Colombia Log 2006

Return to Colombia

Alright, I found a good cpu to update finally. My flights went well. I met some cool people on the way. For some reason I cant sit still in Miami airport, I bet I walked 5 miles that night. I finally fell asleep for an hour, right around when I was supossed to check in and almost missed the flight. The flight from Miami to Bogota was alittle crowded, as I was between two very large sleeping Colombian ladies. I really didnt sleep much until i got to Cartagena. The first thing I did when I got to the Airport was to change some money and buy some jugo de mora. (blackberry juice) I have missed that stuff sooo much. If the U.S. is the king of globalization, shouldnt we have everything that is good from everywhere? Then a quick flight to Cartagena to meet up with John. We dropped off our stuff at the hotel and walked around talking about complete randomness all day. The next day we hit the beach for a few hours, but you just cant relax there. Every minute someone bothers you to buy something, beer, massage, sunglasses, drugs, shade tent, everything. I just wanted some sun. That night wasnt too entertaining, John hung out with a girl we meet on the beach, and I bar hopped alittle by myself. We both got back around 2am and slept till 2pm. We decided to head out because Cartagena is more touristy and expensive than we were looking for. Yesterday we grabbed a transit service to Barranquilla and went to John's Apartment. We ate at a really good place with dinner crepes and hit the hay early last night. Today we are going to figure our plans and get John's apt ready to move out. For now I am just going to enjoy being looked at like an object by hot women, better enjoy it while I can. Everyone be safe, America is a dangerous place compared to Colombia, in which people care about humanity more than money. That was not a joke. I will update within a few days. Right now we are just being lazy, which is normal for the first week. Ciao

12/03

12/04

Yesterday we got some stuff done, then about twenty minutes after four we sat down to do some planning. John needs to move from his apt and sell his motorcycle. We plan to leave on wed morning. The next two weeks we are going to spend camping on the coast. There is some research to be done, but we plan to see ciudad perdida (the lost city) which was only discovered in 1975. It is one of the largest pre-colombian settlements in South America. The gov't regulates tourism here so we have to hire a guide. The trip will be 6 days and 5 nights. Next we will go to parque nacional Tyrona, which is right on the coast. Depending on the availability of the guide we might do this 1st. The following two weeks we will see other parts of Colombia. First to Medellin to visit John's girlfriend, then Bucaramunga. At that point we are going to research possible treks. One being a park near the border, and others in Venezuela. After researching the safety of these routes, we will pick or last two weeks on the fly. Either we will head to mid Colombia and see Bogota and Zona de cafe, or we will head into Venezuela toward Caracus. All the things that I want to do hear and I figure I have half the time needed. Speaking of Venezuela, congrats to Chavez for being re-elected. It is interesting that he won re-election the same day that former right wing, US installed dictator of Chile had a massive heart attack. Enjoy hell Mr. Pinochet!
Last night we saw the movie The Infiltrators with Leonardo Dicapprio and Matt Damon. Not a bad flick. I just dropped off some laundry and am ready to get on the road. John has a ton to do, and I am going to start helping everything along. I guess the Packers really do need me to watch in order to score, sorry about that everyone.

12/16

Okay, I found a computer that would install Java without a problem...so here goes. We got out of Barranquilla on schedule and headed to Santa Marta. Within minutes upon arriving we had our trip to the Lost city booked for early the next morning. We took a jungle bus for about 3 hours through some pretty rough terrain and landed at an outpost ready to hike. Our group was very mixed. There was a couple from Isreal which I got along with the best, then two Irish guys that were pretty cool. A british couple, two German guys that had not met before, also a French couple, an Australian guy, Italian guy, Polish girl and a sweedish dude. Plus 4 Colombian guides. Good mix. The trails were alot tougher than John and I had expected, and the donkeys created alot of muddy footsteps. There were shelters set up for hamocks, cooking and bathroom facilities everynight. The third day we left alot of supplies at the shelter because we had to cross the river several times on the way up. It is amazing to hike from a tropical climate to temperate in just one day. The air was alot less sticky and much cooler up at la Ciudad. The ruins were unreal, they spead out over something like 2 square km. and are based on many circles. Nobody knew about this place until the year before I was born, which is why the indigenous people still exist to this day. Much like my experience at Lake Titicaca, I felt like an intruder in there home. Many seemed nice on the trails, offering tangerines for sale or just a hello, but some seemed irritated to see us. On the way back many in the group wanted to rush back to civilization, but how often to you get a chance to walk through the Colombian rainforest. We arrived back in Santa Marta quite eaten by the local bugs, but I completely enjoyed it. The next day we headed to Parque nacional Tyrona, a protected area right on the beach. The first night we stayed in a very populated area because we arrived very late. The next day we wandered the beaches and found an area that John had remembered from last year. It was closed until January, but a man there let us stay for 7,000 pesos which was 1,000 cheaper than the other place (and it was all ours). John got up at 5am to get back to Barranquilla to have his braces taken off, and I was awake long enough to see the most amazing sunrise in a long time. After another 2.5 hours of sleep I headed back to the main campground to walk and tan for the rest of the day. The night was pretty boring due to the fact that it was all couples. I crashed out pretty early and hit the road back to Santa Marta this morning. Tomorrow I am meeting back up with Johnboy to head on out to Medellin to visit his girlfriend. That should add to the loneliness alittle more, but hey, I am used to that by now. Tonight I might have a few drinks, but plan to get some rest. Not much nightlife to speak of in this town. That is it for now. bye bye

