No where to go and all day to get there

"Mind on a permanent vacation.  The ocean is my only medication.  Wishin' my condition aint never gonna go away." -Jimmy Buffet


     I’ve covered a lot of ground to get where I am now, which is the lazy beach town of Puerto Lopez.  The drive out here was about as diverse a scene as Ecuador can throw your way.  From Baños, I went across the Andes and down into the tropical plains (if there is such a thing) near Guayaquil.  Arriving in Guayaquil I saw my first highway since I left the states.  Guayaquil, from what I saw, most closely resembles Los Angeles.  Not the skyline but the areas surrounding downtown.  I changed buses there and kept heading west.  Another three hours and I had to change buses again.  This time in the dusty town of Santa Elena.  Who knew that Ecuador had a desert.  Wind blew tumbleweed across the road and cacti were the only other vegetation.  It definitely looked liked it belonged along the US’s famous Route 66.  Another hour and I was in what I had hoped would be my home for the next month, Montañita.
     Montañita is a tourist hotspot that is unlike any other town in Ecuador.  Located right on the beach, the town is filled with hotels, hostels, bars, surf shops, dreadlocks and 20-somethings.  Getting off the bus I was smacked right in the face by the most humid air I have ever experienced.  Reggae music blasts from every which way while the air is occupied with the scent of fruit from juice stands, sunscreen, and burning marijuana.  It is high season in Ecuador (meaning a lot of tourists, nothing related to the marijuana reference) so prices are a little higher than usual.  I had trouble finding a hostel and, after being shot down by about seven, I opted for a hotel.  I got a single room with a shower that did not work for $30.
     At night the streets are full of young adults of all nationalities.  So far on my travels I have encountered a lot of Australians.  Not in Montañita though.  It was like the Olympic games of tourism.  Every corner of the globe was represented.  I met people from all over Europe, North America, a few from Africa, but the vast majority were Argentinean.  A quick side note: Colombian women have officially been dethroned.  The girls of Argentina take the cake.
     I went around to various hostels to see if they took volunteers, which none did.  This left me very little choice but to hit the road and continue north, which may have been a blessing in disguise because I don’t think I could have handled staying in the craziness of Montañita for the long term.  A 1-2 hour bus ride and I arrived at Puerto Lopez.  I found a hostel/hotel that only had one room left. A single with a fully operational shower and a balcony with views of the ocean for only $8.  I will use this as my base camp for the next few days as I try and find a volunteer possibility that will help save money, but $8 a night isn’t a bad alternative.
     Puerto Lopez is located on the edge of Machalilla National Park, which I am hoping supplies me with a few nice excursions into the wilderness.  Each morning dozens of fisherman compete with a few pelicans for the catch of the day.  I will continue to look for a month long volunteer possibility... tomorrow.  For now I’m just gonna relax in a hammock, eat a mango, and watch the sun disappear into the ocean.

Free Fallin'

"Be not afraid of life.  Believe that life IS worth living and you're belief will create the fact." -James Truslow Adams

     I could not have picked a better place for my return to civilization.  Baños is a small town that is flooded with tourists.  The streets are full of shops, restaurants, bars, and outdoor adventure companies competing for your business.  To me, it has the feel of an incredible beach town that is essential to anyone's trip to Ecuador.  The only problem is- it's no where near the ocean.  It is placed in a valley and surrounded by the steep mountains of the Andes.  Even if you pick and choose just a few activities here you can still have a once in a lifetime experience without breaking the bank.  Bikes rent for $5 a day and it is popular to do the 60 km ride to Puyo and see the amazing peaks, valleys, and rivers that this portion of the country has to offer.  A bus ride back only costs about $1.50.  Baños got its name from the natural thermal springs nearby.  A soak in the baths will run you about $2.  We went early in the morning to beat the crowds. A great way to start the day!  There are a few trails you can hike, if you want to do something outdoors but not spend any money.  I went on a decently tiring hike up the mountains that ended up with a spectacular view of the city.
     If you really want to get the adrenaline pumping and are willing to shell out a few dollars then Baños is your best bet.  A half day trip white water rafting is $30 and you hit some class IV rapids.  Try and sit in the front of the raft for the hardest hitting waves, but hold on tight so you don't get tossed out.  I chose to follow this up with an afternoon of "bridging".  For just $15 you can test your nerve by strapping a rope, NOT A BUNGEE CORD, to you and free falling off a bridge 360 feet above the ground.  The point is to jump out as far as you can and have your momentum cause you to front flip in the air and then swing back and forth under the bridge as you are slowly lowered to the ground.  I think even the bravest person might tremble a little as you stand on a platform and look directly down at a canyon 360 feet below you.
     As fun as Baños has been, it's about time to move on.  I will miss being able to blend in for once and not being the only 6 ft tall gringo walking around and catching stares from just about everyone.  The next part of the journey will be solo.  The girls will head north to work on another farm and I will head west.  I need some beach in my life so tomorrow I'll be waking up early and chasing the sun across the sky.  I don't know where I'll end up.  I might bypass Guayaquil because it is supposed to be dangerous, as with any big city.  I will keep you all posted on this next leg of the journey.  Hopefully flying solo will be easier now that I have already taken a leap.

