History of Tinalandia Nature Reserve
In the 1930's, Tina Tarnopol Frankfurter married a Russian, Vladimiro Platonoff Grekoff, and the two moved to Paris. There Vladimiro befriended the French ambassador to Ecuador, Angel Isaac Chiriboga, and in 1935 the couple received a gift from the then President of Ecuador, Frederico Paez: 2,000 acres of land in his country. "If you can find it, you can have it!" he told them. In Ecuador, they took a train to the region and, after walking for four days, found near Santo Domingo the president's gift, nestled at the edge of the jungle near Santo Domingo, in land inhabited by the Colorado Indians.
So remote and isolated was the place that until 1942 the only way to reach it was by horseback - a journey of 3 days from Quito! Tina eventually remarried with an Ecuadorian, Don Alfredo Garzon, and their jungle plantation became devoted to the growing of sugar cane and coffee beans - it was then that the name Tinalandia was coined. Further details about the life of Tina are scarce - she preferred to live in the present rather than in the past, and to enjoy her true passion: birds.
Tina passed away in 1996, and today Tinalandia is run by her sons, whose spirits are alive with creativity and joy. While fond of the preserve's golf course, they are truly driven by their love of horses, rafting, change, and yes, like their mother before them, the birds! They both possess a great knowledge of indigenous plants and bird species, and they also remember the people who once inhabited the area - says one son, "If I were to rename Tinalandia, it would be called by the name of the past people who owned the land, the Colorados."
(See also Paul Greenfield's account of his early visits to Tinalandia.)
Hacienda Tinalandia:
tele/fax: (593-2) 2449-028
cells: 099467741 / 099494727
Urbanizacion El Bosque 2da. Etapa Av. del Parque
Calle 3era. Lote 98 #43-78
Quito, Ecuador