Hi, I am Mimi. Welcome to My World!

I wanted to write how much I missed you.. I wanted to say how much I longed to hug and kiss you.

I wanted you to hold me like you did before

I wanted you to want me like you did once more.

But instead I wrote 

I am currently reading a book written by a guy who crossed the Amazon jungle living off a backpack all by himself. It’s his story about this risky endeavour and the motivation behind. He starts off in Quito, Ecuador on a bike and continues crossing the whole South American continent from West to East coast on canoe and on foot. 

The book immediately transported me back to the 18th of January this year when I landed in Quito and started off my Ecuadorian adventures. It brought back the epic memory of reaching the Cotopaxi glacier at over 5000m above sea level, the second highest active volcano in the world, and going downhill on a mountain bike afterwords.  Developing some crazy speed in between these majestic vistas guaranteed ending the day on an absolute high. I can’t imagine a better way to go down a volcano.

One of the most memorable places from this trip however is the town of Coca, where the protagonist of the book also spends some time trying to buy a canoe from the local indigenous communities. 

I landed in Coca after spending some of the best time of my life in the absolute Neverland - the Galapagos. I don’t know why I chose Coca to be the gateway to my Amazon experience in Ecuador. Maybe simply because I found the name cool. I had done little research about the city itself as I knew that I am not going to spend more than one or two nights in it. I would use it just as a brief stop to organise a stay in the jungle with one of the local communities on the spot. When I travel I live day by day and rarely have anything planned in advance. I love it because it gives me the absolute freedom to stay longer in places that I like or move farther and discover places I had not even intended to go to in the first place. If I had done more research or spoken to other travellers about it, I would have probably not come to Coca. I am glad I did though.

After leaving my backpack in the hotel I had booked before jumping on the flight this very morning, I set off to see the town and look for a guide or an agency that organises stays and explorations in the Amazon. From the basic and quite empty hotel I was already noticing that this was not a very popular place. The few people I passed walking towards the main plaza were all from various indigenous groups. Very few mestizos and zero Western-looking people. I had entered a completely different world and suddenly I felt foreign. An exciting and somewhat uneasy emotion at the same time. The curious and not really friendly looks of the passers-by were wondering what is this woman looking for here. I was actually desperately looking for a place to have coffee without much luck. Turns out coffee is not really a thing in the Amazon so I bought some heavenly delicious mango from a man on the central plaza as an alternative. I sat there for a while watching local life unfold. Coca town was nothing special so far. Just square and similar looking streets with people going about their daily business selling and buying stuff or just drinking. Poverty and alcoholism among indigenous communities being forced out of their ancestral lands are unfortunately common and sadly noticeable here too. Everyone around in the basic street eateries was having ceviche with beers or some sort of large grilled fish or meat although it was still morning..I gave up the idea of a coffee and continued walking around. 

Turns out there were just two “agencies” offering jungle exploration. Agencies is a bit of a stretch as one of them consisted of a desk on the pavement with a very young girl behind an old desktop computer who could not explain very well what they were actually offering. I was also quoted the crazy price of over $400 or $500 for a three-day stay in Spartan conditions on Shuar territory. So the second place it was! They were next to each other anyway. The other agency was expensive too and everything looked kind of shady so I was starting to wonder whether to travel to the other town I had read about that serves as I getaway to the Amazon and maybe try to organise something from there instead. The town in question is Tena situated about 200kms Southwest of Coca. However, it could take me many hours to get there. There might be fallen trees on the way and the bus can easily get stuck somewhere on the road too. Travelling through the rainforest is slow and can be very unpredictable and I would lose one full day for sure even in perfect circumstances. I was walking around looking at a map wondering what to do next. I also called the numbers of some guides I had but only one answered and he was quite far down the current of the Río Napo towards the border with Peru. If I stayed in Coca, there was only one option really - leave the next morning and spend three days with the Shuar community accompanied by a guide and the only other person that happened to be there at this same time wanting to explore the jungle, a Czech plumber living in London who spoke neither Spanish nor English well! This was gonna be interesting..! It would be just the two of us, a guide and a few locals in a secluded hut in the rainforest. I did not want to lose another day so I decided to go for it. It was expensive due to the fact that we were just two but after the Galapagos I had stopped counting. Every cent so far had been absolutely worth it and I would certainly not start thinking of saving on entering one of the most biodiverse places on the Planet, el Parque Nacional Yasuní. Yep, that is where we were heading off to the next morning.

