Archive for category: Blogs

We’ve been back home now for almost a month, and we’re slowly settling back in to the routine. I’ve been training at Guerilla and at Komainu, my home gyms. We’re still living in the trailer, since I rented our place out, and it’s pretty tight for two people plus fur babies. All in all, Jen hiked over 400 miles, which is more than most of us will ever do in our life times. I dropped in and rolled at 15 different academies, and broke in my purple belt proper. 

I’m on to the next phase, planning for Burning Man. I run a BJJ and Muay Thai camp there, 7:15 and C for those of you who know the way the city is laid out. We have black belt instructors, about 20 loaner gis, 400 s.f. of roll out mats, shade, and lots of fun. No, we have never had staph or ringworm. I think the city is too dry and hot for that stuff to live, plus we wipe down the mats with bleach after the class. 

Anybody wants to come and roll with us, I don’t know how much more exotic a location you could find than Black Rock City. There won’t be any surf, but I promise you’ll have fun!

Our next stop, after a sea day, was Barcelona, Spain. When we first arrived, Barcelona looked super small — from the Port. But when we got on to the Hop On/Hop Off bus, I figured out it was much bigger than I thought!

We first stopped to get a snack and mom figured out the Picasso Museum was nearby. So we started walking there. On the way, I saw some cool grafitti pictures on roll-up doors. I liked this one of a dog the best!

When we got to the Museum it was closed! We figured out it was St. John the Baptist Day — a national holiday. That’s why so many shops were closed. Mom was sad to miss the Museum.

We got back on the bus to check out the Cathedral — which is a church. It was very huge and I’ve never seen a church just like that before. The church had carvings and was a very strange shape. There is only one church like this in the world so it is very special. They aren’t finished building it either.

After the cathedral, we got back on the bus and went through the city. We stopped and had lunch and then started walking around. We decided to catch a taxi to get back to the huge statue of Christopher Columbus. There were some shops along the water there and I bought a swimming dinosaur’s tooth. Dad let’s me keep his coins, and in Europe there are coins that are worth 1 whole Euro and 2 whole Euros — not just coins like our coins. I love dinosaurs and sharks.

And that was our day in Barcelona!

[Dad’s note: I had tried to contact three jiu jitsu academies prior to our trip to set up some training for Eli. It’s been a week since he’s trained and that’s a long time for Eli. Initially, it seemed promising that we’d be able to connect with one of the gyms. But, after the first contact, I was having trouble confirming a time. Now I realize that the only day we were available was a national holiday – so training wasn’t going to be possible. Why they couldn’t just tell me that I dint know. But, gyms get back to people! Hopefully, we can get connect with a gym in Marseille or Genoa in a few days.]

Today was a really good day! We started the day in Messina and then we drove up through the hills to Taormina. We had a tour of Corso Umberto — the Main Street in Taormina. We almost got in a bus accident trying to get there because the road was so narrow and windey. There were a lot of long tunnels on the drive too.

On the Main Street we saw churches, shops, and gelaterias. We saw an old mosaic too. There was one narrow alley that was so narrow I could barely fit through it. The view was really nice.

We went to the Greek Theater in Taormina. The theater was cracked with missing parts and I accidentally kicked one of the stones out of place when I jumped off a wall! Oops. On the way out, dad spotted an apricot tree. Mom and I tasted an apricot — I saved my seed for my Nana to try to grow a tree.

On the way back through the street I had my first gelato — it was mint chip. Dad got watermelon and it REALLY tasted like watermelon! It was so watermelon-y. Mom couldn’t have gelato so she got a strawberry popsicle instead.

Back in Messina, we saw the largest astronomical clock in the world. But since we weren’t there at noon, we didn’t get to see it move.

The island of Sicily was very pretty. There was a lot of green, and not as many smokers as Greece.

To make the day even greater, I also caught a super rare Pokémon. My coach, Coach Pablo, says you can only get Mr. Mime in Europe. Today I got to catch two of them!

Mom told me that the island of Sicily is triangle shaped. I remembered that in Greece I learned a new triangle AND learned how to say triangle in Greek. Triangles seem to keep popping up on this trip!

Ciao for now!

Although my time in Las Vegas left much to be desired, there was still one stop that needed to be made before dipping my toes in the Pacific for the first time. I decided to cut west and head to Joshua Tree National Park in Eastern California. As an avid climber and boulderer, JTree has always been on my mind as a place to explore. 

Driving through the desert, I couldn’t ignore the thoughts of pioneers that came before me. They navigated the high peaks and the barren desert with all of their earthly belongings in tow. Here I was, hundreds of years later, tearing across the paved highways in a 97 Jeep, all of my earthly belongings in tow. Something in that resonated with me as I pulled into the town Joshua Tree. The town itself is exactly what I’d seen with most desert towns: a sweet shell of southwestern architecture on the outskirts of town, filled with a creamy center of fast food joints, car washes, and strip malls. I hung around near the edge of the city, stopping briefly at an outdoor shop about five minutes from the entrance to the park before making my way to the land of the boulders.

