Coca: Hit the Zoo, Find Love Too!

The mascot at a local colloseum... its an oil droplet. Running with a torch. Well... safety first here in Ecuador!

                  So I have now become famous for making blueberry pancakes here in Ecuador. It started as a joke but the family said they really wanted to try them, so I searched far and wide and not only found real, fresh, blueberries (one in a million shot at that haha) but also real maple syrup (good ole McCormick brand). So I got up a the crack of dawn to make some blueberry pancakes for the kids before school, and they liked them so much I was asked for a double encore. I was super happy they liked them, even if they seemed doubtful that you were supposed to put the syrup all over the pancakes haha. 

                 A few days later, Lady and her boss took me to the zoo outside of town. It was small, but packed with really cool animals. There were parrots, javalie (big wild pigs), anacondas, and little anteaters that roamed wild with some of the monkeys and played around your feet... definitely cool! Lady happened to make firends with a mokey, who was a little too friendly! He fell in love instantly (understandable if you knew Lady) and started following her around his cage, and going absolutely insane when I hugged her. The scene was too funny to have made up, and it  made me realize that I guess true love does exist! The zoo trip made for a great day, and a fun way to get to know some of the Amazon´s more rare creatures.

Two beautiful Macaws resting in the shade to escape the overbearing Amazonian heat

They don't look like much, but these are oficially the best blueberry pancakes ever made (in Coca Ecuador)!

Un ratito for a big pig here in the amazin Amazon

Lady's new boyfirend... hes a hairy fella and pretty jealous too haha

An Anteater teaming up with a squirrel to make a beak for it... until they both lost interest and decided... mañana!

Time to eat, now get out of my way!

A tired lil deer... how cool!

The view from Lady's house in Coca

Dancin In Coca

When I went to Coca to catch a canoe downriver to Peru, I never thought I would spend nearly three weeks here. In my time I have gotten to know the lovely ladies of Ecuador Ejercitate, and today I was invited to watch their demonstration at a local dance exhibition. I gotta say it was an incredible display of dances from the Costa, Sierra, and Jungle regions of Ecuador. I even got treated like a VIP (escorted to my seat by a beautiful girl in a red dress, now thats class folks!) and was allowed to sample the various typical foods. This wonderful display has really topped off three weeks defined by dancing here in Ecuador... I couldn't think of a better way to cap it!

Local tribal dance for the Presenting of the Spear

A beautiful Costeña dance featuring women rejecting men haha

Prepping to dance

Hoaurani tribe preps for dance

The vibrant colors of the Sierra mountain communities in their dances.

Beuatiful girls in big fancy dresses!

Oh the colors, Its incredible!

The jefa of the Ecuador Ejercitate program in Coca drinking some chicha while planning with Lady

The lovely women of Ecuador Ejercitate doing their thing... Make 'em move!

Coca, Ecuador: Last Stop in the Amazon

The beautiful lighted bridge over the Napo River where it joins the Coca river on the way to the Amazon River...

            So, I came to Coca after a bit of time in the Amazon working with a guide from Misahualli with the idea of staying a couple of days then heading downriver to Iquitos, Peru. Well.... other stuff came up! On the bus ride from Tena to Coca, I met a beautiful and friendly lady, whos mane is actually Lady. It turns our shes a dance teacher in Ecuador's excercise program, and after I shrugged my shoulders and grinned when she asked me where I was staying in town, she offered me a space in a room of her building. Soooo I have been living with an Ecuadorian single mother of two for the last couple of weeks, improving my Spanish (she and her friends speak exactly 0 english), learning how to cook, dancing, and learning about Ecuadorian life. My adventures down the river will just have to wait till its time to go!

           Also: I know that my blog is inexcusably out of date... well I am going to try and keep more current while posting older stories as I finish them, so keep an eye out!

Although cock fighting is now technically illegal, it still thrives on the fringes of the country as this proud looking rooster can attest to on his perch across the road from the local fing.

