Tyson Goes OutsideEverything outdoors and adventure!

Oct 30th Western Canadian Road Trip (Vol. 1)

Erin’s flight was scheduled to land in Las Vegas on the 25th, my plan was to drive down and meet her. I started my trip about a week before her flight was due to arrive so I could spend the weekend in Calgary with a friend of mine that you might remember from my Buller Pass story. I arrived late Saturday night and he gave me a tour of downtown. It was exciting to see the nightlife, we also got some tasty pub food. I had no idea Calgary was such lively city.

A poor quality picture of downtown

The next day he took me for a real tour. We went to Glenmore park and did a bit of a walk around, we then headed to the Calgary tower and walked on the glass floor… a nerve wracking experience if there ever was one. The day ended with some awesome delicious sushi, it turns out its one of the few restaurant foods allowed in my strict diet.

A lovely view of the park

Adrian at the tower

Me on the glass floor

downtown Calgary from the tower

Bright and early the next morning I hit the road south. I planned on crossing the border and spending the night in glacier national park. I stopped only a few times; once to fuel up, and once to stretch my legs and let my family know I was about to cross the border so they would not be able to reach me on my phone.

Quick picture of southern Alberta

A quick picture of my chariot

As soon as I hit the border, things went south. I explained my plans and told them about how I had quit my job to spend a month or so travelling around the USA…. and they told me they didn’t believe I intended to come back to Canada! They told me to drive back to the nearest town and print off something that would prove my intentions to return, like proof of employment or a mortgage. I told them to call my mother and hear what she would do if I didn’t come back… they didn’t go for it. I stood there for about a half of an hour suggesting things I could show them as proof, such as phone bills or cable contracts. Everything I could possibly show them they kind of shrugged off as not good enough. I could tell they just did not like ME, and had no intention of letting me in. When the border security agent said he believes my wife and I are going to throw away our lives, and her accounting career, so we could wait tables in Vegas for less than minimum wage while living in a Toyota echo,  I knew I was done. America is great, but its not THAT great that I would throw away affordable healthcare, careers, family, and my outdoor adventures to wait tables… So, with a lot of cursing under my breath I walked out of the office, I was instructed to turn my car around and he would hand me my passport on the way by, so I don’t “make a run for it”. Once I got my passport back and was on the road, the cursing became much much more audible… I drove all the way home that day, and went to bed. The next morning I called all the places in the US that I had made reservations with and cancelled, Erin booked a connecting flight out of Vegas to Calgary. The plan was to pick her up in Calgary in a few days and then head west instead of south.

Feb 19th Six Weeks A Volunteer

New Years day Erin and I took a series of busses from Baños, Ecuador, to Santa Marianita, a beach on the coast of Ecuador. This took us about 12 hours and two busses over night. We were headed to a guest house called The Donkey Den, where we would work for accommodation and delicious breakfasts, for three weeks. We arrived on the morning of Saturday the 2nd, long before anyone in the hostel was awake. We were shown to our dorm beds and left to sleep.

The next morning we got to see the busiest day of the year at The Donkey Den, it was breakfast in the attached restaurant on the Sunday after New Years. This meant that everyone who came out to celebrate was still around and recovered enough to leave the house for food. There was also a power outage along the beach so no one had anything better to do. Unfortunately the power outage meant the kitchen needed to use a small diesel powered generator. It didn’t want to stay running and the person tending to it couldn’t seem to figure it out. I mumbled to Erin that it sounds like theres no fuel in it, having a diesel powered truck at home I am somewhat familiar with the basic principals. She urged me to stop being shy and go help.

I walked over and asked if it had fuel in it, to which I was told there was. I then looked the generator over, fired it up and listened to it sputter and die. Checked for a blocked fuel line and cleaned the gunk off of the kill switch and tried again but to no avail. I took a look for myself and it turns out the fuel tank was bone dry. I did my best to not say anything hurtful to the young man who told me there was fuel in it. I filled it, pressed the heater for the glow plugs and it fired up like a charm. I let it idle a bit and warm up before plugging in the power cables so as prevent the engine from stalling. From that moment on, I was considered a handy man. I am not a particularly handy person but the owner, Linda, still found plenty of odd jobs for me over the next few weeks. For the most part though, my job was simply to keep an eye on the place for a few hours a day and help guests with what ever they needed. I also spent a lot of time tending to the garden, something I thoroughly enjoyed.

