The bus ride was bumpy and gorgeous, passing through forests and mountains and even some snowy peaks and such. When we got to tierradentro, the climate was more like the selva, with all kinds of beautiful flowers and butterflies. We found a hotel for the night and were immediately adopted by a teenager who lived there, who says he is a tour guide (and certainly proved a good one!) and led us everywhere around that day. He gave us a guided tour of the museum, the many ancient tombs, and the carved sculptures that the region is known for, which were really interesting (though equally impressive was the surrounding countryside at the tops of the mountains/hills we climbed to see these). We were really happy to have such a great guide and tried to chip in by buying him lunch and dinner. The next day we sprinted to Cali, a warm city near Colombia’s west coast, which is known as a center of salsa dancing and beautiful women. Indeed, it contained both. It also had much friendlier people than we expected for a large city, and it felt like a place where you could just chill out for a while (not as stuffy as popayan) and soak in the culture. We tried our hand at salsa the last night, going to a club called London Bar which had live salsa bands on Thursday nights. It was unbelievable music, and made me need to dance despite the intimidation factor of not really knowing how to salsa in a salsa bar in the capital city of salsa. Needless to say, a good time was had by all.
We broke up our time in Cali with a trip to San Cipriano, a small black jungle village closer to the west coast of Colombia. It was truly a magical place, and is frequented by many Colombian and some international tourists for its scenic location and eccentricities (such as the motorbike-powered railroad through the jungle, where locals transport you on a small wooden platform over the tracks from where the bus lets off to San Cipriano, passing all kinds of wildlife and a large winding river). One of the highlights of the trip was floating down the crystal (and I mean the clearest water I’ve ever seen in my life) clear river bounded on each side by immense jungle growth and river rocks (even bumping over some rapids and passing some very mini-waterfalls). Another highlight was going for a 3 hour jungle trek on a trail that included wading through a few pristine rivers and ended in about an hour of variable mud (you would be going along fine and then all of a sudden your chaco would sink deep into the earth, and you would be up to your shins or so in jungle mud) trails. we heard a lot more birds than we saw, but there were gorgeous mammoth butterflies all over the place (as well as huge beetles and spiders). Our accommodations were the most rustic of the trip, as the ceiling and walls did not meet, there was barely a mattress on the beds, and you could hear everything happening in the kitchen at 6 am every day. de verdad, the family whom we were staying with really needed the money from the hotel, as the mom was trying to feed 10 children, from age 1 to age 18. the kids looked like they could all use a few more clothes and baths, and we were happy to have a few little trinkets to give them on the way out.
After cali we headed out to Salento, in the beautiful cafetal region of Colombia (where they grow the coffee that is so famous). We stayed in an idyllic hostel in the mountains called plantation house, run by a British and Colombian couple who were super friendly and chill. 
We went on another tour of an organic coffee finca, this time with a botanical flair (they had planted a path full of a million different types of the same flower species, which was really cool to see). Another fun part was walking on the coffee beans, which we did in the greenhouse where they were being dried- I loved the sound of the beans crunching under my feet. Afterward we had an adventure hiking back to the town, even helping two older ladies get back to their family along the way (they were lost and we kind of knew the way). After the hike Vicente and I celebrated with the specialty of the town- truncha y patacones (trout on fried plantain). It was unbelievably tasty and rich. Since we were trying to make it to Bogota for Haloween, we took an express night bus from Armenia. It was definitely an adventure, and at that point we were traveling with two other tourists from the hostel. The 7 hour bus ride was only 5.5 hours, and we were stopped around 4.5 hours by a mandators ejercito checkpoint (you get out of the bus and a bunch of army guys with machine guns frisk you and search the bus for contraband). The sight of so many army officials along the highway dressed in camouflage and carrying machine guns was at first a bit scary, but after a bit you realize that its so much safer to travel because of the ejercito presence. (there are ejercito (government army), paramilitarios (private defense), y guerrillas (guerilla fighters) in Colombia, all of whom are likely to be wearing camouflage and carrying extremely large weapons, though for very different reasons)
Though we had already missed the Haloween festivities (all the parties were on Saturday), we got so little kids roaming the streets of bogota dressed as lions and snow white and fairies an so on. We also went to a fabulous museum that housed the private collection of a famous artist named Boteo (he works a lot with volume, so his figures often appear to be massive, gordos, or larger than life). The next day we visited the orphanage where Vicente had been adopted from as a baby and met the woman who runs the facility. She had been the one to give him away and was excited to hear about his life back in the states and how great his family was. There was next to nothing in the folder she had on his adoption related to his biological mother, so we were not able to track her down in the short time that I was there. He may have more luck this week, though, if he decides to try calling names in the phonebook or a tv show that deals with this kind of search. We shall see!
Anyways, we caught the museo de oro later that day, probably Colombia’s most famous museum, where thousands of gold objects from the various indigenous cultures of Colombia are artistically displayed. Just as interesting as the museums was simply walking the city streets, stopping in the plazas, and eating the wild fruit salads (papaya, mango, pineapple, mandarina, banana, apple, etc. topped with fresh cheese and some type of cream) and arepas rellenas (corn patties stuffed with cheese or whatever else you want). A bustling market in front of the museum kept me busy buying souvenirs my last day, and it was difficult enough to imagine leaving without trying to remember everyone for which I needed to get something! In any case, Vicente and I enjoyed a nice last dinner together for a while at an Israeli restaurant (we actually paid 3 bucks each) and said our goodbyes for the next few months. I am jealous that he gets to keep traveling in Colombia, which I barely saw the half of, and he is jealous that I am going to get to travel and see my cousin’s wedding in India (I’m leaving next week!).
For now, I have been home for a few hours. I will be home less than a week, will unpack and repack and then restart these crazy adventures, but on a different continent this time. Stay tuned…
1 comment:
thanks Mim! don't worry, "micente" will be fine as long as he remembers to eat when i'm not around ;0) (this actually is more difficult for him than it sounds). but really, colombia felt even safer than ecuador most of the time, and there are plenty of other travellers he can hook up with to see the rest of the country. more pics soon!
l, jackie
Post a Comment