I have just spent the last couple of days in utter paradise on Carribean beaches. Palm trees, drift wood scattered on white sand beaches, fresh mango juice, cold cervezas, coke in glass bottles, hammock time, and fried fish. I have still not been able to figure out how they cook the fish so it is every last bone and skin particle is fried and crispy delicious. One of those culinary mysteries that is probably better left unknown.
The last couple of weeks in Colombia I have used the small beach town of Taganga as my base. It is a good 3 hours Colombia time (which means 5 hours) from Cartegena on route to the National Park Tayrona. Taganga offers many wonderful things; from the arepas (typical colombian corn patties with butter or guatamole inside), to the one dollar beers, to the roof top discoteca for a good night of reggaeton-ing and salsa practice, to the playa covered in perfect skipping rocks. It also surprising has the best hostel this side of the mitad del mundo (equator). La Casa de Felipe is a social hang out hostel full of amazing hammock spots and the best restuarant EVER! I ate there 4 times. It is owned by this french dude, so the food is normal (or should i say, not the typical colombian food of rice, more rice, smooshed platains, meat, and shit salad with a piece of tomato on top). Whenever I was in a low moment struggling on the muddy trail back from the Lost City I would just dream of my next meal at Casa Felipe. Filet mignon, steak, fresh white fish in creamy delicious sauce, pumpkin soup, french onion soup, and creamy pasta with shrimp and fish. And let me note, only for a maximum of 9 bucks. Cant beat that. Down the road from Casa Felipe was also an amazing baguette place where you could get sandwhiches half the size of my arm full of avocado and mozzarela cheese. I would also like to mention that I ate my first icecream bar in 5 years. I am slowly becoming less lactarded, which is a really big thing for me since i love me some dairy products.
Apparently Israelis have an Israeli-only website that tells them where the Israeli- only spots are in South America. Wierd. They all seem to know where the Israeli hostels are and where to find the best shwarmas and hummus. Taganga had this really bizzare israeli hostel that became the after-party once the discoteca shut down at 3am. I only spent 10ish minutes there, but quickly noted that the pool with a giant israeli star on the bottom is one of those pools i would never jump into, that you could probably find every drug in the world there in under a minute, and that if you are not sufficiently smashed you better get there quickly cause otherwise it is super akward. So, i walked in, promply tripped in this hole next to the pool, and left. The way Israelis travel is on a whole different level.
Besides the crazy Israeli hostel, Taganga has a really nice beach front. There is a beach 15 minute walk away too called Playa Grande, that attracts more of a local scene and less annoying vendors selling you jewelry and creepy messages. However, my first time at Playa Grande with Rachel was spent getting hailed on and ingesting a shit ton of sand from the intense wind storm that came through that day. Not so pleasant. Although my second time was much nicer with Steve eating fried fish in the shade. I watched a snorkel class on that beach as well, which i thought was the funniest thing ever. Colombians had actually paid for a lesson on how to snorkel. They all stood in a circle, put their masks on, and stuck their heads in the water as their teacher instructed them. Maybe i take it for granted that i know how to snorkel, but i thought putting your head slightly in the water and breathing normally is a pretty simple activity. Maybe the act of floating is something that not all people know how to do. I guess I am pretty fortunate that my parents took me to swim lessons when i was younger.
After finding the Lost City, I was convinced quickly by Steve (who I met on the trek) to come to Tayrona National Park with him. Over a breakfest of eggs and toast at Casa Felipe I quickly changed my plans around and decided to pack my bag for a 3 hour hike to spend the night on a paradise beach in this national park. The hike in was sweaty and hot and long, but with good company and a rest stop for fresh squeeze juice we made it to the beach Capo San Juan in good spirits. Except for the ridiculous prices (a hammock was $10 a night, which is the same price as a hostel bed with breakfest included in a city) I could have stayed there forever. I got a lot of sun tanning in (actually i burnt my lower ass cheeks kinda badly), book time, and just good quality hang out time. It is nice to travel with someone for a while so you get past all the bull shit supervisial introductory ¨where are you from¨ ¨where are you going¨kinda stuff. Besides the nice benefit of a friend watching your bags while you take a dip in the ocean so no one steals your stuff, Steve and I really hit it off. It is nice finding someone who travels just like you. Wants to wake up at the same time, actually do stuff during the day, hike, eat good greasy street food, drink when you want to drink, sleep when you want to sleep. It is hard to find people that are on the same travel page as you, but when you do it is amazing fun. I tried hard to convince Steve to call in sick to his job he had to go back to, but he figured his boss wouldnt buy the whole travels diarhea food poisoning thing. i guess thats the thing with travelling, you are always arriving and always departing. nothing is ever static or completely stable. you just have to hope that the awesome people you come across on your journey will somehow cross your path again.
with that, i am off to panama on a 5 day sail boat trip. god life is hard. in the words of my old man: lifes a bitch, and then you die.
martes, 29 de marzo de 2011
The Best Banana
I had the best banana i have ever had in my life. On my trek through the jungle to the lost city we stopped on this open plateau for a rest break. There was a really ugly horse with lots of magots on it, loads of chickens running around, and indegenous kids wearing long toga like dresses. one of the kids was wearing a shirt that said ¨this way to paradise¨with an arrow pointing down south. thought that was pretty classic. anyways, the kids ran up and cut a bundle of bananas down off a banana tree and handed us each a fresh banana. It was perfectly mushy, not too hard, not too soft, super sweet, and didnt leave that nasty feeling in your mouth where all the saliva is stripped away. i threw the banana peal to the magoty horse and he happily ate it.
the end.
the end.
lunes, 28 de marzo de 2011
lost city part two!
i forgot to mention two key moments on my lost city trek.
the first is that i spent a night playing a great game of cards with steve, two english dudes, and a german. the candels that we were using to see attracted a million moths of all shapes and sizes. the german guy thought it was loads of fun to take the hot wax and drip it over the moths and watch them die. He would cover the moths completely in wax until they looked like fossils. he left a giant moth grave yard all over the table. i thought it was pretty entertaining.