I forgot some stuff before. For one, the forth day on the hike back from the lost city I mentioned to John that we must be getting back to civilization because there was donkey shit on the trail again. Wow, that puts a perspective on how displaced we were, we were still another 7 hours walk to see cars again. Another is that you can buy tinto (coffee mixed with sugar in a very small cup) anywhere in Colombia. Every street corner, this morning I woke up in my tent about 4 km from the nearest car access and a tinto vendor was walking by. I bought 4 tintos, an orange and some cookies without even leaving my tent. not exactly roughing it camping, but hey. That site was kinda funny, John and I were trying to cook with a camp stove about 20 feet from a restaurant, then i went a bought 2 cold beers. He said, man, we need to go camping soon. pretty funny. we will get to do some real camping soon, no guides, no restaurants, the real thing i dont know where, but it will happen. ok that is it for now.

12/19

Alright, so I got back to Barranquilla, met up with John, showered up and grabbed my other bag. That night we jumped on a 14 hour night bus to Medellin. For some reason the bus had the AC cranked all night and I only slept abit 3 hours max. So far I am not a big fan of this city, or maybe now I understand spanish well enough to notice that everyone talks shit about me on the streets. They think I am here for drugs and prostitutes, just like some of the people back home that don�t really know me. I guess ignorance at that level is international. As soon as we got here John went off to see his girl and I haven�t really seen him much. Right now I am 50-50 on finishing the trip alone. I feel like I am just sitting around waiting for him this whole trip. I will see how quick he wants to get going, but I doubt he is going to leave his silicon anytime soon. If I do go it solo I wont be able to do any camping, which really sucks. But now I am going to see some local statues in the park, then see if John is willing to go see the museum on campus, otherwise I�ll see that alone too. That should make me feel like I am doing something worth while for the first time since the jungle trek. I need to get rid of this bad attitude, but I really don�t feel that I brought it on. I think I liked Latinas alot better when I couldn�t undersatnd them. I won�t elaborate because I don�t want to generalize like an ass. Lets just say that drama is about 10 fold down here, and a millionaire latina wouldn�t bring a single peso if she were to going to hang out with a guy. Ok statues, art, culture, museum...I better go smoke one first. And away I go.......................................

12/22

Just a quick update. I haven�t really done anything since the last entry except get some photos developed (which took way to long) and I found a post office to send out some postcards. There is no national post office in Colombia, only private companies, so I went to the big airline down here. Eight postcards cost almost twenty dollars to send. So alot of you won�t get one as planned. Sorry, but that is about one days budget. The statues Botero were really cool, he loves to make everything very fat, then John and I went to the museum of modern art. It was pretty cool but I really wanted to see the artifact museum which was closed due to the fact that is is on a college campus during christmas. We are thinking of heading out of here either tonite or tomorrow, but not really sure for now. I have such a hard time understanding the spanish here compared to Peru and Equador. That is very frusterating, and is why I was in such a bad mood last entry. I just have to feel like a moron all day, and deal with it.

Alright, we got the hell out of Medellin and headed 7 hours NE to Bucaramanga. After alittle reasearch we realized that all the action was another 2.5 hours away in a town called San Gil. I spent Christmas learning how to whitewater kayak. Most people learn in a pool, but I went straight in. Within three minutes I was going down the river upsidedown and backwards. It was the first time I have ever been in a boat that you are connected to to, so it took few seconds to remember that I had to pull the skirt open in order to fall out of the boat. I drank some water but nothing too bad. It is a pain in the ass to empty the kayak, so I decided that was not an option anymore. I didn�t tip again until the second time we did the run, and it was because I was distracted. But that time I was on top of the kayak within a second or two. I need to practice rolling a kayak. It must be really fun when you can just pop right back up. We were both really sore the next day and today as well. We have a sports medicine/massage therapist from Oregon staying at the same hostal. Here the the usual conscience: Her boyfriend is from Mequon and he was 1 year behind John and I at Homestead. Small world again. We have been chilling at a really cool hostal run by an Australian. Yesterday we went to the gym to work our upper body as much as the kayaking worked the lower. Just doing some research on some possible treks in the area. We need to plan some stuff out, and John needs a flight back home. It looks like he is going to have to take a bus to Venezuela to save some money. By the way, I understand the espa�ol here so I can relax alittle more. That is all for now, ciao.