We Found a Scorpion In Our Room One Day

Erin and I intended to stay for three weeks but ended up staying for six. Part of the reason we stayed so long was we were waiting for mail to come in to Quito before we left to Peru, another reason was that we just enjoyed it and didn’t feel like leaving. Something about the beach just makes you lose ambition. Over the six weeks lots of small things happened so here they are… In no particular order.

Our First Week There We Saw a Turtle Lay Eggs

Tyson Steps On a Stingray:

One of the local American expats, named Ed, who lived near The Donkey Den was a regular for breakfasts and a surfing fanatic. I had casually mentioned to him that I would kind of like to try surfing. One morning, him and a friend showed up at the restaurant, they had been out surfing and his friend had been stung by a stingray and needed to put his foot in some hot water to ease the toxin and the pain. For future reference, hot water eases the pain of being stung by a sting ray, I also find that it help stop mosquito bites from itching so much.

Ed  offered me the chance to take his friends place and go surfing. I was a little hesitant, considering the circumstances, but I went anyway. He told me to shuffle my feat on the sand to prevent stepping on a stingray and getting hit. Their sting is a defensive reaction to being stomped on. I followed these instructions carefully and shuffled out to the break… slowly. Ed explained the basics and helped me catch a few waves. I managed to stand up, very briefly, twice during the whole outing. Toward the end of our trip I jumped off my board and landed on something slimy and about the size of a dinner plate. I immediately lifted one foot off and then set my other foot down on top of it over and over again. I must have stepped on this poor sting ray about 5 times, it was similar to when you start to slip on ice and run on the spot for a split second. I managed to get both feet up at once and set them down far apart, it was a miracle I didn’t get stung. I don’t know for sure that it was a stingray but the other possibilities don’t make me feel much better. Shortly after, we headed back to the Donkey Den and I was able to get some breakfast just before the kitchen closed.. That was the end of my surfing adventures at Santa Marianita beach. The ocean is just too big and too deep, and it kinda scares me. I think I’ll just stick to snowboarding, I like the cold more anyway.

 Tyson makes friends:

The great thing about volunteering there was that everyone I worked with was super friendly. I will undoubtedly miss them greatly as our travels continue. One of the ways I cheated to make friends was I baked sweets for them, this works every time. During our stay I baked several batches of peanut butter cookies. Some with oatmeal instead of flour because one of my fellow volunteers couldn’t have gluten (If you want to try it yourself just replace the flour with an equal amount of oatmeal and bake a little longer, Erin thinks they are much better this way). I also baked several batches of brownies, using oatmeal instead of flour didn’t work quite as well. I also learned how to make really good banana bread. The other volunteers tended to make huge dinners which they were more than happy to share. Erin also made her famous popcorn, naturally it was a hit. Someday I’ll put up these recipes for all to enjoy. Towards the end of our stay Erin and I had started putting weight back on, another few weeks and my pants might have fit again!

Baking Brownies, Banana Bread, and Cookies

Tyson witnesses Carnival:

Carnival celebrates the same thing Mardi Gras does, the Tuesday before lent begins… I think. I have never been to Mardi Gras, but I imagine its quite a party and I have no doubt that the Ecuadorians could keep up to it. The beach in front of our hostel was standing room only, with a large sound stage blaring all afternoon and into the evening. I would watch hotel guests and volunteers walk out in clean, dry clothes and return soaked in the colourful spray foam that the people were dowsing each other with. It was quite a sight, but I chose not to go out into the crowd, I could see it just fine from the balcony…

A Panoramic Shot From The Balcony Of Carnival Getting Set Up In The Morning

The Crowd Grew Even More After Dark

Erin gets wounded:

Nobody panic! Erin is fine now. She was laying on the beach when a large wave snuck up on her and some friends. She jumped up in time and grabbed most of her things but the bottle of sunscreen got away. She ran through the shallow water to grab it and in the process stepped on a jagged rock and cut her big toe open. When she got back to the hotel it looked awful and I though we should go to the hospital. Once we rinsed it and got the sand out of it I realized it just looked much worse than it was. We bandaged her toe and kept it clean and I am happy to say we didn’t have to amputate. I have some pictures of her toe cut open but its pretty graphic so I won’t post it here.

