Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn
LANDED Podcast 025
Sustainability & Social Change with Reyna Oleas and Roberto Plaza
In this episode of the LANDED podcast, we talk with our Galapagos friends and Ecuadorian power couple Reyna Oleas and Roberto Plaza who devoted their talents to the Galapagos sustainability and conservation. Located in Santa Cruz’s highlands, Montemar’s private villas is a holistic project in the Galapagos, combining luxury tourism, organic farming, and species conservation. Under Reyna and Roberto’s guidance, the Montemar project has grown well beyond their property and has become a center for the community and science.
Reyna and Roberto tell us how the project was born, Montemar’s development and what it has meant for them as a family, as well as the crucial part they played for the community during the pandemic. When frontiers were closed and there was no money coming in from tourism, islanders were struggling to prepare a bowl of soup for their families. Working with other special people from the Galapagos and the goodwill from so many, Reyna and Roberto talk about the strength of an ‘illuminated community’ and the work of love from everyone involved.
This episode is more than just a Villa pitch; it’s a walk through a community’s struggle and how Reyna and Roberto’s efforts, helped ‘activate’ so many others to create real change within the Galapagos. As we learn their journey, we find ourselves admiring the courage and commitment if the local community who played a big part in keeping the pristine form of the Galapagos Islands.
Whether you have visited the Galapagos or there is a trip on your radar this episode will bring greatest appreciation to the area’s engagement and responsibility towards the residents and their surrounding nature. Reyna and Roberto’s in an inspiring story that will hopefully encourage us all to think about the common well-being and how we can help those in need.
“We did it by heart because it’s what we love. We identified what we wanted to do as a family life project. And I believe that all these components were born from what we believe in and not because there is a market for. It’s the path want to walk as a family because we believe in it.”
El Cielo Restaurant
Website: https://montemar.ec/
Instagram: @villasmontemargalapagos
