Freedom

I skyped with my mom today and she teared up when she saw me! It's been almost 5 months since I have seen her face-to-face and three weeks since she has even heard my voice. I am feeling extremely blessed to be surrounded by so much love even though I am half a world away from my loved ones. My friends and family have dosed me with ample amounts of love and support that I can carry it in my pocket every where I go.

When I left for Indonesia I wanted to get away and get comfortable with the company of myself again. I've never been one who enjoys alone time. I fill my days with work, outdoors, friends, and relationships that I rarely give myself any time. On the 24 hour trip over here I was sad. I looked at my journal from the first day and I seemed to be frightened, alone, and confused. I questioned my independence and actually thought I may not be in the right head space to travel alone. However, I embraced the decision to tackle this solo mission and it has exceeded all expectations! Here I am three weeks later, knee deep in a new culture and soaking up the differences in lifestyles. I am in awe of the beauty and I listen to the sounds of my surroundings instead of the monkey chatter in my head. I have scuba dived with sharks, turtles, and manta rays. I climbed the highest volcano. I was 10 feet away from the magnificent Komodo dragons. I boated across part of Indonesia sleeping on the boat deck with 13 other people. When I walk around I stop and talk to strangers (even though I was taught not to do that). I have seen a palm reader and a healer. I met an influential yoga teacher who introduced me to aerial silks. I have explored in rice fields, made many new friends from all over the world, and most importantly I have fallen in love with myself all over again.

My mom asked me what my favorite part of the journey has been... not the most beautiful place, or the most memorable beach... the overall journey. I told her it was the freedom. I have never felt more comfortable in my own skin in my entire life. I have to admit I really haven't been alone much. I have made lovely friends along the way, but I have had many quiet moments to myself at night and early in the morning to reflect and think about "things," for lack of better words. We live in a country where we are free. Each and every one of us take this for granted. We can make our own choices, express ourselves in the way we dress, vote, travel, and choose any religion to practice. It hasn't always been that way. We have so much dang freedom yet many of us feel trapped. I heard this the other day and it truly resonated with me... the ship is safe in the harbor, but that's not what ships are made for. I feel free. I am free.

Ubud

5/20
Ubud is magical. I knew I would love it here! I found a gem of a hotel in the middle of the green rice fields just on the outskirts of Ubud. It's called Green Lagoon on Bisma street. I met up with Tammi right away at Nick's Pension for some pizza and banana smoothies! Couldn't even be bothered to shower, even though it has been 5 days! I was enjoying my balcony over looking the pool and rice paddies, and free breakfast, free wifi, open air bathroom with stones of the ground, dragon flies circling the rice fields, the breeze, birds, frogs... everything. You know when you walk into a place and you feel blissed out, smiling at everyone, light on your feet...like all your problems float away and you can be fully present? That's Ubud.

Kimodo boat trip

5/16
I am on a 4 day boat trip across Indonesia with 13 other people and 4 boat crew. It took a while to get across Lombok, pick up the live chickens, have lunch, and get the boat going but we are here and our group is hilarious! I already had to take a sea sick pill... and combined with one beer I was pretty loopy. I remember talking to someone all about the reproductive system in bees... wonder how that started. Science! We are all sleeping on the deck of the boat but tonight the air is super still and hot and everyone is snoring except me. I'm sweating! I guess I'll jump in the ocean first thing in the morning since that's the only shower I'll have for the next 4 days! :)

5/17
We stopped at Moyo Island today to hike to the waterfalls and have a "bath" in anaconda territory. We also snorkeled and pretty much got to know everyone on the boat. The people on the boat could definitely make or break the trip and we all lucked out! The bathroom here is just a hole in the deck that drops down into the water. I have gotten quite comfortable being dirty and salty that I actually went into this restroom barefoot! Rocking boat + trying to pee in a hole = slippery floor. I have reached a whole new level of gross!

