Everyone has their Galápagos moment. And mine I owe to Metropolitan Touring. Of course, those fortunate enough to work in the Enchanted Isles like me are eternally grateful for the opportunity. So let me tell you my unforgettable experience, aboard the Santa Cruz.
The Galápagos are located on the very northern edge of the Nazca plate, which is bounded by the Cocos (north), the Pacific (west), the South American (east), and the Antarctic (south) platesThe Nazca plate itself is currently drifting south, away from the Cocos plate, and east, away from the Pacific plate. Since the net direction of drift is southeast, the Nazca plate is colliding with the South American plate. At the point of collision, the South American plate, which is made of light continental crust, is riding up over the Nazca plate, which is made of dense oceanic crust. This type of plate interaction is called subduction.
As the Nazca plate is forced into the mantle, it melts and its melt products work their way up to the surface to form volcanoes. The land is further raised by the crumpling effect as the western edge of the continent rides up over the descending plate. The result of all of this is the Andes, a young, highly volcanic, rapidly growing mountain chain. This same movement of the Nazca plate is responsible for producing the cluster of volcanic islands we call Galápagos.
Sonia López
We’re a football/soccer nation. Everyone, even those who don’t watch the sport, know the names of the emblematic players… after football, comes tennis maybe… and then the Olympics… but in terms of sports fans, few are really into rugby, for example. Well, I am… I was still buzzing from the 2011 Rugby World Cup… I had followed the All Blacks, including the great Dan Carter, during the entire event. At Metropolitan Touring, my work caters to New Zealand, so guess what happened… I received confirmation of a Galápagos cruise for two VIP guests coming for their honeymoon. Yep: Dan Carter with Honor, his lovely bride to be! I jumped out of my seat, my heart pounding… I had to meet him in person so I arranged to embark with them on board La Pinta for a most intense and beautiful 5-day cruise. We shared many experiences. Here’s what he wrote in our guest book!
By Lucho Maldonado Robles
To bolster its receptive tourism services in Ecuador, in the mid-1960’s, Metropolitan Touring realized the vital necessity of having qualified tourism guides to conduct the diverse tours and programmes which the company was promoting internationally: It required appropriate and trained personnel to accompany the visitors it was successfully attracting to the country. Until then, tours were conducted by self-educated people who had some knowledge of the country’s history, geography and culture and a reasonable proficiency in foreign languages, mainly English.
Eduardo Neira
Let’s go back to 1998 and the most particular wedding that was celebrated on 22nd October of that year. As captain of the Santa Cruz, I was asked specifically to marry a couple, both citizens of the United States. They arrived on board as happy as can be and ready to make their Galápagos dream come true, but I received them with a bit of unfortunate information. I had no double rooms available.
It takes a certain type of spirit to make a real difference. It takes a certain team of people to believe in dedicating their energies to their countries.
The people behind the company led by Eduardo Proaño in the 1950s probably didn’t set out to have the impact they did. They were ambitious, to be sure. They believed in the travel industry. Through a mix of zeal, belief, dedication and toil, the company researched, created, promoted, sold and operated programmes which would open up new areas of the country to foreign visitors for the first time. It literally invented where visitors went, for how long and how: what travel in Ecuador looked like and felt like. It was the pioneer.
From the onset of 1968, the visionary leaders of Metropolitan Touring started with their visits of inspection to Galapagos, with the dream, for many quite “crazy” in those days, to establish a permanent, international-type tourism operation in the Archipelago.
It was really early in the morning and we were arriving at Bartholomew Island. I noticed that many of our guests were heading up to the deck, so I followed them out of curiosity. To my complete and utter surprise, a short eared owl was perched on a door in front of Deck B! He must have come with us from North Seymour, the previous island on our itinerary, because the species is not found in Bartholomew.
Okay, the world isn’t over. You can breathe again. You can start planning for the future again… in a few days it’ll be 2013, with new expectations, new vows, the beginning of “the rest of your life” and a wait of about 99 years until next “doomsday” comes along, the doomsday that will hit the fan one 12-21-2112.
Okay, this is the end. As Darwin once said, “my only friend, the end”… No, that wasn’t Darwin! Darwin actually said, “in the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too), those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed”. Have we learned to collaborate and improvise… will we prevail after Doomsday the 21st?
