A Whole New World

This may be one of the most overused quotes in history, but...Todo, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore! And I guess it's used so much because baby, it's true.
Thailand is (apparently I'm quoting old movies) a whole new world, and while we were on the island, we discovered a world within that world. In other words, scuba diving!!!
We stayed at Black Tip Resort, which sounds way fancier than it was, but besides the non-flush toilets and the ants that took over our bungalow on the last night, we still had a bungalow, a perfect view, and a very nice pool that made the heat a little more bearable.
Ko Tao, the island we stayed on, which means Turtle Island, isn't very big, but we managed to find a deserted spot, Tanote Bay, and it was the perfect place to unwind after the chaos and terror (I might be overdramatic, but seriously, it was insane) of Bangkok.

















And, to make it even better, I finished my open water certification there!! In the Gulf of Thailand. Hello dreamland.
However, I did learn that conquering my fear of diving in a pool was nothing compared to diving in the ocean. Except for my (most likely irrational) fears about getting the bends, I felt quite comfortable at the bottom of the ocean. So much to SEE! So much completely foreign beautiful stuff to see! It was amazing and one of the best ways possible to start off our trip.
The first day, it was me and my dive master, as I had (another) swim test to ace and a bunch of skills I'd already done in the pool to do under the ocean. Some of them were easy--who knew all those hours in Girl Scouts wandering around meadows with a compass would actually make me semi-proficient--and some, like the mask clearing, were a little more stressful. I had the most trouble with equalizing my ears, which, they don't bother to tell you in the diving books, will likely hurt the first few times no matter what you do. And, my dive master, a fine old gent named John from Britain, informed me that women have more trouble equalizing than men.
Go figure.
Even with the tasks, it was exhilirating and relaxing! I found these awesome little worms, Christmas tree worms, that absolutely delighted me with their colors and their quick retreat when you wave a hand over them (the first time I almost got a heart attack, which sent John into spasms of hilarity).























Day Two, we woke up after a restless night in fear of the encroaching ant army to stormy skies and lightning over the ocean (which for some reason I never knew was possible!!) but the go ahead to dive anyway. My cousin, who's awesome and had already completed her open water certification, came along with us today, and we explored my tantalizing mistress, the sea, further. The day went smoothly, with a small bout of seasickness for my cuz and some further equalization issues for me, but it was just...so...FUN! Even despite the fact that for a week after I was convinced I had the bends. (Yes, I'm a hypochondriac, and yes, I know it's ridiculous, but I had to have ONE flaw, right? ;) ).
I was sad to leave our little island paradise for the rest of the terrifying country...but more adventures awaited us after our last ferry ride:) Which means, you better be at the edge of your seat for more stories!!!! :)
XOXO

Into the Sweaty Fist

To begin...

WHEW!!!!

Thailand truly has been an adventure so far. After an epic (ahem, not so much) 32-hour long trip, including 13 hours in the Seoul airport and one brief, fuzzy trip to a Buddhist temple in Seoul, we arrived in Bangkok at around 10 p.m. on Friday, October 22nd. And into the sweaty fist indeed...it was a lovely 85 degrees when we landed, with more humidity than I have ever felt. My hair has been one wild ride and I don't anticipate that changing.

The first night was rather terrifying, landing among 8 million people, about 4 million of them partying in the tourist district of Bangkok, but we found a decent hostal (with A/C--and we proceeded to shiver all night) and got about 4 hours of rest thanks to jet lag.

The next day...we were off! We ran errands, got a bus ticket to get out of that city--a joint ticket, including a boat to the island Ko Tao--and began to discover how FRIENDLY everyone is here. A kid on the street led us to the tourist office, everyone wanted to discuss Schwartenegger's impact on California with my cousin, and a random teacher put us on a tuk-tuk to see the reclining Buddha, and, inexplicably, a sapphire export company. The Buddha was completely incredible, and we caught our first sights of the Thai Buddhist monks in their head-to-toe orange outfits. We also learned that they are not allowed to touch women...I'm not exactly clear what happens if they are to accidentally brush against one, but they even have spots on buses and boats to avoid this situation.

