I wish I packed a super soaker...

In Ecuador, the people celebrate Carnival by throwing water balloons and buckets of water at each other. And although Carnival isn´t technically until February 3rd, most people think that starting right after New Years is a good idea. Thus far, I have been hit with five water balloons, and aimed at countless times. It is a war zone here in Cuenca, and as a gringa, I am a worthy target. I have to be on constant lookout, because the balloons can come from anywhere. People stand on rooftops and balconies and pelt passerbys, or children hide behind doorways, or teens ride around in cars, chucking them out windows. Let me tell you how wonderful it is to get hit in the face or the stomach by a balloon thrown from a car going 50 km. I have bruises. Also, it´s less than ideal to arrive at work to teach 15 teenagers, shirt soaked and clingy (even worse if you got hit in the nether-regions...). I´ve heard horror stories of getting hit in the back of the head with a frozen water balloon, or pelted by 15 balloons at once.

Apparently it´s only going to get worse.

Braving Baños

There is a volcano in Ecuador that is threatening to erupt any day now. Most of the neighboring villages have been evacuated, and the others are on high alert. So what does a group of adventure-seeking gringos do? They get on the first bus headed for Baños, one of the villages closest to the volcano that has not been evacuated, for a front row seat.

There is much to do in Baños. From river rafting to horse back riding to canyoning to sitting in the thermal baths, there`s something for everyone. We arrived at 7am, after taking a night bus from Cuenca, ready to pack in all there was to do. But first, we slept.

The first day, Kristi and Bryann took off on ATVs to discover the countryside, while Vince and I decided to spend a few hours in the thermal baths, before heading up to check out the zoo. It was pretty relaxing, although a dirty affair, since ash spewing from the active volcano seemed to cover everything, including us. The zoo was all animals from Ecuador, like the leopard, the capybara (world`s largest rodent, or ROUS, if you want to go that route!), the Galapagos Turtle, and many many birds. My favorite were the parrots who said, "Hola, Como estas?" and then proceded to laugh in a freakily accurate immitation of a woman. It was bizarre. Unfortunately (FORTUNATELY) the serpent zoo was closed.

The next day, we rented bikes and biked 16 km to Rio Verde, where we made many stops along the way. First, we watched Kristi and Bryann jump off a bridge, bungee-style, then we took a rickety cable car to a waterfall. We rode through tunnels and along cliffs, until finally we got off to hike down to this amazing waterfall, where there was a outdoor restaurant, overlooking the vista. To get there, we had to cross a suspension bridge, which warned that there could be no more than five people on the bridge at once. Not very reassuring! As we were exhausted by this time (there may have been tiny hangovers involved from the previous night...), we chucked our bikes in the back of a truck and got a ride back to Baños, just in time for a dip in the baths, a meal, and an excursion to see the volcano up close. Unfortunately, it was raining and overcast, so there wasn`t much to see, and it was freezing, but the four of us were crammed in with a busload of Ecuadorians who were chanting "Canelazo!" (an Ecuadorian alcoholic drink), and singing their heads off to the spanish pop music that is incessently playing everywhere you go. Although it was raining, and we couldn`t see the volcano, it was a pretty decent night.

On Sunday, we decided to go canyoning, which is basically harnessing yourself up and rapelling down waterfalls. We climbed down three waterfalls, wearing wetsuits and helmets. The first two were good practise for the motherload. Basically we climbed down about ten feet, and then hung in our harnesses, zipping down at our leisure for the last 50 feet, under the waterfall. It was amazing and terrifying.

If that wasn`t enough, when we got back, we decided it would be a good idea to go back to the bungee bridge and all try jumping off it. It was the freakiest sensation, as you`re standing up on that bridge, looking death in the face and saying, yup, I`m gonna jump. Against everything my brain and body are telling me, I`m going to jump. And although it took me a few times to work up the nerve, I did it. And it was horrible and amazing and scary and awesome. There`s an instant between when you jump and when the rope tightens when you are freefalling basically towards your death, and all sorts of thoughts go through your mind. The biggest one for me was, "What the hell did you just do?!" Anyhow, once we all did it, apparently we got a free jump, or a doubles jump off the smaller bridge (yeah, why did I do the bigger bridge first? I dunno, I`m an idiot?!), so Vince and I braved it a second time and jumped off together, which wasn`t nearly as bad as the first one. We conquered our fears and now can laugh about it. Holy cow.

