I was so glad to have a day to relax before heading out with my fathers side of the family... I sooo needed that, plus i really had to get my laundry done.
The night before I left, there was some tragic news to report for the goverment of Ecuador. On the 15, they had just appointed a new president, and during this time he announced his new staff. This was a first, a staff where, i think, 7-9 of the members were female. This was something rarely heard of here. Anyways, one of the appointed officials was not received quite nicely, this was the Minster of Defense. The problem here was, it was a female, part of the socialist party leader, and she wasn't from a military background. Needless to say, from what i had heard her speak, she seemed a good fit. Ok, so the tragedy. That night, while in the military base located in Manta, she was going to be going on a training mission with 2 helicopters that were recently equiped for night missions. Her 17 year old daughter was also in attendance. There seemed to be some miscommunication between the helicopters and both collided in mid-air. In the end, 6 offers and 2 civilians (the minister and her daughter) were killed. Ok, so why am i telling you all of this... just read on...
Day 1:
Today my one aunt, who I will be staying with for the next few days picked me up and our first stop was to head south of Quito to a small town called Machachi. the plan was to gather with the half of the family that lives in that town for lunch and then head way up north to Ibarra. During the ride, we were given some shocking news... As it turns out, my uncle that lives in Machachi, has a son in the military and is stationed out of Manta, and to top it, he's a helicopter pilot. As it turns out, he had asked permission to be one of the pilots on the mission that ended the life of the minister of defense. It was his commanding officer would not let him, as he was the master of ceremonies for all that was going on... I guess god was watching out for him, he never got on and he lived, unfortunately, all of his friends were killed. And to top it off, he had to go on the recovery mission. Can you imagin... I almost lost my cousin... Now that would've really put a damper on my trip... YIKES...
Ok, so once we got to Machichi we met with one of my uncles and his family at his store, then went to see my cousin and her baby and finally we all went out to lunch. There were about 13 of us and we went to this place call "Cafe de la Vaca" (coffee from the cow). It was a pretty kewl place, it was located on a dairy farm and I'm told that during the milking the people staying in the hostel or visitors are allowed to purchase the milk right there... Sorry we missed that... LOL... After lunch, we went to my other cousins house were i met her children, saw wedding pictures and finally hit the road.
It was a cold day for us, raining and foggy. Our trip back up to Ibarra took us over 6 hours... We had to go slow, one wrong turn, and over the side you go... YIKES!!!
Day 2:
My first night in Ibarra wasn't really much. Since we didn't get in until after 10, i basically had my coffee and then went to bed. Today, I woke up early, as always, and we set up our plan of attack. We were going to hit as many small towns and do a little shopping.
First off, the market... We needed to stock up on breakfast food... OMG, all the fresh fruit they had, and some i never heard of, so of coarse we picked those. I got rasperries to make fresh juice with, bananas for smoothies, apples oranages and god i can't remember the name of all the other stuff... we were set. Dropped that off at home and now headed out to the other towns.
Next, Laguna de Yahuarcocha. This is a small "town" that surrounds the lake Yahuarchocha. We drove around the lake looking at the house. To my amazement, there actually have a racetrack on the site. It's a small track but they do do some big races. After that we went to a town call San Antonio. San Antonio is known for it's woodcraft. We parked and hit the stores. There were some of the typical artwork you see in all the towns, the carved out men and woman, and my god... all the wooded nativity scenes... Guess they had an overflow after christmas.. hehe. i did a little shopping here, getting some gifts for friends and family and of coarse myself. We met with some of the artists and photographed them as they made their latest creation.
After San Antonio we went to Otavalo. Here we picked up my other aunt so we can go to lunch at Hotel Otavalo. The we drove thru a few other towns... Atuntachi, which is known for it's textiles, nothing big to buy here, so we moved on. Then we went to Cuicoha, which is another lake. We drove up this rocky muddy road to the top of the mountain to a resort called Hosteria Los Pinos. We walked out to the end of the mountain, and even though the fog was starting to settle in, we were still able to see the lake... It was beautiful, but now it's raining. So we had to head down the muddy rocky road and we went to the lake to view it from the reserve park. It was really nice, cold and misty but nice. After this we drove to the Selva Legre, which is the biggest manufacturing plant for cement. The funny part here, you know those signs you see that say the number of day without an injury??? Well, their count was 2... HEHE
Day 3:
This was the day I was looking forward to... Otavalo's Feria de los Ponchos... SHOPPING!!!!
We started off the by meeting at my aunts house in Otavalo and she suggested that before we go to the market that we should head up to see the condors. Out in Sand Pablo del Lago, there is a place called Parque Condor (Condor Park), here is a natural habitat where condors, eagles, owls and hawks are raised and trained. They take in orphaned and abandoned birds and raise them. We got there just in time for the 11 show. Here they were setting hawks free and letting them fly out, i really thought they were like 'I'M FREE!!!!', but nope. Once the trainer blew his whistle, they were back to his side, no questions asked. They also had a cute small bird that was just sqeaking like crazy, cuz it knew that he'd be getting fed soon. I was given the chance to hold on to the bird, it was so cute. After the show, we walked around and looked at all of the other birds that they had there and i took several pictures of some nice owls, eagles and hawks, oh and not to mention the Condor there.
After Parque Condor, we headed back to Otavalo to go shopping at the market. Today, Saturday, is the big day here with the market in town and boy can you get stuff for cheap here. I bought several gifts for friends and family, and of coarse myself. My bags are gonna be way over the limit. After several hours of shopping and walking around, we finally headed back home and i was ready for sleep... Oh, and did i mention, I had twisted my ankle while at the condor park and after the long day of walking, my leg was ready to give out... UGH!!!
Day 4:
It's Sunday morning, and it looks like it's going to be a clear morning. I had some last minute shopping to do in town, and then we were going to be heading out to Cotacachi for yet another family dinner. I met up with my aunt and cousin in Cotacachi and did a little more shopping there. Cotacachi is another small town, which is well known for it's leather products. My aunt bought some gifts for my family and I bought for myself (of coarse).
After this, we went to lunch. Today it was going to be the typical food for the region, Fritada, which is marinated pork medalians served with several different sides such as avocado, homily, corn, llampingachos, and so much more... Once we were done here, we went back to Cotacachi and went to my aunts house, checked out my uncles new hostal they are renovating, and then back to another aunts house for a little bite to eat.
I have seen all of my dad's brothers and sisters, several of there kids and even there kids... I'm DONE!!! Only 1 more day and then I can get back to thinking of how i will try to fit all this stuff in my luggage.
Day 5:
Today was my last day in Ibarra, so 3 of my aunts and myself set out on the LONGEST drive ever. the day started out great, it was a really clear morning that i was actually able to see 3 of the mountains from the roadside, the Imbabura, the Cotacahi and even the snow on the Cayambe. The first 2 are usually visible to some degree, but the 3rd, now that one is usually hard to see, and when i saw the sun reflecting off the mountain, i new it was snow and that is the only mountain with snow within the area...
So we were off, we drove north towards La Paz. It was a long winding road, thru the mountains and the landscape was beautiful. Our first stop was Ambuque, here we got some fruit from the roadside vendor. The fruit here is called obos, it's an orangy fruit with a large seed and it's very sweet. Our next stop was at the entrance of Bolivar where we purchased "Rosquettes". These are almost like a powdered sugar donut, but not as cakie as a donut. After this we heading even more into the mountains, the roads were getting narrower and the thought of an on coming car just scared me to death... there really wasn't much of shoulder on these roads. To our luck we didn't have any on coming cars and/or trucks. We eventually reached La Paz. This town is known for a cave in which there was a sighting of the virgin mary. So they have built an alter in the cave that is adorned with flowers and people come visit and pray to her. The kicker with this is, we are at the top of a mountain, we now have to walk down to get to the cave level to see this. Also in this are are thermal pools that are filled by the river that flow from the cave. After visiting the alter we headed back up and stopped to eat at a little restaurant that is run by the nun's that keep the alter area.
Our journey was not over. My one aunt wanted to go see some flowers/plants that are called (and I'm sure i'm spelling it wrong) frilejones... It's some plant that grows on the sides of the roads and she remembers it from like 50 years ago. So as you can guess, this was a wild goose chase. The roads were long and bumpy.. no asphalt here, just gravel and cobble streets... it was a very bumpy ride... It turns out, after being on the road for over 2 hrs the only frilejones we saw were in the front of there reserve park... Ok, this trip, i will never want to do again. I had the worst back ache and head ache from all the bumping rides... Now we had to drive back home... UGH, no more cars!!!
