Life at the beach and Feliz Navidad from us

Christmas is almost here! But before crossing to Ecuador to spend the holidays, we had one week left. And what better way to finish the first leg of our trip to Peru than being by the sea!

We arrived at Los Organos late at night and still had to look for a place to stay. And how lucky were we when we found a place with other kids to play with. At first when we arrived, we greeted them in whatever Spanish we had and just threw sticks for their dog (called Frida) but it took no time to become good friends. Over the week, we went to the beach together and played endless games in their spacious garden, with cats and dogs and sheep and geese and peacocks. The number of animals they had was mind-blowing but my favourite animal was definitely Frida. 

Across the 7 days we stayed with them (the longest we stayed anywhere since the beginning of our trip), Favio, Elio, Ismene and I became better friends ending the week with us flying my kite, catching waves and racing on their body boards and (most importantly) beating Dan and their dad Gustavo at football!

And did I mention about the surfing? Oh yes friends...there was surfing! What can I say: it was incredible and I loved it! We had lessons every day because Ioanna insisted that a family who surfs together, stays together! All of us started closer to the beach, but still, I think we did well. Ismene and I were surfing well and with confidence, and, by the third day, I was surfing the big waves with Dan. Helped by the surf teacher, I was paddling my board far out, past jumping fish and overtaken by groups of flying pelicans and one time a frigate bird too. After our surfing lesson one day, the coolest kid on the beach riding amazing waves and making it seem so easy, surfed all the way to the edge of the beach to his dad who gave him an ice lolly. He then paddled out again holding the ice lolly up high above his head while going back out to stop any greedy waves stealing it from him. And when he surfed back out to the beach, one of the hands he normally used for balancing, was now holding the ice lolly in reach of his tongue. It was SUCH FUN!

Surfing is a very difficult experience to describe. As I lie down on my board, just on the gentle waves, my reflexes take over and within a couple of seconds, without even thinking about it, I'm standing on my board surfing heading for the beach! However long it takes to get to the beach, the exhilarating feeling of the wind whistling past you feels like it will last forever! For my birthday present, I've already asked if we can go surfing again (maybe on the Galapagos?!). That's how much I loved it!

And I almost forgot to tell you about the eeriest thing that happened on the third day: we swam with sea turtles! We read reports that near the pier, there are turtles so we went to see if we could see any. As Dan and I swam out into the murky waters, I reached out to show Dan something moving off to the side, only to realise that it wasn't Dan at all...it was a turtle! I quickly jumped back and swam to where the real Dan was, feeling panicked and very confused. It wasn't only the shell that I had touched, it was the soft part near the edge of the flipper and my hand felt numb and almost unmovable. It was as if we were now a turtle magnet; one-metre long turtles were now looming out of the darkness, not shy at all, swimming under and around us as if begging to be touched and petted. It was so creepy that Dan and I swam back to the beach as fast as our legs could carry us!

That's all from me, that will be my last post before Christmas.  I might take a few days off from posting on the blog but I will be working on the quiz as a little Christmas present for you all :))

Feliz Navidad from all of us and thank you for reading the blog and all your comments and texts you send to Ioanna and Dan. I know I don't reply often but I really appreciate them. Hasta luego amigos!