Farm life begins!

Now, talk about a bumpy ride! And a whole 5 hours of it, with a touch of a hangover...But we made it! But it was a beautiful ride, told particularly to me by an English friend we had made who accompanied literally every man, old and young, who would get out to pee while looking off into the mountain vista when the bus stopped on the country road. We stopped at a place with amazing San Cocho soup, so Sarah and I added some of our amazing Hass avocado to that and had a sweet little lunch. Finally we arrived, but hardly…because I was already angry with the bus company for blowing us off and lying about when the bus left, and ignoring me as I spoke to them in clear Spanish when I would ask them why they told us it would leave at 10 if it wasn´t until 10:30. The bus dropped us off where a taxi stood near a sign that said San Agustin was still 5 kilometers away. I wasn´t about to pay extra for not being taken all the way to where I paid to go, but it turns out the taxi was paid for by the bus company because of an agreement they have with the tourist agency, which still ticked me off because the driver and his accomplice were trying to direct us where to stay and which hostal and la di da di da. I had the directions of how to arrive to the farm, and we would take a jeep car from the plaza and the driver would know where the farm was, so their continuous questions of the owner and where the farm was were pushing my buttons. And again, when we were dropped off at their tourist office, men were there awaiting to try and trick me into paying some $13 dollars for a taxi because it wasn’t a market day and there were no jeeps going to where I was going. Nonetheless, we arrived to the plaza where the jeeps are, and we had an hour to spare until it headed out…Oh the scams of tourism…We went to the small main plaza of San Agustin, where out of some 100 people, about 95 were eating ice cream…Sarah and I were perfectly fine with this habit so we joined the club and killed some time. Finally we got on the very bumpy ride with some 12 other locals. They all knew exactly where we were going, because the only foreigners that ever get on the jeeps are going out to the farm of the Ome´s. We arrived and were happily greeted by Edimer´s sister, Jueli, with a dinner of soup, rice and eggs. Oh, plus her five energy filled children and their father Don Igieno! What a house! But, I got a big sweet hug within twenty minutes of knowing Laura Camilla, the six year old girl. The next day, Sarah and I woke to the rain, and what more could we do but watch a movie? Edimer put on a pretty entertaining yet bizarre movie called Perfume, which he thought I´d be fascinated by because it had to do with the distillation of plants to make essential oils, however the movie is about a serial killer that is trying to capture the essence of the most beautiful women of an old French town…yea, pretty strange, but interesting! After that, we went walking about picking oranges, avocados, blackberries, and the local fruits of guayaba and caimo off the trees :)!

