Pompeii

Our cruise landed in Naples on Thursday. When we got into port we first saw a big castle. But we were going to take a tour of Pompeii, so we had to get on a bus to get to the ruins. I was the only kid in our group. Once we got to the ruins, we got a radio and headphones so we could hear our guide better. Our guide’s name was Elena — my mom said, “Elena, like the Disney movie?”, but I told her the Elena from the Disney movie was spelled the same but you actually say “Ah-lay-nah” and for our tour guide, her name was like “Ellen” with an “a” at the end.

Before we entered the city of Pompeii, we first went to a shop that sells cameos — that’s what my mom called them, but they are faces carved into shells. We got to see how they were made. I guess Naples is known for their cameos.

Inside the ruins, I was amazed at what the houses and shops looked like. I was surprised at how important water was — they had fountains all over the city, and they had baths with water running through the walls to keep the room warm. We went into the gymnasium where the people got to train. They even had a swimming pool! We also saw some Pompeiian fast food places.

Pompeii was super hot, and there were so many people, it was like Disneyland in summer. It was so hot that I had to get some gelato before we left. I got cookies and cream AND mint! [Mom’s note: I was not aware that Eli had two kinds of gelato…that was Dad’s doing!]

It was a really hot day, but fun too.

Messina & Taormina, Sicily

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!

Santorini and Kotor (Montenegro)

Santorini and Kotor (Montenegro)

Our next stop (after a day at sea) was Santorini, the island. To get to the city, you have to take a cable car up the really steep hillside. Mom was freaking out during the ride up to town. I thought it was fun, but mom really did not! [Mom’s note: I, in fact, did not enjoy the ride up. Heights make me queasy, and I opted to close my eyes for the few minutes it took to get to the top.]. You can also ride a donkey to get up the mountain, but we didn’t do that. We had to get to mass at St. John the Baptist Cathedral. It looked very holy inside.

After lunch we went on a boat ride to the nearby volcano. On our hike up the volcano, we met an Australian boy who was a blue belt in Japanese jiu jitsu. I thought it was cool to hear him talk about Japanese jiu jitsu, and what martial arts are popular where he lives.

On this volcano island I made a rock pile. In Ventura, near our harbor there are these towers of rocks that people have piled up. So I wanted to make one on this island — to remind me of home. It isn’t as easy as it seems! We went to another island and saw billy goats running down the steep hillside to greet us. That was so cool!

Overall, I really looked Santorini. But the roads were squished and it was hard to get around with all the tourists on the squished roads.

We next visited a place called Kotor. In Kotor, we were supposed to take a tour hiking to the top of a mountain. We were to meet in a park. I got to play in the park but somehow we missed our tour group. We took a bus ride around instead. The water was clear and blue-green and there were also a lot of green trees.

We stopped and saw an old Roman house — well, what was left of it. All that is left are some really cool mosaics. They looked really ancient. It was a short day in Montenegro, so there’s not much to tell. Next up — Sicily (but I’m really looking forward to Naples because that’s where pizza comes from!).

Joshua Tree and a Mad Dash for the Coast!

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. 

Rain, cows and finally some mat time

Except for one glorious day of sunshine, the last few days in Goa have been filled with torrential, unending monsoon rains – surprise surprise.

So we’ve had plenty of time to relax and do some yoga – and I’ve discovered that I don’t have bad posture, I have terrible, mind-numbingly horrific posture. #bjjruinedmylife ?

That one day of sunshine

However, the hotel we’ve been staying at – Shanti Morada – has been amazing. It’s a small boutique resort with incredibly friendly and attentive staff, as well as some of the best food we’ve had in India, and because of monsoon we’ve had it basically all to ourselves at a bargain price.

The rain hasn’t stopped us from having fun and exploring on our rickety scooter though – visiting various old Portuguese forts along the coast, the UNESCO World Heritage Site Basilica of Bom Jesus and various beaches, Hindu temples and spice plantations.

Cows, cows everywhere though. Or buffalo?

On the way to visit Chapora Fort in North Goa, the rains got so violent we were forced to take shelter under a tiny covered area used for parking bikes. A local saw and took pity on us, and invited us to wait out the worst of the storm in his home. He said that while he was a Muslim and his wife was a Christian, they fell in love and got married regardless of tradition or religion. And they lived in their small house with his mother, her mother, 5 cats and 3 dogs – in short they were an awesome, friendly couple and it was great to meet them.

And on our last day in Goa, we found out there was an MMA gym in a town nearby run by pro fighter Nelson Paes. While they didn’t have any BJJ there (yet!), they had a great mat space so we called and asked if we could rent the mats for a few hours. It was Alessia’s first time back on the mats since leaving London for India almost 3 months ago, so we did a lot of revision as well as live sparring, and Nelson joined in for a few rounds. Thanks for having us!

Now we’re off to New York where it is also storming ? it’s going to be a looong flight. Till next time!

Repping RGA at Goa airport

 

@alessiabjj

@marcust.bjj

http://northtosouth.bjjglobetrotters.com/

Rabat Morocco

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!!

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Grindavík, Iceland. I have landed back on the ice.

Before I started my three months journey I thought I knew how it would impact me. I was even a little afraid that I was too self aware for it to actually impact me. Once I got moving and met all the wonderful people on the road I realized my ideas were quite presumptuous and didn’t turn out to come true. The trip caught me totally off guard and it shaped me in a way that I would never have thought of. Something deep inside of me is different. I understood that my experience while travelling is personal and each persons trip is going to be unique. Coming home was similar, I had an idea what would happen. How I would act and how the people waiting for me back home would act. Then when I finally got home my predictions were in no way in line with reality.

 

Welcome home gift.

Welcome home gift.

I got home to Iceland in the middle of the night, my best friend Daníel picked me up and dropped me home. I enter my room and everything is where I left it, I fell into bed and was knocked out almost immediately. Over the course of a week I met up with friends and family, we hugged, smiled and they asked me how it was, I said amazing and that’s that. It’s like I never left. Three months isn’t that long of a time period, not much had changed. Some pregnancies and pregnancy announcements. It was like I stepped into a different world, full of responsibilities and routine. I felt like an alien in human disguise. These three months had been packed with adventure and life changing stories. Then suddenly I come back, like it never happened.

 

Had a new nephew waiting for me.

