Life at the Hacienda

As Geovanny always jokingly noted when we arrived at the Hacienda in the morning, “welcome
to your second home.” I’ve had the chance to do some pretty cool things at Hacienda Tranquila,
and really feel as though I have made a significant impact while living and working in San
Cristóbal. To start, Hacienda Tranquila is an ecotourism organization that began in 2007, within
the tiny, fifteen family farming community of La Soledad. The organization is unique in that it
is the only program in the Galápagos that works with community, environment, and social issues
by approaching them as one.

How it all works is that volunteers (up to 20 at a time) come from around the world for one to
twelve weeks to live, work, and grow in a 50 hectare area dedicated to preserving the ecological
and social systems of the Galápagos. The work can vary: volunteers one day could be battling
Mora (invasive blackberry) with a machete in the Maconia area, and that same afternoon do
English tutoring with children from the local school.

To sum it all up, here are the five areas volunteers work in at the Hacienda:

1. Reforestation: Volunteers have planted more than 3,000 trees in five different areas of the
islands to protect endangered species.

2. Agriculture: Hacienda Tranquila is currently assisting 20 families across the island to recover
their abandoned farms. Staff and volunteers help cultivate their farms so they can supply the
community with organic products and increase local production.

3. Community water access: Staff and volunteers worked for over one year to bury fifteen
kilometers of pipe along rough terrains to supply water for the community, which enabled 200
people to have access to a suitable water source.

4. Carbon sequestration: The project has planted 750 trees, specifically two types of species,

5. Children: We have created a program of hippo-therapy that uses activities on a horse that is
meaningful for children, and have served over 180 disadvantaged and disabled children over the
last four years. Additionally, we have helped furnish the school in the community and materials
for English language learning.

My work, however, has been a bit different. In the position description, I am considered to
be a program assistant and volunteer coordinator, which has come with a wide variety of
responsibilities. For example, I have had numerous administrative tasks including creating a
monthly newsletter, updating website material, managing social media content, and composing
a grant proposal. When I would come to the Hacienda to do work, you could almost guarantee
that I would be sitting outside at the table typing on my computer at least one point of the day.

Little did I know, this position would also include some operative work as well . . .

Let me start by saying I would definitely consider myself a city girl. Ask me to go camping? I
might say yes. Ask me to hike the Inca trail to Machu Picchu? I will take the train, thank you
very much. My experience working outside is little to none, so when Geovanny asked me to go
help one of the staff members, Carlos, build a fence one day, I gave him a look of absolute terror.
I really wanted to impress my new boss, though, so with a machete in one hand and a bucket of
water in the other, I set off trailing Carlos with the determination to try something new.

We needed to cut some branches down for the posts, so Carlos showed me a good one to work
on, and I started hacking away. Needless to say, in the time it took me to cut down one, Carlos
managed to cut four! I tried as hard as I could though, and I had a lot of fun in the process.
Another day I was doing one of my usual jobs, taking pictures of the volunteers, when the other
staff member Paúl told me he could take a picture of me working with the machete. So, he
handed me his machete and I started attacking the mora and other invasive species. (Secretly, I
think he wanted to take a break because he took two pictures and was playing with my camera
for a while after that.) It was pretty fun and I would never have guessed I’d be doing something
like that in a million years.

These, as well as other exciting experiences pushed me into unknown territories. Other days I
helped with the hippo-therapy program, played with the local INFA children, helped herd the
cows, and worked on the coffee plantation picking coffee cherries.

Although it has certainly been rewarding, it goes without saying that any service work you
perform isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. More often than not, you have a few glitches along
the way which will cause you to stumble. For example, not having adequate Spanish speaking
skills has led to some very confusing interactions with community members and made a few
situations difficult to proceed without the assistance of others.

In the end, however, I sincerely believe that my time spent at Hacienda Tranquila will leave a
lasting impression upon my life. My administrative work has allowed me to practice the skills
I have learned thus far through my master’s program, and given me the opportunity to develop
my capacity to manage and lead in a multicultural environment. My interactions with the
international volunteers and the laughs I shared with the guys, Geovanny, Carlos, and Paúl, will
stay with me forever. Moreover, the physical work I performed outside provided the chance for
me to grow in ways I never thought possible: I can easily identify many of the endemic species
we are growing here at the Hacienda and wield a machete like the best of them!

Salsa y Los Chicos

A post from Corinne Dorais 

Every single day I have to remind myself that I’m really here. It’s so incredible.

This past week flew by. I had a decent amount of homework (for here) and having deadlines to meet always seems to make time pass more quickly.

On Monday I started salsa lessons! It cost me $25 for 6 hours of class and it’s been more than worth it. I’ve had three classes so far and finish the other three next week. Unsurprisingly, my utter lack of rhythm does not make me the best dancer but it’s so much fun that I don’t care! There’s live salsa music tonight at a bar called Iguana Rock (seemingly the most popular bar in town and where we have our salsa classes.) There’s also a Happy Hour at one of the hotels on the boardwalk. One of the guys from GAIAS is playing guitar so we’re all going to go support him (and happy hour) and then go practice our new salsa skills!

Salsa wasn’t the only new activity I started this week. Yesterday was my first day volunteering at an after school program in the highlands. El Progreso, the only other town on the island, is about a 15 minute taxi ride inland. It’s an even smaller community than Puerto Baquerizo Moreno and doesn’t benefit nearly as much from tourism. Families tend to be poorer farmers and the kids in the community don’t have access to the after school programs offered here in town. There’s also far less to do in El Progreso. So when I heard they needed help at a small after school program at the library, I immediately signed up.

The library is a one room building on the edge of town. There are five shelves of books, but it doesn’t much resemble any libraries I’ve seen before. The kids are absolutely adorable. As soon as I met them, I knew I was hooked. They range in age from 2-12 and know very little English, though they all learn a few words in school. They were a little shy upon meeting me, but it took all of 10 minutes before they were grabbing my hand, hugging me, and sharing their stories. There’s a tiny bit of a language barrier, but my Spanish is getting much better. And kids are so forgiving that I don’t worry as much about making mistakes, which also helps.

I went back today and they were so excited; I don’t think they entirely believed me when I told them I’d be back. We were playing charades (you had to guess the word in both Spanish and English!) and I noticed one of the 5 year olds, Kayla sitting off in the corner quietly flipping through a picture book. When I sat down next to her she shut her book and pushed it away. At first I thought she needed a bit more time to get used to strangers, but then she shyly slid a new book towards me. I asked if she wanted to read it together; she nodded, gave a small smile, and slid the tiniest bit closer.
By the time we finished Little Red Riding Hood she was curled into my side, fighting to keep her job as page turner as more of the kids joined us. When we finished Sleeping Beauty, she was in my lap. I’ve only been there two days, but already I know I’ll be sad to leave those kids in December.
I just got back from dinner. So far I’ve had seven dinners with my host family; we’ve eaten out for four of them. Can you tell my host mom is out of town? My host dad is great. I’m pretty sure he’s worried I don’t have any friends because I do homework during the week, don’t go to the bar on Tuesday nights, and have returned home before 3:00am. He continues to tell me I don’t have a curfew; come back whenever I want as long as I have fun! Two friends and I made lunch at the house one day this week and he was so excited to see I actually do have friends. He’s promised to come dance with me tonight at Iguana Rock and he’s already forced his nephew into coming to dance with me too. Poor guy has no idea what he just got signed up for!

Other than salsa and volunteering, I’m just settling into island life and realizing more and more that I must be one of the luckiest people in the world.

Time to head out for the night! More pictures (and videos!) soon.

Love,
Corinne