Repatriation

Hi Everyone,

Just thought I'd give you an update as to how we are all adjusting back to life here in the US.


The kids are doing well--have made it through their first 3 weeks of school.


Dustin is loving everything about school. He has hooked up with all of his old friends and likes his teacher. Today, he is interviewing for a "job" at school, as the peacekeeper. Apparently, all the kids will get a job, pay rent on their desks, and have to pay for privileges such as eating in class or going to the bathroom. Sounds like a fun way to learn about economics and the real world! Dustin has started back into karate, and will get his brown belt in September. Overall, he seems to be adjusting fairly well, and seems happy.


Jensen had a rough start with school, but seems to be handling things much better now. Her first day of school she came home crying and said she wished she were back in Africa. I honestly never thought I'd hear those words out of her mouth! She goes to an IB school, which is quite challenging academically, and her day is quite long (7:55 - 3:45), with only a 30 minute lunch break. She has 7 classes, and even her electives are quite academic and not much fun (Music Notation and Theory, Computer Technology, and Spanish). She is especially having difficulty in Spanish because she has French so ingrained in her brain right now. And I'm not much help either, for the same reason, despite the fact that I took 3.5 years of Spanish.


In any case, she is doing better. The first 3 days she said she was anxious and nervous, and had butterflies in her stomach when she went to school. But she quickly got over that. Now, she's pretty happy when she gets home from school, except on those days that she has a lot of homework. Those are the days that she says she is homesick and wishes she were "home" in Africa. It really is understandable how she's feeling. For the last 2 years she's had no real deadlines or major tests to take in school. She was not competing against anyone but herself, didn't have to wear a uniform, and she didn't have to be in her seat when the bell rang. She could eat in class, listen to her iPod in class, and run home whenever she needed something. And our dog Kami got to come to class everyday! Much less stressful! In a way, I feel bad putting her back into such an academically stressful situation, given that I know it will take her some time to adjust, but I also thought having her go back to her previous school where she was comfortable, was a good thing. I think overall, this will be good for her, and I do think she is adjusting well to school.


Jensen has not wanted to start back into karate yet, as she was worried about her schoolwork. I'd like to see her get back into it, as she was already a red belt, and only about a year away from earning her black belt. She started a sewing class after school yesterday, with her best friend Taylor. They have been friends since they were 1 week old. She will be learning to sew clothes on a machine, and she seemed to like the class a lot.


Kami, our dog seems very happy in her new house. However, she doesn't like the storms here any better than she did in Africa, and she has taken to hiding in closets or in the shower when a storm hits. But she does love taking Jensen to the bus stop in the mornings and picking her up in the afternoons, and she loves walking Dustin to school. She gained 5 pounds while she was in Africa, so she needs all the walks she can get! The vet said that she is now 5 pounds overweight, and I had to switch her to the "fat dog" heartworm medication. She used to take the medication for dogs 26-50 pounds, but now she has to take it for dogs 51-100 pounds! We tease her about the "wattle" she now has under her chin!


Bill is doing okay. His new job in Phoenix is not super challenging, especially after working in Africa ("the hardest job I have ever done"), but he feels comfortable there. He has been traveling to Denver the last couple of weeks, which gives him a break from the heat here, but he really doesn't like doing that kind of travel. Hopefully he won't have to do too much more of it. Bill still has not bought a car, so he still takes the bus to work everyday. So far, it's working for us, but he will need something eventually. At least I feel good about us not contributing so much pollution to the environment.


I have not started back to work yet, but will likely be starting back up in the next couple of weeks. I have 2 previous clients that have asked for me to start working with their child again, so that will be nice to have some of my previous clients. Honestly though, there is still so much to do here that I'm wondering how I'm going to fit it all in, along with working.


We still have very little furniture (but did get our couch last Friday!), and we are trying to get some jobs contracted for here around the house. We need to get the exterior of the house painted, and 2 rooms inside. We need new flooring in all the bedrooms, as currently there is hideous blue carpeting in the bedrooms. We have a leak in our roof (right over our bed!), and we need window coverings on most of the windows (the previous owners had hideous looking curtains up everywhere, that didn't even match the hideous carpets)! We are still using patio furniture for our dining table, and Jensen is still sleeping in the guest room, as she has no bed!


So there you have it! Bill and I miss Africa a lot! We are sad to be back in the hustle and bustle of the US. Even though it was stressful in Congo, it was a different kind of stress. We worried about snakes, termites, bats, mosquitoes, and bees in our home, but I didn't worry about whether or not I would forget to pick my kids up at school. Thank goodness Jensen called me last week to remind me that she got out of school early, or she would have been sitting at the bus stop for a long time! Even though we had sucky food and poor internet connection in Congo (among other things), we had made it our home for 2 years, and we miss it, and the simplicity of our life there.


I do have to say though that we actually left at a good time. In the last couple of weeks, there has been a lot of agressive protesting from the illegal miners in Fungurume, and one man was actually shot. The women at the mine site have all been evacuated, and are currently staying in Lubumbashi. This is the second time they have been evacuated in the last couple of weeks, and at this time, they have no timeline as to when they will be allowed back. While we were there, the security level was always at green, but I think now it has been elevated to yellow. So perhaps the company knew what it was doing when they sent all the families home. In any case, we are happy to be home safe and sound.


We are also happy to have good, healthy (and lots of not so healthy) food, water that I don't have to boil, movie theaters, libraries, doctors, dentists, and hospitals, and stores that are open 24 hours a day for those times when your child says, "Oh yeah, I forgot, I have a project due tomorrow, and I need glitter, glue, stickers, etc". Mostly, we are happy to have all of our good friends and family back! That is what we missed most of all! Thanks to everyone for all of your support for the last 2 years!


Cheers!
Laurie


P.S. I gave my blog page a new look, since we are now back in the US; I thought it was time for a change. Although, I'm not quite sure how much I'll be blogging now that we're back, but when I feel there is something worth writing about, you can be sure you'll hear from me!

Congolese Wedding

Hey everyone,
Last night Bill and I had an awesome experience! We attended a Congolese wedding. One of Bill’s co-workers was getting married, and we were invited! I do have to clarify however. Although this was a Congolese wedding, it was not a traditional Congolese wedding. They usually have 2 weddings: a traditional Congolese wedding and a Christian wedding. Typically, only very close friends and family are invited to the ceremony; everyone else is invited to the reception. And what a reception it was!

The first thing we noticed is that we were literally the only 2 muzungos (swahilli for white people) there! There must have been at least 300-400 people there, and we were the only white people there! We felt a bit like fish in a fish bowl. We had been told that it was appropriate to wear traditional African clothes to the wedding, which Bill and I did (we had had a dress and shirt made). Well, we were the only ones! Everyone else was dressed in suits/ties and nice dresses, so we stuck out more than ever!

The next thing that was interesting about this wedding and I guess about all Congolese weddings, is that although the invitation said 8:00, no one got there until at least 9:00, and the wedding couple/party did not get there until 10:30!!! People told us that sometimes the wedding couple will not show up until midnight!
So now, the wedding party has arrived, but they don’t just walk in; they dance in! There must have been 20-30 people in the wedding party, and they all danced down the aisle by two’s. The men in the party were all carrying bottles of wine! As they all came in, all the guests started whooping. Not sure how to describe it—sort of a cross between a Native American war cry and a turkey call.

Once the wedding party was seated, people started giving toasts, but they were more like 15 minute speeches. Of course, they were all in French, so we understood very little. We were sitting next to one of Bill’s co-workers, and he told us a bit of what was being said, but more or less he told us to just clap when everyone else did. Oh, and speaking of being seated—we were crammed in like sardines! They had 16 people at each table, which really probably should have only seated about 10-12.

After the toasts, the wedding couple had their first dance. While they were dancing, people would go up to them and throw money at them (bills, not coins). Then, those same people would form a circle and dance around them. After that, the dance floor was opened up to the wedding party, and finally to everyone else. Bill and I danced with one of our friends there. It was quite humorous; two muzungos, dressed inappropriately, dancing poorly, in a whole room of Congolese! I’m sure they are all blogging about us today, writing about the 2 dumb muzungos who don’t even know how to dress for a wedding!