The hardest thing for me coming back is the mundane stress. I’ve always been quite vulnerable to stress. Suddenly I see it all around me, people being stressed about everything down to the small detail. I have no desire to make those a part of my life again. Few weeks ago the only worry that I had was, “where do I go next?”. I mean it’s just life, enjoy it while you can. Build a life that is not only worth living, but a life you can enjoy. I am still determined to hold on to the fire inside and stick to the lessons I learned on the road and I would like to leave a few of them here.

  • Enjoy life while you can.
  • Positivity always returns tenfold.
  • We are all the same in how different we are.
  • Follow your passion.
  • The world is a big place that gets smaller the more you travel.
  • Pura Vida!

Days 2 and 3 – Athens Finally

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!]

Finally… Classes Without English

I trained across Southeast Asia for 4 months and English was spoken in every gym. Now, in Belgrade, I have to rely on my existing bank of BJJ techniques and principles to make sense of the Serbian instructions… I love it. Eight years of mechanically setting up armbars, repping guard passes and shrimping across the mat has prepared me for classes where I don’t understand a single word.

 

Seeing How BJJ Cuts Across Language Barriers

 

My first weekend in Eastern Europe started strong with a visit to Kimura Academy for nogi class. The first thing I noticed was how massive everyone was. I feel like child walking down the street among these Serbian horse-sized men… Now I get to fight them.

The gym was on the second floor of a badass semi-abandoned looking warehouse.

The second thing I noticed was that no one was speaking English. The Asian gyms I went to had lots of expats and all the lessons were in English. I was looking forward to training in foreign environments my whole trip and I felt like was finally getting to experience it.

I was a little worried at first that I would just be completely lost, but I quickly realized that I understood just about everything in the lesson without comprehending a word. Eight years of training under different instructors across America had given me everything I needed to know that the professor was telling me to use a gable grip for the seatbelt and to scoot by butt out to the side if I needed room to get a hook in.

It’s amazing to experience how BJJ can break through cultural and language barriers. Someone across the world is learning the same things I am and even though we can’t understand each other, we can communicate through training. This was a major reason that I wanted to go on my trip.

 

Learning what Cool Noises My Elbow Can Make

 

After my first successful Serbian BJJ class, I decided to check out Gracie Barra Srbija during the week because their classes fit my work schedule better. Once again, they were in Serbian and I was loving how I could catch minor details just by watching things like hand placement.

The gym was on the second floor of a badass semi-abandoned looking warehouse.

I was starting to feel a little better after I just got over a two-week-long cough and my rolls were feeling a little more natural again. I just got done sparring with a feisty teenager and I was moving onto a 6’5” Judo brown belt. He was my training partner for the first class and I had a fun roll with him before. The round started light and he caught me in a kimura. As I rolled out of it, he quickly transitioned into an arm crush. It was locked in immediately and before I had time to tap, a loud crunching/popping noise burst from my elbow. I was actually impressed with how loud it was.

Knowing that I was traveling and training for a whole year, I assumed I would get injured eventually. Luckily, nothing broke and it will only keep me off the mat for a week or two. In the meantime, I’ll just have to spend my recovery time in some of Belgrade’s many pubs and riverside nightclub spavs.

 

Here are a few pictures from my Serbian adventure so far:

Old’ Blighty: London

From Thailand I flew into London, my first stop. I arrived bright and early, and went to drop my stuff off at what will be my home for the next two years. It was 26 degrees, sunny and warm. Quite the contrary of what I’d heard about the London weather, but a welcome shock.

 

I put my travel gi in my backpack and jumped on the tube into the city. There was a heightened level of security after the Manchester atrocities, with a lot of armed police patrolling the streets. People didn’t seem to let it bother them, however – it was ‘business as usual’. It seems the clowns that are resorting to violence aren’t succeeding in making people change their way of life, or in dividing people.

 

I spent the best part of the day walking around, marveling at the various structures and landmarks that have been standing for centuries. The long history of this country and city would be something that continually struck me as I wandered around. I’ve come from a young country, so it’s pretty bewildering to see a place that has survived two world wars, is responsible for the Beatles and so much more. The lifestyle is great too. Green parks with people drinking beers in the sun, beautiful old pubs and art galleries with paintings that transport you to another time.

 

That afternoon I come across London Fight Factory’s open mat, which consists of roughly 2 hours of eight-minute rounds. Add a bit of jetlag on top of that and it’s a grueling session, but I feel better for having trained afterwards. The jetlag is something I’ll struggle with for the next couple of days. Sometimes your body just seems to stop, regardless of how hard mentally you try to push through it. Good way to work on defending while being turtled, I guess…

 

I spend the next week visiting as many of the gyms in London as I can. All the gyms here have a high level, just as I’d hoped for and the trainings are strenuous, but filled with good techniques, and nuggets of wisdom. Despite being once city, each gym seems to have a completely different style to the next which is refreshing. It’s like I’m visiting a different city or country each time I go to a new gym. Different people, different techniques and different stories.

 

On the bank holiday I visit Roger Gracie’s academy, and arrive to an open mat full of colour belts and Roger himself! It’s been said a thousand times before, but there’s not many sports that allow you to train alongside, let alone meet your idols at all. How likely are you to be able to shoot hoops with Kobe Bryant? I got to roll with a black belt called Joe who was like a human backpack. Very humbling and fun, I’m looking forward to visiting Roger’s academy again in the future.

 

The next morning I wake up at 5am (the one time jetlag’s actually come in handy) and head into Fightzone in Bethnal Green to visit my friend Tony. The morning class was great, we worked on some really cool passing and sequences, did some specific training and then rolled for ages. Such a good way to start the morning, and a really cool crew with a great vibe. Tony’s visited my home gym in Australia a couple of times, so it was great to roll with him at his home gym, for his last session before he moves across to the big apple! After this session I wander up the road to visit another friend, Mo, who’s in the U.K exhibiting his artworks. He and I do some gymnastics with his coach, before he walks me around the Shoreditch area. It’s one of the coolest areas I’d been to in London yet, with street art, beautiful parks and heaps more interesting stuff scattered through our path.

 

What strikes me about London is the variety of things there is to do. Maybe this is just by virtue of me being a tourist – so my eyes might be more open to things to do than if I lived there. Regardless, I love the endless subcultures that exist. That evening I head to a performance that explores lies and humanity, which was pretty different and interesting. You can fully immerse yourself in one culture, or sample all of them like a mezze plate at a restaurant. It’s refreshing and fun, and all of the people seem lovely.

 

I went to Wave BJJ the next evening for their Nogi class which was great fun, we worked some leg lock concepts – something I’ve been missing while I travel. It’s always hard to know if a gym is cool with heelhooks and knee reaping style submissions, so it’s super exciting for me to jump in on a class focusing one exactly that.