Day 6:
Today I leave Ibarra and head back to Quito. I spent several hours packing and unpacking, making sure i wasn't over my weight limit, but i know i am. I kept on adjusting my weights in my carry on bags so that it doesn't kill me as i run thru the airports.
I have one last night with my cousins in Quito, so we decided to go out for some cocktails and a quick bite to eat. It was a good end to my trip.
Day 7:
Time to head home... I'm sooo exited!!! I'm ready to get out of here and get back into my own bed. I also miss my pooch... I can't wait to get back home, this trip was long enough, now it's back to the real world and WORK!!! YUCK!!! I guess I can do without that part!
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
January 20 - 23, 2007 -- Baños, Riobamba and Papallacta
Ok, so I have returned from my latest trips to some of the other towns in Ecuador. This time around it was a trip with my mom´s side of the family. My aunt, cousin, her daughter and husband and 2 of their friends from college went on this little outing...
Day 1
So we left Quito later than expected on Saturday morning, but eventually we were on our way. Our first destination was going to be Baños. This little town is at the bottom of the Tungurahua Volcano, one that is very much active and last erupted this past August. It is well known for it´s natual pools that are filled by the waters from the mountains. During our drive there we made a couple of stops... First we had to meet up with the college friends, in a town outside Quito. After that our next stop on the map was in Salsedo. Here they are known for their ice cream, so we just had to stop to get some. I actually wanted to stop some other place for ice cream, but i was ruled out. The other place is one that I remember from 20 years ago. It´s a road side restaurant and all i remember about it is that it´s called ¨Helados de la Avelina¨. But maybe on the way back.
We finally arrived in Baños and the road was crazy. At one point we were at the same spot that the lava had flowed during the last eruption... OMG, it was scary, Fabricio said we were about 10M above the actual road... It was so devistating, seeing parts of homes and all the destruction. From my understanding, Baños was never hit with the lava, instead it was the ash, but it sure didn´t look like it. Once we found a hotel to stay at we unloaded the cars, freshed up and hit the streets to check out stuff... The center of town was filled with so many turists. they were all checking out the shops and trying to find hotels themselves. The first thing i wanted to do was hit one of the streetside vendors and get some food... These are locals that sell some of the local food for CHEAP... So we hit one, I got my 50cent bag of corn with pork and the boys ate the ¨quero¨, which is roasted pork skin... sounds bad, but it´s really good... After eating that and walking a bit we decided it was time for lunch, so we hit a restaurant that Cris and Fabrisio ate at before, ¨Casa de mi Abuelita¨. Food was good, but service sucked, oh well. My aunt and cousin decided they wanted to eat elsewhere so they hit another place to have the local favorite of ¨qui¨... translations... GUINNIE PIG!!! YUCK!!! No way in hell was i gonna try that, but oh well, they loved it. After our lunch we went to the other vendors close to the bus terminals. Here these vendors focused on selling sugar cane. I´m telling you, total natural sugar rush. But sugar cane itself was not on the menu. Marco and Fabricio were determined to get a local drink called ¨sandwiche¨... yeah, sounds different, but i tried it... here´s the basic of the ¨sandwiche¨, it´s furmented sugar cane mixed with sugar cane juice... OMG... talk about a strong drink. at first it reminded me of tequila. We ordered a glass first, then they ordered a pitcher... OMG, my stomach was burning... and all of this for just $2!!! It was funny, everytime they passed the cup to me to drink, i´m like... no no.. and the typical reply was, when are you gonna be able to do this again, in another 2o years... so i had to drink... The affects of the alcohol was hitting us so we headed back to our hotel to take a nap before going out, but later i found out that Fabricio and Marco opted not to nap and hit the sugar cane stand again and had another pitcher... BLAH!!! After the nap we went back out and had some drinks and went dancing. It was all good until the bus load of teeny boppers showed up... Have you ever notice how they all seem to dance alike... We left around midnight and the drunken boys just had to order burgers from another streetside vendor and finally we got some sleep...
Day 2 in Baños started out well for some of us, the poor boys were soo hung over... serves them right. well, we hit a little restaurant for breakfast and then we were off to the waterfalls... It was pretty kewl, we drove thru, not around, but thru, the mountains, saw a few other waterfalls, some crazy tourists doing bungie jumping from the bridges... We finally hit the waterfalls, these were on the Rio Verde and were called ¨Pialon del Diablo¨. We had a long walk down the mountains, on some slippery rocks and steps... one wrong move and you ended up in the river. We finally hit the water falls and it was beautiful. We then walked down this very scary wabblie bridge that for safety reasons only allowed 5 people on it at one time... when i got to walking across it, i could see why... after a little needed break we headed back across the bridge and now was the walk back UP the mountain... OMG, i was still sick, so it was kind of hard on me, took alot out of me and lots of stops. But i finally made it!!!! I gotta say it was really beautiful!!!
Once we were all relaxed and caught our breathe, we headed out of Baños and to our next stop for lunch. This time we went to a small town called Ambato for their local food of llampingachos, which is a potatoe pancake stuffed with cheese, and a side of chorizo. We ate until we were stuffed and Marco and his wife left us at that point. The rest of us went to my mom & aunts hometown of Riobamba.
In Riobamba we looked for yet another hotel, took a name and then went to a late dinner. This town was pretty much dead, being a sunday and all, but it was nice. I got to see where my aunt´s house was, all the schools her kids attended and some of the other sites...
Day 3 in Riobamba, today we woke up a little late, but eventually hit the streets to find the market place. Here they sell everything, even cooked food. The breakfast of champions here, hornado and mote... roast pork and homily... OMG.. we ate like pigs... hehe.. get it... it was soo good and we were stuffed. After that we walked around town a bit more, i found out where my mom use to work at and some of the other sites there and then we checked out and went to my Aunt Fannies house. We talked for a little bit and then hit the road again...
Our next stop was a town outside of Riobamba called Guano. Guano is famous for their handmade rugs and leather goods and a bread called cholas, it´s stuffed with a sweet preserve... SHOPPING!!!! OMG, it was so cheap there. I bought several pairs of shoes, i was only gonna buy one but i got talked into the 3... Now i have nice shoes to go out in, they are so cute and comfy.
After Guano we went to another town called Quisapincha. This town was on the other side of Ambato and was a pretty scary ride, so many twists and turns, but we finally made it there. This place is also known for their leather goods, and so SHOPPING!!!!! I gotta say something, my cousin Chani is so good at bartering with the sales people, i basically robbed them blind with the purchase of some leather gifts for friends and family and 2 leather jackets for myself... I think the total cost of this day of shopping is the same as if i bought 1 jacket back home... Cris, Fabricio and I all walked out with several pairs of shoes and a couple of jackets... SCORE!!!! What a bargin... But even if we didn´t barter with them, the prices were still very cheap.... and great quality.
We decided to go back to quito tonight and sleep there and head to another town in the morning that is on the other side of quito....
Day 4 This morning we left to Papallacta... This is a town that is about an hour away from Quito which is known for there thermal pools, and now I can say that i hit the amazona side of ecuador... we head up these roads that had fense posts as guard rails, at one point we hit the highest point of road in all of ecuador, 4,400m above sealevel... then it was down from there. Papallacta is a small town, that gets most of it´s water from the rivers of the mountains that also feel the thermal pools. Since we are basically in the forest area here, there was hardly any sun to speak of, instead we had a dense fog that sat at the top of the mountains. The river that ran thru the municipal park fed the park pools and as the water flowed from the upper pools to the lower ones, it eventually fed back into the river. We found the hottest pool and boiled ourselves for a bit there, then we hit the next not so hot pool and relaxed there, enjoying the warmth of the water and the cold of the air, and at times the rain from the fog clouds above it. It was really nice and relaxing... Once we were purned up from all the water we knew it was time to go home and so we were on our way...
Now it´s back to quito, to start my laundry and get ready for my next trip later this week and part of next week with my dad´s side of the family... and of coarse.. .MORE SHOPPING!!!!
Ciao for now!!