Jiu Jitsu and Rock Climbing aren’t too different: they take strength, but technique conquers all! This pano was taken atop a 60-foot boulder in the middle of JTree National Park!

Joshua Tree National Park was beautiful. The scattered boulders, some bigger than houses, were like an unexplored playground. The experiences of the early American climbers of the 70’s and 80’s ran through my head. I pictured John Bachar and John Long investigating the secrets of these rocks for weeks on end before taking their skills to Yosemite. As I approached a boulder for my first session, I noticed a climber racking up his gear to get out on another wall. I approached, asking if he needed a partner to climb with, and he happily obliged. His name was John, and was a 23-year-old marine from a nearby military base. We climbed for a few hours that afternoon, and all felt good. It was a breath of fresh air to take a few days away from BJJ. I’m finding on this trip that supplemental training is just as important as days in the gym; it keeps things fresh and interesting.

John and I parted ways and I went to the nearest Walmart to sleep for the evening. Following a quick oil change in the parking lot, I spent the next day exploring the park, too tired to climb from the day before. As I drove through the valley, and the dust kicked up in the wind behind my Jeep, I listened to my stereo. About 25 years earlier, my father had been doing the same. He’d been in the valley with a friend of his, and while there, wrote a song, Desert Wind. I played the song through my stereo as I navigated the dirt roads, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a little emotional. I left Joshua Tree that afternoon, happy with my time there. It was the type of beautiful a special type of person could only appreciate. I’d recommend anyone spend time there if given the chance. The mountains whisper, and the valley itself speaks volumes. 

Gotta keep my globetrotter running smooth!

From Joshua Tree, I hoofed it to the coast with a vigor. I needed to feel the ocean. Around 9:30pm on June 7th, I dipped my toes in the Pacific for the first time. It was cold, I was tired, and I was done driving for the day, but I cried as I realized that I’d achieved a dream. I’d driven from coast to coast. I made it. I realized that, without BJJ, I probably wouldn’t have. When planning this trip, before joining Globetrotters, I’d only planned on going as far as Yosemite National Park. When I started thinking of places to train after being blessed with this blogger gig, San Diego and the coast was an obvious option. 

I slept in my car about 150 yards from the ocean that night before waking up to train the next morning. I’d always wanted to train with Xande and Saulo Ribero, and I was excited to make this desire a reality. I sent a quick Facebook message to the team over at the academy, and they were happy to oblige my drop in. I arrived at the academy for noon gi class, which was taught by Xande himself. I’ll admit I was a little starstruck. After seeing him at NoGi Pan Ams back in 2015, I thought those feelings would’ve gone away. I was wrong. I payed my mat fee, got changed, and got to work!

The main training area for advanced classes!

The academy, tucked away in the corner of a small strip mall in San Diego, was the cleanest, most beautiful school I’ve visited to this point. Amongst the framed portraits of the University of Jiu Jitsu lineage were also medals from Xande and Saulo, the gi Xande wore when he beat Roger in absolute, and the like. The mat areas (there were two of them) were clean as a whistle, and followed the yellow, black, and white color scheme of the Ribeiro brothers.

The history behind this gi is astounding…

Class went very well. Xande introduced me to the class before beginning warm ups, and everyone at the academy was very welcoming and were happy to have an outsider to train with. I partnered up for drills with one of the brown belts. After warm ups and some short drilling rounds, it was time to roll. Their rolling was very structured; everyone lined up, and the highest rank picked their partner. This was repeated with the next highest rank until everyone was partnered up. We kneeled in front of our partner, bowed, and got to work. I was glad to see that I was able to hold my own against the students of a legend. The brown belts and black belts throttled me, but I an even match against the blue belts and purple belts. This might sound cheesy, but training here reaffirmed the fact that BJJ is a universal language. Many of the students in this early class spoke little to no english; only Portuguese. Despite that, the jiu jitsu was the lingua franca in this school. After class, I asked Xande for a photo, and he was more than happy to take one. He asked about my Globetrotters blog, and seemed interested enough. He asked if I’d be back for the night class, which was apparently the advanced class. I quickly said I would be.

Some inspiration on the walls. Never too late to learn!

A quick note on the ranking system: I was surprised to find a wealth of green belts at the academy. From what I was told, the green adult belt is a carryover from the Judo background of both Saulo and Xande. I found the judo hommage very inspiring! It’s clear that the Ribeiro brothers are serious about emphasizing the importance of jiu jitsu stand-up in competition. VERY inspiring!

