Well we haven’t done anything these past few days that is exciting enough to write about. We’ve mostly just been going to our Spanish lessons and finishing up my Christmas shopping; I think I’m mostly done now, I just have a couple of things to get when we are in Miami. It’s still a little over two weeks till we leave Cuenca but both Mike and I are ready to leave now. Since visiting the attorney and finding out that we can’t come back here until next February we both feel ready to go; there’s not a whole lot we can do here, as there’s not much point looking for someplace to live until we get back. So now we are just passing the time and waiting to visit Wales for four months.
This morning after yoga I had to rush back to the dentist to get my polishing done – I even passed up my cup of tea so I could get there on time. Dentista Paula did a cracking job of making my pearly white pearly white, although she did try and choke me several times during the process. She used some kind of gritty mixture on the end of an electric toothbrush to polish them, but that wasn't the problem. Since she works alone, the tube that sucks the saliva out of your mouth that the assistant usually holds just got stuck in the side of my mouth. If it wasn't trying to work it’s way down my throat it was trying really hard to suck my tongue into the end of the tube. Both the dentist and Mike thought it was quite funny every time I gagged on the stupid thing, but at least now my teeth are sparkling.

Mike: Way down your throat? What a whiner!

After spending a quiet weekend doing not much of anything I got up this morning and went to yoga. Mike walked me to yoga and then headed off to his latest dentist appointment. After I got all stretched and bendy I walked down to the dentist to meet him only to discover that it was my turn in the chair. I have a filling that is a little bothersome from time to time so she ground it down to make my bite better and that was no big deal, but then she started cleaning my teeth. She told me that me teeth were in great shape, why then did she have to spend so much time cleaning the front bottom ones with her tools; at one point I thought she was going to pull them all out, it was painful. I know I’m a wuss, and to top it off I have to go back on Friday to get the polishing part done.

Mike: I had to trap her otherwise she would find a reason not to see the dentista!

I went to yoga this morning and Mike, well I don’t really know what he does for the hour that I’m yogaing, but afterwards he met me and we walked to Parque Calderon just in time to see the start of the Good Friday parade. It wasn't a very big one, I guess that takes place in Quito, but there were a number of floats (I don’t really know what else to call them) being carried by people in robes that looked like Monks. There was a priest walking and every so often the whole parade would stop and the priest would speak (in Spanish so I don’t know what was being said) and then the rest of the people following would respond – maybe they were saying Mass? Anyway we watched while they all walked past us and they headed to one of the other squares in the city and had a service in the square.
We spent the rest of the morning wandering around before having lunch and heading home.

Mike: I don't know what I do either! Is "yogaing" really a word?

Well it’s Semana Santa this week, or Holy week and according to the posters stuck up all over the place there’s supposed to be a bunch of stuff going on but there really isn't., so we haven’t done an awful lot the first part of this week, just Spanish lesson, yoga, and eating. After our Spanish lesson today we decided to go to El Maiz and try Fanesca, which is soup that people here only make for Holy Week, so if we didn't try it today or tomorrow we’d have to wait until next year. We had asked the server at El Maiz last week if the soup was vegetarian and we were informed that it was, so off we went to try some. The soup is made with a bunch of different ingredients including 12 different kinds of grains that all have to be cooked separately; it’s not something that I’m going to be attempting anytime soon that’s for sure. It can also sometimes have salted cod in it but since this one was vegetarian we figured it would be fish free. Turns out the server doesn't seem to know what vegetarian means as the soup was super fishy; actually it was gross. I tried to eat it but really couldn't as it just tasted like fish – not the best Fanesca experience ever.



