Merry Christmas, in India

We have spent almost the whole of Christmas day at a religious center, but it is not a church and we are not surrounded by Christians. Some who see our gleaming white skin that can’t help but stand out in a crowd have wished us a Merry Christmas, but by and large it could just be any other day here. We are instead at the Golden Temple, the holy shrine of Sikhs. We have learned much about their fascinating and peaceful religion, and been amazed at their kindness. At this temple complex you can sleep and eat for free, they serve food all day long and must feed thousands daily. The food is quite tasty, we can attest! Besides being recipients of such amazing generosity here

of the Sikhs, we also got to do our part and help- peeling onions for about an hour, there must have been 30 of us sitting on the floor peeling with a mountain ridge-line of tons of onions between us.

Another part of our day was at Mata Temple, a Hindu cave temple, and last week we paraded down the streets of Jaipur with the Muslims in one of their biggest festivals of the year. We have learned much about other religions and cultures while here in India and are all the better for it. More so than learning about the people and their religions, we have experienced their amazing kindness and generosity, traits common to Christians as well and we are reminded of the threads of humanity that link us all.

Our hearts do ache for our own familiar traditions, being with our families singing Christmas carols and sipping on hot spiced cider while looking at a snowscape outside, all tucked in by a fire. But our lives are full of too many adventures for that right now, we’ll just enjoy future Christmases as home that much more in the future.

To everyone out there that we love, Merry Christmas, and a very Happy and Blessed New Year when it comes.

And they’re off!

We’re not sure what day it is, or the time, we were up last night from midnight until 3 when we forced ourselves to go to bed at what felt like 1 in the afternoon, but we are here, in India.

Conclusions thus far:

It is hot. The food is delicious. People are friendly and trains are crowded. And it’s true that anything you can say of India, so true is its opposite. The differences are startling, the smells (both good and bad) are overwhelming and there is a feast for all the senses.

More will surely be to come in following blogs now that we’re back to typing. Time to put this jet lag behind us and do some exploring so we have something to write about.

Back in the USA

So we're back, been back for nearly a month now actually but the time seems to fly even faster in the good ol' USofA than it did down in South America, and even there we couldn't keep up with the blogs!

In theory we're going to back blog since we've done some pretty amazing things since we last wrote, but the actuality of it, if we're realistic with ourselves, is we'll probably never get around to it.
So here's the briefing...

• Puno and Lake Titicaca, including the floating islands of the Uros people,

• Cusco, with the wonderful hospitality of Juan Carlos and the beautiful architecture of the Incas
• Machu Pichu, there's a reason for all its fame, yet with its hundreds of visitors every day, at one point we were the very first in and it was as if it was a deserted city all to ourselves slightly hidden by the mist of the morning

• Trekking and ice climbing in the White Mountains of the Andes in Ancash, Peru

• Back into Ecuador to sit at the bottom of a currently erupting volcano
• Time with a Harre Krishna community
• Cuenca and the hospitality of Joaquin plus 8 days of sweets for the festival of Corpus Christi
• The third highest waterfall in the world

• The mountaintop fortress of Kuelap
• Floating down the Amazon on a cargo ship to a city that can only be reached by water or air
• Piranha fishing in a tributary to the Amazon River

• Monkeys stealing Donny's hat and dangling it just out of reach from a fruit tree

• Projects where we worked alongside villagers, learning what Quechua we could; or dressing up as clowns helping fundraise for an after school program to keep kids off the streets
• More good timing of attending festivals and celebrations
• Countless new friends through hitch hiking, couch surfing and the generosity of strangers

Nearly a year and a half exactly since we had taken off from Georgia, it was bittersweet boarding our plane in Lima to head back to the United States. While everyone else on our Spirit Airlines flight was complaining about the lack of room and only one soda on offer for refreshments, we felt like the Beverley Hillbillies when they first reached Beverly Hills. We marveled at the bathroom- a toilet seat! toilet paper! a sink complete with soap, and the kicker of it all, hot water! And even with Spirits cheapness, still we didn't have to pay a dime just to use it.

While the Latin American food and fresh tropical fruits and vegetables are going to be severely missed (you can probably tell we like it by how many pictures we took of our food) we are excited to get back to find a new emergence of farmers markets in the states and can’t wait to cover our hands and faces with the deliciousness of fresh sweet corn and blueberries. We are also excited about experiencing some of our own countries “kindness of strangers”. We are hoping we are going to find similarities to our experience in the south when we try hitchhiking on back roads or randomly knocking on the door of a small farmer in a rural area (already tested and proven these past couple of weeks in New York State).

But most of all we are excited to get back to our friends and family whom we have missed dearly over the past 18 months. Seeing the strong family structures (not uncommon to see four generations living together under the same roof) of every place we have visited outside the states has made us realize even more, just how important family and friends are. And for those that have continued to read our blogs for this long, you must really be a good friend and we can’t wait to see you soon.

Thank you to all of those wonderful people who have followed our travels over the last two years. It has been an incredible ride and could not have been done without your support. We hopefully will be adding more blogs as we decipher our journal notes (any one know what “great ride with chicken man on pineapple tortilla” means? Me neither.) to fill in some of the times we missed. Other than that, we will be picking up the blog when we start our Asian trip this fall. Yes that is right, we are heading back on the road. We plan on working feverishly on our non-profit, The GROW Initiative, this summer and will be continuing our projects in the fall in Southeast Asia. Check out www.growinitiative.org in a couple of weeks to see some of our progress.