Day 1
So we left Quito later than expected on Saturday morning, but eventually we were on our way. Our first destination was going to be Baños. This little town is at the bottom of the Tungurahua Volcano, one that is very much active and last erupted this past August. It is well known for it´s natual pools that are filled by the waters from the mountains. During our drive there we made a couple of stops... First we had to meet up with the college friends, in a town outside Quito. After that our next stop on the map was in Salsedo. Here they are known for their ice cream, so we just had to stop to get some. I actually wanted to stop some other place for ice cream, but i was ruled out. The other place is one that I remember from 20 years ago. It´s a road side restaurant and all i remember about it is that it´s called ¨Helados de la Avelina¨. But maybe on the way back.
We finally arrived in Baños and the road was crazy. At one point we were at the same spot that the lava had flowed during the last eruption... OMG, it was scary, Fabricio said we were about 10M above the actual road... It was so devistating, seeing parts of homes and all the destruction. From my understanding, Baños was never hit with the lava, instead it was the ash, but it sure didn´t look like it. Once we found a hotel to stay at we unloaded the cars, freshed up and hit the streets to check out stuff... The center of town was filled with so many turists. they were all checking out the shops and trying to find hotels themselves. The first thing i wanted to do was hit one of the streetside vendors and get some food... These are locals that sell some of the local food for CHEAP... So we hit one, I got my 50cent bag of corn with pork and the boys ate the ¨quero¨, which is roasted pork skin... sounds bad, but it´s really good... After eating that and walking a bit we decided it was time for lunch, so we hit a restaurant that Cris and Fabrisio ate at before, ¨Casa de mi Abuelita¨. Food was good, but service sucked, oh well. My aunt and cousin decided they wanted to eat elsewhere so they hit another place to have the local favorite of ¨qui¨... translations... GUINNIE PIG!!! YUCK!!! No way in hell was i gonna try that, but oh well, they loved it. After our lunch we went to the other vendors close to the bus terminals. Here these vendors focused on selling sugar cane. I´m telling you, total natural sugar rush. But sugar cane itself was not on the menu. Marco and Fabricio were determined to get a local drink called ¨sandwiche¨... yeah, sounds different, but i tried it... here´s the basic of the ¨sandwiche¨, it´s furmented sugar cane mixed with sugar cane juice... OMG... talk about a strong drink. at first it reminded me of tequila. We ordered a glass first, then they ordered a pitcher... OMG, my stomach was burning... and all of this for just $2!!! It was funny, everytime they passed the cup to me to drink, i´m like... no no.. and the typical reply was, when are you gonna be able to do this again, in another 2o years... so i had to drink... The affects of the alcohol was hitting us so we headed back to our hotel to take a nap before going out, but later i found out that Fabricio and Marco opted not to nap and hit the sugar cane stand again and had another pitcher... BLAH!!! After the nap we went back out and had some drinks and went dancing. It was all good until the bus load of teeny boppers showed up... Have you ever notice how they all seem to dance alike... We left around midnight and the drunken boys just had to order burgers from another streetside vendor and finally we got some sleep...
Day 2 in Baños started out well for some of us, the poor boys were soo hung over... serves them right. well, we hit a little restaurant for breakfast and then we were off to the waterfalls... It was pretty kewl, we drove thru, not around, but thru, the mountains, saw a few other waterfalls, some crazy tourists doing bungie jumping from the bridges... We finally hit the waterfalls, these were on the Rio Verde and were called ¨Pialon del Diablo¨. We had a long walk down the mountains, on some slippery rocks and steps... one wrong move and you ended up in the river. We finally hit the water falls and it was beautiful. We then walked down this very scary wabblie bridge that for safety reasons only allowed 5 people on it at one time... when i got to walking across it, i could see why... after a little needed break we headed back across the bridge and now was the walk back UP the mountain... OMG, i was still sick, so it was kind of hard on me, took alot out of me and lots of stops. But i finally made it!!!! I gotta say it was really beautiful!!!
Once we were all relaxed and caught our breathe, we headed out of Baños and to our next stop for lunch. This time we went to a small town called Ambato for their local food of llampingachos, which is a potatoe pancake stuffed with cheese, and a side of chorizo. We ate until we were stuffed and Marco and his wife left us at that point. The rest of us went to my mom & aunts hometown of Riobamba.
In Riobamba we looked for yet another hotel, took a name and then went to a late dinner. This town was pretty much dead, being a sunday and all, but it was nice. I got to see where my aunt´s house was, all the schools her kids attended and some of the other sites...
Day 3 in Riobamba, today we woke up a little late, but eventually hit the streets to find the market place. Here they sell everything, even cooked food. The breakfast of champions here, hornado and mote... roast pork and homily... OMG.. we ate like pigs... hehe.. get it... it was soo good and we were stuffed. After that we walked around town a bit more, i found out where my mom use to work at and some of the other sites there and then we checked out and went to my Aunt Fannies house. We talked for a little bit and then hit the road again...
Our next stop was a town outside of Riobamba called Guano. Guano is famous for their handmade rugs and leather goods and a bread called cholas, it´s stuffed with a sweet preserve... SHOPPING!!!! OMG, it was so cheap there. I bought several pairs of shoes, i was only gonna buy one but i got talked into the 3... Now i have nice shoes to go out in, they are so cute and comfy.
After Guano we went to another town called Quisapincha. This town was on the other side of Ambato and was a pretty scary ride, so many twists and turns, but we finally made it there. This place is also known for their leather goods, and so SHOPPING!!!!! I gotta say something, my cousin Chani is so good at bartering with the sales people, i basically robbed them blind with the purchase of some leather gifts for friends and family and 2 leather jackets for myself... I think the total cost of this day of shopping is the same as if i bought 1 jacket back home... Cris, Fabricio and I all walked out with several pairs of shoes and a couple of jackets... SCORE!!!! What a bargin... But even if we didn´t barter with them, the prices were still very cheap.... and great quality.
We decided to go back to quito tonight and sleep there and head to another town in the morning that is on the other side of quito....
Day 4 This morning we left to Papallacta... This is a town that is about an hour away from Quito which is known for there thermal pools, and now I can say that i hit the amazona side of ecuador... we head up these roads that had fense posts as guard rails, at one point we hit the highest point of road in all of ecuador, 4,400m above sealevel... then it was down from there. Papallacta is a small town, that gets most of it´s water from the rivers of the mountains that also feel the thermal pools. Since we are basically in the forest area here, there was hardly any sun to speak of, instead we had a dense fog that sat at the top of the mountains. The river that ran thru the municipal park fed the park pools and as the water flowed from the upper pools to the lower ones, it eventually fed back into the river. We found the hottest pool and boiled ourselves for a bit there, then we hit the next not so hot pool and relaxed there, enjoying the warmth of the water and the cold of the air, and at times the rain from the fog clouds above it. It was really nice and relaxing... Once we were purned up from all the water we knew it was time to go home and so we were on our way...
Now it´s back to quito, to start my laundry and get ready for my next trip later this week and part of next week with my dad´s side of the family... and of coarse.. .MORE SHOPPING!!!!
Ciao for now!!
Friday, January 19, 2007
January 15 - 19, 2007 -- Family Time
Ok, so not much has been going on around here since I got back from the galapagos. Since everyone works, I´m kind of left to fend for myself... So here is my week in review....
Monday morning we took Mark to the Airport for his flight home. Since I got no sleep the night before due to the wonderful altitude, I decided to take a nap which didn´t last long. I had breakfast and then headed to, what has become my morning home, the cybercafe. Let me tell you, the speed and the price is so much better here than it was in San Cristobal. I started my entries for the dive trip and I think I spent like 4 hours here (yeah i know i´m sick..) and it was less than 4 dollars, what a bargin. I found my way back home and just rested a little more before Roxy (my cousin) came home and we had lunch with her mom, Chani. Ok, so one thing you should know about this place... For us, you can say that our big meal of the day is Dinner... not here, it´s lunch. So usually after lunch I just want to pass out cuz I´m FULL!!! Monday also happened to be the changing of the presidents here, so there was nothing to watch on tv so my time spent at the cafe was a good thing. I did manage to crash after lunch and was woken up about 2 hrs after I passed out because my aunt came to visit me. This is my dad´s youngest sister... OMG i was so out of it. She brought me chocolates and a HUGE floral arrangement. After talking a bit and then having some coffee, she had to go. Roxy looked at me and asked if was up to going out and i was like... OK!! 2 of her friends were waiting for us to go out so we piled into her car and went back to Gaupulo. There we ordered a couple of drinks and one of the guys had food. It was really kewl to watch the fog rise over the side of the mountains. We then took off from there, drove down the Iglesia de Guapulo (church of Guapulo) and kept on going down these winding roads. In the end we went to Plaza Fuc, this is an intersection where there are several outdoor bars and restaurants. We heading in to one place and had yet more to drink. It was getting close to midnight so we decided to head back. i´m the only one here that doesn´t work so they all needed to get some sleep...