To make up for having nasty soup we went for ice-cream after lunch and finally got to try Taxo flavour. Taxo is a fruit, I think, that looks a lot like a cucumber; I haven’t actually tried the fruit but I can definitely vote for the ice cream, very nice.
When we got home this afternoon noon, Javier who owns the apartments we are living in called and asked if we wanted to have Fanesca at his house tonight. Both Mike and I were not very excited about having to eat it again but Javier assured us that this one would definitely be fish free. We were supposed to arrive at seven but since Ecuadorians are notoriously late to everything we arrived at 5 minutes after (I didn't want to be any later as that’s just rude right?). There were 9 of us for dinner, and off the 5 men three of them were called David – weird. Anyway, we had a much better experience tonight. The soup and appetizer were both wonderful, homemade by Javier's wife and Sarah, who also works here. They added the fish after the soup was cooked so we didn't have to have any and the evening was just lovely; although I think I had a little much ginger sugar alcohol and wine as when we got home tonight I was a gorgeous shade of red.

Mike: I almost had to tie you down so we would be fashionably late!!!

Well I haven't been outside the door today, in fact I haven't gotten dressed or even opened the curtains. We have had a nice relaxing day catching up on chores and stuff and watching the rain. This morning we chatted to mam and dad and my little angel Tal-y, and then we got all caught up with Tiffiny and the gang in Romania - it was good to see them.
This afternoon while Mike almost slit his wrists while listening on the radio to the Lakers lose their first playoff game I got caught up with emails, laundry and phone calls. Mike did make beans during the first half of the game when it looked like they could win. I'm glad he was done cooking before the final whistle or the beans might have ended up on the floor.
I saw Mike cry for the first time tonight, we watched Marley and me, it was so sad.

Mike: I cried twice, when the Lakers lost and during the movie!!!!!!!!!!!

We didn't get a very early start this morning but when we did get going we walked into the old city a different way than usual which meant we got to see streets that we haven't before. While we were wandering we found the perfect house, it's bright and airy, and we can probably get it really cheap. Seriously, looking around today there are lots of places in the old town that are for rent or for sale so when we come back it's probably not going to be a problem finding something that is perfect for us.


After having soup for lunch (Mike had soup, I had Mac and cheese), we went to buy me a blanket. I fell asleep on our lovely comfy sofa yesterday afternoon and when I woke up I was like a block of ice; on the off chance that I fell asleep again I wanted to be prepared. So we visited the stalls of the Otovalan folks and managed, after a little haggling, to get me a lovely warm alpaca blanket. The young lady wanted $22.00 for it but Mike managed to get her to take $17.00; it still feels weird but I guess it's just the thing to do. Now I can sleep in warmth.



Mike: I make good haggle!

Mike woke up this morning to no electricity anywhere in the apartment so he went back to sleep. When he finally got up the electricity was back on but only the ceiling lights, none of the electricity points in the walls were working and there was nobody in the office yet. He decided to take a shower only to find that there was no hot water and still nobody in the office to change the gas. Just after I got up, around 8.30, he went to the office again and both Sarah and Angelita were there so the gas was changed and we had agua caliente once again. I was getting ready to shower when Mike stopped Angelita to ask her about the electricity and whether the breaker had blown. The conversation was hilarious since she speaks not a word of English and when Mike showed her that the lamp that is plugged into the wall wasn't working she wanted to change the bulb. It took them about 5 minutes to get on the same page but they eventually did - it definitely made me smile.
Then it was off to Spanish and afterwards we found a new restaurant that we have been looking for but couldn't find the street it was on on our map. It's called El Maiz and the food was lush. I had Quinote Chiclo, and Mike had Quinote Champinon; they were both a kind of Quinoa risotto with corn and mushrooms, served with vegetables. It was a little more than we normally pay for lunch, the meals were $5.00each, but well worth the extra few bucks, we'll definitely be back. In fact we are going to come back next week for Fanesca which is a 12 grain soup only served during Santa Semana or Holy week.



After lunch we decided to walk back into the old city to Parque San Blas where we bought ice-cream and sat in the park. About 3 minutes after we sat down the heavens opened and it absolutely poured down. We headed back to the ice-cream shop and sat inside and watched the storm; there was awesome thunder and lightening to go with the rain. It eased off after a while but it was too wet to walk all the way home so we got a taxi. Sarah was at the front when we got here and chastised Mike for not having a coat, and it's definitely true what they say here, Abril Agua Mil.



Tomebamba had started to go down when we left this morning but after the storm this afternoon it's roaring again and is the colour of chocolate milk, no washing clothes in the river for a few days I think.



