Monthly Archives: April 2005

I’ll take a break from the posting today after that barrage of Galapagos blogs. But if you’re one of our seven readers, don’t worry. We’re gonna start posting pictures today. Check the coppermine.

We were supposed to leave this morning with the kids, but we extended our trip by a day. We changed the flight to Wednesday, so we’ll fly out tomorrow morning instead. Last night, we went out with Veronica and Angeline. We ended up going to Carapacho, the bar we were supposed to meet Javier at two nights ago. Finally found it.

Eileen and I stayed out til 12:00. In exchange for some vocabulary enrichments, I danced to a merengue song with Veronica. Apparently, Will danced with Angeline once and Angie danced with Veronica just so everyone could participate. We said goodbye to the kids, the moms, the remaining Perez’s, and Veronica this morning. As I write this, it’s 10:30. Everyone else is sleeping. We’ll stay in the Hotel Fiesta again tonight. It will cost $22 per person!

asleep in hotel fiesta
Originally uploaded by wiscostorm

Today, we went to Las Grietas, which means cracks, fissures, crevices. Basically, they’re big cliffs filled with sea water. The water doesn’t get a lot of sun, so it’s really cold. But it’s also very clear. We had to take a water taxi from the main island across the bay. There, we hiked into Las Grietas across some very rocky landscape. There were some very noisy local kids already swimming at Las Grietas when we arrived. They kept throwing water-filled bottles into the water and then diving after them. My eyes are watering right now just thinking about opening them under salt water. One of the kids in particular was pretty fearless. He kept climbing up the side of the cliff and then jumping in from great heights. I tried doing the same once, but the climb up was a little scary in wet sandals. After an hour or two at Las Grietas, we left and hiked back out to a beach by the Finch Bay Hotel. The hotel was very impressive, and the beach was shallow and really warm. We stayed for 40 minutes or so and then returned to the water taxi.

For dinner, we walked to a hotel/restaurant called the Red Mangrove. It was beautiful. From the street, you enter the hotel via a small, 50-yard boardwalk through a tunnel of mangroves. In the main lobby, there are several colorful hammocks hung between wood pillars. Brightly-colored sheets decorate the ceiling; the sliding glass doors overlooking the bay remain open, letting a nice sea breeze blow through the place. Small flood lights shine out at the aquatic scene just outside the doors, illuminating various crabs and fish. The occasional gecko is visible on the earthy orange walls, and a version of “No Woman, No Cry” by an Okinawan folk band plays on the stereo. They serve sushi and other Japanese fare. They accept credit cards.

We met Emily and her roommate Mauricio and ate a wonderful dinner. Emily told us that the son of the guy who owns the Red Mangrove is actually in jail for drugs or something. There are about three people in jail here on Santa Cruz. They occasionally let the son out for birthdays and holidays, etc. Emily said she saw him once in the streets and said, “Oh, you got out?” And he said, “no, I have to go back tonight.”

The story – strange and set against a gorgeous backdrop – seemed to fit perfectly with our whole Galapagos experience.

Today started with me seeing Veronica on the way to breakfast. “There’s been a change of plans,” she said. “You guys are leaving at 12:30 instead of 7:30. Some crazy stuff just happened. I’ll tell you about it later.” The plan for today was to take a yacht out to a very small Island called Daphne Mayor. We learned later that only ten people are allowed on the island per month because it’s eroding. So all we got to do was circle the island very slowly in the yacht. We saw lots of crabs, sea lions, blue-footed boobies, red-footed boobies – not much new. The second part of the excursion would be snorkeling. We took another 50-minute yacht ride (For a while on the yacht, a frigate hovered right above us – close enough at times to reach out and touch.); we then arrived at a small alcove back near the original launch point, where we’d be able to kayak and snorkel a bit. We saw lots of cool fish, including a blowfish, a shark, and some sting rays. Eileen and I also saw a baby sea lion. It was pretty cool, but we were in the water for a long time, so we kinda got chilled.

With us on our yacht were Veronica and five of the seven Perez family members. We had all just come from a pretty tense morning. The four mother chaperones on the trip decided to send all of the children with the teacher on the morning shift. Why? Because they wanted to keep the kids separated from the Perez son-in-law, who had been molesting some of the kids. He had apparently fondled a few of the boys in the pool here at the hotel, and he said some inappropriate things to some of the little girls, like “give me a piece of gum and I’ll give you a kiss.” While we were our for a morning stroll after breakfast, the mothers confronted the guy in the hotel restaurant. One of them said, “what did you do with the children?” And when he said, “nothing,” another mother shouted, “liar!” and threw a cup of coffee at him hard enough that it broke on his chest. Rather than being surprised, the rest of the Perez family was apologetic. “We’re good people,” they said. “He’s not even one of us.”