5/18
Why is that my brain turns on at 3am and starts thinking of new inventions or business plans? Why, brain... why? At least everyone else wakes up early around here too. But early is 6am... not 3! Today we snorkeled at a few more reefs. Two Indonesian girls on the boat are Muslim and wear the hijabs (headscarf) day and night obviously. They wore them to the waterfalls and even went snorkeling in them! They even snorkeled in long pants. This trip must have be a challenge to the dress code, especially since the only place to change is the 4' x 4' bathroom. After lunch today we embarked on the famous Komodo Island to see the dragons. We only saw 5 or 6 at this destination... but it was here that I found out that Komodo dragons can smell blood 3 miles away and they get aggressive when women are on their period. I almost cried... I was terrified! Needless to say... they wanted to eat me! I wish I would have known this before I jumped into the lions den! Komodo dragons on this island have taken the lives of 8 humans! Their saliva has lethal bacteria in it so their bite will kill you about a week or two later if you aren't treated. On a lighter note, the sunset was gorgeous and the flying foxes (looked like giant bats) came out just as the sun was setting and we were listening to Jose Gonzales... that was lovely moment.

5/19
Oh yay we get to see more Komodo dragons today! This time the park rangers gave me my very own personal ranger to protect me! I'm glad I got to see this rare beast but glad I'm off the island! We stopped at red sand beach for a snorkel and didn't want to leave. Trip is over... tonight the whole crew got together for our last dinner. I'm going to miss these guys and all the laughter!

Senggigi

5/15
Relaxation day was a total success here in Senggigi today! I had breakfast at my hotel, walked next door over to Beach House where they have a koi pond in the middle of the restaurant. My favorite seat in the house is a bungalow looking open air platform that overlooks the beach with loads of pillows to rest on. I pretty much camped out there all day. I got a massage an a mani/pedi right next to the ocean... I read, emailed, and drank banana lassies. Lovely!

Gunung Rinjani on Lombok

I just finished a 2 night/3 day "trek" up Mt. Rinjani. I would have called it a climb or something that sounds a little more strenuous than trek. This was no walk in the park, but the view into the volcano, lounging in the hot springs river, and the reward of making it to the summit for sunrise was a memorable experience!

5/12 Day one was about a 7 hour sweaty hike through the jungle finishing literally in clouds. Our crew consisted of 7 hikers, 1 54yr old guide who has climbed Rinjani over 1000 times, and 3 porters who each carried a 90 pound bamboo stick with two large baskets on either end full of food, water, and camping gear. They carried it on their shoulder and only wore flip flops or went barefoot! I was blown away at their strength! I did the math and figured out that they are only paid $2 per day! We each paid roughly $150 and they make $6 of that? Someone is padding their pocket here and that's not fair! However being a porter is one of the only jobs in the area so that's the only option. I told them they should form a union and refuse to work until they raise the wages... they didn't understand what I was saying, they just smile and nod :) At one point during the trek I had to pee so I got off the beaten path a bit and had stage fright... my shy bladder told me that someone was looking at me and sure enough a monkey jumps down off a tree and lands 5 feet from me! I think he smelled the banana in my backpack. I screamed and pulled up my pants mid-pee. Lesson learned... next time I'll stick to the path! We hiked about 8,000 vertical feet that day and camped just below the rim of the volcano. It was a loooooong night of tossing and turning, shivering, listening to wild dogs howl and yelp, and having to pee but not wanting to get out of my sleeping bag. The moment I saw a change of color in the sky, I popped up ready to start day two.

5/13 Day two we hiked up to the rim where we could look into the crater and see the lake and the new small volcano (inside the crater) that formed recently. We hiked all the way down to the lake, fished, and lounged in the hot springs and cold waterfalls for a few hours. Hiking out of the crater up to base camp below the summit was BRUTAL!!!! I think it was the toughest 2 hours of the trip!

5/14 Day three started at 2:30 am with a wake up call and warm cup of tea. We were the last group to leave base camp and the first ones to reach the top! We made it up there right at 6am as the sun started to create a vibrant rainbow at the horizon while the stars were still out in the black sky. We watched the sun rise in its entirety and I almost shed a tear. The next 6 hours was a downhill knee beating race to get to the bus where we all passed out until we made it to Senggigi... where my first shower waited for me!

Gili Trawangan

5/11
I met 5 great people two days ago on the boat ride from Lembongan to Gili Trawangan! Martin from England, Tina and Lewis from Belgium, Clem from France, and Ayla from Canada. I am actually sharing accommodation with the two girls so it's nice to have girl time and not be riding solo any more :) The first night we had dinner then went to a party at Blue Marlin. That was the most intense techno/house/trance music I have ever heard! I'm not European, so I didn't even know how to dance to that!

