I just finished a week of intense training in the Caribbean and I had already started thinking about my next camp in USA, Maine. My final destination of this 3 months journey. My body was however feeling it, I had pushed myself past my limits. All my joints ached and I had no gas  on my tank. I knew if I was to be ready for the next camp I had to take it a little slower until then. Luckily I had planned 2 weeks in the States with some of my good friends from the El Salvador camp and it shouldn’t to rough of a schedule.

I flew into N.Y. city and it was as crazy as I remembered it. I took the subway to my bus station, forgetting Rachel’s warning about that. In the subway I sat down in the corner and noticed a clearly drunk, muscular homeless man clinching a spring together for excersice. I looked to my right in search for help and next to me was another man who was doing all kinds of creepy twisting motions while mumbling to himself. In all my travels through Central America and supposedly some of the more dangerous countries in the world I felt the most unsafe in the subway system in New York.

I arrived in the middle of the night to Binghamton, upstate N.Y. and was greeted by one of Rachel’s infamous hugs. It was really nice to see an familiar face. I crashed at her house for a few days, enjoying her hospitality to the fullest. I felt like a king after all those hostels nights. Rachel had planned a camping trip in the middle of nowhere in the forest. She really wanted to proof to me there was more to N.Y. then the city. Trust me, she did. It was beautiful, we went hiking, we ate all the typical American Camping treats and drank loads of beer. Perfect way to wind down after all that training the week before.

We worked our way to Boston where our friend Bianca had offered us to stay for a few days. We stayed with her and her family and their hospitality was off the chart. I got filled up with food and my body was finally starting to recover. I was able to teach a class at her gym, Florian MMA center, on judo for BJJ.

Now arriving in Maine I feel refreshed and ready for an good week of intense training. My schedule was nice and for these two weeks. I only trained 4 times in these weeks and it left me with withdrawals from BJJ. It’s going to be good week here in Maine.