Centro Y Sur

Galapagos Movie

Ecuador’s award-winning ecotourism company,Tropic Journeys in Nature, since 1994 has led tours through the country’s most engaging landscapes. Now it’s focusing attention on a soon-to-be-released (spring 2014) documentary film, “The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden,” and invites guests to become Floreana Island’s on-site sleuths.

Says The Hollywood Reporter, “A bizarre real-life drama of the 1930s is well told in this resourceful documentary.” See:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2960450/

Vintage film footage, old letters and interviews help weave the still-unsolved mystery dating to the 1930s when nine travelers, among them Galapagos pioneers including a contingent of German and Austrian eccentrics, intersected on a volcanic island known then and now as Floreana. Some survived; others mysteriously disappeared.

Voice-overs by Cate Blanchette and Diane Kruger, among others, help tell the story. It is strangely appropriate that the film release will coincide with the 50^th anniversary of the founding of the Charles Darwin Research Center that tells best of all how and why some species survive and others don’t.

Locals on Floreana and some family and acquaintances of the original nine are engaged to tell their personal stories.

This is a Zeitgeist Films release produced by Dan Geller, Dayna Goldfine and Celeste Schaefer Snyder.

Panorama and Lava Lodge

Coincidentally today’s travelers who want to dip into this local lore can visit Floreana Lave Lodge that is operated by Ecuador’s award-winning tour company, Tropic Journeys in Naturehttp://www.destinationecuador.com/. This is a no-frills lodge with comfortably appointed eco accommodations and where three meals daily are included. Guests explore Floreana with naturalist guides who are well versed in the historical nuances of what elements of the mystery took place where. This includes passing by the site of where the island’s first permanent inhabitant, the eccentric Dr. Ritter, lived and is buried. Arriving in 1926, this German physician believed that with a combination of exercise and the right vegetarian diet he would live to be 150 years old. He didn’t, but his story is one of the many strange episodes that still abound on this remote island.

Floreana Lava Lodge is owned by a member of the Cruz family, one of the Floreana’s oldest and who have their own family memories surrounding the mystery. A two-night experience here, from $875 per person double, including two nights lodging, all meals, touring and transportation (excluding air), represents an emerging way of venturing into unknown places. It’s a good example of a new trend in tourism called “slow travel.”

About Tropic Journeys in Nature
Established in 1994, Tropic is an award–winning ecotourism company specializing in responsible, community-based tourism in Ecuador. Programs combine life-changing, active-but-cultural ecotourism experiences focusing on nature, conservation, diversity and sustainability in three distinct areas:

• Huaorani Ecolodge at the headwaters of the Amazon in Yasuni National Park: http://www.destinationecuador.com/huaorani-ecolodge-ecuador.html
• Floreana Lava Lodge a beachside accommodation in the Galapagos Islands, on Floreana Island: http://www.destinationecuador.com/galapagos-hotel-lava-lodge-floreana.html
• Journeys in Nature – Sustainable guided nature and culture-focused tours throughout Ecuador in collaboration with conservationists groups and local communities: http://www.destinationecuador.com/galapagos-island-adventure-trip.html

For information and reservations contact Tropic Ecological Adventures LLC. / US Phone: 1.888.207.8615 / Website: http://www.destinationecuador.com/ or try us at Centro Y Sur Reservations.