Steadfastness of Galapagos tortoises is a symbol for our times

• Published date: 09 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

I took a vacation to the Galapagos in hopes that mingling with peaceful animals would provide some relief from writing about Vladimir Putin's bloody crimes.

To an extent, it worked. These remote volcanic islands, 600 miles off Ecuador's Pacific coast, which famously provided the basis for Charles Darwin's theories of evolution, are now so carefully protected that their creatures show little fear toward the limited numbers of visiting humans. Garish red-gold land iguanas may freeze in place as hikers pass, but blue-footed boobies freely perform their mating dance and sea lions roll around on land, oblivious to intruders.

Yet it was the giant tortoises that fascinated and soothed me the most. It is awesome to witness an enormous reptile with a huge, humpbacked shell and enormously thick legs glomp slowly forward, with majestic indifference to the gawkers by the trail, myself included. What is even more awesome is to recognize that this peaceful, grass-eating creature was nearly exterminated in the 1800s by whalers and fur sealers who captured thousands and stored them alive in their ship holds to devour later for meat.

But the tortoises survived, with some variants developing long necks on mostly barren islands where edible foliage was high up, and others retaining short necks to grasp low-lying vegetation. The Ecuadorian government, and private environmental groups such as the Galapagos Conservancy, are attempting to restore the diminished tortoise population.

There was something inspirational about this placid, nonviolent creature that has withstood man's invasion and brutality (and can survive up to 100 years on a vegetarian diet).

Although any comparison with humans is strained, it was hard not to imagine the Galapagos tortoise as a symbol of steadfast determination to survive the injustice and political turmoil in so many areas of the world.

Back in Quito, Ecuador's 9,000-foot high capital in the Andes, I was privileged to see examples of such human determination in a working-class neighborhood, or barrio, called La Colmena, which climbs the slopes of the Pichincha volcano not far from the historic center of the city.

Ecuador, like many Latin American countries, has veered politically between self-proclaimed leftist, populist governments and more conservative leaders. Left-wing socialist Rafael Correa, in power from 2007-2017 and self-exiled since a 2020 conviction for corruption, is plotting a comeback after his party did well in recent local elections...