Santa Cruz Island
Santa Rosa is a village of no more than three hundred people, located in the northwestern corner of Santa Cruz Island, the largest inhabited island in the Galápagos. They are mostly farmers who started to settle in the 1940’s, to grow cattle together with products such as plantain and coffee. Most of them had lost everything during a terrible earthquake we had at the time in the Andean area of Ambato, mainland Ecuador. The government granted them land in the Galápagos before this archipelago became a National Park. They arrived full of dreams, ready to give it all to this new land, now theirs. They had children, and their children had grandchildren. The current governor of the Galápagos was born and raised in Santa Rosa, as well as one of Lindblad naturalists. Two generations of many Galápagenians have gone through the tiny school of “Delia Ibarra”, the single one in Santa Rosa. In the beginning it was one classroom only, now there are different grades for students of various ages.
In 1992 a young biologist was granted a permit to camp and spend several nights in the courtyards of Santa Rosa school. He was part of a scientific expedition doing research on bats. They had to set a net to capture flying mammals, and the entire town accompanied the researchers, curious about their work.
This young biologist has come back to Santa Rosa today. He is now a naturalist guide for Lindblad Expeditions and, as part of a great program that Lindblad started in the islands, he has come to share with the students of “Delia Ibarra” school, his knowledge and love for nature.
Kids had everything set for Carlos Romero. No plasma screen, just one computer they all looked at to learn about fish in the Galápagos, and to find out about why Ecuador is so much visited by people from around the world. Carlos had good memories of the school already, but now, he has a more gratifying experience to remember forever: Sharing with kids from the highlands of Galápagos what he sees everyday in the underwater realms of this archipelago.
For our guests, Santa Cruz Island was also very special. This was our opportunity of getting into close contact with the most famous creatures of the Galápagos, the giant Tortoises.
Santa Rosa is a village of no more than three hundred people, located in the northwestern corner of Santa Cruz Island, the largest inhabited island in the Galápagos. They are mostly farmers who started to settle in the 1940’s, to grow cattle together with products such as plantain and coffee. Most of them had lost everything during a terrible earthquake we had at the time in the Andean area of Ambato, mainland Ecuador. The government granted them land in the Galápagos before this archipelago became a National Park. They arrived full of dreams, ready to give it all to this new land, now theirs. They had children, and their children had grandchildren. The current governor of the Galápagos was born and raised in Santa Rosa, as well as one of Lindblad naturalists. Two generations of many Galápagenians have gone through the tiny school of “Delia Ibarra”, the single one in Santa Rosa. In the beginning it was one classroom only, now there are different grades for students of various ages.
In 1992 a young biologist was granted a permit to camp and spend several nights in the courtyards of Santa Rosa school. He was part of a scientific expedition doing research on bats. They had to set a net to capture flying mammals, and the entire town accompanied the researchers, curious about their work.
This young biologist has come back to Santa Rosa today. He is now a naturalist guide for Lindblad Expeditions and, as part of a great program that Lindblad started in the islands, he has come to share with the students of “Delia Ibarra” school, his knowledge and love for nature.
Kids had everything set for Carlos Romero. No plasma screen, just one computer they all looked at to learn about fish in the Galápagos, and to find out about why Ecuador is so much visited by people from around the world. Carlos had good memories of the school already, but now, he has a more gratifying experience to remember forever: Sharing with kids from the highlands of Galápagos what he sees everyday in the underwater realms of this archipelago.
For our guests, Santa Cruz Island was also very special. This was our opportunity of getting into close contact with the most famous creatures of the Galápagos, the giant Tortoises.