The next day, after a loooooooong overnight bus ride and a morning ferry ride (which included a stop over in Chumphon and the viewing of a truly terrifying horror movie--Orphan) we arrived at the paradise of Ko Tao Island, in the Gulf of Thailand.

For all of you lucky enough to get postcards, prepare to get realllllly jealous!

We had a perfect little bungalow over looking the beach, and it was so perfect we could even forgive the toilet, the bucket-flush kind (which is the norm here!) and the jet lag slowly began to recede.

That's it for now, folks, but stayed tuned for my REAL OCEAN diving adventures coming soon!

I MISS YOU ALL! xoxo

Sun, Sand, Seafood, Surfing, Snorkeling and Semana Santa!

After Palm Sunday in Guayaquil, we headed up the coast for the rest of Semana Santa (Holy Week). We started in the little surfing town of Montañita and from there went to Puerto Lopez, a little fishing town near a national park. Montañita was a charming little touristy town, despite the fact that half of the streets were half dug up and under construction! We still got to experience some delicious seafood and lots of time in the sun! It was so awesome to be at the beach again, just watching the sunset and wandering through the surf, which we did a lot!
We did have some difficulties finding a hostal, but we found an okay one with a balcony and a giant room--because there was a loft, we basically had our own little areas, pretty nice! If you turned your head you had a gorgeous view of the sea from our little balcony.
The first few days were pretty uneventful, but on the third day we took surfing lessons! We had two instuctors, Carlos and Ando--Carlos was obviously a very serious athlete, kind of what I always assume surf bums to be--very attuned with the waves and nature and all that stuff! Ando was more of a goof, and he ended up being my primary instructor. At first, he kept asking if me and Adam were really related, because Adam had much more balance and skill than me already! However, I soon won him over with my charm, and we had a good time, and I did manage to stand on the board quite a few times! I charmed Ando so much he tried to convince me to go dancing...oh those Latin men :) Of course Adam was still much more capable than me--I think he got the majority of the athletic genes in the family, of which there are few to begin with!!--but I still had a great time. It was great to just be out on the ocean!
That night we watched some fire dancers, basically juggling flames and doing other fun tricks with them, and we met an American who had spent some time in Missoula. Interesting hearing his ideas, and he made us both dying to go to Colombia!! Someday.
The next day we sweltered in the heat, waiting for a bus to Puerto Lopez. It was a quick bus, thankfully, accompanied by gorgeous views of the bay of the city as we drove in. Puerto Lopez was definitely one of the friendliest cities we travelled to--we met a lady who led us to our hostal right away (decent room including a balcony and a TV for five bucks a night, although no fan, so it was sweltering!!) and their neighbor happened to be Winston Churchill, our future tour guide for snorkeling and Isla de la Plata!
After arranging all that fun stuff, we hung out on the pretty although slighty dirty beach and swam with the pelicans and other seabirds circling for fish guts. That evening, we found a cheap and incredibly amazing restuarant with some of the best seafood I have tasted in my life. We frequented El Rey a lot, and I usually had amazing calamari or shrimp, and occasionally octopus or different kinds of shellfish if I was feeling adventurous!
The next day we dined at the Whale Café with delicious apple cinnamon pancakes, and headed out on our tour with Winston and a family from Guayaquil. It turned out to be the perfect day--snorkeling, fishing, and just riding around in a boat! We visited the edges of Isla Salango and Isla de la Plata, referred to as the Poor Man´s Galapagoes, as they have much of the same life, and quite a variety, but they´re closer and much much cheaper to visit!
It was our first time snorkeling in the ocean, and it was amazing! We stopped right near a pretty beach the first time, and swam in the warm water admiring tons of bright fish and the like. The highlight of that time was the giant turtle we saw swimming along!
After that, we got close enough to see a bunch of pelicans and the famous blue-footed boobies! Their feet looked like they´d been dipped in paint, it was pretty cool, and they were awesome little divers!
We fished for our lunch then, and to my surprise I caught quite a big fish! I also caught one tiny little guy, and got a few close calls--my hook got broken and completely lost, possibly from huge fish or rocks--but that was the best one! It was definitely heavy, one of the guides had to help me bring it in as I´m a weakling. He also killed it right in front of my eyes--not as traumatizing as I thought it would be for a former vegetarian! Guess South America has toughened me up a bit :).
There were a few other catches, the most memorable being some sort of eel and a pufferfish! He wasn´t puffed until our guide touched him, and then bam! They threw him back in, and he slowly deflated.
While our guides made my fish in ceviche--raw fish marinated with lime and chopped up with onion and other vegetables and fruit--we went snorkeling again. No sea turtle this time, but some sort of eel, a giant fish that I mistook for a rock at first, and tons of bright blue and yellow fish! We were right next to a bunch of caves and rocks this time, so the water had some colder currents, but it was still amazing! A whole other world, definitely inspires me to finally get certified for scuba diving!
After some ceviche--I was rather apprehensive, but it was delicious--along with amazing fresh fruit like pineapple, mango, and coconut, we circled around a bit and headed back to the mainland. It was an amazing day, but after that I was definitely ready for a break from the sun. While it wasn´t necessarily hotter, you could definitely feel the strength of the sun that close to the Equator!!
We also noticed festivities under way from Good Friday and the rest of the weekend--Puerto Lopez was becoming quite the loud little town! By Saturday it was filled with people and our little restuarant had lace under the plastic cloths and tons of people! There was a giant stage set up, and everywhere we went it was loud.
We decided to head to Quito for Easter Sunday, anticipating lots of crowds and parades and celebrations, so we took an overnight bus that evening. I was sad to say goodbye to our wonderful beach life, but my skin was definitely ready for some rain!
I hope all of you are doing well, stay tuned for an update on my brother´s last week in Ecuador!!! LOVE xx