I spent the day exploring San Diego; walking on the beach, seeing the city, and so forth. The city was quite nice; a scene from “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” played through my mind as I traversed the streets. I ate a hearty late lunch of cold Chef Boyardee ravioli on the beach and relaxed before the night class. I arrived at the academy just in time for class. I was introduced to the class by the instructor, a black belt named Jeremy. Class was structured very similar to the morning’s class: quick warm up, drilling, then rolling. I found the sessions of each to be considerably longer than noon class, but that was fine; there was cute a bit of In-N-Out burger that needed to be worked off that class. Jeremy taught some slick RDLR attacks, and even a transition into X-Guard. I found this useful as I’ve always hated RDLR as a position, but I’ve been seeing it used much more often on this trip. Plus, the X-Guard transition fit right with my game. I drilled with one of the blue belts, Todd, and he was very interested in my journey in general. After drilling for a half hour or so, it was time to roll. We rolled five six-minute rounds, and boy was I put into the ringer. I don’t think I rolled with anyone lower than a purple belt that class. I held my ground, even sweeping one of the brown belts, but overall it was like being tossed in a washing machine. They shut down most of my defenses until I was able to sneak under to full X or overlook X. Jeremy called me over for my third roll and swept me with the same RDLR series we’d worked in class. I loved seeing the difference between belt levels. Every black belt was simply more versed than the brown belts, and every brown belt was more versed than the purple belt. 

Bald and beautiful. The way it should be!

My time at University of Jiu Jitsu is time that I won’t forget. DEFINITELY worth a drop in if you’re in San Diego. I’d hate to end this blog post on a bad note, but the one thing that I struggled the most with in San Diego was drop-in fees. I understand that owning gyms are a business, but charging a $30, $40, $50 for a drop-in mat fee seems unreasonable. I spent two days in a jiu jitsu “mecca” of the world, and could only afford a trip to one gym while there. I suppose it’s just a part of the culture nowadays. 

Greetings From Rabat Morocco!

Getting to the hotel was an adventure, I knew it would be so it wasn’t a surprise or unwelcome, just some fun on the way. I arrived at the airport early in the morning as my flight was an early one, so I didn’t get to say goodbye the roommates in Malaga instead just leaving a Panda patch on their bags as I quietly left. When checking in for my flight they demanded I show them my exit ticket, which I had completely forgotten to buy. So with my phone I found a ticket for the right day, although a bit more expensive than I’d like, and bought it on the spot. The funny thing is the flight attendant was pretty strict with me having this ticket, and was generally quite the asshole in general, siting that if I didn’t have an exit ticket I’d have to buy a visa or the customs might kick me out, meanwhile all my interactions with the customs in Morocco were smooth and easy. They just simply read my front page, saw I was a Canadian citizen with a valid passport and stamped it accordingly without any questions. In fact the customs guard when entering Morocco just gave me a big stupid smile the whole time starring at my tattoos. He spent more time checking me out than the passport.

The flight into Morocco was short, I just hoped over from Malaga to Tangier rather than fly all the way to Rabat or Casablanca which would have cost several hundred dollars more for the ticket. From Tangier I took a taxi to the train station, which zig-zagged all through the city instead of just taking the main roads and had me thinking I was going to end up in a back dead-end alley being robbed any minute. I arrived at the train station in one piece but I really don’t think he saved any time at all in his route, quite the opposite I’d say. I then took a train to Rabat, which took about 3 hours but I was in no rush and was armed with a full powered Nintendo 3DS and laptop with downloaded movies. In total, taxi, train and snacks, I spent well under $100 CDN after conversion when it would have cost me over $200 CDN more to fly to Rabat from Malaga. This was a way more fun way, I got to more of the country as well as save a few dollars.

Once I got to Rabat the hotel was just a short 10 minute walk up to the Medina from the train station. The Medina is the marketplace, it’s a huge place full of small shops side by side and booths everywhere, the roads are tight and crammed with people. There’s one in each city and although it may be off in the corner of town it’s the heart of the city for shopping, bargain hunting and haggling. My hotel was a few blocks into the Medina so I was surrounded by the market, which meant cheap food right nearby.

The view landing in Tangier. I wasn’t in a good position to take pics on the train but similar view the whole way.

Staying In The Medina 

Daily I would pass shops and stands selling fruit, meat, nuts, other foods and all kinds of things. I would usually start the day off by walking down the street to the grocery store and picking up a 7L jug of water and some cheese. Passing back through the Medina I would stop off and get some fruit, which usually more fresh and either the same price or cheaper than the grocery store, some nuts, walnuts were everywhere and cheap, and some loafs of this fresh bread that was sold all through the Medina. It was a circle and kinda flat but not a pita, I don’t what it’s called but it was tasty with cheese. I didn’t trust the butchers or vendors enough to try any of the meat being cooked and sold there, fearing it might upset my stomach or I could get food poison, but it smelled very favourful when passing them. Sometimes there would be a vendor selling boiled corn and I’d pick some up as well. This was my diet for my time in Rabat, fruits, nuts, bread and cheese and copious amounts of water. All this was very cheap, I think at most I spent $15 CDN a day in food.

