Il Festival de las Raices

This past weekend we participated in “Il festival de las Raices” in el Mangle. It was a nonprofit festival where we had a stand presenting information about the whale sharks. At the festival there were a lot of different people offering all kinds of organic foods and local products. They had a big opening ceremony with people dancing traditional dances and playing drums which lasted for hours.

It was a great event for kids, since there was an entertainment program for them all day. We got the kids for one hour at 12pm. After Darren gave a short introduction about whale sharks we had all kinds of games and activities prepared.

 We played the game “pin the tail” in the whale shark edition as pin the fin, had a ball game where the kids threw balls through a big whale shark mouth, a big picture with outlines of sea animals for the kids to color, face painting and a contest for the best whale shark made out of clay. The winner of the contest won a pencil with a whale shark shaped top. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun and time flew by.

 

On the same weekend Sarah and I went diving. The first dive was at Los Islotes where we got to play with the sea lions. The second dive was at a ship wreck. We got do dive inside the wreck, so we were a little nervous at first but it was a lot of fun, especially because we brought a lamp and so could get a better look at everything inside. When we were done with the dives we had lunch at a beautiful beach. After that day Sarah got her certification as an advanced open water diver.

On Monday night it was both, Sarah’s last night and Andréa’s birthday so we went to Harker’s for dinner. It’s the same place where you can rent kayaks and paddle boards but they also have a nice restaurant.

After dinner we went to a bar that served Mezcal, it’s a traditional Mexican spirit kind of like Tequila. We all got different kinds and some of them were really smoky. A lot of people eat grasshoppers with their Mezcal here so we ordered some just to try it. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, they were just really crunchy and tasted like salt and spices, kind of like chips.

Sarah and Tobias were the first people I met here so we were all sad when she left, especially our dog Pepe. Safe travels!

Laura

Hello and Goodbye

These past two weeks have been busy ones!

On the end of February, we welcomed Laura, a girl from Germany studying biology. 

That week was both Darren and Laura's birthdays. We gave Darren a Donald Trump piñata that he thoroughly enjoyed. We had to get it special ordered since the shop had run out of them as they were very popular. Laura had special visitors from home surprise her and we went out for a dinner to Bandido's, where they cook their burgers on the hood of a 50s era car.

We headed out one day for an afternoon at Balandra, which was Laura's first time there and Tobias' and mine last time there. Everyone visiting La Paz should go there at least once, it's very beautiful. I really hope they don't develop it. 

Last Saturday, Tobias, Laura and I headed down to Cabo Pulmo to stay overnight and do some dives the next day. We stayed in some nice bungalows called Eco Adventures Cabo Pulmo. We went diving with Cabo Pulmo Watersports, who were great. The visibility was alright, but better than what I've heard it's been lately. On the first dive, we dove around a wreck, excitedly hoping for a bull shark, but alas didn't see one. The second dive we swam with a school of 1000-2000 big eye trevallies. It was a surreal experience!

This Monday we welcomed 3 more volunteers from Sweden - Andrea, Sanna, Pontus. So this week was full in the volunteer house! 

Wednesday the six of us volunteers and Manolo headed up to Magdalena Bay in the hopes of seeing gray whales. It's nearing the end of the season and the wind was pretty strong that day, so unfortunately we didn't see any. But we did see dolphins, a sea lion and nice birds in the mangroves.

Today we are losing one of our volunteers. Tobias is heading back to Sweden. We've enjoyed having him here these past 6 weeks and he was my first volunteer buddy. As well as my dive buddy - we completed 5 dives together in the past month. We're sad to see him go. Safe travels back to Sweden and best of luck in the future!

Sarah