Future Plans
We are focused on providing people with the opportunity to experience the tranquil highland lifestyle. I would like to build an open air studio on the property to be used for retreats and for the practice of martial arts, yoga and meditation. I would like to make the hacienda electrically self sufficient, through wind and solar power, and potentially also contribute to the power grid on the island which is in the process of switching over to wind power generation. I would like to continue and expand the community services that we provide, such as continuing the riding therapy camps that we began in the summer of 2007 with local children.
Being an avid surfer, I am especially interested in supporting the efforts towards keeping the water and beaches clean. Volunteers are already working here educating the children, raising their level of environmental awareness so that they understand that the environment must be protected by everyone. We are focused on providing people with the opportunity to experience the tranquil highland lifestyle. As I was told on my original visit to the island by taxi driver #48, Jimmy, "Many people around the world contribute toward the welfare of the animals here, but few consider the living conditions of the people. There is much left to be done to improve the local educational, medical and transportation infrastructure."
Dr. Graham Watkins, executive director of the Charles Darwin Foundation, whose mission is to conserve the Galápagos through scientific research recently commented in the New York Times that, "What we have here is an unsustainable model of development. We have to think about the people and not just the plants and animals, or it will all collapse."