Tuesday didn´t start as good as i wanted it to. I had a minor sore throat on Monday and now I had a major cough. I knew it, I´m gonna get sick. Last time I was here I had gotten sick and I remember my mom taking me to one of the pharmacy´s here and they gave me a shot and i passed out... So now when my cousin was asking me if i wanted to get a shot i was like NOPE!!! Anyways, today I went to see my aunt Melidita. It´s been so long since I´ve seen her and it was nice, my cousin Eduardo was also there, and that was a shocker to me... All in all it was a good visit. We waited around for Roxy to get out of work for her to pick us up and bring us back home, or as she put it, to save me from the inquisition from her mom and grandmother (my aunt)... Did I mention I have 20 million relatives here and it can get confusing at times. Anyways, after being persuaded to have some coffee, we finally left and Roxy and I were already planning on going out. This time around we went to a local movie mall and went to the coffee shop there. Ok, so almost everything is way expensive here compared to the states, but I did notice that a movie is only $3.99... WOW, and that night in particular i think it was 2 for 1. What a deal!!! After that we went back to Plaza Fuc and hit a little restaurant called Arabia for some food and tea.
Wednesday started out even worse... My cold is progressing, nothing i do is helping, so now my cousin is making me all these teas and I´m trying to just sweat it out. After updating my blog and chatting with friends, i headed back home and Chani decided we were going to go to the Malls in the area and just bum around. Not a big deal on any normal day, but my cough was bad and can i tell you , there is no pollution control here... UGH... After gettng back we waited for Roxy to get back from work, went to pick up my aunt and we were off to my other cousin´s house. Now one of these cousins, the last time i saw him, he just turned a year old... he´s now 21... yeah, like he would remember me... hehe... anyways, we all sat around, drank some wine and they pulled out the old photo album and we started laughing at the old pictures. I never laughed so hard, and it was scary to see what we looked like 20 yrs ago... OUCH!!! They my cousin Pricilia and Gaby had us all sit down for dinner and we ate like crazy... It was a good time. Since we left there way after 10, i just looked at Roxy and was like, guess we´re not going out tonight, huh? Regardless, we were still wired when we got home so we stayed up watching tv.
Thursday was the worst ever... My cold was at full swing... I slept in late, had a small breakfast and then spent a short time at the cafe. I got back home and passed out again. I don´t think i´ve slept this much in ages. I got up around 3 and had lunch, then Roxy got home and we went to do some groceries. Granted I was still feeling MISERABLE, I couldn´t say no to going out. We were going to hit a bar, Flashback, to catch some band, but when we got there they said it wasn´t going to start until almost 11:30. So we decided to drive around and ended up at a coffee shop called Mosaiac. This place was kewl. it was right on the mountain side overlooking the center of quito. The fog was cooperative and stayed hi so we could enjoy the sights. I had my hot chocolate with a shot of baileys and i was starting to feel a little better. But then a group sat by us and when they started to smoke, it was all down hill for me... That was my clue to go home and get some rest. ´
Friday, today, the plan of attack is to go to Cris, Roxy´s sister´s house, for lunch and the go see my mom´s other sister. After that it´s up in the air. We may go out, but it may have to wait, as tomorrow I leave quito for Riobamba and Baños. It looks like I will be MIA until we return which will be on Tuesday, January 23rd. Then I´ll be spending one day here again before heading to the northern part of ecuador to spend time with my dad´s side of the family..
So this looks like it will be my last entry for a few days, and i´m sure many of you are happy about that... But I´ll let you know what happens this weekend on Wednesday morning...
Ciao for now
Monday morning we took Mark to the Airport for his flight home. Since I got no sleep the night before due to the wonderful altitude, I decided to take a nap which didn´t last long. I had breakfast and then headed to, what has become my morning home, the cybercafe. Let me tell you, the speed and the price is so much better here than it was in San Cristobal. I started my entries for the dive trip and I think I spent like 4 hours here (yeah i know i´m sick..) and it was less than 4 dollars, what a bargin. I found my way back home and just rested a little more before Roxy (my cousin) came home and we had lunch with her mom, Chani. Ok, so one thing you should know about this place... For us, you can say that our big meal of the day is Dinner... not here, it´s lunch. So usually after lunch I just want to pass out cuz I´m FULL!!! Monday also happened to be the changing of the presidents here, so there was nothing to watch on tv so my time spent at the cafe was a good thing. I did manage to crash after lunch and was woken up about 2 hrs after I passed out because my aunt came to visit me. This is my dad´s youngest sister... OMG i was so out of it. She brought me chocolates and a HUGE floral arrangement. After talking a bit and then having some coffee, she had to go. Roxy looked at me and asked if was up to going out and i was like... OK!! 2 of her friends were waiting for us to go out so we piled into her car and went back to Gaupulo. There we ordered a couple of drinks and one of the guys had food. It was really kewl to watch the fog rise over the side of the mountains. We then took off from there, drove down the Iglesia de Guapulo (church of Guapulo) and kept on going down these winding roads. In the end we went to Plaza Fuc, this is an intersection where there are several outdoor bars and restaurants. We heading in to one place and had yet more to drink. It was getting close to midnight so we decided to head back. i´m the only one here that doesn´t work so they all needed to get some sleep...
Tuesday didn´t start as good as i wanted it to. I had a minor sore throat on Monday and now I had a major cough. I knew it, I´m gonna get sick. Last time I was here I had gotten sick and I remember my mom taking me to one of the pharmacy´s here and they gave me a shot and i passed out... So now when my cousin was asking me if i wanted to get a shot i was like NOPE!!! Anyways, today I went to see my aunt Melidita. It´s been so long since I´ve seen her and it was nice, my cousin Eduardo was also there, and that was a shocker to me... All in all it was a good visit. We waited around for Roxy to get out of work for her to pick us up and bring us back home, or as she put it, to save me from the inquisition from her mom and grandmother (my aunt)... Did I mention I have 20 million relatives here and it can get confusing at times. Anyways, after being persuaded to have some coffee, we finally left and Roxy and I were already planning on going out. This time around we went to a local movie mall and went to the coffee shop there. Ok, so almost everything is way expensive here compared to the states, but I did notice that a movie is only $3.99... WOW, and that night in particular i think it was 2 for 1. What a deal!!! After that we went back to Plaza Fuc and hit a little restaurant called Arabia for some food and tea.
Wednesday started out even worse... My cold is progressing, nothing i do is helping, so now my cousin is making me all these teas and I´m trying to just sweat it out. After updating my blog and chatting with friends, i headed back home and Chani decided we were going to go to the Malls in the area and just bum around. Not a big deal on any normal day, but my cough was bad and can i tell you , there is no pollution control here... UGH... After gettng back we waited for Roxy to get back from work, went to pick up my aunt and we were off to my other cousin´s house. Now one of these cousins, the last time i saw him, he just turned a year old... he´s now 21... yeah, like he would remember me... hehe... anyways, we all sat around, drank some wine and they pulled out the old photo album and we started laughing at the old pictures. I never laughed so hard, and it was scary to see what we looked like 20 yrs ago... OUCH!!! They my cousin Pricilia and Gaby had us all sit down for dinner and we ate like crazy... It was a good time. Since we left there way after 10, i just looked at Roxy and was like, guess we´re not going out tonight, huh? Regardless, we were still wired when we got home so we stayed up watching tv.