Most of the wedding seemed pretty typical to us, until we got to the receiving line/gift giving part. Very few people give cash, and of course there are no gift cards here, so everyone comes walking in with these huge gifts. There is no gift table or anything like that, so everyone just brings their gift to the table they are sitting at. Once all the speeches and dances were done, the receiving line/gift giving commenced. Each table went up, one by one, to the wedding party, handed over their gift, and then kissed everyone in the line (3 times, per Congolese tradition). Okay, so this doesn’t sound too strange yet—a little different, but not too weird. The next part was absolutely hysterical! It was our table’s turn to go up, so we started getting in line. But then one of Bill’s co-workers told us to go outside because all of the TFM (Bill’s company) guests would go up together to give their gifts. Apparently a lot of money had been pooled at the office to buy some nice gifts. So we all had to wait outside until all the other tables had gone up. Then it was our turn. We all walked in, carrying all the gifts. One of the gifts was a deep freeze box freezer. It took 3 men to carry it, but carry it they did—straight inside to the receiving line! The really funny part was that we couldn’t just walk up to the line—no—we had to dance up! So here we were, in this line with all the other TFM people (about 30 other people), dancing up to the line. Even the guys carrying the freezer were dancing! All eyes were on us, and of course, being the only white people, we really stuck out!

Once all the gift giving ended, it was time to eat. It was nearly midnight! It was buffet style food, with a roasted pig on the table. (At Bill’s going away party, they had a whole goat!) Each table was called up to get their food. We didn’t stick around for them to call our table; we were tired. We had been up early that morning to ship our dog back to the US (that’s another story), so we decided to leave before the wedding was over. A friend of ours left too. He said it was okay to leave after midnight. He told us that all the important things had already happened—the speeches, dances, and gift giving, so now it was just going to be eating, drinking, and dancing until about 3:00 AM! We had to drive back to Fungurume early the next morning, so we called it a night! It was definitely a night to remember!


I apologize, but I really have no good pictures to share. My camera was on the wrong setting, so most of the pics came out blurry.


Cheers!
Laurie

Botswana Safari & Victoria Falls Feb-March 2010

Hello everyone!


We’ve been home now for about 6 weeks after traveling to Botswana for a safari and to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls. I actually started writing this about a month ago, but have been busy, and unable to finish until now.


We met my mom and my sister Donna in Johannesburg, South Africa. They had come from the US to meet us so that we could all go on safari together. We all got into Johannesburg Thursday afternoon/evening, and spent the night there. The next day, we took off for Botswana. Botswana is a land locked country. It is bordered by South Africa to the South, Namibia to the West, Zimbabwe to the East, and Zambia and Angola to the North.


From South Africa we had a 2 hour flight to Botswana, and then another short chartered flight in a 12 seater plane to the lodge we were staying at. When we landed, a Land Rover was there to pick us up to take us to the lodge, but apparently from all the rain, it wouldn’t start. Bill and some of the guides tried to push it to get it started, but no such luck. So we waited awhile, in the rain, until another one came. Then, that Land Rover pushed ours and we finally got it started. The only problem was, we could not stop, or we wouldn’t be able to get started again. We prayed that we wouldn’t encounter a pride of hungry lions, right at the time that the Land Rover decided not to move again! But we didn’t. However, what we did come across was a fast moving river that we had to cross. This particular river had been dry for the last 27 years, and now all of the sudden, it was running again. I believe that they call it the Disappearing River, or something like that because one day it will be there, and then the next it will suddenly be gone. Or in this case, for 27 years it wasn’t there, and then all of the sudden one day, it appeared. I was afraid we might encounter a crocodile or hippo while crossing, but we didn’t. We made it through the river, and made it to the lodge without any problems.


After putting our things in our rooms, and a short snack, we were off on our first game drive. It was raining and cold, but the Land Rover had a cover over it, even if the rest of it was open. We had these rain type blanket-jackets, so those kept us mostly dry and warm.


The lodge we were staying at was located in Chobe National Park and was called Savute Elephant Camp, aptly named because there are 120,000 - 168,000 elephants in that park! So of course, that is what we saw the most of. The elephants are absolutely majestic, and nothing can compare to seeing them in the wild, in their natural habitat. In general, we just saw one at a time, as the males are solitary. Occasionally we saw several males together, but apparently they were not in any kind of a bachelor group; they just all happened to be in the same place at the same time. One time, we did see a group that had a mother and a baby, as well as several other elephants together. As we were driving, we sort of took them by surprise (and they surprised us as well!), and the mother elephant was not pleased! She came charging at us and trumpeted at us! It was exciting, but scary! Luckily, we had an experienced guide, and he knew that he had to just stop and hold his ground. He said that if he tried to drive away, the elephant would have chased us, and would likely have caught us! That probably would not have been a pretty sight! In general, the animals see the Land Rover as a big animal; they don’t really look at the individual people in the vehicle, unless of course there is a lot of movement. When we were close to the animals, especially the dangerous ones, the guides told us to sit very still and minimize our movements.


One day while we were out, we spotted 3 lion cubs, but with no mother around. The cubs were shy without their mother, so we only got a quick glimpse of them before they disappeared under the brush. Our guide said that it was unusual for the cubs to be without their mother, but that she was likely out hunting. He said that lions are not very good mothers, and that if they get too far away from their cubs while hunting, they may just abandon them altogether. We hoped that was not the case with these cubs.


Later, we saw a solitary, young adult male lion drinking water from a little watering hole. We thought he would never stop drinking! He drank for at least 10 minutes straight without stopping. Our guide again said that it was unusual for this lion to be on his own, and knew that there had to be others nearby. We waited for him to be done drinking, and then followed him to see if he would lead us to the rest of the pride. And he did! There were 3 other young adult male lions all lying under a tree. They had all just finished eating; not far from the lions was a half eaten zebra, which had been killed fairly recently. You could even see the marks in the dirt where the lions had dragged the zebra from one place to another. Our guide took us off the road and put us within 15 feet of these lions! Poor Jensen was so scared to be that close to the lions. She wanted to leave, but we were all fascinated, so unfortunately, she had to endure while we gawked.


The next morning, without Jensen, we went back to the same place to see if the lions were still there; they were, along with about 20 hyenas who were trying to steal the zebra, as well as a ton of vultures, waiting for their turn to eat. The lions had apparently scared the hyenas away from their zebra, but the hyenas were still hanging around, hoping for another chance. The lions had now dragged the zebra under the tree with them, and they were all chowing down on it! The sounds and the smell were just overwhelming! We could hear the lions crunching bones, and hear the scratchiness of their tongues on the zebra’s skin. It was grotesque, but so cool to see this up close. This was definitely a National Geographic moment, up close and personal!


While in Chobe National Park we also saw lots of different birds, several types of antelope (kudu, impala, steenbok, and tsessebe), giraffes, zebras, jackals, wildebeests, and wild dogs. We saw a baby zebra nursing from its momma, and also a baby giraffe nursing from its mom—not in the same place, but on the same day. They were so cute! A baby zebra is born with legs the same length as its mom’s. That way, it can stand next to its mom, and it will sort of look like just one animal (an adult animal), and it will give the baby a chance of surviving against predators.


We were very lucky to see the pack of wild dogs, as there is only one pack in the entire place. There were originally 12 dogs, but now lately, only 8 have been seen, and the guides think that the other 4 have been killed. They were all just lying in the middle of the road, sleeping and looking just like regular dogs. We thought they were so cute, until…Well, I’ll get to that story shortly.


We spent 2 nights at Savute Elephant Camp, and went on 4 different game drives, 2 each morning from 6:30 AM – 11:00 AM, and 2 each late afternoon/evening from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM. Most of the time was spent just driving around hoping to see animals, and when we did, we stopped and watched for as long as the animal stuck around, or until we’d had our fill of watching. Even without seeing animals, the drives were gorgeous, especially at sunset! There were lots of beautiful trees, including the Baobab, and the Umbrella Thorn. The Umbrella Thorn, to me, is what I think of when I think of the way Africa looks. The Baobab is a tree that I’ve read a lot about; whenever I read a book which takes place in Africa, they always talk about the Baobab. It is an interesting tree, as it is typically a solitary tree, and you will only see one at a time. However in Botswana, and in only one other place (can’t remember where), they have groupings of these trees. We saw about 16 of them all together in one place, all about 800-1200 years old! The Baobab is called the “Tree of Life”.


