Back to the mainland
Trip Start
Apr 14, 2004
1
9
25
Trip End
Jul 27, 2004
Montanita , cuenca, vilcabamba,
Ecuador
Thursday, May 27, 2004
montanita is a gringo surf town, that is best described as the least culturally representative place in ecuador...but its a cool town for what it is i guess...i arrived there with some friends i met in the galapagos, but we found out the hostel we wanted to stay in only had one room left...i let them have it(as they were a couple) and checked into the dump next door...it would turn out that i would have no water all night or the next morning, which meant i had to borrow the owners bathroom...back to that night however, after dinner and a few drinks at a restaurant, i let a couple american girls convince me to go dancing at the bar...that led to a late night, and the next morning i decided i had to get out of this party town for some place a little more chill...so i packed my bags and headed for a quiet hosteria consisting of a half dozen cabanas on the beach, about 2 km away from montanita...it was a fantastic place, good food, and good people...i also happened to bump into my old friend maryjane that i hadnt seen in quite some time... unfortunately however, the sun refused to shine for four days while i was there...
it was here in montanita that i was to be robbed without ewįven knowing it...thinking i was extremely clever i had $70 cash sewn into a hidden seam if my pants, for emergencys sake...however, the laundry service i used in montanita turned out to be hand wash, and the lady was really thorough because she obviously felt it or sumthing (u couldnt see it), and actually took the seam apart to remove said cash...i realized it when i got back to the hostel, but what can u do???i had to suk it up, and i rationalized that she was likely a very poor woman, and 70 is probably more than a months wages to her, so hopefully the kids got properly fed and clothed that month...at least some young punk didnt get it and spend it on booze or drugs or sunthing...so ive decided that it was my charitable donation for the trip...
so along with the hawaiian chica i was staying with we headed to cuenca for a change of scenery...we couldnt leave the coast without doing something fun though, so we decided to go rapelling...it involves putting on a rock climbing harness, attatching a rope to a fence post, and descending 50 meters(about 170 feet) down a vertical drop off cliff to the ocean...pretty fun, not quite as exhilarating and dangerous feeling as i expected, but well worth the price of admission...
with a late departure from the coast, we arrived in cuenca around midnight...nothing too notable here other than it is a beautiful colonial city, and we spent a day walking around, before moving on to vilcabamba...one thing we did do actually was check out the extreme art house, where a bunch of local punks/outkasts/artists/goths had a private art gallery containing many morbid/sacreligious art hangings and instalations...it was a gnarly place, and quite extreme for ecuador, it was no wonder it was a private locked place...
like i was saying, we headed to vilcabamba (the valley of longevity) where many of the locals live well past 100...in fact, i saw a couple in which he was just over 100, and she was 111 or sumthin like that...he was giving her the gears for telling us his age at that...he wanted to be known as 74...they moved around just as well as our 80 year olds...i think i will need to move here some day and live forever!!!
the hosteria i am currently still at(over a week later) is called madre tierra, and it is an amazing spa/organic vegetable and animal farm/hostel complex...some of the most amazing meals i have had in my life have been had this week...we checked into the dorm room cabana for 12$ a night which includes an amazing breakfast and 3 course dinner...great deal as far as i am concerned...the place has recently been bought by a new owner who we have become fast friends with...so were were upgraded to a better cabana for the same price, and are enjoying living large...also as a guest at the place u get half off of the spa treatments...therefore, i treated myself to a much needed hour of massage after a 5 hour horse back trek thru some of the most amazing mountain scenery i have seen to date...we visited and lunched at a beautiful waterfall, which we got to after walking thru a field of corn a couple times my height...felt like the children of the corn...
another day, another spa treatment, this time a 3 hour package deal which included a couple facials, steam bath with cold water hydro therapy, a full body exfoliation, clay mud bath, and another facial while receiving a reflexology/massage treatment...ah the pampered life...i could get used to this...i highly recommend everyone to run out and get a spa package for themselves...mmmm great...we also spent a day hiking the nearby mondango mountain and its neighbouring peak...not a strenuous climb or that long, but at some points a little steep and dodgy to the second peak...especially owing to the wind storm that seemed to be taking place up there...
this place attracts many amazing and magical people, so it has been easy to get trapped here...many good conversations have been had here regarding everything from metaphysics, ufos, aliens, ecology, saving the planet, spirituality, etc...stuff i wont go into here, but for some of you, watch out when i get back, cause we got some crazy shit to talk about...one night i will discuss that was pretty interesting, was when we were talking about mind expanding drugs and experiences...the discussion led to timothy leary, a former harvard prof, and researcher into mind expansion...those of you who know him, know, if u dont, look it up, or dont worry about it...anyways, it just so happens that the new owner happens to be a friend of his (well, was, he is now dead), spent the last few months of his life with him and also happens to have a vial of his ashes with her...so basically i spent the night chiling with timothy...kinda funny...
another day, another massage, and i am finding it had to get a move on, but must do shortly to get started on peru...but new country requires a fresh start, so to go with my outer body treatments, i decided to give my inner body one as well...this involved a colonic cleansing which i wont go into details about, but will say it is an interesting experience...and im feeling much lighter now...
i have had enuff of staring at this computer so, ciao!!
