I reach out my arm to get the attention of an aqua taxi so I can cross over to the other side in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island.
Punta Estrada is its official name, also well known as “PLAYA de Los Alemanes”. Anyone who is an inhabitant of the island will call it “The other side”.
Around the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, if you came to live in Galapagos you may get land from the Ecuadorian government, 1 hectare or even 200 hectares per person, it didn’t matter where you came from; you were more than welcome, you just have to stay.
Ecuadorian settlers, mainly people who knew about working the land, choose to be up on the highland where the fresh water sources was found.
Up on the highlands during the dry season exists a continuous drizzle, a substantial source of water, and easy to store, and in the rainy season. The highlanders had almost their water necessities covered to survive almost all year-round; the coast had for them no value.
The European settlers unlike the others thought land at the seaside was precious, where they came from its cost was very high, yes the land was arid and nothing could grow there but it did not matter, they could fish and some of them knew well how to build a boat.
Families from the United States like the Devines arrived on a sailboat and stayed on the island, a mother and son, the Sievers from Germany, the De Roys from Belgium, the Angermeyers from Germany and many others came to live and chose Punta Estrada to call it home.
Eventually some more will arrive, like the Schreiers and a woman who fell in love with a local captain and therefore never left, Gene.
They all build their houses the way they knew, using wood or lava stone. Their language to communicate was English, their kids were born there, some married people from Ecuador, and also started a family of their own. The idea was to stay isolated on this side of the bay with no path connecting them with the town, only by boat.
The other side never had roads just a path and living there was silent, yes it was a hassle to carry water, food over there, but the payoff was that the place was quiet. Everyone will look for oneself. “Do not expect support from your neighbours” life passed quickly, perhaps some inconvenient here and there, but they all got along. You couldn’t miss the five pm volleyball game of the neighborhood.
The 70s arrived so the 80s and during the 90s some of these pioneers were getting old some passed away leaving legends of ghosts, sad stories or happy endings behind.
Gene who never got an answer from her beloved captain spent her last days smoking a cigarette looking over the coast Doris remembered those days when Mr. Divine was home working in some carpentry project. He had all the tools you could imagine left by the US military base.
The Sievers had a successful business in Tourism that for sure their kids were going to run with pride.
The Angermeyer one by one reached their age to say goodbye, the most remembered Gus, the one who will approach you and make the question of” how many trips have you already made around the sun”? The one who lived off ” Air and love” in German “Luft und Liebe”, The De Roy family left a memory of Art and houses made of lava rocks some are there some are not.
The other side nobody wanted to go, became the place where exclusive hotels and a high-end restaurant are located surrounded by an old nature suggesting memories of ghosts on the path saying you are safe, if they could live here in peace we can all enjoy the natural beauty of THIS OTHER SIDE. Where iguanas and great blue herons go every evening to finish the day, where countless stories took place.
