The story of the first inhabited island of the Galapagos. (Isla Floreana)

Before a German family arrived in 1929 fleeing economic and other pressures in Germany… the only people who had been on the island were whalers, pirates and turtle hunters. They left little trace beyond an inscription of the year 1886 near the only fresh water on the island that comes directly out of the rock near its peak. The wife of the German family arrived 5 months pregnant and thus birthed the first colonist or native of the Galapagos in 1930. He still lives here on a neighboring island.
They dug their home out of the soft rock on the top of a great hill near the only spring. This spring is still the sole source of water for the entire island on now 120 people. The original homestead was extended by digging another room adjacent to the principle one.

Cows still roam the island providing milk and meat. They meander between the dugout walls of former structures, chew grass along a path that was trod for nearly 100 years and drink from the spring. On a dryer, yet forested region of the island there is a turtle preserve as well where giant land tortoises eat, sleep and contemplate existence as they know it for well over a century. Although the native turtle species of this island is extinct except for the famous Galapagos island mascot, Lonesome George, the island is being repopulated with species from other islands.