Into the Wilds of South America

I awoke this morning with no hangover from the drinking of “Una” but after breakfast at The Surf Shak my stomach is all gross from eating the chorizo. The shower was nice and warm this morning, which made the outside air seem cool. I went to the local pharmacia which was bumpin as usual this morning, I headed off to get cigs and went back to the Pais Libre, Kellie and I played a couple games of pool, and laid out by the pool. We both came back dizzy because the sun is SO strong, and now we’re both in our mosquito nets. After an afternoon of sleeping we went out for dinner at La costa Azul and had veggie rice the portions were huge, and after eating our fill we took the rest home for later. This will become important later on… We watched Mulan and The Little Mermaid while we made more bracelets, occasionally taking a break for a smoke or a beer and some pool. We had a good conversation with Mr. Favio too about some business ventures, in which I might be living and working on his farm, and staying at the Pais Libre on the weekends.  More movies and bracelets, the same bracelets as they take forever with the string we have, and I decided I would head down to the kicthen for some leftovers.

Why did I do this? I don’t know I’ve done a few dumb things in my life and this ranks up so far as number 3, just behind stealing a lot of drugs from a drug lord in Hollywood, I wont discuss number 1. That’s that. Now heading downstairs for some leftovers, I asked Mr. Favio how to get into the kitchen, he said I’d have to go through the dance floor to the small kitchen door. That’s about 20 feet across three inches of stagnant water that had been there long enough to aquire a film on it, barefoot as I was in flip flops and Mr. Favio made me take them off before I ran. Gross. Across the floor into the kitchen, grabbed my food, back across the floor to my shoes. OH MY GOD I HAVE MALARIA! I doused my feet with antiseptic like 4 times, I have bug bites on my ankles so I definitely have malaria. 

Now after all that silly chaos we’re upstairs for a long while, finally connected to the internet I was talking to mom and something brilliant happened. All the power in Canoa went off. It’s dark, quiet, and the only sounds now are frogs and the annoying beeping of something outside our room that is demanding the attention of no one that cares. Power is now a commodity and journaling is taking up valuable Dr. Who watching time so until tomorrow.

We’re in Canoa after a LONG ASS HORRIBLE bus ride. Really, it could have been better… Yesterday we arrived at about 6am, and walked around to find Hostels. We walked around to find a place to stay and found the Pais Libre which Tara suggested. GREAT suggestion. The owner Favio took us to San Vicente to use the ATM, it was about 20km away and we were grateful for the free ride. Kellie and I bought some bread and water, bug spray and a few personal items and we rode home with our new friends. Favio let us keep track of our own bar tab, and after 3 (technically 6) beers and a couple hours shooting pool alone I decided to call it a night. 

Woke up this morning after a good night at the Pais Libre, the owner Favio and I were up late drinking and smoking a joint last night. His back hurt from surfing he said, it was nice just to be a little high for bed time as it was swelteringly hot. Kellie and I got up around 930 this morning, and went to breakfast at Las Flores, whole wheat pancakes for her and a nice breakfast burrito for me. The coffee was off the hook, a nice chocolate aftertaste and very little milk needed. Brilliant. Then we walked down to the beach for a stroll along the sand while we smoked a joint, we found lots of little shells some of which I’ll turn into necklaces. The ones the locals make are very pretty I might copy some of their ideas. I found a nickel! WOO!  We strolled along the beach and crossed the inlet which was a little strange as “things” were wriggling under our feet, we tried not to think about it. We stopped at an outcropping of rocks to smoke a cig and look in the tide pools, lots of little crabs and such but no anemones like in California. The water was about 70 degrees and it felt great. A light rain started on our walk back and by the time we reached the sands of our local beaches it was pouring, but the rain is so warm and unpolluted there were locals “showering” outside. So I did the same. IT FELT SO WONDERFUL. So now I’m here in the hammock on the third floor, swinging lazily drying off in the muggy heat, which might sound awful but come down here and do it yourself. What a great day so far, the battery is low and we haven’t done anything else today so for now, buenas!

After our little siesta of hammock swinging we decided to go down and see the local fare, and stopped at the pizza place in town for lunch. Vegetarian pizza, I want more of it in my belly right now please. The crust was perfectly crunchy and soft and the veggies were the same. More perfection. Taking our lunch back to the Pais Libre, we stopped in the bar for a while to play pool and Favio had returned from the farm with a little surprise for us, the pot we ordered yesterday was in and he handed me 3 branches of a plant and told me to hang them from the ceiling in our room. “It’ll be dry for you to smoke tomorrow” he said. I took it upstairs to hang and returned to the bar to find that one of the other Pais Libre employees had a shot for me, and not just any shot. It was THE shot. “una de la bestia” which Tara has a great picture of, its VERY tasty I don’t know what her problem was, though I may have made the same face if I wasn’t told to sip it. Sort of a maple syrup and rum taste to it, it makes you sweat. The good kind of sweat that makes your body feel better and cooler, not the bad kind of sweat which is what I spent the first night doing.  Kellie and I played a few games of pool, in which both of our games got slightly better. After that we decided to watch the sunset at the beach, we took our leftover pizza and walked down the beach toward the far end of town, and found a little cabana that had 3 stools in front of a tiny little bar. We sat there and watched the sun go down while we discussed a little sushi, soup, and bar idea. I wonder how much it would cost to buy and set up a little venue like that? I bet I could pay the Pais Libre to hold my food and alcohol at night if I didn’t have a place of my own. That could be another way for us to make money, our little bar/hostel along with our little bar/sushi shop. Tandem ideas that could potentially keep us alive and at the beach for a couple years. The sunset was beautiful by the way. Now we’re back at home and sitting in our little beds with mosquito nets, mine seems covered with bugs while Kellies isn’t. Or so it seems from here. I’m going to go get a beer from downstairs, I think Mr. Favio is having a party downstairs tonight, there were lots of guests when we arrived home, I don’t know if they are staying or are just here to party. Lets go find out!

Apparently it’s a bunch of friends from out of town, but in going downstairs, I played 5 games of pool with an escaped juvenile delinquent who teaches surfing in the Galapagos. I won 1 game, lucky me. I was also told by Mr. Favio that we can stay here in this room for $8 a night instead of $9. I think he likes us! So after a beer (2 beers) and like 4 shots of Una de la bestia I’m pretty much ready for bed. I’m in my bug net, slash circus tent and I’m signing off for the day.

We Like the Sky