Jungle Lessons

“Nothing’s gonna change my world.” -The Beatles

     Our time in the jungle has come to a close and I have no hesitation in saying that this last month has taught me more about life than any other collection of 30 days I have lived.  It is definitely bittersweet to leave, right now seeming more bitter than sweet.  Ahead of us lies the town of Banos (translated literally to “baths”) and a world of hot showers, laundry, wifi, and bars.  A month lacking all of these luxuries would make anyone a little antsy to return to this life.  We will be accompanied by another traveler, a 26-year-old from Philadelphia named Jameson.  He came to the farm a few weeks back and is going to tag along for the next stage of the journey.  After a few days in Banos the girls will head north back to Quito, where they will work on another farm.  My next stop is unknown.  I will head west in search of a hostel to volunteer at for a month.  I had been emailing a lot of hostels to see if I could get on at any of them but my email recently was hacked.  It sent spam to everyone I had emailed in the last year or so, meaning every hostel I had been trying to work at now marked me as spam.  I think I will head to Guayaquil and just work my way up the coast until I find a hostel.  Keep your fingers crossed.
    Our final weekend seemed to blindside us.  It feels like just last week we had just gotten off the bus and walked the muddy trail to the hut that would become our home.  Angelica’s birthday was yesterday (Sunday).  We went into town Saturday for her birthday dinner consisting of pizza (we passed on armadillo).  Last night we had dinner with Marco’s family.  One last hangout with all the kids and then we said our goodbyes.  Goodbyes seem a lot heavier when they carry “forever” with them.  Marco gave us temporary, hand drawn, tattoos.  Supposedly they last 70 days, but I guess time will tell.  I was going to get mine on my bicep but, let’s be honest, that doesn’t supply a whole lot of room for any sort of art.  I opted for a small phrase on the inside of my forearm.
     As we left the house we were accompanied by most of the family, as they were on there way into Puyo.  Marco’s oldest daughter has been in the hospital in town and in stable condition.  We are not totally certain what her ailment is but she is almost 9 months pregnant on top of it all.  She is single and has a son, a 4-year-old named Jordan who basically melts my heart.  He gets a kick out of riding on my shoulders, taking pictures with my camera, and jumping into my arms so that I can swing him around until we are both very dizzy.  I was in Puyo on Thursday and walking back to the bus stop when I heard “Kevin!” and looked up to see little Jordan running up the sidewalk towards me.  That may have been the happiest I have been in a long time, and I am a happy person.
     I spent most of last night playing with Jordan.  As we waited on the side of the road for the bus to take us home for the final night we were accompanied by Maria (Marco’s wife), the two youngest daughters, and little Jordan.  Sitting near the road I looked over and saw Jordan in tears.  I asked him what was wrong and strained my ears and brain as much as I could to try and understand his response.  Between his tears and my difficulties with the Spanish language I was unable to make out exactly what he was upset about but I did catch that it was something about his mom.  I brought him in for a big hug and felt his tiny arms wrap around me.  As we let go I caught a glimpse of the tattoo I had just gotten on my arm.  Jordan made me write the same thing on his arm with a pen so that we could be “el mismo” (the same).  There gleaned five words spread over three lines, “Nothing’s gonna change my world.”  Words from one of my favorite Beatles songs and in that moment they became meaningless.  There was a very real possibility that Jordan’s world was about to change in a massive way.  How fragile the world now seemed that in just a few days this 4-year-old may be orphaned.  The salt in the wound is not that I may never see that little guy again, but that I may never know if his mom pulled through.  Now, for the next 70 days, I will walk around with these words on my arm.  At first they seemed almost arrogant, as though I was in total control of my universe, but now they act as a plea.  Don’t break this world, my world, apart.  It seemed the jungle had one last lesson it wanted to teach me.

PS I know I said I would post a video but the internet here is too slow and won't allow it upload.  I will keep trying though.

