Monthly Archives: June 2014

Ecuador Bits

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I’ve been in Ecuador for almost 10 days so I guess it’s time to tell some tales…  read on!

It's not a poster it's the view from the window!

It’s not a poster it’s the view from the window!

Nature in Ecuador is beautiful. The long bus drives are filled with amazing views that can compete with New Zealand or Switzerland. So much untouched nature between one human settlement to the next. Taking that into account the roads are surprisingly good.

Spot the nickle?

Spot the nickle?

Like all third world countries there is a vast difference between the cities and the villages. The cities are cities, Guayaquile could just about be manila or even Tel Aviv. But the villages are a different story. People look different, they talk different, there are no fast food chains and almost no one speaks English.

Ecuador uses dollars which makes things more expensive than some other places in South America but still cheaper than Colombia. The strange thing is they use a mixture of U.S Coins and local coins (and they use a lot of coins!) but don’t use $50 bills! I guess this is the best proof that the whole money system is a belief system like any other.

Sandwich Sandwich

Rolling the boat on the log into the ocean. simple human ingenuity.

Rolling the boat on the log into the ocean, simple human ingenuity.

Canoa is a strange little beach village in the center of Ecuador. It is dependent on tourism but is still a fisherman village with families rolling their small boats on tree logs into the ocean every day casting their nets for fish and huge shrimp! Not all families are created equal, some have many young men and boys helping, others had old women pushing. It was strange to see that the boat engine itself is carried each day from the house and connected to the boat, theft is a big issue.

Boat loads of dead sardines are dumped back in to the ocean by the 'corporate' boat because there is no demand for them. At leas the Pelicans enjoy this feast :(

Boat loads of dead sardines are dumped back in to the ocean by the ‘corporate’ boat because there is no demand for them. At leas the Pelicans enjoy this feast 🙁

My well documented sea sickness prevented me from joining a local fishing boat that my friend managed to get invited on to. He came back with the most hilarious tales. The fishermen spend the day smoking weed while laying their nets. Then they head out to a larger commercial fishing boat were they begin to negotiate with the ‘corporate’ fishermen. The men manning the large boat stay at sea for days at a time and for a fresh can of soda or some chips will throw some fish into the local fishermen’s boat. When all valuable goods had been traded for fish the local fisherman commanded my friend “Make me a sandwich sandwich”.

“What’s that?” My friend asked.

“Two pieces of bread with another two pieces of bread inside”.

“Oh, you have a sandwich sandwich” said a ‘corporate’ fisherman and traded some more fish for it.

After trading the fisherman return to their nets to collect the day’s loot.

Surfing Vs. Climbing

Art or destruction of nature?

Art or destruction of nature?

Ecuador is known for its surf but a ‘professional’ surfer I met wasn’t happy with the waves. “They are all mushy,” he said. “And there is no easy path out into the ocean because the waves break everywhere.” The biggest surprise for me was how much your ribs hurt after a day of surfing. Laying on the board and battling the waves gets your chest and ribs scratched up and banged up!

The climbing so far has been surprisingly good. It is a new young sport here and the rock was well bolted and local climbers were at both crags we arrived to. One of the crags just outside of the city was covered with graffiti which I had mixed feelings about.

Ecuador Vs. Thailand

The beaches I’ve seen were not as good as Thailand but this is not the high season so the sky is always cloudy. The coconuts and fruit shakes can give Thailand a good fight but they are more expensive here so once more Thailand is at an advantage.

Only in Ecuador?!? Yes the shrimp is bigger than the fork!

Only in Ecuador?!? Yes the shrimp is bigger than the fork!

It also feels a lot less safe. Bags are stolen (including my friend’s) and locals warned me not to sit outside the backpackers with my computer or a camera at night. The buses are easy to use and cheap but not nearly as fancy as Thailand buses. I guess for these reasons and more Ecuador is a lot less touristic than Thailand. I have also been using Couchsurfing here which I never did in Thailand. From the locals I learnt that I just missed the Gay parade which had thousands of people marching in it. Although tolerance here is not close to the strange status gay and transgenders have in Thailand it’s nice to know things are getting better (While in Israel the minister of education said that a Jewish state should tell Gay couples they are not a family).

Children playing football on the beach all day, every day.

Children playing football on the beach all day, every day.

