(Written 8/24/13)
I said I was hoping to snorkel with sharks on Tuesday and boy did we see sharks. I swam around 5 ft away from about 30 sharks, all between 4-6 ft long. It was really cool to swim so close to them, however, I did almost pee myself when I saw the first one. In most cases, we were swimming above the sharks, but a few times I had to quickly stop swimming so one could swim across in front of me. Never thought I would swim with sharks, but glad I did :)
Along with sharks we saw a couple of sea turtles as well. They really are incredible to watch swim. I saw a really big one who was about 5 ft long and it was so cool to watch it swim. Also, the water was really cold - I'm glad I had a wetsuit. All in all it was a great trip and I'm so glad I got to do it.
After finishing my fourth week of work we headed into town right as the school was celebrating their 74th anniversary with a parade and a small dance recital. We were told from 4 different people that the parade would start at 6pm, 5pm, 4pm, and 4:30pm. So naturally, it started at 5:30pm. That's Ecuador, for you.
When the parade finally started, it was really adorable to watch the kids on their makeshift floats from airport luggage carts and pickup trucks. Half the kids were having the time of their lives while the other half were wishing they were anywhere but there and crying. Somehow they all were still really cute.
The parade ended right in front of the outdoor amphitheater where each class would do a routine. And in typical Ecuador fashion, once the parade ended, it was like someone said, "oh I guess we should set up the sound and lights for the show now". So we waited another hour before the show actually started.
Watching the kids dance was pretty cute and I was impressed at how well they did and how most of them had memorized the entire dance. No wonder the guys here are great dancers when they're older. They're all dancing in school functions from age 3. Now these kids weren't given any difficult choreography, but I was still impressed. The detailed handmade elaborate costumes made custom for each child and the props for each routine were also really cool.
One routine was Barbie themed and all 10-12 girls began the routine in these elaborate handmade Barbie boxes. I was with some European girls and we were all ooing and ahhing ... until the music started. Our mouths dropped when we heard that the song was Aqua's Barbie Girl. These 4 year old boys and girls were dancing to Barbie Girl. The European girls and I all looked at each other like "No way, they must not know what this song means". The more I listened to the song the more I realized that all of the sexual references may be lost on a non-native English speaker. But I'm still convinced someone's parent in that audience knew what the words meant and was horrified.
Today I plan to head down to the port and try to make it to the craft market and possibly get a $7 pedicure. We'll see. Chao!
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