Rabat city square, or a busy city square anyways, I believe this building was a museum of some sort.

The entrance, or one of, to the Medina.

while walking about this daily trek, I didn’t get out to any of the sights because of some negative head space, I took some pictures of the city. There’s not a lot of photos compared to some places I’ve visited but I wasn’t in a picture taking mood. A close friend was supposed to meet me in Morocco and at the last minute everything went to hell and they didn’t make it, making me feel down. I wasn’t really feeling like going sight seeing and on adventures that were supposed to be had together. Then again maybe I was just better off relaxing anyways.  

Inside the Medina.

Art of Submission Morocco

I’ve been planning out Morocco since the start of planning the Odyssey. It was a complicated list of planning, I wanted to go to Russia but I needed to do visa paperwork and could only apply within six months of visiting. When I planned on going to Russia depended on when my time allowed in the European Schegan Zone, as I’m only allowed 90 days within 180 (3 months in, 3 months out) was up. When that time came up depended on if I would be going to Morocco. So basically the starting outline for the Odyssey outside of Canada was London and the UK in March, Morocco in May, and Russia for July and then I started in filling in spots and connect the dots after that.

Life sized Hulk statue!

During all that planning and talking to countless people I made a few contacts for Morocco, most were in Casablanca and Marrakech, which will be my next article, but I also met Simo through the BJJ Globetrotters matsurfing connection. Simo actually isn’t in Morocco anymore, he’s moved to Amsterdam but still has many contacts in Morocco and helped me out a lot. One of the people Simo connected me with was Mouhcine. Mouhcine trains in a club in Temura, which is a town right next to Rabat. I got in contact with Mouhcine and sorted out the schedule and when would be good to train and set out to meet him and the club. The original plan was to meet Mouhcine at the train station and get a drive to the club, the problem was my SIM card data plan didn’t work in Morocco and there wasn’t any wifi at the train station, so I had no way of being able to contact him once I arrived at the train station. Luckily I had the gym saved to Google Maps and that the map’s GPS works offline. The gym was just up a few blocks from the train station so I was easy enough to make it to and I made it just in time for class. The Jiu-Jitsu club, Art of Submission Morocco which is under Prof. Mehdi Khalil, is located downstairs in the gym Monster Gym which has some cool art around the place, like paintings of Arnold and other body builders, or pictures of old boxers.

Rolling time!

It was a smaller class, there were 4 or 5 of us, and a few of them were very new to Jiu-Jitsu so we went over a lot of the fundamentals for class. everyone was happy to have me visit, I even did an interview with Mouhcine for his YouTube Channel after class (you can watch the video HERE), I don’t think they get too many visitors in Morocco so when a traveler like myself shows up they’re very happy to have you join them. During the class the new guys were open to me helping, I believe we were working guard passing, and everyone was eager to take their turn with me when it came to rolling, in fact I’m pretty sure I rolled with one or two of them more than once. It was a fun time, hardly even noticed the language barrier, although the fence wall with guys working out on the other side watching us roll was a new feeling.

Mouhcine, in the middle, with the AOS class.

After class Mouhcine took me out for some food at a nice Italian place he was friends with. The pizza I had was really good and I think the only meat I had while in Rabat haha. The guy who ran the restaurant was friendly and funny guy and Mouhcine was filming the whole time, making me real welcome and almost like a celebrity. Later I learned it’s part of the culture in Morocco to accept you in and make you feel very at home and taken care of. I definitely felt like that I whole time in Morocco and Mouhcine and his club were a great first stop!    

De La Riva Rabat

Another club I was looking to visit was De La Riva Rabat, or I think it’s a De La Riva club, apparently the clubs have changed affiliations and instructors a few times so names have changed. On Google Maps this place comes up at De La Riva Rabat, but their website link sends them to Mehdi Khalil’s AOS Morocco Facebook page, which leads me to believe Prof. Khalil runs both clubs. Whatever the name they were a very friendly group in that held classes inside a gym, with their own matted room, I think it was originally a judo or wrestling room. The head instructor was away for a seminar so there were only a few students for class and they were all lower ranks, I think all white belts, maybe one blue belt, so they asked me to teach them a technique or two since I was the highest ranking student there. This was an odd feeling. I feel weird when I show up and I’m the highest ranked student next to the teacher, but to suddenly be the guy in charge at a club I’m visiting is something to me, in my limited teaching experience, is very new. So I went back to the basics and showed them a simple guard break I’ve been working on and using with good success.