The next morning we rolled out after "room service" breakfast and went straight to the ocean to snorkel with the turtles. We also rented bikes and biked around the entire island with Martin. Despite the many sand traps we made it to this funky renegade bar on the south side of the island where the locals were listening to music and spinning poi. So we had a beer, and a poi, and a dip in the ocean... why not? All six of us ate local food at the square and finished the night with more Bintang and conversations about the world's problems. After solving a few of them we hit the hay.

This morning Ayla and I dove at Manta Point and got to see a shark and many more turtles! I wasn't scared until homeboy came directly for me!!! I may have let out a squeal and awkwardly swam backwards until my dive master grabbed me and told me to be still! Ah! After the dive we snacked on the beach, shopped, laid on the beach (I was the whitest one out there!), swam, got a pretty terrible massage, and I sorted out my travel plans for the next 9 days! The Scoot crew had dinner together again at a posh pizza place and then said our goodbyes. Its going to be weird to be back on my own again... except Martin is coming with me so I guess I'm not really on my own! So long Gili T!

Nusa Lembongan

5/7
I just got back from diving at Crystal Bay and Manta Point. Apparently this is the "cleaning station" for the mula mula where they come get nibbled on by the small fish for their daily bath and return down to the deep blue. They are 6-8 feet!!! We were not graced by their presence, but we saw giant green star fish, octopus, nemos, sea snakes, and trumpet fish. It was just myself and a guide, Gereng, accompanied by an Aussie couple and their guide. We convinced the captain to take us to Manta Point to dive with the Manta Rays which was nothing less than magical! THEY WERE HUGE!!!!!! When I say huge I'm talking 6 feet wide, maybe bigger! Anyway, I met a guy named Owen from London this afternoon. He is staying at Nusa Indah as well, and we adventured ourselves on some motorbikes to the other Island (Nusa Ceningan) across the hanging bridge which was missing a few planks. I just drove as fast as I could and didn't look down. We found the blue lagoon, a jumping rock, and secret beach. This is the Bali I was looking for! It's a small and quiet little treasure that most tourist haven't found! Tonight we decided to splurge and have dinner at a beautiful French restaurant with two other people we met. So far so good!!!!

On my way to Bali

Well I'm in Bali now and I am just now blogging about my one month journey that began on May 1st... so I have to catch you up starting on May 2

5/2/11
I'm all sorts of confused and delirious! It's almost 4pm where I left from (San Francisco) and now it's almost 7am the next day here... So basically I never really lived May 1st? I have a layover in Taipei and just saw two guys double handcuffed together carrying duty free bags and being followed by officials. Even prisoners get vacation... and duty free goods! I'm confused. And to make things more interesting, Denpasar isn't listed on the departures so I just picked a spot in a random terminal to park it and luckily there is free internet here! Just my luck I sat next to a Balinese guy on my long flight. I slept most of the flight but I did wake up at 3am to have dinner? (or breakfast?) I met my neighbor, Wayan from a village right outside of Ubud. He has a very calm and kind nature and had not seen his family in 10 months because he has been working on a cruise ship. Apparently that is a popular thing for Balinese to do. I guess Wayan is my first friend that I have met on my trip! If Wayan is any indication of how lovely the Balinese people are going to be... I'm in for a real treat!

5/4
I found a beautiful villa in Seminyak where I have my own pool, kitchen, and very own mosquito net! I have been exploring the city, surfing, doing yoga, shopping, getting oiled up and rubbed down, and drinking banana lassies like I'll never have one again! I can get used to this!

Manny

I have a new addition to my family. His name is Manny... sometimes referred to as Manuel Antonio, Manzanilla, M dog, Mansfield, etc. Back in October I saw Manny with an adopt me sign on his back and it was love at first sight. I fostered him for a few nights because the shelter is closed on Sundays and Mondays and Manny needed a home. Tuesday I cried when I brought him back to the shelter because I didn't think I would be able to keep him. He was an insta-good-dog... no barking, great on/off leash, not scared of people, loves other dogs, and just sweet as sweet can be. After a week of my heart arguing with my brain... my heart won the battle and I adopted Manny officially on November 17.

