Santa Cruz Island
Each kid has a story. I would love to have the time to sit and listen to them, one by one. Today I learned that Valentina wants to become a biologist, and that her father taught her to dive a year ago, when she was only 10. Gloria told me that she accompanies her father every time she can, in his fiber glass boat. He is a fisherman, and has shared with her stories about the big creatures that populate the ocean. Juan’s father works for one of the Galápagos airlines, and Juan wants to become a pilot. There must be 27 different stories for the 27 kids that visited the National Geographic Polaris today. Twenty-seven young human beings, already filled with dreams, and fears and love. I had the opportunity of sharing a ride with them through Las Grietas, a fissure in the south-western point of Puerto Ayora, where we saw white-tip reef sharks, blue-footed boobies, hundreds of Sally Lightfoot crabs and brown noddy terns. Once on board our Hotel department had ice cream and pizza for them, I made a PowerPoint presentation and our captain Juan Robalino showed them the bridge. They loved the experience! They asked lots of questions and promised to send their drawings next week. Their smiles made me feel very close to our kind, to the essence of human beings.
In the meantime our guests were visiting famous tortoise Lonesome George before meeting in the highlands for a fabulous lunch. Surrounded by flowers, papaya and grapefruit trees, we celebrated life in the Galápagos; afterwards we headed up higher in elevation to find dozens of giant tortoises in the wild. Life is good in this enchanted archipelago!
Each kid has a story. I would love to have the time to sit and listen to them, one by one. Today I learned that Valentina wants to become a biologist, and that her father taught her to dive a year ago, when she was only 10. Gloria told me that she accompanies her father every time she can, in his fiber glass boat. He is a fisherman, and has shared with her stories about the big creatures that populate the ocean. Juan’s father works for one of the Galápagos airlines, and Juan wants to become a pilot. There must be 27 different stories for the 27 kids that visited the National Geographic Polaris today. Twenty-seven young human beings, already filled with dreams, and fears and love. I had the opportunity of sharing a ride with them through Las Grietas, a fissure in the south-western point of Puerto Ayora, where we saw white-tip reef sharks, blue-footed boobies, hundreds of Sally Lightfoot crabs and brown noddy terns. Once on board our Hotel department had ice cream and pizza for them, I made a PowerPoint presentation and our captain Juan Robalino showed them the bridge. They loved the experience! They asked lots of questions and promised to send their drawings next week. Their smiles made me feel very close to our kind, to the essence of human beings.
In the meantime our guests were visiting famous tortoise Lonesome George before meeting in the highlands for a fabulous lunch. Surrounded by flowers, papaya and grapefruit trees, we celebrated life in the Galápagos; afterwards we headed up higher in elevation to find dozens of giant tortoises in the wild. Life is good in this enchanted archipelago!