PS -- The volcano didn`t blow it`s top by the time we left on Sunday evening. I`m not sure if I`m disappointed or relieved.

Feliz Año!!

I came back from Vilcabamba just in time for New Years. The bus ride from Loja to Cuenca was slowed down by many obstructions in the road, in the form of small children in various costumes (the Grim Reaper, Spiderman, army men, skeletons, etc) barricading the road with ropes and bricks and themselves. I didn`t quite understand until we got closer to Cuenca, and lined up on the side of the highway were dummy after dummy, stuffed with newspaper and fireworks, ready to be blown sky high in the name of good fun. It seems that in Ecuador, children dress up in costumes and blow things up.

I got together with my roommate, her boyfriend and a few other teachers, and we walked around Cuenca to see what was going on. Nearly every house had a dummy outside their door, and a lot of neighborhoods and community associations put their resources together to construct elaborate scenes depicting various messages (mostly political). Ten foot high replicas of the president, George Bush, sharks, green men, cars, among other things were on the explosive agenda. There were firecrackers and sparklers for sale, and your mission was to find the greatest scene and place yourself there to watch it`s demise at midnight. At around ten minutes to twelve, all the neighborhood children rushed these sculptures and demolished them, dragging down the dummies, and kicking the hell outta them. Then the adults joined in, getting out all their frustrations from the past year. At midnight, the city went up in flames as each pile was ignited in a huge fireball. I nearly lost my eyebrows, and it looked like a war zone. Except everyone was cheering and kissing each other (I managed to escape, although most of my friends were not so lucky). Though I`m sure it was a terrible blow for the ozone layer, it was a very interesting way to ring in the new year!

The Sacred Valley

On Boxing Day, I headed down to the south of Ecuador, to Vilcabamba, nicknamed the Valley of Longevity because of the many inhabitants who live over 100 years. It is a place to chillax and decompress, and that´s exactly what was on the agenda.

First, however, I decided to do an 8 hour horse and hike trek. It didn´t matter that I hadn´t ridden a horse in over ten years, and never for longer than an hour or two. It didn´t matter that I was alone, with my spanish speaking guide, and had no idea how to steer a horse (is that even what you call it?!) up a mountain, and was wearing totally inappropriate rubber boots for the trek. I was Gung Ho. And after a few minutes, terrified outta my mind! It had been raining a few days prior, so watching the guide´s horse slip and slide up the mountain and through the passes was less than comforting. However, the views were stunning, and soon I relaxed and had a chat with the horse, telling him I was going to trust him with my life, and he could do what he had to do as long as he didn´t kill us both, or buck me over the side of the mountain (I´m pretty sure he understood English, cuz after that, he was a lot more calm and I didn´t die!). We were walking along the ridge of the Andes, at some points with sheer rock on one side, and sheer cliff on the other. It was amazing. Unfortunately, I was too scared to take any pictures (that would have involved letting go of the saddle horn, a risk I was unwilling to take). After three and a half hours, we had reached the middle of nowhere, and commenced our hike, after tying up the horses so they could lunch on lush green grass.