 

 

 

Ballet For The Masses

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20140621_162753The world cup game is a serious thing in south america. It’s everywhere. On every TV screen, in every pub and every park. In Colombia, one might even say it is a life and death matter. 9 people died celebrating the win against Greece. That was reason enough for me to secretly root for Ivory Coast in the second Colombian match as I was watching it in Cali, south Colombia.
The excitement on the streets started an hour before the game. People in yellow shirts flooded the streets, drivers were honking and driving even worse than usual. The games, as games do, started with playing the Anthem. The Colombian anthem is super religious and by law is played twice a day on the radio so it’s no suprise the players seemed to know the words. I got debriefed about the right curse words to use, a special combination of ‘sonofabitch’ which could be used both in good or bad situations so I couldn’t mess it up.

Celebrating in Bogota.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Generally I find soccer games extremely boring. Most of the time nothing happens. Instead of the TV anchor saying who’s passing the ball to whom, I wish he would say “nothing is happening, nothing is happening, ok look now something might happen… well, sorry nothing happened…” I quickly learned I could use the excitement of the crowd as an indication to get this information and know when to look up from my phone. I say excitement but I really mean mass hysteria, screaming, groaning, jumping and banging on tables. What I couldn’t seem to figure out was if the screaming was good screaming or bad screaming.

I passed the time eating and drinking with friends, Colombian style. There is a very unique social norm here that I  havn’t seen anywhere else. Whatever you eat or drink you pass around and share with friend. It doesn’t matter if it’s beer, ice cream or a hamburger, it is passed around like a joint.When Colombia scored a goal every one jumped up and began hugging but a moment later the game continued so there was no time for celebrations until the game ended. Colombia won and the TV anchor asked people to take care and not drink and drive. I doubt anyone listened. For hours later the city sounded like it was under attack. Explosions, honking and ambulances filled the streets. Well, just as long as the masses are having fun…

Radikal Bogota

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If you are going to lose your wallet in Bogota you might as well do it after you’ve taken some e. It’s been a crazy few days in this city… read on.

Graffiti is legal in large parts of the city.

Graffiti is legal in large parts of the city.

There are more Maria's than Jesus statues

There are more Maria’s than Jesus statues

It took me some time to realize why Bogota felt familiar. Finally I realized there is a big similarity to Manila. There are a massive amount of people, the public transport is in total chaos, the colorfulness and of course Jeusus everywhere. It is less of a surprise if you realize the Spanish screwed both these countries over and influenced them a lot.

Bogota has a long history of violence, from fighting for independence from the Spanish, to a civil war that was caused because the two ruling parties tried to kick out the communists. For the past few years thing have been quiet but a massive amount of police hang out at every corner of the city.

What I did like about the city is that it’s built very close to beautiful green mountains, so whenever the smog or masses of people get too overwhelming I can always look to the distance and soak in some green. It’s also really fun to discover lots of exotic fruit that I haven’t seen even in Asia, as well as lots of interesting new foods.

Tamal rice and chicken rapped in palm tree leaves

Tamal rice and chicken rapped in palm tree leaves.

Bogota is also known for its drug culture. Although use of drugs in public is illegal there are some known parks where the distinctive smell of weed carries to a great distance. The police keeps their distance perhaps because the smokers are rich students.

I also visited an alternative techno music festival called Radikal and despite the heavy searching at the entrance I can say most everyone was on some type of drug or another. There were even people sniffing glue! I found some e from a very respectable source and for the first time in my life I took half a pill. An hour later just as I was thinking this wouldn’t affect me, the music started being much better and I started to really enjoy myself, really. I was completely clear headed, I could even do math. The one thing I couldn’t do was be angry, or sad or violent.

Agua de Panela, a sweet hot drink that you dip cheese into!

Agua de Panela, a sweet hot drink that you dip cheese into!

Even when I lost my wallet I could only think positive things about the situation. I thought it would be a good idea to put a small wallet on a necklace so I don’t lose it. The necklace broke while I was dancing and I didn’t notice the wallet fell down.  Usually I would never be able to dance in such crowded conditions and would feel really violent every time someone would stepped on me or bumped into me but while on e it didn’t bother me at all.

So basically this could be a great solution to bring world peace!

Colorful streets of old town Bogota.

Colorful streets of old town Bogota.

I was worried I’d feel depressed the next day as e uses one’s serotonin deposits but I wasn’t. I only felt really tired but I slept only 4 hours so that made sense. Drugs are a certain doorway into hacking your own brain and what I find interesting is finding ways to teach your own brain to go through those doorways even without drugs. Even now, days later I feel that just by ‘remembering’ the feelings I had while on e I can increase my ‘happiness’ by around 20% which for someone like me who isn’t really good with this whole ‘happy’ thing is quite a lot.