… are hard to describe. It was a wonderful vacation… from our vacation.
We were stuffed to the gills with food 5 times a day and shuttled from island to island where we would go snorkeling and hiking around to see the animals which were RIGHT THERE. I almost got bitten by sea lions about 5 times – fantastic!
Our first afternoon when we went in the water, Jillian and I were scared and held hands, but not for too long. It quickly got very interesting and we got more and more brave… though, come to think of it, I was almost always the last person on the speedboat to jump over the side (maybe cuz I´m slow-moving, though?). I was actually shoved into the water no less than 3 times by our nature guide, who was sick of waiting for me to get the guts up (I was also the only one who did not have a wetsuit because I was too cheap to rent one, and the water is NOT as warm as you would imagine water on the equator might be).
There are sea lions EVERYWHERE, and they play with you in the water. They swim right at you until they are about 2 inches away and then suddenly break left or right. The first time one does it to you you wet your wetsuit, but quickly you see they are just really curious and playful and it´s a lot of fun to encounter them in the water.
There were sea lion pups on every beach… seriously they are the cutest little things I´ve ever seen in my life and they make the funniest little grunt / burp noises.
The were all kinds of iguanas (marine and land), the famous blue-footed boobies and other types of birds, sea turtles, manta rays and sharks (including hammerheads). I never in my life thought that someone would tell me there were sharks nearby offshore and that that would make me go toward the water, but I plunged in after them and saw a group of about 5 (reef sharks) just kind of milling around. They don´t care too much what you are doing, really.
The boat itself was a lot of fun becuase it was a seriously random mix of people. Well, mostly European, actually. Actually, yes, ALL European except for Jillian, me, an Australian couple, the crew and 2 token Canadians. But it was a good random mix of all kinds of Europeans.
The first half of the trip there were a bunch of random, single, young people (miscellaneous European) and then 2 Canadians who were older but whom fit right in with us. One had a cane but she overtook us all at one point or another and the other was this crazy lady named Anne who ran the Olympic torch through part of Canada during the last Olympics and ate lunch with the Queen and was declared the best bus driver in Alberta, Canada not too far back.
That half of the trip ended with a dance party on the bridge with the crew until the L-O-C-A hour of 10:00 pm (normally we were passed out by 8:30… right after dinner).
The second half of the trip we found ourselves with an insane Abbott and Costello German duo (gay or European???????) and then about 4 other couples, which sounds boring, but actually was not. Everyone is funny and más o menos personable.
It´s funny how quickly you get attached to people you meet when traveling. We had this dramatic goodbye waving to the crew and other passengers who weren´t leaving – us on the speedboat pulling away in the morning mist and them gathered on one side of the deck… quite Titanic-esque really.
And we found that the crew had become quite attached to us… they are 6 Ecuadorian men who don´t get off the boat too often… El capitan had a little something for Jillian and the first mate was constantly spouting poetry for her (through me as translator). Our guide took a liking to my blue eyes and the kitchen boy´s affection was not a bad thing…. I scored some extra cake last night and never once had to make my own hot cocoa after a chilly snorkel.
So we have come away with quite a few pen pals and I am seriously considering going to Germany to learn German, mein freund.
…I´m trying to upload pictures, but this internet café isn´t cooperating too well and I´m kind of on sensory overload this evening after having landed in a big city after a week of constant new experiences… I think we are going to watch some dubbed American tv tonight before we pass out in our lovely $7 hotel.
Chau (Spanish spelling)…
