She Smiles, I Smile

By Renata Schmidt

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I signed up for a journalism trip to the Galapagos. I suppose it was to see giant tortoises on a daily basis, be able to recognize a finch from any other bird and swim with the famed marine iguanas. 

As part of the team covering the culture of the Galápagos, I knew the subject of our story wouldn’t necessarily be about the hard-hitting research that has drawn scientists from across the globe. Still, I expected that being in an island community, let alone an island world-renowned for its wildlife, that by the halfway point of our trip I would have seen a giant tortoise or perhaps conducted an interview underneath Darwin’s Arch (somewhat difficult given its collapse). 

When I hadn’t, I thought I was doing something wrong.

I watched as my classmates covering marine and terrestrial ecosystems headed off into the blue and green unknown. And then I looked at myself. The dance academy we were filming was five blocks south of our hostel. Our first interview was a ten minutes walk from our hostel. I was scared that I had flown across the continent and the Pacific Ocean to tread the same sidewalks for 10 days. I was terrified that I was not living up to my potential, the story’s potential, or the potential of the trip. I was consumed by what I thought this trip was supposed to look like. 

Comparison really is the thief of joy, because at that moment I could only focus on how everybody else’s projects were spectacular, instead of seeing the incredible opportunity unfolding in front of me. 

The day after my existential crisis, my video partner Alex Berenfeld and I went out in search of women to film video portraits. I haven’t spoken Spanish since the eighth grade, but while struggling to pull out a few phrases to explain our project I think I was able to develop trust amongst these random women by making plenty of mistakes, laughing at my mistakes, and ensuring they knew that Alex and I were honored they had taken their time to speak with us. 

Alex and I were hoping to film two women before lunch, but the first woman we spoke to was so open, that we were bold enough to approach another, then another. A woman introduced us to her daughter, a friend flagged another customer down, an elderly woman outside a shop led us back to her house where we, through very broken Spanish, discovered she had been on the Galápagos Islands for 86 years. 

In those moments, I began to realize that while I may not be documenting the story of Darwin’s finches, I was documenting something more intangible, more inaccessible to the public, and something much more important, at least to me. We were documenting the human experience, which, regardless of where you may be, is universal. We laugh, we learn, we struggle, we get embarrassed, we make mistakes, and we experience joy. 

The pinnacle of this realization for me came through my relationship with the director of the Academia de Danza Arabesque Galápagos. Johanna is a mother, a teacher, a municipal worker, and a woman’s rights and empowerment advocate. “Dance opens many doors for women, so that women can feel strong, powerful,” she told us.

The first time Alex and I met Johanna, even before she got off of her scooter, Johanna had a smile on her face that made me feel like she wanted us to be there, which can sometimes be a challenge for journalists. She gave us each a big hug, a quick kiss on the cheek, and ushered us into the studio. 

Throughout the next week, Johanna allowed us to come film in her studio, in her day job, and even in her home. Johanna is passionate about such an important and sensitive topic, domestic and gendered violence, and her willingness to open up to us about her story compelled me to share my passion for the subject as well. It is hard to put into words how it feels to have a deep connection with someone you cannot speak to in your own language, but I think that speaks to the power there is in laughs, understanding smiles, and all of the other things that make us human and transcend language barriers.

For someone to open up their home and their lives to us is an enormous honor, but for them to trust us to tell their story is even more incredible. The Galápagos has so much to offer, and I still would recommend spending as much time as you can listening to sea lions, but my relationship with Johanna is the most valuable thing I am taking from this place.

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