Cool things for kids

Felipe Degel is a famous guide, owns an inn, passionately tell stories, and, along with his wife from Quito, entertained me and a group of German tourists last night. Now that he is retired from guiding, he has turned to storytelling, singing and poetry writing. His memoirs are next. Photos of young Felipe show a strapping blond Adonis, seated at the water's edge, looking at the sea's mysteries. He is rounder now, partly due to having fits with his knees. Another reason might be the marvelous cuisine of his wife. He admits to being swamped by poetry, prose, song and tales, all of which have accumulated in his mind during his years of adventures.

He has also slowed down due to his conversion to Mormonism. He gave up alcohol (although guests may bring their own) and is a dutiful family man. His faith seems to have motivated him to reflect on the world in ways that an active guide, working 24/7, cannot.

Around 11 pm, he pulled me aside to tell me about THE ESSENCE OF LIFE. I listened attentively, to this Pied Piper/Mr. Greenjeans.

FELIPE: "I am Belgian but this is my home. When I was a young man here, we had nothing but I was so happy. I had friends like Gus Angermeyer, who lived in a cave. Today, with my five children and wonderful wife, I am still happy. I don't need all of these modern things, but they are ok. They are not what give me happiness, though. Back then, there was no electricity after midnight, but that allowed us to see the stars better.

TITO: How would you describe this feeling that tourists get while visiting the Galapagos?

FELIPE: "Tito, there is something on these islands that is impossible to measure? It cannot be quantified. I call it the Galapagos Profundo, the Deep Galapagos. It is the reason I am raising my children here. It is the reason I am happily married, live with very little and don't worry about making money. I offer talks to visitors, train guides and, try to make this world come alive to the young people of the Galapagos.

"For ten years, I have had one particular dream. It goes like this. My wife and will have an experiential education program for the children of these islands. It will be based on a large fiberglass boat, and there will be room for a group of school children to travel safely around this island of Santa Cruz. We will observe and participate in life on land and sea.

TITO: Cool idea. I agree that children must discover, for themselves, the MYSTERY OF LIFE. Each person will have different perceptions. When we allow children to search freely, each child's soul will discover something in nature that harmonizes, resonates. The soul of mother nature will get to visit with the soul of the child. Animals, who live in a dynamic harmony with nature, will become teachers. Do you sense this dynamic harmony here? It is so close. It is love, passion, humility, beauty, life, death, hope.

FELIPE: "As children travel around the island, they will appreciate it, love it, treasure it, save it. By seeing the natural world, children immediately understand something. They make links faster than adults. A child will notice sea lions and albatrosses, sea horses and sharks. They get it!! They realize they are seeing their own mother nature in action. EUREKA! WOW! AWESOME!

TITO: This is the teachable moment. Words are of use here. At this time, we need to teach the words, the signs and symbols of the sacred. It is time for a bit on History. Biology. Zoology. The children need to know how to describe, for parents and neighbors, the trust that the iguanas and sea lions have for each other. This peace and excitement. Why do the boobies let me walk up to them and take a picture? Can the world be more like this??? Children will look for guidance, perhaps some words to put this "depth" in context. We teachers can tell them the history of these islands. The good, bad and the ugly. The good that consists of responsible, simple living. The bad that is destructive. The ugly that is sewage in the ocean, destruction of animal habitats. Some children will awaken to the sacred space they inhabit. Some will become guides, some will educate their parents and siblings, some will look at the stars and some will snorkel with sharks. Long after you and I are gone, our legacy will live on. Let's make it a good one.

FELIPE: "I have to tell you one short anecdote. Gus Angermeyer lived in a cave, next door to this property. He had almost nothing, aside from things he found in the bay. Like driftwood. No one thought much of his driftwood, until one day a Japanese photographer visited Gus. The photographer was patient, unlike most tourists. Over time, Gus showed the visitor that, at certain times of the day, the sun struck the gnarly pieces of wood in ways that produced strange shadows. Since the sun has exactly the same schedule every day, you can count on these shadows to occur at the same time daily. So the photographer noticed these fantastic shapes, faces and animals that emerged from the wood shadows. He took many pictures and he sent copies to Gus. They were mainly black and white. Gus stapled or nailed the pictures to a piece of plywood and that is where they were, unnoticed by most visitors. But, actually, there are photos by one of Japan's foremost artists and they make an incredible statement about the nature of art.

TITO: What a wonderful story. It is the absence of form that is the shadow. That is what Gus found.