Linda rescues another dog:

Linda, the owner, is a one woman army for animal rescue. At the time of our stay she had three dogs and I think about fifteen cats, though nobody was sure the numbers. She takes in stray cats and dogs, gets them spayed and neutered, any medical attention they need, and then tries to find homes for them. After they find a carefully chosen home she continues to pay the vet bills to ensure their well being.

Linda and Some of Her Cats and Dogs

One day we were taking two cats into the vet to be spayed. A little girl on the beach saw the animal carrier in the back of the truck and came up to me. Unfortunately she only spoke Spanish and we couldn’t communicate. She walked off a little frustrated and came back when there were more people around the truck. Eventually we figured out that she had a sick puppy at her house and wanted us to take it into the vet. She jumped in the truck with us and one of her family members followed us on a motor bike to her house. One of the volunteers went with the girl into the barely standing brick shack. I could see they had no running water. They were using the gutters to funnel rain water into a shack beside the house, I imagine it to be similar to an old style wash house. It turns out the family had a sick puppy too young to be away from its mother, AND a sick dog. It turns out they had neutered the dog themselves and as a result he wasn’t feeling too well. We took both dogs to the vet along with the cats. Both dogs were treated for worms and the older dog had been given a shot of antibiotics to prevent his wound from getting infected.

After the vet, we took both dogs back to the Donkey Den with us along with some dog food and hamburger to give to the owners to help put some meat on the skinny dogs bones. The larger dog, whom we called Dobby (his owners named him Tobi), was at first shy and lethargic but once we got food and water into him he came around. The puppy, Erin named her Charlie, was at first quite mobile but by the end of the day was breathing shallow and not moving much. One of the volunteers put Charlie in a basket with some towels for the night and she hadn’t gotten much better by the morning. Linda took Charlie back to the vet, and unfortunately she just didn’t make it, she was just too young and malnourished to survive. When Linda got back to the Donkey Den, she told me what happened and I grabbed a shovel. We went off and I dug Charlie a grave on the side of a sandy hill overlooking the pacific. It was a hard hole to dig, I have a hard time with dogs dying, especially young ones. We buried her, set some stones on the grave and Linda’s friend, Mary, said a few nice words.

Charlie

The family never came back for the dogs and I don’t think they even know that the puppy passed away. Over the next few days Dobby came out of his shell, and his wound began to heal. He was eating more and socializing with people and other dogs. Erin had to lift him onto the chair to show him that he was allowed to be there. After that he would go on the chair, but instead of jump he would struggle and climb to get up, I think he just never learned to jump. When I left The Donkey Den he was still there, and last I heard he still is. It has been about two weeks, so I think its almost safe to say that Dobby is at The Donkey Den for good.

Dobby the Dog

Erin and I are now on our way to see the rest of the continent, hopefully we meet another group of people that are as lovely as the guest and volunteers at The Donkey Den… but those are some big shoes to fill. Thanks for the good times everyone.

Donkey Den Volunteers, Guests, Workers, and Friends

Pacific Sunset

Jan 6th A City On Fire

The streets were filled with smoke from the fires. The air was filled with the shouts of the crowds and the thunderous cracks in the sky. Broken glass lined the curbs. There was an unfamiliar chemical foam raining down, it was sticky and smelled like cleaner. It looked, sounded, and smelled like a city in the midst of a bombing raid. I can’t believe I paid money to be here, and I can’t believe I’m having this much fun. It was the wildest new years I have ever witnessed.

In Canada, at least for me, New Years eve celebrations are usually quite mild. They consist of spending time at a friends house and hiding from the usual cold weather that plagues us that time of year. They are typically a potluck and catch up with friends kind of an evening. Ecuador… is a different story.

