The plane just left Puerto Baquerizo Moreno (San Cristóbal Island) and I have mixed feelings about leaving. I'm definitely not sorry to leave the ungodly heat (32°C with humidity and an equatorial sun) or the chinchorro bugs (these pretty-looking beatles - iridescent green/blue with black - that are considered pests on the islands) that get in everywhere and emit a foul odor when stepped on, or the fact that I have to be tiptoeing around the tourists. But I will still miss the warmth and kindness of all the "colonos" (or "galapaguenses") local to the area. The travel agency's associate on the island, Eduardo, and his sister Lydia are both angels. We teased Eduardo mercilessly about a number of things (he just is one of those guys) but he ran that operation and really knew his stuff. His right-hand man is really a woman: his sister Lydia. She was the one who solved any and all problems that came up. They're wonderful people outside of the work environment as well. Eduardo made it a point to join us for breakfast every day and then offered to take us fishing on Saturday (our day off). What an experience! We were out there and caught five HUGE yellowfin tunas. One of them, weighing in at about 30 lbs, I reeled in and caught myself!
Here's me with the tuna:
I am really excited about that. I've never been able to catch anything in my life (I've been known to participate in some attempts to fish trout in the highlands) so I didn't expect to catch anything this time around...but there it is! Best part is, we took my tuna back to the port and Eduardo and Lydia took us to their house where they skinned, gut, and cooked the fish that same evening.
I'll tell you - there's nothing like the taste of freshly caught fish (we say "de la mata a la olla" which can be translated to "from the bush to the pot"). And Lydia is a fantastic cook to boot. Our tuna was served up fried with a side of white rice (Ecuadorian coast-style), fresh cucumber and carrot salad with lemon, and "patacones" (fried plantain disks). One of the best meals I've ever had. It was satisfactory on two levels: taste and accomplishment. There's something to the experience of catching and foraging and then cooking your own meal. For me, there was a more complete sense of respect for my food and the planet. I took what we needed to eat and looked it in the eye. The fish died so that I could eat. And one day I too will be some organism's food.
Plus, the tuna was so big that it fed 12 people on 2 consecutive nights (it was made into cebiche last night) and Eduardo was really gracious and froze the remaining pieces of fish and packed it up so I could send it via cargo to Quito so that I could bring some tuna home for my family (makes me feel a bit like the provider! I like it!)
I'm really grateful for Eduardo and Lydia's kindness though - for everything. So if you ever end up in the Galápagos Islands and need a tour, go to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristóbal Island and look for Eduardo in his office at TurisGal (or just walk around town asking for Eduardo, everybody knows him).
But my experience in Galápagos was a good one overall. Working as a "Touristic Operations Supervisor" is not that much different than being the Producer or AD on a film, so I felt right at home on the job. Both days I was assigned to supervise the lunch service at one of the places where the passengers would be having lunch. The other two places were actual restaurants but my territory was the house of a lady named Penélope. She's a lovely person and it was the first time she was doing this too. Her food was nothing short of spectacular and entirely locally grown and organic. I was really impressed (and so were the passengers!).
If offered this gig again, I'd definitely do it in a jiffy. So worth it!
0 comments:
Post a Comment