the second moment is when i met this french dude who was staying at one of the indegenous peoples huts out in the jungle. he was living with a family of the kogi tribe (i am probably spelling this way wrong). this group of indegenous people all live in this round huts and wear toga like dresses. they all have long hair and are really short so they all kinda look like little girls. this french dude was living with them for a while and he totally looked like tarzan (all jungle like with long hair). thats it.
the first is that i spent a night playing a great game of cards with steve, two english dudes, and a german. the candels that we were using to see attracted a million moths of all shapes and sizes. the german guy thought it was loads of fun to take the hot wax and drip it over the moths and watch them die. He would cover the moths completely in wax until they looked like fossils. he left a giant moth grave yard all over the table. i thought it was pretty entertaining.
the second moment is when i met this french dude who was staying at one of the indegenous peoples huts out in the jungle. he was living with a family of the kogi tribe (i am probably spelling this way wrong). this group of indegenous people all live in this round huts and wear toga like dresses. they all have long hair and are really short so they all kinda look like little girls. this french dude was living with them for a while and he totally looked like tarzan (all jungle like with long hair). thats it.
I found the lost city!
I re-arranged my whole schedule (even though i dont really have much of a schedule travelling) to go on the lost city/cuidad perdida. Becuase of this, I have heard the same couple of jokes from about a million people this last week. "Have you found the lost city yet?¨or ¨dont get lost going to the lost city¨. at this point i really only respond with a pity laugh. but, if you would like to know the real answer, i have found the lost city.
The cuidad perdida is one of the oldest cities built in the amazon by a tribe called tayrona around 500 b.c. After trekking through lots of mud, crossing the platform of death over a raging river, and almost stepping upon a poisonous viper snake (which a local quickly killed by hitting it over the head with a stick), we got to the site of the ruins on the morning of the fourth day. it was a perfect sunny morning to explore this old civilization now covered in jungly trees and vines. i really felt like i was in an indian jones movie (minus the large number of military men that now live there and guard the site from travelers like myself who want to sneak up there and camp overnight). However, as i like to say ¨it was not the destination, but the journey that mattered¨. Even though the actual ruins were far more than i expected them to be, it was the rest of the trek that really made it worth it.
We spent the days walking through beautiful shaded canopies of trees, jumping off of rocks into pristine waterholes (although i was too pussy to actually jump), hanging out around the wooden tables playing cards and eating good food, and sleeping in hammocks at night.
I would like to note that hammock sleeping is really not as amazing as everyone cracks it up to be. i feel like everyone is always saying that sleeping in hammocks if great, and it is super cool and traveler-like to just buy a hammock and sleep in it where ever you go. However, this is only in theory. in practice, i think hammocks are good for about an hour of siesta. But for an entire night sleeping in one position (not to mention it does get kinda cold from the draft coming up from under the hammock), it is really not an ideal sleeping situation. and a lot of times the hammock is rarely cleaned so you end up sleeping on a moist piece of cloth that like a million other dirty hippie travelers have slept on. and it really is an art form to get in and out of those things. trying to figure out how to get in and out with a mosquito net and two blankets is a really ungraceful process. i like to pretend that i like sleeping in hammocks, but in reality i would choose for a bed any day.
so anyways, i spent 5 days hiking in the jungle and meeting awesome people. my actual tour group consisted of only 4 other people. There were two really sweet german girls that did not have an ounce of mean-ness in them, and then this hilarious 38 year old gay guy from kentucky. Anthony was born and raised in the south, based out of new york now, but lived in chile for a year to tap into the gay south american scene. he was one of those people who claps at everything and everyone every other second of the day (i had to tell him to shut up some times). he has cried watching star wars and has been a pirate in the pirates of the caribean ride at disney land. apparently during his straight phase in life he dated jasmine from aladin. he loved to analysis and gossip about everyone on the other tour groups. great company on the trek.
my group ended up meeting up with another group and essentially became part of there trip. There were these two guys alex and tim (alex coincidently lives in the mission in sf) who were travelling together. although you would never for the life of you expect that they were friends. total opposites. alex was a super tall, in shape, beautiful muscles, physical trainer kind of guy that ran down the trail in his light weigh vibram shoes. Tim on the other hand had just graduated from med-school and clearly looked as if he had eaten a box of cheesits every time he was studying for a test. it was tims first hike ever and although he came prepared with a uv-light water purifier and biowipes (biodegradable wipes made by coleman outdoor company), he still complained that this was the hardest thing he had ever done. hopefully it did not turn him off to hiking completely. i thought it was a pretty funny traveling pair.
I made a decision to change my name to Anya (my middle name) here in Colombia because i like it better. It has not gone over too well though. I keep forgetting that I want to change my name and introduce myself as Kate first and then instanstly try to tell people it is Anya. People get really confused, and I get really confused becuase I cant remember who i told what. So, I guess i will just stick with Kate. Too bad my parents were super uncreative in terms of naming their kids.
The other dude that was part of the tour group was my favorite guy i met (maybe favorite on my whole trip which is a really big statement). The first 5 minutes of meeting Steve I tried to tell him about this coincidence I had with stealing this girls shirt. He quickly stopped me half way though the story and told me he had already heard this story from a girl he went kite surfing with. After that little coincidence we totally hit it off and ended up spending the next couple of days together. Steve is a Canadian firefighter that might spend the rest of his days in Edmonton, Alberta putting out fires for half the year and travelling the other half. Seems like he gots the whole formula of life balanced out nicely. The best thing to is that Steve has started up his own lawn mowing company that completely finances his travels. He drives around in his truck for 6 weeksish every spring around the cookie cutter suburb houses of canada and gets a butt ton of money from rich people so he can travel. pretty fucking great business if you ask me. We have also decided that we both might go into the business of cleaning windshields at red lights. apparently there is good money in that.