Mike: The girls take good care of us!!!

Our phone rang this morning, not the cell phone or the magic jack phone but the apartment phone - I had no idea it even worked. Turned out to be Lola from the office calling to tell us that our mail had arrived. Mike got dressed and went to get it but came back with only a slip of paper and instructions to go to the post office to pick up our package. We headed into town a little warily, wondering how much they were going to make us pay to get our mail from them. As it turned out it was really easy, show a passport, sign your name, pay a dollar and voila the box was handed over. The mail took about 2 1/2 weeks to get to us but there were a couple of holidays in there; not the speediest but at least we now have it.
After having lunch we headed back to the apartment where Mike spent the next 3 or so hours going through the mail and 'shredding' while i spent the next two hours trying to get the smoke out of the apartment.



Mike: I don't have a shredder here so I burned all the envelopes the mail came in!!
We still have to be wary of identity theft you know!

Mike had his first Ecuadorian massage this morning. He was a bit peeved cos it was from a guy and not a lovely lady, but he said it was good and he felt relaxed for the rest of the day. The masseuse works out of the yoga study and the only problem Mike had with it was that the massage table is made for Ecuadorians and so his feet were hanging of the end - a small price to pay for a good rub down I think.
Afterwards we ambled over and took our Spanish lesson at the bookstore. It's still going good, and next lesson we are starting numbers which isn't a big deal for Mike as he knows them but I need to get a better grasp of them so I can do more shopping and actually give them the right amount when they tell me the price.

Mike: I can't afford too many massages, they are after all $15.00 hr.

I was a good girl this morning, I got out off bed early and went to yoga while Mike went and hung out at the bookstore - he likes it there cos there are lots of people for him to socialize with! While he was chatting and making new friends I was getting bendy. There was just me and Dan in class this morning and he is much more advanced than me so he got to rock around on his head with his legs in the air while I didn't; can't wait till I'm able to though, and thank your lucky stars Mike doesn't get to take pictures of me doing it.
After the class had finished I walked to the bookstore to meet Mike and went and did a little shopping. Today was not the usual shopping in the markets and stores but rather at street vendors who are in the city from Otavalo. Tomorrow is Cuenca's 454th birthday and so over the weekend and through tomorrow there have been parades and street vendors everywhere. The people come from north of Quito and set up there stalls and sell some of the most beautiful and colourful clothes, textiles, and artwork imaginable. The whole streets are alive with colour and all the ladies are dressed to the nines in their traditional dress. We got some really nice things and Mike haggled for them; it's embarrassing sometimes but they don't seem to mind at all. I bought a headband but may have to get another one as Mike has taken a liking to it.



We headed home for a while to drop off our stuff before heading off the Inca Lounge for veggie tacos, and then the ice-cream store for well ice-cream. Mike had to pop into the dentist to get his temporary teeth re-glued and then we wandered the street vendors some more and listened to some loud Latin music, and some not so loud but hauntingly lovely typical Ecuadorian pipe music played by a street group.




Mike: Yum, Ice Cream! Yum, veggie tacos!

