It has been a coon's age since I have had the time to write anything in the blog. Long overdue for an update I think.
Where did I leave off? Oh yeah, all the way back in Colombia almost a month ago now. Well, the last few days of the trip were pretty sweet, except for being deathly ill for a few nights. Cartagena, although really, really hot, was an amazing city. The architecture there was some of the coolest I have seen. Glenn and I only had a half of a day there, but I would venture back for a week or more if I could. It was a great mix of old world with new city. It was a little (ok lets be honest a LOT) hot, but definitely manageable. We stayed at one of the nicest hostels that I have stayed at anywhere. Luckily, we splurged the extra dollar for an air conditioned room. That night I unfortunately felt Montezuma's wrath, but not as bad as the following night. It just wasn't any old wrath...this one was like when the Spanish were invading and he was hating on them like none other. I was up pretty much the whole night. I'll spare you the gory details, but after about 4 hours I literally had nothing left in my body. Finally, at 6 am, I headed down to the pharmacy to pick up some OTC Cipro. Luckily, it seemed to do the trick and I was feeling mostly better by midday, which was lucky since I had to fly home later that night.
After getting back from the SA excursion, I spent a few days jazzing around NYC with Suzie. We hit up some Vietnamese (don't go for the spicy noodles or they will tear you up) and Indian food (chicken masala = delicious). I mad it back to State on the megabus, which was surprisingly on time this time. I went to lunch with a bunch of awesome Penn Staters...Mella decided that TGIFridays would be a good spot, pretty much because she had a coupon and wanted to use it before going to Iowa...and, as adam knows, you never tell a pregnant woman no when it comes to anything to do with food. It was a great lunch, but almost immediately after I tried to head out to Lake Erie where mom and dad were fishing with my grandparents. Lucky for me, I had not been smart enough to unplug a few things from my cigarette lighter, and it completely burned my battery out. Even with Grave's help, we couldn't jump it. $115 and a new battery later, I was headed on my three hour drive through beautiful country to the lake. You don't really realize until you leave PA and come back that we really do have a nice state. Rivers, forest, lakes, rolling hills. Especially through the north central part that I drove through.
When I made it to the lake, I was welcomed how a man who hasn't been in the US for a while should be welcomed: with an ice cold Keystone light from my grandpa and grandma. A bunch of their friends were up there fishing the same derby that my parents were in, and I sat around and listened to them reminiscing about old times. They talked about old fishing tales and traveling out west. I think I finally realized then where I got some of my sense of travel adventure. It was awesome to hear some stories that I have never heard about my family. It was a great night with the family catching up. The next day we went out fishing. Not the best day out, rainy, windy, and not much sun, but still a day on the water! I wound up wearing pants and a fleece all day, which is not what you should wear during the summer at the lake. We finished up the day with a fish fry and I headed out back to State early the next morning for a GREAT campfire with some more awesome people in the backyard.
The next day, Becky and I headed out to Williamsport for the Shoales/Keim wedding. The wedding was freaking fantastic! I got to catch up with some of the mirabile ivenut MI7-007 crew. Just like the old times, lots of laughs, jokes, and sarcasm. It was great seeing Hannah, Emily, and Kristen. We decided on the next reunion in the Florida Keys. It better not be 2 years in the making though. The sooner the better.
The last 3 weeks have been a blur. Starting work, trying to find a house to live in, traveling on weekends, trying to catch up on sleep. It has been pret-ty nuts. But, everything seems to be working itself out. I started up with IBM to find out that I would be assigned to a project in Springfield, VA. Today was the start of my third week and I am settling in a little bit. It is a little bit slow at times and super fast at times, and pretty challenging because I don't know very much about the programs that I am using. I am learning a lot, but I am still lacking in human interaction. A lot of my day is spent in front of the computer screen. I know it is necessary to do analysis and I enjoy doing that for part of the time, but I also need to be able to use my people skills. Most of you who know me know I like and am good at interacting with people, so hopefully soon down the road I'll be able to make it happen. On the home front (literally) I found a place to live in the Clarendon area of Arlington, VA. It s a house with a few other guys. It is great. I'll have a lot of space, a place to store a kayak in the basement, a back yard, front porch, and all the sports channels available. I think all of the roommates will be on about the same level work/still wanting to get out and have some fun, so I am pretty pumped about that. I move over there on August 1st and will finally, finally be settled back into a place after 3 months of moving around and crashing on couches. Speaking of, I thought it would be fun to list all of the places that I have slept in the past 3 months:
1. Guayaquil, Ecuador
2. Cuenca, Ecuador
3. Riobamba, Ecuador
4. Banos, Ecuador
5. Quito, Ecuador
6. Cotopaxi base camp, Ecuador
7. Bogota, Colombia - old center
8. Salento, Colombia
9. San Gil, Colombia
10. Taganga, Colombia
11. Colombian jungle
12. Santa Marta, Colombia
13. Cartagena, Colombia
14. Bogota, Colombia - Zona Rosa
15. NYC - Elmhurst (Suzie's new apartment)
16. NYC - Astoria (Suzie's old apartment)
17. Barcelona, NY (Lake Erie)
18. State College, PA (out spare bedroom)
19. Williamsport, PA (Days Inn - hot breakfast, oh yeah)
20. Washington, DC - Shaw (Chelsea's house)
21. Baltimore, MD (Lindsay's house)
22. Clarion, PA (tenting at Jon's campsite)
23. Clarion, PA (Lindsay's house)
I think that rounds it out. So - as you can see - it has been freaking busy but great. Over the past 4 months I have got to see and have fun with a lot of family and close friends that mean a lot to me. As an italian guy in a restaurant in NYC's little italy once told me - "I'm jealous to this guy!!" In other words, I'm one lucky man.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Ciudad Perdida
This is from a REALLY long time ago, but I finally had some time to post it after writing it a month and a half ago.
The Ciudad Perdida hike is a 5 day-4 night hike through the northern Colombian jungle/mountains. Glenn and I scheduled our tour with Magic Tours, and wound up getting one of the best hiking groups I have ever been a part of. Jordan and Jono (who we met in San Gil) are an American and a Kiwi that went to grad school together in Boston, Dave, Tristen, Megan (Burra), and John (Pequena J) who were together in language school in Cartagena, and Rumer (Boom), a Dutch guy traveling South America. All of the people on the hike were awesome, and it made the experience so much better. (Side note: we started the group with one more guy, but he decided that he wanted to pretty much run the entire hike and left us after the first morning. I saw in the hostel later after we had all finished the hike and he said that he wasn't all about the "not having electricity." Really? You are out in the middle of the jungle, what do you expect?)
Some general thoughts from the trip:
1. I couldn't believe how luxurious the accomodations were. Real, clean toilets and showers and mosquito nets. Awesome!
2. They only allow 2 groups to set out hiking each day, which keeps the number of people on the trail at one time pretty low. Most of the time, you feel like you are out there all alone. Really cool!
3. The food was awesome. Each meal was a comida tipica prepared by the cook that hiked along with us. Our particular cook made some mean lentils and beans and had the most loyal little dog that I have ever met. He was always within 5 feet of the guy!
4. The mosquitos were not as bad as I had thought they were going to be. I tried to control the bites by wearing high socks for hiking. It worked pretty well, and I wound up only getting maybe 10-20 bites the whole time.
5. Temperatures were not as hot as I thought they would be. By 4 or 5 each afternoon, I was in a long sleeve underarmor shirt and long pants to help keep mosquito bites to a minimum. I had thought I would be way too hot in that, but I was perfect.
6. Our guides, Mauricio and Luis were incredible. They had out best interest at heart and wanted to make us the happiest that they could. 2 of the best guides that youd could ask for. If anyone goes there, head to Santa Marta and search out Mauricio. He works out of a travel agency in Hotel Miramar. 100% highly recommended.
Here is some day-by-day breakdown:
Day 1: Right along with Colombian time schedule, magic tours was 45 minutes late in picking us up from our hostel in Taganga. They finally came and shuttled us in to meet up with all of the other kids in the group in Santa Marta. We were all piled into a big old jeep (literally piled) for the 2 and a half hour ride to where we would start hiking. The jeep driver out there was pretty much awesome. He may have been a little bit drunk by the way he was crazily laughing at everything (we are not sure), but he got us there safe and sound. It was interesting to see that there were really no gas stations along the way, but there are stops along the side of the road where men come out with a big jug of gas and siphon it into the tank. Talk about throwback! The last hour of the ride was along an unpaved, washed-out road. It was a pretty rough ride, but pretty fun in the old jeep. We got to the village, which was literally out in the middle of nowhere. I was astounded about how they actually got building materials there to construct the buidlings with how bad the road was. We ate a small lunch and then set out on the trek at around 1:30 or 2. After about an hour of walking, we hit our first uphill of the hike - and probably the hardest uphill of them all. It took us about an hour to reach the top. We were all sweating like pigs at that point because of the humidity, but I didn't think it was overly difficult. Unfortunately, before we made it to camp for the night, it began to downpour, making it slippery going on the downhills where the path was clay. When we made it to the first camp, I was really impressed with how luxurious it was! We had running water, electricity, hammocks with mosquito nets, showers, and toilets. I hadn't expected to have all of this out in the jungle, but it was a nice surprise! We hung out that night and taught people in the group who didn't know how to play asshole, which became the go-to game throughout the hike. We hit the sack pretty early to get ready for hiking the next day.
