As a devout Nature lover, the Galapagos Islands are my Mecca, Jerusalem, the Vatican or the Ganges. The harmonious coexistence of all forms of Life restores my faith in the power of Love and Abundance. There’s plenty for all creatures when we love, respect and share. It stands in stark contrast to the predominant culture of fear and scarcity in the rest of the world. Despite the constant influx of tourists and the infrastructure that supports them, Ecuador is doing a good job at slowing down the destructive potential of excessive human invasion. Even though it’s a constant cycle of doing and undoing. Realizing how our activities are negatively affecting our Mother Earth, putting practices in place to limit the damage, only to realize another side effect, more measures, more side effects and so on. Currently, only 3% of the Galapagos Islands have human settlements. The rest is preserved as a National Park. There are strict rules in place to limit the number of inhabitants. The most prohibitive deterrent however, is the high cost of living, compared to the rest of Ecuador. Many Ecuadorians can’t even afford to visit.
Tourists, on the other hand, flock in droves. Mostly on giant cruise ships or action packed tours to see as much wildlife as possible in the shortest time. Tourists use a LOT of sunscreen, insect repellents and other chemicals that are harmful to the environment. In all the popular snorkeling sites, I did not see live coral reefs. I hope there are still some alive in the protected areas. At Las Grietas in Santa Cruz Island (the most inhabited), there’s an oily film on the surface of the water. I saw a tour guide generously spraying people with bug repellent as they descended from the bus towards Los Gemelos to the point that I couldn’t breathe.
On the other hand, I met a young woman on the pier at night, with a pole net fishing out trash from the ocean. A few boys joined her and we all collaborated in getting trash out. When I volunteered with PUREX, we did beach cleanups a few times.
Doing and undoing.
It was hard to connect with people in the Galapagos. The locals are busy working, mostly in tourism. Tourists are on a tightly packed itinerary which didn’t match my relaxed living in the moment style. Travelers are typically on a tight budget so they also, try to squeeze as much as they can in a few days. Internet connection in most of the Islands is very slow. Like the good old dialup days (look it up if you’re too young to know what that means). Yet all that didn’t matter. All the things that seemed important in the rest of the world: meeting people, using the internet…etc, feel irrelevant in the Galapagos. Life is so rich, plentiful and slow. Nature is in no hurry. I felt no need to escape, distract myself or fill any mental void.
I would spend hours on a beach under the mangrove branches watching life, big and small, go by. Mangroves are the best natural coves! They provide shade, breeze, resting area, great views and, the best part; I meet birds, lizards and other inhabitants of the area. My least favorite are the horse flies; vicious. On many beaches in the Galapagos, people added extra conveniences to the mangrove coves: tree trunks for benches, wooden poles for hanging stuff and cleared a large enough area to lie down under the natural canopy of tree branches.
As I was boarding the plane to leave the Galapagos, sad tears welled up in my eyes. Images of the playful sea lions, the giant tortoises, the stealthy iguanas, all the birds… Even without knowing their names, they became friends. The thought of not seeing them again felt unbearable and brought heaviness to my heart. The image of lifeless concrete cities, even with some greenery, (what I call “artificial Nature”), depressed me. For over a month, I got used to a higher concentrated dose of Nature, Life, Connections, Love and Abundance. It’s like experiencing sex for the first time, you never forget the feeling.
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Unconditional Love 