So tons has happened in the last week.......
Sunday to Tuesday I was still in Medellin, not doing a whole lot because every afternoon it would pour buckets. Sunday was nice though, and some of the guys from the hostel and I went to the football game, which is always fun. People are such diehard fans, it´s hard not to get into it.
Saw a bit more of the downtown, Botero park, the most beautiful mall I´ve ever seen inside a refurbished old governmental building or something. Gorgeous. Took the metrocable up over the city, which had some amazing views, and is actually kind of neat in that it is just part of the metro system, and connects lower income barrios with the centre so that people have more access to jobs and opportunities. Really neat idea. Actually, their subway system and a lot of infrastructure there is incredible, really modern- I guess that´s what millions in Pablo Escobar´s drug money will get you.........
Tuesday night it was another night bus to Bucaramanga, where I arrived early in the morning, mainly without incident (though a guy across the aisle insisted on playing target practice on my nostril with the antenna of his radio). From there, it´s another 3 hours south to get to San Gil, the adventure sport capital of Colombia. Actually now that I think about it, I pretty much failed on that count hahaha. (you should be happy mom, i didn´t violate any terms of my health insurance)
So got there around noon, walked around for a bit, got something to eat and attempted to nap. The city is pretty small, around 35000 people, and I absolutely loved it there. Sooooo much more my pace of life, vibrant little centre square where everyone in town goes to congregate, especially in the afternoons and evenings. The hostel was great too, small enough to know everyone and have it feel like home. Someone had told me that they thought it was the best gringo hostel in South America, and I have to say i would tend to agree. Not that I´m biased or anything, since my friend Joe is currently "working" there, if you can call it that haha.
It wasn´t too full either, so that´s why not many activities were happening. But I did get to see a lot fo the surrounding area. Thursday I went to this cute little village called Barichara is beautiful, up atop a canyon, beautiful colonial buildings, whitewashed facades etc. From there you can do a 9km hike to another even smaller village, through the canyon, on an original spanish pathway veiled with a moss hanging from trees that the locals call "old man´s beard".
Friday I tried to get some CIDA stuff arranged, without much success (calling the embassies doesn´t seem to be getting me anywhere really), so have now resorted to email before resigning myself to just figuring something out when I arrive in person. In the afternoon I was pretty annoyed/frustrated, so took the bus to a smaller village where you can walk for 45 minutes or so out to a swimming hole called El Pescaderito. Which should have warned me that there would be a shitload of fish, which there were. I was so hot though that I got over the creepiness of having them possibly touching me and it was actually quite refeshing.
Not nearly as nice as the next days´journey to Juan Curí waterfalls, which were SO nice. You hike up them a ways and then there are a few places where you can swim in the pool where the water comes down. a little chilly but sooooo awesome. Had tons of fun rock climbing around there, and could have stayed all afternoon if the cabbie hadn´t been waiting around impatiently for us to leave. (sidenote- first time I´ve ever been in a cab where he flips down a dvd player for us to watch a movie while we drive....... wonder how many million rides you have to give to afford one of those). And then yesterday night I got on a night bus here to Cartagena. Haven´t really looked around much yet, just showered and am doing a few errands, getting something to eat and then explore the city tomorrow I think. There´s also a mud volcano nearby that is supposed to be really cool. Still not sure if I´m going to choose to do language classes here- guess we´ll have to see what I think of the vibe tomorrow.
Anyhow, I´m about to die of hunger so that´s it for now, but love you guys and will check in soon!! Thanks for the comments/emails too!
xo
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
a weekend in Medellin
Ok so I guess I left off in Bogota........ nice city, friendly people, cool little neighbourhood, but not one of my favourites by any means. Could have been Sarah Klapak's influence, but apparently bad weather severely affects my impression of a place haha.
Anyhow, I checked out on Thursday morning, and it was raining pretty much nonstop so most of the day we spent inside the hostel playing cards, one of my least favourite things, but a veritable travel necessity. Suddenly though, this really bizarre American guy bursts in and announces that he has inside information as to where President Uribe is speaking that afternoon, and could someone with a camera go with him to take pictures?? A few of us jump up and he leads us on this ridiculous winding manhunt around the streets of Bogota, asking directions from all the extra security posted on streetcorners, until finally we get to the university where the conference thing is. We are nearly in, past security, until they realize that we don't have student cards or invitations or anything. So then he starts spinning this tale about how he's a professor from the states, and we're all his journalism students, doing a project on latin american politics, and could we please get in?.... they send us around to another door, and after a lot of negotiations with the military etc., they decide that we can't get in, so instead we have to pose for our "almost saw uribe" picture out on the steps in the rain. Hilarious though, so not a total waste.