Ohhhhh the markets here!

What dow you do with that pesky jet that crashed in your backyard? Put it on a barge and make it a bar! Hell yes for Amazonian ingenuity!

These lil fellas are prone to steal cameras, wallets and hearts... terroristas pequenas!

Fresh Amazonian fish, still flopping on the table, for lunch.

Homecooking lessons in Coca from the Jefa!

Grilled weevils during a trip to Joyas de los Sachas on the weekend

An old lady asking us where the bus we were on was headed... Towards adventure ma'am, towards adventure.

Lady, her daughter, her good friend and her daughter all at the local lagoon.

The guys kickin back to watch the game for the world cup qualifiers at sunset, we joined em for a beer while we waited for the last bus home.

More street markets (quite literally)

Bogota

                  After a last minute shuffle of plans, I threw my idea of starting my South American adventures in Peru and heading north to Colombia, I hopped off the plane in Bogota (where the immigration officials were not amused in the slightest by my lack of preparedness, and after waiting for my computer to load up for 10minutes to check the address of my hostel she asked me how long I was staying in Colombia and I shrugged with the gringo-est smile I could muster... she just told me to get the hell out. It was the only time she spoke english to me...). I still managed to find my way in the frigid air to my hostel in the Candelaria district, which was about what you can expect quality wise for $7 a night.

                I spent the next few days reuniting (the traditional Colombian way that involves drinking aguardiente from 2pm till 2am) with my friend Juan Carim, taking a great bike tour of the city with a new Israeli buddy (Ofer Paran), and then heading up to the monastery on the mountains to the east of town. Then, as I was perusing the local Museo del Oro, I started to feel ill. I ended up getting extremely sick with a high fever, stopped up nose, and a slew of strange symptoms that made it seem like it could possibly have been a mild dengue fever if it wasn´t the worst flu I've ever had. After a few days of enduring my sickness in the cold rainy climate of Bogota, I decided to head for the warm rainy climate of Medellin. I figured if I was gonna be sick, I might as well do it somewhere I would enjoy the weather (plus I didnt wanna miss the Feria de Flores)

               My plans got delayed because the first day I planned to leave, I could barely get out of bed (good luck on my part it turns out, since the police discovered a bomb in the bus terminal that day). I finally mustered up the strength to get down to the bus station and realized that going from Bogota, hovering at a cool 8,000 feet above sea level, to Medellin at 4,000ft  on a road that goes from 8k ft to sea level several times was a terrible idea. I couldn´t for the life of me unblock my ears and there were moments that I thought they were definitely gonna burst... but I made it to Medellin without incident and crawled into bed to suffer for the next few days.

Me and Juan (purple shirt) with my new Colombian friends!

Overlooking Bogota from the Monserrate monastery.

The beautiful misty mountains of Bogota east of the city.

At the Plaza del Toros on my Bogota Bike tour with Mike, our guide.

The view out of my hostel window on a chilly Bogota morning

Tradition goes that if you whisper what you want in his ear, it comes true... But I use logic so I passed on this one haha

My introduction to Tejo, the wonderfully Colombian game od hurling heavy metal disks across a room towards gunpowder targets... And you only pay for the beer you (have to ) drink (15beer minimum)... Needles to say this makes for an interesting morning activity.

A beautiful sunset in the Candelaria distric of Bogota after an afternoon rain shower.

Candelaria rainbows over Monserrate monestary hovering above the plains of Bogota like a watchful angel.

Madrid

              Madrid was hot. Like really whithering hot. I spent my time there hanging out with a fun crew from my hostel, then taking advantage of a free city tour by Sandeman's tours (awesome way to spend a morning!). I got really lucky and was able to meet up with my good friend Marta, who I met while she studied at the University of San Diego for a Semester. We got together for a great dinner and the next day she took me around town to show me her university and some other cool spots. It was great to see her again and to hear that she was doing well.