The pure pleasures of people, places, and FOOD in Popayan

Leaving Salento felt nice, as Sarah and I were definitely ready for new adventures. After stocking up on goodies, we headed off to Armenia where we would catch a bus to a larger town, Popayan, further south, where we would be awaited by our Couch Surfing host, Jaime. I hadn´t read hardly anything on his profile, so I really had no idea of the treat we were in for! But, all we could do was anticipate the new city throughout the rough bus ride…another small bus with no AC. However, the weather was nice as long as the breeze was blowing, and that is why Cali was such a disaster-standstill traffic in the smog filled and hot streets for some two hours…If I´d had known Cali´s traffic, we would have left Salento much earlier. But again, you live and you learn. We got ourselves two helados (ice creams) to help our nausea, and that was all we could do. Of course, when we arrived to Popayan, of course all the taxi drivers told me that the bus I wanted to take wouldn´t be running at the late hour of 830…mentiras (lies)! We crossed to the other side of the road and the minute I asked some young boys nearby which bus to take, they pointed to the one pulling up. That is the moment I understood the advantage of speaking the language in a foreign country! We got on and there were no seats (or more so double seats) that would suffice the size of Sarah and our packs. I walked to the back and within a minute, a cute boy that sat in the back offered me a space. We began to talk and he was extremely sweet, rushing me in the end to get out my notepad to write his name down to find him on facebook. As soon as he got off, another man came to sit by me, who was also very sweet and respectful. He let me know when to get off, and from there, I called Jaime and he pulled up on his motorcycle with Naomi, the German couch surfer who was already there. I immediately knew this was going to be a very sweet time, but I was worried that Sarah would be frustrated with the inability to communicate when Naomi said she preferred Spanish to English and also because I didn´t know Jaime spoke perfect English  in addition to Italian, French, a bit of German and Esperanto. Our cab followed his moto down a curvy ranch road for about 10 minutes out into the country, and when I got out, I was in awe at the blanket of stars in the sky despite our close proximity to the city. We were greeted by a seemingly mean dog, Simon, who ended up being a sweetheart. We would meet all the animals soon enough, Roberto, another puppy that learned to bark and seem mean from Simon, and Keoni, or Jaime in Japonese, and Jaime, the man…haha, would soon explain that all the animals of the house are named with human names, despite the discord of his grandmother, Susana, because they are just as much part of the family as all of the humans! I thought that was cute. The house had a sort of main courtyard and Jaime´s room had its own entry, as well as the living room, his grandparents room, his two sister´s rooms, and the kitchen. Jaime immediately offered us water after we declined a beer from Naomi because of our dehydration after a long 9 hours of trying not to drink so much water in fear of having to pee on the bus…you start to develop the apprehension of that terrible state…After talking an hour or so, we went to bed with the plan to meet Jaime around 12 to get some lunch in town. When we woke up, we met Jaime´s grandmother, who reminded me much of my own, Meme. She immediately called us hija (daughter) and offered us homemade arepas with cheese and farm fresh eggsJJJ. We headed into town to wander about until lunch to find a nearly all white city, every building with this very colonial look and completely white. We found several fresh ice cream machines that we couldn’t resist trying before lunch, too. For lunch, we took on the recommendation of a very sweet man who worked at the radio station where we happened to poke our heads into to look at a poster. He invited us in and gave us tons of recommendations, especially for food! We went to this great vegetarian restaurant called Salud y Vida. We got to pick 7 things off a large menu of things like Vegetable or Corn soup, grain burgers, cauliflour soup, cabbage salad, garbanzo beans, rice, papaya cake, blackberry pudding, pineapple juice, and more! All for the whopping price of 3,500 pesos, something close to $2! That´s about the running price of lunch in Popayan. Afterwards, Jaime took me to a small market where I could find a decent watch for cheap, so I got a digital waterproof Casio with alarm clock and stop watch and all for a whole $12! I was definitely getting along well with Popayan! And eating lunch did nothing to stop Sarah and I from eating for the rest of the day after we all parted ways. We had some four hours to go around and try tamales and empanadas de Pipian, mashed potato empanadas/tamales with a spicy peanut sauce, yuuuum! Afterwards we met Jaime at El Morro, a big hill that looks over all of Popayan. It was beautiful although we were a bit late for the sunset, but we agreed to get there earlier on Friday with a bottle of wine J. After night fell, we walked down and scoped around for a bar to have a beer in then headed home on the motorcycle, making that Sarah´s first ride ever! And I think one was enough… The next day we would head out to some thermal pools about an hour away from Popayan. After quite a journey, we arrived to the warm pools in Coconuco. They were lovely, and of course because we didn’t bring towels, it was best that they weren’t any hotter because otherwise it would have been miserable getting out. Soon, I made friends with all the Colombians there, including an older man who was with a younger guy that offered us a ride back into Popayan. James was his name, and soon we would find out he was the owner of the company who was paving all the road out to Coconuco and beyond…he had lots of money. At first, the offer seemed great because a long journey back didn´t seem appealing. However, in