Triathlon

I went on yet another wild adventure, this time in the USA! It started out in Park City Utah where I completed my first triathlon!!! Not only did I complete it but I placed 7th in my age group! I felt like it was the first day of high school where you don't know where to go, what to expect, how things work, where you are supposed to put your stuff. You don't know anyone around you so you have to instantly make new friends, usually proximity determines your new friends. In this case I was placed next to a girl who HAD done a tri before so I fired away last minute questions and concerns. She was a doll! There were about 800 racers total (relatively small) and I was to start the race in the Jordanelle Reservoir with about 200 women.

No one could have prepared me for the craziness of the open water swim. I was terrible at the swim! I tried to stay out of the way of the masses, but it didn't matter... I was still trampled, kicked, scraped, and constantly being hit. I was contributing to the mess too though since it was cold and I was nervous I couldn't breathe easily. I kept rotating from free style to back stroke to catch my breath. Needless to say when that was over I was relieved. Ter-ri and Prati were on the sidelines cheering me on!

The bike portion was my strength, hands down! I was passing dudes actually! It was a gradual uphill the entire time then BAM it was a major downhill for the last few miles. I rolled into the transition area and there were Ter-ri and Prati taking pictures and video. My legs felt like jello but I could taste the finish. All I could think about was the big adventure Ter-ri and I were about to embark on.

I ran at a steady pace then kicked it up a notch about the last 5 minutes and sprinted the last 100 yards to beat this girl that was just ahead of me. I DID IT and had SOOO much fun! I can't wait to do another one! We stayed in Park City for another night, then Prati went back to Jackson and Ter-ri and I started on our EPIC ROAD TRIP 2009... stay tuned...

Home sweet home

I'm back in Jackson and I haven't written in forever. I guess I'm going to keep this thing up even though I'm not traveling. Living in Jackson feels like a vacation so I'll keep you updated on my "not-so-real world."


Right when I got back to Jackson the weather was funky/rainy for about 10 days. My mom and Virgil happened to plan their trip to Jackson within those 10 ugly days but that didn't stop us from having a BLAST! We still hiked in the Teton National Park, tried multiple different types of margaritas from all my favorite restaurants, shopped the galleries, went white water rafting in the freezing cold rain, and they even hiked up Snow king!!! We laughed the whole time and it was great finally meeting Virgil!


The weather finally took a U-turn and it has been beautiful every day, all day, until 10pm. That's how long is stays light! I get out of work at 3pm and still have 7 hours of daylight! Sometimes I wish summers would last forever.

For those of you who don't know I am training for a triathlon at the end of August, so I have started back at Mountain Athletes (I currently feel like my hamstrings are detached from my femur). I have been swimming, running, and biking on my new road bike like a maniac! The triathlon is in Park City, Utah (one week before Burning Man) soooo Terri and I are starting our road trip to Burning man one week early. After the tri we will head down to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. Since we are way down there, might as well swing by Vegas and then make our way up to Burning man in northwestern Nevada!

One more day

The Galapagos is winding down now... we are on day 10 of 11. Sad. Instead of doing a long boat tour we were able to stay on three of the main islands and do little day trips from the port towns. We just got back from our three night stay on Isla Isabella.

Isabella is absolutely beautiful and it has the only port town with a big beautiful beach (right in town). It is one of the newer islands in the Galapagos (and by newer I mean it is still millions of years old) and has an active volcano called Sierra Negra that last erupted in 2005. The day we arrived it was almost 5:00 and Eduardo picked us up from the pier. We dropped our monster backpacks off at the hotel and took our small backpacks with us. Eduardo was going to be our guide for the following day but first he wanted to show us around town to get oriented. He took us by the lagoon where 6 flamingos flew in and landed right infront of my face in the lagoon!!! He said we are VERY lucky to see that. Most of the flamingos live on the West side of the island, far away from the people. I learned that the reason flamingos are pink is because of their high alpha and beta-carotene diet which consists mostly of crustaceans and mollusks. They are actually born white-ish/gray-ish and the pink color of flamingos vary in different parts of the world. These litte guys where light pink. So that was exciting. We got out of the car so fast to take pictures of the flamingos we forgot about our bags and then the van was GONE! Luckily this is a safe and honest town because we called the driver and he brought our bags to us with everything in them. Passport, all my money and credit cards, small camera, journal, etc. Phew! That night we had dinner with a girl named Melanie from Germany. I have been eating fresh fish every day!

