Our first dive for the course was our deep dive which we were so lucky because it also included a ship wreck. It was amazing descending over the top of this large sunken ship, the water was so clear we didn’t even notice how deep we actually were. In the specific area there were massive grouper and snapper, they looked almost prehistoric. Our second dive was a drift dive in which we were supposed to learn how to swim with currents and such, but there was hardly any current so we didn’t get to see the star of the show during this dive “Texas”. You know how people always say “it’s always bigger in Texas,” well they named this site after Texas because there is gigantic sea weed and barrels. Almost like a valley of them, barrels so big you can supposedly curl up in them, but unfortunately we didn’t get to see because we didn’t drift that far. We will save that for our next trip to Honduras. The third dive was learning how to navigate underwater using a compass and land marks, the sun etc. Adam did really well with this lesson; I on the other hand failed miserably. I had to redo so many of the steps I think the instructor passed me because he felt sorry for me.

Adam out in front of the wreck

Dana in the wreck

Brain Coral

Dana goofing around

Our fourth dive didn’t wow Adam and I that much at first because it was a night dive, and at first I was nervous. The thought of swimming at night made us feel claustrophobic, but with our humor watching the other two divers made us laugh almost the whole dive. They were bouncing all around, and couldn’t get their buoyancy correct. Towards the end of the dive was one of my favorite memories of diving. We were told to kneel in a sandy patch and cut our lights. Then as your eyes started to adjust to the night, the moon sort of lit the water around you. After a few minutes or two your eyes really started to adjust to the darkness and there was what they call “String of pearls” that glows in the water, it is actually shrimp, but looks like a strand of pearls that light up bead by bead. It was really amazing, these things were all around us, lighting up. I felt like this was something out of the Avatar movie or something so surreal. Our fourth dive the next day was a really cool dive, we swam through these crevices in the bottom, almost like cave diving but learning how to control your buoyancy and not hit the coral.

More giant brain coral

A massive grouper

This by far has to be some of the best diving Adam and I have done. Every place we dove on this trip has its highlights, but Roatan was jaw dropping on almost every dive. It was very exciting to have been here and to have dove so much with such great dive masters too. Our meals here were pretty basic; one of the highlights was wing night at a local restaurant. Other than that we made a lot of pasta in our kitchen and fought off thousands of termites our last night on the island. That evening there was a nice evening thunderstorm which must have disturbed the termites. I’m not lying to you when I say they were as large as wasps and there were thousands of them. It was one of the most annoying things to deal with. It got really bad we had to move to another room and sit with the lights out because they were attracted by light. At this point, we’ve gotten used to things like this… at the start of the trip, I would’ve totally freaked out!

At least the journey up to Colombia was pretty interesting. By now my Spanish has gotten good enough where I can hold actual conversations with people and bring up all sorts of fascinating bits of information to impress and wow the locals (at least I think so). So on this bus ride north from Quito I met a nice guy named Edwin who was a young lawyer from the town of Pasto, Colombia. Well that’s where we were hoping to get to by the end of our bus rides for the day, lucky us! The border crossing from Ecuador to Colombia is a little trickier than most: it involves one bus to the bus stop 20 km short of the border, a cab ride to the border, a walk across the border, cab for about 10 km to the Colombian bus stop, and after that two more buses to the town of Pasto. My new friend Edwin told me he was in Quito for a marathon, which he won. Sure enough, when we made our first transportation switch of the day, along with his backpack he lugs along a giant lottery-winner type check for $500. It was hilarious. He stayed with us through each transportation change, and was another example of the wonderful people you meet while traveling.