And then I went to the bus station to get on a night bus to Armenia, in the heart of the Zona Cafetera, the coffee plantation region of Colombia. I only wanted to store my bag there for the day, go to this national park they have set up for it, and then continue on to Medellin. Unfortunately I did not plan on having one of the wildest and most bizarre bus experiences of my life......
Started when I went to sit down and realized that someone had already taken my seat-- the rest of the bus was pretty much filled up by then save one empty one at the back. I was trying to say that it didn't matter to me, but right then the other straggler passenger gets on and starts questioning the bus driver, how his ticket says seat 21, but there is no seat 21.... apparently that means he was supposed to sit up by the driver in the captain's chair, but he puts up a fuss, saying he has sensitive eyes and the headlights are going to bother him, etc. I'm confused by all the commotion, so am still sort of hovering in the aisle, but eventually give up and just go to sit down.......apparently my hesitation made everyone on the bus think that we were together though, a crucial fact that will factor in later.......
So cramped and uncomfortable bus, blasting AC so much that I actually have my sleeping bag pulled up completely over my head. Didn't really fall asleep at all until around 2 or 3 am, when all of a sudden, the aforementioned crazy guy starts standing up and screaming at the driver that it has been 3 hours and it is a legal requirement to stop the bus for a break. The driver tried to reason that we were going to a station in 30 minutes to change busses, but the guy was inconsolable, flailing in the aisle, screaming at the top of his lungs, threatening the driver, until finally we just stop so that he can get off. By that point all of us are wide awake, so a few other people trickle off to get something to eat, but then after 10 minutes everyone is back on board, ready to get going again. except crazy guy. An hour goes by and he is still nowhere to be found. Everyone else starts getting more than antsy, saying we should just leave him behind, arguing with the driver who claims he would get fired if he leaves a passenger behind. It starts getting more and more heated, expletives and wild gesticulations flying everywhere, and I thought there was going to be some sort of coup, with a stray passenger taking over the wheel and driving us away. But then, because of all the commotion, a military policeman gets on board and starts trying to calm everyone down. A group of people then try to get him to agree to arrest either the driver or the missing man, so we can all get on our way......... and then out of nowhere he just arrives, as though nothing happened, and all is forgiven. We pull away, no questions asked.
Get all the way to the outskirts of the zona cafetera, a mere 30 km from armenia, when suddenly we hit traffic. It's not clear why at first, but we are in stop and go traffic on the side of a hill/mountain for over 7 hours, during which time we move exactly 9.4 km.
Which means that my day in armenia is shot, it's raining at 3pm when we finally arrives, and I am in far from the best of moods, and so I give up on seeing the coffee park and get on another bus straight to Medellin, where I am now. It's a pretty cool place, much more relaxed than bogota, and a bit nicer weather, though still rainy. The hostel is nice, and in a really posh area, so the neighbourhood is beautiful. Probably sticking around till Tuesday, and then going to San gil for some adventure sporting (nothing too dangerous I promise mom haha)
Love you!!
xo
Anyhow, I checked out on Thursday morning, and it was raining pretty much nonstop so most of the day we spent inside the hostel playing cards, one of my least favourite things, but a veritable travel necessity. Suddenly though, this really bizarre American guy bursts in and announces that he has inside information as to where President Uribe is speaking that afternoon, and could someone with a camera go with him to take pictures?? A few of us jump up and he leads us on this ridiculous winding manhunt around the streets of Bogota, asking directions from all the extra security posted on streetcorners, until finally we get to the university where the conference thing is. We are nearly in, past security, until they realize that we don't have student cards or invitations or anything. So then he starts spinning this tale about how he's a professor from the states, and we're all his journalism students, doing a project on latin american politics, and could we please get in?.... they send us around to another door, and after a lot of negotiations with the military etc., they decide that we can't get in, so instead we have to pose for our "almost saw uribe" picture out on the steps in the rain. Hilarious though, so not a total waste.
And then I went to the bus station to get on a night bus to Armenia, in the heart of the Zona Cafetera, the coffee plantation region of Colombia. I only wanted to store my bag there for the day, go to this national park they have set up for it, and then continue on to Medellin. Unfortunately I did not plan on having one of the wildest and most bizarre bus experiences of my life......
Started when I went to sit down and realized that someone had already taken my seat-- the rest of the bus was pretty much filled up by then save one empty one at the back. I was trying to say that it didn't matter to me, but right then the other straggler passenger gets on and starts questioning the bus driver, how his ticket says seat 21, but there is no seat 21.... apparently that means he was supposed to sit up by the driver in the captain's chair, but he puts up a fuss, saying he has sensitive eyes and the headlights are going to bother him, etc. I'm confused by all the commotion, so am still sort of hovering in the aisle, but eventually give up and just go to sit down.......apparently my hesitation made everyone on the bus think that we were together though, a crucial fact that will factor in later.......