 

From here it’s on the bus and ferry across to the temptation’s paradise that is Amsterdam.

 

Cheerio.

Monsoons and introductions

Hey guys!
 
Alessia and I writing this first blog post by the pool in Goa, India even though there is a torrential Monsoon storm heading our way shortly – no complaints though ?.
 
We’re Marcus and Alessia, two BJJ travellers just about to begin our journey through North and South America, training wherever we go.
 
 
We’ve been living and training in London at Roger Gracie Academy Gymbox the past 3 years, but have decided to seek warmer weather, train around the world and hopefully find a new home at the end of it. Our rough plan for the rest of the year is New York, San Diego, LA, San Francisco, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. After that we plan to spend a few weeks back at my home in Australia and then on to Asia!
 
 
The last few months have been intense for both of us, so besides a few casual drills in the pool, we’re now enjoying some well-deserved down-time before we kick off in New York next week. Alessia just finished completing a 500 hours Yoga Alliance Teacher Training course in Rishikesh, India – the capital and spiritual home of yoga. Her insane schedule saw her waking up every morning at 5am with non-stop practice, study and meditation until 9pm, 6 days a week, in constant 40 degree heat. I now have my own personal expert yoga trainer and maybe by the end of this trip I will be like a supple, supple leopard, rather than a T-Rex with rigor mortis.
 
 
Meanwhile, I was hanging back in London to save a bit more money and train as much as possible. After resigning from my day-job in marketing, I was unemployed and technically homeless, but couldn’t be happier as I was living on my instructor’s couch, training twice a day. I received my brown belt a few weeks before leaving – In a really touching move, my good friend and instructor Ross Nicholls gave me his old personal brown belt, which not only means I have big shoes to fill but is also likely to get my steamrolled at every gym we come across as it looks like I’ve been a brown belt for ages. Thanks coach ?.
 
 
As I write this, the skies are looking rather ominous and the first few drops splashing down are making it difficult to type. Until next time!
 
Marcus and Alessia
 
Instagram
@marcust.bjj
@alessiabjj

Day One travel day to Athens

Hello everyone!

So my excitement began before I even left for the airport. The day before my trip (Tuesday) was actually my last day of 2nd grade. After school, I got an adjustment by my mom’s chiropractor. She actually had an appointment, but since I came along, I got to get adjusted too. It’s really fun. Dr. Matt cracked my neck just like Maui from Moana! It is so cool.

But even more exciting than the end of school, my jiu jitsu academy (Paragon in Ventura, California) had a belt ceremony Tuesday night and I got promoted to solid grey belt. I was super excited. I train hard and LOVE jiu jitsu.

Wednesday morning we left for the airport. It took a long time to get there because a big truck had turned over on its side in the middle of the road! It looked really scary. But we made it to the airport with no problem.

When we walked up to the gate I couldn’t believe my eyes. We were going to fly on one of those two-story planes. It was so BIG! My dad has been on one before, but not my mom or me. As soon as we got to our seat, they had the coolest screens with movies and music. I got to watch two movies before my mom made me go to sleep.


Did you know Moana is Vaiana in French? I thought that was funny. I watched Moana (or Vaiana) after my nap.

We landed in Paris late so we missed our flight into Athens. We are now hanging out in the Paris airport waiting for the next flight to Athens.

 

 

This has been the longest day of my life! At least I got to catch a few new Pokémon in the airport!!

–Eli

Malaga Spain

Greetings From Malaga Spain!

I had a quick flight into to Malaga Spain from Lisbon Portugal and found the hostel easy enough. I had arrived pretty early so I took off to walk around the city and get some photos of the sights. Malaga is one beautiful place, to all my friends who love going to Mexico to sit on the beach and drink all day, switch it up and go to the Costa Del Sol for a vacation!

Not a bad view to land down to.

The Costa Del Sol!

While staying in Malaga I walked around to see the place a few times but the most sight seeing I got in was when I first arrived. I saw a big castle on a mountain and headed towards it. It’s actually two places I saw, there’s the Alcazaba, which a sprawling estate, at the base of the hill in with the city and the Castillo Gibralfaro higher up on top the of the hill that overlooks the city. I spent quite the time walking around them.

The strip, it’s basically a garden down the middle of the main road.

Alcazaba.

Yard full of orange trees, you could smell the citrus in the air.

Castillo Gibralfaro, or the road to it. It’s pretty big once up top. I Facebook live video’d it so no photos of it, sorry.

In the middle is the Plaza De Toros De La Malagueta, where they hold bull fights. At first I thought it was a soccer stadium.

View from top of Alcazaba.

I also walked around the beach, Playa La Malagueta, and relaxed in the hot sand and cool sea breeze. In Spain it’s perfectly OK for women to go topless at the beach, and many of them were more than happy to sun tan without worrying about getting tanlines, so I didn’t get too many shots of the beach for fear of being thought some pervert so something. I did get some panoramic views from the point though. (The panoramics won’t load on here so you’ll have to go to Flickr to see them)

man am I ever white..

Of course if you’d like to see the rest of my photos from Malaga head over to Flickr and view them there, thanks!

The Friends You Make In Hostels

When I got in to the hostel they still had to make my bed so all I could do was drop off my bags, charge my phone and take off to wonder the city. When I got back someone had taken my bed, I guess when the staff made the bed my stuff was moved away from the bed I had claimed so when the next person came in it looked open. It was no problem and everything was sorted easy enough but there was a couple hours of waiting for the the guy to come back that I was fearing I’d have the unfortunate luck of having an asshole in the room with me who would want to argue over it. Instead of that happening he ended up being pretty cool, a young kid named Oliver who had decided to move to Malaga from Denmark. He and I and another guy in our room who was an Australian who lives in Germany all went out looking for some food.

As it happens it was Sunday, and Monday was a holiday, so not much was open and the only thing we could find was a restaurant that was a bit more expensive than I’d like. That night we talked about all sorts of things, our different experiences traveling, our own stories of doing stupid shit or whatever. As it ends up even though we were three different people, an Australian chiropractor from Germany, a Danish kid (Oliver is 21 but I called him a kid hahah) who was moving to Spain for a charity telemarketing business, and myself, we all had great stories we could relate to and became pretty good friends. Oliver stayed the whole time I was in Malaga, as he was looking for a place to move into, but the Australian, who’s name I forget, left the next day to head back to Germany. In his place Jasse came in and joined our room.        