After 2 nights at the Elephant Camp, we flew to another camp called Khwai River Lodge. This one was located in the Okavango Delta. This camp was known for having lots of hippos because of all of the water that was around. They said that sometimes the hippos even came into the lodge area! Fortunately, they are not able to climb stairs, and we had to climb a few steps to get to our rooms. We could hear them from our rooms, but rarely saw them. Because it was the rainy season, all of the grass and bushes were very tall, so it made it more difficult to see the animals. Hippos are very territorial and actually account for more human deaths than any other animal. We did see some hippos while out on our game drives, but mostly saw them in the water. We saw a couple of juvenile hippos play fighting in the water, and that was fun to watch.


We also got to see a whole troop of baboons. There were adults, juveniles, and infants. The infants either rode on their mother’s back, or on her belly. They ran up and down trees, jumped from tree to tree, and foraged on the ground. One of them was foraging through a huge pile of elephant poop, looking for things to eat!!


And speaking of elephant poop, a lot of what we saw had mushrooms growing out of it! It was really gross, but very interesting. I took lots of pictures of it and called it “mushroom poop”. Sort of makes you look at mushrooms in a whole different light. The other thing we learned about elephant poop is that if you were stranded (and conceivably didn’t get eaten), you could squeeze the elephant poop and get liquid out of it to drink. I know, totally gross! I think maybe I’d rather get eaten!


One day while out, we saw several pairs of lions (male/female). Apparently, it was close to mating time. The guide said they were just dating—not quite at the mating stage yet. It was interesting to watch these pairs. The first pair we saw, were just lying in the middle of the road. They seemed very unconcerned with us, and were just sunbathing. What was interesting about them was that if the female moved, even just a few feet, the male moved right along with her. Apparently, he was keeping a very short leash on her! I guess that even if the female was no longer interested, the male wasn’t about to let her get away. This male that we saw, was the most fabulous, majestic looking lion I have ever seen. He was absolutely gorgeous! And he looked so calm and tame—just like a big kitty cat!


Probably the most exciting, but most horrific thing we saw was a pack of wild dogs killing a baby kudu (a type of antelope). I had thought that seeing this in the wild, it wouldn’t be so bad because it was just the natural course of life, but let me tell you, it was the most awful thing I’ve ever seen. This was National Geographic, uncensored! We came right up upon the scene, just as the wild dogs were bringing the kudu down. It was still very much alive and crying. That was the worst part—listening to that baby crying. I can still hear that sound in my head, and it just makes me cringe every time I think about it. These wild dogs (there were 4 of them) were just ruthless. They were actually eating this poor baby kudu before it was even dead. And if this wasn’t bad enough, the mother kudu was standing there, watching the whole thing. There was absolutely nothing she could do. I was able to get the entire thing on video tape, and honestly, that was the only way I could watch what was happening. When I tried to take my eyes away from the video tape, and watch it live, I just couldn’t. Half the time I was videotaping I had my eyes closed. I just had the camera focused on the animals, and then I just closed my eyes so I didn’t have to watch. And now, when I show other people the video, I have to walk away. Even though I was the one that filmed it, I couldn’t bear to see it again. I am not posting any of those pictures because they are so graphic, but if anyone wants to see them, just let me know and I'll send them to you.

One of the last things we did while on safari was take a helicopter ride over the Okavango Delta. It was a 40 minute ride, and they had taken the doors off the helicopter so we could really get a good view. Unfortunately, we really did not see all that much. It was amazing to us that from that vantage point (up in the air), we didn’t see that much more than when we were on the ground. In fact, we often went 10-15 minutes without seeing a single animal! It really made us appreciate how much we saw on the ground. Being up in the air really gave us a good appreciation of how vast this area is. The one thing that I saw (I was the only one that saw it) from the air that we didn’t see on the ground, was a crocodile. We went by it so quickly that by the time I pointed it out to the others, we had already passed it. The other thing I got a glimpse of while in the helicopter was hippos running on the ground, which was different than seeing them in the water. Everything went by so fast that we couldn’t really get any pictures, but I was able to videotape a lot of it.

When our safari was over, we drove from Botswana to Zimbabwe, where we stayed for a couple of days to see Victoria Falls, which is one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World. These falls are twice the height of Niagara Falls, and one and half times the width, making it the largest single curtain of falling water on earth. Unfortunately for us, at the time we arrived, Zimbabwe happened to be getting more rain than they had had for a long time. What this meant for us was that we could hardly see the falls. There was so much rain, and so much mist, that it was difficult to see much of anything. It was really quite disappointing, and I don’t think I got a single good picture. The other bad part about the rain was that some of the activities that we were scheduled to do, were cancelled because of the rain. We were supposed to go on an elephant back safari, but no one wanted to do it in the rain. The other thing we missed out on was a micro light plane ride. This “plane” looks like a cross between a go-cart and a glider. It does have an engine on it, but the experience is more like that of a glider. We would have been able to go right over the top of the falls in this and the view would have been spectacular!! Unfortunately, because of the rain, the company cancelled the flight. We were really disappointed. We thought this might have made up for the disappointing views of the falls, but since we didn’t get to go, no luck.


We did spend one afternoon going on a tour of a local village, and this was pretty interesting. Our guide was a local Zimbabwean who educated us about the marriage practices of Zimbabweans. He told us that children are so important to a marriage that if no children are produced in the first year of marriage, that the in-laws on both sides will step in. They will arrange for a younger brother of the husband to sleep with his wife (unbeknownst to him). Then, if a child is produced, the marriage can be saved. He also told us that it is a very complicated process for the man to talk with the woman’s parents when he wants to ask for their permission to marry. He has to go through an aunt or someone, who acts as the advisor. And there is money to pay every step of the way. He has to pay in order to request a visit with the parents. And he has to pay for the actual visit. And he has to pay the woman acting as his advisor. And it seemed like there were a lot of other things that he needed to pay for, just for the chance to ask permission to marry this girl. And then once the parents say yes, he needs to pay the dowry. It is usually a combination of cows/goats and money. After we arrived at the little village, we got to spend time with a local medicine man who told us all about life in his little village. They grow everything that they need to sustain themselves, and any extra, they sell. The other thing he told us is that each family name means a different animal. And whatever animal that your family is, means you cannot eat or kill that animal. That’s why, when they go on hunts, they bring people from lots of different families, so that they always have someone on hand who can kill any animal that they encounter. It was pretty cool hearing all about the different traditions that they have. The one bad thing that happened was that our bus got stuck in the mud at the village. They tried to dig it out, but without success. It wouldn't have been so bad, but it was cold and rainy, and we just wanted to get home to a warm shower. They eventually sent another bus to pick us up, and we really don't know what happened to the original bus. It might still be stuck there!


We also spent one afternoon at the Victoria Falls Hotel having high tea. The view we had of the falls was spectacular from that hotel, and the tea was very nice too. We walked around the grounds for awhile and saw lots of baboons and warthogs. They were all so cute! In an ugly sort of way! Dustin was so excited because on the morning that we were leaving Zimbabwe, a baboon came into the lobby of our hotel. We thought it was great, but the staff apparently didn't, so they shooed him out. Apparently, it's a fairly common occurrence. They also told us when we checked in to make sure to always lock the back door in our room when we leave the room. Otherwise, they said that the baboons know how to work the doors and they'll come in and throw a party!


On our last day, we drove to Zambia, as that's where our flight was leaving from. We did a little shopping on the way, and then we were off, back to South Africa. My mom and sister flew out that evening, first stopping in France on their way back to the US. We stayed the weekend in South Africa with friends, and finally made our way back home to Fungurume.


Well, that about wraps it up for the trip. Despite the disappointment at Victoria Falls, the trip itself was amazing! And it was made even better by having my mom and sister with us!


Cheers!


Laurie


P.S. I tried something different with my pictures this time. Instead of posting my pictures directly into the blog, I've put them into a Picasa album. I just had so many pictures that I wanted to share that I wouldn't have been able to fit them all on the blog page. So, I apologize, as this means an extra step for you, but I think you'll enjoy the pictures, so it should be worth it! The link to view the pictures is: http://picasaweb.google.com/101772470997217881011/BotswanaSafariAndVictoriaFallsFebruaryMarch2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCMO23bmRi5TaHw&feat=directlink

Moving Home!

