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So how does it all play out, my solo travels with my twin boys?

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Sunday, October 28 2012

8 years, 3 months, 6 days

Manta, Ecuador

About Travel Photography,
Colors of the World.

Manfred is creator of ThisFabTrek.com, travel photography, a travel blog and a photography blog (a journey from 2004 to 2013). 'I set out to see the colors of the world, always I try to capture the colors'.

Seeing, is understanding, so I report and photograph, but formost enjoy and live those different conceptions of life (all that TV [and the web] cannot give). I reject jealousy, animosity, bigotry. Be free!

Manfred in the desert of the Western Sahara

The mind, when pondering at night and always asked those questions. What am I doing in corporate wonderland of bank, university, office or church? Who is the other animal asleep deep inside, the thinker, punk, creative, or Indian, vagabond and healer, maybe artist, writer, photographer, traveler, globetrotter? Oh God, dare you to think. When I saw the lies, gambles and manipulations I follow the old dream and set out for the journey of life lived, the journey to see the colors of the world.

During years on the road I have taken the turns as they came along, and realized one thing: Only such a small part of the planet can be explored and such a vast land and sea mass will always remain unknown, to me; many swamps, jungles, deserts and oceans will never be traveled. But then I am father of twin boys, Daniel and David, my most important, and I show them some of the wonders and colors out there.

ThisFabTrek, Photography and Journey, the Stories from the Road and Life around the World, stopped in August 2013 after more than 9 years, Love and Peace.

Last vehicle.

G20, Chevy Gladiator.

Chevrolet Gladiator G20, The boys in Cordillera Blanca, Peru.
The boys and Chevy van, Peru.

The G20, the vehicle that came to me for the Americas adventures.

6 wheeled Land Rover.

Land Rover Defender 6x6
Link to Foley

The vehicle of the Africa adventures, a Foley 6-Wheeled Land Rover Defender.

Before, the MB307.

Manfred and MB307
Journey, Middle East.

The vehicle of the Middle-East and North-Cape Journeys. See all vehicles.

Daniel and David with nanny Aisha, the best we ever had, black African Woman carrying white twin babies, in Bamako, Mali.

Current Vehicle 57,627km

Boat 2,334km

Trekking 999km

Ferry 2,857km

Land Rover 73,588km

Other cars 203,165km

Travel Blog

contains Festival/Fiesta/Art photography.

"There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come." - Victor Hugo.

"What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it, to tell the tale." Living to Tell the Tale - Gabriel García Márquez.

"They never taught wandering in any school I attended. ... they never taught the art of writing a book, either. It's all so mysterious."
"Wandering is an art in itself. Wandering and writing don't mix"
"Writing demands commitment and if one thing your wanderer is allergic to is that very quality of commitment, for once one is committed he runs that very risk of failure ..." Wanderer - Sterling Hayden.

"Photography enables you to grasp a place first time round. ... Photography is a means of exploration, it's a vital part of travel, almost as essential as a car or a plane. " - Wim Wenders.

"The worst prejudice we acquire during our youth is the idea that life is serious. Children have the right instincts: they know that life is not serious, and treat it as a game..." , Egon Friedell.

"How far you gonna go. Before you lose your way back home" - Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World, Achtung Baby, U2.

"If you want to be a hero well just follow me." - Working Class Hero, John Lennon.

"When I think of all the things I have done, I know that it's only just begun." - I love you, Lou Reed.

"One does not escape the Sahara - the Sahara let's you go or not" - Touareg.

"Planet earth is blue and there`s nothing I can do" - This is Ground Control to Major Tom, David Bowie.

"Glory for the crazy people/in this stupid world" - Ahmed Fouad Negm.

www.thisfabtrek.com > journey > south-america > ecuador > 20121028-manta

To the beaches in Ecuador. This is a fill page, to get us from here to there and back!

Map, Ecuador.

Download GPS (KML) track/waypoints.

So how does it all play out after those last dramatic days in Peru? The van, I left him in Lima, on bus we came to Mancora, and on another night bus we travel back to Ecuador, to Guayaquil, and on to Montañita. I promised the boys beach and pizza and ice cream, it is important for them to 'chillax', for 2 more weeks, before European reality consumes them back. Also I need time to fathom my deed, of 5 months intensive traveling, solo with my twin boys, Daniel and David. Huuuuch..., damn it has gone by fast.

So here we are in Montañita.

Daniel and David spend their days on the beach, soon they go alone, or I send them ahead. Soon everybody knows them, they try surfing with boogie boards, exactly what I had promised them, just here the lifeguards lend them the boards for free, so they go 10 times a day and then come back from where the waves spilled them back in, dragging the boards behind them, thanks God they know how to swim by now. Or they run around flying a kite, they got it from somewhere for free, a few days later each of them has a kit, how they manage? Or they engage just about everybody, lifeguards, back-packers, hippies, and I see it is good, they are fearless, communicative, in almost 4 languages. They speak Spanish now! 'How come they speak Spanish? Peruvian/Ecuadorian mother?' I hear that so many times. No, they are just seasoned travelers! They are 5 and a half years old and I have taken them to 34 countries already.

