Is it the sin of the Mystery Island showing up once more? It would not be surprising, as the 20th century was the time of tragedies and thrillers on this island. In 1927, 22 Norwegian men arrived at Post Office Bay, Floreana Island. Each man had invested $900 in the project of colonizing the Island. They were told it was going to be a Promised Land, not only for the fisherman but also for the farmer. But it is not easy to work the dry soil of a volcanic island, so the colony lasted only one year. However 4 men remained on the island for a while, catching bacalao (gray grouper) as their only business. Three of them eventually left the island when the fourth one strangely vanished.
In 1929 a successful dentist came to the island. This was Dr. Ritter, a 39 year-old German character who wanted to prove that human beings have to become solitary creatures. He chose Floreana for his "great experiment"; however he did not come alone -- he brought Dora, an intellectual and a former patient. They were both married, but not to each other. Dr. Ritter had an opera singer wife and Dora, in her twenties, was married to an elderly schoolmaster. Since the very moment Dora met the doctor, she became his avid disciple and decided to follow him to the remote Galapagos Islands for their "higher struggle."
They were the only people on the island from 1929 to 1932. They played Adam and Eve in this solitary paradise.
In 1932 their retreat began to get crowded. The Wittmer family arrived from Germany: Margaret, her husband Heinz and stepson Harry. Margaret was to be a mother and within a few months the first native of Floreana was born: Rolf Wittmer. On October 1932, an Austrian baroness, Eloise Bousquet de Wagner, arrived at Floreana to declare herself the Empress of Galapagos. She brought 3 boyfriends: a good-looking one, a rich one, and, of course, a Latino boyfriend. It is said that this lady used to walk wearing just boots, a hat and a revolver, no clothes at all! And a whip. She was a mad lady intending to build a 5 star hotel on the island. Fortunately she vanished before that! If you want to know how she and most of them disappeared, visit us next week, the same day.