Hi everyone!

The exciting news for the day is that we will be moving home for good this summer! Apparently the company wants to save money, so is closing the school down and sending all the families home. This of course is excellent news for us, though we were counting on being here one more year so that we could take advantage of the travel.

Since we won't have that opportunity, we are trying to fit in as much travel as we can before we leave! Thursday, we will be meeting my mom and sister, Donna in Johannesburg, South Africa. On Friday, we will all take off together to go on a safari in Botswana for 5 days, and then will travel to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls, one of the largest falls in the world!

In April, we will be taking a trip to Egypt, and in May, a trip to China and Bali! From there, we will be coming home! Unfortunately, we will not make it to Australia or Antarctica. We were hoping to get all 7 continents in, but I guess 5 is not too shabby! And now that gives us a goal to plan for the future!

It is likely that I will return to Africa for a short time this summer to pack up our house and arrange to get Kami home. Bill will likely stay in the Congo for a period of time, working an 8 and 2 rotation, meaning he will be here in Congo for 8 weeks, and then home to AZ for 2 weeks. Not sure how long he'll do that for, but we're hoping for no more than about 6 months.

We are already looking for homes in AZ, in the same general area of Mesa that we lived before. The kids will return to their previous schools: Dustin at Hermosa Vista, and Jensen at the Mesa Academy.

Guess that's all the news for now! Not much else can top that! Will write again when we return from Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Cheers!
Laurie

The Ten Plagues

The green snake found in our backyard!

Dustin holding the dead green snake. It's almost as long as he is tall!

The baby black snake that was found in our yard.

The Christmas beetle

The ants coming out of the hole in our house

The ant hill in our yard

Hello Everyone,
I’m on a roll—2 entries in one week! Wow! Besides having no internet, I thought I’d share with you some of the things that we have been putting up with on a daily basis. I have affectionately been calling them The Ten Plagues.

Plague #1—We usually lose power or water at least once daily. There is no rhyme or reason as to why we lose them so often, or to the timing of it; it could be any time of day or night. I always try to keep up on laundry, and keep all of our water jugs filled because when the water goes off, you never know how long it might be before it comes on again.

Plague #2—We had no TV and no light in our dining room for more than a month. Those have both been fixed now, but what a pain! We were eating dinner in the dark every night. I didn’t mind not having any TV, but Bill and the kids were not too happy about it. On the plus side, everyone did a lot more reading. Can you imagine—no TV, no internet, no light, no restaurants to go to, no movie theaters, no entertainment of any kind, and no transportation to get anywhere, even if there were some place to go!

Plague #3—Bats! Yep, you read it correctly! We had bats in our attic—7 of them! Apparently they were living right over our bedroom, and more specifically, directly over my side of the bed! I would get into bed and hear them up there—all night long! It did not make for good sleeping conditions. All night I would be worried that they were going to come crashing through the ceiling, right on top of me! I think I would have been traumatized for life! In any case, they finally got workers over to get the bats out, and do you know what they did? They hit them over the head with a hammer to kill them! Ouch! I guess I didn’t really know what they would do, but certainly wasn’t expecting that! My house cleaner got bit by one of them when they were trying to get them out! I was really concerned for him and told him to go get rabies shots, but he did not think it was a big deal and just put a bandaid on it. Luckily, we all had rabies shots before we moved here.

Plague #4—Mosquitoes! Once the bats were gone, the mosquitoes became a huge problem. One bat can eat like 600 mosquitoes an hour, and apparently, the bats in our attic were eating their fair share. Once we started battling the mosquitoes, I sort of started missing the bats. The mosquitoes are a problem because they carry malaria, as well as all sorts of other diseases, like yellow fever and African sleeping sickness. We have had all the vaccinations that are available, and we all take Malarone daily to help prevent malaria, but still. We have tried just about every mosquito product out there: sprays, citronella candles, mosquito coils, small devices that emit a high pitched sound that the mosquitoes don’t like, etc. Let me tell you—none of them work! We have screens on all of our windows and don’t leave any doors or windows open, but still they get in. The company also fogs/sprays the camp at least twice a week, but it seems they all must flock to our house to get away from the spray. We have found the best way to get rid of them is to just catch them and squish them in our hands. It has become somewhat of an Olympic sport for us. You’ll see all of us jumping in the air trying to catch them. I think I’ve got the best record. I would say we frequently have 20-30 a night in the house. So far though, we’ve been very lucky and we have not been getting bit. I think Dustin and I have each had 1 or 2 bites, but that’s about it. None of us have come down with malaria yet, but apparently we will need to continue to be checked for it for a year after we return home. If we get anything that resembles the flu, we have to be checked for malaria.

Plague #5—Beetles! Every year, around Christmas time, we get these big, black beetles all over camp. We call them Christmas beetles because that is the time of year they always show up. They don’t seem to be harmful, just annoying. They fly all over the place making a loud buzzing sound. Then, they hit a light, or a wall and they fall to the ground on their backs, and then they can’t get up from there. They just lay there until a bird comes and eats them. Sort of a pathetic life if you ask me.

Plague #6—Termites! I think I already went into detail in a previous post about the termites. The rains bring them out from underground, and you see swarms of them. We keep our doors and windows taped up to keep them out of our house, but when they did get in, it was just like a scene from the movie, The Birds, except with termites.

Plague #7—Frogs! We always leave our shoes outside because of all the mud and dirt here. Well, one morning, I went to put a shoe on, and lo and behold, there was a frog in it! I had started putting my foot into the shoe, felt something, screamed and threw the shoe, and a frog came flying out! Scared the you know what out of me! Jensen had a similar thing happen to her, except she actually was shaking her shoes out before putting them on, and a frog came flying out. She screamed too—just like me! She wouldn’t wear the shoes until I washed them for her.

Plague #8—Bees! One day, I was getting dressed in my bedroom and I heard a buzzing sound. All of the sudden, I saw a bee fly into the room, from our air conditioning unit. I called my house keeper in, and he pulled the bed away from the wall, and found a bunch of bees back there. We looked out of my bedroom window, and saw a whole swarm of bees out there. By that time, it sounded like my whole house was buzzing. My house keeper went outside and looked around the house and said there was a ton of bees out there. I could see them from every window I looked out of. In Arizona, and other places in the US, we worry about the hybrid Africanized bees that have mixed with the ordinary honey bees. Well here, there is no hybrid; these guys are the real deal! The kids and I went up to the school (no one was there because it was winter break) so we could get away from the house. I let someone know about the bees, and someone was sent over to the house. Well, by the time the person got there, he was completely confused. He could not find a single bee! He seriously thought I was a total looney, and was mad that I had wasted his time. Well apparently, the entire swarm of bees up and left, and flew across the street to my neighbor’s house! I’m not really sure what happened to them from there, but they have not been back to my house!!

Plague #9—Ants! Ants are a problem for everyone, I know that. But here, they not only make ant hills all over the yard, they also apparently build their nests inside the walls of the house. I have found tiny holes all around the outside of my house, with ants coming out of them. Luckily, I had brought some of those Combat Ant trays back here with me from the US, and I put those around the house. A few days after putting them out, I started seeing huge piles of dead ants all around the little holes. The ants eat the junk inside the little trays, and then bring it back to their nests, and that kills them. As they die inside the nest, the worker ants start carrying all the dead ants out and putting them in a pile. It’s amazing how huge these piles are. At least I know the Combat Ant trays are working!

Plague #10—Snakes! Yep, my worst fear! We have had 2 snakes in our yard. I do not believe either was dangerous, but you never know. One looked like it could have been a green mamba, and the other a black mamba, but my house keeper said they weren’t dangerous, so I’m assuming he’d know better than I would. The green one was pretty long—close to 4 feet. The black one was just a baby, so he almost looked like a big long worm, and not a snake. My house keeper found the green one in our laundry room, which is outside. It was actually coiled up inside of an electrical receptacle, in the laundry room. I am so glad he found it, and not me!! My house keeper took care of both of them. The green one he killed, and the black one he threw over our fence. I am very happy to have this house cleaner. Between the bees and the snakes, not to mention that he does a decent job cleaning the house, he has been well worth the money! I almost forgot—Jensen saw a snake too, though not in our yard. It was a baby cobra! It was near her friend’s house, in a drainage ditch. They called the snake catcher to come deal with it, but then it started pouring rain, and by the time he got there, the snake could not be found.
So there you have it. My very own Ten Plagues! Just what I wanted! Now you have an idea of some of the things that keep me on my toes here!