People here sometimes use the word reggaeton as a verb. Like, ¨do you reggaeton¨or ¨lets go reggaeton tonight¨. i love it! i am interested to see if i will like reggaeton when i am back in the states. cause right now, i am mildly obsessed with the act of reggaetoning!
The cuidad perdida is one of the oldest cities built in the amazon by a tribe called tayrona around 500 b.c. After trekking through lots of mud, crossing the platform of death over a raging river, and almost stepping upon a poisonous viper snake (which a local quickly killed by hitting it over the head with a stick), we got to the site of the ruins on the morning of the fourth day. it was a perfect sunny morning to explore this old civilization now covered in jungly trees and vines. i really felt like i was in an indian jones movie (minus the large number of military men that now live there and guard the site from travelers like myself who want to sneak up there and camp overnight). However, as i like to say ¨it was not the destination, but the journey that mattered¨. Even though the actual ruins were far more than i expected them to be, it was the rest of the trek that really made it worth it.
We spent the days walking through beautiful shaded canopies of trees, jumping off of rocks into pristine waterholes (although i was too pussy to actually jump), hanging out around the wooden tables playing cards and eating good food, and sleeping in hammocks at night.
I would like to note that hammock sleeping is really not as amazing as everyone cracks it up to be. i feel like everyone is always saying that sleeping in hammocks if great, and it is super cool and traveler-like to just buy a hammock and sleep in it where ever you go. However, this is only in theory. in practice, i think hammocks are good for about an hour of siesta. But for an entire night sleeping in one position (not to mention it does get kinda cold from the draft coming up from under the hammock), it is really not an ideal sleeping situation. and a lot of times the hammock is rarely cleaned so you end up sleeping on a moist piece of cloth that like a million other dirty hippie travelers have slept on. and it really is an art form to get in and out of those things. trying to figure out how to get in and out with a mosquito net and two blankets is a really ungraceful process. i like to pretend that i like sleeping in hammocks, but in reality i would choose for a bed any day.
so anyways, i spent 5 days hiking in the jungle and meeting awesome people. my actual tour group consisted of only 4 other people. There were two really sweet german girls that did not have an ounce of mean-ness in them, and then this hilarious 38 year old gay guy from kentucky. Anthony was born and raised in the south, based out of new york now, but lived in chile for a year to tap into the gay south american scene. he was one of those people who claps at everything and everyone every other second of the day (i had to tell him to shut up some times). he has cried watching star wars and has been a pirate in the pirates of the caribean ride at disney land. apparently during his straight phase in life he dated jasmine from aladin. he loved to analysis and gossip about everyone on the other tour groups. great company on the trek.
my group ended up meeting up with another group and essentially became part of there trip. There were these two guys alex and tim (alex coincidently lives in the mission in sf) who were travelling together. although you would never for the life of you expect that they were friends. total opposites. alex was a super tall, in shape, beautiful muscles, physical trainer kind of guy that ran down the trail in his light weigh vibram shoes. Tim on the other hand had just graduated from med-school and clearly looked as if he had eaten a box of cheesits every time he was studying for a test. it was tims first hike ever and although he came prepared with a uv-light water purifier and biowipes (biodegradable wipes made by coleman outdoor company), he still complained that this was the hardest thing he had ever done. hopefully it did not turn him off to hiking completely. i thought it was a pretty funny traveling pair.
I made a decision to change my name to Anya (my middle name) here in Colombia because i like it better. It has not gone over too well though. I keep forgetting that I want to change my name and introduce myself as Kate first and then instanstly try to tell people it is Anya. People get really confused, and I get really confused becuase I cant remember who i told what. So, I guess i will just stick with Kate. Too bad my parents were super uncreative in terms of naming their kids.
The other dude that was part of the tour group was my favorite guy i met (maybe favorite on my whole trip which is a really big statement). The first 5 minutes of meeting Steve I tried to tell him about this coincidence I had with stealing this girls shirt. He quickly stopped me half way though the story and told me he had already heard this story from a girl he went kite surfing with. After that little coincidence we totally hit it off and ended up spending the next couple of days together. Steve is a Canadian firefighter that might spend the rest of his days in Edmonton, Alberta putting out fires for half the year and travelling the other half. Seems like he gots the whole formula of life balanced out nicely. The best thing to is that Steve has started up his own lawn mowing company that completely finances his travels. He drives around in his truck for 6 weeksish every spring around the cookie cutter suburb houses of canada and gets a butt ton of money from rich people so he can travel. pretty fucking great business if you ask me. We have also decided that we both might go into the business of cleaning windshields at red lights. apparently there is good money in that.
People here sometimes use the word reggaeton as a verb. Like, ¨do you reggaeton¨or ¨lets go reggaeton tonight¨. i love it! i am interested to see if i will like reggaeton when i am back in the states. cause right now, i am mildly obsessed with the act of reggaetoning!
MUNDO PEQUENO!!
This world is so unbelievably mind boggling small! When coincidences happen in life you just cant help but believe that you are doing something right; that you must be on the right path of life. For instance when walking down a trail in the heat of the day sweating balls and you announce that you want a cold cerveza, so out of no where someone comes marching down the trail with a cooler full of cold beers and offers you one for free. Those are the moments when you know something up above is smiling down upon you, reminding you that there is no where else in the world you are soppose to be but right there in that moment.
In my two weeks in Colombia I have been struck by many of those random and beautiful coincidental moments. The first coincidence was my second night in Cartagena, the main city on the northern carribean coast.