addition is was No Car Day in Popayan, meaning that he wouldn´t be able to enter the city until 7. We wouldn´t find this out until after he dragged us to everyone one of his construction sites…as if we were interested. This is when his comments about wishing Sarah would stay forever started to creep me out, but hey, at least they weren´t directed me because I couldn´t act like I didn´t understand because of the language barrier. He continued urging us to come visit his discoteca and restaurant that he owned. Well, after waiting an hour to enter the city in some little café where he was trying to tell us we could buy/try/do anything we desired, or in other words, spend his money…the military finally let us back into the town, where then James would INSIST that we at least stop by his restaurant. When we arrived, the appearance seemed pretty nice, so we figured, if it´s free why not at least give it a shot. Well, our karma for indulging in everything offered for free was that the food was CRAP, and we had to bare another hour and a half of James asking me if everything was okay because  Sarah looked bored and blah blah blah…I was definitely excited to never see this man again when we finally said farewell. The best part was telling the whole tale to Jaime when we got back home, oh right, after Sarah and I tried to take a cab and thought we knew where we were going…The truth was that when we got in the cab, I already insisted on the cost of the ride, and the whole ride Sarah and I were, for some reason, a bit goofy and delusional, however, Sarah insisted on the way to go, but I had said to turn around, and because Sarah didn´t speak Spanish, the driver definitely thought she would be wrong, but of course she prevailed J! We sat chatting with Jaime out in the small courtyard, and that is when I fell in love with his tiny black cat named Keoni. When we were ready for bed, the three of us cooped up in Jaime´s little room and had a sweet slumber party! For Friday, Sarah and I only had a few things to do on our list, one of which would be the sunset at the Morro with a bottle of wine…So, we woke up at ease because Jaime didn´t have school that day, and took a lovely two hour hike to a nice little spot on the river where he had been going since he was young. When we got back, our lovely mother Susana had cooked up some lovely San Cocho, a soup from southern Colombia which includes beans, yucca, finely ground corn, onion, squash, carrot, plantains, and cilantro, yuuuum! Afterwards, we went into town to of course, buy more food from a nice vegetarian place where the owner knew us for how many sweets we bought (bars of macadamia nuts with honey, peanut with honey coated in sesame seeds, fried yucca bread, and alfajores), try some empanadas de pipian, get me some black leggings, use the internet, and then go to the Morro with our lovely bottle of wine! Afterwards, we went to see some live music in the main plaza, which was some of the best live music I have seen so far! It had a very African twang to it because it was a group of young people, girls that were singing, that came from Juan Chaco, which is an area on the Pacific coast of Colombia where many African descendants are today. The speakers were horrible, so we walked around a bit searching for where we might find the Rumba, or the party, that night. Jaime kept apologizing for his lack of socializing/going out as we had been walking for some hour and a half to find a cool place to drink. Just in the nick of time, when we were about to just head back home, a highschool friend of his called who was nearby at a bar who would know where to take us. We met up with them at a little tavern, then headed over towards the club, debating whether or not we should buy a bottle of rum before entering so it would be cheaper. By this time, we were across the street from the club, but we bought a little bottle that Sarah would stick down the back of her pants and cover up with her sweater around her waist…haha! Yes, ridiculous. But, we got in safe! All up until sarah started to pour the first shot, and our waiter came up and took it from her like she was an infant playing with a knife…it was hilarious, but for a moment we were a bit upset about losing our bottle. Nonetheless, Jaime´s friend managed to negotiate some small amount of money to get our bottle back, and the rest of the night we spent dancing to Salsa, Merengue, and Reggaeton music. When it was too hot or simply too ridiculous, sarah and I would step outside and watch the even more ridiculous street scene as we began blabbing away our tipsy mouths…What fun memories. It was totally the night out that we needed and had been searching for all month long, and it finally came just the night before we would go to the farm. By the end of the night, Jaime was DRUNK, and absolutely hilarious, so we hopped in a cab and headed home. I have to tell a funny story for Sarah, because she insisted on getting water before heading home, so we stopped on the way at a tiny little store where she walked in alone, obviously a foreigner unable to speak Spanish, asks for two waters, and they told her some price that was a decent rip off, but they insisted that was the price. Two military men were there with the guy working and they were all drinking from a bottle of rum, and by this point, Sarah´s drunk rebelliousness decided to pick up the bottle and take a swig before walking out, just to show them who they were messing with! HAHA, I thought this was great! We finally got home around 2, and Sarah put the alarm for 7 insisting that we make the 9:30 bus to San Agustin. We woke early and gathered all of our things, enjoyed one last sweet breakfast and chat with Susana, and then headed off to the bus. We were cutting it very close to 9:30, but it didn´t even matter because another company then told us we would leave at 10, which didn’t end up being until 10:30 of course because that´s what they like to do to travelers, lie so that you buy the ticket. Anyways, on our way to San Agustin we went!