Its good to be home!

And We Did It Our Way!

So we are writing this blog in my journal while sitting on summit of a small mountain after an easy half hour hike on a tranquil Sunday morning. Although we are probably close to 13,000 ft of altitude, the sun is bright and warm and perfectly compliments the cool air and slight breeze. Our view over one side of the ridge is Chivey, a small mountain town in the department of Araquipa, in south-central Peru and the location where we began our hike. The city itself is beautiful. Dirt streets with a combination of mud or brick homes, thatch roofs, and probably more cows and alpacas than cars on the street. Today is the start of another festival or maybe the end of yesterdays (there are too many to tell) and there is a parade marching around the Plaza de Armas (central park). Although from our distance they are only dots on a picturesque painting, the traditional music radiating from the band is a perfect serenade for our spot of contemplation. On the other side of the ridge we have the beginning of the Colca Canyon, the second largest canyon in Peru. This part of the canyon is considered more the valley as each side of the walls gradually climb through ancient Inca terracing showing off an array of colors from the different fruits, grains, and vegetables growing on each individual level. The plants are contrasted by the 600 year rock walls and irrigation systems (still in use) and the whole thing is like looking through a portal back in time. It is absolutely amazing!

What is more amazing is that in the two hours that we have been here, Brooke and I have been totally alone. Actually this shouldn’t surprise me, as this seems to be the case every where we travel. Whether it is swimming with turtles in the crystal clear waters of the Galapagos, walking down the soft dark sand beaches of El Salvador, or overlooking a stunning lagoon in a volcano in Nicaragua, the description all seems to include the word deserted. It is always just the two of us! For some of the extraordinary spots we find ourselves in I could spend another 10 days meditating on the reason we are alone and still not come up with an answer. For others I have finally realized; no one really travels like the two of us. Chivey is actually one of the largest tourist destinations in Peru yet other than a couple of tourist here and their on the street or at the bus station, we rarely come in contact with them. They all seem to be part of tour groups booked from Araquipa (the second largest city in Peru three hours away), staying in the same hotels, eating at the same restaurants, and patiently waiting their turn in line to step up to the next lookout to take their picture. Don’t get me wrong, the hotels I am sure are nice, bug-free, and warm, the lookout is probably unbelievable, the food, safe and tasty and probably lacking the animal innards we often find on our plates. But while wonderful in its own way, it is just not the real place. Even if the tourist happen to stay with a host family (which is better), the family has seen so many tourist that slight aspects in the way they act and in the amenities that they have, are changed.

We on the other hand we have been incredibly lucky. Through our connections with local Peace Corps volunteers or local CouchSurfers, we have been able to break though these tourist traps and see a slightly different life than your average traveler. Although most locals and other travelers do not understand it, our severe budget (averaging $16 combined per day) has helped us out as well. It keeps us in the markets and on the streets, eating and shopping where the locals eat and shop. Through our projects we live in the small communities we are helping for sometimes more than a month, working, eating, and playing the way they do on a daily basis. We get to know the real people as work side by side and become more than just a dollar sign, we become friends. In Chivey, we were able to link up with PCVs who live in the city and in the surrounding villages. They are the ones that directed us to this unknown little hike we are on now. They are also the ones that took us to a celebration the day before where we watched their communities put on displays of traditional music, dance and food. Not for tourist, but for themselves. The same way they have been doing it for hundreds of years.

Before arriving in the department of Araquipa we were on the coast checking out the famous (and very touristy) Nazca lines. While these hundreds of years old gigantic pictures that are drawn in the sand are a major highlight for average tourist, our highlight was a bit different. After viewing the amazing lines, instead of taking the luxury overnight bus that most travelers take, we started walking down the desert road with our thumbs out. After not too long a trucker stopped for us and twelve hours later we were spending the night 50 km from our destination on a “comfortable” bed of sugar pallets in the back of his trailer saving us more money and giving us a story of the strangest place we have ever slept. The ride was wonderful as we had twelve hours to really get to know Hernandez (our trucker friend), learn about Peruvian food, culture and life on the road. He was able to learn how diverse American is, that Americans are not just what he sees on TV (they still run the Jerry Springer Show here), and feel really good that people find his culture so interesting. In the end we shake hands and both think to ourselves; life is really good.

So while I know not everybody has the time, the resources, or even the luck that we have had on this trip. However, if it is possible to just skip one or two of the lines for the “must see” incredible views or the next amazing church, and just find a way to get off he beaten path to connect with the locals, I guarantee you will walk away thinking the same thing. Man, life is really good.

Ommmmmmmm, Ommmmmm Part 2

So the schedule of our nose hair contemplation started early and never ended. See below

4:30 – 6:30 Meditation (Yes, that is AM! Yes, it is dark and cold and No we are not allowed to sleep!)
6:30 – 8:00 Breakfast and time for contemplation
8:00 – 9:00 Meditation
9:00 – 10:00 Meditation
10:00 – 11:00 Meditation
11:00 – 12:00 Lunch
12:00 – 1:00 Break
1:00 – 2:30 Meditation
2:30 – 3:30 Meditation
3:30 – 5:00 Meditation
5:00 – 6:00 Dinner (Only a piece of fruit and tea)
6:00 – 7:00 Meditation
7:00 – 8:15 Discourse
8:15 – 9:00 Meditation
9:00 – 9:30 Questions
10:00 – 4:00 Sleep

