Valentina Cruz

Valentina was born the on island of Floreana, in the Galapagos Archipelago. Floreana is sixth largest of the islands and home to a small population amounting to approximately 60 people. It is particularly famous for its interesting human history, which you could ask her all about! Her father was one of only a hundred people that were living in the Galapagos Islands when he moved here from the mainland of Ecuador in 1939. Her parents were instrumental in populating the islands, as Valentina is one of twelve children the couple had, all of them born on Floreana. After an idyllic early childhood on this enchanting island, she left Floreana at the age of ten in order to go to school. During this time, she spent some years on the second largest of the Galapagos Islands, Santa Cruz, as well as in the highland of Ecuador, near the town of Ibarra. She finally finished high school in the capital of the country, the city of Quito. Although taking the Galapagos Naturalist Guide course given by the National Park service in 1996, she decided to combine her wish to see new places with her desire to learn more about the natural world, by travelling to La Havana, Cuba where she went to college and graduated in general Biology. Here she met her husband, who later returned to the Galapagos with her and works as an entomologist with the Charles Darwin Foundation in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz, where they settled.