Thursday was the worst ever... My cold was at full swing... I slept in late, had a small breakfast and then spent a short time at the cafe. I got back home and passed out again. I don´t think i´ve slept this much in ages. I got up around 3 and had lunch, then Roxy got home and we went to do some groceries. Granted I was still feeling MISERABLE, I couldn´t say no to going out. We were going to hit a bar, Flashback, to catch some band, but when we got there they said it wasn´t going to start until almost 11:30. So we decided to drive around and ended up at a coffee shop called Mosaiac. This place was kewl. it was right on the mountain side overlooking the center of quito. The fog was cooperative and stayed hi so we could enjoy the sights. I had my hot chocolate with a shot of baileys and i was starting to feel a little better. But then a group sat by us and when they started to smoke, it was all down hill for me... That was my clue to go home and get some rest. ´
Friday, today, the plan of attack is to go to Cris, Roxy´s sister´s house, for lunch and the go see my mom´s other sister. After that it´s up in the air. We may go out, but it may have to wait, as tomorrow I leave quito for Riobamba and Baños. It looks like I will be MIA until we return which will be on Tuesday, January 23rd. Then I´ll be spending one day here again before heading to the northern part of ecuador to spend time with my dad´s side of the family..
So this looks like it will be my last entry for a few days, and i´m sure many of you are happy about that... But I´ll let you know what happens this weekend on Wednesday morning...
Ciao for now
Sunday, January 14, 2007
January 14, 2007 -- Going Home... We think
Ok, so the trip back to San Cristobal was the rockiest one ever. I felt so bad for those in the dungeon, but once I heard that anchor drop, i new for sure Don and Kathy were wide awake. One good thing, luckily we packed up the wet suits last night, because it rained all night long, poor Andrew left his on deck to dry and now it was soaked.
So our luggage had to be packed by 8, and on the deck, carry-on´s and ourselves had to be in the common area around 9, and ready to head to land shortly there after. We were all so worried because it was really raining. We found out that the plane to land and take-off needs a visual on the runway. If the rain didn´t let up, we´d be stuck there the night and leave tomorrow. No worries for me, i was staying in quito until the 31st, but Mark was upset because he had to get back to chicago for work... Oh well... We headed to land, in a wet zodiac and it still raining on us. Several of us hit the internet cafe and checked on what was going on in the real world the past week. Soon Edwin came back and took us to the airport... Go or no go, we had to wait there. So we shopped the little shops there and sat and waited...
but wait... the clouds started to lift and we heard that a plan was going to be landing after noon. We knew now that we´d be on our way... We were just about an hour late from our original departure, but at least no one had to worry about connecting flights...
BYE BYE GALAPAGOS!!! It has been the best diving ever!!!
So our luggage had to be packed by 8, and on the deck, carry-on´s and ourselves had to be in the common area around 9, and ready to head to land shortly there after. We were all so worried because it was really raining. We found out that the plane to land and take-off needs a visual on the runway. If the rain didn´t let up, we´d be stuck there the night and leave tomorrow. No worries for me, i was staying in quito until the 31st, but Mark was upset because he had to get back to chicago for work... Oh well... We headed to land, in a wet zodiac and it still raining on us. Several of us hit the internet cafe and checked on what was going on in the real world the past week. Soon Edwin came back and took us to the airport... Go or no go, we had to wait there. So we shopped the little shops there and sat and waited...
but wait... the clouds started to lift and we heard that a plan was going to be landing after noon. We knew now that we´d be on our way... We were just about an hour late from our original departure, but at least no one had to worry about connecting flights...
BYE BYE GALAPAGOS!!! It has been the best diving ever!!!
Saturday, January 13, 2007
January 13, 2007 -- Gordon Rocks & Land Trip
Ok, from all the briefings, I have to say that this one scared me the most. We were to do 2 dives here, but i only opted for one... I wanted to do this dive, but all the stuff i was hearing was telling me not to. I had to tell Mark that if I went on this dive, that he had to stick close by because i didn´t want him to be wandering off and then I´d have to try to figure out where he went. So we were set. I was gonna do it...
Dive 1
Dive Site: Gordon Rocks
Max Depth: 110ft
Max Time: 60 minutes
Temp: 77.5
Details: The briefing on this dive was scary. we were told of strong currents, lots of turbulance and possible downflows and very unpredictable. That the downflows could be soo strong that we would be pushed to the bottom and probably be stuck there for 20+ minutes. If we made it past the decent, we would have 3 pinnicles to go thru. now remember the last pinnicle that just shot us out into the blue, this time our DM would look at the direction of the fish and see if we would head out of the crater and into the blue that would go down to over 200 ft. Now you can see what freaked me out, but in the end it wasn´t all that bad. This dive ended up being 45 minutes, max depth 100ft, visibility 50-60ft. Miguel said that this was the calmest he has seen this place. It turned out to be a very relaxful with much to see. One big surprise, was that Fid stayed with the group, no search party to find him this dive... what a concept. Inside the crater we saw several sharks, both white tip and black tip... Once we hit the pinnicles, Miguel checked the conditions and we headed out of the crater. This now seemed like a wall dive. Only problem was if you stayed too close to the wall, the surge pushed you into the rocks and that was not fun at all... During this part of the dive, we stayed around 50-60ft. The sharks seemed a bit nosier and came closer. At one point a white tip seemed to be coming straight for me, i did a quick kick and headed up a bit and he just kept on swimming, guess i was in his way. There was also a huge group of sealions playing at the surface, about 10-15 of them. Looks like they were trying to figure out what was going on, so they´d hang at the top, send a buddy down who would just swim past and then go up and report to his friends... Funny little guys...
What a way to end the dive trip...
With this being my last dive, we were back on the boat where the staff took all our gear and cleaned it up and set it to dry on the upper deck. so nice not to have to worry about stuff like that. I settled in with my beer and relaxed the rest of the day, feel asleep on the upper deck and got a little more sun, and then headed below to talk with those that opted out of the second dive...
After the second dive was completed, we were all called into the common area to view the video that was created by Edwin and Miguel during our dive and land trips. It´s about a 30 minute video and it captured highlights of our trip... way too kewl, and couldn´t resist it getting it. After the viewing, we were informed of the plans for the rest of the day. We will be heading off to Santa Cruz where the Darwin Station is located. There we will be taking a tour and then we will have time to go shopping and, if we wished, stay on land and have dinner. Although dinner will be served on the boat, they really seemed to be pushing for us to stay on land. So we all decided we would. And finally, they then asked to move into the dining area so that we could enjoy a traditional Ecuadorian meal... OMG, this was the best (sorry, sames are in spanish... LOL)... Hornado de Riobamba (pork), rice with fried plantains, llampingachos (a potatoe pancake type thing) with peanut sauce, ceviche with popcorn, choclomote (hard to explain but good), chicken, and soooo much more... i think i had thirds on that meal.
Land Trip -- Santa Cruz Island -- Darwin Station
After lunch I headed to my room to start my packing and change for the land trip. My gear was packed as good as it could be, but my wet suit was soaking on the top deck. Soon we were docking in Santa Cruz and headed off to land. It was so hot and humid today, we were really not ready for this. But we trekked thru the area and checked out everything. It´s a pretty impressive spot. There was a hackery for turtles so that they could repopulate the islands for those turtles that are becoming extinct due to human involvment. We also got to go into the area where the female turtles are kept and then into the male area. These were big and we were told they were only about 30+ years old. We finally stopped by to take a look at Lonely George. As I had stated in a previous blog, Lonesome George is the last of his kind. they have him with 2 females, but unfortnately he hasn´t had any interest in them and has yet to reproduce. There was a small exhibit for the marine iguana´s that we checked out before ending this tour.
At the end, we were told of the schedule for the zodiac´s to pick us up and were set free on the town. Mark, David and I headed out, shortly we were joined by Don and Kathy and we headed down the only main road in this place and went to town. We stopped in a few shops on the way, but some of the funny t-shirts really would not make sense to those that haven´t been to the galapagos or know anything about the animals, like the blue footed booby and Lonesome George. We were told of a place to eat, so we split off from Don and Kathy and tried to find this place. For a short time Stan joined us, but we soon lost him. We did find this place to eat, but honestly it looked pretty scary so we decided to hit the main road and look for a place with either a fan or ac... OMG, did i say it was humid today... We spotted Don and Kathy in a bar and stopped in to join them, then Kathy and I left the boys and hit a few of the stores near by. We were all getting pretty hungry so we found this little hotel and stopped in to get some food. The place was nice and the food was good. Too much, as in the true Ecuadorian standard. Soon we left and headed back to the pier to try to catch one of the zodiacs. On our walk, we ran into Andrew and Fid, who you could tell had one to many to drink and Andrew was shopping and started to buy me and Kathy gifts... We finally hit the peir and now all we had to do was wait for the zodiac. We managed to lose Andrew and Fid but picked up 2 of the brazileans and Stan. We all headed back, packed up what else we had and turned in early...