The fantastic Ecuador-Colombia border crossing

The next day we got ready for a short flight from Pasto to Colombia’s captial- Bogota. We were cautioned to fly this stretch because kidnappings from FARC rebels still can happen through this area, and we thought it would be better to exercise caution. After all, our friend Cody from Orlando was arriving the next day and we didn’t want to be absent for his arrival! The flight from the Pasto airport was another memorable one. Nestled in the northern extent of the Andes mountains, this would be one of our last opportunities to enjoy the low-hanging clouds that drifted between the valleys. The clouds surrounded the airport and made you feel like you were really in the middle of nowhere, and all of a sudden an airport appeared out of nowhere.

Our plane getting ready for our flight to Bogota

We arrived in Bogota and got ready to see our friend Cody. This was his first time travelling abroad and he was really excited to see us and experience some new things. The first thing we did was take a trip to Monserrate, a mountain in Bogota that has a Catholic church at the top. The cable car whisked us to the top and the views of the city were amazing.

The cable car to the top of Monserrate

Hanging out with Cody - only our second visitor of the entire trip!

The view of Bogota from Monserrate

Our next stop in Bogota was to check out the Museo de Oro - the Gold Museum. We heard from many people who have visited Bogota before us that we had to see it. If you happen to like gold, this is the place to visit. Everywhere you looked was gold – sculptures, jewelry, plates, clothing- you name it, they had it.

Unfortunately, Bogota has a big problem: the weather. Due to their elevation and proximity to the Equator, it is cool and rainy almost year round. So we decided to take a trip out to a little place outside the city that many locals visit for vacation, a town called Villa de Leyva. This charming place had a lot of nice shopping for Dana – the perfect excuse for Cody and I to go out and do some offroading through the hillsides and backcountry. As you can see from the pictures… we got a bit muddy.

The "before" picture

The "during" picture

The "after" picture

Unfortunately, the weather continued to not cooperate and much of the weekend in Villa de Leyva was spent dodging rainstorms. At least a few of the bars were open in town! We met a really nice family who spent time between Florida and Colombia who recommended a lot of places to visit. They were another shining example of all the wonderful people you can meet while travelling.

The main plaza of Villa de Leyva

Our photo with the Nieto family - very nice people!

The oldest and southernmost island, Isla Espanola holds one of the most beautiful beaches in the world on its shores. The beach, known as Gardner Bay, looks a lot like any gorgeous post card setting, with pristine white sand and turquoise water. The thing that sets Gardner Bay apart from those other beautiful beaches are the natives that inhabit it: Galapagos Sea Lions. The funny creatures act just like dogs, and are completely unafraid of humans. As you can see by the pictures, they were wonderful companions on our day at the beach.

Posing for a picture on Isla Espanola

Dana and the Sea Lions

These guys were awesome... but sleepy

Our trip continued to Isla Floreana where we were able to mail a post card from the “Post Office”… which is really just a place where people leave their mail, and hope that someone near where they live ends up delivering it to them. We’ll see if ours ends up getting back to us.  Near the Post Office was an underground volcanic cave that was interesting because it showed off the unique geology of the island. The birds here were particularly interesting as well – especially the Blue Footed Boobies. They dive-bomb into the ocean simultaneously and try to catch fish just under the surface of the water. It was a beautiful thing to watch.

A Galapagos Dove

A Blue Heron

Checking out the cool undergound cave

Blue Footed Boobies diving into the ocean for fish simultaneously

Our time in the Galapagos was a wonderful time filled with all sorts of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities: SCUBA diving with sharks, visiting 130+ year old giant tortoises, hanging out on the beach with sea lions, and seeing animals that you cannot encounter in any other place in the world. For now it’s back to the mainland of Ecuador to see what new adventures await us in South America.

A rainbow we saw on our final day in the Galapagos Islands

Dana with our friends Sandi and Mike

The next morning we took off to the meeting area for our cruise. Most people who would be on our cruise were just arriving by plane from the mainland. It turned out that a family from Wisconsin ended up on our tour, which was a nice surprise. Once everyone was rounded up, it was off to hop on our boat and check out some sights and wildlife.

