get there. We started the journey on a nicely laid stone path, which turned into steep wooden stairs and eventually a very dry, lava-rock, poorly managed path. With the exception of the steep stairs, most of the rigorous hike was downhill, meaning that the way back was going to be mostly uphill. We hiked/climbed over various lava rock formations on the marked path for about 45 minutes until we reached the first beach of many on the trail. Pablo told us that if we continued, there was a larger, nicer beach "muy lejos" (very close) to the first beach that we had stumbled upon. We decided to continue, and after 20 more minutes of hiking/climbing over uneven lava rocks we arrived at Playa Baquerizo.

View from the top lookout point

Playa Baquerizo was beautiful. It is a decently sized beach with only a few sea lions and completely isolated from civilization. It was empty of people, with the exception of us and one other family that made the treacherous hike. We spent 2.5 hours enjoying the beautiful beach and swimming in the crystal-clear (but freezing) water.

We started the journey back around 3pm. Pablo had explained to us that when he was a kid he would hike to Playa Baquerizo on weekends with his friends and spend Saturday night there camping and return on Sunday. We trusted him, since he had been to this beach countless times, and let him lead the way back to civilization. To avoid climbing the very steep, dry and uneven conditions of the hill Pablo suggested that we hike along the cliff; the tide was low enough that we wouldn't be caught by the water and it was "faster". We trusted him and opted to take his way to avoid the monstrous hill we had slid down earlier. 

Off the beaten path is an understatement. Our route back has probably only been explored by sea lions, blue footed boobies, sea birds and the few teenagers brave enough to venture off the path. We climbed up and down huge lava rocks along a very steep cliff. The lava rocks were covered in Boobie poop and I eventually gave up on trying to avoid it, deciding to focus more on planting my feet. Towards the end of the trek, when we could see the "caminata" (marked path) up ahead, we reached the scariest part of the journey. Pablo turned to us and told us to hug the wall; I looked down to see a 60 foot drop onto sharp lava rocks and water. The only thing to prevent us from tumbling down was to hug the wall and shuffle along the 1.5 foot ledge that supported us. At this point Ariel started saying "Voy a morir, Voy a morir" (I'm going to die, I'm going to die") - we were definitely all thinking it, but it took the 8 year old to say it.

one of the easier sections heading back

We eventually made it back to the caminata and were relieved to be standing on truly solid ground. The rest of the hike was a cake-walk compared to the previous part. When we finally reached the school we realized that taking the ledge, rather than the path, had taken about an extra 20 minutes. But hey, we got an awesome experience, full body workout and an adventure out of it, I'm just glad I'm alive to tell the tale. You definitely cannot spend a Sunday doing this in the cornfields of Lewisburg!

Until next time, Chao :)