Next port of call... San Cristobal...
Dive 1
Dive Site: Gordon Rocks
Max Depth: 110ft
Max Time: 60 minutes
Temp: 77.5
Details: The briefing on this dive was scary. we were told of strong currents, lots of turbulance and possible downflows and very unpredictable. That the downflows could be soo strong that we would be pushed to the bottom and probably be stuck there for 20+ minutes. If we made it past the decent, we would have 3 pinnicles to go thru. now remember the last pinnicle that just shot us out into the blue, this time our DM would look at the direction of the fish and see if we would head out of the crater and into the blue that would go down to over 200 ft. Now you can see what freaked me out, but in the end it wasn´t all that bad. This dive ended up being 45 minutes, max depth 100ft, visibility 50-60ft. Miguel said that this was the calmest he has seen this place. It turned out to be a very relaxful with much to see. One big surprise, was that Fid stayed with the group, no search party to find him this dive... what a concept. Inside the crater we saw several sharks, both white tip and black tip... Once we hit the pinnicles, Miguel checked the conditions and we headed out of the crater. This now seemed like a wall dive. Only problem was if you stayed too close to the wall, the surge pushed you into the rocks and that was not fun at all... During this part of the dive, we stayed around 50-60ft. The sharks seemed a bit nosier and came closer. At one point a white tip seemed to be coming straight for me, i did a quick kick and headed up a bit and he just kept on swimming, guess i was in his way. There was also a huge group of sealions playing at the surface, about 10-15 of them. Looks like they were trying to figure out what was going on, so they´d hang at the top, send a buddy down who would just swim past and then go up and report to his friends... Funny little guys...
What a way to end the dive trip...
With this being my last dive, we were back on the boat where the staff took all our gear and cleaned it up and set it to dry on the upper deck. so nice not to have to worry about stuff like that. I settled in with my beer and relaxed the rest of the day, feel asleep on the upper deck and got a little more sun, and then headed below to talk with those that opted out of the second dive...
After the second dive was completed, we were all called into the common area to view the video that was created by Edwin and Miguel during our dive and land trips. It´s about a 30 minute video and it captured highlights of our trip... way too kewl, and couldn´t resist it getting it. After the viewing, we were informed of the plans for the rest of the day. We will be heading off to Santa Cruz where the Darwin Station is located. There we will be taking a tour and then we will have time to go shopping and, if we wished, stay on land and have dinner. Although dinner will be served on the boat, they really seemed to be pushing for us to stay on land. So we all decided we would. And finally, they then asked to move into the dining area so that we could enjoy a traditional Ecuadorian meal... OMG, this was the best (sorry, sames are in spanish... LOL)... Hornado de Riobamba (pork), rice with fried plantains, llampingachos (a potatoe pancake type thing) with peanut sauce, ceviche with popcorn, choclomote (hard to explain but good), chicken, and soooo much more... i think i had thirds on that meal.
Land Trip -- Santa Cruz Island -- Darwin Station
After lunch I headed to my room to start my packing and change for the land trip. My gear was packed as good as it could be, but my wet suit was soaking on the top deck. Soon we were docking in Santa Cruz and headed off to land. It was so hot and humid today, we were really not ready for this. But we trekked thru the area and checked out everything. It´s a pretty impressive spot. There was a hackery for turtles so that they could repopulate the islands for those turtles that are becoming extinct due to human involvment. We also got to go into the area where the female turtles are kept and then into the male area. These were big and we were told they were only about 30+ years old. We finally stopped by to take a look at Lonely George. As I had stated in a previous blog, Lonesome George is the last of his kind. they have him with 2 females, but unfortnately he hasn´t had any interest in them and has yet to reproduce. There was a small exhibit for the marine iguana´s that we checked out before ending this tour.
At the end, we were told of the schedule for the zodiac´s to pick us up and were set free on the town. Mark, David and I headed out, shortly we were joined by Don and Kathy and we headed down the only main road in this place and went to town. We stopped in a few shops on the way, but some of the funny t-shirts really would not make sense to those that haven´t been to the galapagos or know anything about the animals, like the blue footed booby and Lonesome George. We were told of a place to eat, so we split off from Don and Kathy and tried to find this place. For a short time Stan joined us, but we soon lost him. We did find this place to eat, but honestly it looked pretty scary so we decided to hit the main road and look for a place with either a fan or ac... OMG, did i say it was humid today... We spotted Don and Kathy in a bar and stopped in to join them, then Kathy and I left the boys and hit a few of the stores near by. We were all getting pretty hungry so we found this little hotel and stopped in to get some food. The place was nice and the food was good. Too much, as in the true Ecuadorian standard. Soon we left and headed back to the pier to try to catch one of the zodiacs. On our walk, we ran into Andrew and Fid, who you could tell had one to many to drink and Andrew was shopping and started to buy me and Kathy gifts... We finally hit the peir and now all we had to do was wait for the zodiac. We managed to lose Andrew and Fid but picked up 2 of the brazileans and Stan. We all headed back, packed up what else we had and turned in early...
Next port of call... San Cristobal...
Friday, January 12, 2007
January 12, 2007 -- Isabella Island and Land Tour
It seemed like forever before we finally got to see land. Last night, after we set sail and were getting our breifing after dinner about today´s plans, Wolf was still in the background, and it was already 2 HOURS after we set off...
Ok, todays plans entailed an early afternoon dive, a tour of Santiago Island and then an optional night dive... I´m sooo there. I missed the last night dive, so i want to get at least one in on this trip.
Dive 1
Dive Site: El Basurero (aka... Garbage Can)
Max Depth: 100ft
Max Time: 60 minutes
Temp: 79
Details: Interesting name for a dive sight, i wondered what we´d find here. This dive ended up being 56 minutes, max depth 53ft, visibility 50-60ft. This turned out to be a very gentle drift dive. We stayed closer to the rock wall and the sandy bottom watching and taking pictures of sea life. We saw several HUGE manta´s swimming above our heads. There was a small school of them, about 3-4. they looked magnificant and we were just in awe looking at them. At one point, i must have been busy doing something other than watching what was around me, probably taking a picture, that Mark spotted a white tip shark close to me. He said it was close enough to bite my fin... Now i don´t know if i should believe that, cuz this boy does tend to exaggerate on certain things... At one point Mark decided to head off into the blue, and Don followed him along, I didn´t feel like baby sitting him so i buddied up with David and started to take pictures and check other stuff out. Then out of no where a little sealion came out to check out what we were doing. Before we knew it, he was gone. Next we spotted a ray in the sandy bottom, which i pointed out to Miguel (who had the camcorder this dive) and he chased it to get a shot of it swimming. Unfortunately my camera battery died, so i was done with pictures for the dive.
Land Trip -- Santiago Island
This land stop was a fun one. Santiago Island was a wet landing where we were going to get the chance to see marine iguana´s and fur sealions. It was a long walk, but at least no stairs. Right when we landed, we spotted an iguana and we all go camera happy. Then in the side of rocks on the beach was a sealions just sleeping away... awww how cute... Little did we know what we had instore. We followed Edwin, who is also the naturalist on board, thru the marked path. We eventually hit another shoreline, filled with petrified ash, and found the mecca of marine iguana´s. From what we were told, these were all males, the the females are the one´s that come and go more. We were also told that the difference in cold had to do with where the males were in their process of mating season. The more color the male had, the more ready he was to mate. As we walked along the rocks/ash we heard this little cry... It was a baby sealion looking for him mommy... i wanted to just go and pick him up, he was so cute... It seems like it was baby season. So many little one and there mom´s on the rock. there was one little guy that was just feasting on his mothers milk and mom just laid there, sleeping... As we walked further on, we finally met the fur sealions. They kind of looked the same as the other ones, but Edwin picked out the differences. They had a pointer nose, bigger eyes, and a little fatter. From what we were told, unlike other sealions that just like to lay down where ever to sleep, these guys have a larger layer of fat, and so they look for closed off ledges where they could be away from the sun. After all was seen, Edwin had us all, stand on the rocks, as a group, for our good-bye shot...