Hope this blog entry finds everyone well, and without plagues of your own!

Cheers!
Laurie

Peru and Machu Picchu Nov-Dec 2009

The local people protesting
See the paw prints? This restaurant serves guinea pig!

Orchids in the orchid garden at the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge

Machu Picchu!

Machu Picchu--view as we were coming down from the Sun Gate

A local Peruvian woman walking down the street with her dog

A llama--or maybe alpaca--can't remember which

Another llama or alpaca--how cute is that face??!!

Can you believe it? It cracked me up!

Guinea pigs in someone's home. Dinner anyone??

The tunnel fountain

Our family with local Peruvians in the market. See the baby llama near Bill?

Dustin with the local weavers

Bill sacrificing himself to the gods at the Sun Gate

See the glaciers?

Hello Everyone,
Now you get to hear all about our Peru trip. This part of the trip was phenomenal as well, but in my opinion, could not compare to the Galapagos. Out of the whole family, Bill liked Peru the best, which is no surprise given his love of history.

We started our trip by leaving the Galapagos Islands and coming into the Guayaquil airport in Ecuador. From there, we went to a hotel for a few hours to have lunch and to say our teary goodbyes to our good friends. Then we took a very unhappy bus ride (Jensen cried the whole way) back to the airport to board our flight for Lima, Peru. We stayed in Lima for one night, just going to our hotel rooms, getting dinner, and then going to bed. In fact, the kids both fell asleep before their dinner even came. The Galapagos trip had exhausted us!

The next day, we had an early morning, 1 hour flight to Cusco which is the ancient capital of the Incan Empire. Once in Cusco, we took a bus to the Sacred Valley of the Incas, the Urubamba Valley. It was cold and rainy when we arrived, but that was really the only cold, wet day we had. The rest of the week we had fabulous weather. We really lucked out, as we visited during rainy season, but got hardly any rain. However, in Peru, rain is considered good weather, while sunny days, or hail, are considered bad weather. If they get too many sunny days, then they need to offer alpacas or llamas to the gods in order to get rain.

We ate lunch at a local restaurant. The food was great. The kids especially liked a pumpkin soup that was served. At the end of the meal, we were served coca tea, which helps with digestion and altitude sickness. Cusco is at about 11,000 feet elevation, so altitude sickness is a definite concern, especially considering the amount of hiking and climbing that we would be doing. The coca tea tastes a bit like fresh mowed grass. The kids and Bill did not like it, but I did. Coca tea is part of everyday life of the Andean people. They drink it like Americans drink coffee.

After lunch we went to a place called Awanacancha where we got to meet, feed, and pet llamas, alpacas, and vicunas. They are all part of the camel family. I believe that they told us that only the llamas are used as pack animals. Something else I learned during this trip is that we have all been pronouncing “llama” incorrectly. It is actually pronounced “yama” because the double L in Spanish is pronounced as a Y. Once we fed the animals, we got to see how they dye and weave the fiber that they get from the animals. The baby alpaca fur is so soft. On a different day, we were given lessons about how to tell the difference between adult alpaca fur, baby alpaca fur, and what they call “maybe alpaca” fur, which is actually not alpaca at all, but is completely synthetic.

After we left Awanacancha, we went to the Pisac market. This is where the locals shop. You’ll find a bit of everything there. We enjoyed looking at all the different types of fruits and vegetables that were for sale. After that, we drove to our hotel, which was absolutely gorgeous. I could have spent all day just hanging out in the gardens.

Day 2 we visited the Ollantaytambo Complex, which is a sacred Incan fortress. We climbed up and up and up. The view from the top was beautiful. We took lots of breaks as we made our way to the top to ensure none of us got sick from the altitude. It was not a super easy climb, yet there were some people in our group with canes, and they made it! The funny thing about this place was that we had to pay to use the bathrooms. I think that if you didn’t need toilet paper, you could go in for free, but if you wanted the little napkin they gave you, it cost 1 nuevo sol, which was the equivalent of about 33 cents. I was wondering what they would do or say if you needed more than just the one little napkin they gave you.

On the way home from Ollantaytambo, we stopped at a corn beer factory. This is where they make home brewed beer out of corn, called chicha. The preferred corn to use is blue corn. They use purple corn to make a soft drink. The beer is like a light beer, and only has 2.5% alcohol content. You don’t get drunk on this beer; it is like drinking a soda with your meals. It only costs 1 nuevo sol (33 cents) for this huge glass of beer—almost a whole liter!

After that, we returned to our hotel for a traditional Peruvian lunch. There was so much food, and it was so good! I especially loved all the different types of sweet potatoes. The kids were not overly impressed. After we were done eating, we were treated to a Peruvian Paso Horse demonstration. Four horses (with riders) came out and did elaborate formations. And then a man and woman came out and danced together, and finally it was just the horses dancing with the woman. It was beautiful to watch and these horses were obviously well trained. Afterwards, the kids got to ride the horses!

Later in the afternoon we visited the ceramic studio of a local man named Pablo Seminario. We got to see how he runs his studio and watch as his workers made pottery, based on his designs.

Finally, at the end of the day, just before our dinner, we watched a play based on Peruvian folklore, called Gods of the Andes. The gist of the play was that the Andean people had lost the harmony of living side by side with nature, so they started to fight. Then, the gods came—the god of the Sun, Mother Earth, the Moon, and Lightning and Thunder. All of the gods battled against each other in order to restore the balance and harmony of the world. Once the battle was over, it was said that the gods gave the people the strength to clean their minds and bring back their cultures, and all was harmonious again. Today, this religion is still practiced among the Andean people. They still worship the mountains and forces of nature and still give offerings to Mother Earth. It was also interesting to learn that in Peru, all pictures portraying Jesus Christ show him looking down towards Mother Earth, rather than up towards heaven.

Day 3 we took a train to Machu Picchu. The ride took about 1.5 hours. The scenery was gorgeous on the way up, as we followed right along the Urubamba River. As we got further along the river, our guide told us that people could no longer go rafting on this part of the river as it was too dangerous due to the incredible rapids. And they did look intense!

Once in the city of Aguas Calientes, we got off the train and took a bus up the windy road to the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge. This was where we were going to stay for the night, and it was a beautiful place and very environmentally friendly. There were only a total of about 50 guests at the lodge, so we essentially had Machu Picchu to ourselves for the evening. Unfortunately, they close the entrance to it at 5:00 PM, so we couldn’t really go exploring around at night. It would be very easy to get lost there! But we did go out hiking around that afternoon and got to see a lot because most of the people had to leave to catch the buses back down the mountain. But since we were staying for the night, we could stay all the way until 5:00. Everything was gorgeous and we just kept taking picture after picture after picture! There were wild llamas roaming around. They didn’t seem afraid of anything, and our guide told us that they act as the natural lawn mowers of Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu means Old Mountain in English. It is also sometimes called the Lost City or the Unknown City. It was built in the 15th century, and was rediscovered by Hiram Bingham, an American from Hawaii, in 1911.

Day 4 We got up early this morning and were some of the first people on the trail to the Sun Gate, also known as Intipunku. The kids chose not to go on this hike, but Bill and I went. It was about a 2 hour hike, round trip—not real hard, so we went at a good pace. This was on our own, so we did not need to stay with our group. We were trying to get to the Sun Gate for sunrise, which we did, but unfortunately, it was so foggy up there that we couldn’t see a thing! The hike up was beautiful though. Sometimes we could see nothing because of the fog, and then all of the sudden, we’d look down and see the entire Inca citadel. On the way back down, I had to go to the bathroom so bad that I practically ran down the mountain! I think it took me half the time to get down as it did to go up. At first I was trying to wait for Bill, but he kept stopping to take pictures and finally my bladder got the best of me and I left him there on the mountain taking pictures.