Day two we woke up early, had breakfast, made some sandwiches to-go, and left for our full day volcano and snorkel tour by 8am. We drove close to the top of Sierra Negra and jumped on some horses for an hour and a half. My horse was the mean guy, of course! I would be grouchy too if I had rope in my mouth instead of a real bit. And they dont use horse shoes either. We were in the wetlands so it sprinkled the whole time which made for a slippery and sketchy ride. At the tip top of Sierra Negra we were able to see down into the crater. Supposedly it is the second largest crater in the world. We hiked down across the lava fields to a smaller vocano called Volcan Chico. I felt like I was walking on Mars or maybe Earth 50 million years ago. It was pretty wild! The horseback ride down the slippery, muddy path that we came up was NOT awesome. These horses were slipping and sliding ALL over the place. Meanwhile the horse master comes up from behind and whips them to go faster! It was the most extreme horseback session I have ever experienced. Not to mention that my horse tried to buck me off. Both back legs came off the ground and tapped another girl somewhere in the knee area (while she was ON her horse... her horse bit my horse). That means his legs had to come up 5 feet and I almost went over the handlebars if you know what Im sayin. But I held on. All that mechanical bull experience just paid off! I was so happy to see the stables at the end! I jumped off that horse and never looked back! After the volcano we went snorkeling and saw two large sharks, one eagle ray, one big sea turtle, aaaand hmm oh we held a sea cucumber and it pooped on Prati! That night an retired American guy named Gary joined us for dinner. We also ate with two Italians that were on my diving trip last week, and Melanie from Germany. I dont know what we talked about but it was THE most entertaining dinner we have had on this trip. Gary is a CHARACTER! He is sailing around the world for five years and he only started two months ago. I like his style.

And yesterday we simply relaxed in our hammocks and on the beach ALL day. We played beach golf and had a few beers at sunset. It felt so nice to relax. We have been on the go for over five weeks so we just did absolutely nothing and it was perfect!

Holy Sharks!

We changed islands yesterday from Isla Santa Cruz to Isla Cristobal. This town is a bit smaller but WAY more sea lions hanging out. They greet you on the stairs right when you get off the boat. This morning we saw one sleeping on a park bench! Ahhh! And we saw another sleeping on a doormat. There are a few beaches here in town pretty much sea lion hang out zone. They are so dang cute I can hardly stand it. They remind me of puppies the way they play with each other.

Today we went on a snorkel trip to four different spots around the island and got to play with the pups (fitting name) which are the baby sea lions. One little guy was picking up a piece of coral or rock and tossing it around then doing flips around it, picking it up again (with its mouth) and spitting it out. It looked like a puppy playing with a new toy. I´m pretty sure everyone in our group had never been swimming or snorkeling before, EVER. I have never been kicked and smacked so many times in my life! Or maybe they were just in a hurry to see the wild life and would take out anyone in their path. I didn´t know there was such thing as ¨snorkel etiquette¨ but now I know there is... and these peeps didn´t have it. My favorite spot today was called Leon Dormido (also Kicker Rock) which means Sleeping Lion in english because the locals think the big rock in the middle of the ocean looks like a (whatdoyaknow) sleeping lion. We swam with tons and tons of black tip galapagos reef sharks. They came a little too close for comfort and made me nervous. We also saw more sea turtles. I told the girl next to me that there was a turtle just below her in a calm collected voice and she SHOUTED ¨SEA TURTLE EVERYONE SEA TURTLE OH MY GOD!!!¨ Then everyone raced over kicking each other along the way to see the first of many many sea turtles. Wow. We also got crazy close to some eagle rays. The snorkeling was incredible! We kept our snorkel gear for one more day since there are some great spots close to town that we can hike to tomorrow. I wish I could slow down time, this is one of those places you just want to hit the pause button on the ¨life remote.¨

Diving at Cousins

Diving was everything I hoped it would be AND MORE!!! I hate to say it but the measly old octopus that I saw yesterday (that I was sooo excited about) WAS BLOWN OUT OF THE WATER by todays experience! Our entire boat was speechless today on the way home. It was that good. REALLY!

