Quito: Nice but a bit dodgy

Landing at Mariscal Sucre airport we were given those SARS/Swine Flu masks you see on TV and had to wear them until we cleared customs and got out the front door. The hostel I was staying at was pleasant enough but located in the less-than-safe area of La Mariscal, the infamous tourist area in the New City. "Unsafe after 10pm" says the guidebook. I never really had a problem (apart from a random bag slashing that I didn´t even notice at the time - they didn´t get anything) but then I ws safely back indoors by the ´witching hour´.



The first day in town I took the packed and insanely fast Trol bus down to the Old City. It has some of the best representations of collonial architecture on the continent and is worth a look. Afterwards I climbed to the top of El Panecillo, the hill which overlooks the city for some amazing views of the Pichincha volcano that looks down upon Quito. It´s certainly a dramatic locale, yet the noise and air pollution and general feeling of slight uneasyness helped me decide to plan a couple of good day trips out for the following couple of days.




Firstly, you can´t come to Ecuador, a country re-named after it´s position on the Equator and not go and see the famous red line, so bright and early on Saturday morning I was stood in the ´centre of the world´, which is basically a nice momument, some ageing musuems, a couple of cafes and some shops hawking overpriced artesania. Good effort guys. Next door however, was the vastly more entertainng Museo Intinan, 200m north of the monument and claiming that they are the true equator as certified by US Army GPS a few years go. For three bucks you get a guided tour of original native houses, all the usual equator experiments like water down the sink, balancing an egg on the head of a nail, walking in a straight line with your eyes closed (so so weird, it feels like you´re pretty tipsy with the opposing forces pulling in each direction!). Its fun and well worth the money. From there I somehow got a lift back to Quito with a friendly American guy called.... Jody! How bizarre.



That afternoon I caught a bus north over the Andes to the pleasant market town of Otavalo, famous for one of the best handicraft markets in South America and it did not dissapoint. The range and quality on offer for ridiculously cheap prices meant I had to really struggle not to get carried away and load myself up with bundles of stuff I don´t need! Continuing my tradition of buying a hat in every country I visit I found a wicked inca-style woolly one for a dollar!


The next day I wanted to get out of the city again, my last full day before I decided to head down to the jungle town of Tena to work with a shaman there. Two hours south-east of Quito is the small village of Papallacta, which is home to one of the most impressive set of natural thermal springs in the country and quite possibly the continent.


Set high in the mountains, you are literally in the clouds, 3250m above sea level, and the ten pools tastefully built into the rocks by turns relax, invigorate and refresh you. There´s even a river that runs right through it you can get in but its freezing! I spent a lovely afternoon wallowing in the waters and then almost got stranded... Apparantly where the bus drops you off is not where you catch the bus back to Quito from so after waiting for an hour with the clouds coming down and starting to get cold in my shorts and sandals, it was left to a nice local man to stop by in his truck and point this out. He then gave me a lift down to the bus stop where I eventually got home from. What a lovely guy!

Don´t Mess With Texas

So at this very moment I am staying in Tena, gateway to the Ecuadorean Amazon, so obviously I´m running behind with the blogging... Ecuador updates will come soon this week.

Before flying down to Quito however, I spent the previous ten days deeeeep in the heaaaart of Texas staying with my friends the Jams (big shout out you lovely people!). Boy was it HOT! My friends live in Austin, known as the liberal, chilled-out oasis in the sea of Republicanism and religious fervor that blankets America´s deep south. It´s also famous as the city containing the greatest number of music venues anywhere in the world. First impressions: Green, green, green with trees everywhere!


The first evening I arrived off the Greyhound from New Orleans my friends let slip that they'd managed to get tickets for an NBA playoff game, Dallas Mavericks vs Denver Nuggets (yes, quite possibly the worst name for a sports team ever). It meant a drive over to Dallas and the tickets weren't cheap, but I figured the opportunity to watch a real live NBA playoff game wouldn't likely crop up again and was pretty excited. I've wanted to go to a basketball game since I first saw the Chicago Bulls dreamteam of the mid-late 90s on television growing up.


