Hola mi familia y amigos y amigas!
It is almost the end of our time in this magical place. It´s been very difficult to post pictures because the internet is so slow and because we´ve been so busy every day touring the islands. Today however Hailey and I stayed back in Puerto Ayora to have a down day and get our sea legs.
First the ocean swim! I swam a 2km swim in the ocean from a place out beyond the harbor here in Puerto Ayora, Isla Santa Cruz. Honestly, as we were traveling out in the boat in nothing but goggles and swim suits we were a little nervous. Once we went past the boats in the harbor the swells were pretty big and all of us were even more nervous. I think I was the boat cheerleader though because if I didn´t hoot and holler I would focus on my own anxiety about jumping off the back of a small boat into 3-4 foot swells to swim 2km!!! It was actually a wonderful swim and we all had a nice strong current in our favor so we were much faster than we thought we´d be. I swam with Hannah Davis, the daughter of Will and Diane who I swim with in Davis at 7am back home! We both had a blast once over our initial nervousness!
With the swim behind us we had a great lunch/ceremony with awards - funny! The past three days we´ve been on boat tours around all of the bigger islands Isabela, Seymour and Floreana. At each one we had special experiences. Here are some of my highlights: seeing land tortoises (galapagos), walking on aa lava and seeing the thousands of marine iguanas everywhere, swimming with sea lions, spotting a huge manta ray, watching blue footed booby´s feed just several feet in front of us, seeing flying fish. We swam with sea turtles and watched marine iguanas feeding underwater. And then the absolutely so amazing we saw penguins - the ones that swim up from the south witht he Humboldt current this time of year. They were so cute I couldn´t believe it!
I can´t wait to post and share so many pictures with everyone but you´ll have to wait until we get somewhere where we can really spend time downloading.
The food has been great too. Everyday we´ve had wahoo, a local fish, for lunch prepared either grilled or very lightly breaded and pan fried. It has been excellent everywhere. It has always been accompanied with a big scoop of white rice an a half of a peeled boiled potato that most people here slather with mayonase (YUCK!). There has been some salad matter and where ever we can we´ve been ordering vegetables. On the boat tours the guides have been great, knowledgeable and fun. On Floreana our guide got in the water withus and he was so much fun. The boat rides out to Isabela and Floreana were long and I can´t imagine one person in my family (mom, dad, aunties or cousins) who would have paid a penny to go on the trip. The ocean was rough and the boats were pretty small! The trip to isabela was especially traumatic - at least for hailey poor thing hung over the side the entire time.
Gotta go now. We´re all having a blast
adios
Lisa June 27, 2008
1 comment:
Wow! It sounds like you guys are having a great trip (apart from Hailey's bout with airsickness, of course). I am loving the pictures and the descriptions of the food and culture. I am totally jealous of the fruit you've been eating - I love papaya and pineapple! I'm so proud of you and your ocean swim Lisa - I can totally see you as the cheerleader:-) Dan and I are headed off to Montana tomorrow, where we'll spend a few days at Flathead Lake with my brother and his girlfriend, then we're driving up to Canmore, Alberta(where they live) for a few more days. I haven't brushed up on my Canadian, but I hear they don't get sarcasm, so I may be in trouble. Enjoy the rest of your trip!
Post a Comment