GALAPAGOS III: Social Welfare aspect of Galapagos

The Galapagos is an interesting archipelago of islands that has been fought over and conquered many times through and finally resting in the hands of Ecuador. The only true natives to the islands are the species of non human descent. Although, there are some families on the islands that have been calling the Galapagos home for generations and would definitely consider themselves natives of the land.

It was interesting to me right off the bat to be surrounded my such natural beauty as the Galapagos projects, a true first class National park, yet at the same time very clear that the living conditions for the people of the Galapagos are far from the first class standards of the National Park that encompasses 97% of the island land. I had a suspicion but didn't get a true sense of the social situation of the Galapagos until talking with Angel, our guide for the day, in Floreana.

Because of the circumstances that we met Angel, sneakily hiring him as our guide without really knowing or understanding that we were being sneaky, opened up an incredible conversation over a couple cold beverages while we waited for the boat we were sneaking around to leave the harbor.

Let me explain to you. Getting to the Galapagos is pretty difficult, it involves either a pretty pricey flight or in my case, a pretty involved and lengthy sail across an ocean. But that is just the beginning. In order to visit the islands of the Galapagos, which are mostly National Park land (97% remember) you have to have approval from the National Park (an entity controlled by the powers that be in Ecuador). This is a pretty involved process and the reason why the large majority of tourists, sans a sailboat that have flown in, visit the Galapagos on small cruise lines (like Lindblad National Geographic boats), all inclusive dive trips with accommodation aboard, or the pricer option of chartering private boats for the week to tour the islands, with a Naturalist and staff on board of course. The Galapagos is not teeming with hotels for the very reason that getting around the red tape of island hopping yourself is a bit too tricky for the average Joe Traveller, the very reason why most admirers of these islands hop aboard a red tape free small cruiser to tour them around. Pricer, but already Ecuadorian cleared and little more hassle free.

For those of us that travelled by wind, and a bit of diesel, to arrive to this magnificent archipelago have to deal with that red tape. In our situation, the World Arc dealt with most of it. Which was quite an ordeal and even just the month before our arrival we only had clearance to visit 3 of the islands (would have been such a shame to miss out on Floreana!) Even with the massive leg work that transpired before I was even certain I would be visiting the Galapagos, we still have to jump through quite a few hoops upon our arrival . . . on each island. Even though we had permission from the Ecuadorian government to visit the 4 habited islands; San Cristobal, Floreana (for one night), Isabella and Santa Cruz, there was still many restrictions on this visit. Before our arrival we had to submit a formal itinerary, where we would be and when. Then we had to follow that itinerary strictly. Upon arrival at the port of each island, we had to check in with the Harbor Master, who had to get approval again from the Ecuadorian government and a special fax saying that yes, SV Zoe and her 4 crew were allowed to visit this island for blank days. This confirmation of approval from the mainland could take quite a while though, and if you didn't follow your itinerary, well, good luck chappy! Once you have been approved, then confirmed that you have been approved, then signed papers and paid another fee on top of the National Park fee you already paid, your boat can officially anchor off that island for said amount of days and you can visit the island, but red tape again: only a VERY small part of the island and you must have a naturalist with you at all times. Ok, that is a slight exaggeration, but in order to do any real exploring of the small percentage of the islands you can explore to, yes, you have to have a Naturalist. REPEAT for each island you want to see in the Galapagos.

Don't get me wrong, I fully respect the red tape and bureaucracy of getting your feet onto the white sand and rocky beaches of the Galapagos. It is an endangered gem that is being protected. I appreciate beyond belief that people see the wonder and beauty of these islands and want to protect it for my children and, hopefully, grandchildren to be in amazement of as well. The problem is that there is equally as much red tape of the Galapagos for the people of the Galapagos. Now, I am well aware that there are two side to this argument: 1) The animals are the only natives to this land and therefore should be protected more than the people who have inhabited the land and 2) The Galapagos people have been living on this land for generations and deserve protection as well. Coming from the work that I did and having defended people living on the streets and fighting for the few rights they have for years, I tend to be a bit partial to the second argument. After our afternoon with Angel, I am more than a bit partial.

Here is the problem. Ecuador controls that special 97% land of these special islands. Meaning that for a local of the Galapagos, they can't touch or step foot on 97% of the land surrounding them, for the most part. There are a few ways around this. Each person entering the Galapagos has to buy a National Park entrance upon arrival, or if you are in your own boat upon being un-quarantined. This entrance fee is a small piece of shiny paper that costs $100 US Dollars. Fee goes towards the park. Fair. Unfair: the people of the Galapagos need to have proof of that shiny piece of paper as well if they want to enter the park (again, 97% of the land). This shiny piece of paper is also only good for one year.

Remember those Naturalist that I mentioned as well? In order to see any of the sights of the Galapagos from beaches to volcanoes to hikes that are not right in the port town, it is required to have a Naturalist with you. As it turns out, these Naturalist are hired by the Ecuadorian government and over 80% of them are not from the Galapagos. (We experienced this first hand in being in the islands for over 3 weeks and only one of our Naturalist guides the entire time was actually born and raised on the islands and was fairly defensive, proud, but defensive of that). Even though the poverty levels and unemployment rate on the islands is sky high. Meaning that a native, so to speak, of the Galapagos has to pay an annual fee of $100/year and hire a Naturalist that is not from their land in order to hike the spectacular volcano that is in their backyard. Even then, they probably don't have a car to drive to that volcano so they would need to hire a taxi, whose driver (obtaining a permit from the Ecuadorian government to drive a taxi on the islands is most likely from the mainland and might need directions from the local).

Locals are allowed to cultivate food on farms, or fincas, in the Galapagos but it is incredibly restrictive, meaning that most locals have to pay the high prices of food being imported in from the mainland. In addition, the allocations of funding for these port towns is so drastically punitive in comparision to the funding of the National Park it is sad and just plain embarrassing. Many of the schools were set up by locals generations ago and most have volunteer teachers. In order for these local kids to obtain a high school education, they need to get to the island of Santa Cruz. This is a very pricy endeavor for many families if they don't have family on the island. The only other choice, no further education. Because of these tensions and the small populations of the islands, alcoholism and abuse have been a serious problem for these communities and it was just recently that organizations cropped up on the island to do work not related to the animal species of the environment, but focusing on the endangered human population as well, but only after receiving much heat and words like “human rights violations” started cropping up.

There is a huge push-pull between the people of the Galapagos and the government of Ecuador (not to mention all the international entities looking after the National Park as well). Although it is pretty clear that there is more push from Ecuador than pull. The government is making it near impossible for Galapagos grandmothers to be able to see her grandchildren stay on the islands they call home. A law was passed in 1997 that if a Galapagos local moves away from the islands for more than 10 years, that local no longer has the little rights to the Galapagos land they know as home and is now considered a tourist to the islands. TEN YEARS! Completely outside the realm of enough time for that local boy/girl to attend university on the mainland, get a career going and earn enough money to be able to buy a small plot of land on their homeland island for the going rate of $80,000 USD (No loans included because property loans are controlled by the banks on the mainland and would never be approved to buy land in the Galapagos). If this isn't pushing the people off the island, I don't know what is. Although it is not as if the Ecuadorian government is trying to hide the fact that they are pushing the Galapagos people into the water, although not quite the terms they have used. It has been well discussed within the international world of westerners and “First World Citizens” wanting to preserve these beautiful natural habitats for generations to come. Although not as thoroughly discussed with the natives of these islands, but they don't need an indepth discussion, they understand it perfectly clear, they are living it. What these protectors of the land don't understand is that these islands are already a beautiful natural habitat for many generations that also need to be preserved.