Erin and I had decided that we were simply travelling too fast and it was starting to wear us down, so we rented an apartment in the town of Baños, Ecuador, for christmas and new years. It was wonderful to have our own space and be able to cook for ourselves. I even got to make two batches of cookies while we were there, those made me quite popular with our landlord and her young sons.

I Had To Use My Water Bottle To Measure Ingredients

The Apartment Had A Fireplace

While we were there our friend Rob, whom we had met in San Augustin, Colombia, had made his way down to Baños and met up with us for a few days, including new years. He was on his way through, biking from Bogota to Chile… and you thought I did crazy things. He has a blog about it here. He has done this in Asia too.

New Years eve, in the morning, Erin and I went to Casa Del Arbol. We decided to take the bus there and back, instead of a three hour walk each way. Mostly because she had to be back on time for her classes and also because I didn’t feel like walking three hours each way. We jumped on the bus and a friendly British couple began talking to us. For the remainder of the trip to Casa Del Arbol and back we were friends. Casa Del Arbol is an interesting place, it is a large tree house on the edge of a cliff and on each side of the tree house are large swings which throw you out over the edge of the cliff. Erin of course went on the swing, while I took pictures for her. I opted not to ride the swing for self-preservation reasons. I did however use the zip-line that ran about three feet off the ground and maybe 100 yards long. On the way back our new friends invited us to join them for dinner at Casa Hood, we were told to bring any friends we had.

Nope.

Extreme

Not Sure Why This Was There Or What Its Actually For

That night we met up with Rob at Cafe hood, and soon realized our confusion. Just as we were about to leave to go to the right restaurant we overheard a girl from New Zealand who had made the same mistake. We offered to keep her company and ordered some beers to help pass the time while she finished hers. While we were finishing our drinks two men dressed, badly, as women came running in. One began playing the guitar and singing while sitting on Rob’s lap and the other danced around. When they were all done, I gave them some spare change and they were off to find new victims. We had also noticed, on the street out front, young kids in what looked like Halloween costumes were stopping traffic and people in cars were giving them candy or spare change. Throughout the day we had also noticed many people making effigies out of paper māché, in all shapes and sizes.

We eventually made our way to the right restaurant, but had missed our friends. The New Zealander’s friends were there and she joined them. We had a wonderful dinner, just the three of us. After dinner we went out to walk around and see what the festivities looked like. The streets were packed with kids in costumes and young men dressed in drag. They were standing in intersections, stopping traffic, rubbing themselves against the cars, and harassing the drivers until they got money. There were vendors on the sides of the street selling all kinds of things; masks, wigs, cigarettes, fireworks etc. Erin decided to buy a pink wig to help get in the spirit of things. There were also a lot of people shooting fireworks into the sky and drinking heavily. This was already beyond anything I had seen back home. We dipped in and out of a few bars for a drink or two but the street was just too exciting to pass up. Plus there were several stages in the streets with live music. We eventually ran into the British couple… They weren’t too hard to spot since he is about six foot five and was dressed in drag. That sort of thing stands out to me.

As the evening got closer to midnight things really started to pick up. At about ten minutes to the stroke of midnight everyone started throwing their effigies into piles on the street and beating them senseless. There was kicking, throwing, shouting, and some full on body slams. Everyone was whipped into a frenzy and then the count down began. At the stroke of midnight everyone went wild, singing, yelling, hugging, and burning the piles. Once the fires started burning things got even crazier, people were jumping over the fires, myself included, and shooting off fireworks, myself included. Fatemah, the girl we had met earlier that day, ran out of the bar and started spraying party foam out of an aerosol can. She spayed into the crowd and really made a point of hosing down Rob. To me, it looked like big heavy wet snow falling to the ground. For a split second my mind wandered to an old memory of home when my friends and I were standing around a bonfire while the snow fell. I did my best to get some pictures of the riotous streets but there was just too much movement and action to get anything of quality. I think the blurry, crooked, and obscured photos are an accurate representation of the night anyway.

Effigies Piled And Beaten

Spray Foam

Tempting Fate

We then wandered up and down the streets and hit a few more bars. We stayed out far later than we should have, but so did everyone. We finally made it back to where we were staying at about three in the morning, at which point we video chatted with our friends back home. Between bad internet and late night excitement I don’t think I was able to properly convey what we had witnessed.