Side note/travel recomendation: NEVER EVER IF AT ALL POSSIBLE should one bus all the way from the Colombian Ecuadorian border to the north of Colombia in one day. Go on a plane. I had decided to zoom through all of Colombia to get to the north coast in one swoop, and so spent 45 hours on 4 different buses from the ecuadorian amazon to cartagena. imagine 45 hours in 2 and a half days sitting on your ass staring out the window and eating greasy shit food. I felt like i was in another planet and arrived to Cartagena having forgot how to interact with people. It took a while for my social skills to come completely back.
anyways back to the coincidences. After spending my first full day in Colombia getting day drunk and walking around the old town with two Canadian chicks, I came back to my hostel to shower and change into my favorite traveler shirt i have (which is not that hard to choose since i only have 4 shirts in total). I found this shirt 2 months ago in a hostel becuase some girl had left it behind and the cleaning women was just going to throw it out. So, conveniently I took it. It is nice comfortable shirt with cool designs on it (i love asking travelers what they think the design is cuase i always get different responses). It has also been perfectly cut so it hangs off my shoulders just right. so anyways, i put this shirt on, head around the corner to a restuarant/bar/hostel to grab a bite to eat. As i step into the restaurant I got super overwhelmed cuase at one table where these 2 dudes i had hiked to machupichu with 2 months ago (coincidence numero uno), and at the other table i hear this girl yell "Thats my shirt!" (coincidence numero dos). I was tempted to run out the restaurant and book it down the street so i wouldnt have to own up to the fact that i stole this girls shirt. However, she said the shirt fit me better (cuase she didnt have the boobs to hold it up and it always fell off her shoulders) and said i could keep it. turns out too that she went kite surfing with this guy i met a couple days later and traveled with (coincidence numero tres). we have also decided to travel together on the sail boat to panama.
Shortly after this crazy moment, coincidence numero cuatro took place. I was standing outside a bar and out walks my old next door neighbor from mexico, Sandro!! Sandro and I used to live in the same apartment complex in Oaxaca and became pretty good friends. But I have not seen sandro in like 4 monthish, and here he is in colombia partying at the same bar as me. fucking wierd shit.
the next day in my hostel i ran into two dudes who i graduated with at UCSanta Cruz. They had recognized my voice (apparently i have a really loud and distinct voice), and came to find me. one of them remembers having a long conversation with me at a party last year about my necklace. Coincidence numero cinco.
The last and craziest coincidence was when i was in taganga (a small beach town close to cartagena). I was tanning/burning on the main beach reading my book when this girl comes up to me and asks if i know how to get to the other beach near by called playa grande. i had wanted to go there as well, so we both helped each other get there. after about 5 minutes of introductions we realized that we had about a million parellels in life. She grew up with, lived in the same neighborhood with, and went to college with one of my best childhood friends, miera. Rachel´s (the girl i met) family is best friends with Miera´s family, who my parents are best friends with. Since Rachel lived in minnesota and my sister went to school in minnesota we are pretty sure that my sister has met her and her family before at passover dinners and the like. Rachel is also moving to SF in a couple of weeks! I cant wait to show her around my city and have my parents become her adopted family in sf. she also has led outdoor adventure trips in costa rica for organizations like the ones i have worked for. we shared lots of stories about our mutual friend, laughed tons, and generally had a blast together. i love finding people in this world that are like your twin.
Coincidences on the open road are fucking great. i have been running into other travelers all over that i met other travellers that i already know. its like this little community of people up here that quickly forms a tight net. you meet people so quickly here and since everyone is generally really open and fun (minus a couple debby downers), you create this little family. you get to know people much faster when you travel becuase you are constantly with them. at home it would take months to get to know someone on the level that you get to know them while travelling with them for 3 days.
so moral of the whole coincidences thing, is that i really feel like i am doing something right in my life. that everyone just always works out for me. it feels really good to know that i am able to create such good things for myself and meet such awesome people. like the glass is always half full kinda shit.
In my two weeks in Colombia I have been struck by many of those random and beautiful coincidental moments. The first coincidence was my second night in Cartagena, the main city on the northern carribean coast.
Side note/travel recomendation: NEVER EVER IF AT ALL POSSIBLE should one bus all the way from the Colombian Ecuadorian border to the north of Colombia in one day. Go on a plane. I had decided to zoom through all of Colombia to get to the north coast in one swoop, and so spent 45 hours on 4 different buses from the ecuadorian amazon to cartagena. imagine 45 hours in 2 and a half days sitting on your ass staring out the window and eating greasy shit food. I felt like i was in another planet and arrived to Cartagena having forgot how to interact with people. It took a while for my social skills to come completely back.
anyways back to the coincidences. After spending my first full day in Colombia getting day drunk and walking around the old town with two Canadian chicks, I came back to my hostel to shower and change into my favorite traveler shirt i have (which is not that hard to choose since i only have 4 shirts in total). I found this shirt 2 months ago in a hostel becuase some girl had left it behind and the cleaning women was just going to throw it out. So, conveniently I took it. It is nice comfortable shirt with cool designs on it (i love asking travelers what they think the design is cuase i always get different responses). It has also been perfectly cut so it hangs off my shoulders just right. so anyways, i put this shirt on, head around the corner to a restuarant/bar/hostel to grab a bite to eat. As i step into the restaurant I got super overwhelmed cuase at one table where these 2 dudes i had hiked to machupichu with 2 months ago (coincidence numero uno), and at the other table i hear this girl yell "Thats my shirt!" (coincidence numero dos). I was tempted to run out the restaurant and book it down the street so i wouldnt have to own up to the fact that i stole this girls shirt. However, she said the shirt fit me better (cuase she didnt have the boobs to hold it up and it always fell off her shoulders) and said i could keep it. turns out too that she went kite surfing with this guy i met a couple days later and traveled with (coincidence numero tres). we have also decided to travel together on the sail boat to panama.