Our first island stop brought us to see land iguanas. These guys look like a dinosaurs cousin, but there is nothing fearsome at all in their demeanor. They like to sleep and hang out, not very active creatures. We also ran into our first Galapagos Seals and the colorful Sally Lightfoot Crabs. All you hear about before arriving in the Galapagos is how unafraid of human like the animals are, but hearing and experiencing are two different things. The seals would literally make you step over them at the first dock we landed. They could’ve cared less that we were there.

Our new friend, the Land Iguana

If a sleeping seal is in your way, don't expect him to move!

Sally Lightfoot Crabs amongst a sleeping seal

Our tour continued on with a stop to see the nesting grounds of the Waved Albatross. These guys looked very similar to the ones we saw trailing our boat in Antarctica, but this species sticks mostly to the Galapagos. It is hard to appreciate these birds in photos because they look like a giant seagull, but to see them in person is breathtaking. They look like miniature planes when they fly above.

At the end of our first day, I had a special surprise ready for Dana– a birthday cake! The crew baked her a cake while we were out sightseeing all day- pretty impressive for being on a boat. Everyone sang happy birthday and then recounted experiences from our first day of exploration. It was an early night though, because more adventures await bright and early the next morning. The sunset was picture perfect and a sign of good things to come for the remainder of our cruise.

Dana and her birthday cake!

The Galapagos Islands

One of the biggest question marks we had in South America was whether or not to visit the Galapagos islands. We were on the fence mainly because of budget concerns. While the Galapagos islands are one of the coolest places to visit in the entire world, it is also very pricey. After doing some research, we decided to just go ahead and book the flight there and hopefully get on a last minute cruise once we arrived.

The instant you land at Baltra airport, there is a unique feeling of excitement. The volcanic archipelago that makes up the Galapagos islands is home to some of the most interesting wildlife in the entire world. The arrival was a bit of a culture shock for us as well. We haven’t seen so many older white people in a single destination in a very long time, and this particular bunch seemed to exclusively adhere to a dress code of goofy looking hats and fishing/exploring gear clearance racks. We weren’t the only younger people to visit, but the vast majority of visitors are of the older variety.

Most people opt to start their cruise immediately upon arrival in the Galapagos, but we chose differently. Our plan was to shop around on the island for the biggest savings available on a cruise. But our other objective was to schedule two days to go scuba diving. In addition to some of the incredible wildlife above ground, the Galapagos hold some of the world’s greatest and most well preserved underwater wildlife, and we have been looking forward to diving since our sea lion dive in January.

We booked our two days of diving with Scuba Iguana, one of the best diving outfitters in the Galapagos. Both Dana and I were excited and a little nervous, because this was only our seventh dive and it’s been almost four months since our last one. It took a couple hours to reach our dive destination by boat, and we met a very nice couple from Australia named Mike and Sandi. They were our age and had almost 50 dives under their belts! Mike and Sandi would be the other two people who made up our dive group, so it was nice to be divers who had a lot of experience.

When we reached our dive location, the divemasters gave us our safety briefing and then it was time to suit up our gear and get in the water. We managed to acclimate ourselves to being underwater quickly and comfortably. Now it was time to see why the Galapagos is known as a world-class diving destination.

Getting ready to dive

A unpuffed pufferfish

An eel sticking his head out of a hole

A school of barracudas

Rockfish (can you see him?)

Big stingray

Parrotfish (Dana's favorite- they look much better in person)

Another eel we encountered later on

The sheer number in the schools of fish were amazing

As you can see from the pictures, our first dive was great. We saw a great variety of interesting marine life, and both of us had a great time. Our second dive brief was where things would get interesting. We were told we had a great opporunity to see white tip sharks and maybe even some hammerhead sharks! Dana wasn’t thrilled with this news, but as always, she was a trooper and was ready to go for the second dive.

A napping shark, up close and personal!

I know its a bad photo, but it's still shows our view of our first Hammerhead shark!