What we had witnessed, at least what I pieced together from the locals is: New Years is obviously a huge celebration in Ecuador, no one needed to explain that. They celebrate it by building and burning effigies, they can look like anything from a shoebox sized spongebob to a twelve foot tall batman. Most looked like people and varied wildly in size, they represent the previous year and anything bad that happened in that year, hence beating them senseless before burning them. The young men dressed in drag asking for money are pretending to be the widows of the effigies, who now need help providing for their family. The money, of course, is spent on beer later in the evening. Drinking in public is completely legal and I saw very young children buying and using fireworks. To me it was mardi gras, meets new years, meets a circus all without parental supervision.

Everyone Was Celebrating

There Were Lots Of Little Fires Down Every Street

When you travel you hope for adventure and excitement. You want to see other cultures and how they celebrate, you want to partake in festivities as the locals do. This, to me, was a traveler’s dream. We got to witness and experience a wild celebration with the locals, just as the locals do. To make it all better, it came as a complete surprise, until that day I had no idea other cultures took partying on New Years so seriously.

Dec 19th Tyson Goes To Scuba School

It seems that I’ve been facing a lot of fears these days. They are silly little fears, as most are, but they are dug in deep. For many years I’ve been afraid of swimming in large bodies of water, especially if I can’t see the bottom. I just don’t know what’s down there, and in my mind I am always just on the brink of some terrifying attack from a creature of the deep. Kayaking forced me to face these fears, scuba diving even more so. I don’t pretend that I don’t have these fears anymore, but its nice to know that I have survived facing them and I intend to face them again and again… and again if necessary.  

We arrived in Taganga after taking an all-night bus from San Gil to Santa Marta. We stayed in a hostel called Villa Mary, run by David, energetic and helpful man who spoke excellent english. His family lived at the hostel and he treated us more like welcome house guests than paying customers. We asked him for a recommendation for a scuba school, as I was interested in getting my Open Water certification, since Erin already has her Advanced Open Water. David recommended Reef Shepherd, so we walked over to inquire.

It turns out there are multiple courses for essentially the same certification all with varying focus on various aspects. The most common training is PADI, which is what Erin has. I opted to go for SDI because to me it appeared to show more how to dive with modern technology and had less theory and class room work. SDI was also the cheaper option. I did a lot of research between the two online and found that they are pretty similar and there is no right or wrong answer.

The dive shop gave me a USB stick of videos and a text book to take a look at and fill out. We went for a walk on the beach, it had rained very heavily two days before and it washed a lot of litter into the ocean which then washed up on the beach. It was sad to see all that garbage, but over the following days it was cleaned up by some sort of town employees.

Garbage Washed Up Along The Beach

The next morning I met my instructor, Fabio. He looked a lot like a stereotypical handsome scuba instructor in a Colombian beach town. After introductions he gave me a quick overview of the equipment, most of which I remembered from my two prior dives in Fiji, and all the info I had studied the day before. From there we jumped into an old Land Rover and headed to a nearby hotel to use their pool to go over basics and confirm the fact that I can swim.

We did a few laps around the pool, and I was shown how to clear water out of my mask, and what to do if a companions or my air quits flowing. I was also shown how to use a compass while diving. I already had a good idea as I know how to use a compass on land, but I didn’t mention it to him because its always good to refresh… and no one likes a wise ass.

The first day of training was done within a few short hours. Erin and I wandered around the beach a bit, got some lunch and relaxed in the hostel. That night, a woman came by and sold us fresh loaves of homemade bread, still warm from the oven. It was amazing. She came back every night, and every night I bought at least one little loaf to eat.

The next day I was ready to dive in the ocean. We did two dives in the morning. On the boat there was Fabio and I, as well as about four other Colombians who were going spear fishing with another dive master. At first, I was a little nervous to get out of the boat and into the ocean. Something about it being so big scares me.

I didn’t want to be embarrassed, so I swallowed my fears and tipped myself backwards off the side of the boat. Soon Fabio was in the water too, and he explained what we were going to do. I had to do a few tests, things like: taking my mask off and putting it back on while under water, sharing oxygen, and emergency surfacing.

