Playing in the Pacific

Sunday, February 20, 2011:

This morning I was up at the crack of dawn. When I say crack, I mean crack. As soon as my eyes cracked open, my ears could make out the sound of waves cracking against the shore. Normally, it takes me about 45 minutes and 20 alarms to get me up (those who know me, know this isn’t an exaggeration), but today I was woken up quicker than a testosterone flaring 15 year-old teen on Viagra.

Kevin was already out on the bench reading (this is 7:00am mind you – no one else up but us). I whipped on my swim suit, flung open the door and trotted over to Kevin as he sat there leisurely reading his novel and taking quick ocean gaze breaks every few seconds. As he raised his eyes for his next ocean gaze,  and I positioned myself rect in front of his view and stated in question form, “do you want to come swimming with me?” He responded, “In a little bit, I’m just going to finish this chapter.” As soon as his I heard “In a bit,” I let out a wild yelp, kicked the ground and started galloping for the shores of the Pacific. It was like a scene out of Bay Watch: my cut (not so big anymore) muscles glistening in the rays of the rising sun, salt reflecting off my skin, and I plunged into the first wave that was surging toward me. I think sometime between my child like yelp and Bay Watch running, Kevin decided to say to hell with his chapter, change his cloths and join me. Within 30 minutes, we had half of our exchange group with us frolicking in the ocean.

Soon after, we went to eat breakfast, then it was off to take our tour of the Mangroves. If you don’t already know, which I didn’t either, the Mangroves are trees that have extremely long roots that are along the rivers that connect to the ocean. They play a vital role in the ecosystem in some way or another. Anyways, they are starting to become extinct and thus, it becomes a tourist attraction. We walked along the beach for about 2-3 miles where we finally came up to the river where the boat was going to take us through the various channels. I had my shirt off the whole time because I seriously needed some rays.

The tour was fun, but it didn’t really make me think of “Ecuador.” My mind kept skipping to my Tom Sawyer days on the Mississippi River because this river had the same muddy water, wild life on the shores, and hawks of various breeds soaring overhead.

As the tour finished up, we started to walk back. I forgot to mention that there had been a rottweiler that had been following us around our entire journey, and we got so accustomed to him, the group told me to lift him in the boat, so yes, he did tag along. Walking back though, I started to jog a little bit, and he kept right up with me as if he were my own. At this point, Kevin took my backpack, and I was running free in my vibrum five fingers with one of the strongest dogs I’ve ever been around trotting at my side. Thanks to the altitude in Quito, I was running on an oxygen hi and did not want to stop, so I ran the whole way back. It was the only run I had done in Ecuador yet and it felt absolutely invigorating. Light as a bird and enough oxygen in my lungs to lift a hot air balloon, I made it back to our cabanas 30 minutes before everyone else. I took that time to take another dip in the ocean.

The rest of the day passed pretty leisurely. It consisted of Kevin and I helping some Argentinian set up his sale boat, try to get it past the waves like in The Castaway, being unsuccessful, and having to bail out to let the Argentinean get past the wave breaks (less weight in the boat). Kevin unfortunately lost his bracelet in this endeavor that his Columbian girlfriend got him from Columbia that he wears everywhere. We looked in the waters of the rising tide for about an hour, but nothing to be seen.

Finally, it was time to go. At this point in the day, the tide had raised enough to where a boat could drive the whole way that the cars drove us yesterday and deliver us back to our bus. It was an adventure – people complaining of sickness, then waves and rocking on top of it…. Ouch for them. The best part was being in a motorboat pummeling our way over the ocean’s wave break point, then getting soaked with every thump. Fun times. It was a long bus ride back, but the weekend was worth it.

I’m just going to put this comment in this post because it’s not worth its own. I got sick from something this weekend and was sick the whole next week. It wasn’t pretty, especially for my bowels.

I got better though. It gave me a whole new appreciation/sympathy for when women say they have “cramps.” Women… you’re stronger than I am. I couldn’t do that on a monthly basis.

That’s all for now.

Ciao,

Michael