When was the last time you made friends with a complete stranger?

Not a person you met through mutual friends.

And honestly, I don't even think online dating counts.

Because in that case, at least you know a little bit about the person, what they look like,

some movie quote that represents their personality.

But in this case, I'm talking about a complete stranger.

A person who you would not have met in any other way, except for this instance of strange,

ineffable chance.

Something you could call maybe fate.

Well, there's one place in the world that orchestrates meetings like this on a regular basis.

To get there, you're going to have to travel 500 nautical miles from the nearest landmass.

Because it's way out on an island.

And it's not the kind of place you might expect to make a new friend. It's a post office.

I'm Dylan Thuris, and this is Atlas of Skira, a celebration of the world's strange,

incredible, and wondrous places. And today, we're taking you to post office bay on the Galapagos Islands.

It's a post office where stamps me nothing, because this post office is run completely

on luck and the goodwill of the people who happen to visit.

More after this.

You never get to be in a place where I guess they don't see that many humans.

By they, I mean like animals.

This is Carissa Chen.

She's a writer based in Taipei, Taiwan, and she's worked with Atlas Obscira before.

...