After all that was done, we did our dive around an island with a lighthouse. I saw a very large eel and a barracuda, along with a variety of other small fish unknown to me.  We surfaced and loaded into the boat. The other group surfaced shortly after, and one of them was holding a trident with a lion fish on it.

They climbed in and we started chatting. It turns out lion fish are an invasive species in the Caribbean and they are edible. He told me they are a delicious white meat. To me, it sounded like they were similar to our Walleye.

The second dive started with more testing, mostly for my buoyancy. In this case I had to put my feet in the ocean floor and hold the rest of my body at a steady 45 degree angle. Easier said than done, but with careful, calm, shallow breathing I was able to do it.

We then swam along another coral reef to a sunken boat. It was a large piece of hull about ten meters across. I was told later that it sank and broke into three pieces which all found their way to different depths. As we were  looking at the hull I swam around the side and was startled by three scuba divers, one of which had a large trident with a lion fish on it. It was the other group of divers from the boat, but it sure surprised me when I came around the side.

The day wrapped up around noon, so Erin and I walked over a small ridge to another beach called Playa Grande, which was crowded with Colombian tourists enjoying the sand and sun. We sat in the sand and royally over paid for a juice and a coke, but I guess thats just the cost of travel sometimes.

Caribbean Sunset

When I awoke on the third and final day of my course, I wasn’t feeling too well. Erin had scheduled to dive with me for my final two dives. Luckily the dive shop was pretty easy going and let us reschedule to the afternoon. We relaxed all morning and walked around town a bit. In the afternoon we went to the shop and geared up, Erin refreshed her memory and we met another Canadian who would be joining us on the dive.

We loaded into the boat and there was another group on their second day of the same course I was taking. On our first dive I had to do one more test, a basic compass navigation. I had to set a heading on the compass and swim 12 fin cycles (leg kicks) then turn around and follow the opposite heading back with the same number of fin cycles, I was allowed a two meter window of error. I was quite nervous, but on the return trip I almost crashed into the instructor who was waiting at the endpoint, so maybe I just expected it being harder than it was.

We then began our dive. It was a nice dive along some corals. We saw a large green eel, some lobsters, and a very large eel with a sort of leopard print. At first we only saw its head sticking out of the sand but when it spooked and swam away, we saw six feet of body emerge from under the sand.

Erin and I

Leading The Pack

Lobster Love

We surfaced and  started heading to the beach for lunch. Suddenly the boat stopped and Fabio told me to jump in and swim to shore. Naturally I gave him a funny look and asked “Why am I the only one swimming to shore?” He replied “Oh its your final test, I need to see that you can swim two hundred meters and then float or tread water for ten minutes, these two are also going to do it.” The other students jumped in and started swimming.

I sat hesitantly for a moment. Swimming in the ocean is one of my bigger fears. The ocean is big and deep, and I can’t see whats under me. Again, I didn’t want to embarrass myself, so I swallowed my fear and started swimming. The boat motored around us to shore. When I got close they singled to stop and tread water. It was the longest ten minutes my memory can recall.

We had some sandwiches and iced tea on the shore, then went back out for our second dive. We dove another reef just off shore. As soon as we descended to the bottom, Fabio pointed out an octopus hiding behind a rock. We kept swimming and saw a variety of fish and swam through a tear in net. Just passed it I saw our guide pick up some litter and stuff it in his pocket. A little farther down he grabbed a broken water gun and started pointing it at us and waving it around. It’s nice to see people having fun at work.

Just before the end of our dive we spotted a lion fish resting in a nook in a rock. From there we began to surface. We did a safety stop, where we stopped at five meters for three minutes. It was during the safety stop that a school of silver fish swam by. One of them was very curious and swam several laps around and between us. It got close enough that I could have touched it were I brave enough. Erin, of course, was brave enough and did touch it.

I Don’t Know The Name Of This Species

Say “Bllblblblbble!”