FELIPE: Tito, do you want to understand the Galapagos Profundo? Please come by here on Saturday night and Sunday, so we can talk. You can hear my 40-minute talk to a visiting group on Saturday and then we will have the long talk on Sunday. Bring your laptop. Meanwhile, here is some wahoo, beets and mashed potatoes. Excuse me while I entertain these German visitors with a slide show, my guitar and harmonica."


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Aside from the Via Activa, the communities here are doing a lot with their young people. The CDF, along with the national park, reach out to the townspeople as well. One successful project was to teach teenagers how to take pictures and document their world. The result was a juried show that will make its way to each island. I assisted with the show in Isabela, the island on which is the village of Villamil. The winners on each of the three main islands (that are inhabited) were young women who told very cool "stories" with their pictures.

A really cool thing on Saturday

NOTE TO READERS - NOW YOU CAN POST COMMENTS MORE EASILY. I UPGRADED THE COMMENT RULES SO POST COMMENTS!!!!! TITO



Three months ago, Patricio Proano was devastated to discover that his son, Patito, had just been killed in a car accident. Determined that such a tragedy be prevented from ever occurring again, Patricio founded an organization called Cambio Por La Vida, or Change for Life. One of its purposes is to convince drivers and cyclists to share the road, and, towards that end, his organization has organized a day without cars. This Saturday, the entire downtown of Puerto Ayora (meaning about 10 blocks of streets) will be for cyclists and pedestrians. Via Activa is dedicated to Patito and, as such, will offer workshops on bike maintenance as well as on preservation of the unique flora and fauna of the islands.

We had a meeting last night, and reps from the CDF, mayor's office and police force were there. I asked if they intended to do an evaluation of the day. The immediate response was "yes!." The mayor's rep said "we must document the good, bad and ugly" with photos. I happened to have my somewhat fancy camera with me, raised it in the air and offered to do the documentation. They happily took me up on the proposal.

The members of Change for Life are cycling maniacs of many ages, from their 20s to much older. They are a rollicking crowd and I was privileged to be able to join them last Saturday for a ride to the highlands, as the area of Bellavista is called. On this island, Santa Cruz, there are four climate zones, ranging from the coastal areas to the very wet and cool mountains. We biked to the higher areas, from which you can see the village and the sea breaking its waves near the tour boats.

As we entered the highlands, we left the road and biked through one of the many farms. This one was different, though, since it is a tortoise sanctuary. Hundreds of giant tortoises, most weighing well over 400 pounds, loll around and have ET-looking faces. They browse in a solitary way, maybe realizing that being a Type-A personality has little value when you will live for well over a century. They munch on grass, make deep hissing noises when they back into their shell, and don't pay much attention to visitors.

Sheep's blood soup, a delicacy

When the Tungurahua volcano erupted violently several times in the past decade, farms were ruined by the ash. Many young folks decided to emigrate...somewhere, anywhere. They heard it was possible to fly to the Galapagos and make a fortune in anything from driving a taxi to pouring concrete.

An Ambateno driver named Aniba insists that 70% of all recent arrivals to the Galapagos are Ambatenos. He tells me that he feels almost at home here because his fellow villagers have the same culture here as they have had for decades, if not centuries. With blue eyes, black curly hair and a brand new Toyota Hilux, Aniba regaled me with stories about his distinct culture, telling me in great detail about the blood soup Ambatenos eat. "Blood from a sheep, goat and chicken is added to the soup, kind of the way you might add cheese, and then you have a dinner that is excellent. You will really like it."

The soup is called Yaguarloero or Chucchucaras, sounding a lot like Quechua, but he tells me that the names are Spanish. Aniba was thrilled to have Yaguarloero in this far-off island world. Is it possible that every culture has a beloved soup? Perhaps there are warm feelings reminding him of home. But the soup seems to be a rarity here in Santa Cruz, since there is a push to exterminate feral animals. Goats and sheep have been wiped out so maybe the soup may well be chicken blood soup. I will have to give it a try.

Interviews with local folks on life and more....

MATHIAS, FILMMAKER, MUSICIAN AND GUIDE
ROD, RESTAURANT OWNER
FAUSTO, BIKE STORE OWNER
JOHN, GUIDE

I. MATHIAS
He has green-gray eyes, wide shoulders, square jaw, with active arms and expressive face. He and his family live in a concrete house that is just a few meters from the Pacific surf. He is a filmmaker, guide, music arranger, producer. He has just finished an extensive set of interviews with the oldest settlers and the result is a movie and videos of his interviews. He has also produced a CD with music by Galapaguenos about their lives on the islands. He has a command of all he does and speaks with articulate conviction. He also has a keen sense of irony, satire and the art of speaking. Surely, he would win any Toastmaster contest.