A shark swimming below Dana

You can see the full view, but that's a shark swimming below me

A Nudibranch - one of the coolest small lifeforms in the ocean

Another miniature creature of the sea, stick his head out of his house

Heading up to the surface with our other diving partners, Mike and Sandi

Heading to the surface

 Our experience with the sharks was incredible. They were pretty indifferent to us observing them, but to see such a fearsome creature in their habitat was exhilarating for us. We only were able to see the hammerhead for a few seconds before it disappeared, as they are shy towards humans. We have one more day of diving and then we hope to have a cruise booked to see the rest of the less inhabited islands of the Galapagos.

The big, bad, Defender 110.

We took off the next morning to Montanitas, a little beach town off the coast of Ecuador and only about 90 minutes from Guayaquil. The first stop was to get an early lunch, and we tried the Ecuadorean version of ceviche. At this point I think I had ceviche for about 9 of the last 10 days, and I’m well on my way to becoming a full-fledged ceviche connoisseur.

Adam, Matilde, Jorge, and Dana at lunch

After lunch, it was time to hit the beach. it was pretty busy, but not overcrowded. Jorge is pretty much the Ecuadorean version of Superman. He surfs, scuba dives, free dives (a type of diving where you simply hold your breath), and rock climbing. Today he immediately got in the water to do some surfing. We hung out and had freshly made caipirinhas and mojitos on the beach. Dana and I could get used to the laid back beach lifestyle here Ecuador very easily.

The colorful beach in Montanitas

Drinks made right on the beach... for $2

A beautiful monastery along the coast

Dana with Jorge and Matilde along the coast

After watching the sunset, we stayed with some of their friends who owned a ranch nearby. The place was off the beaten path and very unique. In fact, they had one of the most interesting pets we have seen on the trip: a miniature pony named Flachi.  Flachi is allowed free reign of the property, including inside of the house. We saw him walk through the house and eat some fruit off the counter, which was hilarious.

The gorgeous Ecuadorean sunset

We got to stay in our own cabin while visiting

The miniature pony, FLACHI!

The next day we started to make our way back to Guayaquil but not before one more seafood-centric lunch. I got to experience Ecuadorean seafood cazuela, something that could be classified as a seafood casserole. We would like to take this opportunity to once again highlight the tremendous hospitality shown to us by the Marcets. They treated us like we were their own kids visiting for a weekend. Our experience throughout South America has no doubt been highlighted by the unparalleled welcoming receptions we have received, and the Marcets were no different.

Ecuadorean cazuela. Incredible.

A view of the beach from Mancora, Peru.

Mancora doesn’t have much in the way of entertainment or activities- just one main street lined with restaurants and a few shops. The benefit of such a laid-back place was not too many tourists and amazing food at great prices. One of the places we found to eat was a place called Papa Mo’s. Created by an older couple from the United States, they had a few things on their menu we haven’t seen in a while- the most important being real waffles. That was a random surprise, and they were fantastic. It was closed for dinner though, so Dana and I had to find somewhere else to eat in the evenings. After a tip from a local, we checked out a cevicheria nearby, and wow, it did not disappoint. They served a mountain of seafood in their ceviche, and it was just as incredible as what we had in Lima.

Main St. in Mancora

When you see the Dr. Seuss sign, its gotta be good

We spent four days in Mancora enjoying the sun and getting ready for another move northwards to Ecuador. You might remember we met a nice couple named Jorge and Carla from Ecuador back in Egypt. They were supposed to be back from their travels by the time we reached Ecuador, but wouldn’t you know it- they are still travelling the world, in southeast Asia when we last checked with them. I gave Jorge a quick e-mail the day before we were ready to head up to Guayaquil (Ecuador’s largest city), and within a couple hours he had me in touch with his dad, Jorge Sr. about our visit. He asked for our bus information and when we were scheduled to arrive, and a sign with our names on it. Did we make it there safely? Check the blog later this week to find out.