Trippin'

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Hello! Haven't written in ages... but there is so much to say! I apologize in advance that you have to read a ton.

Charlotte got here about two weeks ago which is wonderful. It is nice to have someone to speak to in English and we immediately got along. She is from the UK... she is 22 and just finished studying to become a teacher. We live in adjacent rooms and work at the same school. She works at Ingala in the morning from 7:30 to 9:30 and the school from 10 to 12. She is just learning Spanish so I do a fair bit of translating, but that only helps my spanish more since I am forced to actually understand things!

Halloween was fun, although different since we didn't have trick or treating! It was my very last halloween as a kid (still 17!). Everyone around here knows my birthday (because I talk about it literally nonstop).

School is going really well... the school is still a zoo, but I am enjoying it. This past week Jeremy threw sand at me and hit me again which was just splendid. Katherine promised she would just go to the bathroom but instead went to play on the swings. Melanie is still arriving late to school. Marcelo is still adorable and kisses me on the cheek when he leaves school. Who knows! I love them all so much even though they give me headaches all day. I am a tad jealous of the school work they get to do because they use so much glue! One of my favorite activities is feeling the glue out of the blue bottle caps we use to put the glue in when doing projects. The next day it is nearly always hard and it is quite fun. Sometimes when the kids are incapable of doing projects, I take the liberty of helping them. That always means coming home with my hands covered in glue! I had some interesting discussions with my teacher this week about food... Every day we get a little snack at about 9:30. This week there was rice with tuna. I said I would pass, and she said "No! Take one!". I said no since there was tuna... and she told me (in spanish)... "Its tuna, not fish!" The day after she asked if I would like arroz con pollo (rice with chicken). Apparently the term vegetarian was not made quite clear for her. School is great and I am learning a lot... it helps my spanish a told since I have to speak quickly to them since they are always running around! This week I taught them head, shoulders, knees, and toes as well as the hokey pokey.

Innfa is okay... I am learning a lot, but I will not be too sorry when I dont have to change dirty diapers every day!

Now for my new skill (although I should not be trusted)... Scuba Diving! I finished my open water course which was incredible. In one weekend I did four dives... This was about two weeks ago... On Saturday I dove twice near Playa Mann. I went with my friend Annie and two guides. There was a sea lion who was playing with us the entire time. He even bit my buddy's head! He kept swimming a foot away and then diving below us or right above. I was absolutely petrified underwater. I think that if you have stress issues like me, it is not the best idea to be underwater where air is not quite so easy to access. I eventually realized that I did have a tank of air on my back and that I could potentially use that!! I love scuba! Between the two dives, my friend Annie and I went to get lunch at a restaurant called La Playa. I had wonderful pasta (I am only talking about this because I have not had pasta with tomato sauce in ages). On Sunday I then went diving at Tijeretas and then at a wreck site. At Tijeretas I had to practice a skill where you share the air supply with someone underwater. The woman I was doing it with didn't take my regulator (the thing you breath from) for a very long time... and then she was only supposed to take two breaths but instead started to take the third. I of course started to panic and had to take a moment to relax since I was so nervous! I eventually was okay but I never thought I would be closer to my death. I have never been happier to breathe! The wreck dive was incredible, although really cold! We had to pratice taking of our BCDS and the tanks and everything underwater which was neat. We also had to take off our masks and practice clearing them underwater. It is neat when you get it, but before then, it is a little scary that if you are unable to do it, you might just be shit out of luck! We found a fork in the wreck! At tijeretas I saw a moray eel which was about a foot away from me... spectacular. It was a really good learning experience and although I am not the ideal person to scuba dive, I managed to succeed. I am really proud that I was able to do it! It still freaks me out a bit to look up at the sky from underwater and to realize that you are pretty far under.

Charlotte's first week, we went to tijeretas and punta carola. We go to the beach every day after work which is fun. It is nice to have someone to talk to these days! I am still in my sea lion obsessed faze and she of course is still in love with them, so we literally just take pictures 24-7!

