Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo

Merry Xmas and all the other religions that celebrate this time of year, and Happy New Years to everybody!!!
Xmas went very well for me. I spent it here in Mompiche, Ecuador. Here in Ecuador most of the celebration is done on the 24th. For me it included a dinner among all the people here that aren{t originally from here, that dont have family, including people that live here from other parts of the world like me. We each brought a plate, and it turned out to be completely vegetarian meal, DELICIOUS. We drank wine and ate til we were full! It was great. After that, I went to the house of a boyfriend I have here and spent their dinner with his family. They roasted a pig and all. Phew full. After that everybody in the town went to the disco (dance place) we have here and we all danced the night away....until 4 am! A different Xmas and very pleasurable. I felt very welcome and enjoyed my first xmas away from my family, I was surrounded by other family and friends here. The day of the 25th was spent eating candies and smaller little get toghethers for the kids and all. Spent the day on the beach and enjoyed it very much. The time between xmas ans news years is mostly celebration, music and food and happiness. It{s great. Tehre are rumors of how New Years will be spent...but it depends it on many things. I{ll let you all now.

I hope that Xmas was great for everybody and that you spent it how you wanted and made you happy. This time of year really is special. I hope everybody is happy and healthy.
It{s not the years in your life that counts, its the life in your years
Happy 2009!!!!

In the Amazon

I figured it would be refreshing to get somebody elses point of view........ This is what mom had to say......

We made it out of the Jungle somewhat alive thank goodness. Did you know they have carnivorous ants??? Never heard of them, but when the guide showed them to us and said we had to run through this part it was kindof freaky & we ran like grease lightning. I have never in my life seen bugs as big as a large pear, but we did... It was a beetle. We saw a Coral snake that if it bit you, 30 seconds later you would not be able to breath & you would die. One of the coolest things we saw were lightning bugs that were flying around in the rain. Every night it rains in the jungle and one of the nights we did not have a candle to get back and forth to the kitchen which was about an 1/8th of a mile away in the pitch black crossing a bridge, going up & down mud staircases... We waited for the lightning and each time ran a bit further. It was crazy... I took us about a 1/2 hour to get to the kitchen where we actually got candles, & food. Another exciting adventure we had to cross the river to get to our destination... We had to get into intertubes with our stuff wrapped in plastic bags, tied to us and hope we make it to the other side. Holy S%&_!!! I have been in the Trinity river caught in the middle by myself in an intertube, but that was nothing... I have also been in class 5 rapids white water rafting on the deadly Kern River & that was nothing compared to this... I think we all thought we were going to die in the famous Amazon River with our guide Eduardo who says trust me.... I think we should have wised up when he took us to a beautiful lagoon & told us to dive right in from a rock about 12 feet from the water. Kristin was smart & told him yeah, right after you. Sure enough he dove in, but he dove a great deal further to the left than he originally told us. Just as we thought, to the right it was only about 5 feet deep and where he dove was at least 15 ft... Not intentional on his part of course, because what we have learned down here is when they say right here, or rigt there, it is not literal they truly expect you to read their mind & know this means about 6 feet to the left instead of where they pointed. For sure we are the tourists... The next days adventure was even crazier. A Shawman "Medicine Man" took us on a hike that should have been a couple of hours to some waterfalls... 8 hours later with one tiny 16oz bottle of water we returned. The hike for sure was meant for persons who were around 20 and had much more agility than myself. Of course we did not know this until breakfast the next morning when the women who was cooking for us said I was a very strong women to have made it all the way back because it was not a hike meant for me. I felt so embarassed when I came dragging back after 8 hours.. I thought I was such a wuss and went straight to bed for three hours only to be awoke for dinner & more water. The Medicine Man did not take any water with him and drank none while we did our entire hike. Wow that was amazing because those of us that are used to drinking at least 64oz in a day and are not of the camel variety were not able to hang. Even the other couple that was with us said they were frustrated by running out of water. When we brought the running out of water up to the main guide Eduardo he argued with Kristin & told her we just were too slow. She said that argueing with him was a useless battle because they are used to something completely different. I guess the main guide missed the class where people have the power of suggestion, and none of us that were on this tour will suggest his company. In the travel world where everyone asks your opinion on what to do and where to go in each city that is a big thing. In many resturant we went to they had a book where tourist could write comments about the resturants, hostel, tours, and trips and this one will not go down as one of the best. Aside from the crazy adventures the Jungle as a whole is magnificent. There were leaves that were as big as the top have of Kristins body. There were butterflys of every color in the rainbow... Incredible. There were flower varieties more beautiful than I have ever seen. They even showed us a plant that when humans touched it would go to sleep for 1 hour then rejuvinate itself. We made it out with our faces painted and the art of spitting poisonous darts through a wooden tube... that is the important part. There are many more stories but in person it will be more lively than reading my script. I have a 12 hour bus ride ahead tonight & I get on a plane for an 8 hour trip right after & return to LAX around midnight, and work the next day.