It’s a really simple seated guard break that I’ve put together from little tips I’ve picked up from traveling around. I actually found a video with a guard break that is very similar but I have a few added things that I think make it better. There’s no standing or doing anything flashy but it works very well, I was going to post the video I found but as it happens I was recorded teaching the technique again at another club so I’ll just post that instead. Here’s the Video from Marrakech Fight Club, which I will post again for that article too.

During rolling time I had my hands full, these guys were full of energy, but I used my time to just keep to working on the very technique I just showed them. What’s funny is they seemed to want to use more energy to get a triangle or maybe a sweep as I used the technique on them, like they were trying to shut down what I taught them, which actually just helped the technique more. It’s not perfect but I’m having fun with it. To top it off I had some of the guys say they used it while rolling and it was working great for them, that’s the best compliment you can get!

My young eager class in Rabat, these guys are going to be killers!

I was supposed to visit a third club, Hicham from Casablanca (there are two Hicham’s in Casablanca this is the ‘other Hicham’ as the Hicham who’s a black belt and runs Equipe Elite says) was going to set me up with a friend that trains there but I ended up having a headache and taking a nap and totally missed it. So after good start to my visit to Morocco I was off to Casablanca to meet the two Hichams and train and get some (too much) sun for my birthday! But that’s another story..  

Until next time,

see you on the mats!

OSSS!!

WAYS TO SUPPORT PANDA’S ODYSSEY!

Sign up to the Panda’s Odyssey Patreon Account.

Buy Panda’s Odyssey Patches at The Gi Hive.

Buy the Panda’s Odyssey T-shirt.

Follow me and other traveling Jiu-Jitsueros at the BJJ Globetrotters blog section.

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel.

Check out my full photo albums for each article at my Flickr account.

Add me and follow along on most social media @pandasodyssey

Days 2 and 3 — Athens…finally!

We arrived in Athens at 1:30 am. I don’t think I’ve ever stayed up this late (on purpose) before in my life! Our flight to Athens was also delayed and our luggage was lost. So we were super tired, but in good spirits.

Our taxi driver (whose daughter’s name was Agape which I learned means “love”) gave me a bunch of Greek candies. It was the best kind of candy I have ever had. The taxi driver also gave me an extra lollipop — it tasted like peach, orange AND lemon. He also gave me a traditional sesame and honey candy. It was crunchy and tasted really good too.

After a good night’s sleep, I was able to see the Acropolis from our hotel. When I first saw all of the old ruins I was really amazed and couldn’t wait to explore them. But it was a hot day, and we didn’t have a change of clothes so mom decided we should check out Syntagma Square which was a huge garden and park. We saw turtles, ducks, chickens, peacocks and A LOT of pigeons. But I found a bug that looked like a leaf and I let it crawl on my hand. The but was a lot cooler to me than the birds! I also found a really cool tree to climb, but dad was afraid I’d slip. Later, I drew a picture of my favorite things from the park.

It was a really hot day (for us) but as we were eating lunch, it started to rain! We didn’t expect THAT to happen! At lunch, I noticed that most people do not use ice in their drinks, but it was such a hot day that we HAD to ask for some ice in our drinks.

Next we went shopping. I don’t really like shopping so I got a chocolate and vanilla swirl ice cream instead.

After an afternoon break, we hopped on a bus to catch a view of the city. It was cloudy out, and it seemed like a good time to see the Acropolis (since it wasn’t the hottest part of the day). We got off the bus and hiked our way to the top of the hill. The stone and rock path was pretty slippery and dad noticed clouds getting darker. Just as we reached the top, it started pouring down rain, with thunder and some lightening too! It NEVER rains like that in Southern California. We all got soaked! I was a little scared, so we got down the hill as fast as we could.

The next morning (Saturday) I got to train at Alliance Athens with Professor David Dimopoulos Said. I had a private lesson and learned the waiter’s sweep with two arm bars that can be done after the sweep. I also learned a cool guard sweep. He was super nice, and really wanted to work on moves that worked for my style. I really think I’ll be able to use the moves I learned in my next competition!

After the lesson, I stayed for their kids class. I had asked Professor if his class ever plays dodgeball, because that’s one of my favorite ways to warm up. He said they did, and we got to play two games, but they used a smaller ball (we use a large exercise ball at Paragon). At my academy, when you get hit and are out of the game, you have to do some push-ups (usually 15 or 20). Alliance Athens doesn’t have to push-up rule. But I didn’t know that, so when I got hit, I started with my usual push-ups. The other kids didn’t know what I was doing. When my parents explained, then the other kids ended up doing push-ups too! I hope they didn’t mind.

We got to do some three minute matches, and I found out that the boys in the class were some real beasts! Check out the bruise I got! Professor said there aren’t a lot of competitions in Greece like at home, but I think those boys will do great in their next one.