Shortly after this crazy moment, coincidence numero cuatro took place. I was standing outside a bar and out walks my old next door neighbor from mexico, Sandro!! Sandro and I used to live in the same apartment complex in Oaxaca and became pretty good friends. But I have not seen sandro in like 4 monthish, and here he is in colombia partying at the same bar as me. fucking wierd shit.
the next day in my hostel i ran into two dudes who i graduated with at UCSanta Cruz. They had recognized my voice (apparently i have a really loud and distinct voice), and came to find me. one of them remembers having a long conversation with me at a party last year about my necklace. Coincidence numero cinco.
The last and craziest coincidence was when i was in taganga (a small beach town close to cartagena). I was tanning/burning on the main beach reading my book when this girl comes up to me and asks if i know how to get to the other beach near by called playa grande. i had wanted to go there as well, so we both helped each other get there. after about 5 minutes of introductions we realized that we had about a million parellels in life. She grew up with, lived in the same neighborhood with, and went to college with one of my best childhood friends, miera. Rachel´s (the girl i met) family is best friends with Miera´s family, who my parents are best friends with. Since Rachel lived in minnesota and my sister went to school in minnesota we are pretty sure that my sister has met her and her family before at passover dinners and the like. Rachel is also moving to SF in a couple of weeks! I cant wait to show her around my city and have my parents become her adopted family in sf. she also has led outdoor adventure trips in costa rica for organizations like the ones i have worked for. we shared lots of stories about our mutual friend, laughed tons, and generally had a blast together. i love finding people in this world that are like your twin.
Coincidences on the open road are fucking great. i have been running into other travelers all over that i met other travellers that i already know. its like this little community of people up here that quickly forms a tight net. you meet people so quickly here and since everyone is generally really open and fun (minus a couple debby downers), you create this little family. you get to know people much faster when you travel becuase you are constantly with them. at home it would take months to get to know someone on the level that you get to know them while travelling with them for 3 days.
so moral of the whole coincidences thing, is that i really feel like i am doing something right in my life. that everyone just always works out for me. it feels really good to know that i am able to create such good things for myself and meet such awesome people. like the glass is always half full kinda shit.
domingo, 13 de marzo de 2011
Favorite series of questions
1. Are you married? NO
2. Do you have any kids? NO
3. Do you have a boyfriend? YES
4. Do you have an Ecuadorian boyfriend? NO
5. Well then, do you want to get a drink? NOOOOOO!!!
2. Do you have any kids? NO
3. Do you have a boyfriend? YES
4. Do you have an Ecuadorian boyfriend? NO
5. Well then, do you want to get a drink? NOOOOOO!!!
Small World
My sister studied abroad in Tena five years ago, which is why I went there in the first place. She told me it was a beautiful entry point into the jungle. So, today i went on a search for my sisters home stay. With the shitty directions and map that my sister drew out for me, I wondered around the early morning streets of Tena. She said the house was right next door to a corner store. I was mildly thrown off for a while cuase the corner store turned into a restaurant in these last years, but i eventually ask this big fat women standing in her doorway if she knew a man named Luis (that was the name of her father). I thought it would be a shot in the dark cause everyone is named Luis here, but it was spot on! Luis was her husband, and the fat women in the doorway was the host mom. She did what all good host moms do and offered me fresh squeezed juice and fresh bread she just baked. We sat and chatted for a while about the changes that have happened in the last 5 years since my sister has been there (ie. Her 4 baby nephews and the cabin they are building is finally completed). They totally remembered my sister and it was super great to know that she had made a little impression on this family. The world is so small. I love it.
I am off to Colombia tomorrow. Good thing i already sold my load of cocaine off to buyers this week so I wont get stopped at the sketchy border!
I am off to Colombia tomorrow. Good thing i already sold my load of cocaine off to buyers this week so I wont get stopped at the sketchy border!
Muddy
I have never in my life experienced such amazing mud before in my life. My 3 days in the Amazon jungle right outside of Tena, Ecuador was fully defined by the amazingness of the quality of mud. In the deep depths of the Jumandi cave (I called it Jumanji after the robin williams movie) and along the shores of the river I bathed myself from head to toe in the most orgasmic mud ever. After having a massive mud fight with my guide (I looked like smeagle from lord of the rings) I decided that this mud in these parts seems to be the smoothest and most exfoliating in the world. I was thinking about bottling it up to sell it in competion with all the dead sea salt shit that israelis sell in shopping malls. i think there could be a profit in this. Anyways, the mud became an over arching metaphor for my whole experience in the jungle: fun, cleansing, relaxing, wet, and dirty.
I stayed at this paradise lodge called shangrila (not to be confused with the one in china). There were only a few other tourists there at the time, so we could sit in any of the hundreds of hammocks are little hearts desired. Our guide for the 3 days was this dude named Alex. Long hair, short, strong build, great salsa dancer (like every latino is), and ridiculous really breathy laugh. After eating the local jungle cuisine of fat worms (tasted like delicious buttery shrimp) and drawing a penis on his arm with the indeginous dyes found in some red fruit we became great friends and had a blast together. We had a super bonding moment when he put a giant tarantula spider on my face. I had to resort back to my yoga breathing or else the tarantula might have peed on my skin and left a wierd rash. I am worried no one will believe me that i had a hairy tarantula crawling on me cuase i have no photo evidence...but lie, i do not.
Speaking of rashes, my jelly fish sting has not really gone down yet. In fact, I am convinced it is still releasing some chemical or something that makes it itch like a bitch. Not to mention that I counted around 28 mosquito bites on my left leg and around 30 on my right. And I have had to take a round of cipro for a UTI contracted from wearing a dirty old bathing suit for a week straight. Oh, and I have a big pimple on my face now. Such is life of a traveler. So hard.
My 3 days spend in the jungle were loaded with lots of wet muddy adventures. I spent an afternoon tubbing down a river drinking beers with these two other couples that were staying in the lodge. They were the kind of older married couples that you could still talk about farts with and how the stalagtites in the caves looked like erects dicks. spent a great night drinking rum and hot chocolate drinks and dancing to old school rap from my ipod. I think the last words the husband said before he went to bed with his wife was, ".you think i got her drunk for nothing..."