Between 4:00 and 4:30 we would mindfully (everything is mindfully) stumble in and start preparing our 3x3 foot meditation spot. Originally we were given a small piece of foam and our numbered spot in the center and told this is where we were to be for the remainder of the course. The first morning thinking just in case I may need a little extra padding, I brought down some extra socks for cushioning my feet and Brooke brought down a jacket. I guess the others were thinking the same thing except that each one of them seemed to be entering the door carrying one quarter of Bed Bath and Beyond. There were more blankets, pads, special meditation stools, and down pillows than I had ever seen before in my life. We were seriously undersupplied! It was extremely interesting seeing for the next 15 minutes a hall full of people primping, pawing, pushing, punching, their pads and pillows like a 100 OCD cats that just can’t get comfortable on their new beds from Petsmart. And while I thought they were crazy at first, it only took about 10 minutes into our first hour long meditation that I fully understood their anal retentiveness. What started out as a nice comfortable sitting position (I chose the half lotus because it looked cool on a poster) turned into bone crushing pressure and razor sharp knives digging into my legs as every part of my body that put the slightest amount of weight on another part and even the tiniest wrinkle in my cushion, fold in my pants, or lip on my wonderful sock padding began to take its toll. For the next session I came prepared with a blanket and a sleep sack in tow and by the last session both Brooke and I had every piece of clothing we owned packed into some sort of cushion or another. The other meditators, sitting on their Sharper Image, totally ergonomic, triple padded memory foam, high pedestals must have gotten a pretty good laugh as each morning I fit the Comer ten year yard sale into a seamless fold free mega pad.

So while we quickly found out that equipment was important, it also didn’t take us long to realize that location, location, location, plays a crucial role in ones ability to successfully concentrate. When I say location I am referring to the 15 or so people that are in a breaths distance away from you as you visualize that nose hair. As we were unable to speak we only knew these people by the numbered meditation squares they occupied. For example, I was number 14 and throughout my 10 days of silence I mentally referred to number 16 (two squares beside me) as the nose whistler. You can probably guess why. Number 15 (directly to my right) was the toucher, number 11 was the mover, and the unforgettable 17 was Mr. Sniffer breather / hawk a luggier. Brooke (number 26 on the women’s side) was also too familiar with Mr. Sniffer as well as other noteworthy people in the group like the communicator (always trying to make illegal contact with other women outside the meditation hall) and number 21, a man that when he coughed sounded like our Tsa’chala friend trying to shoo the dogs out of the house.

So once you finally get your pad straight and blocked out the noise around you it is time to get down to business. On day four we were told that we were no longer allowed to move at all during our meditation sessions (sorry number 11). This means no adjusting pillows, no waking up legs that are falling asleep, and absolutely no opening your eyes (not even a peak to see if everyone else is in as much pain as you). In this time we were to concentrate solely on the sensations of feelings up and down our body. By observing these pleasant and painful, strong and subtle feelings without showing favoritism to one or the other we were training our brain to not have attachments or aversions to actions or objects in our life. While recognizing the more subtle sensations did get easier over time, in the beginning other than the shooting pain in my back, the crushing pain in my ankle, and the throbbing pain in my knees, this was proving to be pretty difficult. I remember being so happy as I was trying to find sensations on parts of my body and a fly would land on me providing a tickling feeling on one part then another. Occasionally I would be able to follow the fly all the way around my body successfully completing an entire body scan. I am a meditation master! Of course other times, the insect would just fly up my nose and with me not being able to move, it was no help at all.

So with the help of the pain and the occasional fly the sensations were there and now it was just up to my brain to stay focused on them. Easier said than done. What seemed like every few seconds my wild elephant was running rampant. Once it was writing a comedy (at least it seemed pretty funny at the time) screenplay about two junior high kids filming an interview in a high school weight room, back to the nose hair. Other times wondering what good friends are up too, back to the nose hair, and other times how to successfully combine pantyhose, peanutbutter, two bowling balls and a smurf lunch box full of lady bugs . . .damit! back to the nose hair!

Outside the meditation hall the vow of noble silence was also proving difficult. First of all there is nothing noble about the silence of eight guys sharing a bathroom on a vegetarian diet of beans and tea when the bathroom is located right beside your bed. It is also really hard to get by without being able to say from the bathroom “I have run out of toilet paper, can I borrow some of yours” (we all have our personal toilet paper that we also did not know to bring). I actually broke my silence as I tried to move my spot to lean up against a wall which I quickly found out from the teacher was illegal to do. Apparently the balance of the meditation center and possibly the world (judging by how fast the teacher ran over to me) was relying on our exact positioning as we sat and focused on hairy (I named my nose hair). So my first words after three days were “I would like a blackberry” as I tried to explain to the teacher that like the other ten people sitting against walls (muro in Spanish, not a mora which is a blackberry) the wall would really help my back. Apparently my love of fruit did not convince him and I was quickly back to good old square 14.

So while I probably came up with about fifteen pages of blogs to write while I was supposed to be meditating, I probably should cut myself off at four. It really just gets too crude and a little scary by page five. And although most of my writing seems like the 10 days were basically hell on earth, the truth is that it was amazing. Seeing your mind transform from the from the first day to the tenth and being able to focus in and feel energy you never even knew existed was a absolutely incredible. The lessons I learned about impermanence and detachment, not excepting the gifts of anger or hatred from others, or just the ability to calm myself, are lessons that I will hopefully carry with me for the rest of my life. That and knowledge that the half lotus position is not as cool as it looks. So if we didn’t scare everyone off, the webpage for all the free 10 day meditation courses is written below. Check it out. It could change your life.
Now back to the nose hair!

