1983 was an extremely wet El Niño year, and two years later Galápagos experienced one of the worst droughts in memory. But Snefrid (82) and Karin (77) on “Pampa Mia” hold their own for they know that the pendulum will soon swing back to normal.
"Pampa Mia is a little concrete house covered with metal roofing sheets. It is divided into a living room, two bedrooms and a kitchen. Around the house hibiscus and bougainvillea are protected from the chickens and cattle by means of a wire fence....in the Spring of 1985 ... the grass on the pampas was withered and brown. Only hardy guava bushes with their green leaves interrupted the monotonous brown. Snefrid did not know how many head of cattle were still alive. They were scattered over a wide area looking for food and water, making accurate counting impossible. Almost every day they found animals that had recently perished. Maybe 800-900 remained. The previous year they had 1600 animals."