Mom´s account

Moms email says

It was hard leaving the Galapogus Island, we went around to all of the people we engaged with and said our good byes and thank you for the wonderful experience. The day we left we did get to swim with the sharks in the morning. We took a boat out about 7:00am. The sharks were smaller than we thought, but sharks none the less. Got an underwater camera to take pictures because we thought nobody would believe us. When we got back to Guyaquil (main continent) we got on a bus and headed for a town called Cuenca which is in the Sierras. What a difference to go from sea level to an elevation of almost one mile. I guess I did not drink enough water because I got a touch of elevation sickness with a fever and after we got back from a trip to a local textile/artesian town I had to take a 3 hour nap. It sucked because I missed going through & touring the local churches. Next we went to Incaquerca which is little town along the Inca trail where there are Incan ruins. It was rainy & muddy but seeing the ruins helped us understand just how far we have come as a civilization. The ruins were lined up perfectly with the sunrise & sunset. It was set on a hill so they could see whoever would try to attack. There were aquaducts built around the whole thing as well as a place for them to have recreation which they believe they played a form of soccer/futbol. The whole pleatau was fairly suffisticated for the times, I guess very similar to the pyramids. There were even wild lamas all over the place. We did not mess with them because as I understand it they are so much meaner than the mamma sea lion.:-) It really was amazing. After returning to Cuenca we hung around the city for another day checking out the local museums, artesian shops and indiginous works of art. The Hostal that we stayed at was incredible and the guy running it told us his father built the 13 bedroom house from top to bottom and only died a couple of years ago at 90 something. The next day we headed to Riobamba where Julie (Kristin`s friend from home) has a place that we visited. It has a wonderful view of the mountain Chimboraza which Julie just climbed with a group the prior Sunday and made it clear to the top. The town is quaint & very beautiful with the setting of the mountain range surrounding it. Tomorrow we will head for the city of Tenua where there are natural hot springs surrounding the city. This city is at the edge of the Amazon and it is what they call the "Orient" and thank goodness it it closer to sea level. My head is about to explode with this elevation. We met some people that actually live in Durango Colorado who are having trouble acclamating, it is crazy high.That is all for now and I will write again soon.Happy Thanksgiving to all for tomorrow.

SHARK!!!

