Otovala and the Best Place in the Universe

After Quito, Scott and I went to the equator, which was awesome, then we went to Otavalo (spelling?) where they hold, on Saturdays, the biggest market in Ecuador. Here is where I learned to bargain. I knocked a mere 20 percent off of my first price (bargaining from ten to eight dollars), but by the end of the day I was a seasoned master of bargaining, buying an awesome Ecuadorian flag for 9 bucks when it initially cost 25. That´s right... 64 percent off! Scott and I loved to get the slimy market dealers to lie (I don´t mean anything bad when I say slimy, they will just tell you anything to get you to buy their products). Scott went up to a jewelry salesman and asked, in Spanish, ¨Is this pure silver?¨ The guy holding the rusty aluminum chain said ¨Si, pura! Para solo 95 dollars!¨ Scott took a few minutes to gaze, pretending, it was the most beautiful thing he ever saw, then said ¨No gracias¨. ¨Porque?¨ ¨Me gusta solo falsa plata¨. (I only like the fake stuff). The market vendor laughed that he had been caught in such an obvious lie. Most of the stuff they were selling was absolute shit. I saw a bunch of plastic axes on one side and on the other side a pipe for smoking (a real mix of a child and adult toys)... I asked in my dyslkexik Spanish ¨Es iste originale armas de Incas?¨ (is this an original weapon of the Incas) ¨Claro¨ (Of course). ¨Como Incas usar?¨ (How do Incas to use it?¨ The vendor then demonstrated how the Incas would smoke from the pipe, then use the axe side to kill their enemies with the blunt plastic of destruction. I responded with ¨No thanks, iste mirar muy peligrisso para mi¨ (No thanks, this looks too dangerous for me.)We then went on this thing that took us two miles above Quito, and I felt really objective, looking over the whole city, trying to imagine the point of view of each person down there. It was interesting to see the way the mountains shaped the town and how the human dwellings filled the valleys as far as I could see. Afterwards, we grabbed a bus from Quito to the border, and while we were waiting at the bus station, I bought one of those neck pillows. After sitting around for ten minutes, I decided that the neck pillow looked just like a horseshoe, so I gave Scott the opportunity to settle an old score with me (since I had just beaten him in air hockey, two out of three, with scores of 6-7, 7-6, 7-6... the game of our lives). We played horseshoes with a stopsign and a neck pillow. Very soon, all the little boys selling candy were watching and cheering on our game around the station. While a worthy opponent in air hockey, Scott was the worst horseshoe player in the whole world. I mopped the disgusting, bus station floor with him. We then let the little kids play horseshoes with eachother, and Scott bought a Gatorade for the one who actually managed to land it around the ring. He was really happy. In retrospect, I wish we had given him a neck pillow, to see if pillow horseshoes could catch on among the bus station kids.Anyway we took the bus to Quito, and it was awful, then we got to the border, and got screwed over by a couple of guys on the price to cross, since we had entered the car without bargaining for the fare. He charged us 12 bucks for only a few kilometers (which is absolutely insane!). Although we were each at fault, Scott, being an obsessed market maven, constantly searching for a deal, said he strongly wanted to pay for it all himself as a sort of penance. I allowed him to absolve himself from his sins (since he had snuck 15 dollars from me the night before on a poker hand). I had never seen Scott so mad with himself... haha... it was funny.Back in Tumbes, Peru, we hopped a combie to Mancora, the best place in the universe. After the two hour van ride with 20 other people, I couldn´t feel my legs, and, for the first time since puberty, my balls were asleep... a weird feeling that I would gladly buy an extra seat to never feel again. Finally, we got into Mancora and checked into Sol y Mar. Scott redeemed himself for his perceived failure in negotiations at the border by flirting with the overweight, desperate, attendant (the daughter that the parents would never marry off). She gave us 5 soles off per night for our room... 15 soles instead of 20. That is ten dollar savings over three nights. Go Scott!I can´t even tell you how great Mancora is. We made friends with literally everybody we saw, and I had some of the best days of my life there. On the last day, I literally didn´t sleep for 40 hours because I didn´t want to miss a single second there. All of the locals called me ¨Tranquillo¨ and they called Scott ¨Atreve¨... which mean ¨Chilled out¨ and ¨DARE¨. I will never forget the nights of freestyling with Peruvians about breakfast food (Cafe con leche y insalada de fruta, me gusta comidas). We met some great people. I really liked this 31 year old fashion designer from London who we called cogney and always made her say ¨Chim chimminy chim chimminy chim chim charoo!