An Unexpected and Abrupt End

Had I not read Siddhartha the day before this unraveling I might not have been so composed as I actually remained. What can Siddhartha teach us? Life, all life, is transitory. One day your the richest man on earth, the next you're as poor as the most wretched among us. The past, present and future are all one being, constantly morphing and yet remaining the same. One must be able to transcend circumstances and rise above the ebbing tide of change remaining with complete grace and equanimity.

It all began Monday evening in Vilcabamba when I was overcome with a feeling of lethargy and drowsiness. On our way back to the eco-lodge from town I felt some sickness was ready to overpower my senses and send me to bed trembling with fever. We awoke the next morning too late to make the bus to Peru, but headed to Loja anyway figuring we could possibly make it to the border town of Macara. Some friendly police officers offered us a ride into town and we graciously accepted.

As always, I left Danny in charge of our possessions at the bus terminal while I went to fetch us some tickets. Under quite a spell of sleepiness himself he failed to see a thief snatch one of my bags carrying most of my valuables, including my passport, plane ticket, camera, and some crucial medicines. Outraged by the incident I was flustered as what to do. We scoured the terminal but found no theif! The police officers in Loja were less than helpful and so we ambled across the street to find a hostel where we could sort out this whole mess.

After several frustrating days of travel we are back in Guayaquil awaiting the cessation of the holy week to meet with the American embassy sometime early tomorrow morning. Tomorrow we'll see if I can get a new passport, but there's still the issue of my medicine and plane ticket home from Santiago. After much thought and calculation it may seem in our best interest to just cut our losses and fly back home. Although there is still some part of me that wishes to move on, the medical question and logistics of the whole process beg us to return.

The future of our South American Oddyssey, as I've entitled it, still remains up in the air, but the longer we stay in Guayaquil the more certain I am that this is the end, the sad and tearful end, but the end nonetheless. As much planning that went into this trip I didn't plan on certain irrecoverable losses. My budget was tight and has only grown tighter.

I would like to say that I've learned some important and crucial lesson out of this entire affair, but really it's just bad luck or happenstance that no turn of fate can undue. Tomorrow, after our appointment at the embassy, we'll decide if we will stay and proceed, despite all obstacles, or call it quits and return with what dignity we have left. I don't spite the robber, or Danny for not having been so vigilant, but rather pray that no other bad befalls us before we can move on.

This isn't the end of my traveling days, but rather the beginning. In the future I will carry less and pay more attention to my valuables in crowded situations. To any would be travelers I only offer a simple note of caution: sometimes what you carry on your back is worth more money that what these poor young kids will ever see in a lifetime! If you wish to travel in poverty stricken third world countries, be generous and open, but always with care and insight. Remember that you may be viewed by a thousand different faces in a thousand different shades of light. Some people will love you, while others will despise you. Remain with an open mind and an open heart, but always take care and look after yourself and your stuff with vigilance.

Tomorrow our fate unfolds, whether we continue on our path southward or whether we return back to the States to figure out what comes next. Personally, I think I'm ready to find a job and move on with whatever money I have left. This has thus far been a beuatiful journey, despite the fact that I never got out of Ecaudor and down to Peru. There is always the future, which is in truth not so far from the past or present. Like Siddhartha I've realized that time is merely an illusion and all paths coincide eternally at one every moment that awaits us. Tomorrow will be no different than yesterday as yesterday is not different from today. The one thing I cannot lose is my peace of mind and a certain sense of tranquility that cannot be stolen. I only hope my thief finds peace with his newfound possessions. Maybe they will do him more good than they have done for me.

I'll be sure to keep writing as things progress, but most likely you'll be seeing me before I can update this blog. Thanks to whoever took the care to read these notes and you'll be hearing from me soon.