We spent our last half day on the Galapagos Islands. And what a day it was!!!
We danced the night before, some of us later than others... But we woke up at 530 the next morning to head out on our boat. We arranged a tour to a place offshore called Leon Dormido (Sleeping Lion- Kicker Rock) We got on our boat and headed out. We followed the San Cristobal shoreline and saw blue footed boobies, sea lions, pelicans, friggate birds and the always beautiful scenery. We made it to Leon Dormido after about a 45 min. boat ride. We hopped in our wet suits and grabbed our fins and snorkle...and jumped in....
...Not to mention the instant fact that you cant see the groud becuase you are out way off the shore line...it was a little scary. But we swam toward teh protruding huge rock. The side of the rock that headed toward teh ocean floor was like a cliff, and I couldn´t see the bottom. The side of the rock was covered with barncales of all colors and beautiful algae, fish homes and tons of fish. We were told to swim around the rock to the passage. There was a 30 foot wide break in the rock. So after checkingf out the sid eof the rock we make it to the passage. I saw quite a few turtles just flating along, doo dadooo, tranquil and then I looked down and saw a school (?) of rays. The white spotted rays probably 5 or 6 feet wide floating along. HOW COOL!!! Not to mention all the fish....and then before I knew it I was swimming with sharks!!! There were baby/adolescent sharks in the gap (the whole draw of Leon Dormido) They were swimming around. So yes I swam with the sharks. We got underwater pictures, so not to worry---hopefully they came out alright : / no promises. After swimming through the passage we hopped back on the boat and made our way toward Sea lion island. There the water was much calmer and shallower. The water was filled with fish, and sea lions. They are very playful creatures. They will swim right out you fast and stare at you in teh eyes and 1 foot before they reach you swerve one way. Agile! They will play with you and swim with you, and they are tons of fun! It all kinda felt like something out of Finding Nemo....like we are looking for the East Australian Current and I was asking the turtles (alright alright, only somebody who has seen that movie as much as I have would know what the heck i´m talking about!) After swimming around there, we made our way back to the island. From there we packed and said our goodbyes to our favorite bar tender and headed to the airport for our flight to Guayaquil.
Once in Guayaquil we took a bus to Cuenca. We are now here in this town which is known as the town of churches for its abundance of churches. It´s a higher elevation and filled with the indigenous influence. Also very colonial architecture scattered throughout. It´s nice to be back in the cooler climate witht the andean music, art, and green. But the Galapagos was totally worth it!!!!

San Cristobal, turtles, iguanas, fish, and birds

The Galapagos Islands.

We are on the San Cristobal Island, Galapagos, Ecuador.
What a dream!!! This plaze is uniquely amazing. Cathy, my mom, and I are here. We got here on Tuesday from the ´´main continent.´´ We spent the first day relaxing and looking around. San Cristobal is the second largest populated island(5000 people), after Santa Cruz (10000) and before Isabela (2,000 people). It is a volcanic island and it is not spring here, so it is a dry hot climate with semi-cold waters. The islands ecotourism efforts are immense. Advanced recycling program, conservation of land, water, and the animals that inhabit land and water, fossil fuel minimized, and trying to lessen their ´´footprint´´ Alhtough the three of us have decided that there are plenty more of precautions they could take to maintain these islands to the max, it is pretty advanced compared to other parts in the world.

So far we have visited many places and SNORKLED tons!! Our first full day we did a loop that covered three main spots away from the little town. Westarted by going to La Galapagueria- the gigant galapagos tortoise reserve where you can see these old big animals in a semi natural environment. From there we continued on to Playa Chino. Playa Chino is a fine white sandy beach with sea lions and snorkling. We say tons of fish, a sting ray, and a baby turtle while snorkling. From there we continued on to El Junco. El Junco is the only fresh water reserve on the island. It is made from rainfall here. We hiked up the hill to see the lake. Cathy feel on her butt and hit her head 3 times!!! It was muddy thats for sure. And mom fell face first down the hill. That afternoon mom and I went to Playa Mann, the closest beach to town (which also has the University that Julie went to while she was here) We went snorkling here as well. This beach had tons of sea lions, they are everywhere here, people and sea lions inhabiting the beach together peacefully. Nothing like La Jolla Cove. This place stresses the natural version of everything, not our [clean controlled version in the states. Speaking of inhabiting the baeach together, here{s a story... Mom and I are out snorkling and we are coming back and thereis a male sea lion approaching our stuff, he actually went up and basically sat on all our stuff, towels, back packs etc... Well shoot, what do we do???? Even our room key! So we have the clever idea to get it back somehow. While everybody is watching us on the beach, mom tries and sneaks up and take it. Ya the Sea lion was NOT having any of that!!!! He charged mom and started barking at her to back OFF. So mom runs back to me, not to mention everybody on the beach laughing at us. It was great. After about 3 attempts, he finally left, and we were able to get our stuff back. We found our cool bar that we like to hang out with our friendly bartender who makes the ´´best´´ margarita on the island, according to my mom the margarita conosiour.
The next day my mom and I went to the beach called La Loberia, named after the sea lions. We met a local guy here who offered to show us how to walk there. The beach was filled with many things. When you first enter you see all the black lava rocks that make up the coast here, and if you look very closely you could see some off colored things. They turned out to be the galagagos iguanas. Scary looking, calm animals. On the actually beach there were the sea lions chilling on the beach soaking up the rays... and the snorkling was really good. Filled with tons more fish and a variety of other things. We enjoyed there until early afternoon. Then, made our way back to show mom a traditional ecuadorian lunch- soup, rice beans chicken and juice for 2.00. That afternoon we went with Cathy to a diffferent beach on the other side of the harbor called Punta Carola (named after Mom....who knows :p ) Snorkling here was beyond amazing. The water wasnt that crystal blue water you get in other places, but your swimming along and come along a group of turtles!!! There were turtles of all sizes, babies, adolescentes and then huge turtles with shells the size of a coffee table. I actually was swimming with three turtles at one point, the water was filled with them. As well as a sea lion swimming right by me .
That night took mom out for a little taste of Ecuadorian dancing. Salsa is the popular music...but we{ll have plenty of time to check out the discoteque dancing scene here. All in all, we are all three having a great time and enjoying this unique place. Moms taking pictures, so not to worry. We´ll keep you updated...

