Oh yeah, by the way....

I`m in the Galapagos - Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz to be exact. It`s amazing here! I was originally only staying from the 3-6 but I like it here so much I`ve decided to stay until Saturday (11th).

I`m staying with this rather crazy woman, Aureola, who is in her 50s, and chases us around yelling ¨¡puta puta corrupta corrupta!¨(corrupt women, whores!). She`s hilarious! I made new friends here, Tanja from Norway and Hannah from Leeds. We go hang out at Garapatas, a really nice local restaurant, and then Bongos, the local bar where Tanja works. They`re always a blast.

Saturday I went on a bay tour around Puerto Ayora and saw a hammer head shark (only about 2 or 3 feet long), boobies, and sea lions. On Sunday I took a day tour out to Punta Estrada and Las Platas Islands where we hiked around, saw marine and land iguanas, sea lions, sea lion poo, and the only nocturnal gulls in the world. We also went snorkling and saw a ton of tropical fish and saw with baby sea lions. It was AMAZING.

Today I`m working with Tanja at the local colegio (high school) where she helps teach English (even though it` s her third language, she speaks REALLY well). There is NO discipline in schools here, and the teacher we work with just sort of wanders off alot, it`s very different than American schools. Later we`re probably going to go snorkle at Tortuga Bay, where hopefully there will be some sharks we can swim with. They`re completely doscile here, and have never attacked humans. It` s very cool. I`ll try to update again this week, the internet here is MUCH more reliable and easier to access than when I`m at Hacienda Jambeli.

I can`t really upload pictures though, the internet won`t let me.

Love to all!

erm

I haven't updated much. Sorry.

My day goes a bit like this:

I get up eat breakfast, make food for the parrots, feed the parrots and clean their cages with the other volunteers. Then we get a 3 hour break for lunch, and do random chores around the farm until 4 or 5. I play with monkeys, tapir, held a crocodile, rode a Galapagos Tortoise, saved an iguana from dogs, swim in the lake, saw a spider as big as a saucer, washed my clothes by hand in a tub, and feed turtles.

This last weekend I went to Salinas to the beach, and got really sunburned. It really really really hurts. I look like a lobster, it's pretty awesome. I made some really good friends here (they're the ones I went with to Salinas) and I'm going to the Galapagos on the 3rd with my friend Kristi. I'm really excited!

I'm tired, promise to update tomorrow!

I hurt and smell like monkey

We hung around Jambeli today because we were too tired to do anything else. So we went Kayaking on the lake and swimming and sat in the sun and played with Frankie, the baby monkey. And we all got wicked bad sunburn. My arms are the only thing really affected and it hurts like shit, and is about 100 times darker than my legs or tummy. Awesome.

I hate the flies here, they're EVERYWHERE and get on your food, land on you it sucks. And there are hella huge coacharoaches in the bathrooms. Spiders everywhere.

I will not miss the Ecuador heat, humidity or bugs.

Jambeli

I´m at my volunteer placement in Jambeli, near Naranjal, Ecuador. Without my Spanish, I´d be so lost. I´ve made some new friends here - both volunteers and Ecuadorians. The animals here are AMAZING and it´s so hot! It´s their ¨winter¨here, the coldest it´ll be all year. And it´s still really unbearable.

I´m really homesick, but I´m trying my best to push through it. I´m a little upset because my big camera isn´t working AT ALL:. It just flashes a ¨memory card error¨message.

First day of travel

Sucked hard core. I was homesick and nervous, and alone. I was tired and cranky. But I met a girl from i-to-i on the plane, and we stuck together. Turns out we´re staying in the same house while we´re in Quito.

Before we got off the plane we had to put on masks, which made me feel really clausterphobic, and made the thin air feel thinner and everything hotter. I ended up almost passing out, and I threw up in the customs line. I blame the crappy Continental food too. Screw that stuff, don´t eat what they give you.

I made it safe to my homestay and met a couple other girls (one´s actually a mother of three.... her kids are in highschool), and we went to the market and then came here to this neat little net cafe. It´s not all that hot up here, and everything is SUPER cheap - I got a really cute little hat for $3. A cab fare is usually no more than $1.50 and you can eat for under $2.

ON with the adventure!

May 30, 2009 KIlarney

Yesterday we stopped at a few beaches before making our way to Kilarney. We went to Blarney where the stairs are tiny and terrifying. Steep. Evil. And the castle was bloody tall. But I managed to make my way up to the top, lay down and lean over the edge of the castle ledge to kiss the Blarney Stone.

BE PROUD.

I inspired a few other women to work up the courage to do it! Afterward we walked around the gardens, took pictures, found somethings called the Wishing Steps, The Witch's Stone, The Witch's Kitchen, and the Druid's Cave. The Witch's Stone had coins on it, and stuck into it's cracks, but I'm not sure why.
After Blarney, we headed to Kilarney, found our B&B, walked around town found a bar with traditional Irish music. We met some really nice Irish from Cork County, some nice Germans, and an AMAZING woman from Britain.
Julia was almost completely paralyzed at 25. She had a baby and could barely manage to feed him. She had another boy, and a set of twins - a boy and a girl. She has rheumatoid arthritis. She had her knees replaced three times, her hips replaced four times, her shoulders twice, and her fingers are full of carbon.
She came to Ireland because she's dying; on top of all her other problems, she has terminal cancer. But she just smiles, laughs, and stays optimistic.


I hadn't really eaten much yesterday, so the two pints of Smithwick's I drank on my empty stomach made me rather drunk.
I never want to be drunk like that again. I woke up at 2 am feeling like I was going to be sick. I was dreaming about following the Irish roadmaps at very fast speeds (so, windy tiny roads at a billion millions an hour). I thought I was going to die. At first, I lay on the bathroom floor, praying I wouldn't puke; then I was praying that I would, if only it would make it all go away. I ended up not puking and fitfully sleeping for a while. Our B&B sucks. We are supposed to have two rooms en suite, but we only have one. And we're supposed to have wi-fi, but it doesn't work.
Today we toured the Ring of Kerry. There were two stops that had animals. At the first there was a lamb, a dog, and a donkey. I held the lamb for a picture and the youngish young man put his arm around me. He wasn't attractive, so I wasn't really okay with that...
We had lamb stew for lunch. At a second stop there was a baby deer, two more lambs, and a cat! The cat just layed there, a brownish black calm little thing, laying on a blanket, sleeping with a lamb. I wanted to take it home! Now we're in a pub, listening to music. I have a Bailey's and Milk <3. I'm sleepy again. Tomorrow is Bantry Bay!

Thursday, May 28, 2009 Kilbrittain, Cork

We left Nellie's B&B this morning, I'm going to miss that house. We made our way to Cashel, where we had lunch and saw the Cashel Rock ruins. Cat and I tried different chocolates today. I LOVE Irish chocolates. I tried Cadbury milk chocolate, white chocolate buttons, and Aero.
I've decided I want to live in Cork. Our B&B is gorgeous, right by the sea but still farming country. Plus I've fallen in love with The Pink Elephant which is quite possibly the best restaurant ever. I had a blonde Abby Belgian Ale that was pretty good, had a bit of wine before deciding I didn't like it, and was rather tipsy before my Irish sirlion arrived. God I'm tired. Today is Cody's 22nd birthday.