After the excitement of the Galapagos we returned to the Sheraton in Guayaquil (Yay Starwood points!), only to find the latest packet waiting for Jennifer. In case I haven't mentioned it before, or in case you've forgotten, Jen ended up matching for a fellowship position at UC Irvine. So once we get home we'll be loading up the truck and moving to Tustin, Ranch that is.
In the interim, however, the program needs roughly 10 reams worth of paperwork completed. This would be challenging in the best of scenarios, but given that we spend roughly 4 days in a country it's turned into a logistical nightmare. Jen's mom has been a saint for sending us stuff and so far we've managed to find a UPS/DHL/FedEx to get it back to California. In this case, though, we needed to fax it, which the hotel was gracious enough to do for us.
5-6 pages at a time.
Each fax at an exorbitant rate.
But hey, it got there.
We also took this opportunity to ship all of our diving stuff back to the states. After Machu Picchu we shipped the camping stuff back, and after this we'll be down to what we started with - roughly 100 pounds of checked luggage and 30 of carry-on. It's a relief to be able to carry everything for a change.
We ended up on Iberia from Guayaquil to Madrid (and from Madrid to Cairo). For the most part I've dogged on American Airlines during the trip - literally every airline along the way has had better customer service and amenities. Iberia, however, makes American look outstanding. If at all possible I will avoid them in the future.
We got into Cairo around 10:30 pm where we were met by our friend Jason (who featured in the previous entry, and was there when Jen and I met). Jason's been teaching in Cairo for the last two years and we'll be crashing with his family before we join up with GAP for our tour of Egypt and Jordan.
Tomorrow: When blogs collide/Can we crash at your place even though we haven't seen you in over a decade?
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The low point (Galapagos) - 30 March 2009
A little background information is necessary here:
Jennifer is the driving force behind our diving. It's not that I dislike it, necessarily, it's just that I'm not that comfortable in the water. It's not that I can't swim, it's just that I'm not proficient at it. My swimming could charitably be described as a rythmic thrashing motion that resembles a crawl stroke.
A long, long time ago (ok, 15 years ago) when Jen and I were just friends we were at the beach with our friend Jason (who'll make a guest appearance shortly). We were just hanging out in the ocean, treading water and floating. Jason was talking about how he couldn't float (probably because he was so skinny), I was getting tired from treading water, and then Jen mentioned how she spent her summers as a lifeguard. Oh, and was on the swim team in high school. She's basically a fish.
All of the above to say that while I'm not comfortable in the water, Jennifer is extremely comfortable in the water.
We did our first two dives without incident and then went on our third dive. The dive plan called for us to swim through a lava tube, circle around an outcrop, and then stick with the divemaster for the remaining of our bottom time.
We probably should have aborted the dive when our divemaster couldn't find the lava tube on the first descent. We all had to come back up so that he could get directions from the boat driver. Then, when we descended again we found it, but instead of going through and staying on the other side we went through and then came back out.
Then, we swam along the reef and swam into some shallow water between a rock and the shore. Jen went in first and then I followed. There was a lot of surge, and we had to hold onto a piece of coral to keep from being pushed up against the rocks. Thinking that Jen was a stronger swimmer, I waited for the surge to start to go out and swam back out into the ocean.
Once I was out, I looked back expecting to see her right behind me. Instead I couldn't see her anywhere. I looked around 360 degrees and then ascended. When I hit the surface all I could hear was her screaming.
She got caught in the surge and tumbled up against the rocks. Her regulator was ripped from her mouth, and the divemaster pulled her out of the surge. She was shaken up - as you'd expect, and we had the boat driver take us back to the boat.
Later, Jen shook it off and continued diving, so it didn't ruin the week, but it's the scariest experience I've ever had.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Yeah, it's hot (Galapagos land) - 27 - 31 March 2009
Iguazu falls firmly established that neither one of us is a jungle person, and the land "excursions" here helped us figure out that we're not really desert island people either.
I mean, don't get me wrong, the bugs are neat:
And the frigate birds are amazing, especially when they inflate their red chests:
But unless you're a lizard, erm, iguana (note to self: investigate Venn diagram regarding lizards and iguanas)
It's just too hot. Maybe we're biased - we did come here to dive after all, but I spent most of the time on land wanting to get back in the water. In contrast, the seal below is chasing a marine iguana out of the water and on to the land:
Of course you can't go to the Galapagos without seeing the tortoises (totoisii?):
One nice note - I got busted with the Man-Ox T-shirt. For the most part I've been able to surreptitiously slip it on, take the picture, and go on about my business - but the group caught me and we all got a picture together:
The next blog entry? The absolute lowest point of the trip. Bet you can't wait!
I mean, don't get me wrong, the bugs are neat:
And the frigate birds are amazing, especially when they inflate their red chests:
But unless you're a lizard, erm, iguana (note to self: investigate Venn diagram regarding lizards and iguanas)
It's just too hot. Maybe we're biased - we did come here to dive after all, but I spent most of the time on land wanting to get back in the water. In contrast, the seal below is chasing a marine iguana out of the water and on to the land:
Of course you can't go to the Galapagos without seeing the tortoises (totoisii?):
One nice note - I got busted with the Man-Ox T-shirt. For the most part I've been able to surreptitiously slip it on, take the picture, and go on about my business - but the group caught me and we all got a picture together:
The next blog entry? The absolute lowest point of the trip. Bet you can't wait!
This makes that 5 mil westuit worth it (Galapagos Water) - 27, 28, & 29 March 2009
We came to the Galapagos because of the video we saw while we were diving in Palau. It seemed like everywhere you looked, there was something spectacular.
While the checkout dive seemed like a bad omen, it's nearly impossible to have bad thoughts when you're in the water with these:
I know that sounds funny - you're in the water with a school of Hammer-freakin'-head sharks and you can't have bad thoughts, but there's something strangely soothing about watching them move through the water oblivious to your presence. Or more likely, they've just decided that you're not food so you're not worth the trouble.
For all of my posturing, though, I didn't chase the sharks. The rays, however, were another matter:
One would go gliding by and we'd take off after it, burning through our air at a furious rate. It seemed they'd go slower just to toy with us leaving us to wonder how their languid body movements could propel them through the water so fast.
But by far my favorite experience was being in the water with seals. They are curious about you and it's easy to imagine that they're inviting you to play - disappointed when you can't stay down as long as they can, or dive as deep.
On one dive Jen and I stayed at the back of the group and played around with a group of them. They'd jet past us, turning circles, eyeing us upside down. If I could find a "Dive for a week with seals" trip, I'd definitely take it. Bonus points awarded for dolphins and whales as well.
While the checkout dive seemed like a bad omen, it's nearly impossible to have bad thoughts when you're in the water with these:
I know that sounds funny - you're in the water with a school of Hammer-freakin'-head sharks and you can't have bad thoughts, but there's something strangely soothing about watching them move through the water oblivious to your presence. Or more likely, they've just decided that you're not food so you're not worth the trouble.
For all of my posturing, though, I didn't chase the sharks. The rays, however, were another matter:
One would go gliding by and we'd take off after it, burning through our air at a furious rate. It seemed they'd go slower just to toy with us leaving us to wonder how their languid body movements could propel them through the water so fast.
But by far my favorite experience was being in the water with seals. They are curious about you and it's easy to imagine that they're inviting you to play - disappointed when you can't stay down as long as they can, or dive as deep.
On one dive Jen and I stayed at the back of the group and played around with a group of them. They'd jet past us, turning circles, eyeing us upside down. If I could find a "Dive for a week with seals" trip, I'd definitely take it. Bonus points awarded for dolphins and whales as well.
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