Day 2: We woke up fairly late and sety out to start hiking at about 9. This day was only about 3.5 hours of hiking, so we took it easy for the most part. The worst part about the day was the morning where we had to put on our wet clothes and hikers from the day before. The landscape that we hiked though was impressive, crossing little rivers and streams along the way. The second camp was right along the major river that we followed the whole time. Because we made it there pretty early, we had some time to swim in the river and hang out on the rocks. I think that day was when our guide realized that putting us in a swimming whole made everyone really really happy. From there on out, anytime we got a chance to swim we took it. Instead of having hammocks, the second camp actually had mattresses and bunk beds to sleep in. This night was one of the best nights of sleep that I had on my entire trip. The temperature was perfect and the sound of the river was something right out of what you would hear on one of those soothing sound CDs people play to sleep to.
Day 3: An early wake up call. We got up at around 5, ate breakfast, and set out for out longest day of hiking. Mauricio gave us the optilon of making it to the ruins on day 3 instead of 4 so that he could show us a really special waterfall that is not really on the tour and not many people get to go to. With our love for water, we didn't have a 2nd thought about doing that, so we trekked to the ruins in the afternoon. To get to them, we hiked up hundreds of steps for about 30 minutes. The ruins themselves are not as incredible as some others I have seen, but the setting is spectacular. When we reached the highest tier of the 1,500 year old ruins, you could see jungle-covered mountains all around us. Pretty amazing scenery! On the way back to the camp from the ruins, we used a river route, which entailed a lot of wading through fast moving water - great times! After the ruins, Mauricio sat down with us and explained some of the history of the hike and of Colombia. Really interesting stuff to learn about how, as late as 1991, murders, disapperances, and car bombs were the norm throughout the country. He also told us about the kidnappings that happened at the ruins in 2003 when the ELN came to the ruins and kidnapped 9 tourists for up to 3 months for negotiations with the Colombian government. Mauricio also told me that as little as 4 months ago, the first camp that we stayed out still had a demonstration of how to make cocaine due to its importance in the history of the country. Getting all of this information is another reason why going with Mauricio was a blessing. It really enriched the experience of the hike.
Day 4: We woke up early again for another day of long hiking. We had about 6 and a half hours of walking to make it back to the first camp where the waterfall was. Luckily, we got great weather for the day and had no problems making it back in time to get to the waterfall. Getting to see the waterfall was amazing - one of the highlights of my whole trip. It was about a 20 meter waterfall cascading over ribbed rocks. We actually got to climb down the side of it, and once we got to the bottom we cimbed under the water and let it pound our backs. One of the best massages of my life!! The water was so strong that you actually had to cover your head with your hands so that it didn't hurt. After playing in the waterfall for a while, we climed back up to a another smaller waterfall with a big pool where we could jump and dive off of the rocks. Luckily, Jordan had out her good camera and took a bunch of pictures of us. I'll be getting those in an email soon I hope! Like I said, this was one of the best parts of the trip and something special because it is a hidden gem.
Day 5: A quick hiking day to end the trip. I was really sad to have to say goodbye to the lungle and the people on the trek. It was suck a great 5 days that I didn't want it to end. But, alas, all good things come to an end I guess. The transport back was a little bit rough for me in the back of the jeep. I felt like I was going to hurl a couple of times because of the hotness and rough road, but I made it back to Santa Marta alright and had one of the best showers I have had. I had been wearing the same set of hiking clothes for the whole hike, so it felt good to get out of them and into something a little bit more clean. Everything still smells really, really bad...but that is a minor byproduct of trekking through the jungle for 5 days.
As any good tour group would do, we decided that we needed to take our guides out for a dinner and drinks to celebrate making it to the city and back. It wound up being a great night of drinking, dancing, laughing, and me translating spanish to english. An appropriate end to what was one of the best 5 days of my trip!
"Jungle love, is drivin' me mad, is makin' me crazy."
The Ciudad Perdida hike is a 5 day-4 night hike through the northern Colombian jungle/mountains. Glenn and I scheduled our tour with Magic Tours, and wound up getting one of the best hiking groups I have ever been a part of. Jordan and Jono (who we met in San Gil) are an American and a Kiwi that went to grad school together in Boston, Dave, Tristen, Megan (Burra), and John (Pequena J) who were together in language school in Cartagena, and Rumer (Boom), a Dutch guy traveling South America. All of the people on the hike were awesome, and it made the experience so much better. (Side note: we started the group with one more guy, but he decided that he wanted to pretty much run the entire hike and left us after the first morning. I saw in the hostel later after we had all finished the hike and he said that he wasn't all about the "not having electricity." Really? You are out in the middle of the jungle, what do you expect?)
Some general thoughts from the trip:
1. I couldn't believe how luxurious the accomodations were. Real, clean toilets and showers and mosquito nets. Awesome!
2. They only allow 2 groups to set out hiking each day, which keeps the number of people on the trail at one time pretty low. Most of the time, you feel like you are out there all alone. Really cool!
3. The food was awesome. Each meal was a comida tipica prepared by the cook that hiked along with us. Our particular cook made some mean lentils and beans and had the most loyal little dog that I have ever met. He was always within 5 feet of the guy!
4. The mosquitos were not as bad as I had thought they were going to be. I tried to control the bites by wearing high socks for hiking. It worked pretty well, and I wound up only getting maybe 10-20 bites the whole time.
5. Temperatures were not as hot as I thought they would be. By 4 or 5 each afternoon, I was in a long sleeve underarmor shirt and long pants to help keep mosquito bites to a minimum. I had thought I would be way too hot in that, but I was perfect.
6. Our guides, Mauricio and Luis were incredible. They had out best interest at heart and wanted to make us the happiest that they could. 2 of the best guides that youd could ask for. If anyone goes there, head to Santa Marta and search out Mauricio. He works out of a travel agency in Hotel Miramar. 100% highly recommended.
Here is some day-by-day breakdown:
Day 1: Right along with Colombian time schedule, magic tours was 45 minutes late in picking us up from our hostel in Taganga. They finally came and shuttled us in to meet up with all of the other kids in the group in Santa Marta. We were all piled into a big old jeep (literally piled) for the 2 and a half hour ride to where we would start hiking. The jeep driver out there was pretty much awesome. He may have been a little bit drunk by the way he was crazily laughing at everything (we are not sure), but he got us there safe and sound. It was interesting to see that there were really no gas stations along the way, but there are stops along the side of the road where men come out with a big jug of gas and siphon it into the tank. Talk about throwback! The last hour of the ride was along an unpaved, washed-out road. It was a pretty rough ride, but pretty fun in the old jeep. We got to the village, which was literally out in the middle of nowhere. I was astounded about how they actually got building materials there to construct the buidlings with how bad the road was. We ate a small lunch and then set out on the trek at around 1:30 or 2. After about an hour of walking, we hit our first uphill of the hike - and probably the hardest uphill of them all. It took us about an hour to reach the top. We were all sweating like pigs at that point because of the humidity, but I didn't think it was overly difficult. Unfortunately, before we made it to camp for the night, it began to downpour, making it slippery going on the downhills where the path was clay. When we made it to the first camp, I was really impressed with how luxurious it was! We had running water, electricity, hammocks with mosquito nets, showers, and toilets. I hadn't expected to have all of this out in the jungle, but it was a nice surprise! We hung out that night and taught people in the group who didn't know how to play asshole, which became the go-to game throughout the hike. We hit the sack pretty early to get ready for hiking the next day.
Day 2: We woke up fairly late and sety out to start hiking at about 9. This day was only about 3.5 hours of hiking, so we took it easy for the most part. The worst part about the day was the morning where we had to put on our wet clothes and hikers from the day before. The landscape that we hiked though was impressive, crossing little rivers and streams along the way. The second camp was right along the major river that we followed the whole time. Because we made it there pretty early, we had some time to swim in the river and hang out on the rocks. I think that day was when our guide realized that putting us in a swimming whole made everyone really really happy. From there on out, anytime we got a chance to swim we took it. Instead of having hammocks, the second camp actually had mattresses and bunk beds to sleep in. This night was one of the best nights of sleep that I had on my entire trip. The temperature was perfect and the sound of the river was something right out of what you would hear on one of those soothing sound CDs people play to sleep to.
Day 3: An early wake up call. We got up at around 5, ate breakfast, and set out for out longest day of hiking. Mauricio gave us the optilon of making it to the ruins on day 3 instead of 4 so that he could show us a really special waterfall that is not really on the tour and not many people get to go to. With our love for water, we didn't have a 2nd thought about doing that, so we trekked to the ruins in the afternoon. To get to them, we hiked up hundreds of steps for about 30 minutes. The ruins themselves are not as incredible as some others I have seen, but the setting is spectacular. When we reached the highest tier of the 1,500 year old ruins, you could see jungle-covered mountains all around us. Pretty amazing scenery! On the way back to the camp from the ruins, we used a river route, which entailed a lot of wading through fast moving water - great times! After the ruins, Mauricio sat down with us and explained some of the history of the hike and of Colombia. Really interesting stuff to learn about how, as late as 1991, murders, disapperances, and car bombs were the norm throughout the country. He also told us about the kidnappings that happened at the ruins in 2003 when the ELN came to the ruins and kidnapped 9 tourists for up to 3 months for negotiations with the Colombian government. Mauricio also told me that as little as 4 months ago, the first camp that we stayed out still had a demonstration of how to make cocaine due to its importance in the history of the country. Getting all of this information is another reason why going with Mauricio was a blessing. It really enriched the experience of the hike.
