Sawyers Around the World

      Click  here  for the document version of this essay or read right here: The Crazy Travel Day Introduction       In this essay I’m going to tell you all about how we got to Scotland from Ecuador. In total with all the flights and stops it took twenty seven (27) hours to get all the way from Ecuador to Scotland. So yes, it was basically more than one (1) day. Quito to Madrid      On our last day in Ecuador, we had a flight to Edinburgh which is a city in Scotland. Our flight was at 06:00 PM so we had almost all day to pack. We left at about 03:00 so we had 3 hours to get through security and everything. When we got to the airport we checked our bags and went through security. Also when we got to our gate we still had like an hour and a half so I read a little bit and played games and then it was time to get on the plane. In the plane we got some pasta and beef for dinner and a little cake for dessert. And then since this was an ...

  By Monique: The month of March felt like an absolute whirlwind. Our days were filled with either socializing, learning Spanish, tagging along on a missions trip around Ecuador, exploring the incredible Galapagos, or trying to maintain some sense of normalcy with homeschool and sabbatical project work. Now that we've been getting settled in Scotland over the last 4 days, my brain is finally starting to slow down enough to begin processing all that I've been learning since we left California on February 2. Here are just a few snippets of what I've been reflecting on over the last 2 months... It has been so good (and humbling) for me to suddenly not  be the expert in anything. I didn't realize until being on this trip that I am so used to being an expert in my life - I am confident in the language and culture of my home, I am competent in my profession, I mostly feel confident in navigating social situations, and I have a general sense of mastery over my daily life and e...

      Last week we went to one of the world's most unique places, the  Galapagos Islands. It was AMAZING! So first we flew out from Quito and stopped in Guayaquil. And then we flew onto one of the Galapagos Island. It is called Baltra. This island is pretty cool because the only thing on it is an Airport. So, there is another island that is right next to Baltra and it's called Santa Cruz. There is a tiny channel in between these two islands. So you take a little water taxi to Santa Cruz (you have to) and then you can either take a taxi or a bus to the towns. On the first day we went to a Tortoise farm and saw tons of Tortoises. And we also hiked to a crater which was pretty cool. On the second day we did a five mile hike to a beautiful beach and then in the Evening we went on a snorkel tour and saw tons of fish and some small Sharks. On the third day we took a Speed Boat to another island called Isabela. Once we got there we did another snorkel tour and saw Sea ...

 Believe it or not, we didn't do any research on Puerto Rico before arriving here a little over two weeks ago (Saturday, February 11). If you know us well, then you can find that really hard to believe. We're still not sure why we didn't research this place at all, but it may have something to do with the overwhelming amount of research we had to do for traveling with type 1 diabetes supplies, traversing across Europe, getting medically prepared for the Amazon rainforest, etc. We chose Puerto Rico for our first stop because we have really good friends from college that live here who graciously agreed to host us. I guess we figured that since the basics were figured out for us, we could learn as we lived here! That being said, it was easy to be surprised by this place once we got here. So here are a few of the ways I was surprised by Puerto Rico... This place is definitely not Americanized. I had assumed that because Puerto Rico is a US territory, that it would feel a little...

      Yesterday we went to Castillo San Felipe del Morro which is a very old castle in Puerto Rico that was used in the spanish american war. Here is a Document that I made that has facts about  Castillo San Felipe del Morro. *To be clear the Spanish stole the land first from The Taino people Some pictures                                                 -Christian

       Yesterday we just got back from another part of Puerto Rico called Isabela. It was amazing! We stayed in a beautiful house in the middle of Isabela. Like we were right next to the plaza. But the annoying part about staying right next to the plaza is that it's really loud. Like there's music going on the plaza almost all day. But it's still a really nice house. There is also a Popsicle and Ice Cream store right next to our house. So one day, for an appetizer before dinner we went to the Ice Cream store and I got Passion Fruit Sorbet and it was really good. Also we had 4 (four) beach days in a row! I also have pictures of the beaches. Here they are. -Christian