See dhamma.org.

***Disclaimer*** The 10 Day Vipassana Silent Meditation Seminar was an amazing experience; although difficult both physically and mentally, I would recommend it to just about anyone. That being said…

IT HAS BEEN DONE! Ten days (actually nine days, ten hours and I believe two minutes and thirty-two seconds, but who is counting) of complete silence. Every day this included ten hours, 45 minutes of meditation time, a little less than an hour and a half for consciously eating, an hour and 45 minutes of listening to theory or asking questions, six hours of sleep (not counting what you do while you are supposed to be meditating), three and a half hours of “break” where you have absolutely nothing to do but say to yourself, “Ok what am I going to do now? I guess I will sit down and think.” In this time there was to be no communication of any type, head down, no eye contact. Guys and girls were completely separated on different areas of the compound and only saw each others feet in the meditation hall and in the evening discourse. No reading, writing, listening to anything, exercising, independent eating (sorry stomach), and no practicing other meditations or rituals (all snake handling and fire breathing were out). So all and all, quite a bit of time to get to get acquainted with the inside of my head. And you know what I found? My head is one crazy, messed up place!

Yes indeed, I would probably go see a professional, but I think I might cause him/her serious mental damage if I tried to explain even half of some of the things that popped into my head over the past 10 days. It is really too bad we were not able to write anything down over this time because if people would buy books of a combination of Walt Disney, Quinton Terintino, and Sinbad, I could probably have spit out ten of them without breaking a sweat. But now that the 10 days are over I am having a hard time remembering past “Ommmm” (which we didn’t and were not even aloud to use but is in my head right now). Actually this is not the exact truth, as I did scratch down some thoughts somewhere in the middle of the week that I wanted to remember, but apparently because I didn’t have much time, paper, and the fact that it was illegal, I must have decided to make what I wrote as short and cryptic as possible and have no clue what the hell it means. Some stuff like “Ahhhhh THE PAIN!!!, and Please! MAKE THE VOICES STOP!!” I understand. But when I see things that may be written in Swahili, which I don’t think I speak or code phases like “London bridges falling on cricket man” I am at a lost. With this being said, I am still going to try and describe our time of contemplation.

I guess I can start with the theory. According to S. N. Goenka, an enlightened spiritual leader in India, and our teacher along the Nobel Path (unfortunately only via a series of CDs and Mp3s), our mind is a dangerous wild elephant and it is our charge that throughout our many lives we are to tame this wild beast for the benefit of society on our path towards enlightenment. While I will admit that I have not agreed with absolutely 100% of what our digital guru has said, I do believe this is true. However, I believe that the elephant, he is speaking of is a nice calm Indian elephant that has lived in nature most of its life and with the exception of the occasional child trampling or blowing water through its trunk on people, it is a generally good elephant. Mine on the other hand, was stolen away from its home in a small zoo at an early age and sold to the circus where it was highly trained in the skills of juggling, tightrope walking, fire breathing, clown throwing and who knows what else. It then has escaped while the Ringling Brothers were doing a one night show in Manhattan, in the parking lot of the world’s largest expedition of crystal Christmas tree ornaments and other breakable things, sponsored by the peanut factory’s brand new product, “Caffeinated Crack Coated Caramelized Peanut Bars”. I don't know about your literary competence, but the above description is there to show a little foreshadowing of our ten day stint.

The elephant analogy was explained to us on the night of our first meditation. Each additional night more information was given to us concerning the techniques we learned that day, the story of Buddha, and the way of a disciple of Vipassana Meditation. On the third night it was explained to us that the previous day’s techniques had all been for the purpose of focusing our mental capacity. During these days 30+ hours of meditation had been spent concentrating on first our breathing, then the area of our breath around our nose, and finally narrowed down to one point of sensation around the entrance of the nostril of which I picked a single nose hair.

End of Part 1. Tune in later for Part 2. Nose Hair Contemplation

Let the New Year Begin!

The new year started out for us with a bath of purification in the river outside of where we had been living some 3 weeks at 4:30am, had to be before 5 so you beat the frogs. Otherwise it would be bad luck, bad health and everything else bad for the upcoming year. Glad we made it out of bed to get the good health, wealth and happiness coming our way (though I don't know where that wealth will come from unless we win the lotto without getting a ticket!)

Also for starting out the new year, we finished one of our favorite projects to date with some of the best people we’ve gotten to work with. The bathroom is finished (yay!!!) and our time in Los Naranjos was wonderful. We also linked up in Quito, Ecuador with our good friend from Jamaica, Lauren, who we tramped around the city with trying every new food we could get our hands on. Sorry stomach!

To start the new year off right spiritually, we have enrolled in a 10 day Vipassana silent meditation seminar. If we can’t open our mouths for 10 days or communicate in any way, be it hand gestures, giving someone the eye, acting out your favorite scenes from Arrested Development, etc. I guess putting up new blogs will be off the list as well. Trying to have a spiritual focus to our journey as well as that of volunteering and projects, we now find ourselves in Lima, Peru getting ready for what will probably be the hardest thing I have ever done. Not only no speaking, but there will be some 10 hours of meditation every day, about an hour at a pop. That’s an hour sitting in the tropics without moving an inch. Don’t swat those mosquitoes swarming your ears, ignore the aching cramp in your leg, leave that sweat running down your neck alone, just sit. Focus on breathing.