From Mountains to River to the Coast

We left Riobamba after an interesting foray into the markets--the local food market was definitely an experience! So many people and so many weird fruit and random parts of animals all over the place. We left the pretty mountains and volcanoes of Riobamba and headed over to the largest city in Ecuador, Guayaquil! It was a medium long bus ride, still nothing like Perú, but around six hours or so. Entering Guayaquil, we were greeted with pretty views of the Guayas River and sweltering heat!
After bickering a bit with our cab driver, we found a decent hostal for a good price, in a rather sketchy neighborhood. However, it was nice to have a television and lots of air conditioning!! After arriving and resting, we headed down to the recently restored riverfront, the city´s pride and joy, called the Malécon 2000. It was really nice, but kind of odd to see such a clean, nice area in the middle of a rather dirty city! The river was massive, and interesting to see as it moved both ways, thanks to the tide. Guayaquil is a port town, although it´s big enough that we only saw the river. Saturday was a pretty chill day, still recovering from our bus trip, but we got a good little taste of Guayaquil I believe! It´s a different city from other South America ones that I´ve seen, at least the part we were in. It was very modern, with a lot of sketchy parts right around this area, and yet randomly there would be an old cathedral thrown in among the skyscrapers. The Malécon was also lovely, filled with parks and restuarants and interesting birds and even an IMAX--obviously very touristy! However, all of the tourists seemed to be Ecuadorian or South American--I don´t think we saw more than five other gringoes the entire time we were there.
The next day was Palm Sunday, and started out pretty slow. We were both feeling a little ill, and being in a giant sweltering city was not helping that. However, we made it to a few cathedrals, explored the Malécon 2000 some more, and, my favorite part, Parque Simon Bolivar. Also known as, Parque de las Iguanas! It was filled with tons of random iguanas, as well as a few turtles and typically hundreds of pigeons. It was so cool to see the iguanas all over the place--high in trees, swimming, and hanging out on the statue of good old Simon!
That evening, after taking a respite in our cool hotel room, we actually went to a movie--my first time in the theater for a long time! It was fun to go and gorge ourselves on popcorn while watching the not-so-great latest Underworld movie.
On the exit of the movie, we were engulfed in a giant crowd. Apparently a church service had just let out, so we went to a nearby cathedral to take in the vendors, millions of people and their fake palms and real flowers, and a priest throwing out Holy Water! It was fun to see, and hear the music under the stars! The vendors were selling interesting stuff too--at one point a lady waved what looked like dead mice in our faces! Hopefully they were fake...
The next day we left the sweaty city of Guayaquil, spent our longest time in the bus station there, and headed to the surf town of Montañita! More on that later...I´m a little behind, but I don´t want to cram all the events of the past weeks into ONE LONG blog update :) So stay tuned for more amazing adventures of our time in Ecuador! Miss and love xx

