Another local perspective, this time with my dearest Andres, 37, who we met during our time in Montañita, Ecuador. Even though we haven’t been on Galapagos during this trip, I thought it would be amazing to get some insights from someone who grew up and now lives and works there. Thanks Andres for answering all of my questions, even though you are super busy all the time and I was a pain in the butt! (Haha)

So, how was growing up on Galapagos?

First of all, you have to understand that growing up on the island is totally different then growing up around the rest of Ecuador. It wasn’t a big city, it was only 3000 people here. When I was younger, there were only one or two TV channels and none of them where from Ecuador, they were actually from Peru. So, back in the day, when you would ask the kids from the island who the president of Ecuador was, kids would think it’s the one from Peru, because that’s what they would always see on TV. As you can see, it was very disconnected to the rest of Ecuador. The electricity would go off at 6 in the evening and that is something that changes a lot, you know. We would play a lot of games as a teenager, sneaking out of the house to meet girls or playing the guitar with friends. We would also jump into the water whenever we would see sharks or seals. You know, normal kids from the city would never jump into the water when there are sharks around, but that’s what we used to do. Regarding food, we used to eat a lot of seafood, especially lots of lobster, food that is considered to be expensive, but for us it was really cheap. We would just jump in the water and catch our own lobsters and stuff like that.

How did you get into tourism in the Galapagos?

As you can see life was very, very different, very laid back on Galapagos. But when you are a teenager this life tends to get more and more frustrating because you see the same things and people all the time. But that changed when I went to university. So, I came to Guayaquil for university and studied computer engineering at one of the best universities in Ecuador. But I would always come back to Galapagos on vacation, tourism started developing and more and more tourists started coming in. When I was a kid there was none, maybe a few volunteers that were speaking in English. But you would definitely not see as many tourists as you do now. Then everything started changing, tourism increased, population increased and economy became really good of course. Because even when we had our own currency, which was Sucres, people would get paid dollars in tips and all that. And in the 2000s we got US dollar as official currency and that’s when I started getting interested. My brother got into tourism because of that and in Galapagos, whenever we would go back we would see that everything was developing, like restaurants, hotels, the boats and ships. Back in the days it was typical to find a job in computer science, but unfortunately our country is technologically not highly developed, so I took the opportunity to do a tourism guide course, which was very interesting to me, my brother was doing it all the time, so I wanted to do it, too. So, this is how I got into this tourism world and I started working as a naturalist guide and that was 13, almost 14 years ago, and I’ve been working in this business ever since.

Positive and negative impacts of tourism on the island?

The positive things of tourism here are of course that it is bringing money and new opportunities to the people here. Tourists get to see it and can spread the word about the beauty of this place. The whole world gets to see it and to enjoy it. But the negative thing is when too many people are coming and don’t respect the rules or anything. And just ruining everything that is here. Trying to touch the animals or littering here. When tourism comes we need to bring in more staff, more food from the mainland, which also means bringing more plastic, more glass, more everything. Garbage. And of course we need it, right. The thing is, we will always end up loosing something, doesn’t matter what we do. Even if we stop tourism, we will always going to end up having an impact on the islands.

What are your favorite spots on Galapagos?

My favorite spot is Española island. Why? Because it is the most beautiful one, it has the biggest variety of animals. The beach is really nice and the snorkeling there is one of the greatest. And you get to see, almost like I don’t know I would say 50% of the animals that you can see in Galapagos. And favorite tours would be to Isabella because it’s really nice, clear, sandy beach, clear water, turquoise water. The town is really small, it’s only two or three thousand people. And the other tour I really like it to North Seymour island, because, it is very small, but it is really, really rich in nature and it’s really close to the city, to the town as well.

Can you tell me about your favorite animals and your experiences with them on the island?

Sea lions, of course, because they play with you once you snorkel with them, they jump over your head or try to bite your snorkel or your mask, but only because they are playing, not because they are aggressive. It’s really cool. I would say that’s everyone’s favorite animal here.

How would you describe Galapagos in three words?

Unique, prestigious and awesome of course.

How does a usual day for you as a tour guide look?

When I am working, it’s getting in the water for the most of it and just showing people all the different animals, so that would be a typical day. Explaining everything, laughing, smiling and being nice to them and, you know how I am so, just being very friendly.

And finally, what would you like to accomplish in your life?

Well, for me I guess working in tourism, my main accomplishment would be having my own hotel and make it an ecological type of hotel. Bring tourists there, show them the island and work with them in the best way possible, so that they learn about conservation and sustainability of the islands.

Thank you, Andres!

(All pictures are taken by Andres, thanks for letting me use them :))