Isla Floreana

Yesterday I was finally able to go to Isla Floreana. I have been particularly interested in this island because of it´s amazing and mysterious history. For years its many caves and fresh water made it the perfect resting place for pirates. Later, those same caves would become the home of adventurous individuals who would come for health reasons and some to conquer land. Today the island is still home to some but not many. The national park along with the Charles Darwin foundation has also managed to almost completely eradicate the invasive species which included goats among the most destructive. It is said that their invasion began as far back as when the pirates would visit. They would come bringing animals like the goat so that they could feed on the fertile lands and be nice and fat for the pirates to eat whenever they came back. The Wittmer family is one of the most important as they settled on the island for the well being of their sick son but ended up owning a good portion of it. Margarette Wittmer who died just 9 years ago wrote an autobiography making her seem like a brave heroin. For many locals however she is known as a greedy woman who was obsessed with making the land hers and even a possible murderer. Yesterday, our tour guide told us that many think that she may have been the real culprit behind the mysterious disappearances of the Baroness Wagner (to locals the ´Nymphomaniac´) and her two lovers. The Baroness had come to Floreana to make a hotel for millionaires, something that Mrs. Wittmer would not like. According to the tour guide, Mrs. Wittmer would like her even less when her own Mr. Wittmer started to show interest in the sex crazed Baroness. The mistress of Dr. Frederich Ritter, who had arrived to the island even before the Wittmer´s, also mysteriously disappeared. Many also speculate that Mrs. Wittmer also had a hand in her disappearance.
I love these stories because they really make me think. It´s strange, when I first got here it seemed such a perfect marriage between man and nature. It seemed that the locals here all had a deep respect for nature and a responsibility to keep their islands pure. Although this is still true, I have also seen the darker side of their relationship. I have spoken to fishermen who resent the strict fishing rules that have been placed upon them. At night by the bay you could see all of the plastic that they litter the water with. Even before all of this, the only reason why the islands are even populated is because of the people that came to use the land for everything it had. Kill its wild life for its meat and oil.
Here in Santa Cruz they have already sold land to expand the city farther up land. For the growing population here in Puerto Ayora that would seem like a good thing, Yulika herself has a nice piece of land where she will eventually make her home. But these islands don´t have much fresh water, especially not Santa Cruz. Its land is made up almost entirely of volcanic rock so it is impossible to have an efficient sewage and plumbing system. So, not only is there not enough water for the growing population but its also really difficult to spread. Every morning we have no water. No way of showering, washing our hands, flushing the toilet not until after 11 am when it finally arrives. After it arrives we still don´t know how long we will have it since it is shared by three different households. If everyone is washing clothes that day we can´t expect to have it for more that a few hours. I have lived here for three weeks now. I personally interact and know many of the locals by now. I know that this is there home and I know how much they love to live here. Still, sometimes I wonder if anyone should be here at all.

Anyway, Floreana was amazing. We snorkelled with baby sea lions again and I finally got to see the caves I had read about. The videos are taking a little too long to finish loading so I will try my best to upload them before I leave today at 2pm to Isla San Cristobal where I will be until Friday morning.

Till then,

Cristi