Heading home today, I mean back to Cuenca, yeah! We weren't being picked up until noon so we got up and had breakfast first thing this morning. After we got our stuff all packed Mike decided that he wanted to take a little stroll to the hotel next to ours. Thankfully it was really close and we didn't have to walk very far as it was super hot and muggy this morning.
Our driver arrived about half hour early and so we got on the road and headed back to Guayaquil. The same ride as when we came and it took about 3 1/2 hours only this time there was no comfy air conditioned van but rather a beaten up Volvo. It had air conditioning apparently but it was difficult to tell, and those speed bumps that we navigated on the way to Puerto Lopez had risen in the few days since we arrived so much so that I can't see how there's any underside left of the Volvo; every time we went over one I could hear the bottom of the car scrapping, metal against concrete. It wasn't the best car journey I've ever been on but the driver, Jorge, was a nice guy and chatted almost the whole way. He was quite amusing because when he got on a subject that interested him he got louder and the car got further into the middle of the road. In fact, we spent most of the drive straddling the spot where the white line can usually be found, but we got to the airport in one piece. Since we arrived in Guayaquil a little early Jorge took us on a drive around the city so we could see some of it besides the airport. It's a nice looking place with a beautiful park, but it is huge and not the safest place in the country. As we were driving through downtown we had to stop at a traffic light and there were a group of young men walking past, Jorge locked all the car doors. I'm glad I don't live in a place where I don't feel safe driving around downtown in the middle of the day.
We had over three hours to wait at the airport, but we had lunch and did some people watching and the time passed quickly. The plane back to Cuenca was even smaller than the one we arrived on Thursday but it was fast and we were back in Cuenca and getting in a taxi about 30 minutes after boarding the plane. We got a taxi to our apartment and he took us on roads that we'd never been on before; that keeps happening to us here, we keep finding new streets, stores and restaurants.
We finally got back to the apartment around 7.30 this evening and it is so nice to be back to the cooler weather, no bugs, and no chance of having to get on a boat. The trip to Puerto Lopez was nice and I'm glad we got to visit the coast but we've done it and I don't want to do it again anytime soon.
It looks like they've had some rain here while we've been gone as Tomebamba is surging tonight, I'm going to go snuggle under the covers on our bed and listen to him roaring under our window.
Sorry for more moaning but I think I'm done now for a while!





Mike: A trip worth taking but not repeating! On to the Amazon! The boats will be small and you'll have to row.

We had decided that after yesterday we were just going to take it easy today and have a chilling day. We both woke up fairly early mostly cos of the happy birds outside. After I managed to disentangle myself from the mosquito net I discovered that we had a not so little visitor make himself at home during the night. Thankfully I think he was almost dead cos when Mike flicked him out the door he didn't make much of an attempt to run off.



We got the morning started, Mike much faster than me, and he headed off for coffee while I took a lovely hot shower (keeping an eye out for any peeping geckos of course). I went to meet Mike for breakfast on the balcony of the hotel; this is not the most interesting meal here in South America, today we had bread and jam with juice and coffee, the other choice is eggs, which are usually scrambled.
After breakfast we went for a walk along the beach and headed towards the fish unloading area again. The beach has loads of crabs scurrying just out off reach of where we were putting our feet down, they are all different sizes but almost the same colour as the sand. They disappear down perfectly round holes when you get too near - can you see him?
When we got to the smelly fish unloading area it was pretty much the same sight as yesterday evening but there were more boats, more people and more birds. Also this morning the kitchen was open. The ladies were present today and they were cleaning the fish on the beach and then other ladies were cooking them up under huge tarps in big saucepans. We didn't hang around too long so we headed to the town main street and the mercado. This is definitely not on the scale of the one in Cuenca but they still had the veggies and of course the meat, and here they had lots of things that come out of the ocean. After wandering the streets for a little while we almost caught a moto back to the hotel but the driver wanted $0.50 EACH and he wouldn't change his mind so we ended up walking back along the beach which was much nicer than riding anyway. It's not really about the $0.50, it is after all just $0.50, but there's a principle - or so I'm told!








We sat and had a cold one when we got back and we had a little company. Then we grabbed some hammocks and headed off to the beach to do a little reading and relaxing. The hotel had things on the beach for guests to hang the hammocks off; Mike hung them and into them we got. I had figured that we could spend the day just hanging and reading but after about 5 minutes I was ready to leave - the stupid hammock made me seasick or hammock sick as the case may be. Mike didn't have the same problem, he managed to get a little shut eye, and as long as I didn't move and the hammock didn't sway I was okay, but I have to let you in on a secret, the smile in the photo below is fake. The view from the hammock was gorgeous and we did spend a while on the beach before heading back for lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the hotel just enjoying the fresh ocean air from the comfort of a nice sturdy chair.









We had a nice dinner and desert tonight and finally managed to see the gecko that lives in the roof above the dining area. He has been making a heck of a noise since we've been here and he finally poked his head out tonight, I think to say goodbye.

