swimming in clouds

A story which describes one of the reasons I love to travel:
On the last night at Galapagos Alica and I decided to go out dancing. After we bounced from one bar bc it had too many white people danicng to Cher we found one that was full of Ecuadorians and tons of Salsa. It was fun even though the guys were about 5´2 and 100 pounds wet. As the bar closed the guys that we were dancing with leaned over and asked ´quieren venir a mi casa para tomar una copa de vino´? Translated into English: Do you both want to come to my house for a glass of wine? Translated from male to female: Lets sleep together! I may even have some wine. WASN´T HAPPENING! As we were leaving it started to pour outside. So we kicked off our shoes and started to run back to our hostel. However, as we were running and completely drenched we noticed a restaurant open and celebrating something. They had drinks and food; both of which interested me at the time. It was odd though bc all bars and rests were suppose to be closed. Alicia and I opened the cracked door and I told them in Spanish that I like to celebrate things, too! Immediately we had two drinks and two seats with the group of about 20 Ecuadorians. We talked, laughed and danced until 4 in the morning. The group was such a blast and were so inviting. They were celebrating their 3 year anniversary of the rest being open. I looked over at Alicia at one point in the night and she said ´this is so much better than wine´and I couldn´t have agreed more!

Alicia left on Friday :( and I met up with Laura on that same day in Quito.

Mindo:
I LOVE this city! We arrived in Mindo on Saturday. It can be bestly describes as a forest inside the clouds. You know when you look at a mountain and the top is really cloudy? Well, I am in that couldy part. Everything is so earthy. green and clean. Our hostel is so enchanting. It is like staying in the Swiss Family Robinsons house. To get into our beds we climb stairs, open a trap door, and arrive in a wall less and open area. OUR ROOM! We have to sleep with mosquito nets bc bugs are everywhere. However falling asleep to insects chirping and a water fall bubbling in the background and waking up to the birds singing is so inexplainably peaceful. This morning Laura and I went on about a 9km (total) hike to see waterfalls. Then we walked and did a 13 line canopy tour. This is my 3rd country to do a zip line and I must say that it is tied with Costa Rica. I have footage and pics that I will upload later. The guides let us do all sorts of fun tricks since Laura and I knew what we were doing. After, we walked back into town, drank fresh fruit bebidas and went to a chocolate store where I bought cocoa beans. (Nicole you would have loved it) They are so YUM! They take the beans then toast and peel them. There is no sugar added so it is just wholesome good for you cocoa. Later I have a massage and more ceviche.

Columbia:
I told my parents that I was going to Columbia and my mom tells me that if I get kidnapped to tell them I am a teacher and they aren´t going to get very much money. If you know me even a tiny bit then you know I pull the teacher card as often as possible to get discounts or out of speeding tickets. So if I get kidnapped we´ll see if the teacher card still works! Laura and I will be traveling for the next 60 hours by bus. We leave tomorrow morning at 5 from Mindo to Quito (2.5 hours), Quito to the border (6 hours), the border of Columbia to Cali (12 hours), Cali to Tegenga (30 hours). We will arrive sometime around Wednesday afternoon. I´m really excited! We are going up north then working our way down. We both discovered that we dive so that is def on our to do list. We plan on hitting up Cartenga, Cali, Medina, Tegenga, Baranquilla (Shakira`s hometown) and maybe Bogota.

I dont like white people:
Yes I know `Cassi you´re white`. Mostly, tourists are great company and are facinating! However, I get annoyed with loud large groups of white people. Also I got into an argument today with a terribly misinformed American this morning. First off he was playing Soldier Boy as loud as possible in one of the most tranquel places on the planet. (I told him to turn it off but when I wanted to go to a rave, do a bunch of drugs and dance he and his ipod would be notified). He then interrupts our breakfast to tell us how he is starting a nonprofit here in Mindo and shows us his ´business plan´. Basically, he told us that he was going to get Google to pass out a bunch of lap tops to the very very poor children that live here. And, by do so it owuld eliminate the poverty completely. I told him that giving a poor child a laptop only changes him to a poor child with an asset. He didnt understand that education was the missing link to helping a town. He also said that we should put collars on rabid dogs in town. Yes, bc putting collars on them will.....? Did that work for Old Yeller? Shoot the damn dog! He made no sense. The debate lasted a while but there is no point in writing all about it. He was an idiot and sadly from my same country.

Getting hit on doesnt get on my nerves:
I often hear people say `ugh I hate how men are in Latin American countries´. Honestly, mi vida, reina, amor, and guapa are perfectly acceptable terms of endearment at any given time.

A whole new type of dirty:
In the states, I´ll wear something one day and deem it dirty. When you travel, cleaniness is a horse of a different color. The spectrum totally changes. Showers are few and far between and clothing is worn at least twice before it goes into the `dirty´compartment in my back pack. For instance, Ill shower tonight and then next time I´ll change and shower will be on Wednesday night. Yea it sounds gross but it is perfectly accpetable in backpacker land.

If all goes well then I will be extending my trip. I hope to come back to Ecuador mid July, flirt around Ecuador for another week and a half, then bus it down to Northern Peru. I won´t have time or the patience on another bus to make it Machu Pichu. (that would be another 60 hours or so) sO I will need to come back to Peru at some point in time to visit the rest of the country.

Remember, life should be fun. Yes, a certain level of deep work at the same time. And working towards loving yourself. Finding the tools that aid you in doing this and making the commitment once you have these tools in hand. But all the while, maintaining a lightness of being and the ability to laugh.

I hope all is well with everyone!
Cass

This place is spectacular!

Oh where to start!

I LOVE this country! Ecuador is a glass full of culture mixed with beautiful people, terrain and outstanding ceviche.