Side note: i have become deathly afraid of peeing in all water sources (rivers, lakes, etc.). Apparently there is this kind of fish that is attracted to urine and swims up your vagina. It has spines only pointing in one direction, so once it is in it cant come back out.
With these two couples, a group of 4 ecuadorians (who all spoke perfect english and have an import company in china), and Alex (our trusty guide) we all hiked up this river to a bunch of beautiful waterfall spots. We ended the day in this big lagoon. After beign forced to jump off the rock into the water (i hate doing that shit), Alex and I rocked hopped up river. It was just one perfect waterhole after another. Paradise. I felt really in my pachamama moment connecting with nature and all. The day was topped off by riding ontop of the truck in the pouring rain. I think at one point it started hailing cuase it definetly felt like a thousand pins and needles all over my body. Maybe that is what acupuncture feels like. We were screaming at the top of our lungs and singing zip-a-dee-doo-daa to keep ourselves warm. Only in Latin America can you ride ontop of trucks in the pouring rain.
Alex called me pastelito the whole time. That means little cake. It sounds a lot better in Spanish than in English. If anyone called me little cake in english I would probably punch them in the face.
Alex taught me how to balance a pointy rock ontop of another rock. All patience and zen meditation I guess. He says I am one of the only tourists he has seen do it. Hell yeah! Soy Madre Tierra y que!
After rolling around in the mud the entire last day in the jungle, Alex and I went out dancing in Tena to celebrate his birthday. There is only one club in Tena so it was naturally packed. Got super sweaty, ate a giant plate of rice beans and grilled chicken for 3 bucks at 3am, and happily passed out in my own hostel room. Life is good.
I stayed at this paradise lodge called shangrila (not to be confused with the one in china). There were only a few other tourists there at the time, so we could sit in any of the hundreds of hammocks are little hearts desired. Our guide for the 3 days was this dude named Alex. Long hair, short, strong build, great salsa dancer (like every latino is), and ridiculous really breathy laugh. After eating the local jungle cuisine of fat worms (tasted like delicious buttery shrimp) and drawing a penis on his arm with the indeginous dyes found in some red fruit we became great friends and had a blast together. We had a super bonding moment when he put a giant tarantula spider on my face. I had to resort back to my yoga breathing or else the tarantula might have peed on my skin and left a wierd rash. I am worried no one will believe me that i had a hairy tarantula crawling on me cuase i have no photo evidence...but lie, i do not.
Speaking of rashes, my jelly fish sting has not really gone down yet. In fact, I am convinced it is still releasing some chemical or something that makes it itch like a bitch. Not to mention that I counted around 28 mosquito bites on my left leg and around 30 on my right. And I have had to take a round of cipro for a UTI contracted from wearing a dirty old bathing suit for a week straight. Oh, and I have a big pimple on my face now. Such is life of a traveler. So hard.
My 3 days spend in the jungle were loaded with lots of wet muddy adventures. I spent an afternoon tubbing down a river drinking beers with these two other couples that were staying in the lodge. They were the kind of older married couples that you could still talk about farts with and how the stalagtites in the caves looked like erects dicks. spent a great night drinking rum and hot chocolate drinks and dancing to old school rap from my ipod. I think the last words the husband said before he went to bed with his wife was, ".you think i got her drunk for nothing..."
Side note: i have become deathly afraid of peeing in all water sources (rivers, lakes, etc.). Apparently there is this kind of fish that is attracted to urine and swims up your vagina. It has spines only pointing in one direction, so once it is in it cant come back out.
With these two couples, a group of 4 ecuadorians (who all spoke perfect english and have an import company in china), and Alex (our trusty guide) we all hiked up this river to a bunch of beautiful waterfall spots. We ended the day in this big lagoon. After beign forced to jump off the rock into the water (i hate doing that shit), Alex and I rocked hopped up river. It was just one perfect waterhole after another. Paradise. I felt really in my pachamama moment connecting with nature and all. The day was topped off by riding ontop of the truck in the pouring rain. I think at one point it started hailing cuase it definetly felt like a thousand pins and needles all over my body. Maybe that is what acupuncture feels like. We were screaming at the top of our lungs and singing zip-a-dee-doo-daa to keep ourselves warm. Only in Latin America can you ride ontop of trucks in the pouring rain.
Alex called me pastelito the whole time. That means little cake. It sounds a lot better in Spanish than in English. If anyone called me little cake in english I would probably punch them in the face.
Alex taught me how to balance a pointy rock ontop of another rock. All patience and zen meditation I guess. He says I am one of the only tourists he has seen do it. Hell yeah! Soy Madre Tierra y que!
After rolling around in the mud the entire last day in the jungle, Alex and I went out dancing in Tena to celebrate his birthday. There is only one club in Tena so it was naturally packed. Got super sweaty, ate a giant plate of rice beans and grilled chicken for 3 bucks at 3am, and happily passed out in my own hostel room. Life is good.
martes, 8 de marzo de 2011
Carnival!!!
I was originally only going to spend a couple of days in Atacamas for carnival, but it sucked me in and I stayed a week. Atacamas is the beach town that all of the locals go to for carnival. They have 4 days off from work and all go to the beach to enjoy the rays, surf, and parties. There is just one bar with straw roof after another. If you dont liek the music at one place you just go to the next one over.
reasons it is great:
1. Ceviche. it is out of this world. 5 bucks for a bowl full of amazing fish. I ate it every day for a week.
2. Caipirinas. lime, sugar, and zhumir (45% alcohol made from sugar cane)
3. Music. Samba, reggaeton, Salsa, rumba.
4. Polaca. The most orgasmic drink made of milk and different oaty cereals. Sold in a huge barrel, served with a ladel, and consumed by me in mass quantities.