The American Airlines Centre where the 'Mavs' play was bigger than I expected and ten minutes before the game started the place was almost full and buzzing. The Mavs were in a tight spot, down in the series 3-0 and had to win this game to have any chance of staying in the playoffs, although coming back looked unlikely. Being at a game here is quite an experience. They have a gigantic sound system and massive video screens hanging from the ceiling, all of which get the crowd going with chants and silly animations. We shouted, we cursed the opposition, and somehow, despite being ten points behind the whole game, the Mavs came back in the last minute of the last quarter to winthe game by two points! The place went wild! It was so intense I could feel the adrenaline cursing through my veins!

Other activities whilst in the Lone Star State (did you know Texas used to be it´s own country back in the day?!) have included:

Watching the new Start Trek movie at an IMAX. Its entertaining enough, but how weird was it to see Simon Pegg cracking jokes all over the shop?!

Visiting the Cathedral of Junk. This is exactly what it sounds like but miles better than you could ever expect. In a quiet residential street, in Vince Hannemann´s back yard sits an impressive structure composed entirely of old toys, car parts, scrap metal, old radios, arms chairs... in fact anything you can think of is probably stuck in there somewhere. It was amazing and pictures cannot really do it justice but here you go.


The best thing is it is completely structurally sound and you can walk up inside to second floor level! Its a very bizarre labour of love, but an incredible achivement nonetheless.


Going ´Toobing´. This basically involves a big group of you hiring large rubber tires and floating on down the river, a cooler of food and drink to hand. Often I find its the simple things in life that you end up enjoying the most and this was a case in point. Good conversation, good people watching and laughs aplenty as you go bobbing down the rapids trying not to get your back end prodded by rocks as the bemused turtles and other wildlife look on!

The Natural Bridge Caverns near San Antonio were an impressive sight. Its always intriguing to see inside this Earth of ours and marvel at the fact that these alien formations of stalagtites and mites have been steadily growing for millions of years.

The rest of the time we spent hanging out in Austin, checking out one of the best record shops I´ve ever been too, swimming and sunbathing in and around the gorgeous Barton Springs Pool and generally enjoying life.

Today I'm flying to...

Excited!!

Hurricane Katrina: The Truth

This I did not know. This shocked and moved me. The following is a word-for-word reproduction of the information on display in Jan Spacek's Starling Occult Shop in New Orleans, written by himself, his wife Claudia Williams and their friend Phillip Humphries. Very big thanks to Jan for letting me reproduce it here.

This altar is dedicated to the 20,000 people held against their will at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans in the week following Hurricane Katrina. For all the people who went without food, water, medicine and perhaps most important of all, SECURITY OF ANY KIND, We Remember. For all the people forced to endure a warzone because the NOPD and/or the national Guard would assasinate those who tried to escape and then leave their bodies dead or dying for the rest to see and hear, unable to help. We Remember. For those who did not survive those days due to dehydration, lack of medicine, stabbing, gunshot or having been beaten to death. We remember. We remember those who dies due to violence the NOPD orchestrated knowing what the outcome would be. For the families who desperately searched for children who went missing AFTER ARRIVING AT THE CONVENTION CENTER AND WERE NEVER FOUND OR WERE FOUND MURDERED, We Remember. For those whose bodies were tossed into the Mississippi River during the nights of August 31st, September 1st and 2nd, 205, by the NOPD and National Guard. We remember. For the families and loved ones of those people whose bodies will never be found because they did not perish in flooding, rather at the hands of the very people charged with protecting them - the people who laughed at how fine a river the Mississippi is for dumping bodies, such extensive aquatic life and swift current it has! We Heard Them And We Will Always Remember. We Know.

To the heroes who risked their lives trying to get water, food or medicine to those desperately in need. We Remember. To the heroes who helped the sick and probably kept the body count from being higher than it was, We Hope We Helped, We Are Grateful and We Will Not Forget.

To the people who took it upon themselves to create a makeshift morgue to give the fallen some dignity when the decaying bodies became too many, too hazardous and too disturbing to those remaining (children especially). We Remember. You Are Heroes.

To Govener Kathleen Blanco who sent people to the Convention Center when the Superdome became too full and claims to have then FORGOTTEN HAVING DONE SO, WE WILL NOT FORGET.

To the 250 members of the National Guard charged with dispensing water, food, medicine and who despite wearing full uniform and each carrying both an M-16 and a semi-automatic sidearm, opted to barricade themselves from the rest of the people and keep the supplies that might have saved many people for themselves, MAY YOU WALK WITH THE SAME PRIDE AND VALOR YOU SHOWED THEN FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAYS. AND WHEN YOUR LOVED ONES ARE IN DESPERATE TROUBLE, PRAY IT IS NOT PEOPLE LIKE YOU CHARGED WITH THEIR AID AND RESCUE.