Last days of Salento!

Later Thursday afternoon, I walked down the road to a hostal run by some artisans where I had heard there was a guitar lying around. I was greeted by a sweet woman with dreds named Carol, who told me a bit about her artwork and then led me to the back where I met another Argentine from Cordoba, Matias. We spent the next couple of hours chatting and I played him some music, which he insisted would have to accompany him on his journey south back home. How would deny that request from this adorable, dark skinned Argentine??? I returned the next night down to Yambolombia, the hostal where Matias was volunteering and with a couple other traveler there, we started a lovely bonfire and sat around singing and talking for the evening. When the night was over, I invited Matias and another friend, Luciano, to walk me home and eat some of the leftovers of humus and curry. Matias went crazy for the humus, eating it by the spoonful! And on that walk, they posed to me the idea of buying some motorcycles in Quito, Ecuador, and riding south to Argentina from there! At first, I took the invitation very sarcastically, with a very unsure maybe, visualizing myself riding on a motorcycle through south America…I figured it impossible. But, I continued to think about it, and after getting of a skype call with Fanni Farago, I was convinced I should take advantage of the opportunity to ride through South America with two males, one of which can take apart and put back together a motorcycle! Saturday was the lovely day of Love and Friendship, so Sarah and I went in to buy ourselves some friendship bracelets J, and of course some gifts for everyone else. Sunday, some volunteers that would take the job of Sarah and mine´s, which we were doing a pretty lousy job at…decided to try and cook an asado, or a big bar-b-q, for any of the travelers who wanted. Well it ended up at 20…and it was raining, which made our asado a bit of a challenge in the end, but everyone enjoyed it! By this time, Sarah and I were pretty set on leaving by Tuesday at the latest, so Monday, I told Horacio, the ranchhand who lives at La Serrana, to wake me up to milk the cows at 4:30 AM!!! I ended up regretting not getting up to do it every day, not only because Horacio is a really amazing soul, but because it was beautiful to watch the sunrise and have a fresh glass of warm milk in the morning that came from my working hands! Later that day, Matias, Luciano, his girlfriend, and I took a hike down to a beautiful spot on the river and relaxed until just before sunset. I told Matias about milking the cows, and he couldn´t wait to do it so he promised me he´d be there Tuesday morning to join me. Along with him, a couple of my kind, portenos (from Buenos Aires, hehe) showed up as well. That was nice because I was able to say farewell after our few days of friendship and they were actually the ones traveling with the guitar that I was playing. Afterwards, Sarah and I packed our bags and headed to town to catch the bus out, which almost headed off with our bags and without us as we sat in the plaza talking to Luciano!

My Paradise:)

The bus ride from Medellin to Salento was splendid. Just beautiful green hills and cute little towns to stop in. It's common that people will hop on the bus and sell foods and goods, which were usually pretty crappy, but on this ride a man got on with homemade popsicles flavored blackberry, dulce de leche, and coconut. Those eased my nausea which was nice, but it all came back after our first stop when we ordered 4 different kinds of breads made with cheese. About midway into our trip, an adorable little girl sat with her mom next to nick, and she did a great job of having my attention. Later as I noticed nick was trying to read and the little girl mummbled loudly some childhood songs, I asked Nick if he wanted to trade. It was lovely, sitting and talking with her mother, Aura Maria, who invited me to come and visit whenever I wanted. We told each other a lot about our lives, and it was lovely sharing those moments with her. Soon after, she encouraged me to ask where two other foreigners who sat a couple of rows in front of us were from. The one sitting in the isle turned and said Melbourne, and proceeded to talk to me and we shared a few travel stories. The conversation began to deepen after we began talking about the farms I was looking into going to and our interest in expanding through spirituality. We ended up talking for the rest of the bus ride, and he totally inspired me with his enthusiasm and excitement for life and traveling. He then passed along the name of the camping grounds they were headed to and we ended up meeting there. We would have no clue of the paradise we were in until the next morning, but that night we were greeted by a sweet Argentine from my favorite region of the world, Rio Negro. That night I was able to bond with a bunch of awesome architecture students from Manizales, a bigger city near by, Argentine and another young french guy, both who turned out to be volunteering at that moment. It worked out that the French guy, Hugo, would be leaving the next day and I would be able to take his vounteer position to have free stay! Can't deny that! So the next day we woke up on the top of a hill surrounded by valleys and mountains off in the distance covered in lush green trees and grass. That day we decided we would walk down to Finca Don Elias, a small coffee farm deep down in the valley where we got an awesome tour of the coffee harvest and roasting process. It was absolutely beautiful, and of course the three of us ask about the irrigation system only to drop our jaws when he explained that the rain is more than sufficient. At the end, we got to enjoy a fresh banana, the sweetest we'd ever had, avocado, and a cup of coffee roasted in a sautee pan right there on that little four hectare farm, and then ground up two feet away in some 100 year old grinder. When we returned, I spent the afternoon in the kitchen, nearly walled with windows and beautiful views, working on a hair wrap and listening to Jack Johnson with the Argentine, Juan Manuel. He was making pizza for that night's dinner, which would be preceeded by an INCREDIBLE sunset with a bottle of wine, all about 10 feet from where our tent was set up :). Yes, now you can see why this was my paradise;  cool air, wine, mountains, lush greenery, INCREDIBLE wild flowers, and great people. The next day we would go on our horse back excursion, which was great, and it will always amazing me how horses can endure such rough rocky terrain with someone on their back... we stopped at a water fall where I was prepared with a swim suit and first to get in. Our guide however wasn't going to allow that nick leave without getting in in his little underwear, and our guide did exactly the same with him! Then Sarah came running in afterwards to join us in the 55 degree water! After the horse back riding, that night was a night for Mexican food!  And I'll tell you right now, it was better than ANY I've had in Texas. The women they have hired to cook and clean here have a gift for cooking, handmade flour tortillas, red beans cooked with garlic and cilantro, pico de gallo, AWESOME guacamole, white rice, chicken sauteed in fresh tomatoes, and beef fajita meet. But man, those tortillas. Oh, and Sarah and I got to treat everyone with fresh squeezed lime and passionfruit margaritas!!! We were thanked that night by many :). Those two dinner were magnificent, the kitchen was filled with some 15 or 20 travelers up in the mountains with dim candlelight and lots of laughter and love. It was great. Oh, not to mention, the moon has been huge and nearly full for the time we have been here! So, day three was our day to go to Valle de Cocora ,which turned out to a be a breath taking, not only for the beauty but also the steep inclines ;), 5 hour hike. It reminded me a lot of my time in the mountains of Argentina. We headed into town afterwards to get some great food for just 4 dollars a person which consisted of either chicken or trout (fresh from the region :):):) ), then vegetables, potatoes or beans, with a side of rice, salad, fried plantains, and some deeeelicious fried bread thing. This was the best meal I have had in Colombia, and one thing we decided was so great about Colombia, is the set meals with very few options...we often take this for granted but it truly does make life a bit easier. At the end of day three, it was time to say farewell to Nick :(, and off he went. Today, Thursday, Sarah and I have been super lazy, just hanging around and doing some gardening, catching up the blog, etc. But, we did pick a huge zuchini and sauteed it with some onion, garlic, and green beans, which has been the highlight of the day topped off with a brownie drenched in fresh milk from the cows on the property....Yes, this is the life we are living, and it is a blessing! Now, I'm still on a hunt/debate on whether or not I am ready to purchase a guitar to take around with me...