sidenote: Cathy keeps an eco blog and she has been writing more about the ecotourism here. Check it out www.greenecoservices.com and she would like to put a sidenote that if you need to buy anything from Amazon, go through her site and click it there....help her make money .

40 hours

So I stayed with my Colombian mother, Anna, in Bogota and what a sweetheart she is.
I left Bogota Nov. 11th at 8pm and got on a bus (sidenot: i`ve considerable lightened my load- my backpack is much smaller- liberating!) The bus ride to the border of Colombia took almost 30 hrs. We passed through plenty of places that were in an upheveal. There was/is problems ith a money company there called La Piramde, and in a nutshell the owner died and peoples money disappeared... ahhh corruption. But finally reached the border.
Complications arose there and it`s a long story... but after that I hopped on other busses. I arrived Nov 13 to Guayaquil...40 hours in bus! dang!
I am staying here with friends that we`ve met through couchsurfing the first time we came, and basically taking it easy until mom gets here tomorrow!!!!!!!!!! Beyond excited!!!!!!!!!!!


What is happiness? What is happiness to YOU? How do we find it?

Hammock time

I headed off to Santa Marta, the oldest town in colombia. I stayed with Tim, a couchsurfer in santa marta and he gave me a tour and a history lesson of santa marta. i also got to meet a good chunk of his friends. One of the days we went to visit one of his friends in the hospital, Pedro Conde. If you google him, you´ll find he´s a famous actor who did lots of westerns with the famous guys, including clint eastwood. He´s been all over the world acting as well. Sweet old man.
The next day, I took some advice of Tim and other travelers I´ve talked to, and went to a little pueblo outside of town called Taganga. Although a little touristy, it was still very pretty. And the surrounding hills that came down to the bluffs were scattered with cactus- just like the San Diego dry shrubbery. I spent most of the time in a hammock reading- it´s that kind of place, relaxation to the max.
I then made my way south, to bucuaramanga, the town between the carribean and bogota. I stayed with Mathieu there, a couchsurfer from Montreal there doing exchange. What a fun loving guy. we went to his Tae Kwon Do meeting, made homemade sushi and ate til we almost exploded, went reggae dancing, and had plenty of fun conversations- a really fun loving guy.
Currenty, I´m in Bogota...the capital of Colombia. I have officially finished my loop of Colombia. I am staying with Anna, an colombian who speaks very good English because she has spent a considerable amount of time in texas, miami, and new york. I met here in Cartagena (carribean) and she offered me a place to stay when I came to bogota. Bogota is huge...it´s beyone huge, enormous, gigantic. But still tons left to explore of Colombia´s capital.
...I have a day or two to explore Bogota then its off in a bus to Ecuador... 5 days begins the countdown...see you soon mom and cathy! and ecuador.