good morning

I like mornings the most when I am on the road. Kids make their way to school in bright, fresh uniforms and you can smell wood burning fires heating breakfasts. In the jungle, mornings mean high activity both for humans and animals, a time to be as active as possible before the heat sucks the day away (that begins at oh, 8 a.m.). On most days at a jungle lodge, you get a wakeup knock on the door at 5 a.m. Hey, you want to see the birds or what?

I am back in Coca after a whirlwind week in the jungle. I must have taken over 30 different boats, all of them canoes. I am sending out much gratitude to all the men and women who helped me this week. So many kind people paddled me around lagoons and up small blackwater rivers, cooked me delicious food and slowly explained the flora and fauna of the Amazon basin. They carried my backpack, put big green leaves on the ground so I could sit without getting muddy, pointed out butterflies, monkeys, toucans and caiman, and patiently answered all my questions and asked about my life.

My jungle days are far from over, but it´s crunch time. Hitting a few more lodges then heading to whitewater mecca Tena.

Sunday is the big election here: si o no on the new constitution. Seems as though si will take it. The country is totally dry for three whole days...no cerveza for me at dinner last night. It´s okay. I will take the opportunity for clarity and will myself ponder: Si o No? By the way, voting is mandatory here for every single citizen. They all must migrate home (so many people here work far from home) to be present at a voting booth on Sunday. I wonder how that policy would go over in the states?

jungle survial

Today I´m heading to a place without electricity, roads, internet or phone, and I can`t wait. Going downstream (toward the Amazon River) on the Rio Napo to check out a multitude of lodges. I am looking forward to seeing plenty of wildlife, although I´ve already discovered some new strange mammals here in Coca living outside my hotel. One looks like a hairy armadillo and the other is some sort of monkey relative. Who knows! But they certainly are interesting. I watched one eat a mouse yesterday.

I am giving into the sweat and the stink that will define my life for the next few weeks. I swear none of the locals sweat at all. It´s just me. But I am learning to stop and drink fresh fruit juices, sit near fans, and swim in the afternoons if possible. Pure survival technqiues, I tell you.

a way post

I’m in Quito now, staying in the endlessly entertaining Mariscal district. It's an ugly place in many ways, with cafes that “make foreigners feel at home” with brightly painted walls, Bob Marley remixes and overpriced pizzas and Pilsners. You want Thai, Mexican, a hit off a hooka between bites of falafel or a glass of fine Spanish wine? Or maybe you crave organic, shade-grown, fair trade coffee and dusty granola?

Somehow, I can't tear myself away.

Tonight I sat street side watching. Ecuadorian children whined at gringos for money, So many young couples wearing hiking boots and active wear held hands and gripped shopping bags. On the other hand, young, sleek Quitenos meet for post-work cocktails and kiss each other on the cheeks. The swirling abyss of faux international fusion feels forced and yet unlike four years ago, the hood　seems to have taken on its own life. Were the touristas just an initial fire starter?

Tomorrow, I begin an entirely new trip in the sweltering Oriente.

language skills

Hablo mucho. Every day. And it hurts my brain. But after ten (?) days on the road, I can feel the cobwebs lifting. I can speak some Spanish. Today while driving to these strange towns between Mindo and the coast, my driver Jairon helped me figure out a few past tense verbs. I`m tired of talking in the present tense all the time. It makes me feel tongue tied.

I bought a silly Spanish phrase book that was published in 1958. No internet terms there, but I do know how to be demanding and non-gracious in a restaurant. There´s a serious lack of politeness in this book, but I liked the type and some of the phrases still seem to apply.

Between hanging out with British Sophie and speaking Spanish all day, my English is getting strange. Vale la pena?

on the move

Today Sophie and I caught a bus out of the ever-celebrating Otavalo and landed ourselves in a gorgeous hacienda to the north. We´ve been seeing a lot of pretty, crumbling Spanish architecture, much of which has been turned into nice hideouts for tourists.

We took a standing room only bus with the locals to this little town...me squatting on my backpack while Sophie helped a little girl tie her bracelet.

Heading back into the weaving villages this afternoon, and I´m wishing I had time to shop for some piece of cloth. Alas, I´ll just keep shopping for food...I may turn into a giant empanada by the time I got home. Tried chica yesterday straight from huge roiling cauldrons heated by wood fires. Still digesting like a normal person, but you always wonder when eating what will put you over the edge. It´s a weird hypochondria that plagues travelers...never ending attention to the gut.

i´m working!

I´m in Otavalo during what must be one of the craziest weekends of the year. It´s the fiesta del yamor, a celebration of a local beverage made of corn. No, I haven´t tried any yet, but it´s on my to do list, don´t worry. Tonight there´s a parade, the crowning of a yamor queen and other celebrations.

I´ve been running around town like mad today, learning the ropes as a new author. I´m getting it down, from the hotel visit to plying other tourists for info. I can see that I´m going to have little time for lounging around.

It´s lovely to be here. You can see three volcanos from town and the people are friendly and used to dealing with tourists. I took a break from research and perused the local food market...chicken feet, more kinds of beans and grains than I´ve ever seen. Some vats of spices and plenty of legumes. I coffeed inside the market with a traveler named Don, who is retired and doesn´t have a home. He arrived yesterday after a harrowing bus ride through Colombia. I´m happy I don´t have to make any border crossings on this trip.

Anyway, must get back to it. Looking forward to seeing Sophie tonight at our cute hotel.

ｓｏｍｅｐｌａｃｅ ｆｏｒｅｉｇｎ

I'm finally in Ecuador. After much planning and a growing packing pile in the corner of my office, I arrived last night on a late flight. Once we touched down, I realized, hey, this is Quito. I know this place.

It's so invigorating to be someplace foreign, to be a strange looking, tall white/pink person with puffy blond hair. I love knowing that my little daily reality is not the only reality, and with some time in a plane seat, you can suddenly become an outsider.

I spent the morning visiting a few tour companies. Of course, they're excited to learn I'm with LP. I discovered a new jungle lodge not listed in my territory, and am wishing I had more time to escape into the jungle and see strange floating plants and dolphins.

For now I'm happy with things like my lunch, a huge plate of delicately spiced lentils, rice and pieces of fried fish for $3. Of course, I doused the food with aji, the tart/spicy side sauce that you see on most Ecuadorian tables. The altitude has been making me quite winded, especially while hiking up the huge hills in Old Town. Tomorrow, as I feel normal, I may move on. Time to hit my territory．