Handsome Bunch

The next morning I went back to the dive shop and they printed my new certification card. I chatted with the owner of the dive shop about his Land Rover, of which I am a fan. He was also kind enough to tell me all about lion fish which are and invasive species in the Caribbean, originally from the Pacific ocean. Heres what I learned:

He said he first reported them in the area about seven years ago, and as best he could tell they came from Florida. They are an expensive and prized aquarium fish. It appears that some got out either by accident, sloppy tank draining procedures, or possibly poor weather, such as hurricane Katrina breaking open houses and aquariums. He also said that for many years they weren’t found south of the amazon river as it drains into the ocean with too much force.

Unfortunately one year, with El Niño, they were able to cross the weakend river drainage. There have been reports of them south of the Amazon for the last three years. He also told me that they hold competitions to see who can spear fish the most and the largest lion fish. Sadly, though, it does not appear that they will ever be able to get rid of them entirely, the ocean is just too big and they reproduce too fast. Further research here and here showed me that they are believe to have a founding population of only a handful of individual lion fish.

Nov 5th Home Invasion In Ecuador

Its amazing how the mind functions in high stress situations. I remember looking and thinking “That looks like it might be a Sig. Where did he get a Sig?” I guess I was looking too closely as I then felt the tread of a boot gently tap the back of my head causing my chin to hit the hardwood and clap my teeth together… hard. And to think, the day was going so well up to this point.

We left Quito late in the morning and drove to Otavalo to see their famous market. It was Liz’s birthday so we thought a short trip would be nice. There were seven of us split between two cars: Erin and I, Liz and her two sons and friend of the family Rafael and his niece. Erin and I rode with the boys while Liz rode with Rafael and his niece. Along the way we stopped at Lago San Pablo. We did a short boat tour, where Erin and I began chatting with some older ladies after I smiled really wide in the background of their selfie. I always seem to make friends with people old enough to be my parents, or grand parents. We then had a delicious lunch in the restaurant that had an amazing view of the lake.

Cruisin’ Around The Lake

They Also Had Llamas

We wandered up and down the narrow pathways between the booths looking at all the amazing hand crafted wool items. Among the many great things were wool ponchos. Naturally I had to buy one. Paulo was kind enough to translate for me in the bartering process. The initial price was $22 and we haggled, dickered and ground her down to… $18. Not my finest work but it was a nice poncho. We then loaded up and headed home.

Soft and Cozy Alpaca Wool

We arrived back at the house after dark, around 8:30 pm. We were just relaxing, looking on our phones, and slowly making a plan for dinner. Then Rafael’s car alarm went off, I didn’t think much of it as there are always car alarms going off here. Much like at home, its usually over nothing. Rafael was quick to his feet and ran out the door to check it out. I heard a scuffle at the door, and Mateo, in some of the quickest thinking I have ever witnessed, told us to hide our phones. Confused, I stood up and put it in my pocket, then immediately realized the we were being robbed and the scuffle was Rafael exhibiting great bravery by trying to pull the door shut while people tried to get in. I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket and tossed it under the couch I was sitting on. In almost the same second, Rafael came around the corner into the living room and was pushed to the ground by a man with a pistol. It looked like a silver Sig 226. I got on the ground, following Mateo’s lead, as a second man entered holding a flat head screw driver. They both had an interest in making sure I stayed on the ground, as I was about 8 inches taller than both of them. I was looking closely at the man with the gun while the man with the screw driver stood over me. I remember the gunman was wearing a red bandana that had just slipped off his nose. It was at this point that his companion stepped on the back of my head, as a reminder to keep it down. He then started asking for phones, Erin and I both said “No telephono” so he patted us both down. He took from me my wallet and my pocket knife, he then motioned at my watch. I slipped it off and handed it to him.

When the men first came through the door, Liz and Rafael’s niece ran onto the balcony and closed the door behind them. The gunman never found them, or bothered to go get them. Paulo was in the washroom and quickly shut off the light when he realized what was happening but it was too late, as the gunman saw the light flip off. He kicked the door in and took Paulos cell phone and then proceeded to take Erin’s and my day packs along with Liz’s computer and camera.