INTERVIEW

In the old days on Isabela and the other 3 inhabited islands, everyone was a farmer. About 10 years ago, the farmers discovered fishing. First it was bacalao and there were huge catches, lots of money, lots of drinking, lots of whoring and then the bacalao disappeared. Next it was the sea cucumbers, along with the sea lion penises. These were sold for huge profit and some fishermen made over $3,000 per day. Per day. PER DAY! Then they discovered that the cucumbers were gone and that it was insane to cut off penises. Recently they caught lobsters, making a lot of money from their tails but now the lobsters are less abundant. Each time the money was used for alcohol and putas. And there the money was gone. There was nothing to show for it. Look at the streets here.

As for me, I am a guide, and sometimes I work for private charter boats, most of which are owned by people like Bill Gates or the guy from Oracle. Their boats are 80 meters long are like floating hotels. These weathy guys don´t want to be stuck on the cruises with regular tourists. However, allowing these elite boats in the protected marine areas causes conflict, since local businesses are supposed to have a monopoly on island cruises. At least that is the way it was set up, but nothing is so black and white. In this case, the wealthy boats (like the one I will guide next week) pay $60,000 for a Park permit. If the Park has a dire need or the Darwin Foundation wants money for a specia program, these folks will give $4 million or $5 million. Do you see why they are allowed?

I am both German and Ecuadorian. I was on the built-up island of Santa Cruz for 14 years and have been here on Isabela for 5. I came here because I was tired of the chaos of the big town and my wife and I wanted to raise my two kids as uch as possible in nature. I can teach my children about the animals and marine life without being hassled.

But the real problem is not overfishing. It is more complex. For some of us, the worst thing occurred when the National Park was formed in 1959. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, there were strict regulations about where you could live and walk and swim. It was like being Robinson Crusoe all of your life and then getting the news that you have to live in a jail cell. The people went nuts. What were the peope like? You could say that they were savages, like the animals here. As savages, they co-existed with other animals, knowing each others´ habits and not eliminating one another. So what did the Park bureaucrats know about the savages? Nothing. And the Park did all sorts of stupid things, alienating everyone.

One person who knew the old ways and hated the imposition of the Park was Gil de Roy. To me, he is the single most important of these early settlers and, to a guide like me, he is the first truly professional guide of the Isands. In 1954, his Dutch parents came to the Galapagos to escape the hell of WWII and Europe. His parents wanted a new life, a perfect life. They made houses of palm fronds and they figured out how to survive with nothing. Later, Gil´s sister, Tui de Roy, became a famous photographer and author of many books. Gil himself was born on Isabela and is now in his 50s. As a child and young man, he was walking barefoot, exploring every bay and learning the names of all animals above and under water. A few years ago I was shocked to find out that Gil had become a Jehovah´s Witness. How unbelievable was this? After all, he had survived on his own. Why did he need that? I was intrigued, since he is the most charismatic guide and his family is an icon to all of us who guide. He told me that he had two choices: either bomb the Park or do the interior spiritual work necessary to survive for the rest of his life. He chose the latter.

My movie just came out and you can get the DVD. It is about the colonos, the early settlers. These voices are dying out and they must be remembered. They were farmers and the founders of life here. They love the animals and did not destroy them. Gil is the main person in my movie because he knows so much about everything. He is kind of everyone all in one person.

Now the new immigrants care only about making as much money as possible. They see the chance for profit and don´t care what is destroyed in the process. How do you educate these people? Why would they change? The only reason for them to change their behavior is if they see that they can make money by preserving the animals. And the only reason to save the animals, actually, is to recognize that tourism will guarantee them more money over a longer period of time than fishing. Right now the local people´s dogs are eating the iguana eggs and they are destroying what the tourists love to see. But the owners here don´t care; they want their dogs and they don´t want leashes. Want to do something useful? Get permission to round dogs not on a leash and kill them. Of course, the rich will complain and plead but you have got to do it. Nothing else works. A few years ago a bunch of vets came here and sterilized dogs and cats. But it made no difference since the animals kept eating the baby iguanas.

Of course, I can see the other point of view. With no Park, how will all of this be controlled? But you must train the Park employees, the police and the INGALA (government) folks to understand what is at stake here. If you take them, as I have done, to the iguana nests and the lava tubes, to see the sharks and the bird nests, then they will say “AHA!! NOW I SEE WHY ALL OF THIS IS SUCH A BIG DEAL!”
In fact, that is exactly what they thought after I took them out for 4 days. They get it now. You must educate the adults, not just the kids. After all, the kid whom you teach will go home with all sorts of ecological awareness and then the parents will yell at them about what a pack of lies they were told in school. So you have to educate the parents, teachers, and police. Good luck.