5. Hammocks. Found this great hotel/bar where there was great hammocks and really comfy couches. owned by two americans. met the father of the owner who bought me lots of beers and coke. This dude i met was the dj there so i got to walk behind the bar and feel popular. on sunday night there was this bizarre show of models in bikinis and samba dance. i thought it was quite random and really hilarious. everyone else in the bar seemed kinda bored.
6. foam. they have spray containers of foam everywhere and everyone ends the night covered in foam and soaking wet from the water guns.
There were only two down sides of atacamas:
1. i was travelling with this chick i had also randomly met in bolivia a couple of months ago and really didnt like her. she was super negative nancy.so after a night in a hostel room with her i told her that i did not want to stay there any more. we kinda fought and then i left. it was actually pretty empowering to feel like i had zero obligation to this girl.
2. i got stung by a jelly fish. all over my body!! i was swimming far out and felt this huge shock of electricity run through my body. it stung me on my arm, back, and a little on my leg. i was told be everyone to put hot sand on it. so i rubbed my entire body in hot sand. didnt do crap. it was all inflammed and bumby and red and all. really hurt. apparently they are called madusas here or mala aguas. i was trying to explain that they are just fucking jelly fish. the pain went away, but i still have this wierd rash.
reasons it is great:
1. Ceviche. it is out of this world. 5 bucks for a bowl full of amazing fish. I ate it every day for a week.
2. Caipirinas. lime, sugar, and zhumir (45% alcohol made from sugar cane)
3. Music. Samba, reggaeton, Salsa, rumba.
4. Polaca. The most orgasmic drink made of milk and different oaty cereals. Sold in a huge barrel, served with a ladel, and consumed by me in mass quantities.
5. Hammocks. Found this great hotel/bar where there was great hammocks and really comfy couches. owned by two americans. met the father of the owner who bought me lots of beers and coke. This dude i met was the dj there so i got to walk behind the bar and feel popular. on sunday night there was this bizarre show of models in bikinis and samba dance. i thought it was quite random and really hilarious. everyone else in the bar seemed kinda bored.
6. foam. they have spray containers of foam everywhere and everyone ends the night covered in foam and soaking wet from the water guns.
There were only two down sides of atacamas:
1. i was travelling with this chick i had also randomly met in bolivia a couple of months ago and really didnt like her. she was super negative nancy.so after a night in a hostel room with her i told her that i did not want to stay there any more. we kinda fought and then i left. it was actually pretty empowering to feel like i had zero obligation to this girl.
2. i got stung by a jelly fish. all over my body!! i was swimming far out and felt this huge shock of electricity run through my body. it stung me on my arm, back, and a little on my leg. i was told be everyone to put hot sand on it. so i rubbed my entire body in hot sand. didnt do crap. it was all inflammed and bumby and red and all. really hurt. apparently they are called madusas here or mala aguas. i was trying to explain that they are just fucking jelly fish. the pain went away, but i still have this wierd rash.
sketch city of quito
Quito is a big sketchy city. Not my favorite place in the world, but has some really cheap indian restuarants, gringo cafes with brownies, a movie theater (saw 127 hours-i still cant believe he cut his arm off), and a good street with gringo bars and raging dance parties. my first night i went out to this club called bungalo 6. coincidently this bar was highly recomended to me by my sister and the canadian chick i was traveling with knew the owner. good times.
From Quito I went to Otavalo on a day trip, where on saturday markets there is the best market in all of south america. it was impressive, but after seeing a million llama sweaters, alpaca hats, and bags i had enough. although i did meet these random girls on a 11 month missionary project. they did not try to push jesus cristo on me and i liked them for that. in fact, i ran into them 2 days later in quito. maybe it is destiny and i should convert.
I also day tripped to Mitad del Mundo where you can step on the equator. probably the lamiest thing i have done on my entire journey. it was like disney land with really nothing to it. there wasnt even an egg to balance (apparently you can balance an egg on a needle on the equator). although it was a little bit more worth while cause i went on sunday when they have live music. so i listened to random ecuadorian bands and this women sing loads of baladas. the locals were loving it. i was tired though and by myself so i just watched from a far and ate chips.
i have run like 5 times on my trip!! really proud of myself. i ran to the park in quito and stumbled apone the sunday morning free shit in the park that they offer. i took the free aerobics class and the free dance class. it was fantastico!! i did aerobics and all these crazy dances with almost 100 locals all off beat and moving in all different directions. loved it. dance in latin america is everywhere and everyone knows how to dance. you are pretty much born dancing here. it is much more erotic and sexy of a dance. so i was popping my booty to reggaeton with 60 year old ecuadorian women.
during aerobics i met this romanian chick who is trying to teach english in ecuador. we got dinner later that night and i realized she is super boring and lame. good thing i am travelling alone and can just make shit up so i never have to see her again. hehe.
well thats all for quito. adios.
From Quito I went to Otavalo on a day trip, where on saturday markets there is the best market in all of south america. it was impressive, but after seeing a million llama sweaters, alpaca hats, and bags i had enough. although i did meet these random girls on a 11 month missionary project. they did not try to push jesus cristo on me and i liked them for that. in fact, i ran into them 2 days later in quito. maybe it is destiny and i should convert.
I also day tripped to Mitad del Mundo where you can step on the equator. probably the lamiest thing i have done on my entire journey. it was like disney land with really nothing to it. there wasnt even an egg to balance (apparently you can balance an egg on a needle on the equator). although it was a little bit more worth while cause i went on sunday when they have live music. so i listened to random ecuadorian bands and this women sing loads of baladas. the locals were loving it. i was tired though and by myself so i just watched from a far and ate chips.
i have run like 5 times on my trip!! really proud of myself. i ran to the park in quito and stumbled apone the sunday morning free shit in the park that they offer. i took the free aerobics class and the free dance class. it was fantastico!! i did aerobics and all these crazy dances with almost 100 locals all off beat and moving in all different directions. loved it. dance in latin america is everywhere and everyone knows how to dance. you are pretty much born dancing here. it is much more erotic and sexy of a dance. so i was popping my booty to reggaeton with 60 year old ecuadorian women.
during aerobics i met this romanian chick who is trying to teach english in ecuador. we got dinner later that night and i realized she is super boring and lame. good thing i am travelling alone and can just make shit up so i never have to see her again. hehe.
well thats all for quito. adios.