Cleanliness at last!

We arrived in Medellin from Cartagena, a more modern city that sits southwest of Bogota. We were immediately impressed by the climate change, much cooler than the coast! After walking around the hostal area for a while, we finally came across one that wasn't too expensive and had a very nice environment, and more imporantly, a guitar (Casa Kiwi, which I would later find out was owned by a guy from Seattle)! The city was nice, and we had pizza and enjoyed walking around the Zona Rosa area, seeing some rain, and also getting to know some other foreigners, particularly two Aussie's who we shared our room with. However, the friday night in Medellin did little to impress us. We ended up walking all around with a group from the hostal, and splitting off from them to get a solid 30 minutes of the three of us dancing like idiots to bad music. But hey, you got to enjoy what you can get! The next day we planned to go into town and see the botanical gardens, which was a strange sight with carnaval like foods for what turned out to be a "cultural celebration". However, there was a restaurant, and outside were some 20 raised garden beds filled with basils, cilantro, onions, carrots, parsley, cauliflor, cabbage, and more! It made me so happy, and sarah and I began a harvest, even though it is probably not allowed...After that, we planned to go to a local soccer game! Yay! Medellin vs. Bogota. It was great, the first half was lovely, great weather, great crowd. It is common for passionate fans to go to the game and sit on the south side of the stadium, and they call themselves "Los Del Sur". And it's a good thing, because they don't just watch the game, in fact, they don't at all, they just jump up and down, singing and chanting songs along with a huge drum and some horn players. So yes, Medellin in fact does have  a cheerleading squad of some 2,000 people! It was nuts, entertaining, and quite hilarious. So, we really enjoyed the first half, and probably two minutes in to the second, the rain began to come down, but of course us prepared Americans had our rain coats while everyone else began scrambling to buy plastic panchos. The funniest thing was that those selling the ponchos often didn't wear them...so a man completely soaked was selling panchos...another irony. Soon the field was so soaked the ball couldn't even be kicked more than 15 feet, so they postponed the game and we headed home. There, we cooked one of the best egg scrambles with avocado and tomato and other goodies that reminded me of home. And off to the coffee country the next day!

Spain in Colombia? And some scaaaary bug bites!

