fried shrimp, baked shrimp, boiled shrimp...

Well we went to that volcano and here's the scoop. Three thousand years ago this volcano imploded and all the snow that was on it at the time created a lake. Now it's a tourist spot where you can take a boat or kayak in the crater of the volcano. We went out on a boat and learned a bit. Seeing the cool sulfur bubbling in the crayon blue water was a bit unsettling as we stopped to listen to our monotone guide give us information about why the rocks are yellow and how the three mountainous islands in the middle of the lake are actually lava mounds. It was interesting and erie. We got out of the boat and started out on a 4 hour hike around the rim of the volcano. Beautiful!Early into the hike I was shaken by a few people's warnings of armed bandits robbing tourist so I stopped about an hour in. I sat on a bench where I had a beautiful decending view into the crater. I have had enough close calls on this trip and I didn't feel like walking down a volcano shoeless as supposedly 4 French tourist were forced to. Mateo went on a bit further with a few travel buddies and I sat there for a little over an hour eating fruit and watching the clouds roll up and down the crater. It was really serene until I heard what sounded like horses galloping over rocks. It was Mateo getting a good workout. He came flying past me in his flip flops looking very energetic.

We were travelling with a couple from New York and they went on and made the hike. Four hours later they returned to us very wet, freezing cold and saying it was the most horrible experience of their lives. They didn't get robbed though.

This morning we parted from our friends and headed back below the equator. We had been waiting a few days to decide our direction. It was between a medicinal forest with an Ecuadorian shaman or an organic shrimp farm on an island in the gulf of Guayaquil. Even though I don't swim very well Mateo and I will board a shrimp boat at 7 o'clock in the morning for a two hour ride to Isla Puna. If you want to check out our whereabouts go to www.biocentinela.com.

There will be no internet when we get there so it may be a while before you here from us. That seems to be the way of the simple life...

Ciao
Joronda