Festival de la Soledad

On October 4th Hacienda Tranquila hosted a day long festival and rodeo event. We had an amazing turnout! This year we had more people come out than ever before. Despite a little rain, everyone came out and had a good time. The music was blasting while everyone cheered for their favorite team as the men and then the women played against each other in football matches. There was a plethora of food including empanadas, humas, chicken, rice, and soup. The food was so delicious and in such high demand that it ran out by late afternoon. Throughout the day there were several events in the main corral. Three local ladies rode in on horseback to the cheers of the crowd for a beauty contest. Dr. Green, the local veterinary organization in San Cristóbal, hosted several events including the judging of the bulls and cow milking. Afterwards, there was a bronc riding contest followed bull wrangling. The festival and rodeo was a great way to bring the community together. All the proceeds from the food will go to help raise funds for a Christmas feast and Christmas presents for the local children. The

festival was very successful in raising the funds this year. We hope that next year will be even bigger and bring in more for the local children.

Voluntarios!

A BIG UPS to the volunteers that have been so awesome and integral in the work that Hacienda Tranquila does. Hacienda Tranquila is dependent on its volunteers to do the important conservation and community development work that is its mission. We could not do it without you!

Here are a few of the comments that volunteers have left us:

3 May 2010

Hola.

Thank you so much for an amazing experience. I learned so much here and from the people I met here. This is a truly one of a kind project and I am grateful for that. Keep making a difference

<3 HT Volunteer, USA

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14 July 2011

Hola Chicos,

Muchas gracias para el tiempo en la Hacienda. Se fue muy rapido y quiero regresar una otra vez...Gracias tambien para todos las frutas para su hospidalidad y para ensenar el trabaja. Aprende mucho aqui y disfrute mis vacaciones.

Muchos abrazos, HT Volunteer, country of origin unknown

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8 June 2012

Dear Geovanny, Edgar and Carlos!

The last fe weeks have been amazing! I've learnt so much and had so many new experiences which I will remember for the rest of my life. Inseminating cows, hippo therapy, working with machetes, and PIZZA MAKING have all been amazing! What you do hee at the Hacienda is fantastic and I would love to come back here in the future.

I wish you all the best for the future, and thank you so much for this incredible experience here in the Galapagos.

Keep doing what you do best,

Ciao, HT Volunteer, England

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27 September 2013

Dear Geovanny, dear Carlos!

Thank you so much for everything, we had an absolutely great and unique time here at the Hacienda, probably one of the best of our lives.

We have seen so much and met so many great people, have experienced so many amazing moments. We will always remember this tie and now fur sure will start volunteering also at other places. But this Hacienda will always be special to us and we'll always feel connected to the Galapagos Islands and this project. Thank you for doing this important work with such great passion and for these amazing weeks!

Best wishes for the future, HT Volunteers, Austria

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26 January, 2014

Hey everyone,

This place is so great. I've really enjoyed my 4 weeks at the Hacienda Tranquila. Even though the work is hard at times you really feel like you are making a difference.

The people I've met are sooo great.

Hope everyone is going to enjoy there stay here as I did.

HT Volunteer, Denmark/Germany

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7 February 2014

Hello

It has been a great stay here at hacienda Tranquila. We have been very happy to help and meet some nice people. We have seen and learned a lot about Galapagos and we hope that we will come back some day to see how far the progress has gone.

HT Volunteers, Denmark

Caracoles Terrestres de la Isla San Cristobal

As is well known, there is an incredible amount of biodiversity present in and around the Galapagos Islands; however, due to the introduction of invasive species, endemic biodiversity has declined immensely. Here on San Cristobal, one of the goals of Hacienda Tranquila is to control invasive species and support endemic species. Volunteers at Hacienda Tranquila have been working hard to do just this in the highlands of San Cristobal, specifically on the plot of land where Hacienda Tranquila is located. It is suffice to say that quite a bit of progress has been made.

Proof of this progress comes in many forms, but one of the most rewarding is when endemic fauna reintroduces itself into the endemic flora. One way that this is occurring is with land snails (caracoles terrestres). Since the volunteers at Hacienda Tranquila have been working to reduce and control invasive species and reintroduce and support endemic species, there has been a large increase of the amount and diversity of land snails that have reappeared on the Hacienda Tranquila property.

A study was conducted to chart this progress and found that six different species of land snails have reintroduced themselves into the now largely endemic environment surrounding Hacienda Tranquila since their volunteers have begun their work. This goes to show just how successful Hacienda Tranquila and its volunteers have been thus far in reaching their goal to revive the native natural environment. A BIG thank you to all of the volunteers who have helped in this endeavor!

Mi Mascota 2014

Martina Aviles, a student at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, coordinated and managed a project called Mi Mascota 2014 here on San Cristobal Island in the towns of El Progreso and La Soledad. For this project, she asked the children of these communities to draw a picture that showed how to take good care of pets (mascotas); accompanied by a brief caption. Aviles then compiled these drawings into a calander for 2014. This project was very ingenuitive, especially considering the large amount of pets - specifically dog and cats - that do reside on this island. In these pictures you can see just a few ways that the children of El Progreso and La Soledad have shown and explained how to take care of your pets!

A BIG thank you to Martina for facilitating this project!