The sights, sounds, and.... flavors of Ecuador

"The power of imagination makes us infinite."  -John Muir

     I´m afraid I lied at the end of my previous blog post.  I said that this next week would be pretty routine.  I guess 2 weeks in the jungle isn´t enough to teach me that the word "routine" has no meaning here.  Fresh off my Ayahuasca experience we were back at work on monday, only this time it was not farming.  Marco threw us a curveball and we have been helping him build a larger kitchen.  I use the word "helping" loosely here.  Mostly we do the little things he doesn´t have time for while he builds the entire kitchen himself.  We help move wood, hold things, hand him nails, dig holes for posts, make a path out of rocks, etc.  The entire process has taken all week due to interuptions caused by the weather.  We still managed to work in the fields a few days also but most of the time is spent on the kitchen.
     Yesterday we ventured deeper into the jungle to gather palms leaves to make repairs to the roof which has been leaking.  It took about two hours, five people, three machetes, and thousands of bug bites but we got what we needed with time to spare before the bus rolled through so we went on a jungle walk to find fruit to eat.  There were definately a few interesting tastes out there.  The real meal was waiting for us at home though.  One of Marco´s dogs, Tony, caught an armadillo on Friday night.  Upon our return we were greeted with a plate of rice, beans, plantains, and deep fried armadillo.  Delicous!
     There was one moment that was quite surreal that took place earlier in the week.  After a long day of "working" on the kitchen, the clouds had thinned and to the west you could see Chimbarazo (the largest mountain in Ecuador) and the Andes.  Just behind that the sun was setting.  It was one of those moments when you forget everything about anything and just stop and stare at the scene in front of you.  Of course none of us had a camera to capture the moment and share it with you all but I suspect it would have been one of those intances when pictures don´t do it justice.  It was not something that had never been seen before, or that would never be seen again, but that moment felt special, as corny as it sounds.  None of us said a word.  We just stared.
     I find that each week that passes I am more disconnected from my life in the states and becoming much more used to the culture down here, though I am not really in either place.  I am floating somewhere in the middle.
     This next week marks our last in the upper Amazon, and we leave to rejoin civilization once more.  I have had this idea to make a video and put it on the blog to show you all what our lives have been like for the past month.  Perhaps I will get to that this week so keep your eyes open for that on the blog next weekend.  Everyday is an adventure and I hope it continues to be that way.  The world has so many sights, sounds, smells, and tastes (armadillo?) to offer that one lifetime doesn´t seem to be enough.  Books and photos only do so much so go out and see what this planet can show you!

Ayahuasca

"There is only now, and if now is only two days, then two days is your life and everything in it will be in proportion.  This is how you live a life in two days.  And if you stop complaining and asking for what you never will get, you will have a good life." -Ernest Hemingway

     Sorry for the lapse in time between blog posts.  I can only make the 27 km bus ride to town on the weekends to get internet.  We have a new volunteer on the farm, a 56-year-old American named Richard.  He´s an interesting fellow.  He has 4 degrees and speaks 3 languages fluently (English, Spanish, French) and has been living in Ecuador for the past year.  He has a very negative outlook on the future of the planet but he is such an intelligent human that you can´t help but listen when he speaks.... which is all the time.

     Work has been the same.  A few days have been pretty warm so it is important to stay hydrated since you sweat like crazy in this humidity.  We are just about ready to plant everything I think so hopefully the work load lessens a bit.  Time will tell though.

     Last night we drank Ayahuasca.  A very brief description: Ayahuasca is a vine that grows in the jungle. It has intensely spiritual properties.  Marco, the shaman we live with, prepared it for us.  We start by cutting out all meat and dairy from our diet 2 days previous.  Then the day of the ceremony we woke up at 7am to drink this tea that helps cleanse your system. 


 You basically drink a lot of it really fast and vomit.  You can´t stop drinking until you have thrown up.  Then we went the rest of the day without eating.  The ceremony started at 7pm.  Marco did his ritual of fanning the air around you and chanting to get rid of the negative energy.  Finally it was time to drink the Ayahuasca.


     We drank about a shot each.  It tasted like dirt.  Slowly the effect began to overcome us. It was as if someone turned up the volume all around us.  The sounds of the jungle were so vivid.  I also heard buzzing for around 3 hours.  You´re vision goes all crazy and you´re mind starts racing.  For me, it was like this.  Imagine that every memory you have is a drop of water.  Each memory fills a huge bucket and then suddenly that water starts getting splashed in your face.  It was just memory after memory in no particular order.  No memory stayed long enough to really go in depth with it but it was clear enough to understand it.  Then in the the physical world around me, shadows and plants started to form intodifferent animals.  Some peaceful and others not so much.  The Ayahuasca is supposed to be cleansing your body of bad energy so I was having a constant struggle between good and evil with my visions.  Then you become violently ill.  It lasted about 3-4 hours and I had so many visions about things and people in my life that it is impossible to share them all.  I woke up this morning feeling very peaceful, though weak from lack of food.  I have since refueled and had time to work out what the visions were about.  It was a very strange journey I went on last night. 