¨ We also loved talking to Alexis who was by far the most genuine person in the world whose job is to write poetry for local radio stations. We bought a shirt in Otavalo for Jhonny (the town slag and self proclaimed, most famous man in Mancora, whose catch phrase was con toto os huegetes... which means, with all the toys), and the shirt said ¨I LOVE BOOBIES¨ He wore it for 3 straight days. Staying up all night talking to Israeli army veterans. Riding horses every morning. Learning impromtu salsa from the local girls. Trash talking on the volleyball court. Seriously, though, nothing I say can even convey how great I felt in Mancora... it is the happiest place I have ever been. Here is one funny story that might work on paper: I was trying to tell my a pudgy, overweight, sandwich saleswoman on the beach (whose father makes sandwiches at night, and she spends the day selling them) to stay because I needed to go to my room and get money. I tried to say ¨I have money. I will go to my room and get it.¨ What I ended up saying was ¨I have money. Let´s go to my bed. Come on¨. The whole beach erupted in laughter, and I felt very embarassed. Luckily, I was able to explain it to Alexis who translated for me.After a few awesome days in Mancora, Scott and I took a buscama back to Lima with our new French friend, Silvain. I slept all night, since I hadn´t slept the night before, and then the three of us ate at a Chifa in Lima. We then said bye to Silvain and wished him luck in his new job in September at Shanghai. Scott and I slept for four hours, then headed out to the casino. I almost immediately lost almost all of my money due to feeling so awesome (after Mancora) and thus overconfident. I had the high pair, but I bet the river even though there was a flush draw on the board, not expecting the check raise. He took me all in, except for 12 dollars, and I lost. I had 140 dollars left in my poker fund, and in just a couple hands, I had lost 128 of it. I stuck it out with my 12 dollars, and made a big production of betting ¨All in¨with the four remaining dollars I had when 8 were already committed to the pot. They all laughed at the pathetic bet... saying ¨Wow!¨... I responded with one of my first Spanish jokes... ¨Si! Yo soy LOCO¨ YES! I am crazy! I was lucky enough to turn my 12 buck into 55 that hand. Then I flopped a straight, and I dominated that hand to have 150 dollars. I doubled that soonafter, but in a very sad manner. I was playing Scott, who had a great hand, pocket tens with one ten on the board. A great hand. I, however, had pocket aces with one Ace on the board... it was like the end of Casino Royale. We each put all our money behind hands that would win 9 out of 10 times... mine was just luckier. Scott looked deflated and so did I, but Scott´s spirits lifted when he won a drawing of 100 dollars, total randomness, but he deserved the luck as he had previously lost the river (and 150 bucks) when the guy he had put all in had a one in 23 chance of drawing the card he needed. Scott´s luck turned up, and mine turned down as I got tired... having learned the hard way not to play while tired, I cashed out my chips and went to bed around 1:30. Scott stayed, and I still haven´t found out how he did. I am just happy to have cashed out $220 dollars after being at $12 a few hours previously. I am now ready to be awesome again at poker. I have learned a lot of expensive lessons, and I am sure I will learn more, but I think I am now able to win more as well. I can´t wait to hit the casino tonight. The poker fund will will always have an uncomromised wall, but my fund is bigger than it was last night, and I can´t wait to see if I am given an opportunity to turn it into some profits for the trip.Scott is the smartest and best friend a guy can ever have, and I feel so lucky to be travelling with him... Just being around him is making me more logical. Even if I lose ever hand until I leave, I feel really lucky to know him.