Great White

Does any creature on earth induce more fear than the great white shark?  Thirty years after Jaws and swimmers can still hear a tuba in the back of their minds when swimming in the ocean, despite the best efforts of scientists to de-demonize the big fish.  So of course it's natural that sitting in a cage in the ocean face to face with great white has become a very popular activity over the past few years, and is something that I have wanted to do.  There is no better place in the world to see these sharks than South Africa, so I immediately penciled in cage diving when I knew we'd be spending time in Cape Town.

Sorry, Mom, but I Had to Try It

More in the full post, including pictures

Too Little Time on New Zealand's North Island

We arrived in New Zealand more unprepared than we have been upon arrival in any other country so far.  We had bought guide books for Ecuador, Peru and Chile back in August of last year and had spent hours looking at each before entering the respective country.  In French Polynesia, we knew where we would be spending each night before we left Santiago.  All we knew about our plans in New Zealand was where we were staying the first two nights in Auckland, and that we are flying out of Queenstown on April 10.

The first thing we did after checking in was buy a New Zealand guidebook so we could start planning our three weeks here (we originally had four weeks, but the earthquake in Santiago and subsequent plane flight changes cut nearly a whole week out).  Following the advice of a number of travelers we met in South America, we decided to spend only a week on the North Island and the remaining time on the South Island.  I left Magge to find us a rental car while I did our taxes, which will be much easier next year when neither of us has income to declare.  By the end of the day, we had our car and picked out and the two spots we'd see on the North Island: Rotorua and Waitomo.

Did I Mention That I'm Afraid of Heights?

Much to our mothers' dismay, after two days of steady rainfall, Jeff decided that enough was enough: rain or no rain, we needed to get out and do something.  The rain had left Jeff with plenty of time to start fantasizing about all the different extreme activities Pucón had to offer.  The fact that we would be "rebelling" against our mothers only heightened the temptation (let's just face it, we're our mamas' good little kiddies most of the time).

But what would we choose?  Canopying?  Canyoning?  Hydrospeeding?  After much deliberation, we finally decided on canyoning: a fun mix of hiking through rivers and rappelling down waterfalls.  As exciting as the prospect of getting out and doing some outdoor activites sounded, I have to admit I had my reservations about this particular choice.  You see, heights and I have an interesting relationship.  There are many activities I like that involve heights, but every time I find myself lifted to a certain level off the ground my legs start turning to jello and my heart starts beating rapidly.  Add to that the fact that one of our bunkmates had told us about a girl who had a complete emotional breakdown at the top of one of the waterfalls when he had gone canyoning a few days before, and I was left feeling a little trepidatious about the whole endeavor. But Jeff really wanted to go canyoning, so I knew I would have to find a way down those waterfalls.

Pucón Is Dangerous, But Is It Dangerous Enough?

1,400 miles on a bus over the last week have brought us to Pucón, in the Araucanía region of southern Chile.  This little tourist town on a lake is vastly different than anywhere else we've been in South America.  It's clean, orderly and quiet.  Stray dogs still roam the streets, but even they manage to look well-groomed.  Many of the buidlings are built out of wood, instead of the much more common South American materials of adobe and cement.  Despite the heavy tourism, it still maintains a quaintness that reminds me of some of the tourist towns in Quebec's Laurentians region, as I posted on Twitter yesterday.

Three Aborted Hikes Are Enough for One Day

I forgot to mention in my previous entry that Magge developed some very nasty blisters on her heels about halfway through the Quilotoa lake hike.  Being the trooper that she is, she finished the hike without complaining, limping until the very end.  I thought about taking pictures of them, but they may have grossed you out more than the cuy pictures.  The blisters still bother Magge, especially when climbing, which is almost impossible to avoid around here.  Despite this, we were going to try to go on a hike today around Baños.

• Hike 1:  Way too steep way too quickly for Magge's blisters.  Quit after 2.5 minutes.
• Hike 2:  We walked over a bridge - so far so good.  We started to climb - no good.  Quit after 7 minutes.
• Hike 3:  Magge spotted a path down to the Rio Pastaza, and even though it would be a steep ascent back, the climb looked pretty short so Magge decided to tough it out.  The only problem is that we ran into the bridge from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.  I crossed it.  Magge didn't.  Quit after 20 minutes.

After three aborted hikes and less than thirty minutes of walking, we decided that was enough for the day.  We are headed to the thermal springs now instead.  Men in speedos, here I come.  Pictures in the full post.