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Verde Galápagos #2

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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

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