Dive 2
Dive Site: Puerto Egas
Max Depth: 60ft
Max Time: 60 minutes
Temp: 79
Details: So here was my first night dive on the trip. It was a sandy bottom, so we really had no problem with going over the sides of the rocks. This dive ended up being 40 minutes, max depth 56ft, visibility NIGHT!!! Mark had decided to sit this dive out, so I teamed up with David. As with all the other dives, we suited up and headed for the zodiac. Right as we get seated, Miguel starts off, everyone ready. We were like no way, they started the motor, took us a few feet off the boat and we were ready to enter... we all started to scream... WHY DIDN´T WE DO A GIANT STRIDE IN FROM THE BACK... Everyone on the boat was laughing too... it was just soo wrong to have to take the zodiac out for that. Picking us up was another thing, but entry... UGH!!! Only 6 of us decided to head out on this trip, and it turned out to be fun. The objective was to find one species of fish. NOTHING!!! What we did see was a ray, eels, small scorpion fish, and little itty bitty fish that David and I would put our flashlights on hoping something bigger would come along (and eat him... hehe). There was also this other funky looking thing that looked like a milliped, which i was later told was a ¨gusano de fuego¨, fire bug. This truly was a very comfortable dive and it helped to take my mind off things and when i returned i was all smiles and happy. I do have to say, one of the fun parts of the dive was chasing the tiny shrimps and crabs and eels with my flash light and watch them scurry into the sand, then all you´d see would be little orange eyes in the sand. The hard part of the dive was getting a good safety stop. It was so dark, i kept on going deep or at one point almost shot up.
Dinner time... I´m STARVING!!!! but at least i got a night dive in
Ok, todays plans entailed an early afternoon dive, a tour of Santiago Island and then an optional night dive... I´m sooo there. I missed the last night dive, so i want to get at least one in on this trip.
Dive 1
Dive Site: El Basurero (aka... Garbage Can)
Max Depth: 100ft
Max Time: 60 minutes
Temp: 79
Details: Interesting name for a dive sight, i wondered what we´d find here. This dive ended up being 56 minutes, max depth 53ft, visibility 50-60ft. This turned out to be a very gentle drift dive. We stayed closer to the rock wall and the sandy bottom watching and taking pictures of sea life. We saw several HUGE manta´s swimming above our heads. There was a small school of them, about 3-4. they looked magnificant and we were just in awe looking at them. At one point, i must have been busy doing something other than watching what was around me, probably taking a picture, that Mark spotted a white tip shark close to me. He said it was close enough to bite my fin... Now i don´t know if i should believe that, cuz this boy does tend to exaggerate on certain things... At one point Mark decided to head off into the blue, and Don followed him along, I didn´t feel like baby sitting him so i buddied up with David and started to take pictures and check other stuff out. Then out of no where a little sealion came out to check out what we were doing. Before we knew it, he was gone. Next we spotted a ray in the sandy bottom, which i pointed out to Miguel (who had the camcorder this dive) and he chased it to get a shot of it swimming. Unfortunately my camera battery died, so i was done with pictures for the dive.
Land Trip -- Santiago Island
This land stop was a fun one. Santiago Island was a wet landing where we were going to get the chance to see marine iguana´s and fur sealions. It was a long walk, but at least no stairs. Right when we landed, we spotted an iguana and we all go camera happy. Then in the side of rocks on the beach was a sealions just sleeping away... awww how cute... Little did we know what we had instore. We followed Edwin, who is also the naturalist on board, thru the marked path. We eventually hit another shoreline, filled with petrified ash, and found the mecca of marine iguana´s. From what we were told, these were all males, the the females are the one´s that come and go more. We were also told that the difference in cold had to do with where the males were in their process of mating season. The more color the male had, the more ready he was to mate. As we walked along the rocks/ash we heard this little cry... It was a baby sealion looking for him mommy... i wanted to just go and pick him up, he was so cute... It seems like it was baby season. So many little one and there mom´s on the rock. there was one little guy that was just feasting on his mothers milk and mom just laid there, sleeping... As we walked further on, we finally met the fur sealions. They kind of looked the same as the other ones, but Edwin picked out the differences. They had a pointer nose, bigger eyes, and a little fatter. From what we were told, unlike other sealions that just like to lay down where ever to sleep, these guys have a larger layer of fat, and so they look for closed off ledges where they could be away from the sun. After all was seen, Edwin had us all, stand on the rocks, as a group, for our good-bye shot...
Dive 2
Dive Site: Puerto Egas
Max Depth: 60ft
Max Time: 60 minutes
Temp: 79
Details: So here was my first night dive on the trip. It was a sandy bottom, so we really had no problem with going over the sides of the rocks. This dive ended up being 40 minutes, max depth 56ft, visibility NIGHT!!! Mark had decided to sit this dive out, so I teamed up with David. As with all the other dives, we suited up and headed for the zodiac. Right as we get seated, Miguel starts off, everyone ready. We were like no way, they started the motor, took us a few feet off the boat and we were ready to enter... we all started to scream... WHY DIDN´T WE DO A GIANT STRIDE IN FROM THE BACK... Everyone on the boat was laughing too... it was just soo wrong to have to take the zodiac out for that. Picking us up was another thing, but entry... UGH!!! Only 6 of us decided to head out on this trip, and it turned out to be fun. The objective was to find one species of fish. NOTHING!!! What we did see was a ray, eels, small scorpion fish, and little itty bitty fish that David and I would put our flashlights on hoping something bigger would come along (and eat him... hehe). There was also this other funky looking thing that looked like a milliped, which i was later told was a ¨gusano de fuego¨, fire bug. This truly was a very comfortable dive and it helped to take my mind off things and when i returned i was all smiles and happy. I do have to say, one of the fun parts of the dive was chasing the tiny shrimps and crabs and eels with my flash light and watch them scurry into the sand, then all you´d see would be little orange eyes in the sand. The hard part of the dive was getting a good safety stop. It was so dark, i kept on going deep or at one point almost shot up.
Dinner time... I´m STARVING!!!! but at least i got a night dive in
Thursday, January 11, 2007
January 11, 2007 -- Wolf Island
Last night we headed back to Wolf Island. It was a bit of a choppie ride, as we were heading against the current. Luckily it was only a 2 hr ride back. We had achored off just after 11pm, so when you sat out on the deck, all you saw were millions of stars in the sky.
Today they have 4 dives planned. 2 morning dives, and 2 afternoon dives. I decided to opt out of the second afternoon dive, as it was in a location we had gone to 4 times already and I really wasn´t feeling all good from the 4 dives yesterday.
Dive 1
Dive Site: Landslide
Max Depth: 100ft
Max Time: 60 minutes
Temp: 78
Details: So this is the 3rd dive in the same location, my expectations were pretty low, as I didn´t know what else to expect different, other than the strength of the current. This dive ended up being 40 minutes, max depth 75ft, visibility 50-60ft. Surprisingly this dive turned out to be a wonderful dive. Current remained strong and at times you could feel the upflows of cold water that REALLY woke you up. This time around saw many blacktip sharks and hammerheads, that really hasn´t changed much. But with the cold upflows, the sharks were not afraid to come closer than normal. At one point I spotted mark just playing in some bolders.. go figure... when i got to him, i found out the reason... he found DINNER!!! LOBSTER!!! but unfortunately the little guy was uncooperative and refused to come out and play, I even tried to take a picture of him and all i got was his feeler sticking out from inside the bolder. Guess we´ll be eating whatever the chef makes us today for dinner. I did get more pictures today, but we found out that the other group did find a whale shark, they said it was a baby only about 10-15ft in length.. YIKES!!! at first we didn´t believe them, but then we saw the picture... PRETTY KEWL!!!!
Dive 2
Dive Site: Landslide
Max Depth: 100ft
Max Time: 60 minutes
Temp: 78
Details: We wanted to take a different approach to this dive and instead of just sitting around watching thing go by, we let the current take us and turned into a strong drift dive. This dive ended up being 43 minutes, max depth 76ft, visibility 50-60ft. Since this was a drift dive, i felt a little overweighted so stuck a little more around the boulders/rocks and took some pictures. You can only look at hammerheads for so long. We did manage to spot a school of manta and eagle rays. Now those were magnificant to see. They were so graceful in the water... WOW!!! Nothing much different from this dives than the rest. With the colder updrafts i did find several more eels, including a zebra eel swimming around. During our ascent, we heading into a school of blacktip and hammerhead sharks and slowly started to go up. It didn´t phase them one bit. Just before getting into the zodiac, Mark spotted a HUGE ray just hanging out below us, so we had to take a look, unfortunately i already handed over my bcd, so all i could do was hang on to the zodiac and look below.