So cramped and uncomfortable bus, blasting AC so much that I actually have my sleeping bag pulled up completely over my head. Didn't really fall asleep at all until around 2 or 3 am, when all of a sudden, the aforementioned crazy guy starts standing up and screaming at the driver that it has been 3 hours and it is a legal requirement to stop the bus for a break. The driver tried to reason that we were going to a station in 30 minutes to change busses, but the guy was inconsolable, flailing in the aisle, screaming at the top of his lungs, threatening the driver, until finally we just stop so that he can get off. By that point all of us are wide awake, so a few other people trickle off to get something to eat, but then after 10 minutes everyone is back on board, ready to get going again. except crazy guy. An hour goes by and he is still nowhere to be found. Everyone else starts getting more than antsy, saying we should just leave him behind, arguing with the driver who claims he would get fired if he leaves a passenger behind. It starts getting more and more heated, expletives and wild gesticulations flying everywhere, and I thought there was going to be some sort of coup, with a stray passenger taking over the wheel and driving us away. But then, because of all the commotion, a military policeman gets on board and starts trying to calm everyone down. A group of people then try to get him to agree to arrest either the driver or the missing man, so we can all get on our way......... and then out of nowhere he just arrives, as though nothing happened, and all is forgiven. We pull away, no questions asked.
Get all the way to the outskirts of the zona cafetera, a mere 30 km from armenia, when suddenly we hit traffic. It's not clear why at first, but we are in stop and go traffic on the side of a hill/mountain for over 7 hours, during which time we move exactly 9.4 km.
Which means that my day in armenia is shot, it's raining at 3pm when we finally arrives, and I am in far from the best of moods, and so I give up on seeing the coffee park and get on another bus straight to Medellin, where I am now. It's a pretty cool place, much more relaxed than bogota, and a bit nicer weather, though still rainy. The hostel is nice, and in a really posh area, so the neighbourhood is beautiful. Probably sticking around till Tuesday, and then going to San gil for some adventure sporting (nothing too dangerous I promise mom haha)
Love you!!
xo
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
day 2
Ok, I promised a longer update, so here it is.
I don´t know if it was lack of sleep exactly, but after taking FOREVER at us customs at the border (apparently a german lady travelling on robert q with me was a suspicious character), we got to the airport around 1:30 and I whipped out the sleeping bag for an attempt at a nap. Didn´t get much sleep though, since the janitorial staff seemed fascinated by me, and one was actually so bold as to poke me with their mop.
Eventually the airline opened up for business around 4 and I got up, put my stuff away, and went to check my bag. Which is when I went to show my passport, and realized that my money belt was not in my bag........ actually it WAS in my sleeping bag, I had "hidden" it in there when I was sleeping, and forgotten about it. Brief moment of panic before I had to embarrassingly pull myself out of line, rip apart my sleeping bag and retrieve it. The staff thought I was nuts.
After that though, it was pretty much smooth sailing. The flights felt interminably long though, especially since the seats were so cramped together that I couldn´t even put my head down. I almost asked the teenage boy next to me if I could sleep on his lap, I was so exhausted. Got here just before 2pm, changed some money and taxied to the hostel, which is a fairly small but really nice place, lots of friendly locals working here. (currently enjoying una cerveza gratis, thanks to the owner)
Walked around a bit yesterday afternoon, to get a feel for the place, find a grocery store, etc. But then I went to bed around 7pm, and slept nearly straight to 9am this morning.
So I got up, actually had a lovely shower (i declined bathing yesterday afternoon, despite being grimy, because the water was frigid, and not even an uninterrupted stream, the water pressure was so crappy). And then today I did a bit of a walking tour. My hostel is on the edge of la candelaria, the most historical region of the city, that reminds me of the low buildings of much of Cusco (and lots of other cities for that matter). There was apparently a demonstration of some kind at plaza bolivar after I left, but I only had to get my bag searched to walk down the streets by the government buildings. It´s weird though, people are friendly but give me a wide swath for the most part, there are hardly ANY tourists here, and lots of the ones there are, are latino, from other parts of south america. One of the museums was closed today, so I´ll try tomorrow, but I spent a few hours at the Museo del Oro. The staff there kept telling me that there was a brochure downstairs that I could look at instead of writing things down, but I was actually using the dual spanish-english explanations to better my vocabulary. I think they thought I was crazy.