It took a while to get to our dive site. We drove 45 minutes to get to the other side of the island then took a boat for 1 hour and 45 minutes to Isla San Salvador (aka James Island... all the islands have about three names). Three of the eight divers got sea sick but recovered quickly after the first dive. We did a quick ¨refresher¨ which consisted of jumping in the water, going down to the bottom only 10 meters or so, filling our masks with water and clearing them, taking out the regulator and puting it back in, and swiming up. All in all it took about 5 minutes! Ahhh! Mind you that this was my FIRST DIVE after my open water certification I did last year in Thailand. So I was nervous. Everyone else had over 100 dives. I was the rookie! The dive site was called Cousins. Right off the bat my fin broke. So I switched fins with the dive master and it was really big on me. I almost lost it a few times. That stressed me out a little. Then we was two white tip reef sharks IMMEDIATELY and that took quite a bit of my air. Soon to follow was a school of golden rays and eagles rays (probably 30 all together)! AMAZING. Before I knew it... I WAS OUT OF AIR!!! I must have been breathing like a mad woman because everyone else was only at half tank. Rookie. So I had to share oxygen with the dive master for the remainder of the dive. Never in my life did I think I would actually run out of air and have to use another regulator... especially not on my first dive EVER! I have to admit it was nice because he was able to point out all the wild life. We saw loads of sea turtles, chinese lobsters, starfish bigger than your head, some ugly sea snake, a stone or scorpion fish, a school of baracuda (over 100), two sea horses, sea lions, trumpet fish, fur seals, penguins, sharks, and sting rays. Just to name a few. AND about 50 dolphins followed us in the middle of the ocean playing in the waves so close I could reach out and touch them. Oh yeah and I spotted some blue footed boobies but that was above water. OH MY GOODNESS!!!! What a successful dive! I don´t think it could possibly get any better! Usually they see hammerhead sharks at Cousins, but I was more than satisfied with our sightings. WOW! Cousins was sooo good today that instead of diving at a different spot for our second dive we went back for more! I might have to go again at a different island! I wish Prati was able to see all of this with me. He did snorkel in Tortuga Bay and saw an eagle ray. We was excited about it! I thought that was cute.

Galapagos

The Galapagos is soooo incredible! We rented snorkel stuff today and went to a few different spots. Guess what I saw... an OCTOPUS! That was my first time seeing such a creature. It was only two feet away from me. The first snorkel spot we took a water taxi then hiked to was called Las Grietas which was just a large water filled crevice in the rocks... half salt water half fresh water. Great hike, very cool spot, but not alot going on below the surface. Then we walked down to the Darwin Center to see Lonesome George, the 90 year old huge land turtle. On the way back we stumbled upon a cool tiny white sand beach covered in black volcanic rock where all the black iguanas were laying out. That was where the octopus sighting was! The current was whipping so we left to go chill by the green lagoon just down the street. (We are on our way there right now) But Prati had to check on the Manchester United game so we stopped by the computers. Oh! And I signed up for an all day scuba diving session tomorrow. I will be going up north to another island called Isla San Salvador. I read that San Salvador is the island that Darwin spent a majority of his time in the Galapogos on. The first (of two) scuba destination is called Cousins. I won't even tell you all the marine life the dive master said I will see tomorrow. I will save that for the next entry. I'm soooo nervous, yet excited. Prati isn't certified so I'm venturing off into the sea all by myself! Til' next time...

Dream come true

Ready or not Galapagos... here I am! I am here! I am really really here! Coming to the Galapagos has been a life long dream of mine and I made it! You can not wipe the smile off my face right now. I could be robbed right and would still be smiling because I am here.

After a not so long debate about how long we want to spend in the Galapagos we decided to spend pretty much the rest of our time in South America IN the Galapagos. I am a little bummed that I wont be able to visit the jungle in Ecuador or some really cool beach we heard about called Canoa, but WE HAVE ELEVEN DAYS IN THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS! Aaaahhh! I cant believe it that seems like eternity! I guess I will have to come back to Ecuador another time.