Wish us luck, grab a beer and talk all about how crazy we are, you can take our word allotments for the week and yes, we know we must be crazy.

GROW Initiative, on the move with projects underway

So almost three months after entering our first county in South America (Ecuador) we are still here. We have always said that moving slowly and working with the local people to improve their lives are the best parts of our traveling and our experiences here have proven that once again. Working through our non profit GROW we have been busy doing small projects from the mountains of Riobamba to the coast in Tabuga. This has taken many different shapes and forms throughout Central America and it is no different in Ecuador. In Riobamba we were helping with environmental education seminars at a university and an Earth Day of sorts with the participation of some 22 different primary schools in which we did out part by giving out trees for a reforestation initiative. In Tabuga we put on many different hats- from helping a new organic farm start up, contributing ideas, our machete skills, etc. to working on an Environmental Education Corner for a library being built, to chopping away to clear an area for a garden as a part of a “Happy Heart” nutrition program, to working with Bosque Seco Lalo Loor on their environmental education initiatives. Although we were able to contribute and had a great time in Tabuga, there were already a lot of other really great and motivated volunteers, mostly PCVs and RPCVs, doing good for the community and so we decided to move on. It was time to do another big GROW project somewhere that was not receiving much help, and that is what brought us to the community of Los Naranjos. It’s a Tsa’chila community, one of the indigenous groups of Ecuador. Of the eight Tsa’chila communities around Santo Domingo, Los Naranjos is the smallest and often most forgotten when it comes to outside aid. But with the help of a Peace Corps Volunteer named Clay who was working in the community until about a month ago, the community has the start of a burgeoning cultural tourism project. Unfortunately there are still some major hurdles to overcome before the program really gets going which is where GROW comes in.

The main part of the project is constructing a dry composting pit latrine. We’ve had lots of experience in using this type of baño, read a lot about them, seen plans, talked them up, but this is our first time building a complete one ourselves. And by ourselves, I mean the community is putting in the lion’s share of the work and we’re just there to prod it all along, teach where we can, bite our tongues where we can’t and buy the materials so they are the true owners of the project. It’s been great, and by this time next week we hope to be depositing our runny bellies (yep, still got that) where it will break down into sweet beautiful earth in about a year. (anyone who thinks that’s gross, travel with us for a couple of weeks and you will be throwing that flush toilet of yours out the window and installing one of these bad boys in you back yard for sure) To break out our more artistic, hippy back to nature side we are attempting to make a cool open-air shower, and bamboo hand washing station that will benefit their tourism project while educating the community on better more environmentally friendly bathroom alternative. We are also working with the community on turning the completely non-functional bathrooms of the school into something they can use as well as fixing the bathrooms and sinks in the medical center while teaching them how to do it themselves in the future if things break or go bad again (who ever thought all those years at Ga. Tech and William and Mary would lead us to becoming plumbers). Hopefully the sustainability aspects of this project will really pan out, and in any case the compost of the toilet will be the gift that keeps on giving, as long as people continue to use the shittero (I think that is Spanish).

Besides all that, living with the community has been great, especially for our football skills (no, we’re not throwing a pig skin around down here, football is with your foot, aka soccer which we play almost every night), and expanded our culinary habits into eating really gross bugs. You know, the kind who's maggots are about 2.5 inches long, the larvae look like they’re from Mars and you think the adult beetles might be able to snap your finger off if given the chance. When you squeeze the insides out they’re kinda buttery (Yum!), would not recommend it. And if muddling through conversations in Spanish were not enough for us, here their first language is Tsa’fiki, though our brains are rather full and I think all I’ve learned is how to say hello, thank you and delicious (had to complement the bugs after all).

Ecuadorian Family and Food Extravaganza!!

We have been eating our way through Ecuador with the help of our new adopted family Veronica and her mother Sara. Another great Couch Surfing experience led us to these wonderful people in Guayaquil, the biggest city in Ecuador; and if it weren’t for their amazing hospitality and through them the meeting so many wonderful people, our first taste of Ecuador would have been completely different. And by taste, I mean we’ve tasted way more stuff here than I think I have in my whole life. The food culture in Ecuador is great, with certain regional specialties, and Veronica and her mother insisted we try every single one. That includes salchicha, which is any and every part of all different animals you would never want to eat- stomach, intestines, stomach, organs… the overall taste of the soup, good; the “meat”… not my cup of tea I have decided. Peanut butter lovers that we are, we were excited to find peanut butter everywhere, but they are not so boring as to only put it on bread, here they cook with it and make some amazing dishes. Here are some of the things we scoured cities for or had put in front of us by our wonderful host, in no particular order, certainly not by preference if you can tell by the first one.

• Salchicha – still not quite sure. A soup with a lot of unidentifiable animal parts
• Bolon – a delicious ball of mashed green plantains and cheese
• Humita – a sweet ground maiz (corn) mixed with cheese and boiled in a corn husk
• Carne de seco – All about the sauce, throw in the meat and your golden
• Encebollado – A scrumptious fish soup
• New fruits like tomate de arbol, taxo, uvilla, pepino dulce
• Congrejo – Crabs (Yum!)
• Bollo – peanut butter (not sweet), fish, green plantains, deliciousness
• Cazuela - like bollo but a soup (possibly our favorite)
• Pan de yucca – tasty bread made from yucca
• Hornado – whole roast pig with mote (corn thingies)
• Twenty different homemade ice creams from fresh fruit
• Llapingacho – Fried mashed cheese potato stuff (yes!)
• Locro – Awesome potato, corn, and avocado soup
• Guatita – sheep’s stomach and potatoes with a peanutty sauce (enough said)
• Quimbolito – cake like substance in a banana leaf
• Trucha – typical trout plate
• Dulce de higo – dates in a sugary sauce with cheese (that's right, cheese)
• Polo Seco – Same incredible sauce, different meat
• Yaguarlocro – take locro and add dried blood and sausage (umm….yeah)
• Menestra – a really good legume (usually lentils) stew
• Alfenique – a mix between taffy and a rock
• Fajitas- well, not an Ecuadorian classic (we actually made this one) but with their fresh vegetables- ricissimo!

