Day 20: Sinking into Reality

Daily blog posts were never going to be maintainable.

Given after the first paragraph, the Brain Ferrets get excited and go all in to retell the happenings of the day (much like an excited 5-year-old who’s had an absolute BANGER of a day at school) then proceed to be exhausted for a full 48 hours thereafter.

Thing is, I’ve learned that I get a better grasp of concepts when I’ve actually lived through them. Sometimes, cautionary tales do good enough to ward me off of doing something inherently stupid - but often times when I’ve gone through it, I understand how it relates to *my* unique situation.

Thereby a solution avails itself in the same stride realisation hits.

This is where I feel a bi-monthly retelling of highlights that have stuck or overall feelings of situations can be explained and explored. Hopefully this strategy brings to light a far bigger focal point with each blog post. Even if it doesn’t I think that’s ok too!

I might have alluded to this in the past (I can’t remember if it was on here, or in my written journal) but I deliberately avoided having any kind of itinerary, at least initially. This made for awkward conversations with friends and strangers asking where I’ll be going and what I’ll be doing.

Unsurprisingly, with the repeated script being used multiple times a day it seems that a kind of itinerary has in fact developed on its own and I quite like what’s unfolding as a result.

So for now this is what my next 11 months or so of travel is slowly fleshing out into:

12-months Travel…”Home” in Kenya 7th Feb 2025.

• 4-months - Europe: Main focus - BJJ Gyms and cute hostels

• 3-months - USA: Main Focus - BJJ Gyms, Budokon experiences, Earthship introduction, catching up with friends

• 3-months - Asia: Main Focus - BJJ Gyms and cute hostels

• 2-months - Africa: Main Focus - BJJ Gyms and connecting with BJJ/Budokon friends

Add to that, I have what a certain friend would term: My “Big Hairy Audacous Goal” (My BHAG). I don’t think I’ve written this down anywhere so here it is for you elite few who give a damn:

Firstly - To assist One Tribe by opening an affiliate BJJ gym in Western Nairobi running classes for kids and adults. In addition to offering Budokon workshops and privates for clients across Nairobi.

Secondly - To buy a 5-8 acre plot of land in Nanyuki (or nearby) on a gently sloping hill with a water source facing Mt. Kenya (for some gorgeous sunrises and inspiring sunsets and a reminder of how small and futile life is). This plot will be home to my hand built home, a guest-house, a dojo and probably some Alpacas…Fun fact: I love to crochet and really want to get to grips with knitting too! Bespoke knit alpaca wool kimonos? Yeh, bespoke knit alpaca wool kimonos.

The guest-house and dojo will allow for hiking bookings as well as any mix of retreat/experiences folks would like to bring to the space that involves hiring local Kenyan mountaineering friends for excursions.

The dojo itself will have a seasonal Mixed Movement Arts programme where I’ll be inviting fellow purple (by the time this exists, Blackbelt) friends to teach seminars and experience a safari/ beach break/excursion from my home.

Pretty sexy right?

There’s some fun side stories around the plot buying plan but I’ll leave those for in-person encounters or phone calls.

**Fancy BMAC button here…once I've moved to my next hostel location 🙈**

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/justshiggi

As it happens, my BMAC (BuyMeACoffee) account is still live, and I honestly forgot about it until a friend asked me for the link. In their delightful honesty my niche work would never be something they’d need nor their circle of friends but the like the vibe of insanity I’m up to and wanted to help out…

So, in light of that I’m now going to remember to remind folks I have that account and any shekels in there will have a 60/40 split (60% for current travels - mostly paying mat fees at BJJ gyms I visit. 40% for the Kenya BHAG run, ye that’s what I’m calling it)

I’ve been thinking about the qualities of travel I want to have for the next year as I feel I did well in finding this cluster of hostels called Nest on Tenerife island. The offer of 700eu for a month pass where you can hop around various hostels is a great deal. At the beginning of this journey - I opted not to do the monthly offer but their weekly offer which also isn’t too bad.

Whilst trying to stay in the 20-30eu zone, my main requirement of any place I go to whether it’s a hostel or a hotel is the character of a place.

This ties in with what I think will eventually be a book on what makes a living place “home”? Both in the nomadic sense which I’ll be experiencing for the next year and in the nesting sense that also splits into nest for those who have children, and those who choose not to (and maybe the post-children merging point that happens later in life?)

When I say character it can certainly vary - but I don’t like and have never been fond of bland/replicated hotel rooms you find in your typical Marriot, Hilton or anything of that ilk. Equally, the need for good cleanliness/hygiene is my second highest requirement. Finally, safety both of person and belongings is a high priority.

So, with all of that in mind it’s safe to assume I won’t really venture into more adventurous locations this time around due to what I have with me (mainly my MacBook which is literally my work-life currently).