We flew into Baltra from Guayaquil this morning. Took a bus to the ferry dock, took a quick ferry ride, took a longer bus into Puerto Ayora and that is where we are now. Its a little more pricey here than we are used to but its okay. We walked about 45 minutes to Tortuga Bay and swam around at Tortuga beach. It is a sea turtle nesting beach! If I was a sea turtle I would nest here too! The birds are rediculously friendly, you could probably pick them up if you wanted to. They dont have any predators here so I guess they arent afraid of humans. We didnt bring snorkel gear with us but some snorkelers said they saw some yellowish sting rays that seem to be popular around here and they saw a shark! A safe one. Along with lots of other fish and fun stuff to look at. We are probably going to go back there in the morning (with snorkel gear) since its a great place to jog to. Not to mention there were huge pelicans flying all around us and OH YEAH we saw about a dozen BLACK iguanas. Prati thought they were dead because they were not moving when we walked right by them and not to mention they looked like they were burned in a fire. But those are the land lizards we keep hearing about. The sand at this beach did not feel like sand. It was more like walking through flour or powdered sugar. I have never felt sand like this in my life! We are about go eat some chocolate cake at a place called Chocolate Galapagos (how original) but it is calling my name. I can hear it... gotta run!

Horseback ride to Los Pilares

Mancora has stolen a little piece of my heart. We have been here three nights and four days and it doesn´t feel like it´s enough. Last night we switched hotels since we were in the heart of party land... come to find out you can´t escape party land. They blast music until 6am (sometimes right on through the next day) and all the hotels are made with nothing more than bamboo walls. I became one with the techno music (all night). Last night was open mic night near Laguna Camp. At one point I woke up under the mosquito net at 3am to a mosquito buzzing in my ear and Prati reading with his headlamp on (once again... at 3am). He said ¨this band is pretty good, I feel like I´m front row.¨ Couldn´t sleep but I still love this place. I am closer to the equator than I have ever been which means I am closer to the sun which means more sunscreen for Peyton! I must have applied 13 times yesterday (at least) and still got too much sun.

This is what we did...
Yesterday we went with a guide (Ursula) into the Dry Forest with two other Danish couples. The ride out there alone in the back of an old pickup sitting on pillows was worth the $50! We crossed rivers went over bumps and small jumps... it was enough to give Evil Knievil a rush. I have decided (and this is a broad generality, but true to the past 6 countries I have visited) people drive like maniacs in foreign countries! Especially taxi drivers. You know it´s bad when you see old ladies get into taxis and do the shoulder should forehead chest Catholic cross. Now I don´t blame them... I was doing the same thing yesterday in the back of the old pick up sitting on a pillow and holding on to the cooler. When we arrived to the village where the horseback riding began I was already windblown and battered. Ha! All the boys of the group got small mules that looked about 10 years old and the girls got stunning young large stallions. I thought that was sooooo funny. It looked like a parent trying to ride their childs tricycle! (I´m laughing right now just picturing all the boys!!!) It was Prati´s first time on horseback so they gave him the nicest and mellowest (aka oldest) ¨horse.¨ Oh that´s funny!
Anyway, we rode horseback for about an hour in the ¨dry forest.¨ I had never heard of such a thing before but it´s quite beautiful.


Side note... Prati and I like to play the ¨where in the world are we¨ game where you close your eyes (try to forget where you are at the moment) and open your eyes and guess what part of the world you are in. I thought I was in Africa. Except it wasn´t flat like I picture Africa´s landscape. But the trees had Africa writen all over them! You know what I´m talking about... the ¨umbrella¨ trees is what I call them. The tops are flat almost like a bonsai tree... but large. I love those trees. Throw in some large white crane-looking birds and you would think you were in Africa too.

We rode to an oasis. Really! The spot we hung out at for a few hours had a waterfall and two cliff jumping spots. The water was clear and the fish nibbled on your toes. Ursula made us a fresh vegetarian lunch. Priceless. We waited for some clouds to roll in and the breeze to pick up so the ride back wouldn´t be so hot. The horses get so excited to go home they all gallop... EVEN PRATI´S old mule! Back in the pickup... we rode out to the Los Pilares mud bath where we covered our bodies in some hot mud. It wasn´t anything more than a brown bubbly hole in the ground but my skin feels amazing! We took pictures with painted mustaches and unibrows. After the tour ended we showered up and went all out at El Tuno for dinner. When in Rome! (or Peru) Prati ordered a delicous almond encrusted tuna and my TNT chocolate dessert was unforgettable. Three glasses of wine later, we called it a night. But not for long... thank you open mic night!