12/27

12/30

We left San Gil and spent a night in Bucaramanga. San Gil is a really cool city that I plan to visit again. Yesterday we toke a 6.5 hour bus to the boarder town called Cucuta. John has a friend here and we are going to spend New Years here with her so we can hit the good clubs. This will be the first time we go out to club since I got down here. I looks like we are going to stick our nose onto Venezuela for awhile to see it for ourselves. We are so close that we have to check out a few cities. Plus, John�s visa is expired so we have to. For some reason I expected Cucuta to be cold, not so. I have been lugging around alot of warm weather cloths for no reason. We just don�t seem to be hanging out in high altitudes this year. There isn�t as much to do here as in Peru. Tourism and camping treks are just getting started in Colombia, so I feel like I am not doing as much as last year. But I am getting to know the culture alot better and am away from everything I am used to for 6 weeks. That is half the point of this trip. I have figured out some stuff and further confused others, but the right direction none the less. I will update again in a few days.

01/05

We were in Cucuta alittle too long. John still had not booked his flight home so he spent a good part of a day doing that, then he found out that the one he did book had to be sent to his mom�s house in WI. So he cancelled that and spent another day working on it. New years eve is not a party in south america at all. They spend midnight at home, so when we went to the discoteca at 11pm, everything was closed. We had abeer at the hotel then headed to the club at 1am. The few people that were still sober came out, but it was not worth the trip. New years day is another day of holiday and everthing was closed including restaurants. We ate only what the street vendors had, but I like the meat on a stick. Finally on the 2nd we went to the boarder and John had to bribe the guy 50,000 pesos ($22) to get the exit stamp because he had overstayed his visa. That was alot cheaper than the official price, so they both made out on the deal. Corruption isn�t always a bad thing. We got to a small town called San Cristobol right as everything was closing down so we got a hotel for the night. Yesterday we arrived in the town of Merida and found out very quickly that tourist season was full bore here and we could only find a place to camp in the common area of a hostal. There is a really cool cable car here that goes up into the mountains, but it is booked for the next 5 days. It might not be worth staying here since everyone else is here this week. I am about 16 hours by bus from Cartagena for my flight and have to keep that in mind, although I don�t foresee and banana farmer protests this time around. I am almost done with this adventure, and am ready to plan another one. Not sure where I will go next, but I am ready to go there.

01/07/07

We decided to stay in Merida for pretty much the rest of the trip. There is alot to do here and we figure that 12 hours of bus each way just to see Caracas would not be worth it. Yesterday we went rock climbing which was a real treat for me. Some of you know that I love to climb stuff whether it be trees, rocks, bluffs, or whatever. This was the first time I have ever used ropes. So I could test myself by taking a crazy route that I normally would have never attempted. Plus this was the most safe out of any other time I have tried over the years. It really is a full body workout and I am really sore today. Mainly my abs are really stiff from keeping myself upright. I dont know how people use just a finger tip after several hours of climbing. My bass caluses were definatly worked yesterday. Tomorrow we are going to take a jeep to a small town about 4 hours from here. It is a day walk through a national park to the 4th of 5 stations for that cable car I mentioned in the last entry. Then the car will take us about 100 meters from our hostal. Our camp stove is actng up and John is trying to clean it as I type this. If it works we are going to spend 2 days in the park, if not we will have to do day hikes. We what to spend a few days in Maracaibo before heading back to the Colombian coast, but might just pass through. John`s flight leaves from Barranquilla on the 16th and mine from Cartagena on the 15th. I will spend the last Sunday and Monday on the beach since I am very low on money. But I will not be completly broke this time. Will update the camping trip in a few days.

01/10

As usual we were ready to go on a Sunday, and they just dont play along down here. Nothing was open and I was still sore, so we waited until Monday to leave. We headed out in a jeep to a small town called Los Nevados. It is a tiny little town of maybe 200 people. It was at 2700m above sea level and we felt alittle tired. We just hung out, not much else to do, and enjoyed the slow pace. Basically you heard wood doors creaking and horses trotting by on cobblestone roads. The lady we stayed with made us dinner and breakfast with the room. The next day we headed out toward the 4th station of the cable car system. Here they call it a teleferico and it happens to be the longest and highest reaching in the world. Anyway, on the way up from 2700 m to 4200m I started to feel altitude sickness pretty bad. It was really hard to go that high that quick with a big ole backpack on. We camped last night by the tele station and I went right to sleep feeling like crap. This morning we had planned on going up to the 5th station at 4800m and then climbing to pico Bolivar at just over 5100m. We went to the top station, but no way were we hiking anymore. I was so out of it that i could barely walk on flat ground. We enjoyed the highest coffee shop in the world and checked out the views. Alot of local tourists seemed to dislike the cold, but it was nothing worse than Wisconsin. For me it was the lack of oxygen and pressure pounding my head. We then took the teleferico down which costs 55,000 bolivares to ride, but noone ever asked us for a ticket. I guess they thought we must have them to be up there, so that saved about $20. So tomorrow we head quickly to Maracaibo and then back to Colombia for our flights back home. After the chilly thin air here, my last day on the beach of Cartagena will be nice.