Floreana: A Woman's Pilgrimage to the Galapagos (Paperback)

by Margret Wittmer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Although the adventure detailed in this autobiography is extraordinary, the account itself is rendered less so by the author's emphasis on personalities over events, with a humorless determination to expose the flaws in others, and by her lack of introspection about her role as a pioneer/explorer. In 1932, when Wittmer (then pregnant), her husband, Heinz, and his son, Harry--Germans in search of an Edenesque environment--arrived on Floreana, a remote island in the Galapagos, they first dwelled in caves once inhabited by pirates, the "roads" were tracks made by wild donkeys and their only neighbors were a misanthropic back-to-nature theorist and his disciple. The Wittmers learned self-sufficiency by doing--and sometimes by doing again, as when wild bulls tore up crops or they discovered they were thatching their roof the wrong way and it was not watertight. Soon an eccentric baroness mysteriously appears, proclaims herself the island's "empress" and just as mysteriously disappears, leaving a shooting in her wake. President Roosevelt even came to visit them (although they missed him), and they entertained Thor Heyerdahl's archeological expedition. Wittmer still resides on the island she settled.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
In 1932, Margaret Wittmer leaves Germany with her husband and step-son and travels to Floreana, a small, almost unpopulated island in the Galapagos chain, where they settle, clear land, and, after five months of living in old pirates' caves, move into the house they finish just in time for Margaret to have a baby. Over time, the Wittmers acquire a number of remarkable neighbors, including convicts, military personnel and a mysterious baroness who aspires to build a hotel for millionaires. They receive visits from people as diverse as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Thor Heyerdahl, who comes to investigate a reported "head" much like the ones on Easter Island, only to find it was carved by Margaret's husband. There are wild bulls and boars, a dog named Lump that serves as a babysitter, a distant war, a daughter who would rather have a machete or a hoe than a doll, years of settled life, and finally grandchildren. At times the entire situation borders on the unbelievable, but Margaret Wittmer provides equal measures of intrigue, fantasy and common sense as she writes in her down-to-earth and often very humorous fashion about her years on Floreana. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Erica Bauermeister

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Moyer Bell; 1st edition (June 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155921001X
• ISBN-13: 978-1559210010
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #68,340 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #6 in	Books > Travel > Latin America > South America > Ecuador & Galapagos Islands
  #7 in	Books > History > Americas > South America > Colombia
  #99 in	Books > Nonfiction > Foreign Language Nonfiction > German

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An amazing story, with a touch of unsolved mystery, January 26, 2003

By	Glen Engel Cox "www.engel-cox.org" (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Jill and I went to the Galapagos Islands in 1996, something we had wanted to do for several years. In preparation, we collected information on the islands by previous travelers, and this is the first of many books we read about these isolated islands in the Pacific, roughly 600 miles west of Equador on the South American mainland.

Wittmer, her husband Heinz, and her stepson Harry originally landed on Floreana in 1932. The only other people on Floreana were two fellow German nationals: Dr. Ritter, a self-avowed vegetarian and nudist who was determined to prove his theory that a human could live double their normal span if they followed his ideas on purity of mind and spirit, and his most devoted disciple, Dora. They initially lived in a natural cave previously used by pirates in the 1800s, then built a successive series of homes. Wittmer gives birth to the first human native of Floreana, they battle wild cattle for possession of their garden, encounter the "Empress of Floreana," ad survive at least three different Equadorian governors, one of which tries to have them evicted. Their visitors include American millionaires on round-the-world cruises, the crew of cargo vessels that kindly stop to deliver and pick up mail in a sort of marine pony express, several scientists and naturalists including the famed explorer Thor Heyerdahl, and presidents of both Equador and the United States.

Wittmer's account is not so much about the islands than it is about herself and her family's struggle to survive on the island. That doesn't mean you don't come away from Floreana with an understanding of the islands--you do, but the point-of-view is that of the settler, rather than what one has come to expect of from the Galapagos (say, Darwin's scientific accounts from Voyage of the Beagle).

I've often said that travel accounts (even of the sedentary nature as this one) resemble science fiction. Both treat a human encounter with the unknown in a factual nature, one being fiction and the other factual. In Floreana, isolated from normal human civilization, Wittmer and her family experience a true alien encounter with our world and its native creatures.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Startling life of 1930's woman in the Galapagos, November 6, 2005

By	A. Woodley "Patroness, Janeites, the Austen list" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I highly recommend reading this book along with John Trehernes book on the Galapagos mystery which covers this period of Floreana's history. Margaret Wittmer and her husband and son were three of the first people to live on the tiny and almost deserted island of Floreana in the Galapagos.

Margaret and her husband settled there in the 1930's - nearby were the very strange couple Dr Ritter and his acolyte and lover Dora. Later another very strange woman settled there (the result being a strange disappearance and death) but these are secondary in some ways to the simple way of life Margaret lived on the island. The constant battles with nature to survive. It must have been astonishing in contrast to have the Millionaires yachts arriving at various intervals.

Some trials were greater than others, during her time Margaret gave birth to a new baby on her own.

This account has been written by Margaret and is highly personal. She is not a professional writer and sometimes the narrative suffers but it is powerful and detailed enough to make this a minor inconvenience. The sheer fascination of someone heading off in the 30's to live the life of a near hermitism on an isolated pacific island is compelling. The complications of politics, people and enormous egos means there is ample material to carry you through.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great pioneer story about life on an isolated island, October 23, 2007

By	R. Martin "boblaura9" (Mauldin, sc United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I just finished reading this book. It was a page turner (if you like books of this sort)! You do not really learn much about the Galapagos, but you do learn a great deal about living life on a remote island. Margret Wittmer and her family left their native land of Germany in 1932 and arrived on the little island of Floreana. And they ended up spending the rest of their lives there! It is a real pioneer story! Life was a struggle at times. But they carved out an amazing but simple life for themselves. At times they were alone on the island, but at other times other people were living on the island as well. You would think that a handful of people on a little island could all get along. Right? Wrong! Some real "characters" lived on the island at times and made life challenging for the Wittmers. So some intrigue and mystery is thrown in there too. Wittmer is an excellent writer and I really enjoyed reading this story of her life. She died in the year 2000 I believe.