The year 2019 was very busy for me. I moved into another city, Quito. several reasons involved such as a new job, still as a guide but also as a trip leader in the capital of Ecuador. I stopped writing the blog.
October was not a good time for us. The country had some political unrest, which had a negative effect on the tourism industry. December arrived, with some far and away bad news about a new disease scientist knew nothing.. The disease was spreading in China, and we could see in the news that events over there were not appealing, but it was far and away,
2020 arrived and our side of the world was OK. we were enjoying Galápagos like always, but we had a dark cloud on the horizon saying “be prepared”.
Prepared for what and how? We kept working, but on airplanes, we had Asian visitors already wearing masks. It was scary.
As a single mum, I never worked for more than a week. This time I was away two, just in case...while onboard the news was spreading and so the disease, the name COVID-19.
March 15 I was with my group leaving for Ecuador mainland. The passenger’s flight had to be re-arranged, our international airports were going to shut down in a few hours, we have to evacuate everybody; I got home... hugged my daughter. The city was silent.....
The rest, as you know, is similar all over the world. We lived in a complete lockdown connected by e-mail, television, and zooming with our family and friends. At least we have a good internet connection.
GALAPAGOS could not escape the lockdown, and many of their inhabitants got stuck on the mainland. February, March, and April are months when kids are on holidays and islanders use this time to visit family or travel out of Galapagos....they got stuck out of home for around two months with money running out.
Most of them have family on the mainland, some few had to stay in friends’ houses or pay rent. Not a single flight was reaching the archipelago except one or two with some equipment, medicines, and some food. These items were getting scarce.
The islanders had it terrible, lack of food, and since the medical service in Galapagos is not the best, the fear of getting sick there was high. Locals gave a good example of obedience and following the new rules. They had to, otherwise, things could get worse.
The streets were empty of people, wildlife was walking all over, the cities were silent, Covid arrived in Galápagos as well, some people got very sick, not very many died, just a few and out of the islands.
With not much food and money, many locals got together and began growing their own fruits and vegetables in their backyard and exchanging their neighbors., fishers gave all their production to the people. The perception of Galápagos was that the government was not doing much to support the community. They felt abandoned.. Little by little some activity began but no tourism, almost no one was working and with no idea of what will happen.
In the meantime, Guayaquil, the port city, hit the news worldwide. People were dying on the streets. No one knew what was going on and fear was rising. No one, not a single person, could fly back home. It was too dangerous since the islands do not have hospitals ready to treat serious emergencies, and given the example of the mainland, it was better not to take a risk.
Meanwhile, sea lions took over some streets and dolphins sighted close to shore. Eventually, the people could go back to the beach keeping a distance from one another.
March 2020 came, and I flew back with a small group, some activity had begun but not like before. Today is November 10/2021, trying to remember all that happened during almost two years, tonight I am preparing myself already for the next year like any regular guide.
Photos courtesy of Lily Goumaz.
Empty town
