The world is a small place, and there’s one tradition in the Galapagos Islands that seeks to show visitors exactly that. In Post Office Bay on Floreana Island, one of the 18 islands that make up the Galapagos archipelago off the coast of mainland Ecuador, there is a barrel just inland from a beach where visitors can leave postcards for friends and family for hand delivery. The barrel is open, and when you arrive, tradition dating back to the 18th century says that you should look through the cards within, take any that are destined for near where you live, or near somewhere you’ll be visiting, and hand-deliver them.

Floreana was one of the islands we visited in July 2011, so we had written and addressed a few postcards to family, and once we landed on the island, we placed them in the barrel, hoping for the best. I had read a short story once by an American woman who took one of these postcards from the barrel addressed to someone near Venice, Italy, because she was going to be  there later that year. She recounted her experience venturing to a small town outside of Venice just to deliver the postcard. She tracked the addressee down, who turned out to be a friendly little Italian nonna. The postcard deliverer was instantly welcomed like an old friend, invited for a home-cooked meal with the whole family, and ended up spending the rest of her vacation with her newfound Italian friends as they showed her around their region and fed her delicious foods. I pictured an American East Coaster, on vacation in the Galapagos, landing on Floreana Island and taking one of our postcards. He or she would knock on grandma and grandpa’s door in Manhattan, be invited in for coffee, and become Grandma Myra’s instant new best friend. They’d talk for hours and find out that they had much in common; perhaps it would turn out their lives had crossed paths before. I wanted our postcards to bring people together, to create a memorable story, and to be a happy reminder for us and those who happened to take them home that day in Post Office Bay.

Over a year went by, and much like the stamped postcards that we had mailed home from ‘real’ post offices, I had given up hope of them ever arriving to their destinations. Then, in December, we got an email from Nick’s dad, Dan: Arrived today via USPS. Postcard is dated 7/28/2011.  It arrived in an envelope postmarked 12/4/12 from San Francisco.  Not delivered by hand as hoped for, but it did arrive.  A pleasant reminder for all of us. 

Our postcard never  set off some magical series of events resulting in cultural exchange or lifelong friendship, but sometimes, it’s just nice to get a handwritten piece of  mail from loved ones who were thinking of you far away and long ago, isn’t it? A few of our Galapagos postcards are still out there, sitting in an old barrel 600 miles off the west coast of South America, or perhaps being carried around in someone’s purse, just waiting to be delivered to a warm household with a kettle of tea ready on the stove.