Huanchaco, The Valley of Immortals, and So Many Buses

Well, I have officially arrived in Ecuador! Getting here was not entirely smooth, with lots of not fun buses, but I made it alive! My last few days in Huanchaco were wonderful, I already miss the beach! They consisted of sleeping and swimming and spending time in the sand, spending time with Linda and eating delicious food! The people of Huanchaco are quite friendly too--I met one guy, Julio, who followed me around the rest of the time, taking pictures and making me bracelets! I felt quite beautiful there too--lots of comments on my looks, which sometimes was flattering, sometimes gross!! But overall, I loved it! There are so many interesting places and people there, I´m jealous of Linda, who gets to spend another two months there! I also fell in love with Wilma, my host, a fiesty old lady with millions of crazy stories.
I did not get any surfing in, thanks to some sort of toxic spill, but we were plenty busy hanging at the beach, riding the little boats called caballitos (made from reeds, yes, more reeds!) and seeing more ruins and museums. The ruins were all very different from the Inca ruins, so really cool to see--all those walls in the desert! And of course I love the beach, we spent many an hour just watching the waves or the sunset with a beer. One nice thing about being on the road, the food is much better than in Cusco, so hallelujah for that!!
After a sad goodbye to Wilma, Julio and Linda, I took a night bus from Trujillo (the biggest city near Huanchaco) to Piura, my last Peruvian city! Piura was cold and rainy, and I ended up sitting in a dark bus station for awhile--I got there before it even opened--but finally we left. It was a very long bus ride, especially since I wasn´t feeling well, but the scenery was pretty, greener every minute we got closer to Ecuador!
I successfully crossed the border, saw a few monkeys, and made it to my final stop for a day or so: Vilcabamba! The Vilcabamba Valley is known as the Valley of the Immortals, claiming that the oldest people in the world live there. This theory has been much debated, but I did see a lot of old folks running around!! I even met one lady who claimed to be 136--she looked about seventy to me, but I have always been bad at guessing ages!!
My first view of Vilcabamba was cold, rainy, and confusion. I wandered around for awhile, asking a million people for directions, and finally found my hostel, Le Rendezvous. It was such a beautiful little hostel set in a courtyard full of orchids, I was sad to leave the next day!! Vilcabamba was a charming little town, and maybe someday I will return, as I only spent about 24 hours there!! The breakfast at the hostel was delicious too--I really am getting spoiled with all of this freshly made juice and fresh fruit!!
After that, it was my marathon of a bus ride--12 hours to Quito. It ended up being more like 15--it was long, bumpy, and a pretty cold night! At about three in the morning we even had to switch buses for some reason (the accent here is giving me some trouble, so I never really found out why) and I ended up on the floor until we dropped some people off. At least this bus was warmer!!
I successfully arrived in Quito, found a decent hostel and an internet café, only to discover that all the flights out of Bozeman had been canceled!! What a bummer...but as far as I know, Adam will arrive tonight!! So I´m getting pretty anxious for his arrival!!
Quito is huge and confusing...I´ll be glad to leave tomorrow! I think we are heading to Mishuallí, a small town right on the edge of the rainforest. It should be amazing, I´m so excited--and very excited to get out of this town!! And to see my bro, of course :)
So stay tuned--the real adventures are about to begin! The McMahonimals are taking on Ecuador...so many stories to come!! I miss you all so much, and look forward to hearing from each of you!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE xxx