I didn’t really hear it at the time, but Liz’s brother, Miguel, who lives in the apartment above her, heard the yelling and stomping of Rafael trying to close the door on the men. He sounded the alarm in his house which made the thieves hurry as they knew police were on the way. My adrenaline was pumping so hard, in my mind I thought it was the car alarm, in hind sight it was so loud, in other circumstances one might call it deafening. The whole thing was over in under two minutes. As the men ran out of the house, Paulo in a fit of quick thinking and bravery, ran out to catch a glimpse of the car and try to get the plate number, they were too fast for him to get the plate but he did see the car. The police arrived within minutes of the ordeal ending, their response time was impressive but unfortunately there just isn’t a lot they can do, or perhaps are willing to do, in these scenarios.

We told the police everything we could, which wasn’t a lot since it was so fast. We then went back in the house and did a quick inventory. Luckily our passports were untouched and they had missed Erin’s purse, but they did take her backpack which had a photocopy of her passport. My pack that was stolen didn’t have much of value, an old sweater, a water bottle, some toilet paper…they are going to be seriously sad when they open my pack and cashless wallet. Erin’s pack had her rain coat and, sadly, our flashy new camera lens as well as $60 cash. Luckily our camera was somehow left behind in Erin’s purse on the bed.

After the police left, we all kind of sat around and discussed where each one of us was, I also made a point of thanking Mateo for his quick thinking to hide the phones, Rafael for doing his best to stop them or at least delay them, and Miguel for sounding the alarm. Considering what happened and how things COULD have gone, we all got lucky. We did our best to fix the kicked in bathroom door, called friends just so we could tell someone. Erin and I agreed we would wait till the morning to tell our parents, f0r sanity’s sake.

The rest of the night and into the following day, I couldn’t help but wonder what I could have done differently. It was almost like a survivors guilt. Would it have helped if I charged at the gunman? I’m sure if I grabbed his gun with my left hand and his throat with my right I could have shoved him right out the door, along with his friend. While we were laying on the ground I could have simply grabbed the screw driver wielders boot flipped him and over powered him, but that still left an armed gunman in the back of the house. I know I did the right thing by shutting up and cooperating, but it still feels wrong. I think the worst injury or loss was my pride, it hurts to stand down, even if by all measures it was the right thing to do. Playing hero could have gotten people killed.

My guess is that the two men were simply trying to rob the car and saw a golden opportunity for a home robbery. I base this on the damage to the locks on Rafael’s car and the fact that one of the men had a screw driver. Had they wanted to do a home invasion it would have made more sense to bring the gun and a knife, simply kick the car to sound the alarm and then wait for someone to run out.

The next day, Erin and I went to the shop, and began replacing our stolen items. A cheap backpack and some headphones, and a pair of sunglasses later, we are almost back to normal. They stole my sweater too, but luckily for me they left my new poncho. When we got home from our shopping trip, we realized that on their way out, the thieves had also made off with Erin’s hiking boots that had been sitting by the door, which to her, was the most personal insult. Its a day I won’t soon forget, and I can still feel the indignity of that boot on the back of my head and the pain of my teeth grinding together. I feel the worst for Liz, she had a lot of important things on that computer, and her birthday was going so well before the break in.

Erin’s perspective:

At first I didn’t know what was going on. Mateo told me to hide my phone, so I did. Then a guy walked in with a gun and pointed it at me, motioning for me to get on the ground. It was surreal. I thought to myself “There is a gun pointing at me, I should lie down”. When he began yelling “TELEFONO TELEFONO” I thought to my phone lying inches away under the sofa and replied “No telefono, lo siento, lo siento”. He patted me down, and checked all my pockets, and I remember hoping he didn’t get too handsy. He didn’t.

After it was over, I felt very calm. It seemed totally unreal to me. I hovered awkwardly while the boys talked to the police in Spanish, and Tyson showed them pictures of the type of gun he thought it was. I caught the eye of Rafael’s niece, who ran into my arms for a hug. She was shaking like a leaf, and I’m an awkward person, so my first thought was to make her some tea. I think I just needed something to focus on, and she was it. I was really okay with the whole situation. I just felt so lucky that they didn’t get my camera, my iPad, my phone, my computer, my passport, my bankcards, or the big stash of cash we had in our room. I was totally zen about it until the next afternoon when I realized they had taken my hiking boots on the way out the door and I immediately burst into hot angry tears. Apparently that is my line, and they crossed it.