Dive 3
Dive Site: Pinnacle
Max Depth: 100ft
Max Time: 60 minutes
Temp: 79
Details: Now this dive sounded interesting. This was more of a wall dive were swim thru´s, caves and even a very strong revolving current that they called a ¨washing¨machine were present. It truly was a different type of dive for us. My dive ended up being 40 minutes, max depth 81ft, visibility 50-60ft. Wall diving can be difficult, especially if you have trouble with your bouyancy. You don´t have a bottom, or at least you don´t know where it´s at, and you need to be very dependent on your depth guage as to not go too deep. We found a turtle sleeping on top of some rocks on the wall, it was pretty kewl, he hardly moved, but with all the sediment in the water, my picture looks a bit icky. I´ll have to wait until i get home to use my photo software to clean things up a bit. The first swim thru we hit was a small one. It went from low to high. Miguel decided to go a different way. Instead of starting at the low end, swimming up to the top end, we went to the end of the swim thru (top) and worked our way backwards so that we would be at the proper level for the next swim thru. It was pretty intersting. The next swim thru had one entry point and 2 exits. A hi and a low. I was right behind Miguel, so i wouldn´t have to deal with all the kick up from other fins. Problem here, we never knew there were 2 exits, and so i saw the lower one, headed for that, and then I see Miguel going for the top one. As I didn´t know where the lower one would take me, I tried my hardest to try to go back in and head up, but the current wouldn´t allow it and it forced me out. In the process, i grabbed on to rocks and got tossed a bit, and managed to get my hand cut, thru my gloves on some of the barnicles. The next obsticle of this dive was the actual pinnicle, where we will encounter the ¨washing¨machine. The idea here was to swim low, grab on to the boulders and watch the sealife whip around in circles as if they were in a spin cycle. We reached the pinnicle, I hid behind it with Miguel as there was no current, but mark went around to the front, not sure what he saw. So being the good dive buddy, i followed him... Next thing we knew, we were swept away into the blue. We were all so confused... I looked at Mark, Don and David and was like what know... So we decided we´d hang out a bit and then start to ascend. This current was sooo bad, we went beyond our own boat. We almost left the little cove area that we were anchored at. Later on, we find out from Miguel, that a few years back, before they had the sonar radios that were given out to buddy teams, that he was swept away from the pinnicle in the same manner. But that time the current was much rougher he ended up a few miles away from the cove and it took some time before they found him... YIKE!!! Glad he told us afterwards, not before... LOL
Dive 4 was back at Landslide, being that we went 4 times there already, i just decided to end my diving for the day. It was a good thing, i´m guessing the current was really bad because they never got to the end of the dive....
With our dives completed, it was time to take up anchor and head back to the other islands. Since we had to head against the current, this trip was going to be much longer that our trip out... It´s sure gonna be a bumpy ride, I´m so glad I´m not in the dungeon...
Today they have 4 dives planned. 2 morning dives, and 2 afternoon dives. I decided to opt out of the second afternoon dive, as it was in a location we had gone to 4 times already and I really wasn´t feeling all good from the 4 dives yesterday.
Dive 1
Dive Site: Landslide
Max Depth: 100ft
Max Time: 60 minutes
Temp: 78
Details: So this is the 3rd dive in the same location, my expectations were pretty low, as I didn´t know what else to expect different, other than the strength of the current. This dive ended up being 40 minutes, max depth 75ft, visibility 50-60ft. Surprisingly this dive turned out to be a wonderful dive. Current remained strong and at times you could feel the upflows of cold water that REALLY woke you up. This time around saw many blacktip sharks and hammerheads, that really hasn´t changed much. But with the cold upflows, the sharks were not afraid to come closer than normal. At one point I spotted mark just playing in some bolders.. go figure... when i got to him, i found out the reason... he found DINNER!!! LOBSTER!!! but unfortunately the little guy was uncooperative and refused to come out and play, I even tried to take a picture of him and all i got was his feeler sticking out from inside the bolder. Guess we´ll be eating whatever the chef makes us today for dinner. I did get more pictures today, but we found out that the other group did find a whale shark, they said it was a baby only about 10-15ft in length.. YIKES!!! at first we didn´t believe them, but then we saw the picture... PRETTY KEWL!!!!
Dive 2
Dive Site: Landslide
Max Depth: 100ft
Max Time: 60 minutes
Temp: 78
Details: We wanted to take a different approach to this dive and instead of just sitting around watching thing go by, we let the current take us and turned into a strong drift dive. This dive ended up being 43 minutes, max depth 76ft, visibility 50-60ft. Since this was a drift dive, i felt a little overweighted so stuck a little more around the boulders/rocks and took some pictures. You can only look at hammerheads for so long. We did manage to spot a school of manta and eagle rays. Now those were magnificant to see. They were so graceful in the water... WOW!!! Nothing much different from this dives than the rest. With the colder updrafts i did find several more eels, including a zebra eel swimming around. During our ascent, we heading into a school of blacktip and hammerhead sharks and slowly started to go up. It didn´t phase them one bit. Just before getting into the zodiac, Mark spotted a HUGE ray just hanging out below us, so we had to take a look, unfortunately i already handed over my bcd, so all i could do was hang on to the zodiac and look below.
Dive 3
Dive Site: Pinnacle
Max Depth: 100ft
Max Time: 60 minutes
Temp: 79
Details: Now this dive sounded interesting. This was more of a wall dive were swim thru´s, caves and even a very strong revolving current that they called a ¨washing¨machine were present. It truly was a different type of dive for us. My dive ended up being 40 minutes, max depth 81ft, visibility 50-60ft. Wall diving can be difficult, especially if you have trouble with your bouyancy. You don´t have a bottom, or at least you don´t know where it´s at, and you need to be very dependent on your depth guage as to not go too deep. We found a turtle sleeping on top of some rocks on the wall, it was pretty kewl, he hardly moved, but with all the sediment in the water, my picture looks a bit icky. I´ll have to wait until i get home to use my photo software to clean things up a bit. The first swim thru we hit was a small one. It went from low to high. Miguel decided to go a different way. Instead of starting at the low end, swimming up to the top end, we went to the end of the swim thru (top) and worked our way backwards so that we would be at the proper level for the next swim thru. It was pretty intersting. The next swim thru had one entry point and 2 exits. A hi and a low. I was right behind Miguel, so i wouldn´t have to deal with all the kick up from other fins. Problem here, we never knew there were 2 exits, and so i saw the lower one, headed for that, and then I see Miguel going for the top one. As I didn´t know where the lower one would take me, I tried my hardest to try to go back in and head up, but the current wouldn´t allow it and it forced me out. In the process, i grabbed on to rocks and got tossed a bit, and managed to get my hand cut, thru my gloves on some of the barnicles. The next obsticle of this dive was the actual pinnicle, where we will encounter the ¨washing¨machine. The idea here was to swim low, grab on to the boulders and watch the sealife whip around in circles as if they were in a spin cycle. We reached the pinnicle, I hid behind it with Miguel as there was no current, but mark went around to the front, not sure what he saw. So being the good dive buddy, i followed him... Next thing we knew, we were swept away into the blue. We were all so confused... I looked at Mark, Don and David and was like what know... So we decided we´d hang out a bit and then start to ascend. This current was sooo bad, we went beyond our own boat. We almost left the little cove area that we were anchored at. Later on, we find out from Miguel, that a few years back, before they had the sonar radios that were given out to buddy teams, that he was swept away from the pinnicle in the same manner. But that time the current was much rougher he ended up a few miles away from the cove and it took some time before they found him... YIKE!!! Glad he told us afterwards, not before... LOL
Dive 4 was back at Landslide, being that we went 4 times there already, i just decided to end my diving for the day. It was a good thing, i´m guessing the current was really bad because they never got to the end of the dive....
With our dives completed, it was time to take up anchor and head back to the other islands. Since we had to head against the current, this trip was going to be much longer that our trip out... It´s sure gonna be a bumpy ride, I´m so glad I´m not in the dungeon...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