Day 4: We woke up early again for another day of long hiking. We had about 6 and a half hours of walking to make it back to the first camp where the waterfall was. Luckily, we got great weather for the day and had no problems making it back in time to get to the waterfall. Getting to see the waterfall was amazing - one of the highlights of my whole trip. It was about a 20 meter waterfall cascading over ribbed rocks. We actually got to climb down the side of it, and once we got to the bottom we cimbed under the water and let it pound our backs. One of the best massages of my life!! The water was so strong that you actually had to cover your head with your hands so that it didn't hurt. After playing in the waterfall for a while, we climed back up to a another smaller waterfall with a big pool where we could jump and dive off of the rocks. Luckily, Jordan had out her good camera and took a bunch of pictures of us. I'll be getting those in an email soon I hope! Like I said, this was one of the best parts of the trip and something special because it is a hidden gem.
Day 5: A quick hiking day to end the trip. I was really sad to have to say goodbye to the lungle and the people on the trek. It was suck a great 5 days that I didn't want it to end. But, alas, all good things come to an end I guess. The transport back was a little bit rough for me in the back of the jeep. I felt like I was going to hurl a couple of times because of the hotness and rough road, but I made it back to Santa Marta alright and had one of the best showers I have had. I had been wearing the same set of hiking clothes for the whole hike, so it felt good to get out of them and into something a little bit more clean. Everything still smells really, really bad...but that is a minor byproduct of trekking through the jungle for 5 days.
As any good tour group would do, we decided that we needed to take our guides out for a dinner and drinks to celebrate making it to the city and back. It wound up being a great night of drinking, dancing, laughing, and me translating spanish to english. An appropriate end to what was one of the best 5 days of my trip!
"Jungle love, is drivin' me mad, is makin' me crazy."
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Bus travel, Taganga, and Tayrona
May 11th, 2011
Well, it has been a long, long time since I have had time to write...so I am sorry for disappointing everyone about not being able to read about my adventures! Traveling with a friend and meeting a bunch of people is not very conducive to keeping up with a blog. I am currently back in Bogota, recalling the past few weeks and trying to remember the best stories from them. Where to start?
I think I left off at around San Gil about 2 weeks ago...unfortunately there are not many pictures from here on out. Me (being a little bit careless) left my bookbag in a dorm of a hostel when I was showering and someone swiped it, camera and all :( Big disappointment. I got all my pictures off beforehand, but I lost a $300 camera. They didn't even leave my guidebook, underarmor fleece, or my one bank card! Luckily, my laptop was in a safe and I had my passport and backup bank card with it. Life goes on, and you live and learn I guess.
San Gil was a nice little town itself, but the weather while we were there and before kept us from doing a lot of the things that we planned on. Rafting was a bust because all three rivers that usually run were closed due to either being too high or having a huge mudslide down the middle. The caves that we had planned on going to were also closed because of the high water. The waterfall that you can rapelle down was closed because of having too high of a volume...you get the picture. Mother nature was being a pretty big bitch to us! In any case, the last day that we were there we did get to make it to Barichara, a small little colonial village. I have been to a lot of little mountain towns, but this might have been one of the prettiest I have ever seen. All the streets are made of flat rocks or cobblestones, and the buildings whitewashed with blue and green painted around the windows. We hiked from there about 2 hours to get to a town called Guane, which was smaller and sleepier than Barichara. Both were awesome little towns with very friendly people. We also met some awesome people in San Gil - Jono and Jordan - who we would later catch back up with and do the ciudad perdida hike with. They showed us to delicious meat skewers in the San Gil park that we ate while being accosted by a drunk man telling us to leave Colombia. It was the first time I have been heckled by anyone here other than for me to buy things. He was harmless, but it was still annoying.
From San Gil, we headed up to the coast. We had originally planned to make it to a national park with high mountain hiking, but we found out that it would actually take about 12 hours to get into the park from where we were. That did not fit into our time frame, so we headed for a little beach town called Taganga. The transport night/day to get there from San Gil was in a few words...long and a little bit amazing race-like. We hopped our first bus at 7:45PM, 15 minutes after we were supposed to leave. When we arrived in Bucaramanga, a town that we had to change in, I realized that we should have missed our connecting bus by 20 minutes. We nearly ran to the bus company's office, and luckily, we found that the bus hadn't left yet...but it was on its way out of the station. At this point, we started to run and actually made it! The bus driver wasn't overly happy with us, but I was not too upset about it since it was their fault for being late in the first place. From there, it was supposed to be another about 10 hours on the bus. Wrong again! We didn't get into where we were supposed to until 13 hours later. Needless to say, I was ready to get off that bus.
When we rolled into Taganga, I was not impressed. One word for it - shithole. There were only dusty streets, expensive food, and men trying to sell us drugs. Luckily, we were only staying for a few days before setting off for greener pastures. From Taganga, we set up our Ciudad Perdida hike and set out for Tayrona National Park to spend a night at a campground.
Tayrona was completely amazing! It was a huge change from the crap town that we had just been in. We had met a Dutch/Colombian couple that were heading out at the same time as us, so we tagged along. Maria had been living in the Netherlands since she was 8, but still has a lot of family here. Her boyfriend (whose name is evading me right now) has been working in Dubai for the past 6 years as a dredger, so it was interesting to learn a little bit about what it is like to live there. The beaches of Tayrona were fantastic, some of the best that I have visited. I think what made them so spectacular was the the jungle butted right up to the edges of them. They are also littered with huge boulders that make for an awesome setting. There is also some hiking that you can do throughout the park, which we wound up finding out on a 3 hour jaunt up a pretty big hill. I wish that we would have had one more night in the park (even though the hammocks that we slept in in the campground were HORRIBLE! I mean horrible. I slept about 2 hours the whole night. That being said, I would have suffered through another night of it because I liked the park that much. Being there only for a day may help lessed that chance of me getting yellow fever I guess lol. I wasn't aware, but you were suppoed to have been vaccinated before going into the park. So far I feel fine, so I am thinking I am safe!
The rain has not stopped, but we have gotten pretty lucky with it being mostly in the afternoon hours and at night. There have been some monumental downpours. I am surprised with how fast rivers swell and subsequently go back down here, especially along the coast.
The day after we got back from Tayrona park was the departure for Ciudad Perdida, which deserves its own blog entry because it was SO GOOD! I am going to try to write that entry and post it tomorrow!
"Rain rain go away, come back another day!!"
Well, it has been a long, long time since I have had time to write...so I am sorry for disappointing everyone about not being able to read about my adventures! Traveling with a friend and meeting a bunch of people is not very conducive to keeping up with a blog. I am currently back in Bogota, recalling the past few weeks and trying to remember the best stories from them. Where to start?
I think I left off at around San Gil about 2 weeks ago...unfortunately there are not many pictures from here on out. Me (being a little bit careless) left my bookbag in a dorm of a hostel when I was showering and someone swiped it, camera and all :( Big disappointment. I got all my pictures off beforehand, but I lost a $300 camera. They didn't even leave my guidebook, underarmor fleece, or my one bank card! Luckily, my laptop was in a safe and I had my passport and backup bank card with it. Life goes on, and you live and learn I guess.
San Gil was a nice little town itself, but the weather while we were there and before kept us from doing a lot of the things that we planned on. Rafting was a bust because all three rivers that usually run were closed due to either being too high or having a huge mudslide down the middle. The caves that we had planned on going to were also closed because of the high water. The waterfall that you can rapelle down was closed because of having too high of a volume...you get the picture. Mother nature was being a pretty big bitch to us! In any case, the last day that we were there we did get to make it to Barichara, a small little colonial village. I have been to a lot of little mountain towns, but this might have been one of the prettiest I have ever seen. All the streets are made of flat rocks or cobblestones, and the buildings whitewashed with blue and green painted around the windows. We hiked from there about 2 hours to get to a town called Guane, which was smaller and sleepier than Barichara. Both were awesome little towns with very friendly people. We also met some awesome people in San Gil - Jono and Jordan - who we would later catch back up with and do the ciudad perdida hike with. They showed us to delicious meat skewers in the San Gil park that we ate while being accosted by a drunk man telling us to leave Colombia. It was the first time I have been heckled by anyone here other than for me to buy things. He was harmless, but it was still annoying.
From San Gil, we headed up to the coast. We had originally planned to make it to a national park with high mountain hiking, but we found out that it would actually take about 12 hours to get into the park from where we were. That did not fit into our time frame, so we headed for a little beach town called Taganga. The transport night/day to get there from San Gil was in a few words...long and a little bit amazing race-like. We hopped our first bus at 7:45PM, 15 minutes after we were supposed to leave. When we arrived in Bucaramanga, a town that we had to change in, I realized that we should have missed our connecting bus by 20 minutes. We nearly ran to the bus company's office, and luckily, we found that the bus hadn't left yet...but it was on its way out of the station. At this point, we started to run and actually made it! The bus driver wasn't overly happy with us, but I was not too upset about it since it was their fault for being late in the first place. From there, it was supposed to be another about 10 hours on the bus. Wrong again! We didn't get into where we were supposed to until 13 hours later. Needless to say, I was ready to get off that bus.
When we rolled into Taganga, I was not impressed. One word for it - shithole. There were only dusty streets, expensive food, and men trying to sell us drugs. Luckily, we were only staying for a few days before setting off for greener pastures. From Taganga, we set up our Ciudad Perdida hike and set out for Tayrona National Park to spend a night at a campground.