I am here and safe! The first part of the trip I was in Puerto Lopez, a lazy fishing village, to see the whales. The immesity of the whales that we followed is indescribable. You know how bigger men aren´t really graceful, can´t dance and they walk funny? You would think that such a large animal would have trouble manuvering their large bodies (like men) out of the water. It is quite the contrary. Whales would gracefully spring from the water and dance in the waves. At first I thought ´great we just spent a ton of money to look at water.`But out of nowhere these huge, people huge, whales would pop up next to our boat. We spent hours following and finding about 30 whales. It was incredible! The town that day actually had a whale parade to celebrate the opening of the season. It is slightly comparable to Austin`s batfest but bigger. However, batfest is not as cool as whales. We got scammed out of some money and as I was arguing with the Captain we (meaning just Alicia, myself, and the skipper too) were out in the middle of the ocean and no one knew where we were. I thought ´what a perfect place to kill a gringa.` So I let the people take their money.

After Puerto Lopez we went to Guayquil to get ready for the Galapagos islands!!!!!
When I arrived I was a bit taken back at what I saw. I have to admit that the islands were not as I anticipated. My imagination of tropical paradise was replaced with moon like craters and eroding lava. My imagination of giant, shady trees was replaced with cacti and tangled, sporatic brush. But, there is no other place in the world like the Galapagos Islands. And even though it wasn´t exactly what I expected it was just as beautiful... There I swam with huge sea turtles, sea lions, penguins, sting rays, sharks and fish that looked like Skittles. I saw pink flamingos and hundreds of land iguanas. The animals were so tame. I walked up to a mother sea lion nursing her pup on two different ocasions and she didn´t budge. While snorkeling fish don´t scamper away. I floated literally on top of a sea turtle while a sea lion did barrel rolls in between our group. Birds do not fly away. I have tons of great pictures of birds and I´m not even a bird person. They have this ok white girl take your pics and move on attitude. I do love their attitude. As a matter of fact, when returning to our boat one afternoon, a sea lion had perched itself on the deck of our boat. The crew tried to hose it down but it enjoyed the fresh water instead of being bothered by it. So it stayed on our boat for hours basking in the sun. Yesterday though, a male sea lion charged our group bc we were too close to his ´women´ ;). There were about 12 sea lions lying in the sun and while we were taking pictures this huge (about my height and the size of five Japaneese Sumo wrestlers) bounced out of the water, made tons of noise and layed down in between our group and the females. As this was happening our guide told us to back up slowly. So I took a few steps closer and video taped it while laughing at his territorialness. However, we went snorkeling about 40 minutes after that occurence in the same spot and I nearly shit myself fear. Now that I am certified to dive I think that snorkeling is like a teenager with their license still driving with their parents in the car. Its still fun but the amount of freedom is limited.We went to about 5 different islands and each island had a different color sand - black, white, red, brown, and coral (rocks). The govenment protects the islands 100 percent. So much that you can´t carry sand from one island to the other. So we have to be brushed and sprayed before getting on the boat to insure our sand is off. The sand feels like powdered sugar.

At night we had lots of time to read and hang out while we traveled from one island to the next. Alicia and I really lucked out and got to be on a fun boat with lots of positive energy. One of my most favorite things to do is look at the stars. Most of the nights I spent aboard the ship were spent on top of the deck looking at the stars and the different constellations in the Southern Hemisphere. I like to spin under the stars. Spin like a little girl in her new Easter dress. All of a sudden the stars and the enorminty of the world becomes your own personal kaleidescope.

Traveling builds a lot of character. So I have a list of tihngs that I realize about myself. One of them (no you don`t get to know all of them) is that I have learned that I dont get sea sick. As a matter of fact I played `run around the boat and see who spills the least amount of coffee`with another guy on the trip while everyone was throwing up. I actually find the waves and the rocking exhilerating!

I took tons of pictures and hopefully I can post the ones from the islands later today. I must warn you that I have showered about three times since Thursday. I look like a gypsy but I love it. I feel the most free the wilder my hair is! I have tons more to write but that would take too long. Ill tell more stories later.

Tomorrow I go to Quito, say good bye to Alicia, then meet up with Laura to begin our adventure together. We aren´t sure of our plans but Columbia is in them as well as a cloud forest.

I hope all is well to each of you.
I´m safe and building character!
Cassi

Before trip jitters

Before each trip there is always the 'crap what is something bad happens' jitters. The 'what ifs' range from missing your flights to being robbed or even worse. I remember when I left to live in Costa Rica. I was terrified. I told myself not to talk because I would cry and my dad would turn the car around and not take me to the airport. So there I sat the entire ride to the airport grabbing on to the the side of the car, reminding myself to breathe. That experience was the best experience in my life. No other words can describe it or would be able to. Repeatedly, I have heard people say to me ' I wish that I could be like you or I wish I could just up and leave to another country'. It isn't that I am some super hero that fears nothing. Most of the things that I do in life that are considered out of the ordinary are terrifying to me. I just make myself do it. I refuse to give something up simply because I am scared. I just grab on to the side of life and remind myself to breathe. Of course it isn't all peaches and cream but by working through the unknown, I got to know myself. I titled my website 'traveling opens the mind' because I truly believe that in order to completely know yourself and where you came from you MUST first know others and where they come from. In addition to that, understanding your individuality comes from studying yourself when you are out of your comfort zone and in someone else's.

Welcome to my experience. This blog is to tell you about my experiences and stories abroad but mostly it's purpose is to remind me in the months to come of my memories and to reinforce travel. Let me warn you now; I don't want to spend my entire day typing on the computer. It's expensive and I want to be as withdrawn as possible. So spell check and grammar checks are prohibited! If it doesn't make sense then figure it out. Also and most importantly - I do not plan on censoring my blog. My blog - my experiences - my words.