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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Coca River Journey: Down to Peru and Back Too!

             So I finally left Coca, to head to the border of Peru and take a jungle boat down to Iquitos... I figured that I would have to have some really bad luck to need to wait any more than a few days in Pantoja, Peru for one of the two boats a month that make the trip. I got on the canoe downstream to Rocafuerte, and did my 9 hours. Once there, I found out that no one would help me contact people in Pantoja and find out about the boat... So I decided to head down the next day (since there was no water in Rocafuerte... ya know..) to Pantoja and find out for myself. After negotiating a price the next morning for myself and two other backpackers in town, we set out downstream in a small canoe. 

                     It took about 3 hours to get there, and after checking in with the local military post, the imigration officer laughed as he told us we missed the boat by two days, and that the next one would (maybe) come in 2 weeks. With this in mind, I looked around the little village the size of a city block and decided that this journey was gonna have to wait for another day. I hopped in a canoe of students who had cruised into town an hour after ours and made my way back to Rocafuerte for the night. I planned to take the normal canoe back to Coca the next day, but the students assured me that they had arranged a "fast boat" to Coca and I could join them for the same price.

                      The next morning, I skeptically looked at the canoe that looked no faster than any others (especially since it had a smaller moter than most of the others) but joined the group anyhow, wanting to get back to Coca and on the road as soon as possible. Sure enough, my instincts and basic logical deductions proved true and our 7 hour journey actually took 12 hours, with the last hour or so on the river without any light (since the captain forgot to pack one) trying to dodge the numerous trees and sandbars that litter the river. It was in interesting evening, and I was glad when we finally pulled into port. Late, but alive.

My ticket downstream to Rocafuerte, on the Ecuador-Peru border.

The man in my boat was wearing a Las Vegas hat... its funny how small the world is sometimes!

Leaving Coca under ominous skies

Vanessa, an engineer workingon the construction of a new Mellinium School in Rocafuerte, taking a nap after describing the difficulties of building in the Amazon. She later gave me a tour of the site.

Nothing screams professionalism for your police force than having their logo apparently hand drawn by a small child...

The fine center of naval activity in Rocafuerte

Plowing up the mighty Coca on this gray morning

In case you were curious what a $15 dollar ticket gets ya... a seat between a box of chickens and a large stack of eggs... 

About to head downriver to Pantoja with our new capitan after our arranged capitan never showed up...

A family headed upstream in the early morning heat

Small canoes and big rivers, our canoe headed to Pantoja

I always wonder if Coca Cola knows its got signs in places like this...

The soldier who greeted us in Pantoja, surrouded by a swarm of butterflies on a sweltering afternoon on the Coca river

Welcome to Pantoja, Peru

A beautiful Pantoja afternoon, with the Peruvian flag flapping in the breeze

The small canoe I caught back from Pantoja for $5... it was hot and crowded with students from Quito, but better than $60  or waiting narly 2 weeks for the boat to Iquitos.

The sunset over Rocafuerte as we cruised back into town from Pantoja

A giant yellow tree of life on the side of the river

A mother and daughter making their way upstream in a tiny canoe

Some of the river traffic coming back to Coca

The fire from petroleum operations illuminating the river for us as we went up the river without any lights

The bridge lights as we dock in Coca

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!

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)