Vilcabamba

When you´re looking down at the road and saying to yourself, ¨yeah, maybe if this dirt gives way it will only be about a fifty foot drop into that canyon over there, and maybe that river will break our fall and we´ll be alright.¨ Yes, when you´re saying this to yourself as the bus driver takes turns as though he´s on a motorcycle you begin to wonder if this was such a good idea. Needless to say the trip from Cuenca south to Loja was by far one of the most treacherous bus rides we´ve experienced thus far. I was on the edge of my seat for the entirety of the six hour ride leaning up against the window and praying the road would remain intact. As we travel farther and farther south I begin to wonder about certain things, for instance how a one way road just wide enough for our bus can somehow expand and serve as two way road that services trucks and buses heading in the opposite direction. Sometimes these things just seem incomprehensible, but for some reason they work out and it never ceases to amaze me that we´re still alive.

Arrived in the small mountain town of Vilcabamba sometime just past sunset last night. We managed to encounter a friendly Canadian traveler who directed us on a ten minute tour out of the village down some rocky pathways, across a river along a broken bridge to a nice hostel owned by a friendly Argentinian couple. We were thankful to have a nice place to rest and ended up going to bed just past ten. There is not much to say about Vilcabamba thus far as we have just arrived. The scenary is beautiful and the atmosphere very tranquil. It´s close to one of the national parks and a good place to embark on nature walks and bicycle tours into the forest. On the ride here I found the landscape a nice change of pace, beautiful mountainsides covered in pine trees and and dark green bushes. It reminded me of something from Arizona or New Mexico, and if it weren´t for your fellow Ecuadorian travelers I might have mistaken it for the US.

Tomorrow we embark on our journey across the Peruvian border. We´ve gained some insight on just where to head and how to go about it from some of the American and European travelers staying in our hostel. I look forward to venturing into unknown territory, but remain cautious of sketchy people and places. Ecuador is familar ground and relatively safe compared to some of South America´s poorer countries. So far we haven´t really experienced any troubles, but I realize this might not always be the case.

From Loja to Lima is a lengthy journey, which we plan to break up into several trips over a period of about five days. Although I´ve heard that once you reach the Pan American highway along the coast of Peru the traveling is fast and direct. We´re set to catch a plane ride from Lima to Cusco on the 26th, where we´ll be hiking the Inca trail to Machu Pichu for four days. Then Danny heads home and I´ll continue onward into Bolivia. Next entry you´ll be hearing from us in Peru, while we attempt to entertain ourselves on long grueling bus rides. It´s not all fun and games, much of the time traveling on a shoestring is ardous business.

Photos from the Coast

Departing the Coast

Traveling, like life itself, involves two specific points around all else revolves. There is the point of arrival, and the point of departure. Arriving is the easiest of two as anyone can arrive, but departing is an entirely different story all together. When one departs he must say goodbye to everything he´s come to know, and the longer the stay the harder the goodbye.

Snaking out of the dark-lit hillside along the coast, departing from the small town of Rio Chico towards Puerto Lopez, a city of shimmering lights out in the distance nestled in along the Pacific Ocean I experienced a strong feeling of sadness for what I was leaving behind. When I was still a child while traveling with my family I always remained attached to the places we would visit and before we left each place, each destination, I took several minutes to absord everything we had just experienced and take a snapshot with my eyes for fear that I might forget. What I didn´t know then, and still might not know now, is that I would always forget, not everything, but most things.

Rio Chico is some place I will never forget, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worst. Not only because I spent three months living there as a student of Anthropology, but more so because the place has grown on me like an extra limb I never knew I needed. The people there are like an extension of my being and leaving them behind again and again become quite wearisome. I´m not sure what home is anymore, maybe its not just a place, but rather a memory or a feeling evoked by thoughts and emotions, but Rio Chico is certainly one of those places that I would call home. Saying goodbye tonight was just as hard as it was when I left seven months ago. Sometimes I´m afraid that it will be my final goodbye, and sometimes I´m even afraid of coming back for fear I´ll never leave. If I´m confusing you at all its only because I´m so confused myself.

