"El Aquario"

This past Friday, december 11th, I woke up bored and with an erg to get out on an adventure, so sure enough thats what i set out to do. Got showered, had breakfast and contacted my friend Teo. He replied to my message right away and came by my house to pick me up with in 40 minutes.

How ever our adventure got off to a slow start. We had made plans to go on a kayaking/snorkeling excursion and we were all ready except we forgot the paddles for the kayak. we only realized this after having already having driven 20 minutes almost at our destination. we thought for a bit and then figured we would have to borrow some, because we didn't have that much time to drive back. So after several phone calls and a bit of waiting around we borrowed a pair from Andre's family and a pair from Teo's old work.

We finally had all the equipment ready after about 40 minutes and were ready to go! we picked out the equipment we would bring along and we launched the kayak. As Teo was in the back seat of the kayak fixing up the fishing rods, I was busy paddling away towards our destination of "El Aquario".

As we struggled a bit against the strong ocean winds we admired the crystal clear water and dragged two fishing poles in the water behind us. While in the more open areas of the ocean we had to paddle hard to keep up any speed. As we kept moving i kept asking if we were there yet or where this place was, i just kept getting the answer of "oh a bit further" or "not quite yet".

Then we saw it, after a long while of kayaking we had arrived at "El Aquario". The water was crystal clear, the pelicans were out fishing and there were a few boats coming out of the harbor. the wind from the open ocean was now blocked by the cliffs and we easily kayaked in a bit further. Admiring the crystal clear water and all the surroundings i decided i had to get in and do some snorkeling. we parked the kayak and got on our equipment. I grabbed a bit of water to drink before getting in and then i went ahead and hoped right in, my friend Teo screamed about how cold he thought it was when got in but i enjoyed the refreshing water!

As i was blown away with how much i could see in the clear water I started seeing some amazing sites, a school of angle fish, billions of little jellyfish (that ended up stinging me a whole bunch) many fish i had never seen, beautiful plants and some really interesting star fish that moved like an octopus! how ever after being stung many many times by the little tiny jellyfish i decided to get out for a bit and but on my t-shirt. With my t-shirt on i felt a little more protected and the stings no longer hurt so i decided to get back in for some more.

How ever as i was fixing up my scuba mask and getting ready to jump back in, a giant eel swam past me! i screamed for Teo to get over here as fast as he could, this thing was giant (something like 4 feet long and real fat). we swam over real fast and i told him what i had seen, so we searched for it again, sure enough we found it under a rock, as we admired it it seemed to get scared and tried to scare us off with its big teeth. as we backed off a little bit it came swimming out of the rocks and we could see its great size again.

after it scared us a little bit more we moved on in the search of more cool stuff. we found tons of new fish, including a giant school of metallic fish, and an underwater cave. after practicing my deep diving and searching for a bit longer we started to get a little cold in the water and decided it was time to pack up, we got out of the water only after finding a puffer fish and a second smaller eel.

After back in the kayak we decided to do a little more exploring in the little near by caves and just to have a little more fun kayaking around. after tiring our selves out anymore we started heading back. with a long distance to cover we paddled calmly just chatting away, we finally arrived at the shore, packed it all up, returned the paddles to their owners and got back safe and sound.

It was quite the successful Mexican adventure!

Nacapule

I believe that in some of my past writings i have mentioned the canyon of Nacapule, but just to make sure everyone is on the same page Nacapule is a some what large canyon set back in the Mountains right out side my city. There is a small source of water giving the canyon a some what tropical appearance despite the dry, dry rocky cliffs that showcase the desert climate.

So now that we are all on the same page with the word Nacapule, I've got a small story i thought was worth telling. Just another adventure from here In Mexico.

This past Saturday, the 5th, after sleeping over at my friend Andre's house (from Brazil) Andre, our friend Teo and I headed out with a couple of water bottles and our good hiking clothes in hope to conquer the canyon of Nacapule.

We got a start at about 11:30, as we entered we got of to a slow start as we were goofing around and climbing the cliff ledges and getting of track. after a bit we picked up the pace, we we got further in we saw the first signs of water and then came to our first large obstacle, to continue on we had to climb upward a ways. but sure enough it turned out to be easy, we climbed through a cave and came out other wholes and ended up on top.

As we continued on the little streams of water got stronger and we started finding more wild life, after a failed attempt at catching a frog we picked up the pace yet again. After a good 30 more minutes of hiking we came to a more open area were our friend Teo suggested we take a bit of a side route and climb up this small peak. when we got up there we enjoyed the view for quite some time as it was utterly beautiful. On the way back down Andre and I attempted to catch one of the little Lizards that are all over the place and while doing so we encountered a small scorpion, really pretty animal!

we got back down on ground level and found more wild life which slowed us down before sped up again. As we hiked in further we heard Andre call out "se acabo!", which means its ended or over etc. So here was obstacle number two, very similar to obstacle number one but quite a bit larger. as we first tried rock climbing vertically and climbing the trees in attempt to get up to the next level we realized that was going to work. So we decided to walk back wards a bit and climb up the side of the mountain.

After maneuvering many slender edges and climbing some pretty freaky spots we passed the big road block and were able to climb back down and continue (we were essentially on the other side of a large rock formation that was basically a giant wall we had to climb up and around).

As we kept hiking we continued to enjoy the wildlife and other cool bits and pieces, and soon enough we came to another rock exactly the same as the first one. we had to climb vertically up what appeared to be a dry water fall to continue. So with a lot of care and very calmly we climbed out just to be disappointed by yet another of the same thing. At this point it was getting late and we were super thirsty as we drank all our water much earlier. I attempted to climb this one but it was a bit harder and didn't feel safe.

So we decided to turn around and make our way back. On the way back we faced the same obstacles, scary heights and skinny ledges, we crawled through a little cave and made a water break at a small waterfall (the water at the canyon is clean and drinkable). As i was filling the water bottles i spotted a tarantula, they really are beautiful! First our friend Teo carefully picked it up and then passed it on to me and after i held it in my hand for a bit i passed it on to Andre. It was awesome to hold!

After about 4 and a half hour of action packed hiking and climbing we finally made it back to the car were we packed up and hit the road. we were all exhausted but not with out a reason.