We arrived to Cartagena in the evening and got to the hostal area of town where we left our bags with nick at a bar so Sarah and I could go find a place. We found the spot, then went to have our first tacos in Colombia, delicious and only ten dollars for six! There were also humungous Chilean empanadas for two dollars nearby which we enjoyed, all of it with lots of salsa of course! The next morning we went into the older part of town which literally looked like Spain cut out and pasted on the coast of Colombia. It was beautiful, with balconies above the streets with lots of flowers hanging off. By this time, Sarah's bug bites were bubbled up and truly infected, it was clear her body was doing some serious fighting! Within 10 minutes of being in the town, a man came up and immediately directed her to the drogueria to get some strange astringent because calimine lotion wasn't cutting it! We walked around the colonial area all day and then went to find a nice place to eat. I saw a van in the plaza near the restaurant that said Argentina a Alaska, aprendiendo a viajar. I went to chat with a guy and his girlfriend who were artisans coming up from Argentina in this van, selling their fused glass jewelry, which i couldn't believe they carried the massive oven for it in the car, and were making there way up to Alaska. Very inspiring and sweet people, offering me connections and their email in case i needed them at any moment. Sarah and Nick had to fill me in when I came to find them after chatting with my friends that they got some of the scariest looks while relaxing the plaza for Sarah's God-awful wounds on her legs. We decided that everyone must be assuming that she had arrived to South America to introduce the PLAGUE....duh duh duuuuuh, and that's how the world would end. One day being enough for us, we headed back to the hostel to get a bus to the terminal to get on our way to Medellin. But first, we had to get some food for the overnight bus ride, and luckily we came across some of the GREATEST indian food! And of course, I was ecstatic to have a meal with just vegetables since meat seems to be the main component of my diet here... What a bus ride we were in for to get to that terminal. Us three with our packs waited at the bus stop when one approached that was pretty much full, but with my rough estimation, I knew we could squish in and the driver and his assistant agreed. We hopped on the hot bus decorated in neon red lights, tassled curtains, and loud cumbia music. Within 5 minutes I was dripping sweat, thankful I hadn't showered, and I somehow got nestled towards the front of the bus right behind the driver. Things were getting heavy with my pack and the sharp breaking and turning of the bus, but I was entertained by the oddity of it all, especially the communication between the driver and his assistant who hung far out of the entryway of the bus, particularly how the driver couldn't see anything around the bus nor the front of back doorways of it. Just my luck, two guys that were sitting up front with the driver had to get off, so my pack and I each got a seat :), but I did feel guilty for Sarah and Nick still wobbling around top heavy towards the back. I chatted with the driver temporarily about the busses of the city, because I couldn't imagine that our elaborately decorated bus could be city owned. And in fact it wasn't, aside from city busses, people buy their own busses and run it all on their own, which explains why they were in for stuffing as many people on it as possible! Anyways, we arrived to the terminal after all where I insisted on cheaper tickets than what was initially offered. Although it was sketchy and I felt that we were maybe being scammed or that the bus would leave without us, it all worked out, and we saved about 12 dollars each on the ride! Another money saver on transportation to use on an expensive meal later!!!

Taganga Round 2

So we came back to Taganga and wanted to spend way less than before, so I caught us between two places that were next door to each other, and by this time I had gotten pretty good at bartering. So we settled in this someone spanish style hostal that was really old and all open air inside which was really lovely. Oh, and our shower looked out into the mountains!!! That's what sold me to the place! So we knew we wanted to go back to Pachamama, the bar we had gone to earlier with two for one coctails that were sooooo awesome. After, we finally got to cook ourselves a meal with some real protein, an egg scramble with plenty of veggies and fruit, all for some five dollars! I was really happy to go back to Taganga for one night just to reconnect with all the artesanos, which I did! I went down to the beach and we all played music for a couple of hours. I got myself into a sweet conversation with a Chilean, and we later agreed to meet in Chile in December to go trekking in the mountains. He was very sweet and walked me home and then the next morning I got to make my first smoothie with Granadilla (a strange but delicious local fruit) and spirulina!!!! We were planning to head to Cartagena next, which worked out great because right when we walked into the terminal, there was a bus leaving in 5 minutes! We had great luck with the lack of terminal time so far!

Introduction to Colombian bus rides...