The hike was more like scrambling from root to root up a cliff (in rubber boots, remember!). Soon I was huffing and puffing and swearing under my breath at my monkey of a guide. My legs and feet were on FIRE, and I was about to sit down and give up when we came upon a waterfall. It was really nice, and wet and we stopped and ate lunch. After half an hour of awkward conversation, we decided to go and find the horses again. One hour later of gruelling hiking, legs on fire from the rubber boots (never NEVER again!), we got back to the horses. Just as the sky decided to open up. At the top of a mountain ridge. Three and a half hours from civilization. We jumped into the saddles (well, I spastically scrambled up into mine...) and started down the mountain. If I was terrified going up, I was petrified coming back down. I honestly prayed from start to finish, often squeezing my eyes shut so I wouldn´t scream. The rain had made the trail slick and muddy, and I kept envisioning myself plummeting to my death, thousands of feet below. It was awful. Plus, my legs and butt were sore and chafting on the saddle. And did I mention that it was pouring rain? Who wouldn´t want to sign up for such an adventure?! At one point, I begged the guide to stop and let me off for five minutes, and he made it seem like I was asking for the moon. I didn´t ask again, although it took us over four hours to get back to Vilcabamba. When we were finally back, I couldn´t even summon up the energy to get off the horse. I was finished. The guide and his father literally had to peel me off, and I could barely support my own weight, let alone walk back to my hostel!

At any rate, I spent the next four days recovering from my horse trek, but that recovery included a full body massage one day, a neck and shoulder massage the next, and many an hour chillaxing by the pool. I also made friends with some of the ex-pats in town, Ira (the scarecrow) and Bill (the 65 year old Ben R.), and had a tour of Ira´s cob house, with his living roof. I´m pretty sure I could definitely retire in Vilcabamba and hang out with these guys, as long as it didn´t require any more horse rides. Gosh. Never again.

Thanks for the Memories

Tomorrow I am leaving the gorgeous Galapagos. I'm very sad to say goodbye, but also, I'm tired and broke and ready to sleep in my own bed (I use the term "own bed" loosely, since 1. it's not my own bed, and 2. I just moved and have only slept in my new bed once!). It's been the most amazing trip, and I'm going to remember it forever.

On the way to the internet cafe, I was trying to think of my very favorite memory of the Galapagos, but was unable to come up with just one. However, I was able to narrow it down to three, and one of them is just Isla Isabella, the most beautiful island in the world. We spent three days on Isabella, and I would've been happy to spend the whole entire trip there. It's not as touristy as the other islands, although it is the biggest island in the Galapagos. The cruise ships don't usually stop there, which makes it a glorious stop for sun and snorkeling. The island's port town, Villamil, is totally chill, with sandy streets and grass shacks, and a long white sand beach with swaying palm trees and black lava reefs jutting out into the ocean. It was totally picturesque, and it was amazing that the landscape wasn't ruined already by highrise hotels and resorts.

While on Isabella, we partook in a half day snorkeling tour. It was just us and a guide, and we told him we wanted to see sharks. He took us to a small lava island about ten minutes off the coast, and as we climbed out of the boat, he reminded us to take our snorkels and cameras. We walked about ten minutes, picking our way carefully over the black rock, until we came to a small canyon in the rock. Looking down, the guide pointed out about 5 or 6 white tipped sharks, swimming and sleeping below. Satisfied, our group continued on, past barking sea lions and hissing marine iguanas. Finally, we arrived at a small shallow inlet, and our guide told us to put on our gear. He pointed into the water and said "Now you swim with sharks." We all laughed, thinking he was out of his gourd, but his deadpan face told us he was completely serious. I asked him if these sharks tended to feast upon gringos, and he laughed and said they were vegetarians. Hmmmm...I'd never heard of vegetarian sharks, but I was willing to believe anything if it would get me in the water. Once we were all goggled and flippered, the four of us carefully and slowly got into the inlet. At one point Coreen brushed my leg and I screamed, thinking it was a shark, and everyone got mad at me for giving them heart attacks. We swam together, us girls holding hands at some points, until we saw the sharks. Now, they weren't HUGE like great white sharks, but they were BIG. At least 5 or 6 feet long, with beady black shark eyes and I'm sure rows of sharp white shark teeth. I think I forgot to breath for about a minute, and when I finally started again, I was hyperventilating. Also, I kept getting water in my snorkel, and had to raise my head above water in order to blow it out, thus taking my eyes off the man-eating "vegetarian" sharks. After about two or three minutes, Coreen looked at me and Alena and said, "What the f*** are we doing?! Had enough? I'm getting out." Relieved that we weren't the only ones freaking out, Alena and I followed her out of the water, until the guide forced us back in, shaking his head with shame at our sad pathetic excuses. All in all, we were probably in there for ten or so minutes the second time, and we saw quite a few sharks. At one point there were three swimming in circles around us. Again, I kept forgetting to breathe. I was more than relieved when the guide finally let us scamper out of the water, tripping over our flippers in our rush to leave the sharks. However, that was probably one of my favorite memories of my trip. It was so scary but so funny at the same time.

