¨Esta noche, nunca la olvidaremos¨

Audio - Serpientes en vivo en Guayaquil

I got up in Riobamba and ate breakfast, then read the Comercio Ecuadorian newspaper. Next thing I knew, I was on a bus to the largest city in the country, along the coast, Guayaquil, headed to a Silvio Rodriguez bicentenial (1809-2009) government sponsored free concert.

After making line where hundreds of police made sure nobody cut, I made it into the huge soccer stadium, packed with people from all over the country who arrived in subisdised buses to the event.

The moon came out, no clouds but enough to be lit up by the city lights, the nearbye airport gave us epic overflying jets like in that U2 beautiful day video or the Rock, and the music. Timeless revolutionary tracks like gracias a la vida, cambia todo cambia, comandante che guevara, la masa, and song after song of aging Silvios soothing childish voice. I wished my memory brought back the words and feelings as it did for the thousands of Ecuadorian voices in chorus.

A stadium lit up when the white lights turned. A stadium of flags, piggy backs, arms, cellphones, tears, nostalgic emotions, joy and hope. Correa was revealed at the end, in the front row, humble looking, singing at the top of his lungs for the encore.

¨Esta noche, nunca la olvidaremos¨


Continued traveling, came to Cuenca, but missed Calle 13s performance. He seems like a pretty cool human being. I was very angry at myself last night.

I realized I need to be a little more logical before hopping on a bus for 5 hours to miss the only thing I went to do. Thats the benefit of being with another person, you get to process decisions, pros and cons much more naturally. Alone, you either structure yourself in order to make solid decisions, or you suffer the consequences.

I bought a 100 dollar camera to replace good old Manuels. So now i have some media which I very happily will turn into a collection and be all proud of it. As long as it takes decent pictures.

My lower back is sore. I have been on a bus for too long. The time has lept from quantitative to qualitative: a lot. I dont even notice the passage of time on buses anymore. I just sit and wait for it to go by. And then I notice how tired and weary im getting and realize its been a long time. Then the buildings start getting bigger and im there.

At night inside, youre in a big rectangle with gradual variations of forward backward left and right pulls and tugs. The sounds emitted are those of a primal animal that has been extinct for thousands of years. The muffler acceleration sounds like an increasingly angry large mammal, or even a cyclops. And the brake system sounds like a high pressure air hose cleaning out the same tube in patterns.

Inside, people relinquish humanhood and regress to a brutish slumber. The normal needs of the body and mind are burried in a lazy vegetation. The body is told to shut down. But the ears, they are pretty active, hearing cries, whimpers, smashes, shots and swords that conjour up negative images. To rid themselves of the negative images, the ears tell the brain to focus on the shitty american action or horror movie (the shittiest movie in the world, each time, save rush hour 3 last night) playing in the background.

Meanwhile, the long rectangular metal box tugs onward, towards a name youve been told is worth checking out. Towards the next stop on the neverending complex of roads that weave these andean countries together. Hopefully, a name that will bring back good things and good people when waiting in the next bus, to the next name.

And now, im off to a 13 hour ride to get a head start into Peru, crossing the border tonight.
Please send your warmest thoughts and prayers to my lower back. I have a good book, El Ensayo de la Ceguera by Jose Saramago that has me trapped and will surely take up most of my attentive time and day light.