Snorkeling....

Wow!  I went snorkeling on the 19th at Isla Lobos (lobos = sea lions) & Kicker Rock to swim with turtles, sea lions, eagle rays, and sharks (above the sharks & rays...).

I haven't been snorkeling for over 30 years and was a bit nervous at first and was the last one IN.......but I had so much fun that I was the last one OUT.  The water was cold, but I wore a shortie wet suit and didn't really get chilled.

It was so amazing to just float above the rays, sharks, and turtles and just watch them glide through the water.  The sharks were "safe" ones - white-tipped reef sharks and Galapagos sharks.  The most fun was swimming with the sea lions - the smaller ones would swim right up in your face, probably wondering who these clumsy critters were coming into their habitat.

We swam along the length of the wall on one side, then went through the slot (which is where we saw the sharks & rays), then had a snack and swam the length of the wall on that side.

I had SO much fun!   My plan is to do some more snorkeling and also refresh my scuba diving - I already had a PADI card, but after such a long time, I need a refresher.  The host of the house I'm in is a Master Diver and we'll go to the beach this weekend for the refresher.  UPDATE:  I'm going back to Kicker Rock tomorrow & hope to do the refresher Monday - we have a day off from school

It's been difficult to get my photos uploaded to the internet, but now I have some to show you.

I also saw marine iguanas on the rocks and hope to see them in the water before I leave.

SO...here are some photos:

Dutch friend Susan, and Angel, house host and Master Diver

Desert, sea, volcanic remnants

Susan with a friend.....

Yes, it was THAT close!

Susan taking my pic while I was taking hers..

Marine Iguana-Isla Lobos

The "Dutch Duo" Susan & Sharine, me...

The slot in Kicker Rock

Galapagos Shark

Along the wall at Kicker Rock

Blue-Footed Boobies

Puffer Fish (not puffed up)

SOME of the fish....

Sharine, Angel, Susan, me, and Javier (Dive Master & our snorkeling guide)

They are EVERYWHERE!

What're YOU looking at?!

Some photos that Susan took on the dive trip:

Divers from our boat along the wall at Kicker Rock, about to descend

Marine Iguana, underwater

Yep, that's me....

Me watching a turtle

Me still watching a turtle

Eagle Rays

Adventures in Transportation

Just got this email from Warren - what a trip!

"And  29 hours later.  We were delayed taking off - they had to fix something on the plane.  Then we landed in Panama to re-fix something on the plane.  Then we landed in Miami (I don't know why) and had to clear customs.  Then we had to get everybody back on the plane and we had a new flight crew.  Then they had to re-book all my flights - much later.  A five hour layover in Atlanta. I finally made it to Reno by 10:30 p.m.  I tried to send you an email from Atlanta, but the computer ate my $5 and wouldn't work, so I called the number and got cut off and called again and they said they would check it out tomorrow.  Soooo.

I made it home -- woohoo!"

Looking back...and looking forward .....

Warren flew out on a red-eye last night and should be arriving right about now in Reno (11:00 am Nevada time).  I am using my free day to relax and upload photos to Google Photos and my blog.  They will look back on some of the adventures we shared together here.  Tomorrow I am off to a month in the Galapagos, 3 weeks of which will be in the Island of San Cristobal teaching English to teens and adults.

It's been such an overwhelming amount of new names, places, sites, plants and critters!  Hard to keep it all sorted out.  As usual I had intentions of keeping at least a minimalist journal along the way, but was so occupied that I never did.  My photos are my way of preserving some recollections of the variety of people and nature that we have encountered.  So here we go with some new additions while I have some internet time.

These photos are not in chronological order, but I'll try to group together places.

Here are some more from our 10 day trip to the Amazon (El Oriente):

Cotopaxi (?) from the airplane trip to Lago Agrio

The place where we caught a boat after a long bus ride from Lago Agrio

The "road" to Jamu Lodge

Along the way to Jamu Lodge in the Amazon

Our Anniversay (8th) Surpise...a path of rose petals and.....

...a heart of rose petals on the bed, and a bottle of Gato Negro.....

......and another bottle & glasses on the shelf  in our room....

...and a vase of roses.

We were so surprised - what a treat!  - Remember that this is in the Amazon rainforest, where it's quite a trip  to get there!

It was a foreshadowing of the warm hearts of the people of Jamu Lodge, and the great service.

 It was a very international clientele with Ecuadorian staff.  Our groups consisted of people from the U.S. (L.A.), Belgium, France, Ecuador, Switzerland, Columbia, and Austrailia, and Holland.  English was generally the language used for us to all converse at the table, but it was a delight for me to be able to hear and speak at least a few words of the other languages.

Some of the critters that welcomed us the first evening:

This frog was right at our door

Gecko near the dock...has lost his tail, but will grow it back,,,

Tarantula on a tree near the dock - he was quite high up - probably is about 6 inches across

Another frog - lots of water around the cabins when we first arrived

This was our "roof frog" - may have been the same one from the door...

Some river adventures:

Anaconda

And THESE are Hoatzins - also known as stinky turkeys.

 "The Hoatzin (Ophisthocomus hoazin) is known as the ‘Stinky Turkey’ to Amazon natives because of the bad odors produced by the fermentation of leaves in the bird’s crop. "  quote from http://www.wildnaturephotos.com/Blog/2009/07/stinky-turkey/

Warren had long been looking forward to seeing Hoatzins - when I went to the Amazon last year without him he said "just don't find any Hoatzins without me".....and I didn't - but we saw lots together on this trip.

SO much more to show you about the Amazon trip, but for now off to run errands and then off to have a nice hot Canalazo with Alicia, the hostal manager, who is like a sister.  Then off to the Galapagos tomorrow...

Alicia

Canalazo (image from Wikipedia):

Canelazo is a drink that will warm you up on a cold night high in the Ecuadorian mountains. It's made from brown sugar, cinnamon and cloves, orange and lime juice, and the fiery concoction known as aguardiente (or "fire water"). Aguardiente is a broad term for high alcohol content beverages distilled from different things

http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/drinks/r/canelazo.htm