        I got lucky a second time, and managed to meet up with my buddy Roddy Wilson, a Scottsman I met in Barcelona. Turned out we were both in town and had a free afternoon, so we grabbed a beer and some sandwiches (Madridians love small unfilling food for some reason, I had to eat like 10 to be satisfied haha) and he recommended a pub crawl by the same company that offered the free tour. It was good to catch up, but soon we both split our separate ways, and I went to try out his suggested entertainment. 

      Needless to say, the pub crawl was an awesome time, and I met some more great people that I will never forget. I felt a little less excited about that night when I spent the next day nursing my liver back to health with a giant bottle of water at the largest park in the city. The beautiful fresh air and the coincidence of running into my friends from the night before (a group of Koreans from Brazil headed by the beautiful Daiane) did wonders for my health. I then said my goodbyes to beautiful Spain and Europe, and headed to the airport... Off to SOUTH AMERICA!!!!

A beautiful fountain in the biggest park in Madrid on a hot summer day

Ohhh gotta love the radical political graffiti everywhere you go around the world, it adds spice!

A giant man made lake to fight mock naval battles for the amusement of the royal family... Its good to be the king!

Me and Marta hanging out at some Egyptian ruins that she swears were donated and not stolen like all the other good artefacts from Egypt haha

Granada

The city of Granada from the Alhambra fortress walls

                So I left Fez, thinking that a charming train ride to the ferry to a bus to Granada all in one day would not only be possible, but possibly fun. I caught the train from the beautiful station in Fez to the slightly less beautifuil station in Tangiers. There I skillfully avoided beign charged 20 Dirham for a taxi ride that cost 7 Dirham once I wrangled a taxi driver who would actually use his meter... Of course he was mad that I made him use it. Damned honesty. I made it to the ferry with about 20 inutes to spare, and grew increasingly frustrated with a guy who kept offering to be my guide to one of the two places to buy tickets right in front of me, and when that failed, to allow him to fill out my exit forms (fat chance in hell I'm gonna hand you my passport buddy). After repeatedly telling him that Im fine and to please go away, he followed me out of the store and across the tarmac to the port offering (and being politely declined) the entire way. Once we reached it, he stuck out his hand and demanded I pay for his services as guide and porter. I responded that if he asked me for money again I would likely punch him in the face (I was still a bit miffed from the attempt by the taxis to rip me off).

                          I ended up making it across the Strait of Gibralter with the sun setting into the Atlantic and then realized that it wsa two hours ahead in Spain, making it nearly 10pm. I rushed to the tiny bus terminal in Tarifa to find that it was closed, so I spent the night on a local beach with some English hippies and an old Gibralterian lady. After being kicked awake by the local police at 5am (Bienvenidos a España) I made my way to catch a bus to Grenada. This beautiful city was a great place to recharge my batteries for a couple of days, enjoying the tapas and going to the famous Alhombra palace (Granada was the last Moorish city in Spain, and a capital famous for its sophistication. In the movie Lawrence of Arabia, a shiek reminds Lawrence that Granada had plumbing and lighted street while London was still a bunch of huts on a river). It was a brief but wonderful stay before I was on to my last Spanish city, the capital of Madrid!

The Alhambras courtyard reflection pool... beautiful architecture and attention to detail

The sunset flooding the cabin of the ferry to Tarifa with beautiful golden light

The harming train station of Fez

Where I ate in Granada every time I got the chance.

The intrixcately carved ceilings of the Alhombra

The lion fountains of the Alhombra:

"...Such a translucent basin, sculpted pearl!

Argentic ripples are added on it by the quiet dew

And its liquid silver goes over the daisies, melted, and even purer.

Hard and soft are so close, that it would be hard to distinguish

liquid and solid, marble and water. Which one is running?

Don't you see how water overflows the borders

and the warned drains are here against it?

They are like the lover who in vain

tries to hide his tears from his beloved..."

                       

My last view of Tangier, Morocco on my way back to Spain

A man sweeping up after a wedding at sunset in Granada