Now if you can match the food with the pictures in the collage, you win a culinary tour through Ecuador, good luck!

130 little adorable hellions Vs 7 Foreign Volunteers

So in this corner! Seven ideological, helpful, hopeful, enthusiastic, bright-eyed volunteers, covering the world from the US to the UK to Australia, with varying degrees of Spanish speaking abilities (“what does nada mean?” to understanding their swear words), varying degrees of teaching experience (“not so much teaching, but I’ve been in a classroom before?” to “the trick is to never let the kids see the fear in your eyes”),

In the other corner… 130+ adorable, innocent, 3 1/2 – 15 year old Galapagarians with varying English speaking abilities (from the complete blank stare to correcting our English)

The venue – Three open classrooms and a community playground in San Cristobal, Galapagos

LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!!

It was the kids that came out swinging making use of their home court advantage and the kindness of the volunteers to multiply their numbers from what was supposed to be four groups of 15 students each (5-6 years old, 7-8 years old, 9-10 years old and 11 and up) to an overwhelming 30+ students in each class. The sly youths also snuck in 3 ½ to 4 year olds with their parents claiming they were older. Not being old enough to know how to lie like their parents they were later caught, however it was too late, they had already joined the fight, and damn it they were too adorable to throw out.

It was also the 3-5 year olds that used their supposed innocence and their youth to deal some rather devastating early blows. In the classrooms they were uncontrollable and in the sports class even worse. It was here that during a perceivably well thought out game of duck, duck, goose that one of the cuter children snuck out a carelessly left open door. When Donny went chasing after the 4 year old the rest of the class used the “rope a dope” technique to split in to two groups and head out the other open doors. The other usually very competent volunteer (the wonder from down under (Australia)) was powerless to stop them. They made their way out to the playground (looked like more of a training area for American Gladiators) and started climbing on anything and everything over 10 feet high. One of the children Donny had to chase two blocks away and physically drag the child back to the school. The first two rounds (day 1 and 2) definitely went to the children.

However, by round three the experience and determination of the volunteers started to pay off. They used oldschool techniques that the children had never seen before; like making learning fun, lots of total participation activities, and tons of attention grabbing visuals. By Thursday the volunteers even got some extra backup, two new volunteers from England, and a projector which Brooke skillfully used to trick the kids into learning how important it is (especially in the Galapagos) to protect our environment. The fight was definitely taking a turn in the volunteers favor. On Friday the venue moved to a local beach were the volunteers organized a very successful trash pickup on the way to the beach (10 garbage bags in total), but the later part of the round switched sides again as the volunteers desperately tried to control the kids as children escaped the ever fragile Duck, Duck, Goose circle and stampeded for the ocean. All the volunteers could do was frantically continue their headcounts making sure no one was going under or being taken away by the circling sea lions. In the end I think everyone was accounted for and I know everyone had fun.

Friday was technically the end of the fight for Donny and Brooke. This was a good thing as we now have heard the children have organized a last ditch effort, bringing water balloons, paint, and shaving cream to class on Monday in celebration of Carnival / Galapagos week. When we visited the school the volunteers were covered in paint and soaked head to toe. The battle that is supposed to last for six weeks is still anyone’s fight.

Good luck, volunteers, you’ll need it.

An Outside Commentary: While this blog was written mostly in jest, the importance of this education should not be missed. Here in the Galapagos, possibly more than any other place in the world, it is critical that the youth understand the impact of their environmental footprint and learn to care for and preserve their islands as models for the rest of the world. We, with the GROW Initiative, have been fortunate enough to play a small part in making this a reality. Please see our GROW Initiative website for more information on this project.

We’re engaged!!!

So I was psyched, we were going on a snorkeling trip I had been looking forward to for a long time- a gift for our anniversary from Donny. When we got to the dive shop they started getting us our snorkel equipment- you know, mask, snorkel, fins and a wet suit, BCD and weights… Donny kept looking at me kind of funny, asking if there was anything strange about all this. I rationalized that it’s cold so you need a wetsuit, the BCD was like a life vest, need weights to be able to free dive a little… As he kept prompting me for the happy, excited response he had been looking forward to, he finally had to come out and say, rather slowly and very enunciated to make sure I still couldn’t be confused, “Brooke, we are going diving.” Donny really outdid himself. Generally (and sadly) diving is usually out of our budget and I would have never signed us up for a trip, but that’s what presents are for I guess, things you would never get for yourself and I was thrilled! We were going diving, and in the Galapagos of all places! He got his happy, surprised look on my face and I couldn’t wipe the smile away for so long my cheeks hurt by the time it came to put the regulator in my mouth.

