I should have Rosetta Stoned before I came! (posting from the road)

I wonder if I studied Spanish harder if I could have saved a life today.

I was alone, enjoying a morning coffee on the deck, staring at the stunning water that surrounded the boat – crystal blue with amazing clarity. I reckoned that the snorkelling would be absolutely amazing when Juan (guide) wandered by...”Juan, can we snorkel here after our hike?” “Oh, no my lady”, was Juan’s prompt response. I tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, to tame the whine in my voice but went on to ask the ever annoying “why not?”
“Because” was his reply while he pointed to a 2 m black tip reef shark that was circling our boat. I guess that’s why he’s the guide. Juan and I watched the shark for a while - slowly water pacing back and forth...all around the Encantada and our little zodiac. The shark hadn’t been seen for at least 15 min when we piled into our little boat and headed to shore (I was very glad for a dry landing today).
All the islands have very a different landscape – here the tiny island was covered in giant cactus trees and land iguanas. The beach was full of sea lions and their pups. We stood on the beach for a bit, watching the baby sea lions frolic when I happened to catch sign of the telltale fins of our missing shark. He was so shallow that at some points it was possible to see the dorsal and tail fins quite clearly.

I immediately went into rescue mode and started yelling for everyone to get out of the water. “Shark, shark” I kept yelling as I pointed at the circling monster. While there were none of my fellow passengers in the water, there were several baby sealions playing - they glanced up at me with their big adorable eyes, clearly wondering who this crazy person was.

It was like standing on the side of a highway on an icy day – you just know there is going to be a wreck. The shark would surface and then disappear for a bit...building the anticipation. Just like in the Serengeti – this was the circle of life and we must not interfere.

I am happy to say that we started our hike inland and left the beach behind before we had to witness the inevitable snack attack. Juan asked me afterwards why I kept calling our shark earlier, I shrugged and replied that I guess I was just trying to warn the sealions. “Oh my lady, you have forgotten, we are in Ecuador – these sealions only understand Spanish”.

I am sure that he was joking..but in case...the Spanish word for shark...”Tiberon”.