To President George W. Bush who drove past the Center on the night of Wednesday, August 31st at 3.330am, only to claim he was unaware of the problems or even existence of the Convention Center until the following Friday. We Saw You, Sir. We Know. And for your mother who said this catastrophe really turned out to be a blessing for so many, may she someday have to lie face down in three inches of human blood, urine, feces and decaying corpses for days to enjoy the blessings that come from it. For you, Barbara, there is a special place elsewhere.

To the New Orleans police Department and the National Guard who shot anything and everything including each other while awaiting "THE GREAT WAR" that never came. WE WERE THERE. WE SAW IT. AND FOR YOU WE CARRY A MIXTURE OF FURY AND PITY. YOU HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE MEMORY AND CONCEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTIONS EVERY DAY UNTIL YOUR EARTHLY JOURNEY ENDS. SOONER OR LATER, LIKE THE REST OF US, YOU TOO WILL BECOME CHILDREN OF OYA (OR OSIRIS, OR THE ANCESTORS, OR HADES, OR BARON SAMEDI, OR SHIVA, OR CHRIST). THEY WILL WONDER WHAT YOU DID TO HELP THEIR CHILDREN WHILE ON EARTH, AND YOU WILL HAVE TO ANSWER.

We were among the 20,000 people held at the Convention Center from August 31st, 2005, until being rescued by the US Army on September 3rd, 2005, confused and horrified at what they encountered. You know it is bad when you make the Army cry.

We will keep screaming until somebody hears us.

I turn to her and say.... Texas

The Voodoo Hoodoo What You Don't Dare To People

New Orleans has been on my radar for a while and as soon as I knew I'd be going to stay with my friends in Texas I wanted to stop off in Louisiana along the way. The cultural beauty of the French Quarter and the rich musical history of jazz and blues were a big draw, and as a drummer, the fact that the explosion of said music in the 1940s and 50s first developed and subsequently popularized the 'traps' as the collection of tom toms, snare drums, cowbells and cymbals were then called.


I eventually flew down from New York's La Guardia airport six hours late after a massive thunderstorm hit the city and delayed all flights for hours, arriving around 1am after a transfer through Charlotte. The hostel I was staying in, the India House, was a bit of a hippie hang out perfectly suited to eager young travellers and I met a good bunch of people there.


The first day I wandered around the French Quarter and was suitably impressed. The combination of French/Spanish architecture, lovely little shops and of course the tropical weather made for a really interesting experience. As usual I stumbled upon another awesome secondhand bookshop and found a great book by Mickey Hart, drummer with the Grateful Dead, on how the linkages between drumming, spirituality and conciousness are all intertwined. It's a complete and thorough look at rhythm across the world and throughout history; in short, truly inspirational!



Then walking on down Chartres Street I found the Jamie Hayes gallery. The artist was sat at a desk opposite the front doors putting the finishing touches to his latest nineteen screen(!) screenprint. The colorblind artist makes very distinctive, bold designs which draw from New Orleans culture from past and present, as well as designing a very funky range of voodoo dolls and accessories.
After walking through the French market, I had a nice cold beer whilst watching a few old timers play some blues in an outdoor cafe. It seems like there's live music in almost every bar and cafe in this town which makes for a lively atmosphere as the night draws in.

On my way back to the hostel I found the Starling Occult Library on a backstreet corner. Inside, I was immediately struck by the case of live snakes and struck up a conversation with the owner, a nice chap by the name of Jan Spacek. We chatted about snakes and I explored his fascinating shop which is full of voodoo shrines, jars of odds and ends, various animal bones, gris-gris and assorted powders, potions and oils. Then I saw their shrine for the Hurricane Katrina victims, dedicated to preserving the memory of what really went on. I will reproduce the article he wrote in a separate post as it deserves your full attention. Suffice to say I was both shocked and deeply moved by what went unreported and the horrors he and his wife witnessed first-hand.

That evening I went out with some people from the hostel to sample some of the famed New Orleans nightlife over on Frenchman Street. Bourbon Street is the famous one but it was basically the tackiest street in thr world. Forget classy Jazz bars, its all neon-splashed bars, cheap and dirty food and surprisingly lots of 'adult' venues peppered amongst the wall-to-wall drunken tourists. I walked down it once to take some pictures but I can't say I'd want to go back. Frenchman however is where the locals go out and it is crammed with much cooler bars and live music venues and feels much like like the New Orleans I had pictured.