Meeting Jasse Junkkari

Jasse is another friend I was connected with through Nathan Hatton while on this journey. He’s from Finland and known Nathan for some time now, talking a lot online about their shared passion of martial arts history. Jasse is a Demian Maia black belt as well as a practitioner of other styles so it was a lot of fun to talk martial arts philosophy with him. He and I were in contact for a week or two before I made it to Malaga and we worked it out to both get a bed at the same hostel and even in the same room. Most the time there it was actually just Oliver, Jasse and myself in the room so it was a pretty cool stay. One day after hanging out and training together we finally decided to sit down and do an interview at the hostel, we talked about all sorts of Jiu-Jitsu and martial arts topics. Since I can’t load videos here you can head over to the Panda’s Odyssey YouTube Channel and watch it there, and show some love, comment, like, share or even subscribe, thanks!

SurUnion

With it being a weekend and the holiday training was limited so I didn’t get to visit some of the clubs I wanted to but I go out to a club I knew nothing about. SurUnion is a club that I totally missed in my search but Jasse is good friends with and since I wanted to train with him I decided to join him in visiting this club for a class.

The gym is out outside the Malaga city center, closer to the airport. We took a train out and walk a bit to get there, it’s down a side in an industrial area so without having the address saved to your phone you will be hard pressed to come upon the place by chance. Once inside it was a big open area with big mat space of old, well used tatami. I met Luis Quiñones, black belt co-founder of SurUnion and the current head instructor there. He was a really nice guy happy to have me there as a guest while he saw his old friend Jasse. SurUnion is a Yan Cabral affiliate so I mentioned I had been by Templum BCN during my travels and Luis told me of the seminars they have with Yan all the time, it sounded like a really good seminar, making me wish I could’ve caught Yan’s class back when I visited Barcelona.    

It wasn’t a big class, but that was OK, we still had fun training together, going over different sweeps and from a guard pull. Of course it was a hot day and I was dying, drinking water in between each technique instruction and after each roll. I had fun training with everyone, we were a bit relaxed with time to work out the techniques and adjust them to make it work for you, or try a different pass from the sweep etc. but when it came to rolling they were all business and I was on the defense. It was still fun though, just a different kind of fun. I managed to survive alright but I was dead tired by the end. I needed water, lots of water!

Jasse, Luis and myself went out for food after training, to a restaurant not far from the gym, a popular hangout with the guys after class. There we talked more about training and mart arts philosophy and of course traveling to different clubs. It was cool post class hangout and Jasse told me of some times the restaurant would be half full of just people from the club, like it was there own clubhouse. That’s pretty cool. It’s something I’ve brought up quite a few times in my travels, the importance of extra curricular activities, getting the club to hang out together after training to grab some food or drinks, or on the weekend to watch fights, hit the beach, do whatever really. It grows the bond of the clubs and gets them more involved in helping each other train harder. I think group activities outside normal class times are essential in building a strong club.

jasse, Luis and one handsome Panda.

And with only a little training done but a lot of friend making on this visit, it was time to head on down to Africa. Morocco. Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakech to be more precise. Lots of adventures, and friends to be made, awaited me while plans I had went out the window.  

Until next time,

see you on the mats!

OSSS!!

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New Mexico, Some Big Holes in the Ground, and the City of Sins

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!

Bad knees, and nails in coffins

After coming back to Reno, Jen got a Doctors’ appointment, but it wasn’t of much use. They x-rayed her knee, which seemed kind of pointless, and didn’t tell us anything. She set an appointment for an MRI, and we talked to Thais, our new neighbor who’s a physical therapist, who didn’t think anything was seriously damaged. I returned to Guerilla BJJ, http://www.renojiujitsu.com/about/guerilla-jiu-jitsu/ my home gym, and my second home, Komainu, http://komainuapparel.com/gym-schedule/ for some training. 

The plan was to rest up, get the medical attention needed, and evaluate things. Jen had rescheduled her Sierra outdoor education class with Ned, and we were going to head out in a couple of weeks, knee willing, and take it from there. If she felt comfortable doing the high sierra after a week with Ned, she’d go for it. If she felt it was unsafe, then not so much. 

Reports from the internets were of course all over the place. Some girl made a bad decision on a log and almost died. Others were getting through just fine, mocking the doom sayers for being too cautious. A poor guy lost his footing in a stream crossing, lost his pack, and everything in it. He almost froze trying to get out of the high country with nothing but a wet shirt on his back. Everybody had a different opinion, except Ned, who said he could teach you how to handle the conditions. Until he had to get med-evaced himself. 

Not a big accident or anything, but, funny enough, a bad knee, that left him stranded in the mounting passes. So, no Ned, no class, no go. That was it, a sign from the heavens that this wasn’t the year. 

It’s been almost two months all told. Jen walked 400 miles, from the Mexican Border to Palmdale, more or less. Thousands of feet of elevation, probably a dozen snakes, two pairs of boots, two tents, s couple of snow storms. 

I hit about 15 different BJJ gyms while on the trip. I learned something from everyone in that time, but mostly I learned that everyone does things a little different. Some schools start on time. Well, one of them does. Some are formal, and bow, shake hands, stand in lines. Others start late, are very casual, no pictures of Helio. Some of the best are in tiny spaces with zero amenities and old mats. Some are nicer than a rich mans’ country club. In the end, what happens on the mat is what matters, and the other stuff doesn’t seem to be correlated. 

Not sure what the rest of the summer looks like. Our house is booked by HomeAway (ironic, in that we’re no longer away, but can’t use our home) guests through June and July. Maybe Jen will do the Tahoe Rim Trail, maybe the lost coast. I’m back, more or less, in the office, and I think my brothers are happy about that. I’m hoping to find some good spots, drop in a little more, before coming back full time. And there’s always next year. 

Thoughts from the road

I’ll be candid. As much as I’m enjoying being on the road and everything that comes with it, at times I’ve grappled with thoughts that are rooted in societal norms and the associated pressures to adhere to these. There are three thoughts that I’ve been having:

 

  1. I’m not building an asset portfolio: I’m spending all my savings while my friends at home build and buy houses.
  2. I’m not building a (traditional) career: Many of my contemporaries and former co-workers at home are climbing the corporate ladder or starting their own successful businesses.
  3. Relationships: When you travel, you’re leaving the ones you love behind. Things go on hold. Others end.

 

These are by no means complaints. They’re just reflections I’ve had. I’ve been talking to a bunch of people I’ve met on the road and by hearing their stories: where they’ve come from and where they’re going (literally and figuratively); how they feel on the road and things they’ve learned – and together we discussed some counter arguments to the aforementioned points.