After it was all set and done, I decided to pay a visit to the local market for lunch as it was already late afternoon. This turned out to be like coming back in time at least a couple of decades, if not even more. The market encompasses an open space with a palm roof situated almost on the shore of the mighty Río Napo - a tributary to the Amazon river. People around here have only lived on what this very river and the rainforest have to offer for millennia and I think the menu had not changed much. There were just three things being sold on every of the 30 or so stalls around. It felt so weird that every stall offered exactly the same thing but hey! the jungle is not a supermarket after all. Neither it’s a place of plenty where exotic fruit just hangs out there waiting to be picked as many people might think. For every barely edible plant, there is like a gazillion other species that will try to get it first. Getting food here requires work and skills. 

I made a full circle followed by the eyes of the families standing behind the fires. Again, I was the only foreigner here at this time. All the sellers were representatives of different indigenous communities and everyone was staring at me. The three things being sold on every stall were fish from the Río Napo wrapped and grilled inside a palm leaf, grilled palm larvae on a stick which I learned were called mayones, and to drink agua de guayusa - a herb from the area that is believed to be almost magical and have numerous health benefits. That was it, basic and fresh. I decided to leave the mayones for another time, or possibly never (had to try them eventually though) and ate the fish with my hands under the stares of the market people. Being so observed did not feel very comfortable nor welcoming but in the end I was studying these people too. The rainforest is certainly not a comfortable place so the sensation was spot on. We embodied two different worlds colliding and I so pray that the world in which I grew up does not destroy theirs more than it already did. 

The Amazon remains, in many parts, the least explored place on Earth and the home of the last people living according to the laws and in harmony with Nature. I was beginning to grasp what an absolute honour and privilege it is to be here and learn from them.

I spent the last three days from my Galapagos adventure on the island of San Cristóbal and a total of nine blissful days on this magical archipelago at the end of the world. Coming to San Cristóbal was not even part of my original plan but I decided to give it a go just based on conversations with other travellers and the fact that I discovered there was an airport with connecting flights to the mainland in here too. It was the best decision ever as it turned out to be one of my favourite islands for various reasons. I had saved the best for last without even realising it!

If you are planning to visit the Galapagos, do not miss this island! Flying off to Santa Cruz from Quito or Guayaquil and then coming back to the mainland from San Cristóbal, or vice versa, is a great way to discover more rather than flying from the same airport.

I had arrived to the Galapagos with a one-way ticket to the Island of Santa Cruz as I was not sure how long I wanted to stay and how expensive everything was. This is the most common exploration starting point. Talking with other backpackers, everyone was surprised that they let me in without having a return as it was apparently a strict requirement. In my case, the airport officials in Quito just put a random date in my Galapagos entry visa when I told them how much more or less I was planning to stay and luckily I did not have any issues. This is where being fluent in Spanish pays off. It makes travelling without a plan and organising things on the spot much easier.

I love Latin America and always feel extremely happy being around this part of the world but the Galapagos felt really unique. The fact that the islands are not easily accessible plus the extraordinary amount of endemic animals and plants make you feel really far away from everything and everyone. I was in Neverland, living the absolute dream.

So what do you do on the Galapagos?

Swim, snorkel, dive, explore, eat, burn, repeat! So simple as that!

Every day is long and filled with new mind-blowing experiences and sights. And just when I think I have seen the best marine life on mother Earth, swam with sharks, marine iguanas, sea lions and the biggest marine turtles ever, there comes something new and extraordinary. It gets better all the time! This is true on the Galapagos like no place else. Indeed, the best was yet to come!

Just for the record, a sunblock of factor 100 and a hat are indispensable if you ever decide to go. The islands are dotted across the Equator and I never burned so much in my life despite the fact that I was covering myself as much as possible and using a wetsuit too. The sun is really very strong.

So I arrived to San Cristóbal by speedboat after having visited four other islands at about 9am on a Monday morning. Soon I discovered that I did not have accommodation. I had booked an Airbnb the previous night from the hostel where I was staying on Santa Cruz but could not verify whether it was confirmed when I left early in the morning as the WiFi was not working. Internet connection is terrible on the islands, which I did not mind at all. I am mostly offline when I travel anyway. I would just connect occasionally mainly to decide and book where to go next and post some pictures. The rest of the time I want to be fully present in the place and connect to people around, otherwise what’s the point!

I entered a café directly next to the packed by sea lions peer. After much waiting to get some signal, I found out that my Airbnb booking was rejected due to repair works. This was not a big deal as Puerto Baquerizo - where you disembark, is a small friendly village with plenty of options. I finished my coffee and started walking around with my backpack to check the availability in some of the hotels around. I stopped a random guy to enquire which was the main street. Seeing me with my backpack, he asked if I was looking for accommodation. As it turns out, he owned a hostal. A hostal in South America is something in between a hotel and a hostel. It is very basic and usually cheap and you have mainly private rooms. I requested to have a look. Always have a look first before you say yes! It was a room with two separate single beds, super basic and about $15 a night so I went for it. I was not in the mood to waste any time. The island was waiting for me. I changed quickly and went to rent a bicycle to start exploring.