Tayrona was completely amazing! It was a huge change from the crap town that we had just been in. We had met a Dutch/Colombian couple that were heading out at the same time as us, so we tagged along. Maria had been living in the Netherlands since she was 8, but still has a lot of family here. Her boyfriend (whose name is evading me right now) has been working in Dubai for the past 6 years as a dredger, so it was interesting to learn a little bit about what it is like to live there. The beaches of Tayrona were fantastic, some of the best that I have visited. I think what made them so spectacular was the the jungle butted right up to the edges of them. They are also littered with huge boulders that make for an awesome setting. There is also some hiking that you can do throughout the park, which we wound up finding out on a 3 hour jaunt up a pretty big hill. I wish that we would have had one more night in the park (even though the hammocks that we slept in in the campground were HORRIBLE! I mean horrible. I slept about 2 hours the whole night. That being said, I would have suffered through another night of it because I liked the park that much. Being there only for a day may help lessed that chance of me getting yellow fever I guess lol. I wasn't aware, but you were suppoed to have been vaccinated before going into the park. So far I feel fine, so I am thinking I am safe!
The rain has not stopped, but we have gotten pretty lucky with it being mostly in the afternoon hours and at night. There have been some monumental downpours. I am surprised with how fast rivers swell and subsequently go back down here, especially along the coast.
The day after we got back from Tayrona park was the departure for Ciudad Perdida, which deserves its own blog entry because it was SO GOOD! I am going to try to write that entry and post it tomorrow!
"Rain rain go away, come back another day!!"
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Farms, Wax Palms, and HEAT!
May 29th, 2011
In Colombia for 1 week tonight - still no sign of guerillas, kidnappings, or many other Americans for that matter. So far, that has been one of the most interesting things I have experienced here. You hear the complete opposite about Colombia from people in the US and people who have actually been here. The lingering bad reputation of the country, from what I have experienced first-hand, is undeserved.
I don't think I have written since Bogota, which puts me way far behind. After taking a night but from Bogota and to Armenia and Salento, we found our way to La Serrana, a working farm that doubles as a eco-hotel. It was a really nice place to spend a few days. It is right in the middle of Colombia's coffee growing district that has really green, beautiful rolling hillsides dotten with tall wax-palm trees (the tallest palm trees in the world at about 60 feet). Their existence in the middle of all the other lower trees creates a pretty cool effect to see their palm tops jutting out at the top. There is not a ton to do at the hostel itself, but there were some good trekking opportunities not far away.
We arrived early in the morning, around 7:30am, after a night of travel and I was pretty exhausted even though I had slept well on the bus. We took a nap for a few hours and then got up to eat breakfast that the hostel included even though we did not actually stay there the night before. After that, we headed out to walk to a coffee farm, where we took about a 45 minutes tour. I have been on tours before, but this was one of the best because I got to see the actual machinery and plants up close...heck the tour guide even put us to work and we picked a few coffee berries outselves. He also told us that, during the high season, 20 people harvest the beans from all 50,000 plants on the farm! Yes, 50,000 plants! After picking about 10 of the pods and dropping half of them, I realized that you have to have well trained fingers to be able to do the job well. In the high season, a worker may pick up to 200kg (a lot, lot of pounds) in a day. Pretty incredible! At the end of the tour, we got a chance to see the unroasted coffee beans before they are sent to market. It is interesting that the best quality beans are exported to other countries, while the "second-hand" beans that are not as good of quality stay in Colombia. This year, there has been a ton of rain that has affected the coffee crop, which is one of the major reasons why coffee prices have been spiking. Finally, we got to try coffee directly from the farm. It was a great cup, so I decided to grab a bag to sip on for lazy Sunday mornings when I start the job. For dinner, we headed to the supermarket and got some greens to make a salad - much needed for me since I had not had greens for a long, long time. It turned out to be delcious, a well needed fix!
The next day, we headed out to hike the Valley de Cocora with one of the other girls that we met in the hostel, Jen. She is a brit who has been traveling for about 9 months now and is heading up to Central America after Colombia. She was worried about keeping up with Glenn and I on the hike, but I assured here that she would make it just fine! The hike was through awesome cloudforest dotted with the wax-palms I described earlier. It rained a little bit, but thankfully never poured on us. We did have to cross a fast flowing creek on bridges made of three logs about 6 or 7 times at the beginning of the path, but it made the going exciting. After about 2 and a half hours, we reached a nature reserve at the end of the trail and had a grossly sweetened cup of coffee, but the place redeemed itself because of all of the hummingbirds flying around where we were sitting having the coffee. We then headed to the mountain lookout point, another hour or so of going UP a pretty steep and muddy path. The views from the top were well worth it. After another 2 hours of hiking, we made it back to where we were dropped off initially and headed back into town.
Dinner that night was one of the best on the trip! I splurged and decided to eat the food on offer at the hostel - a burger. I figured it would be good since the guy who runs the hotel is a chef from New York. Even thought the burger was a little bit more rare than I usually eat, it was awesome. The toppings really did the trick. Guacamole, hummus, lettuce, eggs, grilled pineapple. Well worth the $7 it cost for it. I needed a little bit of protein after the 6 hours of hiking that we did that day.
The next morning, we got up and I readied myself for a long day and night of travel. To get to where we were going next, we had to backtrack to Bogota and then take another night bus to San Gil. We took the day bus, which turned out to be a really beautiful ride through mountains and cloudforest. The Colombians are building a huge, and I mean huge, tunnel that cuts through the mountains. It is supposed to cut the current travel time down from 7.5 hours to 5. After spending some more time in the Bogota bus terminal, we finally boarded our bus and made it to San Gil at 4:30 in the morning. Not the optimal, but we were able to wake the guy up at the hostel we were going to stay at so that we could check in and sleep for a few hours. That was this morning I guess. Sometimes the days run together when you really don't have to know what date or even day it is. Thankfully, I have a watch that keeps me on track with the date, day and time!
Today, after sleeping for a few hours when we got in, we headed out to try and find some horseback riding tours. As walking through town, you could definitely tell that the altitude had changed A LOT! It is a lot hotter here and I finally felt pretty comfortable walking around in shorts and flip flops. There are also mosquitos here as I am finding out through the multiple bites on my legs. Time to break out the 100% deet! No luck finding a horseback tour though, weirdly enough. It seemed like, even though it was a Sunday, a lot of the town's stores were closed down. We ended up heading to a local swimming hole called Pozo Azul, about a 30 minute walk outside of town. The water was pretty cold so I didn't wind up swimming, but we did lay by the rushing wart of the river in the sun for a little while and got in a much needed nap. Tonight was a catch up night with emailing and blogging, as the eco-hotel's wifi was not working. We got pretty much the rest of the trip planned. Tomorrow we are going to go caving and then to a really nice colonial town. Should be nice, more to come soon!
"The heat is on...the heat is o-on!"
In Colombia for 1 week tonight - still no sign of guerillas, kidnappings, or many other Americans for that matter. So far, that has been one of the most interesting things I have experienced here. You hear the complete opposite about Colombia from people in the US and people who have actually been here. The lingering bad reputation of the country, from what I have experienced first-hand, is undeserved.
I don't think I have written since Bogota, which puts me way far behind. After taking a night but from Bogota and to Armenia and Salento, we found our way to La Serrana, a working farm that doubles as a eco-hotel. It was a really nice place to spend a few days. It is right in the middle of Colombia's coffee growing district that has really green, beautiful rolling hillsides dotten with tall wax-palm trees (the tallest palm trees in the world at about 60 feet). Their existence in the middle of all the other lower trees creates a pretty cool effect to see their palm tops jutting out at the top. There is not a ton to do at the hostel itself, but there were some good trekking opportunities not far away.
We arrived early in the morning, around 7:30am, after a night of travel and I was pretty exhausted even though I had slept well on the bus. We took a nap for a few hours and then got up to eat breakfast that the hostel included even though we did not actually stay there the night before. After that, we headed out to walk to a coffee farm, where we took about a 45 minutes tour. I have been on tours before, but this was one of the best because I got to see the actual machinery and plants up close...heck the tour guide even put us to work and we picked a few coffee berries outselves. He also told us that, during the high season, 20 people harvest the beans from all 50,000 plants on the farm! Yes, 50,000 plants! After picking about 10 of the pods and dropping half of them, I realized that you have to have well trained fingers to be able to do the job well. In the high season, a worker may pick up to 200kg (a lot, lot of pounds) in a day. Pretty incredible! At the end of the tour, we got a chance to see the unroasted coffee beans before they are sent to market. It is interesting that the best quality beans are exported to other countries, while the "second-hand" beans that are not as good of quality stay in Colombia. This year, there has been a ton of rain that has affected the coffee crop, which is one of the major reasons why coffee prices have been spiking. Finally, we got to try coffee directly from the farm. It was a great cup, so I decided to grab a bag to sip on for lazy Sunday mornings when I start the job. For dinner, we headed to the supermarket and got some greens to make a salad - much needed for me since I had not had greens for a long, long time. It turned out to be delcious, a well needed fix!