Danny and I depart the coast tomorrow heading towards Cuenca, a large city in the southern highlands of Ecuador. Cuenca is a beautiful and charming city, someplace I could see myself living and settling down, but I depart the coast in a sea of tears and regrets for things I promised myself, but never came true. We´ll just be passing through Cuenca on our way south towards Peru. The uncertainty of what lies ahead, and the immensity of the journey that spreads out before us escapes notice and revels in the delight of the heart not knowing what adventures we are bound to encounter. I look forward to cool air of the sierra, the snowcapped peaks and the swift running rivers. I hope our plans our not derailed by some unforseen circumstance, but all we have is hope as the future is untold till we finally arrive.

I look forward to leaving Ecuador and venturing into unknown lands, it just happens to be a coincidental and perhaps intentional set of cirucmstance that I´ve been reliving my last trip to Ecuador in an exact backwards manner. This time I don´t leave for Riobamba to a fateful encounter with Veronica, shuffling off to Banos for a romantic getaway, down into Puyo and finally to Macas to work with the shaman Hilarion Chiriap and the native medicine ayahuasca, but rather I leave to Cuenca, onto Loja down to the Peruvian border in the high hope of making a flight from Lima to Cusco by the end of the month with my brother and best friend Danny seated by my side.

Danny, despite hís faults (mainly eating too fast and walking to slowly) has turned out to be a good choice of traveling partner. He´s open to new experiences and unjudgemental with everyone and everything he encounters. He complains sometimes, but not more than myself or anyone else, and has stuck to his vegetarian diet despite all obstacles oppossed his ethics. Once again we depart and arrive. I feel I´m being a little to sentimental with all these goodbyes, but the heart is a troublesome creature and if one wishes to travel for any decent length of time he must accustom himself to its intentions, and the heart never lies. Goodnight!

Riobamba to the Coast

Arrived on the coast last night just as the sun was setting below the Pacific Ocean emanating a wonderous pinkish orange hue with a sea of clouds siloueted on the horizon. The scene evoked a turbulence of emotions for me as we had just departed the other day from Riobamba where I had said my final goodbyes to Veronica. I think I was wrong to say in my earlier blog that my feelings for Veronica were entirely infatuation. After sitting down one night over coffee we got to discussing our relationship that had blossemed over the past several months over the phone and through the internet. We both agreed that the passionate heat we both felt at the beginning when we first met was not the same, our connection was no longer based on lust and the irrational emotions of the heart that at first seem natural and magical, but die down slowly over time and over great distances to a smoldering bed of embers that remain intact, but fade away slowly and inevitably. However, I will not say it was not love as I think nothing else could hurt this badly. I think the ride to Guayaquil Friday afternoon was thus far the most difficult part of this journey, I was in fact quite certain that I had made a huge mistake and left too early. Considering that I might never see this girl again, perhaps I was to quick to up and leave. I will not say I shed tears, but my heart was in all kind of a chaotic flux.

Big mistake leaving Riobamba in the afternoon! Arrived in Guayaquil too late that evening to catch a bus to Puerto Lopez out on the coast. Managed to find a decent hostel in the heart of town for an outrageous sum of fifteen a night, located directly in the heart of the city, with bussling crowds, chaotic sounds of cars and salsa music, bands of thugs roaming the city streets, and the sweet smell of garbage pervading the atmosphere in the sweltering heat. Danny felt sick again and had some trouble laying to rest. Eventually, with the air conditioning turned full blast, we both managed to fall to sleep in the sterile room, towering twenty feet tall, and austernly adorned with the most dull and lifeless furnishings. Awoke late Saturday morning and got to the bus station around 11am. Caught the 1 o'clock to Puerto Lopez, and arrived in Montanita later that evening.