But the real climax came when we were underwater, about 60 feet down, sharks swimming to both sides of us. The whole group had just stopped to look up at the school of spotted eagle rays and sharks passing overhead, then as they continued on we hung back and Donny called me over to check out something. Turns out that something was a beautiful little clam shell with some gold ribbon coming out of it. Now apparently something along the lines of my gently opening the shell that was so carefully selected was supposed to be what happened. But when I saw the shell and ribbon I got an inkling as to what was going on and in my excitement ripped the shell in half looking to see what was inside (I’ve been waiting 3 years, I was a little anxious!) I saw the ring- a dolphin with a stone, which is just perfect though Donny calls it more of a symbolic ring- not like there’s a whole heap of jewelry store selections when you’re shopping on a small island. According to his story it came free with a purchase of a fish from a guy on the street. But it is beautiful and in true over exaggerated divemaster style he signed what I’ve been waiting to hear, but it’s hard to talk underwater so though I didn’t hear the words the point was certainly gotten across and I’m pretty sure he understood my enthusiastic YESSSSS!!! The rest of the dive I tried to pay attention to the cool sharks and turtles and such we were diving with so as to not miss out on the amazing experience of diving in the Galapagos, but mostly we just were looking at each other and smiling despite having our regulators in, hence letting in some waters and choking a bit…

When we finally rose to the surface he put it all into words and asked again. This was good because I really wanted to make sure there wasn’t any confusion and maybe we just found a dropped ring that happened to fall in a clams mouth with a ribbon and Donny wasn’t asking me to marry him, but just pointing a cool turtle or telling me he was running out of air or something. Once again my answer was an overwhelming YES! Back aboard the boat everyone helped us celebrate with the champagne Donny had bought for the occasion (guess he felt pretty sure of a yes answer).

Definitely the best scuba diving experience of my life. The sharks, turtles, swarms of fish of all shapes colors and sizes, and everything else there was to see were all fantastic, but all I was really looking at was the love of my life.

Galapagos Islands!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well we’ve been here nearly a month now, guess it’s about time to sit down and write a blog about the most beautiful and amazing place on earth!!! Well, there’s steep competition for sure, but the Galapagos are so wonderful, it’s no wonder their other name is the Enchanted Islands. Everything I’ve ever dreamed about the Galapagos is true. Wildlife abounds and it becomes commonplace to be hanging out with sea lions and sea turtles, with countless sea birds like frigates and pelicans soaring above your head. It’s a nature lover’s dream.

This is certainly a place where the pictures say it way better than we ever could- being just feet away from the wildlife or sometimes even closer (too close). Like the time we were snorkeling in one of the crystal clear little bays here and a baby sea lion came up to us, turned on its back and started blowing bubbles as it circled around us. This was the cutest thing we had ever seen until 500lb daddy sea lion decided to join in the fun. Unfortunately he was not as cute as his little baby and his idea of fun was swimming at lighting bolt speed directly toward Donny’s face only to pull up inches away and then start circling around for another run. Luckily we were underwater so no need to run home for a change of boxers but we still made it out of the water pretty quickly. I guess even in the ocean there are lines in sand you don’t want to cross. The list of the wildlife we have seen goes on and on and each encounter seems even more amazing than the last. We’ve taken about a thousand (no exaggeration) photos to remember it all by with every turtle, iguana, penguin, ect, having the slightest different stance or expression (“but it's the cutest thing ever!”) making it impossible to delete the photo.

The Galapagos are certainly a place you never forget and we feel so fortunate to have been able to see the islands in all their glory. Of the 13 main islands, we have seen 3- San Cristobal, Santa Cruz and Isabela. They are all beautiful and completely unique and I only wish we could have seen more. Sadly cruises around to the other islands are quite out of the backpacker budget making us settle for an absolutely amazing, fantastic, incredible, stupendous time on the islands we were able to see! Most of this time has been on San Cristobal, the capital of the Galapagos. Here we have been able to really get to know many of great people (and sea lions, as they outnumber the people) that call the Galapagos their home. Through the GROW Initiative we have also been able to volunteer, teaching at a school for over a week which is truly the way to realize how special a place a place can be. So as we said before check out the pictures and see for yourself. The Galapagos is truly an amazing place!

View more Galapagos Pictures

Fishing, a steep (and expensive) learning curve

I think the grand total was a loss of one fishing rod, one fishing rod holder, 5 big squidy lures, a few hooks, some weights, a bucket (that was actually lost in trying to clean up post-catch)… Hence the expensive part of the learning curve, but luckily we finally came out on the top of that curve and now are fishing masters using nothing but a snub line (thank you to Gilles who helped us make one that was functional, and The Cruisers’ Guide to Fishing). One of the things in that learning curve is that apparently 20lb line is not so good for ocean fishing, that’ll snap in a heartbeat. Once we jumped up to 200lb line, then we were talking! Think we could have drug a blue whale behind us with that stuff and still been alright.

The loss of the rod and holder (lures, weights and hooks attached of course) was one of the more comically tragic of the losses- setting off from Panama City, less than an hour under our belts with the sun in our hair we hopefully put the line into the water. Our hopes were actually not so high considering our amazing lack of luck the entire time aboard Cinnabar, but still we had fingers crossed. Amazingly enough, within 5 minutes we had a huge mahi mahi! Sounds exciting, right? Well, the mahi mahi actually being attached to our boat lasted about .5 seconds as the strain tore the whole rigging right off. Mahi mahi jumping in the sunlight in all its glory, trailing a fishing rod behind. Not off to a good start, it was the fishing rod’s inaugural try.

