Galapagos Guides

It is 08:00 in the morning, the boat is anchored between two islands, Santa Cruz and Baltra. Tourists and their guide are ready for a last expedition in the Galapagos Islands.

This morning we have a wet landing on white coralline sand, I collect the lifejackets and we all get ashore without shoes.

We are on Mosquera Island, a small piece of lava covered with sand only and provides shelter to a sea lion colony, a few marine iguanas and sometimes shore birds.

As customary as a guide we have to give the group all the instructions concerning this last visit, this good bye to Galapagos.

While walking along the islet and admiring the sunrays hitting the rocks, breathing the morning air feels blessed for being there, Galapagos is magic.
Everybody always asks, what made you choose to be a guide, you have a marvelous job and I agree. Galapagos guides have a big responsibility; to deliver the nature of the islands to all visitors.

The question is now, who are we, where are we from?

Tourism began by inertia, scientists working on the islands-chartered fishing boats to go around to discover the fascinating natural history of Galapagos. Sometimes researchers had relatives joining them since they were there for a visit and that’s how it all began.

Along the way more people came to visit, but without some guidance was not as nice, therefore around the 70’s the first guide course took place, and some were local inhabitants and a few from Ecuador mainland and other countries. License 001 was born.

Fifty years have passed by and guiding became not just a profession but a sign of improving in life in the local society.

At the beginning mostly students from abroad were hired, they were geologist, biologists or similar and spoke more than one language, but they left after one year to continue their studies. Local inhabitants were guides also but since they had no access to learn languages even more so an academic degree, they did not have much of an opportunity to join the team of the nice looking boats.

Around the 90´s is when my generation came, we were mainly kids from the mainland with more access to learn more than one language, but not precisely scientists. By then some true islanders willing to be seen as an option began to learn languages on their own or left the islands with the purpose to be back with more knowledge. Some never returned, some did.

Around the late 90´s a special law for the Galapagos entered in force. This Special Law limited in many ways the life of locals, therefore as a trade of “galapagueños” should be the first ones to get a job in all fields they could qualify. Migration began to be controlled and the guide course will allow only people from the islands.

Ever since there has been a real change in the Galapagos society, hence men and women who perhaps would have had difficulties to be accepted could be part of the course.

Crew members had access to be a guide, fishermen had access to be a guide, taxi drivers had access to be a guide and many of them learned not only one language, but two or three.

Some guides became photographers and even published books with famous universities, others sent their kids abroad and some of them not only studied languages but also have a degree in biology o anything related to science.
When I look back and see what has been going on all over these years, what I see is, when there is fair access to opportunities in a society the changes in the community are for good.

All of us share a magnificent office, we get to work with sea lions, penguins, whales, giant cactus, and giant tortoises amongst many others. We all have incredible and unforgettable anecdotes hard to believe. We all are Ambassadors of Conservation.

We might be around 900 guides by now.

Silvia Vargas

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The other side

Santa Cruz – the begining

Baltra Island

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