A Final Week In Coca

The lovely ladies of Ecuador Ejercitate's bailo therapia  program in Coca who took me in like family. 

              So after returning to Coca, I was received with open arms by Lady and her family, who found it quite amusing that I was back like they had joked I would be. I decided to hang around a bit longer to work on my new route to Peru and chill with the family. Lady decided to take me around a bit more in the area, visiting the town of Loretta to see the Oja de Agua and a few days later to some incredibly  beautiful waterfalls. We had a great time exploring the area together, but eventually I felt the tug to go south, and so I had to say my goodbyes.
         I decided to go to Cuenca, 14 hours of busses away in the southern sierra region. Its sad to finally leave Coca (for real this time... no no, I really mean it!) but its time to move on to new adventures, more learning, and more growing as a person.

                         I want to really thank the people of Coca and Lady and her family                                                         for taking a lonely lost gringo in and showing him a deeper side of                                                         Ecuadorian life and being so giving to a  total stranger. I will always                        remember them all with a big smile on my face and a warmth in my heart!

This is a very custom chopper I saw in Joya de los Sachas after an exhibition by the Ecuador Ejercitate girls from Coca at a local beauty pageant and neighborhood fiesta. The bike was... creative. For example, the light was just a flashlight that had been rigged up haha. "Here in Ecuador, safety first!"

Some fresh signage here in Loreto Ecuador... I always love old, dilapidated signs. They just look cool and speak to so much of the past!

The entrance to the Ojo de Agua, a cool little park where they raise Paiche (3 meter long amazonian jungle fish that only ONLY eat tilapia, they will throw anything else onto the bank if you try to feed it to them apparently) and a bunch of cool art and structures made from recycled materials.

Lady splashing her friend in the river that runs through Loreto... she was disappointed that I wouldn't let her splash me (under threat of being tossed in the middle of the river haha) so she redirected that thought towards her friend!

Me at the "Somethin somethin somethin chupa" waterfalls, about 45 mins out of Coca on a native reservation, hanginh out with Lady and her cousin's family on a hot November day

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