 

Freedom.

I’ve worked in a place that follows the 9am – 6pm day. You walk in before 8, or you’re late. Even though the official starting time was 9am. You spend the day working on projects that you don’t care about, for people that don’t respect you. If you’re lucky, you’d leave in time to make the 7pm BJJ class and train. But your mind is elsewhere, tied up in clients whose practices step on the toes of every moral conviction you have. Locked in the prison that is the next day’s work.

 

Travel doesn’t mean freedom from hard work, or freedom from business. These are not bad things – as much as I’m enjoying the current down time and perpetually free schedule. It’s freedom from having your schedule constrained, giving you time to read books, research and plan your next move – whatever that may be.

 

You’re incredibly free to focus on whatever you like. Books, art, family, travel, jiujitsu…leg locks. Having so much time to follow your passions and see new things is very relaxing. A free schedule is also a pass to do things you otherwise wouldn’t have time for – checking out an old temple, or a beautiful national park. And the benefit of doing this during normal working hours is that with a bit of luck, you’ll score it empty.

 

Personal development/ Education.

It’s no secret that you learn a lot on the road. You learn about the cultures, customs and languages of the places you’re visiting. You learn where the best food and coffee are. The lessons are ubiquitous, but they go further than this. You learn to step outside your comfort zone, whether it’s trying a new meal or making new friends. It teaches you to let go and relax in most situations. To use one of Jocko Willink’s principles, it teaches you how to say “good” when things are anything but. It’s all part of the journey, all part of the story. If you can still say “good”, you’re alive. Everything is a lesson. Missed your bus? Good. Catch the train instead, and learn to leave a bigger time buffer in arriving to the bus station.

Yes, this lesson is still applicable when there’s a toddler sitting behind you on the train screaming, banging on your seat and shitting themselves simultaneously. (Yes, this is happening as I write this, on the train I caught because I missed my bus).

 

But it doesn’t only teach you to say “good” when things aren’t good. Travel teaches you to really appreciate every moment, both good and not as good. Everything adds to the experience. And lord, is there some good experiences to be had abroad.

 

Money.

Sure, you’re not going to be earning as much on the road. It’s more than likely that you’re living off your savings. Maybe you’ve managed to pick up some odd jobs along the way. Or maybe you’re one of those wizards that’s managed to create an income or career that allows you to be on the road. But as long as you have enough for the essentials, you don’t need much more. From the outset, you’re limiting things you don’t really need. You get rid of pointless possessions. Limit what you buy. It forces you to ask yourself questions. Do I really need the latest iPhone? We tend to hoard things we won’t use, buy things we don’t need – get caught up in material possessions rather than trying to use our money or time for experiences, memories and friendships.

 

It’s surprising how many opportunities arise when you’re on the road. Travel does not necessarily have to mean just spending. You might end up working in a hostel in Spain, teaching some jiujitsu privates on a tropical island or even working in a bar in Prague. Who knows?

Until next time!

How I decide on camp locations for BJJ Globetrotters

I get requests every week from people who hope we’ll set up a camp some place in the world they like (or live). But USA Camp is really the season for me where I’m answering the same question on an almost daily basis:

“So, when are you doing a camp on the West Coast?”

I understand the thought process of this. There are places in the world that have no BJJ Globetrotters camps but that doesn’t mean there’ll ever be one. In reality, the approach I have to eventually making a camp happen somewhere, is probably different from what you’d expect.

Out in the countryside of Sardinia, Italy

First, I don’t sit and look at a world map on my wall and try to figure out what areas there could be a market for setting up a camp. The way I approach the camps is that I make them for myself, first and foremost. Every single camp is basically just me trying to design the most amazing, dream holiday I can possible imagine for myself and then invite a few hundred friends along to join. Even if no one signed up for a camp, I would still go and probably have a great time on my own. Ok, I’d need one volunteer for the Jiu Jitsu training part of it at least, but you get the point!

I believe that for the camps to really work, I must be 100% passionate about going there myself. Every. Single. Time. For me to sit down and think “ok, what would be the absolutely most amazing trip I can think about for myself here”, I must have a genuine interest in taking part of it.

Deep in the forests of Maine, United States

This is why I have no plans of franchising or outsourcing the camps. I will never do camps every week around the world where I send someone else to run it and just put my BJJ Globetrotters stamp on them. If I’m not a genuine part of the social- and training aspect of a camp, it would not a BJJ Globetrotters camp anymore. It would just be a business. Fair enough, maybe one day, I’ll have enough stripes on my black belt to become old and greedy and just do it for the money, but who knows.

In the amazing Austrian alps

Back to people asking me about doing camps in certain places. There are a lot of factors that play in:

  • First and foremost, when I consider it, I must feel excitement. I must get a bit of butterflies in my stomach by the thought of going. I don’t care about how many potential participants we could sell tickets to, how much other people wanna go there or how unexplored the market is for a camp there. I must personally want to do it. Considering that a new camp usually takes 6-10 months of hard work to set up from scratch and I’ve been traveling a bit in my life, I’m getting increasingly more difficult to excite with potential new locations. This is a (beyond luxury) problem I’m struggling with a bit.
  • Finding enough matspace for a hundred or more people is extremely difficult. If they’re not there in the first place, I’m already moving on to the next camp idea on the list. It’s most often just way too much work to even try and begin to look for mats of the right quality and quantity – not to mention reliable transportation, insurance, set up and so on.
  • There are physical and calendar limits to how many camps I can squeeze into a year and into my life. The puzzle of booking 10 camps this year has been incredibly complex already and often I have to skip great camp ideas because I simply have enough on my plate. It also seems to be the exact amount of camps I can barely do without completely burning out.
  • I try to make each camp different. I like the contrast of traveling and I’m sure that if I did 10 surf themed camps a year, I would end up finding it tremendously boring. A new camp must be something that isn’t already on the schedule or I don’t bother doing it. Did anyone say Antarctica?
  • I want the camp to be part training and part adventure. Adventure defined by a travel experience that would be very difficult to do on your own. If traveling is easy, it’s usually not memorable for me. It must be a place that’s somewhat challenging to get to. This is why I’ll never do camps in any mainstream travel destinations that you’ll likely visit anyway some day. New York, San Diego, Rio de Janeiro, Ibiza, Amsterdam, Cancun. Any resorts with a buffet and evening entertainment shows. Not happening.
  • It has to beat all the other camp ideas that fit the schedule for the season. My checklist for running a camp currently has a whopping 800+ items and there are way more tiny things that has to work than you can probably imagine. Logistics of transportation, accommodation, distances, food delivery, cleaning, shipping etc. is complicated and if any one of these things look like they’re too much work, the camp will be bumped down the list. When I have 50 or more great camp ideas for one season, I’m only gonna invest my time and money in the absolute best ones only.