With my little Japanese dancing partner Aki we found an amazing Afrobeat/Latin/Reggae band playing in a bar painted with Marley-inspired murals. They were great and we danced like lunatics until the end of their first set when I went up to thank them for a great performance and chatted briefly to the drummer and the singer, mentioning I too played drums. After a short break, they returned and we readied ourselves to dance again but instead the singer stepped over to me:

"Do you want to play?" he asked.
"What, me? Now?" my slightly inebriated and surprised self replied.
"Yeah man, get up here!" was his response.

I got up there.

"We have a special guest tonight, Jody from England!"

So with the night taking something of a surreal turn I stepped into the hotseat and rocked out some African-inspired reggae jams with the band who were all accomplished musicians. After rocking it for a while I was having so much fun but my attempt to bring in some sizzling drum 'n' bass grooves were thwarted by the drummer whispering in my ear "I'm getting back on now.." Maybe I stole his thunder a little?!



The whole thing had such a dreamlike quality to it and afterwards I couldn't stop laughing from the random nature of events. Much fun was had by all though, it seems in this city of music and good vibes its almost impossible not to have a good time and most everyone you meet is smiling and happy. Damn good times!

Latest Photos are up on Flickr.

Brooklyn and Williamsburg

So after my week in the towering, bustling streets of Manhattan, I retreated to the calmer and generally cooler Brooklyn area across the East River. I kept hearing Williamsburg was the hippest area to be and with my awesome hostel only a couple of stops down the L line it was easy to get to and really nice area to wander around.



My hostel istelf had a fantastic 24-hour natural food store right round the corner as well as a funky little cafe and on arriving I met a cool guy called Chris who happened to play in an interestingly named band from San Antonio. Apparantly they're a bit of a Glassjaw/At The Drive In type deal but I havn't really had chance to listen to them yet so don't consider that link the stamp of my approval!

Monday evening I met up with my sister and her boyfriend who are travelling around the US after their exchange year in Canada. We went to a cool little basement Jazz bar called 55 Bar where a rather swift guitarist named Mike Stern led his equally skilled drummer and bassist through two storming sets of seemingly improvised jazz-rock-fusion. It was nothng less than seriously impressive and the bar had a great atmosphere, anyone who goes to New York should go!


Tuesday and my friends from Texas (who I'm going to be staying with) were in town for a couple of days too, so we all met up in the East Village and after drinks and laughs and dinner and more drinks and more laughs we somehow met a couple of hilarious English female football fans who insisted on embarrassing their nation with their tunless warbling at every opportunity. Sometimes there's not much worse than two pissed-up women screeching football chants! And then her husband, who was American, nonchalantly got out his wallet and SET IT ON FIRE in front of us! As we all stared, mouths agape, he just closed it again calmly as if nothing had happened. Everyone was like, WHAT THE?!?!

The next day I spent soaking up hipster-central Williamsburg, in particular the delights of Bedford Avenue which is dripping with funky places to go. I found an amazing vegan restaurant, a super-cool bookshop, a rather well-stocked record store and the best vintage clothes shop in the city.

I also stumbled across a tiny Paraguayan cafe that did the best Yerba Mate I have ever tried and had a mini-exhibition on the walls by an artist who's work grabbed me as as soon as I walked in the door to the extent that I couldn't even speak to the guy behind the counter for a few moments, utterly mesmerisised by his art. Cacho Falcon is his name and his website is rather funky but music on websites = cheese

A Week in New York City

So I've just spent a brilliant week wandering round exploring New York. The city is everything you expect and more; amazing galleries, museums, shops and cafes with sights and sounds to excite and inspire in equal measure. Here be a taste of what I've been up to:

Monday
I began the week by heading straight into the mayhem that is Times Square. Not a place you'd want to spent much time but it had to be seen for the gharish combinations of big screen video, endless traffic and countless tourists mixed in with the everyday workers. I walked up 7th Av. to Central Park and had my first NY bagel for breakfast!



It's such a nice place to have slapped right in the centre of one of the world's largest cities. The fact you can leave all the crazyness behind and enter a place of relative tranquility is most welcome.