The move of the day, that we learned was a triangle, and I figured out that “trigono” means triangle in Greek.

After two hours of training, I was really sweaty. I definitely needed some lunch! After lunch, it was off to port to catch our boat. We start our cruise today!

[Mom’s note: I just want to jump in here and say how impressed I was with Professor Dimopoulos Said. He was so gracious and kind, very welcoming and knowledgeable. I really appreciated that he took care to show Eli moves that suited his style and his body type. He was an excellent teacher, and very well-suited to communicating with children. I am sure Eli will look forward to having the opportunity to train with him again. He is doing wonderful work to help the sport grow in Greece, and we are happy to support his efforts. Thank you so much Professor for a memorable training session!]

My apologies for dropping off the grid this past week! Didn’t realize it’s been a week since I last posted until I sat down in this crowded Malibu, CA Starbucks. Much to talk about! I’ll split these posts up, but this week has been filled with National Parks, Beaches, Jiu Jitsu Mecca, and the like.

New Mexico sunsets were insanely beautiful!

After bailing out of Dallas last week, I drove eight hours to Santa Rosa, New Mexico with the intention of doing something a little out of the ordinary in the New Mexico desert: swimming. On the way, I realized that I’d been driving next to Historic Route 66; a famous American highway that was a staple for Vagabonds throughout the mid-20th century in the US, running from Santa Monica, CA to Chicago, IL. I stumbled upon the famous “Cadillac Ranch” on my travels, which was unexpectedly cool. I’m finding that the coolest things on this trip are the ones I’m stumbling upon by chance. After crossing into New Mexico from Texas, I came around a bend and the Earth opened up. West Texas doesn’t have a lot of topography, so coming around the bend to see the plateaus and ridges of East Arizona open up to me, vibrant and beautiful in the orange sunset, was a spiritual moment. So much so that pulling the car over to take a photo on the side of the highway was absolutely necessary.

This was some nice cryotherapy in a beautiful oasis!

I spent the morning in Santa Rosa at the famous “Blue Hole of Santa Rosa”, which is a natural spring in the middle of the New Mexican desert. I was told by the lifeguards that the water, which maintains a vibrant, deep blue color due to it’s constant underground recharge, stays a constant 61 degrees year-round. In the midst of the 92 degree New Mexican summer, the water was frigid, but refreshing. My body had been aching from the constant onslaught of BJJ, so this was my natural ice bath, so to speak! I’ve never bought into the ice bath trend, but after soaking in the cold water and having my joints rejuvenate, I might be one to reconsider.

My morning in Santa Rosa was followed by a two hour drive through New Mexico to Albuquerque. Nestled at the foot of the Sandia Mountains, this booming city is home to a world of adventures: Breaking Bad tours, Authentic Tex-Mex, and, more importantly, a Gracie Barra stronghold. After getting to the city around 3pm, I met up with some people from a Slackline New Mexico group on Facebook to do some slacklining in a park in the middle of town. I’ve been slacklining for the past year as a way to improve my balance and rehab my torn meniscus, and the results have been abundant! I can tell it’s helped with my hip mobility and passing stability. What’s unfortunate is that I couldn’t snap any photos from this session: I had apparently visited Albuquerque during one of the ten rainy days it receives every year. Adam, my main contact from Facebook, didn’t mind. We hopped up on the longline (150ft) in the pouring rain, letting out primal screams as we tried to balance on the one-inch line as rain and wind battered us form above and to the side. If slacklining has had any effect on my jiu jitsu, it’s in the two areas I’ve needed it badly: my balance and my patience. You can’t rush balance, and you need to be balanced in order to learn patience. 

A quick search on Google brings back four Gracie Barras in ABQ, but I’d come to find out there’s actually SIX in the city limits. I set my sights on training at the main academy on San Pedro NE. Before training, I had a rare hankering for donuts, so I figured I’d treat myself. I stumbled up a place in ABQ near the academy called “Rebel Donuts”. I figured I’d start some writing while working on my blog posts while enjoying a carb-filled breakfast. Turns out Rebel had a bit of a soft spot for Breaking Bad, kinda like myself, so grabbing one of their themed “Blue Sky” donuts was a must! I showed up for class at 11am and was greeted by one of the employees, Mark. Mark is a blue belt at the academy, and informed me that I was actually an hour early for class. Oops. Not a problem; I got a chance to work on my last blog post while waiting! As the mass of people trickled in, I was simply shocked by the range of skill I was about to train with. Six black belts, a number of brown belts and purple belts, and a sea of blue belts and white belts. There must’ve been 30 people on a Thursday afternoon. I simply blended in; no introduction was made to the class that I was there. I liked that.

