Colombia

After five days on a catamaran, it was a delight to spend a few days in Cartagena.  We hit land at about 9 p.m. and this beautiful little colonial town was abuzz with travelers and locals walking the streets, in and out of bars and restaurants, or just hanging out in the square.  

As any guidebook will reveal these days, forget everything you’ve heard about Colombia.  Well maybe not everything, but we didn't feel in danger at any time.  After Cartagena, we hit Medellin, San Gil, Bogota and Salento.  Our only regret is that we didn’t have more time to explore more of this beautiful country.  Check it out soon!

Juice was Julie's drug of choice - street vendors everywhere push the pure stuff

We stopped in Medellin, home of Pablo Escobar, for a few days to sample some...coffee.      Fun town and easy to get around.  Took a city tour which included all of the infamous Pablo sights and the history of his business ventures.  The young local woman who ran the tour enjoyed dropping the "f" bomb and the "mf" bomb to emphasize important points.  This would almost never work during a mutual fund sales presentation, but somehow, discussing the rise and fall of Pablo, she managed to pull it off.

Fernando Botero's depiction of Pablo's last stand.  We saw the infamous house and rooftop during the "f-ing" tour

Colombian street food - arepas. 

Once the murder capital of the world, Medellin now has guinea pig races in parque central.  We bet 5 Colombian pesos on brown guy on the end.  Nobody dead. 

Guatepe -  two hours from Medellin, famous for its excellent trout dishes and El Penol that overlooks the town

view from El Penol

649 steps to the top

“These night journeys are merging into one continuous, interrupted dream.  Always the same.  Waking and dozing in fitful sleep, legs jammed against the seat in front.  Everyone twisting and turning to get comfortable, contorted bodies in rows of seats, always a crying baby somewhere.  Outside, shadows of dark hills, more sensed than seen.  Isolated buildings, solitary lights -- how lonely they feel in the cold black night…”  From The Gringo Trail, by Mark Mann

Night buses are an efficient way to travel.  We save on a night’s accommodation and wake at our destination.  For some reason, though, they crank the air conditioning for the duration of the ride – freezing cold.  Most passengers bring blankets, we’ve even seen sleeping bags, but nobody feels the need to question the driver, or ask him to turn the AC down a notch – it just seems to be accepted.  Julie wears every piece of clothing she has, including her rain coat.  Bus operators also have a thing for third rate American blood and guts movies.  Doesn’t matter that there are toddlers on board, they must show Sniper Reloaded and Fast and the Furious Part Five at full volume for the first two hours of the ride.  (Vin Diesel’s soothing voice does send you into a nice lull, though.  Especially dubbed in Spanish). 

On a positive note, you can negotiate bus fares throughout Colombia!  We’re not talking about sometimes haggling with a driver before you get into his cab. You can actually walk up to a ticket window at the bus station, tell them your destination, they give you a price, you offer a lower price, and they usually shrug and accept.

Jules pops a dramamine a little too soon before boarding

On to San Gil, a cute little town in the mountains with an amazing market near our hostel serving up excellent produce, tasty pollo arepes and fruit liquados.  We also got our outdoor adventure fix and rafted the Suarez River.  Unbelievable!  We've never experienced rapids like these -- they weren't even rapids, they were more like waves.  We were in good hands, though; our guides are all members of the national rafting team.
   

A few days later, the manager of our hostel tipped us off to a special place. After hopping on a bus, and then on the back of a couple of motorcylces, we arrived at a "locals only" set of natural pools and rock waterslides. 

Safety first: holmes made sure Julie had a helmet...and a road soda

Nathan and Elly recover from a treacherous slide.  A few local kids grabbed their feet last minute and forced them onto a train that nearly resulted in a five tube pile-up

We've been pretty lucky.  During six months of travel, we've only lost two water bottles, a bathing suit, two pairs of flippity floppities, two pairs of socks and a pair of shades.   Not too bad, considering Dave loses his keys every other day at home.  Unfortunately, the water-proof, dust proof, shock proof, freeze proof, child proof, proof-proof camera we brought with us just stopped, well, taking pictures.  Bogota, being a larger city, gave us an opportunity to find a new one.  We were sent to a sketchy (yes, I know, I said Colombia wasn't dangerous) outdoor mall where vendors have various electronics that "fell off el camion".  It actually turned out alright, and we did get a great deal on a decent pre-owned camera.  Thanks to Nathan, Elly, Ruth, Luke and Jen for sharing pics in the meantime.    

We explored Bogota by bicicleta, celebrated Jen's birthday and sadly, said Adios to our favorite Aussies, Nathan and Elly.  They are actually headed to Philly, so please show them some brotherly and sisterly love.

back to school: LaSalle, Bogota campus

street performers doin' their thing at a red light for spare change -- beats washing wind shields

Go Phillies??? We assured Nathan that everyone wears their hair like this.  We also told him he would blend right in as long he kept saying things like: "Well, ya know, if the pitching holds up..." 

Last stop in Colombia was coffee country, in a little mountain town called Salento.   

palm, national tree of Colombia

Thanks for keeping tabs on us. Stay tuned to read about our adventures in Ecuador!  Adios.