Last weekend I was feeling a bit rubbish so we took it pretty slow... It was special weekend though where they drink colada morada. It is the only time in the year when they drink it. It tastes just like autumn and actually reminded me that all of you are still in the US where the temperatures are falling rapidly with the leaves... I pity you! (I have to appreciate it for the last three weeks I have in paradise!!) You drink it with these little bread dolls... You are supposed to eat the heads first so that they don't cry, but me being a vegetarian and not pitying humans ate the body first leaving the head for last (Caroline Stack, that was for you!). On Sunday everyone goes to the cemetary to bring corona (circles of flowers) and candles. Although I am not religious, Charlotte and I went with the family to see the graves. Our dad's mom passed away about a year ago which made it very emotional for them. She had one of the nicest graves there though. The cemetaries here have the graves above ground and they slide the coffins into these structures above ground... It is difficult to explain, but it seems to make the cemetary quite a bit smaller. Nearly everyone was at the cemetary and afterwards they all eat food together. After the cemetary we decided to try to see El Junco Lagoon. It was raining and so it was likely going to be difficult to see... Milton Javier, Andres, Hernan, Jhoselyn, Camilo, Charlotte, and I all piled in the car and went to the road leading up. Since the road was wet, we parked the car and walked up the hill. I immediately knew that it was going to be difficult but luckily I didn't trip... We got to the lagoon but it was really foggy so we couldnt see anything. We then walked down. As I was moving my bag from the right to the left, I lost my footing and I had quite a good trip, a nice fall, whatever you'd like to call it. The only thing I know is that I have never been so covered in mud... not even when mud sliding at camp! We all laughed and snapped some pictures of my wonderful inability to walk before heading down the car. Luckily they let me ride back home with them in the car (I did have to make sure I did not touch any of them!!). It was a wonderful moment although I had quite a bit of washing to do afterwards.

On Tuesday we went to the fincha (farm) and picked oranges! It was such fun. We got to hold the tarp for Milton to drop the oranges onto. We probably picked over 100 oranges! I had about six in total... a bunch on the car ride home. The car is an old jeep from 1985 so they dont mind if we drop orange juice all over the back! They have a neat way of eating oranges here where they cut off the top so you can suck all of the juice out. It is much more fun than how we eat oranges. We also got yucca from the ground and picked blackberries.

On Friday, Charlotte and I went to the loberia with our friend Philip who is also a volunteer at our school. We walked along the rocks for a long way. It was beautiful and we saw an amazing cliff with nesting birds. As we were walking back, trying to make it back to the beach for the sunset, my foot go caught in a rock and I went flying. Needless to say, I now have a cut on my toe and a large cut on my knee. I am now used to my inability to walk considering I fall nearly every day, so I laughed hysterically while Charlotte checked to make sure my camera had survived the fall! Philip was my doctor and gave me a pat on the head as soon as I was bandaged up! After watching the sunset, we lay on the beach watching the stars and the sea lions. It was a beautiful since there was absolutely nothing blocking our view. The moon was incredibly bright. It is one of the most peaceful and secluded places I have ever been to. When we got back to town we ate dinner at Calypso (vegetarian pizza- fantastic). We went to sleep quite early after that long day... but not before Jhoselyn cleaned out my cut which she basically scraped with this cloth and alcohol. I started crying of course because she was doing it quite vigorously. Then she was quite happy when it was clean- not that that was a surprise.

On Saturday, Charlotte and I took the most amazing tour of my life. It was the same one that I did a few weeks ago to Punta Pitt, Leon Dormido, and Isla Lobos, but much more incredible. FIrst off, we went with Manolo this time and he showed us tons of neat places... including Cerro Brujo. We went through at sorts of neat arches in the boat. I could actually see the red footed boobies today! For lunch we went to puerto grande where Charlotte and I started talking to a girl named Taylor who went to Colgate and a girl named Nicole from Canada. After lunch, we rode on the front of the boat to leon dormido... where my life changed. I literally had the most amazing hour of my life. We got in the water and I immediately saw 5 sea turtles. That was nothing compared to the tons of sea turtles that I saw afterwards. All in all, probably more than 50 sea turtles! When I would dive down to see them, I got incredibly close! It was amazing! I saw tons of Galapagos sharks, and then... thinking it was another Galapagos shark, I saw HAMMERHEADS. I actually screamed I was so excited! Then I saw an entire group of 15 hammerheads! It was spectacular. Incredible. Wonderful. I have never seen anything that exciting in my life! I was so excited. After that we went to Isla Lobos. First we saw a marine iguana eating underwater. Then there was a sea lion who kept swimming right in front of us. At one point Charlotte and I were swimming right next to him as we were all just looking at each other. We stayed like that for about 30 seconds since we were all so curious! It was an absolutely fantastic day.

I have a new favorite food called morocho (it is SO good that it deserves its own paragraph). I am planning on getting the recipe from the woman. I call here Señora Morocho. It is a rice rudding like drink... but with more milk... All I know is that it is fantastic after a long day of work as you walk back home from the beach. It tastes just like Christmas ought to taste. The other day I was walking home and saw my new best friend with her little stand (she has a little cooker on the side of the road) and said in my most hopeful voice "¿Tienes?" She knew that I meant morocho and she made my day with a warm glass of morocho. Excuse me for that small pointless piece of information, but if you really want to know about my life here, morocho would be one of the most important things to tell you about...

Not quite sure if I captured everything in here... I am writing everything down day to day, but I just dont seem to find time to update my travel blog!

Hope everyone is doing really well and no one has turned into an icycle quite yet! Only three weeks left (NO!) and then I come home on December 3rd... the very day my visa ends. Take care!!

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