Class went, er, not as well as I’d have liked. I hadn’t considered the effects of the higher elevation and dry desert air would have on my northeastern blood. I was completely gassed by the end of warm ups. We ran laps around the mats, drilled some armbars from guard, and some light yoga to start. Then came time to roll. I was grabbed by one of the brown belts and started rolling. Their style of jiu jitsu was very traditional compared to mine; mostly closed guard, pressure passing, etc. I’ve been excited to train with some of the more traditional styles on this trip, coming from my own sport jiu jitsu background. I’d play my X-Guard, get a sweep, then get scissor swept and crushed from the top. That’s how most of the day went. I had a blast rolling with some of the brown belts and purple belts there. It felt good to hold my own against these “upperclassmen”; I even managed to sweep a few of them.

I debated not putting this in my post, but I figured it’d be a good thing to mention. For the first time on this trip, I ran into someone who clearly did not want to train with me, and was intentionally putting on undue pressure. My second round was with one of the blue belts. I played my usual game: I started in butterfly and transitioned to X-Guard, then swept. As soon as I completed the sweep, I felt him tense and saw a flash of anger in his eyes. He gripped my sleeves and spider guard swept me. He got into knee on belly, and then drove every ounce of his weight into my sternum, grunting and pulling on my collar the entire time. I moved to escape by stuffing his leg into half guard, which was met by him driving his head into my chin and aggressively knee cutting. I didn’t make a big deal about it at the time, but I nearly walked out of the gym right then and there. I’ve never felt like someone was trying to intentionally harm me on the mats until training with this guy. I understand that you’re not always going to run into the nicest people on the road, but I’ve never trained with someone so seemingly intent on hurting me. Definitely but a damper on the whole day. 

Through my huffing and puffing, I noticed the instructor, Wesley, gesturing over to me. Wes was incredibly intimidating; his stern look, bald head and beard screamed “I don’t f*** around.” I was hesitant, as my body was aching and I didn’t want to risk an injury, but I slapped hands and bumped fists. I’ve noticed throughout this trip that my mental toughness is getting a workout in ways it hasn’t before. In trying to get the most out of training at all of these gyms, I’ve started pushing past my old “point of no return” more and more. Wes had been eyeing me the entire class, and was wise to my game at this point. I was totally shut down the entire round, but I had fun regardless. After a quick photo, I changed, grabbed my stuff, and went to explore ABQ! The city was beautiful. I ended sleeping in a Planet Fitness parking lot for the night. Finally started getting used to Jeep Sleep!

Thanks to Gracie Barra New Mexico for letting me train!

I woke the next morning ready to head west and give training a break for a few days while I explored the National Parks, but not before hitting up one last Breaking Bad attraction! I ended up grabbing lunch at the location where they filmed their Los Pollos Hermanos scenes; turns out it’s actually a local burrito and burger chain called “Twisters”. The manager, Juan, was shocked how far I’d been traveling, but was very interested in hearing about my journey!

Some “Blue Sky” breakfasting before class!

Had to geek out about Breaking Bad on my travels!

After my Twisters Burrito, I headed west. Along the way, I stopped at Barringer Meteor Crater, a perfectly preserved impact crater in Western New Mexico. Being a geology nerd, stopping there was a must! Worth the $18 entry fee. I spent the morning there before heading to yet another stop on my journey, and one that was highly anticipated: the Grand Canyon. I reached the giant hole in the ground right about 4pm. To be brief, I was speechless. I talked about the correlations between geology and BJJ in my Memphis post, and the Grand Canyon reaffirmed this. I was blown away by the sheer size of the canyon itself; it seemed to go along forever. Standing on the edge, you can look almost straight down to the canyon floor a mile below; a canyon that was carved by a relatively small trickle of unrelenting water over the past millennia. You can see for literally 100 miles in most directions on a clear day; I was fortunate enough to have visited on one. I hung around the South Rim for a few hours before heading north to Horseshoe Bend, which turned out to be one of the most picturesque locations I’ve ever been to. I caught the bend after spending the night in another Walmart parking lot, and got there shortly after sunrise came over the desert. The blueish-green water illuminated below the glowing red sandstone was incredible. I recommend everyone to go there if you have the opportunity. Don’t look down, though!

Little panoramica action at Barringer Crater

Geology is no doubt the study of pressure and time, but so is Jiu Jitsu. Like the Colorado River carves against the canyon, our techniques chip away at, and put pressure on, our opponents.

As I was leaving Horseshoe, I stopped briefly to talk with a park ranger, also named Mike. I asked him if there was any way to get down to the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon. Mike informed me of a boat launch about 40 miles west named Lee’s Ferry where I could meet the river. Well, it was early enough in the day. I figured why not! I drove the 90 minutes through the blazing heat to Lees. I managed to get pulled over on the way, but got out of the citation. Be respectful to Park Rangers, my friends. I got to Lees in the middle of the day, so the heat was at it’s height. I was informed by the ranger that pulled me over that I’d come to the canyon on “Free Fishing Day”, so I was overjoyed to find that I could fish the river without the usual license necessary! So there I stayed for a few hours; I stood waist-deep in the frigid Colorado River, fishing pole in hand, and I was at peace. It was experiences like these that I was looking for on my travels, and to find them was emotional, to say the least. 