     I came to town today in hopes of catching the Lions game online but it isn´t until 8 pm tonight so I will just have to think positively.  Sorry if this post is a little scattered, it was a rough night.  This next week should be pretty routine, or as routine as life in the jungle ever can be.  Working most of the week, but Marco said something about giving us tattoos that last around 70 days.  Oh boy! What to get, what to get.  Hope everyone is having a good winter back in the states.  I´ll post some pictures and videos when I have faster internet access in about 2 weeks.  Adiós! 

Welcome to the Jungle

“We can’t let our future become our past if we are to change the world. Won‘t you tell me please, how many miles must we march?” -Ben Harper

                Life in the rainforest is as you would expect… very wet.  It rains everyday.  Sometimes rain falls for only 10 minutes and sometimes 10 hours.  Nothing in the rainforest is wasted.  Rain water is used by all living things, including humans.  We wash our clothes with it, bathe with it, clean and prepare food with it, but only consume large amounts of it if boiled or filtered.  There is no telling what sort of bacteria lives in the water so it is best not to chance it. 

                As with any area where rainfall is this abundant, vegetation is dense.  Where there is vegetation, there is wildlife.  We haven’t seen any large animals yet, but there are enough birds to play us a symphony each night.  The birds hang around because food is easily available for them.  I have heard that it is unknown just how many species of bugs live in the rainforest, and after a week here I certainly believe that.  There are bugs of all sorts: spiders, beetles, cockroaches, ants, mosquitoes, and bugs unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.  Legend has it that a mosquito exists with a second needle protruding from it’s chest.  If poked by this needle you have to have sex in the next 30 minutes or else you will die.  Whether or not this is true is yet to be determined but the locals stand by it.  To me it just seems like a pretty desperate pick up line, but needless to say if you are in the Amazon make sure you have a few good looking women near… just in case.  There are huge trails of ants around the jungle too.  Some are dangerous and others just hard workers.  Leaf cutter ants carry bits of leaves hundreds of meters to form a pile.  Out of these piles grow fungi, which is the ants main source of food.  They have been cultivating longer than human beings.  Not all bugs have a strong work ethic or play the jungles version of Cupid, though.  Both Jackie and Angelica received a not-so-welcomed gift from mother nature on Christmas Day.  A nigua (a kind of flea) burrowed into each of their feet.  Jackie’s was removed shortly after it entered but Angelica’s appeared to be in her foot for a while because when it was removed a large amount of eggs came out with it.

                I have been hiking near Tahoe and come across lakes where I have been the only human for miles.  You just sit there and enjoy a silence so pure it almost seems like a dream.  There is no such silence in the rainforest.  Noise is the only thing more plentiful than water.  Birds with varying songs call out, crickets saw on their violin-like legs, frogs croak, and all of this blends into such a deep and wonderful song that you tend to pity the consumers of the CDs they sell at stores titled “Sounds of the Rainforest”.  No imitation can come close to the depth of this sound.

                We live on farm with a shaman named Marco.  His family lives a few kilometers down the road but we see them often enough.  Marco is one of the nicest people you will ever meet and quick to share his knowledge.  He has taken us to a few fiesta’s in town and the towns people are just as friendly.  When you think of Ecuador you may think of great amounts of poverty.  I think that perception is wrong.  There isn’t a constant struggle to put food on the table, they just live a very simplistic lifestyle.  Sure, money is not great in these areas, but its also not greatly needed.  They are happier than you and me and have gotten there by living a much simpler lifestyle.

                A few days ago Marco took us on a trek through the jungle.  I say “trek” because it certainly wasn’t a hike.  We had to wade across a few rivers, venture off the trail, and even swung from a few vines.  All of this lead to a waterfall where we had lunch and swam for a bit.  Marco might be the most intelligent person I have ever met.  Not in the way we often think of intelligence with math, science, politics, etc.  His intelligence is much more useful.  He can feel the Earth.  He knows how to use everything it gives him.  He knows what leaves cure different ailments, and the other day we needed another hoe for the field so he cut down a small tree using only a machete and trimmed it down until the diameter was small enough to fasten the end of the hoe onto it.

                We work Monday through Friday starting at 8 am.  We get to take breaks when it rains because being in the fields when muddy can hurt the crop.  The workday is long but rewarding.  You sleep better each night after a long day of tilling soil and picking weeds.

                The tranquility of this jungle paradise has been broken in recent days though.  A few nights back a German woman, her father, and her two young children showed up to stay with us.  They brought no food or water with them so they just helped themselves to what little food we still had left.  The children are maniacs.  The oldest boy was jumping around until the late hours of the night and spilled water on the floor above me so it leaked into my room.  A really charming kid.

                Each day is a little bit different and we learn a little bit more about the jungle and this simplistic lifestyle.  It really isn’t much of a nuisance at all which makes you wonder why, as Americans, we feel the need to have so much crap.  Also, there will be some delays in my posts since internet access is tough to come by.  Anyways, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year!      P.S. GO LIONS!