On the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy

And as for the #1 question in my inbox: Why don’t I do a camp on the west coast of the United States? No one has pointed my attention to any potential camp ideas that fulfill all points above. I’m already going to the U.S. once a year for our camp out in the forest and I’m getting my annual quota of Walmart and beef jerky covered for now. But who knows, maybe I’ll randomly find a place there on day and go for it. Nine out of ten camps have happened because someone at a camp has come up to me and told me about a place they know of, which I always think is interesting to listen to.

In the beautiful medieval town of Leuven, Belgium

Setting up a camp is complicated. It has to be perfect and it has to fit my personal schedule and willingness to risk my money if it fails. With that said, I really love the process of spending months and months grinding through hundreds of logistical details, emails and phone calls for each potential location and finally end up with a full year’s schedule of perfectly planned, exciting adventures for myself and everyone else who decides to join. It’s a lot of work but I do enjoy every minute of it. I often say I’m like the Miyao brothers of Jiu Jitsu camps; I’m on the mats with this more hours than anyone else in the world. I don’t take steroids though (or should I say I’VE NEVER FAILED A TEST). But apart from that, we’re pretty much identical. Ok, I don’t have a twin.

Therefore, if you’re ever at a camp, remember you’re pretty much just crashing my holiday, so if I leave a towel on that beach chair in the morning, that means I have reserved it for the day. Thank you.

Porto & Lisbon Portugal

Greetings From Porto & Lisbon Portugal!

I left Madrid in a bad mood, I was getting better from the bad cold that knocked me down but I was still dealing with the credit card fraud at the time. Luckily it only took a day or so while in Porto before resolving the issues, letting me get back to focusing on my travels and training. I took a bus to Porto and found my hostel no problem. I guess the hostel owner had text messaged me to tell me to let him know when I’ll be showing up, but I had switched numbers since I reserved the bed so I didn’t get the message. Because of this when I got to the hostel the host wasn’t there and I had to wait a while before I could check in. Once I was checked in and shown a map of all the sights to see of the city, and told of the holiday coming up, I was ready to see Porto!

Showing up in Porto.

Traveling to Lisbon was even easier. I had booked an Air BnB and we were in contact the entire bus ride, with the host tell me the exact route to get to his place. I was staying really close to one of the clubs I was wanting to visit, there were some other clubs in Lisbon as well but ended up passing on them for resting and catching up on some online work. Just gives me an excuse to come back another time!

Things you see on the bus. A giant cross on a hill in the middle of nowhere.

Some cool looking place we passed, I can’t remember if this was on the way to Porto or from Porto to Lisbon, but cool either way.

The Sights!

I will say that both the cities are beautiful, as are pretty much all my destinations on this odyssey, but if I was bringing a significant other with me and could only pick one, it would be Porto. It’s a smaller, more intimate and romantic town than Lisbon, but both are must see destinations as you will see from the photos.

Since there was a holiday going on I spent a day walking around Porto and saw a lot of the sights but didn’t go into any of the places or go on any tours. The Dom Luís I Bridge was my favourite and it’s up there in my list of favourite sights. I walked across the top looking down on the bottom bridge, watching cars and buses drive by, and boats float by below them. It was an amazing view of the ports below and of the city with their red roofed buildings lining the Douro River. There’s also the Porto Cathedral and Clérigos Tower are also worth seeing. Of course If I were to drink I would be definitely trying out all sorts of wines and ports here, since Porto is the home of the fortified wine port after all.

Blue and white ceramic tiled churches.

Dom Louis I Bridge.

Lisbon has some great sights too, the waterfront was pretty cool to walk along and sit on the ledge and watch the wind surfers cross the water in groups. There’s also the Commerce Square along the waterfront and markets selling all kinds of things and all kinds of sights further down and across the water that I didn’t see to see, so lots to see along the Rio Tejo.    

There was a castle up on a hill beside the city too, I didn’t know how to get up there though.

Commerce Square.

A war museum.

Cool things on at the waterfront.

Of course I have many more photos I have taken from these visits and if you’re interested on seeing them head on over to my Flickr account and check them out! 

FOCUS Jiu-Jitsu 

During my search I found Pedro and he told about about his club he trains at, FOCUS Jiu-Jitsu, unfortunately we weren’t able to meet up or train together but I did make it out to the gym. FOCUS is in a gym, Academia Workout. The mat space is huge, all white and bright. It’s upstairs and overlooks the free weights area so you can watch all the crazy weight lifters and crossfitters throwing things around, with the lights and all white motive it felt like you were training on clouds, not that the mats were that soft though. I showed up for one day and trained both the noon no gi class and evening gi class but soon into the gi class my left knee felt a little weird so I didn’t roll and was limited with some of my drilling. It ended up being nothing, just a bruise or a maybe a strain either way it was just annoying.

The guys at the clubs were all nice people happy to have a visitor. I enjoyed training and rolling with everyone, they have some real killers on the mats but everyone was fun to roll with, even when I was just being schooled by the top guys. During the evening there was a brown belt who was training for a big tournament, drilling all kind of crazy way, like with a harness holding him back while doing open guard passes. FOCUS was a good club to visit, it’s too bad I couldn’t meet up with my original contact for the place, but there’s always next time!

Prof. Manoel Neto who runs FOCUS Jiu-Jitsu.

Brasa Demian Maia Jiu-Jitsu Portugal 

For Lisbon I had help with the BJJ Globetrotters community again and was connected to Vitalino, a Demian Maia brown belt who runs Brasa Demian Maia Jiu-Jitsu Portugal. Vitalino and I spoke on Facebook and set up to come out one night. The club is in a gym named Get Fit (I couldn’t find a link for it) they set up in a room by putting down tatami mats they have usually stacked I the corner, I think the room is usually used for yoga or something. I showed up the Friday night class, I was feeling a little off during the week and needed to catch up on things online so this was my only time out to train in Lisbon, it’s too bad it was a slow night and I only got to meet a few members of the club. As it was a small class Vitalino decided to make it a relaxed evening and just roll. We started rolling together and probably went on for 10 minutes before switching out to rolling with other people. There was no timer, we just rolled until we were done, so I only rolled with 3 different people but I’m pretty sure I rolled more in an hour with them then I would have with a dozen people doing 5 minute rounds. I always need to take breaks after a couple rounds, people go harder when there’s a timer. No time just lets you flow and work out defending and attacking. And we didn’t just go light and easy, there were some great battles. We ended the night lying on the mats totally exhausted chatting about Jiu-Jitsu and MMA while stretching out and realized we had had gone past the usual time and the gym was waiting to kick us out to close so we had to hurry and leave. Because of that I didn’t get a photo with Vitalino or his club, can’t get them all I guess. It was a fun night with some great rolls, and when Vitalino and I were talking he even knew of my travels plans and where I’d been which was cool to be training at club where the instructor follows me and even knew of and watched videos by my instructor and his black belt. Good times!

