[Editor's note: I've received a postcard thru the Galapagos "postal system", it works!]
Republished from The Washington Post.
By Andrea Sachs. January 31, 2010
Floreana Island’s postal service hasn’t evolved from its origins hundreds of years ago. But unlike Darwin’s finches, it doesn’t need to adapt to survive.
Instead of stamps and postmen, the Galapagos isle relies on a barrel and the kindness of travelers to move its mail. Twice a day including Sunday, boatloads of unofficial mail carriers land in Post Office Bay and walk a few sandy yards to a wooden barrel crammed with postcards and notes left by past visitors. The guests, mainly cruisers eco-touring the Ecuadorian islands, sort through the stacks, looking for addresses within delivery distance of their homes. They also drop their own messages into the receptacle, adding another link to the chain of mail.
“Sometimes it’s faster than the regular mail,” said our guide, Carlos, as he yanked dozens of letters from a plastic bag. “You come one day and drop it off two days later.”