Mike: I think the gecko was saying "I'll be glad to see the back side of you". You sure moan a lot! Who gets sea sick in a hammock?

No breakfast, no coffee, not even a drop off water passed my lips this morning; I took every precaution so that I wouldn't get sick on our boat ride to Isla de la Plata. The tour company sent a moto to pick us up at the hotel right around 9 o'clock and he took us into town and dropped us off. There were two french girls already waiting to go on the tour along with us and after we waited for about 10 minutes our guide who was called Johnny came and explained to us in Spanish about the island and the choice of hikes we could take. I understood most of what he said to us kinda sorta and when he was done we decided we wanted to do the 'easier' hike since it would allow us to see blue and red footed boobies while on the other one we would only see the blue footed ones and sea lions. I did understand that the boat ride to the island was going to be una hora y vente minutos provided the ocean was calm - I thought it was going to be the longest hour and 20 minutes of my life but it wasn't, the ride back was!
We headed out and walked down to the beach, picking up more passengers as we went along. By the time we had to board the boat we were at 13 passengers plus 4 crew. We waited on the beach for the boat to back up to us; it got fairly close to the beach but then we had to wade a little ways out to meet it. Beforehand the youngest crew member who was probably about 15 got out a hemp sack and collected up everyone's shoes, then we all waded to the boat and got in. We got pushed out a ways and then they started the engines and we were off. As long as we were moving along and I had the wind in my face everything was fine-ish, but as we got closer to the island and school of dolphins came to see what we were up to. The driver/captain of the boat slowed down to an almost stop so we could check out the dolphins. They were amazing, swimming alongside the boat and jumping out of the water; there were loads of them frolicking around our boat and another that was close by but it was really difficult to get pictures of them as they were so fast. The other difficult thing was trying not to puke. Everyone wanted to see the dolphins and so were moving around the boat making it rock back and forth and back and forth (Jaime are you feeling it yet?); this is not a good movement for someone who suffers from stupid seasickness.



Fortunately I hadn't eaten or drunk anything so there was nothing to come up at this time. It got a little better once we started moving again and we were soon arriving at Isla de la Plata. Just before we got to the island the crew offered around bananas and then cupcakes, are they serious, food on a boat! The boat then backed up once more and we walked through the ocean to the beach and got our hiking shoes on ready to tackle the island.


The island itself is about 6km by 3km and really rugged. We got split into two groups, one with a Spanish speaking guide and one with an 'English speaking guide' who turned out to be Johnny; there were 8 people in our group, three yanks and 5 brits. We started out walking and it was fairly easy going, along a path that wound through trees and bushes, then it got really hard as we had to climb up to the top of the island. There were steps for us to use and in any normal sea level area it probably wouldn't have been too bad but like in the Cajas the elevation makes everything more difficult plus the hot was ridiculous, there wasn't a breath of air anywhere and the sun here is hotter than anywhere else I've ever been to. We stopped a few times on the way up and we weren't alone, everyone was guzzling down the water. thankfully when we got to the top the National Park folk (the island is part of the Parque National Machalilla) have constructed little shelters so we got to sit and cool off for a little while, although we did have to share the shelter with a baby blue footed booby who was a lot less interested in us than we were in him. The views from here were amazing and it was possible to see the ocean on both sides of the island.





Johnny let us rest a while but soon had us back up on our feet. I think the hike was like a walk in the park for him and he was off at a run for most of it, but when he got so far ahead he did stop and wait for the rest of us. We stopped a lot both to catch our breath and also to take pictures of the blue footed boobies that were everywhere. They are quite strange, not at all afraid of us, they were just hanging out on the side of the path or standing on a rock and would watch us as we walked by. They are bigger than I was expecting and there were lots of young birds around that were distinguishable by the colour of their feathers. We walked past two birds that were fighting, but as soon as I took out the camera to take their picture they stopped fighting and struck a pose.







As well as the boobies there were loads of frigates flying around the cliff edge and hanging out in the trees. apparently they cannot land on the ground as their feet are too small to hold their weight but they can grip the tree branches. They also do not go in the ocean as their feathers are not waterproof and so get their food by swooping down and catching flying fish or taking fish from other birds, hence the nickname they have - pirate birds.