Farewell Cuzco, Hello Road

This past week and a half I finished school (although I didn´t learn much--I was a bad student and convinced my teachers to take me to the zoo, watch Spanish movies, and learn some Spanish tunes), packed up all of my junk, cleaned out my room, and said goodbye to all the great people and places I have met in the beautiful Cuzco! It was quite an emotional week, really, but still good nonetheless. Also pretty uneventful after I finished school, just lots of rest during the day and lots of fun during the evenings. We went out for pizza and dancing and drinks...we being me, my Danish buddies Anne and Pernille, and Ugly American Party of One, the other tourist staying with us. She really began to grow on me and I finally began calling her by her name...Sena. She was an older lady from Florida, and I only hope when I am that old (okay, in my late forties) that I am still travelling around the world! I enjoyed my last Pisco Sour, some Cusqueña beer, shopped around buying a few more presents and souvenirs, and stopped at all my favorite little cafe´s and the like one last time! It was a good week, and it was a relief to finish school. I was pretty burnt out of trying to learn Spanish in a classroom at that point! Now it´s time to learn it in the real world! On my final day in Cuzco, I spent the day shopping, packing, and I visited Qorikancha, a giant monastery and former Inca palace. It is still a monastery of the Santo Domingo order, and I did see some monks! Illegally, as they don´t have much contact with the outside world, but I took a wrong turn and ended up in their part of the palace. I watched one paint this odd picture for awhile, took a photo, which he heard (I can probably say he will live ten years younger because of me, considering the height of his jump of fright!!), and was chased out into their beautiful gardens. I also stumbled into the cathedral just as the monks began to sing, and it quite a moment. They all have gorgeous voices, and the cathedral itself is massive, so it sounded amazing.
I flew out of Cuzco belatedly on Thursday, and luckily, met Sena in Lima. It was so nice to have someone there to meet, as Lima is massive and scary and dirty and confusing! We spent the day together, buying my bus ticket and wandering around, getting lost. We did manage to find a gorgeous little square, Plaza San Martin, and...drumroll please...a Pizza Hut! The pizza is Cuzco was good the few times I ate out, but nothing like this stuff. I was pretty sad after leaving Cuzco and after spending a million hours with the unfeeling robots in the Cuzco airport, so I definitely needed a taste of home! One good thing about big cities is the massive amounts of globalization (well, when you´re despretely homesick it´s a good thing at least!).
I took an overnight bus out of Lima that night--I wasn´t spending a minute there that wasn´t necessary. I somehow bought a first class ticket on the bus line Cruz del Sur, which ended up being about eighteen dollars, and it will be really hard to not travel that way again! I had a huge, comfy seat, we got snacks and meals, and we even watched a movie! Granted, it was a movie nobody ever should see--Dennis the Menace and Christmas, random huh?--but at least it took some time off of the ten hour bus ride! Riding in style definitely helped that too--unfortunately the buses in Ecuador are not nearly this fancy.
I arrived in Trujillo, Perú in one piece, and immediately found a taxi for Huanchaco, about twenty minutes away. It was so wonderful to have Linda waiting for me there! And so far, I love Huanchaco, it is definitely taking the edge off my missing Cuzco. It´s a small little beach town full of surfers and cheap restuarants and bars and hostals. I´m staying with Linda at a family´s house, it´s quite nice to have hot water! Although ironically, it´s also really really hot here on the coastal desert, so I don´t even really need the hotness. That´s life, I suppose.
After I got settled in and showered a bit, I met Linda at the pier. It´s so nice to be near the ocean again! We ended up at these ruins near Trujillo, called Chan Chan--the largest adobe palace in the world. It was massive and fun to see, as it´s completely different from the millions of other ruins I´ve visited. It reminds me of Egypt, as it is Perú´s version of the pyramids. It was a nice day, it felt wonderful after the freezing rain of Cuzco.
The rest of the day was spent wandering around Huanchaco and going to a massive mall near Trujillo--I have come to love malls and other symbols of mass consumerism. Reminds me of home.
Huanchaco is a wonderful place, I will be sad to leave. I´m still reflecting on my experience in Cuzco, and I think overall it was awesome, but I´m starting to like this whole being-on-the-road thing! Even though I´ve only been on the road about two days :). I´ll be here until Monday evening, and then off on my next adventure! Stayed tuned for another update soon, and keep ME posted on all of your lives! BESOS xxx