By the end with our handline we hauled in a 60lb mahi mahi, the grand triumph and the event that probably marked the end of my fishing career, figure I can’t do much better than that. A week later and many people having been fed by that fish, we’re actually finishing off that fish tonight for another scrumptious dinner Onno is preparing, so I better get off the computer before they go and eat it all.

Land ho!

We are in the wonderful Galapagos Islands, and kissing the ground (some, aka Donny, kissing it more reverently than others!). The crossing did go well though, the basic stats being: 1015 nautical miles, 8 full days, 1 crossing of the equator, 2 fish caught, 5 fishing lures, one new rod, and mounted rod holder lost, 2 battons lost, one dinner lost, top speed 11 knots, min speed I think we were moving backwards...

And now, a tale of 2 voyages, or really one voyage with 2 very different perspectives.

Brooke

Setting sail it was a beautiful sunny day, really everyday was wonderfully sunny unless there were a few clouds to give some extra respite from the heat of the noonday sun. Luckily right away we got “Wendy” our wind vane to work and the “look Ma, no hands” steering went perfectly. This meant long nights of star gazing and looking into the phosphorescent waters contemplating the meaning of life instead of having to steer the whole time, very relaxing! Or daytime activities of reading, writing, or catching fish! Got one tuna and one huge mahi mahi! This of course led to some of the most delicious meals, especially those cooked by Onno who is an amazing chef and a magnanimous host that was always out to make us feel as comfortable and happy as possible. There were beautiful sunsets and sunrises, and in between I got to work on my tan. Though there was a lot of rocking and cooking was not always the easiest, I got to work on my balance and cooking under pressure when it was my turn to prepare some of our fresh catch of the day!

And pulling into San Cristobal we had a dolphin escort for some of the time, the island basked in the late
afternoon sun, there were tons of birds on the water and we even saw a shark. Dropping anchor we immediately had friendly people coming to our boat to help with checking in and that night after a drink of celebration we fell asleep to the gentle rocking of being at anchor.

Donny
Setting off from Las Perlas Islas it was a beautiful day with “relatively” calm seas. After a scary few hours of thinking Wendy, our wind vane auto pilot was not going to work, we finally got her dialed in. Now time to fish! (See our future blog on Fishing) Deciding not to go with the traditional technique of hooking a fish on the end of a line and then reeling it in, and went with the less known ancient method of throwing all of our expensive new gear (mostly rated for small pond fish) at the small Volkswagen size fish in hopes that they would feel bad for us and jump aboard our boat to return the gear. We are still working out a few kinks in the method.

At around the same time of our fishing experiments the winds really started to pick up creating the first small bump in the road for myself. This “bump” came in the form of 20 foot swells** that towered over our small vessel on a “road” that stretched for hundreds of miles in every direction of shades of blue and white mountain tops continually crashing and crumbling upon themselves before building back up to become the next tall peak. This is also when Wendy, our autopilot, smartly decided that the waves were too big for her and she would sit this one out, leaving us to make all the minor steering adjustments for ourselves. It usually went like this: “Damn, we’re 20° too far to port, turn to starboard. Damn! we’re 40° too far to Starboard! Go back! Go back! Wait not that way! Holy *&$^%! Go right, I mean port, I mean starboard! Did we just go in a full circle?” It was while I was calmly making these small adjustments during my shift at 2:30 AM that the waves finally got to me and my tuna (that we finally did catch) made its last attempt to escape from my stomach and return to the sea. It was successful (many times). While I was sad to see the wonderfully tasting fish leave, I was even sadder to see it was accompanied by my Dramamine. Although I am not a big proponent of taking any kind of drugs, the Comer family was brought up popping motion sickness tablets like Skittles. Whether it was to help with balancing an inner ear condition or for putting two overly energized children quickly asleep for long car trips, is still under debate. However, even in those days it was clearly understood that all motion sickness medicine is useless if it is not taken at least a half an hour before the symptoms appear. As there was no break in the waves for the next seven days the three packs of Dramamine that I had bought were now worthless, the seasickness was upon me.

So for these next 161 hours 43 minutes, and 21 seconds, I spent 95% of my time lying on my back. Even the briefest of movement required 10 minutes of planning, deep breaths, the actual movement, then 10 more minutes of deep breathing. If the activity I wanted to do was down below (I came to know this area as the “Machine”), it was even worse. Here I would bounce front to back and side to side; stubbed toe – 20 points, banged knee – 40 points, head on the shelf – Jackpot…Jackpot! It was even more exciting when we were playing multiball (more than one person below), as the point system increased. Although meals Onno or Brooke prepared looked good, they could not compare to my diet of crackers which was about all I could keep down. But I guess that’s fair since setting foot in the galley of the Machine for cooking or cleaning was not something I was prepared to do anyway- don’t cook, don’t eat.

While up on deck was 100 times better, it had its own game. With the constant movement (the sun would not freakin’ stay still) and not much cover, the object was to see how small you could get your body to take advantage of the two feet of shade that was available. Sometimes I would come out a winner, while other times a bright red calf or shoulder would show the proof of my loss.

In the end the Galapagos was a beautiful site for many reasons and the feel of solid ground beneath my feet was a more than fantastic sensation. My thoughts of joining the navy or hopping aboard a pirate ship have diminished a little, although with each day distancing me from the memory of those awful feelings I begin to remember only the good parts of the journey and think to myself….I could probably do this again.

**All for there measurements therefore noted were taken with specially calibrated instruments designed for and of use only by the author and may or may not coincide with findings or not findings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association as their data is obviously too small. Also may contain yellow food coloring #9.