The next day, we headed out to hike the Valley de Cocora with one of the other girls that we met in the hostel, Jen. She is a brit who has been traveling for about 9 months now and is heading up to Central America after Colombia. She was worried about keeping up with Glenn and I on the hike, but I assured here that she would make it just fine! The hike was through awesome cloudforest dotted with the wax-palms I described earlier. It rained a little bit, but thankfully never poured on us. We did have to cross a fast flowing creek on bridges made of three logs about 6 or 7 times at the beginning of the path, but it made the going exciting. After about 2 and a half hours, we reached a nature reserve at the end of the trail and had a grossly sweetened cup of coffee, but the place redeemed itself because of all of the hummingbirds flying around where we were sitting having the coffee. We then headed to the mountain lookout point, another hour or so of going UP a pretty steep and muddy path. The views from the top were well worth it. After another 2 hours of hiking, we made it back to where we were dropped off initially and headed back into town.
Dinner that night was one of the best on the trip! I splurged and decided to eat the food on offer at the hostel - a burger. I figured it would be good since the guy who runs the hotel is a chef from New York. Even thought the burger was a little bit more rare than I usually eat, it was awesome. The toppings really did the trick. Guacamole, hummus, lettuce, eggs, grilled pineapple. Well worth the $7 it cost for it. I needed a little bit of protein after the 6 hours of hiking that we did that day.
The next morning, we got up and I readied myself for a long day and night of travel. To get to where we were going next, we had to backtrack to Bogota and then take another night bus to San Gil. We took the day bus, which turned out to be a really beautiful ride through mountains and cloudforest. The Colombians are building a huge, and I mean huge, tunnel that cuts through the mountains. It is supposed to cut the current travel time down from 7.5 hours to 5. After spending some more time in the Bogota bus terminal, we finally boarded our bus and made it to San Gil at 4:30 in the morning. Not the optimal, but we were able to wake the guy up at the hostel we were going to stay at so that we could check in and sleep for a few hours. That was this morning I guess. Sometimes the days run together when you really don't have to know what date or even day it is. Thankfully, I have a watch that keeps me on track with the date, day and time!
Today, after sleeping for a few hours when we got in, we headed out to try and find some horseback riding tours. As walking through town, you could definitely tell that the altitude had changed A LOT! It is a lot hotter here and I finally felt pretty comfortable walking around in shorts and flip flops. There are also mosquitos here as I am finding out through the multiple bites on my legs. Time to break out the 100% deet! No luck finding a horseback tour though, weirdly enough. It seemed like, even though it was a Sunday, a lot of the town's stores were closed down. We ended up heading to a local swimming hole called Pozo Azul, about a 30 minute walk outside of town. The water was pretty cold so I didn't wind up swimming, but we did lay by the rushing wart of the river in the sun for a little while and got in a much needed nap. Tonight was a catch up night with emailing and blogging, as the eco-hotel's wifi was not working. We got pretty much the rest of the trip planned. Tomorrow we are going to go caving and then to a really nice colonial town. Should be nice, more to come soon!
"The heat is on...the heat is o-on!"
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Bogota - a return to the caffeinated life
May 25, 2011
I made it to Colombia safe and sound. And no, I haven't been kidnapped yet for those of you who are worried about me getting snagged by some guerrilas. I made it out of the airport and to my hostel a few nights ago and have been exploring Bogota since then.
First of all, I have to give props to the awesome hostel that I am staying in right now. Hostel Alegria (happiness) is a great place. It is pretty quiet but has some people here, really friendly staff, free breakfast, fireplaces, wifi, and great mattresses. I am going to be sad to go from here. I have been very, very happy here! If anyone ever comes to Bogota, this is the spot. The first day I was here, I pretty much just walked around and explored the city a little bit. Glenn was arriving that night, so I didn't want to go to any museums or sites withlout him so that we didn't duplicate. I wound up checking out a free art museum and walking around the main square and historica center of the city. Bogota is actually an awesome, awesome city. There are parts taht look like a small colonial Spanish town, there are parts that are modern with clean streets and expensive shopping malls, and there are parts that look like they come straight out of 1970s or 1980s Europe. I really like the mix of style. The people are friendly, and the food is pretty good. I ate a ton of food on the first day becaue I ate barely nothing the day before. Arepas, corn cakes that are usually stuffed with cheese, have become a favorite. Anything with carbs and cheese you can't go wrong with. Walking around, however, I found myself a little shocked with the prices here. They are not as high as what you would find in Europe or the US, but coming here from Ecuador was a shock. Things are nearly double the price of what they were there! I guess I am going to have to budget a little more than expected.
Glenn arrived without problem that night, and we went to sleep soon after he got here. The next morning, after mowing down on the free breakfast, we headed up to the hilltop observatory of Monserrate, which is reached by either a cable car or incline that goes up over the side of the mountain that flanks Bogota. The ride up was nice, and the views from the top were pretty good. Unluckily, we got somewhat of a smoggy day, so we were not able to see the whole city, but it was still an impressive site. After that, we grabbed a cheap (and actually not very tasty) lunch at a local comedor and headed over to the gold museum. It consists of thousands of pieces of gold from the pre-Colombian period. It is impressive and amazing to think about the indigenous peoples actually wearing the earrings, breastplates, headdresses, and wrist cuffs! I think within the past couple of years the collection has gotten pretty damn valuable, especially now that gold is at around $1,500 an ounce. We headed back to the hostel after that because we were whooped from the day. We grabbed a few delicious empanadas from a store across the street from a university for dinner, and I actually went to bed at around 9:30!
Today, because of the such early bedtime, I started stirring at 6:30 this morning and finally got out of bed a little before 7. I hung around, had a few cups of coffee, and caught up on the news. A nice relaxing morning before another day of heavy walking a museum-ing. We headed out first to the Botero museum, which holds a large collection of a Colombian artist who likes to paint fat people. Even if the person is not obese in real life, he still paints them that way in his portraits (such as the president and first lady of Colombia!!). The museum is so interesting because of how different his painting and sculpture are from pretty much anything else I have seen. After a quick look at the coin museum, we then walked up to where the Plaza de Toros (Bullfighting ring) is located a little bit north of the main square and where we were staying. Up there, we checked out the outside of the bull ring and then headed into the National Museum. It was also a pretty impressive collection of Colonmbian history, but after about an hour of being in there I got museumed out. I like them, but you can only take so much in a day. So, we headed out and had one of the best lunches I have had here yet. It was again just soup, some rice, plantains, pasta salad, and a piece of meat, and a limonada (lime ade), but it was well seasoned and they had a spicy cilantro sauce to put on everything which made it about 10 times better. Well worth the $2.50 that we spent on it.
Glenn and I were both tired from walking and doing a little bit of shopping by then, so we decided to find a place to have a beer. We found a little spot with dollar beers. We wound up having 3 each, but after leaving we found out that the waitress had been serving us the more expensive ones...but they still wound up only being $1.50. Not a bad price. We finished out the day by hitting up the same empanada shop from last night. We deciced to eat in the shop, which has one of the best selection of dipping sauces I have had! Grayson would have been in heaven I think! There was guacamole, sweet and sour, a ranch like sauce, ketchup, a ketchup-mayo based sause, and a green tomatillo sauce. They were all out in big tubs with a big dipping spoon in each, so there was a lot of doubling dipping going on among everyone in the restaurant, but germs are something I worry less and less about as I am traveling. I ordered the "taco ranchero," not really knowing what was in it...it just sounded good (a taco in Colombia is similar to an empanada in the fact that it is deep fried, only different shaped with different fillings). The first bite revealed some really savory chicken. The second bite, however, was a shock. Not only was there chicken, but there was a hot dog with cheese wrapped around it! After the 4th bite, there was another surprise! GROUND BEEF! Could this taco get any better?! 3 types of meat and cheese and dipping sauces out the wazoo? Freaking awesome, greasy, and satisfying dinner. I am sitting at the hostel now waiting for about another half an hour to take a cab to the bus station. We are heading on an overnight bus from Bogota to Armenia (not the European nation), and then another short ride to a coffee-producing town salled Salento. I am in search of the best Colombian coffee to bring home with me. We are staying about a mile outside of the city on an eco-farm that a Canadian couple in Ecuador suggested that I go to - La Serrana. Same price as accomodation here in Bogota, but it is supposed to be really nice and it offers excursions to organic coffee farms, horseback riding, free breakfast, and easy accessibility to hiking. More about the overnight and the new town soon!
"I had some dreams, the were clouds in my coffee; clouds in my coffee..." - Carly Simon
Nothin like a great cup of Colombian coffee to enjoy while reading the news in the early morning.
I made it to Colombia safe and sound. And no, I haven't been kidnapped yet for those of you who are worried about me getting snagged by some guerrilas. I made it out of the airport and to my hostel a few nights ago and have been exploring Bogota since then.
First of all, I have to give props to the awesome hostel that I am staying in right now. Hostel Alegria (happiness) is a great place. It is pretty quiet but has some people here, really friendly staff, free breakfast, fireplaces, wifi, and great mattresses. I am going to be sad to go from here. I have been very, very happy here! If anyone ever comes to Bogota, this is the spot. The first day I was here, I pretty much just walked around and explored the city a little bit. Glenn was arriving that night, so I didn't want to go to any museums or sites withlout him so that we didn't duplicate. I wound up checking out a free art museum and walking around the main square and historica center of the city. Bogota is actually an awesome, awesome city. There are parts taht look like a small colonial Spanish town, there are parts that are modern with clean streets and expensive shopping malls, and there are parts that look like they come straight out of 1970s or 1980s Europe. I really like the mix of style. The people are friendly, and the food is pretty good. I ate a ton of food on the first day becaue I ate barely nothing the day before. Arepas, corn cakes that are usually stuffed with cheese, have become a favorite. Anything with carbs and cheese you can't go wrong with. Walking around, however, I found myself a little shocked with the prices here. They are not as high as what you would find in Europe or the US, but coming here from Ecuador was a shock. Things are nearly double the price of what they were there! I guess I am going to have to budget a little more than expected.