The boys get boogy boards from the life guards, Montanita, Ecuador.
Boarding.
On beach in Montanita, Ecuador, surfbords stand high.
Surboards in haze.
Ice on stick, D&D in sand, Montanita, Ecuador.
In sand, ice stick.
Juggling, beach Montanita, Ecuador.
Hippies.
Montanita beach.
D&D in sand.
David up on life guard post.
With life guard.
C. visits.
C. and the boys.
Deck chairs and parasols, in Montanita beach, Ecuador.
Deck chairs in red.
In sand.
Flip flops.
Christina, Montanita.
C.
Montanita.
Me.
Montanita street.
David in divers suit.
Montanita beach.
C. and D&D.
McDonalds, Guayaquil.
I am ... it.
Guayaquil, light installation.
Guayaquil.
On a plane out of Ecuador.
Wing.

And I, I sit in the sand and watch Daniel and David and am a little proud, and watch the pelicans, and they still glide in formation down the Pacific ocean, 'as they did in California already, almost 20 months ago', I ponder. I do nothing, drink beer and enjoy an Ecuadorian beach ceviche every day, which has nothing in common with the exquisite Peruvian ceviche, but why not.

In the end, Christina comes and visits, the Miss Quito that I had left behind, and we spend 5 days together; the circle has closed and it is good. One day we go on a bus to Guayaquil, on a night bus to Quito, from Quito back to Guayaquil on a plane, from Guayaquil to Madrid on a plane, from Madrid to Vienna on a plane, in the end our baggage does not make the last flight... but I am back and brought the boys back safe. And no, I cannot fathom it.

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A little Euro journey, why not, I need inspiration.

While I deal with the exhaustion of the jet lag, the boys start going to school/kindergarten again, and their switch bears no signs of effort or disorientation; I mean, come on, away for almost 6 months, most of the time in rough circumstances, in a van, on the road, and then they walk through the door to kindergarten with enthusiasm, as if they were there yesterday; my most independent!

Vienna holds me exactly 10 days,... I kiss my boys goodbye, go to Salzburg with my brother, to Munich on a train, to Oktoberfest, Leberkäs, sunshine and rain. I go to Paris on train for more rain, also great wine and bottles of Caribbean rum, I see Louvre and Notre Dame again, stand where I stood and saw them first time 30 years ago, walk my teenage walks. I go to Elbeuf on a train, to see a circus in the making, the rains hit hard, food is great, cheese, sausage and wine, moule frite in Fécamp, the cliffs of Etretat. I take a train from Rouen via Amiens and Lille to Brussels, eat in the cantine of the Berlaymont building, the seat of the EU Commission, have a few Hoegaardens outside the EU Parliament. I take a bus back to Paris; the food is better in Paris, one night on an invitation I think I have two bottles of the great Sancerre wine from the Loire valley by myself. Another night I run on a bus and a ferry boat to London, spend 3 days and talk over famous London Indian curries to old friends, walk together long walks along the Thames and talk more in old pubs till late. I am done with Europe, am on a plane, to Miami, and another one to Quito.

St. Stephens.
Vienna.
Coca Cola.
Coca Cola.
Munich Oktoberfest.
Munich Oktoberfest.
Seine bridge.
Seine bridge.
Moules in Fecamp.
Moules.
Munich Oktoberfest.
Munich.
Oktoberfest.
Oktoberfest.
Oktoberfest.
Oktoberfest.
Notre Dame. 30 years that I saw her first time.
Notre Dame.
Notre Dame. 30 years that I saw her first time.
Notre Dame.
European Parliament, Brussels.
European Parliament.
My Hoegaarden.
Hoegaarden.
Sacre Coeur, Monte Matre.
Sacre Coeur.
Centre George Pompidou.
G. Pompidou.
Painted house near Centre Pompidou.
Near C. Pompidou.
Cat.
Cat.
New lady.
The lady.
Louvre.
Louvre.
Lego Pyramid.
Pyramid.
Royal Courts.
Royal Courts.
Red shopping mall, Bayswater.
Red shopping mall.
London Tube, Bayswater station.
Bayswater.

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One more time Ecuador, with C. to the other beaches, and then back to Lima.

In Quito I see Christina again, we head for the windy beaches of Atacames, Mompiche, Pedenales, dance Salsa in Quito's Aguijon club, drink beer in Manta and this is where it ends, - for the moment.

Ecuador beaches.

It is 15 hours from Manta, Ec. to Mancora, Pe., 4 buses where you start praying even if you never prayed before, 3 taxis, 2 motor taxis, 4 police checks where all have to get off, a border crossing, the crooked taxi drivers, the thieves in Tumbes, Pe., which I already met, the countless preachers and salesmen that hop on and off the bus, and don't forget those 'great' 30 year old fight movies at full volume that drag. But the weirdest thing is I don't drink a sip of water for 12 hours and don't pee for 14 hours, all in all an experience... for just 20USD. The transport from Mancora to Lima then is more comfortable, direct. But folks I prefer my own transport, the van that has waited here in Lima for more than a month.

Mompiche, grafitto.
Painting on wall.
Grafitto, Mompiche.
Grafitto, Mompiche.
Message in a bottle.
Message in a bottle.
Quito Salsa Club.
Quito Salsa Club.
Manta.
Manta
A new journey.
A new journey.
So the boys remember.
Mancora.
Peruvian spicy cebiche, This one is a mountain.
Cebiche finally.
Mancora, motorcycle.
Mancora, motorcycle.
Somewhere in Lima.
Somewhere in Lima.

So this is it, after 6 weeks back in Lima, it is the beginning of a new South America leg, and God knows where will it lead me.

www.thisfabtrek.com > journey > south-america > ecuador > 20121028-manta

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