The only picture I got of the club, with coach Vitalino beating on one of his students, hahah.

After not near enough training at cool gyms in Portugal It was time to move on. I had one more stop back in Spain before heading to Morocco and meeting some friends I had been talking to for some time. Little did I know of the meet ups and friends I would make coming up. Next up Malaga, the Costa Del Sol!

Until next time,

see you on the mats!

OSSS!!

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USA, Maine. Last camp of the trip.

I really don’t know where to start this blog, so many things come to mind, but here it goes. The week I spent in the USA Maine camp has been one of the most eventful weeks of my travels. After being able to relax for the two weeks between camps, my body felt much better and it was ready for the mats. I however realized on the first day attending the classes that my head still had a loads of unprocessed information and techniques. I tried to pay attention but I caught myself drifting away thinking about similar techniques that I’ve seen or other unrelated topics. With that in mind I decided to only take 1 or 2 classes per day but focus on the open mats, trying to roll with as many different people as I could. The week went on and I started to see that my Frankenstein techniques were falling together. Having my body in good condition I was able to perform better then in the St. Barths camp and my movement and skills started to get smoother and more goal oriented.

Photo credit: Tom DowdallPhoto credit: Tom Dowdall

I finally felt how this trip had pushed my BJJ further down the road. Saturday rolled around and my class was scheduled at 3 pm. A certain familiar stress feeling started to creep up at me. It was the same kind of stress that I used to feel when I was competing in my earlier days. I had coached before at my local Judo club, I had even stepped in a few times to coach at my old MMA gym. This however was different. I was in a group of world class coaches with years of experience. To be honest the thought often crossed my mind that I did not belong. Like I’ve said before, I strive at pushing myself past my comfort zone and forcing myself to grow. That experience did certainly push my limits but I’m happy I did. The class went on with only a few minor hiccups on my part, but overall I’m happy with how it went and I know it will get better and easier with experience. That being said to all the people who attended my class and those who came to me after it with kind words, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me your time and showing what I have to offer interest.


Photo credit: Rich Sab 

While still recovering from my adrenaline dump we went for the last open mat and lined up for the last photo shoot. Christian stepped up and had a small speech about a very persistent white belt named Evan Law. He had trained for 7 years and still had his white belt. Christian brought out a blue belt and told him to step up. I am truly happy for him, he deserved that and even more. From what I heard it was long overdue. Then it happened. Christian started another speech about an person who sounded familiar. When he mention that this person lived in the middle of the “freaking” Atlantic I realized he was talking about me. I had to focus all my strength to hold myself together and keep my composure. According to witnesses my face became bright red as a stoplight. He grabbed an purple belt and told me to step up. He slapped me with it and that was it, I was officially an purple belt. While trying to process all that happened I see Nelson running towards me, thinking he was about to give me a hug I raised my hands. He grabs my hands and throws me head over toes. I was too happy to care, I think he just wanted to get payback after I threw him at my class.

 

Photo Credit: Shawna Rodgers

With all that behind me, I can’t imagine spending the last days of my trip with better people. Everyone I met, new and old friends, you are what made this week great. Being able to share it with you guys was my best reward. So to all the people from the camp, I’ll see you down the road.

Photo credit: Shawna Rodgers

 

Photo credit: Shawna Rodgers

 

 

Angeles Crest Frogs!

I turned back around, and headed back to the coast, this time just north of Malibu. There was a little beach break at the campground, with decent waves, and about 20 guys surfing. Every day. Huge crowd. I didn’t see any confrontations, but it reminded me of why I never really took up surfing. That, and an unreasonable fear of sharks. I didn’t see Jaws until I was an adult, but I saw the commercials as a kid, and I was convinced I was going to be eaten. While swimming. In our pool. Plus, I got to drive past my old stomping grounds in the Valley, where I was sure God was trying to kill me. I was there for a really big earthquake, and soon packed up and left for Colorado. Thanks God! So glad I left, especially the Encino area. Ick, it was as gross as I remember. Plus I met my future ex-wife there, so I have lots of baggage surrounding that place. We’re friendish now, but I’m still not a fan of that place. 

It was hot and gross, and towing a trailer through the 405/101 interchange is basically a constant game of chicken, as you signal, merge, and cut off that lowered BMW. You can’t care, because in L.A. freeway driving, most people, especially the douchey kind that drives a lowered BMW, consider a turn signal as either a sign of weakness, or a challenge. Anybody who would use their blinker to change lanes is either a yokel, who is not to be treated with respect, or somebody who is daring you to thread the needle. As my friend Rob says, “it’s the eye of the needle, Gary, we must pass through it together.”

Jen was hiking out of the Lake, and towards that McDonalds. PCT Hikers act like they haven’t had real food in months, when in fact they’re constantly eating better than you and I. Worse, actually, but tastier. Burgers, pie, pizza, cookies, it all goes in the tank at an alarming rate. Jen had just got done eating a bunch of donuts, steak dinner, and then she’s looking all misty about McDonalds. She walked across some hot, dry hills, down to the freeway truck stop, got her McDonalds, and quickly realized why most athletes avoid the stuff. Not good for hiking up some big hills, which she had to do.

There is a famous BJJ guy, kind of a BJJ coach to the stars I guess, in Malibu. He charges $150 for a drop in, according to his website. Maybe he’s trying to discourage people from star chasing at this gym. Jen asked if I would pay $150 to train with anybody famous. Not even Anthony Bourdain, and he’s kind of a hero of mine. Former Chef, late years BJJ aficionado, curses like the drunker sailor he is. Married a woman who could kick his ass, and although it didn’t work out in the end, that’s Hespect worthy.  