I went straight to La Lobería which is a beach on the South-east part of the island. Needless to say, it became one of my favourite beaches ever. I was having a new favourite every day. Quite normal in Neverland.

La Lobería is basically a beach/nursery for sea lions - from lobo marino (Spanish for sea lion). There is a shallow area of sand and lava stones where the babies can swim freely and relax while the adults are out hunting. There was one adult female (I think) on the watch taking care of cute baby sea lions while couple of giant sea turtles were almost out on the shore. You hardly have to swim to see the marine life on this beach as it comes ashore to you instead.

Wildlife is so abundant everywhere on San Cristóbal due its super relaxed vibe and I think that’s why I loved it so much. Sea Lions are practically everywhere blocking everything and squeaking all the time. I miss them so much now together with the tranquility that nature brings. The following day I did another full day of snorkelling and exploration - the famous 360° tour around the island which is a must if you are there. It includes a stop at Kicker Rock where you can spot hammerheads but I was not that lucky. It was the only species I did not manage to see. It will have to be another time, another adventure 🧜🏻‍♀️

And so my days flew and suddenly it was my last night on the islands. I was bound to fly to Quito and then to the Amazon the next day. The night before I had dinner with a traveller I met on another island but she had already left and now I was out on my own without any plan.

There was this really cool hostel next to the place where I was staying with an outdoor cafe and I saw D having dinner at one of the tables by himself. He was this Argentinian guy working in the hostel that I had briefly met the night before while I was hanging out there stealing their WiFi. It was literally the only place on the island with a properly working WiFi! He stopped me to ask what I was up to and suggested to have some beers later. I was not particularly attracted at first but I did not mind, I did not have a more fun plan after all.

Twenty minutes later D was already sitting with me in the restaurant where I was having dinner. I learned that he was a professional snowboard instructor and dive master who had been working here and there travelling the world for the last three or four years. He took avid interest in everything I told him about myself and was overall a refreshing free soul, real and full of life that is so lacking in most people. He had been on the island for a month now and knew his way around. After dinner he took me to a hip local bar to play some pool and at some point we went for a smoke and kissed. I was starting to really enjoy my last night! It was not only because D was a good kisser and kind of cute but because he was hundred percent present then and there with me in this very moment making it feel unique, which it was. A kissy while later, D asked what I wanted to do next. Since it was my Galapagos farewell party apparently, I was the Boss and he would do everything I wanted.

Turns out he was a present from the Universe sent to satisfy my desires. D truly surprised me with his almost superhuman stamina, amazing body shape and some other very important assets too😉His main goal was indeed to please me this night and he did not stop till this was the case, many many times. He was there to give - to give me satisfaction! HA! And it all made perfect sense somehow as his actual name was Dario, or else the Giver. It comes from the Spanish verb dar meaning to give. Certainly a night I will remember, I felt resurrected.

Needless to say, I left the Galapagos the following afternoon with a big smile on my face. I was ready for my next stop - the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Viva La Vida!

Monday morning in late November. 

Another arrival back to London and reality after another sleepless tango trip, this time to Istanbul. It is 9:25 and I have slept the usual two - three hours on the plane. Hard core tango addicts would normally head straight to the airport after the last milonga of the event, which finished at 6 am. The tango ecstasy keeps us high and, by far, it is the most effective drug I know. 

Like many, I have a day job and plan to go directly to the office and do my best to look normal. It is not the first time I do that after a tango event and it will not be the last. I decide to check on how I look in the airport bathroom. Very very bright idea! With terror, I find out that my neck is decorated with a bunch of fresh hickeys from the cute guy I had fooled around with in the hotel corridors in the last hour or so before leaving for the airport! We met and danced this same night/morning and really hit it off. With even bigger terror mixed with amusement, I decide to check his Facebook profile and see that he is in his early twenties and so only 13 years younger than me! In other words, I was already getting pissed before he was even born. I definitely hit the bottom this time I think to myself but then again..did I really? He was such a passionate lover, far better than all other guys I have been seeing lately, a professional swimmer (oh yeahhh the body!), a fashion model and last but NOT at all least a promising tango dancer. If something, I had hit the actual dream jackpot. Who cares that he is almost a teenager? Men date young women all the time and I am sure they do not feel strange about it so why the hell should I?! 

As a matter of fact, I did not feel strange at all. I felt great. I felt ALIVE! This is what happens when you get absolutely intoxicated with being alive. Your energy kicks in and you want to continue dancing and doing other things too for another day. No problem at all, the energy is there just keep dreaming - soñar y nada más.

I covered the hickeys with some foundation, made sure my hair falls like a curtain over them and went to work like a boss. Despite the fact that the dreaming was over, I was full of energy and kept smiling the whole day. Those are the moments that make life livable.