Verde Galápagos #2
Te invitamos a leer nuestra segunda edición de la revista digital Verde Galápagos.
Te invitamos a leer nuestra segunda edición de la revista digital Verde Galápagos.
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verdE galápagos<br />
una base militar durante la segunda guerra<br />
mundial. En uno de esos vuelos arribé por primera<br />
vez a <strong>Galápagos</strong>, ocasión en la que tuve<br />
oportunidad de contactar a Carl Angermeyer,<br />
en cuyo velero hice un corto crucero de<br />
observación. Días después, Hernán hizo uno<br />
más extenso, luego del cual ambos estuvimos<br />
convencidos del tremendo potencial turístico<br />
de <strong>Galápagos</strong> y empezamos a planificar el<br />
proyecto y su financiación, que conseguimos<br />
con la Corporación Financiera Nacional.<br />
Luego de una larga búsqueda por casi todo<br />
el mundo naviero, encontramos en Grecia el<br />
Lina A (me pareció muy auspicioso su nombre,<br />
que semejaba al de mi esposa poniendo la<br />
A adelante), un atractivo yate para 60 personas,<br />
con cuyos armadores firmamos un contrato<br />
de arrendamiento por tres años. Tuvimos<br />
que sortear un montón de obstáculos y dificultades<br />
burocráticas y logísticas para que el<br />
Lina A pudiera iniciar operaciones. Fundamos<br />
la empresa Etica que, además de la administración<br />
del barco, se encargó de adecuar<br />
el muelle de Baltra, dotándolo de bodegas y<br />
tanques para almacenaje de agua y combustible.<br />
Para esto último, recuperamos algunos<br />
tanques enormes que habían dejado diseminados<br />
por la isla los militares norteamericanos.<br />
Los hicimos rodar hasta el muelle, empujados<br />
por trabajadores que contratamos tanto en<br />
<strong>Galápagos</strong> como en Guayaquil.<br />
Por recomendación del entonces director de<br />
la Estación Charles Darwin, Roger Perry, quien<br />
nos asesoró con valiosa información, contratamos<br />
guías naturalistas que se encargaron de<br />
organizar las visitas a las islas y de trazar los<br />
primeros senderos; con ellos diseñamos nuestras<br />
propias normas orientadas a la preservación<br />
de las especies y conservación de la<br />
ecología; es decir, establecimos un sistema<br />
que sirvió como modelo de turismo ecológico<br />
para los demás operadores turísticos que surgieron<br />
posteriormente en las islas.<br />
and take a<br />
short observation<br />
cruise on<br />
his sailboat. Days<br />
later, Hernán took<br />
a more extensive trip,<br />
after which we were<br />
both convinced of the<br />
tremendous tourism potential<br />
of <strong>Galápagos</strong>. We began<br />
planning the project and its financing,<br />
which we obtained from<br />
the National Financial Corporation.<br />
After a long search through almost the entire<br />
shipping industry, we found Lina A in Greece<br />
(the name was very auspicious for me, because<br />
it was similar to my wife´s name, Alina).<br />
The Lina A was an attractive yacht for 60 people,<br />
with whose owners we signed a lease for<br />
three years. We had to overcome many bureaucratic<br />
and logistical difficulties so that Lina<br />
A could start operating. We founded the company<br />
Etica, which, in addition to the administration<br />
of the ship, was responsible for adapting<br />
the Baltra dock, building warehouses and<br />
equipping them with tanks for water and fuel<br />
storage. We recovered some huge tanks that<br />
had been scattered around the island by the<br />
US military. We rolled them to the dock, pushed<br />
by workers we hired in both the <strong>Galápagos</strong><br />
and Guayaquil.<br />
On the recommendation of the then director<br />
of the Charles Darwin Station, Roger Perry,<br />
who advised us with valuable information, we<br />
hired naturalist guides who were responsible<br />
for organizing visits to the islands and marking<br />
the first trails. With them, we designed<br />
our own norms oriented to the preservation of<br />
the species and conservation of the ecology.<br />
That is, we established a system that served<br />
as a model of ecological tourism for the other<br />
tour operators that subsequently emerged<br />
on the islands.<br />
The first three years of operations were difficult<br />
but successful, judging by the high satisfaction<br />
of the majority of our clients, which gave<br />
us a lot of prestige. However, it was not until the<br />
fourth year that it became profitable. Unfortunately,<br />
the boat suffered from the defect of not<br />
having funnels but exhaust pipes that were just<br />
few inches above the water line, which allowed<br />
seawater to enter them frequently. Although<br />
the engine gases expelled the water back out,<br />
it corroded the areas where the exhaust pipes<br />
were fastened. In order to solve this problem, it<br />
was planned to go to dry dock in August 1975.<br />
17