We were hoping to see some red footed boobies even though there are only 10 pairs living on the island. We did apparently see one, according to Johnny, although we couldn't see the feet as their was a fluffy white baby booby sat right on top of them. I'm gonna say I saw a red footed booby anyway even if it really wasn't!


We walked for almost three hours and the landscape of the island changed from dry but with some flora to rocky with no tree or bushes insight, and then back again. The walking wasn't too bad after the initial uphill although I am glad that I had trainers on and not flip flops like some of the others since the path was quite hard to walk along and we went down some steep hills. You know the problem with going down steep hills, at some point you have to go back up the hill to get back to the boat. Just before the end of the walk we had to climb again and like Mike in the Cajas I think I lost the will to live for just a second; I at least lost the will to put one foot in front of the other. But we managed it, and got to shelter with another booby for a few minutes before heading back to the boat.







The other group was already waiting for us on the boat when we got back to the beach - rather them than me. We knew we were having lunch and then going snorkeling if we wanted, Sandy at the agency had told us that. What she didn't tell us was that lunch was going to be served on the boat (food and boat are two words that should never be uttered together) and then the snorkeling was going to be off the side of the boat. I had figured an hour and 20 minutes back to shore, what I hadn't figured on was that plus about another hour for lunch and snorkeling. Seriously this was my own personal hell, I just wanted to come see the boobies, not spend half the day on a frigging boat, aargh.
As we left the island we got to see green turtles, they were so cool, just hanging around off the side of the boat. The crew had offered around more fruit as we were leaving and they threw some pieces in the ocean and the turtles just stuck up their heads and gobbled it down. It was impossible to catch them coming up with the camera but trust me this picture is of a green turtle.



We left the turtles behind and sailed around to a little inlet where the anchor was dropped. At this point they started handing out cheese and tuna rolls, no thanks, I couldn't even if my life depended on it. I did however, against my better judgement have a slice of watermelon; it just looked cool and refreshing and how sick could watermelon make me? I came to find out. After everyone had eaten they snorkelling began; i have to admit that I was a wuss and didn't go in; Mike went swimming (not sleeping) with the fishes, and I got to see them from the boat. Actually Mike almost slept with the fish, we almost had to leave him behind cos once he was in the ocean he couldn't get back in the boat. Now if you ask him he'll tell you the ladder was too short but I don't know whether that's the truth. He was trying to get out of the water and kept falling back in, apparently he might have concussed a few fish as he was kicking them each time he fell back in. The young kid on the boat tried to help him out but didn't have the strength and finally just walked away, then one of the guides got a rope and tied it to the top of the boat and dropped it into him. I'm not sure the rope actually did the trick or if it was the two guides pulling an arm each but he did finally make it back into the boat. I didn't do much to help him, I'm not sure there really was anything I could have done i was laughing so much.
After everyone got back in the boat about an hour after we'd anchored, I couldn't take it anymore and the watermelon, the only thing I'd eaten all day came back up. I was feeling like crap at this point but there were some really happy fish swimming behind the boat feasting on ready chewed watermelon!




The ride back to the mainland was the longest hour and a half of my life, and seeing as I hadn't eaten hardly anything all day I'm not sure what all I puked back up, but it kept coming; it was nasty. I had to throw up over the side of the boat and that meant I had to look at the ocean rushing past which made me even more sick - seriously the ride from hell. I have to say I have never been so glad to put my two feet on the sand, it was such a relief to reach Puerto Lopez. We gathered our shoes from the sack, said goodbye and headed off down the beach to the hotel. I have to mention that Mike carried the backpack the whole day - he was so proud of himself.



It was cool seeing the boobies and the hike was nice, but all in all I have to say that I'm not sure Isla de la Plata was worth the boat ride there and back. I know for sure it is something I am never, ever going to do again, a boat ride to Isla de la Anywhere is not in my future!

Mike: Just think, your puke feed all the fish in the ocean! That's what you get for making fun of me not being able to get into the boat!