My trusty steed carrying me through the snow-capped mountains of southern Utah.

I left Lee’s in the early afternoon and started up to Zion National Park. I was eager to get to Zion, and managed to reach it just before sundown. The drive through Kaibab National Forest on the way to Zion was surreal. I drove through a prescribed forest fire, which was interesting! As cool as the Grand Canyon is, Zion is something even more special. Something about the 3,000 foot cliffs that surround you on both sides… it was personal. It put you in your place. It put you in perspective. I was shocked to find a booming little town in the depths of the canyon as well! I stayed the night on the side of the road in the canyon, but only after a small hike up a cliff face near Checkerboard Mesa. I awoke the next morning ready to conquer the most popular hike in ZNP: Angel’s Landing. The hike itself called for 1,500 feet of vertical gain in 2.7 miles. The 5.4 mile hike took me just under four hours, and was easily the most beautiful hike I’ve been on. The steepest portion of the hike doesn’t occur until the last half mile, where the trail narrows to less than a meter wide at some points; 1,500 ft. drops to the valley surround you as the trail narrows. Don’t worry: there were chains to grab onto to steady yourself! I met a woman named Rachel at the start of this last steep section; she was from Georgia and was in town on business. Her husband had hurt his ankle the day before on another hike so she was going solo. That view was something. I feel bad sometimes; my photos will never do these places justice! After hanging out at the summit for a half hour, I made the two hour descent to the valley. Before catching the trolley to my car, I needed to stop and rest my feet in the Virgin River. Note to Self: Break new hiking boots in BEFORE a five mile hike. 

Note to Self: Rash Guards make great hiking shirts.

I slept again in the canyon, and made my way the next morning to my next destination, the city of sins: Las Vegas, NV. My experience in Vegas can be summed up in one word: disappointing. I won’t do much writing on the city itself, mostly because I simply didn’t enjoy myself. I can see the city being fun with a crew of friends and $600 in your pockets to throw to the casinos, but for a solo traveller on a budget? Not so much. 

The jiu jitsu and the climbing were the highlights of the city, however. I ended up dropping in to train at a Cobrinha affiliate in the heart of Vegas. This was also right after Cobrinha’s displays at Worlds this year, so I came at a good time. I walked into the academy and was greeted by the main instructor, Hector Vasquez. He was incredibly welcoming and was very excited that I was visiting his school! I didn’t get a chance to call ahead, so I surprised them, but they didn’t mind in the slightest. I attended the noon Gi class. For a noon on a Monday, I was surprised to see that most of the class was younger kids. Teens. We started class with a guard recovery drill; I’ve been trying to work on my recovery explosiveness, so this was a welcomed drill. They introduced me to a staple of Cobrinha’s game as of late: it’s a RDLR/Half Guard-like position that was incredibly hard to pass. My mind was blown with how little you needed to move your hips to prevent the knee cut form this position. I took notes viciously during this class. We used this position to transition to X-Guard, which played towards my game very well. 

I managed to roll with most of the students that day, as well as Hector himself. I first rolled with Giovanna, a 15 year old orange belt. Her open guard was absolutely vicious. I’ve rolled with purple belts who didn’t know spider guard as well as this girl. I followed this up with rolling with Jackson, one of the brown belts. He picked me apart piece by piece, which was expected. I rolled with one of the white belts, and even he gave me trouble with his open guard. Hector grabbed me for a roll, which was a fun five minutes exchanging x-guard sequences. I could feel the respect from everyone, which was a breath of fresh air after my experience in Albuquerque. My last of the seven rolls was with Michael, a 17 year old blue belt out of the academy. Although he was young, I was told he had just taken gold at Worlds not two days earlier. I was excited to roll with I world-class blue belt. We went back and forth, exchanging sweeps and positional advantages, but he definitely controlled the pace. His passing was fluid, his transitions were spot on, and his jiu jitsu was just overall pretty. If something was consistent across every skill level I trained with at Cobrinha BJJ and Fitness, it’s that everyone’s jiu jitsu was fluid. I’d HIGHLY recommend training here if you’re ever in Vegas. 

The Las Vegas Cobrinha crew. Thanks again fellas!

After Leaving Las Vegas (heh, movie puns), I made a BeeLine to the coast, but more on that in my next post! I’d spend the following days training in the Jiu Jitsu meccas of San Diego and Los Angeles. Tune in until next time!