Glenn arrived without problem that night, and we went to sleep soon after he got here. The next morning, after mowing down on the free breakfast, we headed up to the hilltop observatory of Monserrate, which is reached by either a cable car or incline that goes up over the side of the mountain that flanks Bogota. The ride up was nice, and the views from the top were pretty good. Unluckily, we got somewhat of a smoggy day, so we were not able to see the whole city, but it was still an impressive site. After that, we grabbed a cheap (and actually not very tasty) lunch at a local comedor and headed over to the gold museum. It consists of thousands of pieces of gold from the pre-Colombian period. It is impressive and amazing to think about the indigenous peoples actually wearing the earrings, breastplates, headdresses, and wrist cuffs! I think within the past couple of years the collection has gotten pretty damn valuable, especially now that gold is at around $1,500 an ounce. We headed back to the hostel after that because we were whooped from the day. We grabbed a few delicious empanadas from a store across the street from a university for dinner, and I actually went to bed at around 9:30!
Today, because of the such early bedtime, I started stirring at 6:30 this morning and finally got out of bed a little before 7. I hung around, had a few cups of coffee, and caught up on the news. A nice relaxing morning before another day of heavy walking a museum-ing. We headed out first to the Botero museum, which holds a large collection of a Colombian artist who likes to paint fat people. Even if the person is not obese in real life, he still paints them that way in his portraits (such as the president and first lady of Colombia!!). The museum is so interesting because of how different his painting and sculpture are from pretty much anything else I have seen. After a quick look at the coin museum, we then walked up to where the Plaza de Toros (Bullfighting ring) is located a little bit north of the main square and where we were staying. Up there, we checked out the outside of the bull ring and then headed into the National Museum. It was also a pretty impressive collection of Colonmbian history, but after about an hour of being in there I got museumed out. I like them, but you can only take so much in a day. So, we headed out and had one of the best lunches I have had here yet. It was again just soup, some rice, plantains, pasta salad, and a piece of meat, and a limonada (lime ade), but it was well seasoned and they had a spicy cilantro sauce to put on everything which made it about 10 times better. Well worth the $2.50 that we spent on it.
Glenn and I were both tired from walking and doing a little bit of shopping by then, so we decided to find a place to have a beer. We found a little spot with dollar beers. We wound up having 3 each, but after leaving we found out that the waitress had been serving us the more expensive ones...but they still wound up only being $1.50. Not a bad price. We finished out the day by hitting up the same empanada shop from last night. We deciced to eat in the shop, which has one of the best selection of dipping sauces I have had! Grayson would have been in heaven I think! There was guacamole, sweet and sour, a ranch like sauce, ketchup, a ketchup-mayo based sause, and a green tomatillo sauce. They were all out in big tubs with a big dipping spoon in each, so there was a lot of doubling dipping going on among everyone in the restaurant, but germs are something I worry less and less about as I am traveling. I ordered the "taco ranchero," not really knowing what was in it...it just sounded good (a taco in Colombia is similar to an empanada in the fact that it is deep fried, only different shaped with different fillings). The first bite revealed some really savory chicken. The second bite, however, was a shock. Not only was there chicken, but there was a hot dog with cheese wrapped around it! After the 4th bite, there was another surprise! GROUND BEEF! Could this taco get any better?! 3 types of meat and cheese and dipping sauces out the wazoo? Freaking awesome, greasy, and satisfying dinner. I am sitting at the hostel now waiting for about another half an hour to take a cab to the bus station. We are heading on an overnight bus from Bogota to Armenia (not the European nation), and then another short ride to a coffee-producing town salled Salento. I am in search of the best Colombian coffee to bring home with me. We are staying about a mile outside of the city on an eco-farm that a Canadian couple in Ecuador suggested that I go to - La Serrana. Same price as accomodation here in Bogota, but it is supposed to be really nice and it offers excursions to organic coffee farms, horseback riding, free breakfast, and easy accessibility to hiking. More about the overnight and the new town soon!
"I had some dreams, the were clouds in my coffee; clouds in my coffee..." - Carly Simon
Nothin like a great cup of Colombian coffee to enjoy while reading the news in the early morning.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Catchin' Up
May 22nd, 2011
Ok, I am quite a few days behind, so I am going to go highlight some of the good stuff from the past few days.
1. The day after I got back from Cotopaxi, I decided to head out to explore Quito to see how much had changed since I had been there the last time. Really, things seem pretty similar. On foot, I headed over to the newer part of the city where I had lived before. I walked through Gringolandia, and found that Amanda and I's DVD lady was still there and in business! After 5 years, she must still be doing well in the bootlegging business (I don't think anyone buys actual DVDs in Ecaudor). Mongos was still there where we used to get 99 cent drinks and head on to either Karma or the bar on the 2nd floor with pool tables. I continued east and made my way to Quicentro mall so that I could get some delicious Crepes and Waffles ice cream that we used to get every once in a while (Suzie and Kristin remember!). I almost didn't recognize the Ecovia buses that we used to take all the time to the stop after Texas Chicken. They are now almost a deep maroon because of all of the dirt that has collected on them. I guess that is what happens when all the buses and the majority of the cars in the city spew diesel fumes whenever their engines are revved. It is weird to think that all of the was 5 years ago. Wild how time flies. I wish we could back and do it all over again. That month was one of the most exciting and fun that I have had in my life, thanks to the awesome people that I was there with (other than the people listed above: Jeaner, Adam, Heather, Lee, the man and legend Spina).
2. I went out with some people from the hostel to Gringolandia later on that night. We took a "partybus" to get there...which turned out just to be a schoolbus! We got some interesting looks as we were rolling down the street blaring reggaeton. I forget how much shadiness there is in Mariscal. A lot of characters hanging around giving you the stink eye. Luckily, it is swarmed with cops as well! A few of us (Seen, Ben, Bryn, and another American girl whose name I can't remember) branched out on our own. We went to a salsa/dance club called Tequila Sunrise, and then on to a Salsa place called Mayo 68 I think. I forget how good some people are at salsa and how bad I am at it. It would be nice to take some more lessons sometime. I have the rhythm, but I don't have enough of the moves to hold my own! It was still a really fun night that ended with me mowing down on some delicious french fries in a mayo/hot sauce blend.
3. The next morning was off to Otovalo, a fairly small town with a HUGE market in it on Saturdays. Really, nearly all of the streets in the town fill with vendors selling anything from arts and crafts to live puppies and chickens. Bryn, a Canadian sailor chick who was at the hostel and had been out the night before, and I decided to head up together for the day. The taxi ride out to the bus station where we had to leave from was long and expensive ($8) per Ecuastandards, but it was nice to be able to split it with her. There was some major traffic going into the city, and that combined with truckjams from all the mountains made the normally hour and a half ride out about 2 and a half. By the time we got to town and Bryn settled into her hostel, we were both starving! We headed to the center of the market to devour a $1.25 meal. Pretty good food and great price. We then wandered through the market a little bit and searched for some souveneirs. Since I still have a solid 3 weeks of traveling, I didn't buy too much, except for a cool heat-flattened beer bottle and some baby wear for Mella and Adams forthcoming kid. I have to say that the things I got are pretty damn cute and I better get a few pictures of the kid with them on. We got tired of the market pretty quickly and took a bus up to a major leather-producing town of Cotocachi. You can really tell that leatherworking has been a successful trade for the people of the town. The houses there are beautiful, the streets clean, and the people are dressed very nicely there. Bryn was on the prowl for a sleek leather jacket for her bike in the states. She was in the right place. The jackets in Cotocachi are slick and made very, very well..not to mention at bargain prices when compared to what you would find in the US or Canada. She found a couple of coats she liked and got them both because the prices were perfect. I just tagged along and ate delicious ice cream cones (and the best croissant I have had here!) the whole day, which made me happy. I found a couple of little leather gifts for a few people that I think they will like. I had a really good day with Bryn, we got along really well and had the same type of humor. Very glad to have met her!
4. The bus ride back from Otovalo was a different experience for me: I got to ride in what I imagine is called the "captain's chair." The bus was almost full, and the only seat left was right beside the bus driver in the very front. I have never been able to see out the front of the bus when I have been riding in it - maybe for the better. As those who have been on a SAmerican bus, they tend to pass other cars/busses pretty much whenever they want, even if there are cars and or busses coming the other way. Makes for a pretty adventurous ride being able to see it! Good thing my stomach was starting to get back to normal, or the recklessness may have caused an accident!
5. After an early to bed when I got back from Otovalo, I packed up and headed for Colombia. Even though it has a reputation for being unsafe and laden with drugs, the country has really changed over the past 10 years. While there is still crime and Guerilla activity in some remote parts, everyone who I have talked to up to this point says that Colombia is safe and for many, their favorite country. Unfortunately, before getting to be there, I had to suffer through a day of a few flights and an 8 hour layover in Lima. Fortunately the Lima airport has wifi, so I spent the majority of the day catching up on emails and face-stalking. I did NOT eat though - the prices in the airport were freaking ridiculous. Even more expensive than what you would find in an American or European airport. The cheapest actual food item at each of the three restaurants servicing flyers was a hot dog at $5.50...$5.50??!? You gotta be kidding me...no chicken/pork/beef/turkey food item is worth that! I refused, so I snacked on leftover hiking raisins and almonds and a granola bar. Both flights were a little bumpy because of crossing the Andes, but we made it safe and sound to Bogota. More about the city later!