Currently in Motanita, a small toursity, yet somewhat bohemian surf village along the southern Manabi Province of Ecuador. Last night was a huge party, but Danny and I were somewhat out of our wits from all the travel and only managed to stay up till 1 or 2am drinking Mojitos and conversing about our travels. Woke up around noon, ate a cheap breakfast of eggs, bread, cheese, and ham and made out to the beach were we swam in the Pacific. The ocean was a warm greeting, a welcoming kiss from the Equatorial sun. We splashed in the waves and let the current kick us around, watching as the beach drifting us by. We'll most likely be here till Tuesday when we make our way back north up the coast to visit with some friends of mine in the small farming village of Rio Chico. You'll be hearing from me again later in the week as our journey unfolds. Already, I've almost grown weary of Ecuador and am looking forward to venturing into Peru. But so far, no real hassles and I suppose I can't be angry for that.

Photos from Quito to Riobamba

Baños to Riobamba

Caught sick in Riobamba. Arrived yesterday afternoon with a wicked cold and hacking cough that started sometime in Banos, possibly after a night of heavy drinking and heavy smoking with some American dudes we met on a rafting trip down into Puyo. We´re staying at this crazy hostel by the Name of Hotel Oasis, which seems like something directly out of the Shire with a seven foot high ceiling, round doors, and stained glass windows. Danny and I joked that we might just encounter some hobbits or dwarfs during our stay when an elderly American man with a foot-long deep white beard exited from one of the hobbit holes.

¨Good day young gentleman,¨ he greeted us with the tip of his hat.

My god, what is this place? So, before the sickness we were enjoying our time thoroughly in Baños doing all the touristy things we could, including waterfall tours, volcano tours, mountain biking, white water rafting, and of course South American bungee jumping. Had I had time to think it over I probably wouldn´t have jumped off the bridge, but we were on a tour of some local waterfalls when the chance greeted me with open arms. It´s not quite bungee jumping in its standard context, but rather something more fiersome altogether. You see, you stand atop the railing of the fifty-foot structure, then on three you leep forward in Superman-style when the cord catches you and you swing towards the opposite side of the bridge. So, it´s more like a bungee jump with a rope swing thrown in just for kicks.

Although, we were enjoying our adventures in Banos thorougly, our budget necessitated that we leave the day we did. It might not seem like much in the States, but I swear I must have forked over $150 dollars for all our expenses in just a five or six day period. So, yesterday we caught the bus south to Riobamba where sickness unfolded and we were able to meet up with my good friend Veronica. We must have spent a good two hours with our sniffling noses and hacking coughs before we could find a decent restaurant and a mutual place to meet up with Veronica and her close friend Natalie. I tried to explain to Veronica that we were eating at a place called ¨Benny´s¨ when in fact it was by the name of ¨Bonny`s.¨ This cost us some time, but everything eventually work itself out.

So, Veronica and I had our somewhat awkward reunion after seven months apart. You see, we had a two week fling on my last trip to Ecuador and spent many months in contact after my return to the States. She´s a beautiful, intelligent, funny and charming woman and I once thought we would pursue a relationship, before she decided that she wasn´t really in love and that it was merely an illusion. But, we remained friends as well as friends could remain over such a distance, emailing one another ever so often and sharing our lives with one another. So, we meet up last night and I finally figured the whole thing out: my infatution was merely that and there´s no way we could be together, sadly, unless one of us made some serious sacrifices. Love trumps all, but distance in accordance with a the language barrier is a serious force to be reckoned with.

After the awkward series of pool games at a local pub, we caught a cab back to the Shire and retreated into a night of painful sickness. I barely slept a wink with all the coughing, as Danny lay sick with an upset stomach possibly induced by the mushroom soup he ate for dinner. Awoke, or should I say got out of bed at around 10am and shuffled off to a local supermarket for medicine and water. Spent all day in bed recovering from our illness, as the medicine took hold and Danny vomited the wretch churning inside his stomach. Just now managed to get out of bed, shower up, and make it over here to this internet cafe to write up this blog. We don´t plan on spending much more time in Riobamba, I suppose I´ll meet up with Veronica tonight for a coffee or some dinner, but we´ll be heading out to the coast either tomorrow or Friday when you´ll be hearing from me again.