Later on that same day, as we recovered from our near death shark attack, the guide stopped the boat and told us to get in the water. He pointed out two or three dark shadows in the water that turned out to be giant turtles, and so we all gladly got in. We swam around chasing turtles (they are surprisingly fast in the water) until we were cold. As Alena, Chris and Coreen were getting in the boat, two small sea lions popped their heads out of the water a few feet away, so I ended up staying in and playing with them for the next fifteen minutes. It was amazing. They dipped and flipped and rolled and twisted. I played copy-cat with one of them, and she would mimic me (but far more gracefully!). Then she would swim away, then flip around and head full force towards me. The instant before collision, she would suddenly flip and glide down the length of my body. One of my friends took a video, and as soon as she uploads it, I will post a link so everyone can see. That was my other most favorite experience.

So, all in all, I had a most fantastic time. I know the chances are slim that I'll ever get back here, but I would definitely recommend everyone to get out here while you still can. You won't regret it.

I Do Love a Good Boobie

The animals here are all so friendly!! Charles Darwin was right, there is something unnatural about how unafraid the animals are of people. It's like being in a zoo, but you are able to walk up and practically pet whatever animal is right in front of you (although you aren't supposed to touch the animals, or molest them in any way. There are many people around who take care that the Galapagos stay as pristine as possible.).

So far this trip, I have walked within a foot or so of land iguanas (they look like dinosaurs), marine iguanas, sea lions by the dozens, lizards, giant turtles, crabs, and birds of all sorts. They are amazing. Often they look like they are posing just for you, as you snap away photo after photo.

My favorite bird is the Blue Footed Boobie, of which our tour group was able to witness it's famous mating dance, and let me tell you, it was as cartoon-like as everyone says. We sat and watched for about half an hour, and I could have watched for longer, except the tour group was moving on. It is worth a trip to the Galapagos just for that.

Anyhoo, I'm off the Isla Isabella for the weekend. Cheers and happy thoughts!

Swimming with Kings

"On the count of three...THREE!" Our guide for the day, Charlie, dropped me into the freezing cold waters of the Pacific Ocean, about five miles off the coast of Santa Cruz, one of the islands in the Galapagos. It took a minute or two for my wetsuit to warm up, and meanwhile I was gasping and shouting, "It's f-ing FREEZING!!" My amigos were all around me, fitting their snorkles or already bobbing around face-down in the water. After a few false starts, I too was ready to investigate life below sea level.

As my eyes focused through the snorkle mask, I was amazed to see all sorts of brilliantly coloured florescent fish darting in and out of the surrounding volcanic rock. A school of silver guppies literally swam through me, dodging here and there around my waving arms. All thoughts of the icy coldness of the water were immediately forgotten. The current carried me without a fight, as I floated on top of the water, ocassionally kicking to keep myself from crashing into the rocks. Suddenly, a large object splashed down into the water directly in front of me. As the bubbles cleared, I saw a shiny brown sea lion swimming in lazy circles about three feet from where I was! It darted away after about a minute, to chase down some dinner. However, three more sea lions took it's place, and one swam alarmingly close to me, curiously eyeing me with his huge blue eyes.

Their bodies were incredible. Sleek and chocolate coloured, they flipped and turned, chased and rolled in between the rocks. A few circled around me, but never bumped into me, though one came close. As the other two disappeared, the last one swam right up and peered into my goggles before he flipped around and cruised away to find his friends.

I couldn't believe I had just swam with sea lions.