“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” - Tim Cahill (adventure writer who drove the length of the Panamerica)
The best part about the past few days was the people that I got to hang out and remember hanging out with 5 years ago. Jazzing around on my own made me think about all of the awesome people that I met in Ecuador the first time around. The people I met this time around were just as cool!
Ok, I am quite a few days behind, so I am going to go highlight some of the good stuff from the past few days.
1. The day after I got back from Cotopaxi, I decided to head out to explore Quito to see how much had changed since I had been there the last time. Really, things seem pretty similar. On foot, I headed over to the newer part of the city where I had lived before. I walked through Gringolandia, and found that Amanda and I's DVD lady was still there and in business! After 5 years, she must still be doing well in the bootlegging business (I don't think anyone buys actual DVDs in Ecaudor). Mongos was still there where we used to get 99 cent drinks and head on to either Karma or the bar on the 2nd floor with pool tables. I continued east and made my way to Quicentro mall so that I could get some delicious Crepes and Waffles ice cream that we used to get every once in a while (Suzie and Kristin remember!). I almost didn't recognize the Ecovia buses that we used to take all the time to the stop after Texas Chicken. They are now almost a deep maroon because of all of the dirt that has collected on them. I guess that is what happens when all the buses and the majority of the cars in the city spew diesel fumes whenever their engines are revved. It is weird to think that all of the was 5 years ago. Wild how time flies. I wish we could back and do it all over again. That month was one of the most exciting and fun that I have had in my life, thanks to the awesome people that I was there with (other than the people listed above: Jeaner, Adam, Heather, Lee, the man and legend Spina).
2. I went out with some people from the hostel to Gringolandia later on that night. We took a "partybus" to get there...which turned out just to be a schoolbus! We got some interesting looks as we were rolling down the street blaring reggaeton. I forget how much shadiness there is in Mariscal. A lot of characters hanging around giving you the stink eye. Luckily, it is swarmed with cops as well! A few of us (Seen, Ben, Bryn, and another American girl whose name I can't remember) branched out on our own. We went to a salsa/dance club called Tequila Sunrise, and then on to a Salsa place called Mayo 68 I think. I forget how good some people are at salsa and how bad I am at it. It would be nice to take some more lessons sometime. I have the rhythm, but I don't have enough of the moves to hold my own! It was still a really fun night that ended with me mowing down on some delicious french fries in a mayo/hot sauce blend.
3. The next morning was off to Otovalo, a fairly small town with a HUGE market in it on Saturdays. Really, nearly all of the streets in the town fill with vendors selling anything from arts and crafts to live puppies and chickens. Bryn, a Canadian sailor chick who was at the hostel and had been out the night before, and I decided to head up together for the day. The taxi ride out to the bus station where we had to leave from was long and expensive ($8) per Ecuastandards, but it was nice to be able to split it with her. There was some major traffic going into the city, and that combined with truckjams from all the mountains made the normally hour and a half ride out about 2 and a half. By the time we got to town and Bryn settled into her hostel, we were both starving! We headed to the center of the market to devour a $1.25 meal. Pretty good food and great price. We then wandered through the market a little bit and searched for some souveneirs. Since I still have a solid 3 weeks of traveling, I didn't buy too much, except for a cool heat-flattened beer bottle and some baby wear for Mella and Adams forthcoming kid. I have to say that the things I got are pretty damn cute and I better get a few pictures of the kid with them on. We got tired of the market pretty quickly and took a bus up to a major leather-producing town of Cotocachi. You can really tell that leatherworking has been a successful trade for the people of the town. The houses there are beautiful, the streets clean, and the people are dressed very nicely there. Bryn was on the prowl for a sleek leather jacket for her bike in the states. She was in the right place. The jackets in Cotocachi are slick and made very, very well..not to mention at bargain prices when compared to what you would find in the US or Canada. She found a couple of coats she liked and got them both because the prices were perfect. I just tagged along and ate delicious ice cream cones (and the best croissant I have had here!) the whole day, which made me happy. I found a couple of little leather gifts for a few people that I think they will like. I had a really good day with Bryn, we got along really well and had the same type of humor. Very glad to have met her!
 |
| Otovalo maret |
 |
| Cotocachi street |
 |
| Bryn with the most delicious cheese-filled criossant ever! |
4. The bus ride back from Otovalo was a different experience for me: I got to ride in what I imagine is called the "captain's chair." The bus was almost full, and the only seat left was right beside the bus driver in the very front. I have never been able to see out the front of the bus when I have been riding in it - maybe for the better. As those who have been on a SAmerican bus, they tend to pass other cars/busses pretty much whenever they want, even if there are cars and or busses coming the other way. Makes for a pretty adventurous ride being able to see it! Good thing my stomach was starting to get back to normal, or the recklessness may have caused an accident!
5. After an early to bed when I got back from Otovalo, I packed up and headed for Colombia. Even though it has a reputation for being unsafe and laden with drugs, the country has really changed over the past 10 years. While there is still crime and Guerilla activity in some remote parts, everyone who I have talked to up to this point says that Colombia is safe and for many, their favorite country. Unfortunately, before getting to be there, I had to suffer through a day of a few flights and an 8 hour layover in Lima. Fortunately the Lima airport has wifi, so I spent the majority of the day catching up on emails and face-stalking. I did NOT eat though - the prices in the airport were freaking ridiculous. Even more expensive than what you would find in an American or European airport. The cheapest actual food item at each of the three restaurants servicing flyers was a hot dog at $5.50...$5.50??!? You gotta be kidding me...no chicken/pork/beef/turkey food item is worth that! I refused, so I snacked on leftover hiking raisins and almonds and a granola bar. Both flights were a little bumpy because of crossing the Andes, but we made it safe and sound to Bogota. More about the city later!
“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” - Tim Cahill (adventure writer who drove the length of the Panamerica)
The best part about the past few days was the people that I got to hang out and remember hanging out with 5 years ago. Jazzing around on my own made me think about all of the awesome people that I met in Ecuador the first time around. The people I met this time around were just as cool!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
The story of Cotopaxi
May 20th, 2011
It is 7:00am and I am back on the rooftop balcony of the hostel that I was in before we headed off to Cotopaxi to attempt to climb. Here is the story of the Cotopaxi ascent (pics following):
I got picked up from our hostel at 9 in the morning on the 18th. I found out that there was another girl from the hostel that was also hiking. Her name is pronounced Shee-nos, but to be perfectly honest I don't know how to spell it. It is Welsh, so I think there is an odd letter at the beginning that is not found on the American keyboard. Her nickname is pronounced Seen, so that is what I call her! In any case, we headed out in the transport provided for us to a mountaineering shop where we were fitted for our gear. We got hiking boots...and I mean hiking boots. They barely bent in the middle and are made so that you can put ice cramp-ons on them. We also got a waterproof jacket and pants, gaiters for keeping snow out of out boots, fleece pants, a harness, and a big pair of gloves. I didn't realize that I was going to need all of this to begin with, but I am glad I had all of the warm things. At the shop, the other climber that was leaving Quito from us came by. Emma, who had lived in Quito in the late 1990s, is an experienced climber. She has been up 3 of the 7 highest peaks on each continent, pretty impressive! She had attempted Cotopaxi about 10 times before she actually made it to the top. Not a good sign for us!
We headed out to the national park where the volcano is located. Luckily, we had a beautiful sunny day for the ride out and to take some pictures pre-climb. It is really interesting that the mountain is not really in a chain per se. It just juts up out of the earth and is surrounded on all sides, more or less, by flat land. I guess that is an artifact of it being a volcano, but it still makes for an impressive looking mountain. We finally made it to the parking area of the refuge, where we would stay the night, at about 2 in the afternoon. By that time, the other guys who were hiking in our group, Chris and Evan (both with impressive mountain-men beards), had met up with us. We ate a small lunch and then headed up onto a small skiff of snow to practice walking in out boots and cramp-ons. For those who are unfamiliar with cramp-ons, like I was before seeing them in the mountaineering shop, they are little pieces of metal with a lot of spikes on them that attach to the bottom of hiking shoes to help you grip on the snow and the ice of the volcano's glacier. Actually using them was pretty easy for me. I guess some experienced hikers don't like them because they say using the cramp-ons feels a little more unstable, but I actually felt more comfortable with them on. After practicing, we headed into the refuge, ate a small dinner, and went to "bed." Mind you, it was only 6pm at this point. For anyone who is used to going to bed at 11, it is not easy to sleep that early. I threw some earplugs in and tried to sleep, but it was to no avail. I got about 20 or 30 minutes of shut eye before 11:30pm rolled around and it was time to get up and start getting ready to hit the mountain.
When I got out of my sleeping bag, I was nervous. Not because of the hike, but my stomach did not feel good. The diarrhea was not gone and I was slightly worried about getting up on the mountain and having to go! But, no turning back at that point. I got all of it out that I could and geared up. When we all emerged from the refuge, we looked up and saw a nearly full moon and stars shining bright - a great sign for the climb. Weather is one of the main things that keeps people from summiting. That day, the only thing that would keep us from getting us to the top would be us. As we began climbing, I did not feel good. The altitude was not bothering me, but my stomach definitely was. Apparently, this is normal though. I didn't know it at the time, however, so I was not in good spirits. After about an hour and a half of walking, we made it to the edge of the glacier. Here, our group of 5 hikers and 3 guides split. Myself and Seen were with the first guide as it seemed like we were the two strongest of the hikers. I didn't know it at the time, but Emma had already puked and Chris was developing some major blisters on his feet.