No police were called. The son-in-law and his Perez wife went to a different hotel for the night and changed their flight so that they wouldn’t be near the kids at all for the rest of the trip. Judging by the look on the Perez girls’ faces at breakfast as Veronica was finally telling me what happened, they knew. They looked sad, apologetic. I’m guessing this is not the first time. Veronica explained that things like this usually go unreported cuz people don’t want to admit they exist. The mothers will not call the cops; they will not send their children to a psychologist. It’s best if they just forget it happened and moved on. Freud would be so worked up, he’d have to take some of his cocaine to calm down.

It’s possible that husbands will mobilize and hunt the guy down. But these are all wealthy families. It’s best if scandal is avoided. Now that divorce is legal in Ecuador (as of five years ago), the young Perez girl may someday divorce here pedophile husband (his sister-in-law, by the way, is 13, just a year older than these other kids), but a divorce will not come out of this incident.

I wish I could keep following this story. I wish I could find out what happens when the mothers return and tell the other parents. Veronica says they’ll get blamed for allowing it to happen. What will that confrontation be like? Or will it even happen? The one woman whose son apparently got the worst of it is the president of the PTA. She’s the one who told Veronica she wouldn’t take the boy to a psychologist, that it’s best to just forget about it and move on. Will she even tell the other parents? And if so, what will the fathers do? Will the Perez son-in-law be one of those pictures in the EXTRA with a headline reading, “Lo Mataron”?

I must say, the kids boggle me. They don’t play the victim card here. They were all very willing to move on and keep having fun. And I’m not sure the Western approach to therapy is all that effective, actually; maybe it’s best not to dwell on the negative. The US definitely has Ecuador beat in terms of depression and other mental disorders. I, of course, don’t know anything about it, but maybe our treatments are part of the problem. Psychology isn’t hard science. In fact, it’s a philosophy, a philosophy about how the human mind – perhaps the most mysterious thing on this planet – processes, copes with, and understands experience.

I’d love to talk with some of these boys in 12 years, when they’re 25. What will they have to say about it all? How will they remember their fourth day in the Galapagos?

childmolester
Originally uploaded by wiscostorm.

There’s this family on the trip with us in our tour group. The familia Perez. It’s a couple, their father, their two daughters, the brother of the husband, and a son-in-law married to the older daughter. They’re from Ambato. Ther group was divided today such that the familia Perez and the familia Storm were together, and the children with their five chaperones were together. Veronica came with us. In a bus, we rode out to a private ranch, where we hiked around and saw some giant tortoises in their natural habitat, strolling around in the woods on the ranch. We briefly rode horses and then we hiked through a magma-formed tunnel.

In the afternoon, with the two groups reunited, we walked out to Tortuga Bay, a good surfing beach, but since we had so many kids with us, we hiked down the beach even farther to a big lagoon. It would be much safer than the turbulent waves on the main beach. We spent a lot of time fearing the sun. Eileen, Will, and I went swimming and discovered that I don’t float. Eileen and Will could pretty much just lay on their backs and remain at the surface. Not me.

After we’d been there a while, a launch showed up with a small family riding in it. One of the mothers in our group asked the driver of the launch how much he’d charge to take the kids out for a ride. Twelve dollars later, they were in the boat, getting a tour of the lagoon. When they came back, the Perez couple and their younger daughter invited us out on the boat, meaning they’d pay for us. We accepted and got a 15 minute ride out in the lagoon. We saw some sea turtles and some sting rays.

In the meantime, Ecuador’s national team beat Paraguay 5 – 2.

We went out again after dinner and ran into our WorldTeach friend Emily, who is in the Galapagos for the year. She accompanied us to the Santa Fe Grill and then Angie, Will, and Veronica went with her to another bar. They didn’t stay out too late. One of the other mothers, Angeline, joined them, and she and Veronica serenaded Angie and Will with both Spanish and English songs on the walk back to the hotel. Will and Angie went to bed; Veronica and Angeline found out something that would completely change the mood of the vacation for everyone.