That left me with a drive over the Santa Monica Mountains, or down the coast to Santa Monica, or up to Oxnard. Since I’ll be heading north soon, I opted up and over. Plus, I got to drive the Big Girl over these tight curvy road, so sure, that sounds fun. I stopped in at Paragon in Agoura Hills. Totally unexpected treat.

http://paragonbjjacademy.com/instructors/

Rodrigo Antunes, a black belt since 1999, runs the show there, and it was great. I was talking earlier about gyms and coaches who make you fell comfortable, and places that push you, and then there’s places like this, where you feel like family right away, and he treats his family right. Adding to the vibe was the fact that there were two other bald, stocky guys with grey in their beards, both of whom work in the kitchen world. I felt like I saw myself had I stayed in the business and found BJJ. It was fun, and we had some great rolls. Professor Rodrigo was showing a slick turtle attack, and really took the time to shake out the kinks and smooth out the technique. I love it when you learn something new, get a chance to work it, get the corrections you need, and feel like it’s going to be part of your game.

BJJ learning is often like trying to drink from a firehose or read a book as you drive past it at sixty miles per hour. Cool stuff goes flying out of my head at an alarming rate. I’m trying to write down the things I learn, and whom I learned it from, but there’s so much, and I’m not good at remembering things. I’ve always believed that my excellent problem solving skills are due to my extremely poor memory. I can’t remember anything, from grade school math, to your name (sorry, I already forgot it), to jiu jitsu techniques. Occasionally, something sticks, and it works, and then I try it out every chance I get. I think this turtle attack might be one.

Jen was hiking towards the Angeles Crest Highway zone, and feeling, aside from the donut and McDonalds poisoning, pretty solid. I was going to meet her in Acton, about 100 miles down the road. She hiked past a couple of ski “resorts”, including Wrightwood, and Mt. Baldy, all the way up to a spot where the trail is closed, this time for frogs. There’s a rare frog that lives in the area of Williamson Rock, and Jen asked me to come get here where they got kicked off the trail. I drove up there, and it looked familiar. 

funny thing is, I had my first bachelor party here! My brothers, my friend Dan, and I all spent a long weekend at Williamson Rock, back when I was young, like 30. We did a bunch of rock climbing, and beer drinking, and manly stuff, before my afore mentioned ill-fated first go at being married. Much better memories here than in the Valley, for sure, like totally. 

On the way in, I also notice a ski “resort” that was pretty vintage even before I was. This is one of the first places my Dad ever took us to see snow, and later on I skied it when I was in my twenties. It’s still there, still the same, although it looks like they put new covers on the chairs, which were wood slats if I remember correctly. 

Good Old Mt. Waterman!

Note the incredible variety of runs! Nice and Easy to Advanced! I think it cost $25. Me and the boys took a few more shots and headed towards mile 386. 

Oh, btw, while driving up here, I blew a tire. On the trailer. Changing a tire on a loaded trailer sucks. Just saying. 

I picked Jen up at the frog detour, and headed down the hill to Acton, where the trailer had found itself. Acton is kind of a cute little town, touristy, with a lot of “movie ranches” available to film T.V. westerns and such. They also had a hairstylist available, and Jen decided to ditch the corn rows, and just cut the damn stuff off. Good choice. Her new hair is very cute, and much easier to manage. 

Unfortunately, not all things are as easy to manage, and this time it was Jens’ knee. Neither of us thought much about it, but I dropped her off to continue on her hike, not expecting to see her for another 75 miles or so. I had already found a BJJ school in nearby-ish Palmdale, and had plans to go visit on a Friday. 

http://www.thelab-bjj.com/

This is one of those pleasant surprises that I discover. Jerry Montes is a brown belt, and runs the place with another Brown belt, a very tough guy I guessed was Russian, maybe Brazilian. Keep in mind neither of these guys could weigh over 160 lbs. When people talk about smaller guys crushing bigger guys using BJJ, this is what they’re talking about.  I don’t know if they always run their classes this way, but we did some take down drilling, a little technique, and then it was Friday night round robin. Wow, talk about tired. Coach Montes sat out most of it, but his partner was right in there, and since he was killing everyone, he was doing 3 or 4 rounds to my 1. Started off by doing take down competition, along with two huge guys, one white, one blue. Get the takedown, stay in. Then to 1st points, which started on the feet, then on to first subs. For about 90 minutes. 

Definitely got the work in. Ouch. 

Jen came along and had a movie date in Palmdale while I rolled. Sadly, I had intended on seeing her later, but her knee did something weird, and I had to pick her up unexpectedly. We both thought it was probably fine, and she had hit a milestone, 400 miles, and figured that it was time to leapfrog up to Kennedy Meadows, the start of the Sierra. She had a class to attend, where she would learn by doing with Ned, a local snow travel expert. 

We hung out a little, got her hair done, and  headed to our next stop, up above Santa Barbara, to rest the knee, see her sister, and do some BJJ. 

We stayed at this gorgeous setting at Rancho Oso, which had mountains, and a cool campsite, and almost no internet. We can only disconnect so much. We drove in to Santa Barbara, and Jen went to meet her sister, Fanny, who just so happens to be an almost masseuse. Or so I’m told. By Jen. We hung around town, and I hit open mat at Paragon BJJ. I was, frankly, a little scared. 

http://www.paragonbjj.com/

Tons of high belt people hanging around, very muscular looking lower belts, and a reputation as a top competition school. 

http://www.paragonbjj.com/jiu-jitsu/instructors.cfm

Look at these guys. If you’re not a little scared, you’re not thinking right. 

No need, however. As I’ve discovered, there are bad people who do BJJ, but they are few and far between. Friendly, technical, nobody acting like every roll was for the belt, just welcoming, solid fun. I came back for a class the next day, and in spite of it being NoGi, I stuck around, and learned some things. Started off with a bunch of wrestling style take down work, which made me feel like a total white belt. This isn’t something I do regularly, but everybody was patient, and it started to feel like I might be able to take someone down some day.

http://Adam benShea  was the coach, and while he looks terrifying, he was quite nice. He’s also got a PhD, so he’s doubly a professor. I hope those undergrads understand who they’re dealing with when they go in  and complain about their grades.

Santa Barbara was fun, but it was time for us to head to the Sierra, and see if Jens’ knee would hold up and get her through the record setting snowpack. Spoiler alert, it wouldn’t. 

She was all smiles to start, but it wouldn’t last. The knee was acting up within the first few miles, and we had a hard discussion. We ended up packing it in, and heading back to Reno to see the knee doctor. We don’t know when, if at all, we’ll be able to get back on the trail. We’re back home now, hoping for the best, and still planning on getting back to it.