Before we left to go back down the mountain, we walked through a beautiful orchid garden that was on the Machu Picchu Sanctuary grounds. You would never know that there were so many types of orchids. From there, we headed down the mountain and back to Cusco where we checked into another gorgeous hotel. All of our accommodations were excellent, as was the food!

On our drive back to Cusco, we got to see some really cool glaciers. They were so neat because you’re not expecting to see glaciers in a country right at the equator. I mean, the glaciers weren’t right there, where we could touch them, but they were still so awesome to look at. It was interesting because one minute they’d be there, and the next minute they were gone, depending on the fog. The snowline is at about 13,000 feet, due to the close proximity of the equator.

Day 5 We toured the city of Cusco. We started off at the most important temple in the Andes called Qorikancha. It was the principle temple of the sun god. Initially, the walls were completely covered in sheets of gold. In 1534, the Spaniards built the Dominican church and convent (Convento de Santa Domingo) over it. Regrettably, both were destroyed by an earthquake in 1650, but were rebuilt in 1681.

We learned that there are 8 Peruvian constellations, each in the form of an animal (snake, frog, llama, monkey, fox, hummingbird, spider, condor). Each animal has 2 characteristics, one which is usually complimentary, and the other not so much. For example, if one were to say you were like the fox, it would mean you are both clever and arrogant. It is a tradition for parents to assign each of their children to one of these constellations, based on the child’s personality. Usually the child does not get assigned to an animal until he is at least 8 years old, as it takes time for the child’s personality to develop. Sometimes, the parents will not assign an animal until the child is much older, even into the teenage years.

We also learned that Cusco was built in the shape of a puma, which is considered the most powerful animal in the Andes. The genitals of the puma guarantee transmission of culture, honor and religion to the next generation, which is why they built this most important temple there.

After visiting this temple, we headed out of town to Sacsayhuaman, a spectacular temple. The name means “head in the shape of a zig zag”, which is the shape that this temple was built in. It is the shape of the lightning god; he is still worshipped today because he brings the rain. This temple took over 100 years to build, over 4 generations. The temple was built from gigantic stones weighing 90-128 tons each! Each stone was fitted into the other with extreme precision, needing no mortar between them to hold them together. Bronze tools were used to build this temple because the rock was made of limestone.

Upon returning to the city, we came across a protest in the middle of one of the city squares. Apparently the people were protesting about the rates they pay and poor service they receive for water. They also were protesting because they wanted the water treatment plant to be farther out of town. This protest seemed very peaceful, though there were many police officers around. It was fun to watch because it gave us a good feel for the local people, how they dressed, etc.

After that, we went to the Basilica Cathedral. This building was started in the 1560s and had a huge baroque influence—lots of excessive decoration. There were also lots of mirrors, which represent the beginning of life. Most of the artwork was done in the 1700-1800s. There was a painting of The Last Supper, and the meal that was being served featured a guinea pig! We were not allowed to take pictures inside this cathedral, but seeing that guinea pig really cracked us up, and we wished we could have gotten a picture of it. Guinea pig is a common food in Peru. If you see little footprints on the outside of a restaurant, it means that they serve guinea pig there!

We ended the day with our group with a nice lunch at a restaurant close to our hotel. I had this awesome fruit for dessert. I can’t remember what it was called, but it tasted like caramel, and it was covered in chocolate! It was so good! Bill and the kids did not really like the meal that was being served (it was a fixed menu), so guess where they ate? Yep, they found a McDonalds in Cusco! The rest of our day was free to shop, etc.

Day 6 We flew out of Cusco and back to Lima. Jensen had developed a cold, and was not feeling well, so she and I, as well as Dustin (he was done with touring by that time), went straight to the hotel after we landed, while the rest of the group went to the Larco Herrera museum. This museum holds the best private collection of pre-Columbian art in Peru. After that, the group visited the historical center of Lima, which included the Plaza Mayor, Government Palace, City Hall, the Cathedral, and the Archbishop’s Palace. They also visited, and had lunch at Casa Aliaga, one of Lima’s first colonial mansions. It was built in 1535 by Don Jeronimo de Aliaga, and has been inhabited by the Aliaga family ever since!

That evening, some of our group departed back to the US. But our flight did not leave until the next evening, so we had some time to enjoy Lima. One of the things recommended to us by our guide was to see these fantastic fountains. So we took a cab to see the fountains, and it was so worth it! There were all these really cool fountains, and at night, they lit them up, and since it was close to Christmas, they had them choreographed to move to Christmas music! The kids did not think this was going to be very exciting, and we only thought we’d stay about 30 minutes, but we stayed at least a couple of hours. The kids had a blast. There was a fountain like a tunnel, and you could walk through it without getting wet! It was really a lot of fun.

After that, Bill, Jensen, and Dustin walked to the nearby mall and saw the latest Twilight movie, New Moon. It had just come out in the theaters, and being that we have no theaters here, Jensen was thrilled to get to see it. And it wasn’t even in Spanish! I think that was her highlight of Peru! I know—sad, but true.

Day 7 Our tour was officially over. Everyone from our group had departed back to the US. We spent the day hanging out at the mall until it was time for us to head to the airport and catch our flight to Spain. I think the flight was about 11 hours, and then we had a 12 hour layover in Spain, which ended up being even longer because our flight was delayed. We ended up leaving Spain at about 2:00 in the morning, and then of course, they tried to serve us dinner at that time! Bill was not happy about that! We just wanted to sleep! But so much for that! We got into South Africa the next day, stayed overnight there, and then took off the next morning back to Lubumbashi, and finally, one more flight to Fungurume! Whew! I think all in all, in the 3 week period, we took 13 different flights! The trip was definitely worth it! Hope you enjoyed hearing all about it.

Just a few more interesting facts about Peru—90% of the people are Catholic; an average, middle class person makes $180/month; there are 3 languages in Peru: Spanish, Quechuan, and Aymara; Pisco Sour is a famous Peruvian drink; rainy season is in the summer—they get 68”/year; when you see oxen on a roof, it means prosperity; 18 is the age for everything—drinking, voting, driving, marriage, etc; voting is mandatory—you will be fined if you don’t vote; in the last presidential election (2006) there were 22 candidates! Now you know a little more about Peru. Bet you didn’t know you were going to get a history lesson, did you??!!

Cheers!

Laurie

The Galapagos Islands

The Galapagos Penguins (notice the marine iguanas on the rock as well?)

Sperm Whale
Sea Turtle

Post Office Barrel

Waved Albatross feeding her chick

Baby Sea Lion, just seconds after being born!

Sea lion giving birth--the baby is still in the amniotic sac!

Nazca Boobies

Lava Lizard

Baby Sea Lion--so cute! Blue-Footed Boobie with chick

Baby Sea Lion--so cute!

Sleeping Sea Lions

Jensen with her friend Lilliana, and the sea lion

Galapagos Hawk

Moms and babies Pencil Urchin

Fur Seal

Sally Lightfoot Crab

Two baby Sea Lions kissing!

Giant Tortoise

Our family with a Giant Tortoise!

Marine Iguanas (bet you thought it was just a bunch of lava!)

Swallow-Tailed Gull

Our ship--The National Geographic Endeavor

Sea Lion--how sweet is that face??!!

Land Iguana

Male Frigate bird with his red neck pouch inflated

Hello Everyone,

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had great holidays, and that the new year is starting off well.
I know it’s been awhile now since we’ve been to the Galapagos, but I’ve just been busy, and unable to finish this entry. I did start it though, while still on the ship, so that’s why this entry sounds strange (as if I’m still on the ship). In any case, I thought I’d just leave it the way I started it, and finally get it finished!

I don’t even know how to begin. This Galapagos trip has been the most incredible experience of our lives, and we are only halfway through it! Each day, we think there is nothing that can top this, and then the next day, we see something even more incredible than the day before. Honestly, I feel like I could write a whole book just on what we’ve experienced in the last 4 days. And the pictures we’ve taken—just incredible. Thank goodness for digital cameras because I am easily taking 200 plus pictures on every outing we go on, and sometimes we go on 2-3 a day! I download the pictures to my computer and clear my memory card after each outing, so sometimes I am doing this several times a day. Today, I have done it 3 times already, and it is only noon! This is a very active trip. We hardly ever have any down time, and we are all exhausted each night—barely being able to stay up for dinner, which is at 7:30.