All that to say - yes I’ll mostly be around pretty places, probably more metropolitan places, and if they are off the beaten track it’ll be because I’ve found someone reliable and the path to them I’ve deemed safe enough.

Will that guarantee a good year-long experience? Not at all - I’m not a Soothsayer. But I can at least give my mind some sense of ease with a few requirements I must adhere to.

Much like the calmness an itinerary of sorts seems to bring, it allows for energy to go in a forward direction rather than swirl incessantly on itself.

To wrap up this entry - I’ll briefly cover my experience of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu so far.

I’ve spent my time mostly at Surf Fight Club in Columbus/Las Americas which is a 30-ish minute bus ride away from where I’m situated in El Duque. I’ve attended probably 3 classes now, one of which was a No Gi open mat.

The gym itself is small but happily accommodates a good 6 pairs of people rolling at any given time. It’s very clean, and there’s men/women toilets as well as a separate shower/toilet room around the corner from the rolling space.

I think the overall structure of the space also accommodates surfing as it’s right next to the beach and there’s another section for whatever hire things budding surfers need. I am not a budding surfer so that was largely a blind spot for me.

I managed to attend classes held by different Black belts with the odd visiting black belt and plenty of varying belt grade international visitors.

Technique-wise, it wasn’t my favourite: De la Riva and Single-X entries. But I’ve found I’ve gotten better with accepting those positions do indeed happen and I might as well carry on understanding them at least to know how to escape them or turn them into an advantage.

In the first class, the 4-manouver progress style was greatly appreciated as each move informed and expanded the previous one. The black belt was Pietro and supporting lingual Uke was “Chucky”.

The rolls I’ve not really pushed beyond 50% with anyone, mainly because I have zero interest in being injured from BJJ. So it’s been quite encouraging to feel and bare witness to actually knowing how to move “elegantly” and advantageously across white and blue belt men and women. My defense is still pretty good so I’m constantly just allowing myself to get into really really dire positions so I can understand the pathway and work backwards in finding where it can be stopped and what other options are available at that stop-gap.

I should probably noodle through my thought process in an entry in the future.

From these rolls I also discovered I really, really need to work on my attack game as I have none.

By and large I mostly focus on Ezekiel, Darce and Anaconda chokes - but haven’t explored how to create any kind of dilemma paradoxes with threatening leg or arm submission scenarios. As time goes by, this will be something I’ll be asking my purple-belt peers and anyone who seems to be a fellow Technician-Wizard and clearly obsesses over the nuance of delivering dilemmas.

The other gym I trained at was a NoGi gym in Adeje town. A 30-min bus ride in the other direction from El Duque. No Gi is a huge weakness of mine and I’m not too fond of it but I appreciate it and how the game is certainly quicker and can be safe in that regard. But equally, the speed allows for freak fuckeries to happen very quickly.

Also heel-hooks are allowed.

Heel-hooks do not necessarily fuck up your ankles - it’s your knee that gets blown the fuck up.

No thanks.

Anyway, the class was held in a gym called Radical Fitness within the entity Tenerife Submission Grappling and led by Cam - a brown belt and his brother Diego (a purple belt).

Again, details about entry to takedowns and how to counter stand-up guillotine attacks were greatly appreciated. As was having it pointed out to me that I lower and roll my head a lot…which opens myself to all the headlock attacks, so I need to reel that in and stop it.

Whilst I feel like a beached walrus when it comes to No Gi rolls I found once again that with white/blue belt guys I can find the dominant position when I set my mind to it.

However - just like my Gi game, when I am in a dominant position my brain goes absolutely blank as to how to find a submission.

I think I managed to sink an Ezekiel on one of them.

This will likely need a review post of its own - but in one roll there was a constant condescending tone of “very good, well done” by the guy I was rolling with. A whitebelt guy (apparently a police officer) who was absolutely gassed as hell the entire time whom I let find dominant positions but he couldn’t close, so I’d play various games to escape and dominate but that last bit of a submission didn’t click - even if I found the constant condescending monologue annoying.

At the end of that roll as we all stood in grade order I saw his face ping in surprise for moment to see I was stood second to Diego in the class.

Yes, it’s petty, but it happens more frequently and I 100% will be making observations and commentary about it as time goes by.

Phew! Again with the long ass posts. Thankfully downshifting to bi-monthly means I can recover from these. If you’re this far - I super appreciate you for following my ramblings and supporting this craziness.

By the time the next entry goes live, I’ll have moved to another hostel within the Nest chain. Deliberately I’ve chosen a somewhat secluded hostel in an area called Las Eras where it seems there’s a lot of yoga classes.

Maybe, I will finally tackle my beef with Yoga and finish my Budokon Teacher Trainings so I can do online and in-person classes and workshops!