Well, we got the best damn bus driver in town, let me tell you he had NO fear of passing down two lane curvy road all through what I had expected Colombia to look like. Green hilly terrain just lush with flowers and healthy grass, much different than Texas right now! But man, we sat in the back of the bus, and I think we all thought we had eaten bad food, but definitely felt relief after stepping out of that miniature bus. However, I definitely realized I am a heavy sleeper, which was strongly confirmed by Sarah, because I would wake up from 30 minute naps with my head bobbing all over the place and my hair down in my face...haha! I never thought i was such a strong sleeper at home! We arrived to San Gil and took a taxi out to a hostal campestre they call them, or hostals with a backyard essentially where you can pay less to camp. So yea, we camped down by the river looking uphill to the hostal resort and swam in the pool, brushed our teeth in the bathroom, took a shower....Sarah said it was perfect, just like camping in the back yard...haha. The next day, we got to see some real Colombia beauty after standing on the side of the road waiting for about twenty minutes to catch a bus out to some Cascadas or waterfalls we had heard about. Finally, right as the bus passed us, we realized it was that one and waved it down until it stopped about a hundred yards passed us, so we sprinted up with our big floppy hats...oh how fun it is to be a tourist. We squished in this tiny bus with a bunch of locals, one who was pissed that the driver stopped for us because he was already late for work, and then arrived out at a BEAUTIFUL little hacienda looking hut where we paid about two dollars to hike some 20 minutes up to a beauitful water fall where we spent most of the day. Then we headed into town and ate some really delicious empanadas, drank some beer, and had some decilicious little sweet cornbread specialties of colombian street food wrapped in banana leafs called mantecado. The little cafe where we ate the empanadas began a trend of ours throughout the trip, our obsession with the salsa. We were lacking salsa and special sauces with our food, and when we entered that cafe, we only wanted a little snack because we'd heard about a great place with cheap food to go to later, but the empanadas were so great, then it began to rain, so we got more and some beer with them. But, even after the empanadas were gone, which we had already doused in salsa, Nick and I simply continued eating the salsa by spoon full, always checking to make sure our server didn't catch us...I am confident that no food server in Colombia could estimate the amount of salsa that the three of us need in one sitting because we ALWAYS return for fourths and fifths! That night, we headed to the bus terminal just in time, really within 5 minutes, of the last bus headed up to Tanganga, where I write you from right now!