After the split, our guide pushed Seen and I pretty hard. There were a few times when I really needed a break, but he grabbed the rope that we were attached by and gave a hard tug that got me going again. It was pretty tough going in places. Even though there we no spots where we actually had to climb straight up, there were a few places where we were going up at about a 65 degree angle. The altitude was also not as much of a factor as I would have thought. When we surpassed 5,600 meters and I still wasn't influenced too much, I knew from there on out it would be a mental challenge. Staying focused was the key to getting to the top. It was cold, dark (around 3:30am at this point), and silent except for the sound of two others trudging through the snow. In other words, not conditions that normally lead to positive thinking. To keep it together and my feet moving, I began a cadence in my head (and out loud at times for that matter) that went a little like: "stake, step right, step left, breathe." Stake to make me plunge my ice axe into the ground, steps for my feet, and breathe to remind myself to take a breath before the cycle started again.
Finally, at 5:45am, after over 5 hours of trekking up the mountain, we took the last few steps that put us on top of the mountain. I did it!!! I can't explain the feelings I had standing at the top of 5,897 meters (19,347ft) of monsterous mountain...I was exhausted, but at the same time exhilerated for finishing something that is physically and mentally really tough. My feet and hands were numb from the cold, but I didn't care. It was a feeling a near euphoria! Definitely on the top 5 list of most challenging/amazing things that I have ever done. The view from the top, while a little misty when we got there, cleared as the sun came up. It was just plain jaw-dropping. We saw all of the high volcanos and mountains of Ecuador: Chimborazo, Huayna Pitosi, Cayambe, and even Tungurahua which was spewing ash nearly 90km away. We even got a chance to see inside the belly of the beast when a cloud cleared and the Cotopaxi crater exposed itself.
After about a half an hour of reveling in the glory, it was time to make the 2.5 hour journey back down the mountain. It is not something you feel like doing after going up for so long, but the scenery on the way down was incredible. We could see all of the crevasses, ice formations, and snowy vistas that were obscured by the darkness just a few hours earlier. By the time we reached the refuge, I was beat. We packed up our gear, and after another 25 minute hike down to the car park, we were on out way back to Quito. All in all, 4 out of the 5 people in our group were able to summit (Emma beat her upset stomach, but the blisters were too much for Chris), beating the odds of about 50% that actually make it up the mountain. Our guide told us that it was one of the best weather days he has ever been on the mountain for. I guess I have good luck to go along with my strong willpower and testicular fortitude!
"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves." - Sir Edmund Hillary
I sure as hell didn't climb Everest, but I feel pretty damn proud about getting up Cotopaxi.
It is 7:00am and I am back on the rooftop balcony of the hostel that I was in before we headed off to Cotopaxi to attempt to climb. Here is the story of the Cotopaxi ascent (pics following):
I got picked up from our hostel at 9 in the morning on the 18th. I found out that there was another girl from the hostel that was also hiking. Her name is pronounced Shee-nos, but to be perfectly honest I don't know how to spell it. It is Welsh, so I think there is an odd letter at the beginning that is not found on the American keyboard. Her nickname is pronounced Seen, so that is what I call her! In any case, we headed out in the transport provided for us to a mountaineering shop where we were fitted for our gear. We got hiking boots...and I mean hiking boots. They barely bent in the middle and are made so that you can put ice cramp-ons on them. We also got a waterproof jacket and pants, gaiters for keeping snow out of out boots, fleece pants, a harness, and a big pair of gloves. I didn't realize that I was going to need all of this to begin with, but I am glad I had all of the warm things. At the shop, the other climber that was leaving Quito from us came by. Emma, who had lived in Quito in the late 1990s, is an experienced climber. She has been up 3 of the 7 highest peaks on each continent, pretty impressive! She had attempted Cotopaxi about 10 times before she actually made it to the top. Not a good sign for us!
We headed out to the national park where the volcano is located. Luckily, we had a beautiful sunny day for the ride out and to take some pictures pre-climb. It is really interesting that the mountain is not really in a chain per se. It just juts up out of the earth and is surrounded on all sides, more or less, by flat land. I guess that is an artifact of it being a volcano, but it still makes for an impressive looking mountain. We finally made it to the parking area of the refuge, where we would stay the night, at about 2 in the afternoon. By that time, the other guys who were hiking in our group, Chris and Evan (both with impressive mountain-men beards), had met up with us. We ate a small lunch and then headed up onto a small skiff of snow to practice walking in out boots and cramp-ons. For those who are unfamiliar with cramp-ons, like I was before seeing them in the mountaineering shop, they are little pieces of metal with a lot of spikes on them that attach to the bottom of hiking shoes to help you grip on the snow and the ice of the volcano's glacier. Actually using them was pretty easy for me. I guess some experienced hikers don't like them because they say using the cramp-ons feels a little more unstable, but I actually felt more comfortable with them on. After practicing, we headed into the refuge, ate a small dinner, and went to "bed." Mind you, it was only 6pm at this point. For anyone who is used to going to bed at 11, it is not easy to sleep that early. I threw some earplugs in and tried to sleep, but it was to no avail. I got about 20 or 30 minutes of shut eye before 11:30pm rolled around and it was time to get up and start getting ready to hit the mountain.
When I got out of my sleeping bag, I was nervous. Not because of the hike, but my stomach did not feel good. The diarrhea was not gone and I was slightly worried about getting up on the mountain and having to go! But, no turning back at that point. I got all of it out that I could and geared up. When we all emerged from the refuge, we looked up and saw a nearly full moon and stars shining bright - a great sign for the climb. Weather is one of the main things that keeps people from summiting. That day, the only thing that would keep us from getting us to the top would be us. As we began climbing, I did not feel good. The altitude was not bothering me, but my stomach definitely was. Apparently, this is normal though. I didn't know it at the time, however, so I was not in good spirits. After about an hour and a half of walking, we made it to the edge of the glacier. Here, our group of 5 hikers and 3 guides split. Myself and Seen were with the first guide as it seemed like we were the two strongest of the hikers. I didn't know it at the time, but Emma had already puked and Chris was developing some major blisters on his feet.
After the split, our guide pushed Seen and I pretty hard. There were a few times when I really needed a break, but he grabbed the rope that we were attached by and gave a hard tug that got me going again. It was pretty tough going in places. Even though there we no spots where we actually had to climb straight up, there were a few places where we were going up at about a 65 degree angle. The altitude was also not as much of a factor as I would have thought. When we surpassed 5,600 meters and I still wasn't influenced too much, I knew from there on out it would be a mental challenge. Staying focused was the key to getting to the top. It was cold, dark (around 3:30am at this point), and silent except for the sound of two others trudging through the snow. In other words, not conditions that normally lead to positive thinking. To keep it together and my feet moving, I began a cadence in my head (and out loud at times for that matter) that went a little like: "stake, step right, step left, breathe." Stake to make me plunge my ice axe into the ground, steps for my feet, and breathe to remind myself to take a breath before the cycle started again.
Finally, at 5:45am, after over 5 hours of trekking up the mountain, we took the last few steps that put us on top of the mountain. I did it!!! I can't explain the feelings I had standing at the top of 5,897 meters (19,347ft) of monsterous mountain...I was exhausted, but at the same time exhilerated for finishing something that is physically and mentally really tough. My feet and hands were numb from the cold, but I didn't care. It was a feeling a near euphoria! Definitely on the top 5 list of most challenging/amazing things that I have ever done. The view from the top, while a little misty when we got there, cleared as the sun came up. It was just plain jaw-dropping. We saw all of the high volcanos and mountains of Ecuador: Chimborazo, Huayna Pitosi, Cayambe, and even Tungurahua which was spewing ash nearly 90km away. We even got a chance to see inside the belly of the beast when a cloud cleared and the Cotopaxi crater exposed itself.
After about a half an hour of reveling in the glory, it was time to make the 2.5 hour journey back down the mountain. It is not something you feel like doing after going up for so long, but the scenery on the way down was incredible. We could see all of the crevasses, ice formations, and snowy vistas that were obscured by the darkness just a few hours earlier. By the time we reached the refuge, I was beat. We packed up our gear, and after another 25 minute hike down to the car park, we were on out way back to Quito. All in all, 4 out of the 5 people in our group were able to summit (Emma beat her upset stomach, but the blisters were too much for Chris), beating the odds of about 50% that actually make it up the mountain. Our guide told us that it was one of the best weather days he has ever been on the mountain for. I guess I have good luck to go along with my strong willpower and testicular fortitude!
"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves." - Sir Edmund Hillary
I sure as hell didn't climb Everest, but I feel pretty damn proud about getting up Cotopaxi.
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| Day before the hike. |
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| The refuge the day before the hike |
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| The group of 5 after the practice. |
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| Seen and I in the middle of the way up (notice she is smiling bigger than me due to her kicking my butt!) |
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| We made it!! |
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| Victory is mine! |
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| I did a snow angel just for Lindz cause I know she loves them. |
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| Evan, Emma, Seen, and me in front of the crater. |
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| View from the top. |
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| Back down a steep part of the hike. |
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| 4 of us on the way down. |
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| In front of an ice formation. |
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