Adrenalina
It has been a while since I have written. I find myself always arriving and always departing that there has been few moments to sit down and blog. I finally have time after 3 weeks to wash my disgustingly dirty and wet clothes.
My first stop in Ecuador was this place called Banos. Banos is known for its ecotourism and its crazy fun packed excursions you can take. It is set among beautiful mountains (Ecuador is sooo green!) with hot baths everywhere and cheap massages. I did not do a massage, but I did meet this Canadian chick who got a chocolate massage and had an anal cleanse. I was jealous cause she smelled of chocolate and had very clean bowels. And all I did was go into these really dirty green colored hot baths that were loaded with locals and not relaxing at all.
In Banos I repelled down waterfalls, went on the longest zipline in ecuador, biked to waterfalls, and jumped off this huge bridge. I nearly peed myself when I jumped off. You pretty much just show up to this bridge, pay the random dude 15 bucks US, get strapped in, and jump. No paper signing, no contact information provided, nothing. It was so latin america. The scariest part of all was the fact that you have to jump off completely on your own. And the human mind (at least mine) is not built to just want to jump off really really high things. So the only reason i was really able to jump was becuase there were all these other tourists watching me and i didnt want to look like a pussy.
In Banos I met this canadian chick who was a super crazy girl. She works on a private yacht for this wealthy jew, and is a professional skydiver. so when she jumped off the bridge she was like dododooo this is nothing. it was kinda annoying cuase i was shitting myself out of fear and she was saying it was too short of a rope. she also always talked about her 5 million ecuadorian lovers that she has met in quito and montantita (this beach town she is living in). Whatever. I ended up getting some drinks with her a couple of nights and travelling with her to quito.
I also met this junior from puget sound who was doing WOOF (farming volunteering) in this community near banos. I am pretty sure actually that he is the same guy that emailed me on my WOOF account when i was thinking about doing it. wierd coincidence. We spent a couple of nights hanging out with him and the women that owns the farm. She is the awesome women named Linda from Florida who moved to Ecuador 16 years ago and built this beautiful log cabin in the middle of the jungle. She claims online that she has a farm to volunteer on, but it seemed to me that the only thing she was growing was weed. Her ex-husband, who has a giant mustache, has been visiting her for months now in Ecuador. I could barely understand anything that he was saying to me. We went out to dinner with her and all these other random gringo families that she knows that live around Banos. It seems like there are these pockets of gringo communities all over Ecuador. Lots more americans here then I thought. So maybe some day I will do what Linda did and move to South America, build a log cabin, and hang out at cafes with the locals and other gringo families who are just as crazy as i will be.
Linda also enlightened me on the best sandwich idea ever: grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich. like a grilled cheese, but with peanut butter and jelly (you could also add nutella or bananas if desired). put some butter or oil in a pan and put the peanut butter and jelly sandwihc on the pan. easy and delicious.
My first stop in Ecuador was this place called Banos. Banos is known for its ecotourism and its crazy fun packed excursions you can take. It is set among beautiful mountains (Ecuador is sooo green!) with hot baths everywhere and cheap massages. I did not do a massage, but I did meet this Canadian chick who got a chocolate massage and had an anal cleanse. I was jealous cause she smelled of chocolate and had very clean bowels. And all I did was go into these really dirty green colored hot baths that were loaded with locals and not relaxing at all.
In Banos I repelled down waterfalls, went on the longest zipline in ecuador, biked to waterfalls, and jumped off this huge bridge. I nearly peed myself when I jumped off. You pretty much just show up to this bridge, pay the random dude 15 bucks US, get strapped in, and jump. No paper signing, no contact information provided, nothing. It was so latin america. The scariest part of all was the fact that you have to jump off completely on your own. And the human mind (at least mine) is not built to just want to jump off really really high things. So the only reason i was really able to jump was becuase there were all these other tourists watching me and i didnt want to look like a pussy.
In Banos I met this canadian chick who was a super crazy girl. She works on a private yacht for this wealthy jew, and is a professional skydiver. so when she jumped off the bridge she was like dododooo this is nothing. it was kinda annoying cuase i was shitting myself out of fear and she was saying it was too short of a rope. she also always talked about her 5 million ecuadorian lovers that she has met in quito and montantita (this beach town she is living in). Whatever. I ended up getting some drinks with her a couple of nights and travelling with her to quito.
I also met this junior from puget sound who was doing WOOF (farming volunteering) in this community near banos. I am pretty sure actually that he is the same guy that emailed me on my WOOF account when i was thinking about doing it. wierd coincidence. We spent a couple of nights hanging out with him and the women that owns the farm. She is the awesome women named Linda from Florida who moved to Ecuador 16 years ago and built this beautiful log cabin in the middle of the jungle. She claims online that she has a farm to volunteer on, but it seemed to me that the only thing she was growing was weed. Her ex-husband, who has a giant mustache, has been visiting her for months now in Ecuador. I could barely understand anything that he was saying to me. We went out to dinner with her and all these other random gringo families that she knows that live around Banos. It seems like there are these pockets of gringo communities all over Ecuador. Lots more americans here then I thought. So maybe some day I will do what Linda did and move to South America, build a log cabin, and hang out at cafes with the locals and other gringo families who are just as crazy as i will be.
Linda also enlightened me on the best sandwich idea ever: grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich. like a grilled cheese, but with peanut butter and jelly (you could also add nutella or bananas if desired). put some butter or oil in a pan and put the peanut butter and jelly sandwihc on the pan. easy and delicious.
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