Trujillo

Yesterday we took a collectivo into Trujillo so we could book our overnight bus to Mancora. After that was finished we had ALL DAY TO BURN! I´m talking ALL day! We were in Trujillo with our new friend Jason around 11am and our bus didn´t leave until midnight (actually left close to 2am but anyway). Sooo we walked around Trujillo for a while, grabbed some food and coffee, and decided to got out to the Chan Chan ruins which was the largest adobe colony in the world (800 year old adobe). I don´t really know the story about Chan Chan we probably should have paid the $5 for a guide and learned a little somethin´. That´s what google is for eh? After Chan Chan we said goodbye to Jason and got a taxi to A MALL!!! Wwooooo hooo! A true out door mall with real stuff in it. I didn´t buy anything but it was exciting to just be there. Prati REALLY wanted KFC so we decided we would have an "America" day. We went to the movies too, saw Angels and Demons. Then had Papa Johns pizza for dinner. That was our America day. After all that junk food (popcorn and candy at the movies too) Prati was sweating while we were playing cards. I think the American food caught up to him at papa johns!

Mancora... getting close to Ecuador

Yay! A beach with some sun! The freckles are officially OUT! (don´t worry I´m wearing sunscreen) The last beach town was fooooggy, but this one has plenty of sun to go around. So much that Prati sunburned his legs. We are now in Mancora and only a few hours away from the Ecuador border. This reminds me of what Costa Rica was many many years ago. There are some great waves here for beginner surfers. We might try that out tomorrow. Today we found our own quiet place on the beach... tossed around a tennis ball for hours, chased sand crabs (that is quite possibly one of my favorite passtimes), and played in the waves. Another great day. We are staying at a hotel right on the ocean. We had to trade in our room with huge sliding glass doors that overlooked the ocean for a crummy room with no view because the cool room didn´t lock. Safety first! Mom would be so proud. After hearing about an armed robbery that happened last night on the beach I personally don´t want to take any risks. Could be rumors, buuut....?

We are about to go find a restaurant with ceviche which will not be difficult to find. Ceviche is everywhere and we have been holding out until we were actually on the ocean so it will be fresh. There is a rediculous amount of fun stuff to do here. Horseback riding on the beach, surfing, mud baths not far from here, some hiking to a dry forest, and waterfalls. I´ll let you know what we can fit into these three days. I have to run, this mosquito bite on my foot is driving me crazy! Ciao!

One night in Huanchaco beach

I finally made it to the beach! We are in a small fishing/surf town outside of Trujillo. It´s a sleepy town which is exactly what I needed after the stomach issues. Our overnight bus was incredible. We splurged since I was feeling ill and Prat has a pinched nerve in his neck, we took the first class Cruz del Sur bus with huge leather seats that lean way back. It was niiiice! We met a guy named Jason (36 year old elementary teacher) who we shared a taxi from Trujillo to Huanchaco. He is staying at our hotel also and has been traveling for a year.

I took a 3 hour nap listening to the waves crashing right outside our hotel. After the siesta we walked WAAAY down the beach and back. It is foggy/misty/moist feeling but when you look down the beach and can´t see where it will take you it´s kinda spooky but misterious in a whimsical way. It reminds me of a Danielel Steel book cover. I took a picture of a fisherman in his undies where it´s all misty around and you can´t really see where the beach ends and the sky begins... great photo! We walked for hours. The fog finally burned off close to sunset time and the sun peeked through for about an hour just in time to light the sky on fire. It was perfect! Couples dotted the beach and lined the sea walls for as far as you could see.

So today we are going to Trujillo to try and jump on a bus to Mancora. Mancora is supposed to be a gorgeous sunny beach year round. It´s close to the Ecuador border. Today is the half way mark of the trip! It´s true... time flies when you´re having fun.