II. ROD
He seems to know everyone in town, and that is due to his gregarious nature. He offers saludos to all who pass his restaurant, and that means Que Tal or Buenos Dias to everyone since his place is right on Darwin Street. Rod is a local organizer of just about everything, including the Aug. 29 Via Activa, a day without cars. He speaks such perfect English that I assumed he was a US citizen. Instead, he is just really good with the language and has spent time in the US.

INTERVIEW
My name is Rod Jacome. I have been here for 25 years, in construction and the restaurant business. Back in the old days, everyone knew one another and respected one another. You could get drunk, fall down on the street, sleep in the middle of the road and then wake up at dawn and go home. No one hassled you at all. In fact, an Englishman and I got drunk one time. He wandered down Darwin Street, passed out in the middle of the street, and no one thought to run over him ---- or wake him. In the morning he went home, feeling good.

That was the era I call pre-bank. Nothing much happened and the village stayed the same. In the post-bank era, all has changed... for the worse. Due to the bank, everyone is crazy for money, too busy for friendship, too scared to stop and talk. Now everyone wants money and investment. There is no vision for the future.

One thing has remained pretty constant: the Darwin Foundation has stayed out of the town, aloof and apart. It used to intervene so as to stop infrastructure from being build, so that is part of the reason that we don´t have a dependable electrical grid, no potable water plant, and wires above ground.

In response, the local people don´t have a very good opinion of the CDF and many resent it altogether. This is too bad since the two groups must be partners. When the people only think of their individual needs, then the town suffers. Here is an example. A housing subdivision is being built on the National Park land. Why? The reason is that the town agreed to swap land with the park so the total land in hectares will be the same. But this is a bad precedent.

We must act together, but who is going to make us think outside of our own little worlds? I used to be the head of a foundation but the rich folks on the board only wanted the prestige of being on the board. I had to do all of the work so I gave up and ended the foundation. One time I bought a fibra, fiber glass boat, and got a huge engine for it. I tried to give it to the Park to enforce the law. But the Park officials at first refused to accept the boat, for fear of having to sign lots of papers. Finally, the second in command accepted the boat and they caught more fishermen breaking the law than ever before. Amazing....

III. FAUSTO
Fausto is the owner of the best-known bicycle repair store in town. He is rugged, with curly hair. He is the eye of the town´s biking hurricane, I suppose you could say, since he is the focus for all who bike. His mechanics, one of whom is Angel, repair bikes by turning them upside down on a piece of corrugated cardboard. Behind the store is a huge collection of bikes in all shapes, sizes and colors. Some are functional and some, not. Most are heavy steel bikes but there are a few made of aluminum.


INTERVIEW
I was born near Lago San Pablo. One day, in a period of about 5 minutes, I made the decision to emigrate and go to Santa Cruz. I did not know what I was getting into. After I arrived, I worked for the Darwin Station for a few years. One day, someone saw me wiping down my bike and he asked me if I could fix his bike. I knew about bikes so I fixed his. Then I got more customers and finally decided to do this fulltime. That was many years ago.

My son is only 3 seconds from qualifying for the sprint pursuit world championships. He was competing in another world event in Mexico a few weeks ago and is training on the continent now. Did you know we have a triathlon coming up? It will be a Olympic distance event and there will be many folks coming from the mainland. In fact, there won´t be enough beds in Puerto Ayora, it seems. It will be complicated but there are good sponsors who are donating things like equipment bags and really nice T-shirts, not the kind that rip open easily.

I am a trainer. This girl is only 10 and she is training with me. I will not allow her to train too much at such an early age. But she can already go all the way to Bellavista and further. (Bellavista is aboiut 20 km out of town. The girl was getting fitted with clipless racing shoes.)

IV. JOHN
John is a burly Galapageno who is married to a woman from Terre Haute, Indiana. They have a young child and live in a peach-colored 5-story building located in the middle of Puerto Ayora.
INTERVIEW
I am a guide for whomever pays me the best. I have been a guide for 18 years. I also built this apartment building and will add some townhouses when the recession ends. I have money invested in the stock market and we have some land out of town.
I was born here and raised here. We are sending our son to the Montessori School here and plan to send him to the Tomas de Berlanga School. After that, I am planning for him to go to Harvard or Yale.

It took me a year of classes to get my driver´s license. Nothing surprises me about how you had to get your license in Quito (I had to pay a string of police officers), but Guayaquil has changed. The mayor got rid of the corruption, both the corrupt police and the corruption of the tramitadores who do all of the arrangements for you. Now you have to get in line, the real person, and there are cameras to record that it is really you. Still, Tito, somehow you were given a commercial license so you can drive a tractor trailer.