Well, let me start at the beginning, and I’ll try to do the trip justice, but some of it is just too incredible to put into words, and even the pictures don’t do it justice—you just had to be there to experience it.

We flew from Spain to Ecuador Friday afternoon, and after an 11 hour flight, landed in Quito, Ecuador at about 6:00 PM, Friday. We stayed overnight in a hotel there, and met our National Geographic group at 5:30 the next morning. From the hotel, we headed to the airport and took a 30 minute flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador, where we picked up more people from our group. Then, we took a 1.5 hour flight to Baltra Island, in the Galapagos.

When we got to the dock, we found it inhabited by Galapagos Sea Lions. They were lying all over the dock, including on the benches, completely oblivious to us, even though we were no more than a few feet from them. We had to take a zodiac out to our ship, and once on board, we found our rooms, and had lunch. By 3:30, we had landed at our first island, North Seymour Island.

At North Seymour Island, we saw tons of sea lions and lots of land iguanas. They all just sat there staring at us, almost posing for us. They showed no fear of us, even when we were just inches from them. If we had been allowed, we could have just reached right out and touched them; that’s how close we were to them. The other animals we saw were Swallow-Tailed Gulls, Blue-Footed Boobies, a beautiful bird with bright blue feet, and Frigate birds. The male Frigate birds have a neck pouch that is bright red, and it blows up like a huge balloon when they are trying to attract females. The other interesting thing about these birds is that they are not able to swim and dive because they do not produce enough oil to coat their feathers and make them waterproof. So what they do in order to eat is wait around for other birds that have just caught something from the ocean. You’ll see the Frigate birds up in the air, circling, as the other birds are diving and fishing. Once the other bird comes up with his catch, the Frigate bird attacks him by shaking him around so that he coughs up the fish he just caught, and now the Frigate bird has a meal. We called this “The Shakedown”. The Frigate birds mostly attack the Blue-Footed Boobies.

There are 3 different types of “Boobies”: the Blue-Footed, Red-Footed, and Nazca (also called the Masked boobie. We did not get to see the Red-Footed, but did see the other two. They got their “boobie” name because they look a bit like clowns. Sometimes, people will say someone is a boob, if they act clown-like, so that is how they got their name.

At lunch, on our first day, we sat next to a family that looked like they had kids about the same age as Jensen and Dustin. I asked them how old their kids were, and they were just turning 9 (the boy) and 12 (the girl), exactly the same ages as Jensen and Dustin! We introduced the kids, and after that, they were inseparable for the entire trip. Bill and I got along very well with their parents as well, so our 2 families spent a lot of time together. In fact, we became such good friends with them that we are planning to go visit them this summer at their home in Cape Cod. We are also planning another trip with them in early 2011—to Antarctica!

Day 2 we visited Espanola Island. In the morning, we visited a part of the island called Punta Suarez. This was one of the most incredible days ever! First, we saw a Waved Albatross coming back from the sea to feed her baby. We got to see the reunion of the two, and watched while the mom fed her baby. When the baby is just 2 weeks old, the mom will typically leave him for up to 2 weeks at a time. When she returns, she feeds him an incredible amount of oil (up to 2 kg) made up of digested fish and squid. This then allows him to go without eating for another 2 weeks. It was funny watching the mom and the baby because the baby is almost as big as the mom. These birds are huge! They are one of the biggest birds in the islands, and nearly the entire world population of these birds is located on Espanola Island in the Galapagos. When the mom got tired of feeding her baby, she started walking away from him, but the baby would just run after her and demand more food. It was funny to watch.

As we were returning to our zodiacs, we came across a sea lion in labor. The guides kept trying to get us back to the zodiacs to go back to the ship for lunch, but we did not want to miss out on seeing a sea lion being born. We really had no idea how long it would take—could have been days or hours, but we lucked out, and in less than 30 minutes, we got to watch the entire birth of a sea lion. This was an incredible moment and very emotional. I had tears in my eyes as the baby came out. The baby was born flippers first (breech), and the amniotic sac did not break as it came out, so we watched the mom as she reached back and broke the sac by biting it. I cannot tell you how lucky we were to get to see this. We were literally just a few feet from this sea lion as she gave birth—really incredible! We did not think anything could beat this experience. And although this was my favorite part, we got to see lots more after that that was just as exciting.

In the afternoon, we visited a different part of Espanola Island called Gardner Bay. Here, the kids played on the beach, and I went snorkeling. I’m still a beginner snorkeler, but it was a good experience for me as it was the first time I went without Bill. Usually I’m holding onto his hand for dear life. I felt comfortable, and felt ready for deep water snorkeling, which we would be doing the next day.

On the beach, the kids played amongst the sea lions. The sea lions came up onto the beach and checked everything out. Some of them lay on our towels, sniffed our shoes, and fell asleep against our backpacks. The kids built a sand castle, and one of the sea lions apparently thought they had built it just for him. He came up and just lay right down on it. The kids continued to build right next to him, and he was completely oblivious to it.

Day 3 we landed at Floreana Island. The first thing we did early in the morning (before breakfast) was to visit Post Office Barrel. This is a place where they have an old mail swap tradition which goes back to the whaling days in the 1700s. There is an old barrel where people will leave their mail. Then, anyone coming through will check the mail to see if any of it is going to their hometown. If so, the tradition states that you are to take the mail home with you, and hand deliver it to the addressee. Nowadays, it’s not always feasible to hand deliver a letter to someone you don’t even know, but people will take letters home and at least mail them from their hometown.

After breakfast, we spent the rest of the morning snorkeling and going out in a glass bottom boat. In the afternoon, we took a hike and saw flamingos, and later went kayaking. This was my first time kayaking, and it was definitely an interesting experience. I was in a kayak with Jensen (Bill with Dustin), and we were not very coordinated together. I think I may have done better on my own, but overall, it was not my favorite experience.

Each island we visited had a totally unique look to it—almost like we were in a different country with each island we visited. I was surprised to see so many cacti on many of the islands; it just wasn’t what I was expecting to find in the Galapagos. The unique beauty of each island just astounded me. I am not usually one who likes to take pictures of just landscape; I always want people in my pictures. But everything here was so incredibly beautiful that I didn’t want to mess up the pictures with people!

Day 4 we hit Isabela and Fernandina Islands. The day started off early with us looking for whales. And boy did we luck out! After about an hour of looking, we were rewarded with a pod of Sperm whales! They were swimming right next to the boat for a good 30 minutes or so. We were so excited to see them, as the guides said that typically they are only seen about twice a year. Not long after that, a family of Orcas (killer whales) was spotted! We were able to quickly get into the zodiacs and got to see an up close and personal view of these incredible whales. They were right next to our zodiacs, and in one case one came right under our zodiac! They were amazing to watch, coming up out of the water. My camera was too slow to get any good pictures, but others on the trip got some great photos. This was just like Sea World, but in the wild! After a bit of time, we turned back, as the guides felt that the whales were getting stressed out with all the zodiacs out there pursuing them.

On our way back from seeing the Orcas, we rode along the cliffs of Punta Vicente Roca, as well as into a small cave. We saw penguins, flightless cormorants, sea turtles, sea lions, and jelly fish. The penguins were so cute! The Galapagos Penguin is the smallest of all penguin species. There were 3 of them on a rock, and they all just kept staring at this one point, as if they were waiting for some incredible thing to happen, or waiting for their leader to return.

Later in the afternoon, we visited Punta Espinosa, an area covered with pahoehoe lava, which is the ropy kind of lava. There were tons of marine iguanas there, and they blended right in with the lava. Sometimes, we would look out, and think we were just looking at lava, but then realize that it was actually tons of marine iguanas laying all over the lava. These iguanas were everywhere, and we really had to be careful not to step on them. They blended in so well with their surroundings that it was very difficult to see them. The other really cool animal we saw while here was the Sally Lightfoot Crab. These are beautifully colored crabs, with reds, yellows, and blues. Bill and I just fell in love with these crabs and were always fighting for the camera because we both just couldn’t get enough pictures of these guys!