Ohhh the sweet Carribean

We woke up in Taganga and went and had an absolutely delicious breakfast of eggs and arepas (corn cakes) with a specialty organic cocao bar in warm milk (hot chocolate) and got stuck at the quaint little hut where an artisana displayed all her feather earrings and beautiful wire work while a rainstorm came through. It was a beautiful hard rain, and the hut started leaking, I really felt as though I was in Jamaica or something as Bob Marley played from the old school boom box they had. I was watching the rain and a dark skinned local looking guy asked me what my tatoo meant, which I then explained to him and somehow our conversation continued on, carrying lots of heavy and deep topics about what we search for in life and how we do it. It was such a beautiful time shared with him and went very well with the release of the rain from the sky. After some thirty minute chat, the clouds had cleared, we exchanged contact information and the three of us headed back the hostal to get on our way to the national park. What an adventure there too, because we bussed to the main city where the bus out to the jungle leaves from, and literally the roads were flooded like rivers, but everything went smoothly. We began a beautiful drive out through the mountainous rainforest on a road lined by eco hotels, little huts, cows roaming, and locals sitting out on their front porches of little quaint houses. It was absolutely lovely. We arrived to the park and walked in the heavy humidity for about an hour and a half until we arrived to our camp ground. There we chose a spot closest to the beach, a sweet little nook where we set up the tent and hung our hammock and could wake up to see the sun rise over the ocean waves. We arrived in the late afternoon just in time to set up and watch a beautiful sunset. The men who took care of the camp grounds were super sweet, constantly offering us coconuts that fell all over the ground there and assuring us to ask for anything we needed. Unfortunately, Nick wasn´t feeling very well the next day so Sarah and I went walking to the series of beaches there, so thrilled by the cool, clear blue water and decent size waves. Something we did get used to while there was falling asleep within the hour after the sun set (sadly, like 8 PM) and waking up soon after the sun rise (7 AM).  That same day, I had spoken with a really attractive darker skinned guy in his mid twenties who came with this Roman, airbrushed looking body, with a funky beard who ended up being Israeli. I told them where we were camping and that it was the cheapest place around, but at sunset I saw them off in the distance sitting on an enormous cliff/rock out on the beach. I walked some 15 minutes to go see what they were up to, and ended up chatting with them before the Police came and yelled at us to get off the rock. Later, the police also made them pack up their make shift camp spot and go find a designated camping ground, and that´s why we woke up with some new camping neighbors the next morning! For day three, we planned on headed to El Pueblito, an old ruins of the indigenous Tayrona people, a hike that you can do on your own, but  we were presented with an opportunity to have a guide, quite a funny one in fact. Even if all his stories and info about the ruins was fake, we got some 7 hours of histerical laughter out of him, and a long and spontaneous adventure. The friend I had made earlier ended up actually being a local of the area but hadn´t been to Tayrona since he was very young, so he wanted to know if he and his Israeli friend could join us. So us five and our guide began our journey, mind you that the Israeli could hardly speak spanish, the Colombia guy could only speak spanish, and obviously Sarah and nick spoke english too, so I would be trying to translate what this crazy jungle man guide was saying. He walks with no shirt, and really had a monkey like posture as he raved about a triathalon, the first one ever in the park, that he is planning in December, which he later invited me to participate in...hahaha! Before we began the hike though, we stopped to get an arepa con juevo from a little stand where a woman would plop a raw egg into a corn cake pouch and fry it until the egg was cooked! So delicious, and plus, our favorite thing to do was to drench it in salsa! So we´re walking along the windy path between the jungle and the ocean, and all of a sudden, he tells us to wait a moment as he moved ahead, then invited us to continue out to a flat rock that was bathing in the sun, where if you looked around you in all directions, there was only jungle. The most ridiculous part of all was the huge bag of marijuana he had out in the middle of the rock that he had cultivated from the jungle...The Israeli hadn´t even tapped in to what was going on as he just stared off in the distance, and finally when he looked down and saw it, he goes ¨OOHH COLOMBIA!!¨. So after that, we walked out, gave our crazy guide a minute to go stash all his goodies in a hiding spot, and we continued on up the mountain. Soon we came to a beautiful vista deeper in the jungle where you could see out the ocean. And there, we all got to try chewing on Coca leaves. It seemed like this tour was turning more into a drug exposition or something...Finally we arrived to the ruins after following the pathway of strategically placed stones and staircases laid down some three thousand years ago.  It was also neat on the way up to go down into the caverns beneath the pathway where wobbly stones above would alert whoever was below that people were walking across. We began the descent and some hour or so down, and unfortunately, the Israeli had earlier sprained his ankle and the pain was worsening for him. So, the three of us walked ahead while Javier, my Colombian friend stayed behind with the Israeli. As we were approaching the ocean (we only could tell by sound) we finally came across a community of monkeys!!! But, these monkeys were nuts! The one who we soon found out to be the leader of the pack followed us the entire way through the path, and ended up, with the help of a few others, moving along the canopy right above our heads strategically shaking branches so that things would   fall on us!!! I couldn´t believe it, they wanted to make sure we got the hell out of their village. Still though, it was a wonderful 10 minutes sight to see some 100 monkeys coming out of the trees. Then, it was incredible that within 10 minutes, the green cave of jungle came to an end and opened up to a deserted beach with a seemingly infinite grey sky and some waves reaching up to 6 feet at the shore! It was a sense of freedom I have felt only a few times, where the wind cooled all the moisture on my face and body that came from the humid and still jungle.
By this time, the Israeli had badly sprained his ankle and was far behind with Javier, so we waited for them on the beach, and Cesar our guide rolled up yet another joint, I just couldn't believe how much this man smoked! Once they arrived, we continued because night would soon fall, and we still had a good hour and a half to walk through the jungle back to our camping ground. But by this time, the Israeli was really hurting, and we had to find him accomodations in a campsite that was closer than ours. After some 45 minutes of debating with him about how there were no horses that could take him on the trail in the dark where it was very rocky and muddy...i guess he just didn't understand that horses don't have night vision, he agreed to pay the extra fee and stay at the site. After leaving the Israeli at camp, the five of us continued to walk back on the trail with only two flash lights, avoiding thoughts of how much horse poop we stepped in and the luck we were having to not step on the trails of ants slaving away into the night. Despite our exhaustion and desire to just finally return, Cesar insisted on taking a break after the first portion of jungle trail that we trekked to roll yet another joint... and finally, we arrived back, exhausted from the day, and ready for some rest. The next day, with bug bites all over our legs and only a small amount of food left, we decided to have our one and only cooked meal after eating sugary peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, granola, little fruit, and raisins and nuts, before leaving the park. So after our rice, lentil, celery, and potato mixture, we began packing up our sweet little home and saying our goodbyes. We headed back to the entrance and hopped on the bus back to Taganga, were we ended up finding a place to stay for some 25 dollars less! But...you live and you learn!