Had a nice view from the mirador at el parque de la independencia, for about 3 seconds, before being caught in a downpour. I hid under a tree for like an hour, hoping it would let up, but it didn´t really. And then I was pretty tired, so I walked back to the hostel, had some coffee, dried off, and am writing on here before I think I´m going for a short little nap so I can actually talk to ppl from the hostel tonight instead of passing out.
I think that´s about it...... prob leaving for the zona cafetera day after tomorrow (manizales, I think), and then medellin after that. (mom, that´s me keeping you informed of future plans :)
love u and talk soon
I don´t know if it was lack of sleep exactly, but after taking FOREVER at us customs at the border (apparently a german lady travelling on robert q with me was a suspicious character), we got to the airport around 1:30 and I whipped out the sleeping bag for an attempt at a nap. Didn´t get much sleep though, since the janitorial staff seemed fascinated by me, and one was actually so bold as to poke me with their mop.
Eventually the airline opened up for business around 4 and I got up, put my stuff away, and went to check my bag. Which is when I went to show my passport, and realized that my money belt was not in my bag........ actually it WAS in my sleeping bag, I had "hidden" it in there when I was sleeping, and forgotten about it. Brief moment of panic before I had to embarrassingly pull myself out of line, rip apart my sleeping bag and retrieve it. The staff thought I was nuts.
After that though, it was pretty much smooth sailing. The flights felt interminably long though, especially since the seats were so cramped together that I couldn´t even put my head down. I almost asked the teenage boy next to me if I could sleep on his lap, I was so exhausted. Got here just before 2pm, changed some money and taxied to the hostel, which is a fairly small but really nice place, lots of friendly locals working here. (currently enjoying una cerveza gratis, thanks to the owner)
Walked around a bit yesterday afternoon, to get a feel for the place, find a grocery store, etc. But then I went to bed around 7pm, and slept nearly straight to 9am this morning.
So I got up, actually had a lovely shower (i declined bathing yesterday afternoon, despite being grimy, because the water was frigid, and not even an uninterrupted stream, the water pressure was so crappy). And then today I did a bit of a walking tour. My hostel is on the edge of la candelaria, the most historical region of the city, that reminds me of the low buildings of much of Cusco (and lots of other cities for that matter). There was apparently a demonstration of some kind at plaza bolivar after I left, but I only had to get my bag searched to walk down the streets by the government buildings. It´s weird though, people are friendly but give me a wide swath for the most part, there are hardly ANY tourists here, and lots of the ones there are, are latino, from other parts of south america. One of the museums was closed today, so I´ll try tomorrow, but I spent a few hours at the Museo del Oro. The staff there kept telling me that there was a brochure downstairs that I could look at instead of writing things down, but I was actually using the dual spanish-english explanations to better my vocabulary. I think they thought I was crazy.
Had a nice view from the mirador at el parque de la independencia, for about 3 seconds, before being caught in a downpour. I hid under a tree for like an hour, hoping it would let up, but it didn´t really. And then I was pretty tired, so I walked back to the hostel, had some coffee, dried off, and am writing on here before I think I´m going for a short little nap so I can actually talk to ppl from the hostel tonight instead of passing out.
I think that´s about it...... prob leaving for the zona cafetera day after tomorrow (manizales, I think), and then medellin after that. (mom, that´s me keeping you informed of future plans :)
love u and talk soon
Monday, November 10, 2008
Safely arrived
Despite what has been a VERY long two days, I´m happy to report that I´m safely in Bogotá, baggage and all. After seeing the planes i was a little dubious that my pack would actually make it here, but no worries. Changed a bit of money (not the bolivianos yet ladies, i have to wait until i have my camera battery charged and ready to snap that candid of an ecstatic me and the confused teller). But after that, got a taxi (way overpriced I´m sure, but i am exhausted and just wanted something easy, so about 9 dollars to get me the 15km to my hostel). Which is pretty cute, down a quietish street just off one of the main roads, near to all the downtown plazas and museums, so I think it´ll be perfect for a few days stay.
Bogotá is nice so far, kind of a mix between santiago and quito, if that makes any sense at all. I have not yet seen one other gringa tourist, which is kind of nice, but definitely throws me back wholeheartedly into the "everyone staring intensely" phenomenon.
Ok there are a few more things to report, but I am actually much to tired to type anymore, so i´ll have to get back to you after I´ve napped.... but so far so good!!
Love you all
xo
Bogotá is nice so far, kind of a mix between santiago and quito, if that makes any sense at all. I have not yet seen one other gringa tourist, which is kind of nice, but definitely throws me back wholeheartedly into the "everyone staring intensely" phenomenon.
Ok there are a few more things to report, but I am actually much to tired to type anymore, so i´ll have to get back to you after I´ve napped.... but so far so good!!
Love you all
xo
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