The other exciting thing that happened on this day is that we crossed the equator. They had a special ceremony for all the kids to go from being Pollywogs to Shellbacks. I’m not quite sure where this whole legend started, but I think it had something to do with King Triton. Bill knew all about it, being that he used to be in the Navy. In any case, all the kids on the ship (though some did not participate) had to go up to the pool on the ship and jump in (the water was cold!). After that, they had to drink some type of nasty juice which was supposedly the blood of an octopus. Then they all had to kiss an octopus! It was dead, and it wasn’t even a whole octopus, but the kids all screamed nonetheless. All the ship’s crew was dressed up as pirates and one as King Triton. The kids each got a special shellback name too. Jensen was called Mola Mola (a Sunfish), and Dustin was called Rainbow Trout. It was fun for the kids and they all got certificates stating they were now Shellbacks.

Day 5 we spent at Santa Cruz Island. We took the zodiacs out to Puerto Ayora, which is where the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) is. I had thought I was really going to like this, but this ended up being one of my least favorite parts of the trip. This is where they have a giant tortoise breeding program. It’s actually really great because this program works at restoring the unique ecological balance of the islands, and it works to increase the Giant Tortoise population. I just wasn’t too excited seeing all of these tortoises in captivity. However, the goal is to breed them so that they can then release them in the wild, so it is a good program, but in my eyes, it just couldn’t compete with seeing a sea lion give birth! We got to meet Lonesome George, a Giant Tortoise from Pinta Island. He is the only one left of his species. A reward of $10,000 has been offered to find a true Pinta female to breed with him, but has been unsuccessful thus far. It is likely that his race will become extinct when he dies.

After we spent time at the CDRS, we had time to walk around and shop in the little town of Puerto Ayora. About 15,000 people live here, and I believe that this is the only island that is inhabited by humans. We then drove in a bus to the highlands where we had lunch at a beautiful restaurant, which actually was somebody’s home! They had turned it into a hotel/restaurant though. After lunch, we visited a pair of huge pit craters called Los Gemelos. These were huge and deep, and very cool to look at. It was foggy and misty at the time, so they had a very unique look to them.

After the pit craters, we went to see the Giant Tortoises in the wild! These tortoises were actually on the property of a Galapagos native. His property just happened to be in the middle of a tortoise migratory route! We all had to wear these big rubber boots, which we were very glad to have because we were trekking through tall grasses and mud, as well as lots of tortoise poop! We didn’t have to look too hard to find tortoises because they were all over the place. However, they each tended to stay to themselves, so we didn’t see lots of them all together in one place. They all seemed to have their own little space or territory. These guys were just massive! We were able to get quite close to them without spooking them out. When they did get scared, they just put their heads into their shells and stayed that way for awhile. It was so great watching them walk. They were so slow, and it just seemed so laborious for them. It seemed they could never get to where they were going, but they did!

That evening, back on board the ship, we were entertained by Ecuadorian dancers and musicians. We were so tired though, that we did not stay for the whole show. I think Bill actually was in bed before the show even started!

Day 6, we were still at Santa Cruz Island, but now on the north-western coast in an area called Cerro Dragon, which means “Dragon Hill”. This is the home of the endemic Galapagos land iguana. They were almost wiped out by feral dogs in the ‘60s, but a successful breeding program has allowed them to recover. We spent the morning hiking around looking for the iguanas. They were difficult to see, as they blended in quite well with their surroundings, but I think we counted about 7. The kids were tired this morning, and were not super thrilled with this hike. Instead of listening to the guide, they often were seen drawing pictures in the dirt. By this time in the trip, we were all pretty tired, but we wanted to do everything because we didn’t want to miss out on something.

Once done with the hike, we hurried back to the ship on the zodiacs to change into our wetsuits to go snorkeling. I think I snorkeled nearly every time available. Bill went much of the time as well, but sometimes stayed back with the kids. Dustin went once or twice, and Jensen not at all. I mostly always enjoyed it, but it was cold, even with a wetsuit on. After about an hour in the water, I found myself curling up into a little ball, trying to stay warm. This particular snorkeling outing was not a good one for me. My mask kept fogging up, and then while I was trying to fix my mask, my snorkel fell off! It sank into the water, but someone dived down and retrieved it for me. Everyone kept seeing cool things like an octopus, but my mask was so fogged up that I couldn’t see anything! Then, we got into some strong currents and it was just too much for me. I was not a strong enough swimmer to get through it and I signaled the zodiac to come pick me up. I was done for that morning!

Later that afternoon though, we snorkeled again and it was amazing! We were in an area called Sombrero Chino (Chinese Hat). We swam through millions of fish. There were just these incredible schools of fish swimming all around us. We were surrounded. I couldn’t even put my arms out without touching some of them. We saw a really pretty fish that looked like the true Rainbow Fish, if any of you are familiar with that book. We saw some great starfish, a manta ray, and even a shark! I was scared, but Bill went right after it to take pictures! I think it was a White-Tipped Reef Shark, and it wasn’t real big, but still—it was a shark!

After we got back from snorkeling, one of the guides took all the kids out on a zodiac and let each of them have a turn driving. They wanted a couple of parents along, just in case, and lucky me, I was one of those parents! Do you know what it’s like being on a little zodiac with 10-15 screaming kids—most of them pre-teen girls???!!! Loud! Very loud! But the kids had fun, and when they returned they all got official zodiac licenses stating that they had not crashed, and were now capable of driving a zodiac (with supervision, of course). While we were out in the zodiac, we saw a manta ray jump out of the water several times. The guide said that it was likely a juvenile who was playing, and just jumped out of the water to see what was out there. It was cool to see, but again, my camera was too slow to catch him out of the water.

After all the activities of the day, we had a nice Thanksgiving dinner. It wasn’t quite the same as being at home with family, but still quite enjoyable with our new friends.

Day 7 we landed on Bartolome Island. We started off the early morning (before breakfast) with a hike up to the summit of the island. To control erosion, a wooden staircase was built up to the summit—372 steps!! I thought I was in good shape before this hike, but thought differently once I made it to the top. At least I made it! It was definitely worth it. The view was fabulous!

After breakfast, we headed out to the beach for another gorgeous walk, and then went snorkeling. This was a great snorkeling outing! It was a very clear, sunny day and the water was very clear. We saw lots of great fish, as well as penguins and sea lions! Can you imagine snorkeling with sea lions and penguins???!!! It was so exciting! I just couldn’t stop smiling the whole time. The kids stayed on the beach and the penguins and sea lions came right up to them on shore as well. They loved it!

Later in the afternoon, we did another great hike. This one was at Puerto Egas on Santiago Island. We saw a little bit of everything on this hike—sea lions, pelicans, boobies, crabs, iguanas, lizards, hawks, and fur seals. Fur seals are actually not seals at all, but are sea lions. Sea lions have ears, and seals don’t, and these fur seals have ears, so that makes them sea lions. Not sure why they’re called seals. They don’t look too different from the sea lions, but just different enough that you can see they are a different species.

The sea lions were so cute! There were 2 little babies, and they came up to each other and touched noses, as if they were kissing. It was really precious. I got a picture, so I’ll try to post it. We also saw babies nursing on their moms, and they were so loud!

The rest of our last day we spent packing and gearing up for the next part of our trip to Peru.

We were already exhausted; we weren’t sure how we were going to make it for another week!

The next day we took the zodiacs back to Baltra Island, and then took a bus to the airport. We flew back to Guayaquil, Ecuador, where most of our group stayed for the night, before heading back to the US. We spent a little bit of time swimming at the pool and saying a teary goodbye to our friends. Jensen cried for the next two days. Then, we headed back to the airport to head to Peru for the next part of our trip (will write about that in another entry).

And that concluded our trip to the Galapagos! This was really the most awesome trip we have ever taken. Even Bill, who wasn’t too excited about it to begin with, really loved it. What was so cool about this trip was that every day there was something new and exciting to see. We never knew what we were going to encounter day to day, or minute to minute. This is a place that I would definitely visit again, and if anyone wants a suggestion as to where to take their next vacation, I would most definitely recommend the Galapagos Islands!!

Well, that finally ends this blog entry. Sorry it took me so long to get it posted.

Happy New Year!
Cheers!

Laurie