Walking down 5th Av is an experience. Skyscrapers tower above you, mixing with old churches, the gigantic Rockefeller Centre and countless boutiques and emporiums. About halfway down is the Public Library, a grand building that is even grander inside, and feels more like a cross between a stately home and a museum rather than a library.



I rounded out the day by going to visit the temporary home of one of my favourite artists, Alex Grey. With his Chapel of Sacred Mirrors installation currently undergoing relocation to a permanent facility upstate, the East West gallery is currently hosting a selction of hus most well-known works. Having been a fan since I saw the cover of Tool's Lateralus, it was amazing to see his intricate and affecting works in person and I was really inspired and moved by his dedication and vision.


Tuesday
The following day was thirty degrees and gorgeous so I spent most of the day lying in the sun and exploring the vast lawns and lakes Central Park. You could easily spend a few days there and never visit the same part twice and it is well worth a visit to get away from the noise and bustle of the city.




In the afternoon I went to the best bookshop ever. Strand is on Broadway and is massive. They only sell second-hand books but have the largest range I've ever seen and I picked up some bits I'd been after for a while, Katharine Butler Hathaway's lost classic 'The Little Locksmith' and another of my new favourite author Tim Winton's dazzling books. The guy is seriously amazing.


On the way to the bookstore I walked past a children's memorial to 9/11. There were hundreds of tiny squares painted with their own little message and hung on the fence.



Wednesday
I visited the American Museum of Natural History on Wednesday, especially so I could go to the Hayden Planetarium which is part of the attached Rose Center for the Earth and Space. I love Planetariums! They had a presentation on entitled Cosmic Collisions - it was pretty mindblowing with spectacular, full-on audiovisual special effects showing the formation of the earth, the moon, the sun and how our galaxy relies of the magic of collisions. It was all they could do to stop all the school kids there from ooohing and ahhhing and clapping enthusiastically at every bit!

The museum itself is sprawling and in my four hours there I probably only saw about half of the halls. Those I did see however were pretty impressive, from the world's best collection of dinosaur skeletons and some impressive meteorites.




Thursday
I was staying out of the city for the next few days in a sweet little town called Tarrytown courtesy of the wonderful EF hospitality. Thanks Adam! Its only a short hop into the city by train and I pootled down to the Staten Island Ferry to get a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. It was cool to get out of the sea and get a different view of the city.



After the ferry trip, I wandered around the Financial District and Wall St, the Federal Reserve had the biggest American flag I've ever seen draped over the side. An inevitable trip to Ground Zero yielded nothing but a building site full of cranes and fenced off from public view but it was certainly thought provoking.



Friday
I crammed loads of stuff in today, starting off with a visit to the International Centre for Photography which was really interesting if a little small for the money. An exhibition by the Hungarian photographer Martin Munkasci was fascinating. After that I went over to the Fountain Gallery on 9th Av. They are unique in that they only promote and support artists with mental illess, specifically schizophrenia, bi-polar disorders and severe depression. It was an interesting angle and some of the works on show were great. Check out their site for full pictures and further information.




After that I walked across the famous Brooklyn Bridge which gives great views of the city and down the East River as well as lots of opportunities for messing about with your camera.




Moby's teahouse Teany was next on the agenda, 98 teas on their menu and I was in tea-heaven! Mmmmm Orange Sencha :) Met a lovely French guy here called Nicolas who, aside from being fun to talk with, takes rather amazing photos. Check them out.

Saturday
On Saturday me and Adam ventured down to Brooklyn Botanical Gardens for their Japanese festival Sakura Matsuri celebrating the cherry blossom season. They had Taiko drumming, live J-Pop stars, Manga and Anime stalls as well as cute Bonsai, bizarre Butoh and everything else you can think of to do with Japanese culture. The sun shone eventually and we saw some rather random sights as well as lots of rather attractive... plants!




After this we headed out to find a German beerhouse Nicolas had told me about the day before. The Radegast Hall and Biergarten is an amazing New York take on the traditional German beerhouse and only serves german and Belgian beers of the highest quality. The first drink was all the sweeter for the fact that we got a bit lost and walked for about an hour and a half to get there! The beer was outstanding with the Franzeskaner Heffe Weisse being my particular favourite. It had a great atmosphere and we met some nice americans as well as a bunch of crazy Ukranians who insisted on an enthusiastic 'Nostrovia' every couple of minutes!




All my photos from this week are up now on Flickr. Right, I'm off to Brooklyn!