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!