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Really need to get this blog up to date, or at least more up to date anyway.
Here goes...
Had just arrived to Popayan for our first night in Colombia with plans to make it up to the Carribean coast in time for Christmas. Had a lot of ground to cover so really only visited a few places along the way. From Popayan it was a few hour busing up to the city of Cali. The self-proclaimed salsa capital of the world as well as being cheapest place on earth to get breast implants (tempting but no), Cali also claims to have Colombia´s most beautiful women.
Colombians take their salsa very seriously, its not just a hobby but a way of life it seems like (there`s no escaping it here). Was cool to visit a couple of `salsatechas` and see people doing their thing but wasn`t any way I was getting amongst it. Don´t think the Colombians are quite ready for the kiwi male two-step and clap combination. Otherwise our time in Cali was not particularly eventful with the only other thing worthy of mention a walk down Silicon Valley for a game of spot the fake breasts (and bums, faces and everything else).
From Cali a day of buses and bus stations had us in the Zona de Cafe, the triangle of central Colombia that produces most of the countries coffee. We had given ourselves a day there and spent it visiting one of the local fincas (coffee plantations). The old man who ran the finca took us around and ran us through the whole process from planting of the bushes to the end product. He grew both Arabica and Colombia varieties and explained the differences. We then got to see the beans being seperated from the pulp, dried in a big greenhouse then roasted over a open fire in an outdoor kitchen before getting to sample a mug of Colombia`s finest. Was amazing to see the change with roasting, the beans going from pale and odourless to dark and fragrant like you expect coffee to be.
On the way home we happened across a dirtfloored bar with great indoor-outdoor flow (i.e. no walls). This place had found the secret of how to provide patrons with hours of entertainment using just three simple ingredients: cerveza, cast iron discs and gunpowder. For the price of a beer you could join in a game of Make It Go Bang. The name sums it up really, all it involved was throwing heavy metal discs from one end of the bar to the other, aiming at packets of gunpowder with the winner being the first to make one explode. Brilliant. We retreated back to the hostal as the afternoon rains began to watch movies without Spanish dubbing and free of gratuitous violence. A welcome change from all those we`d seen on buses recently.
It was a nine hour bus journey up to Medellin the next day through stunning green-cloaked mountains and river valleys still bearing the scars of Colombians worst flooding for a hundred years. Catching a night bus the following day gave us most of see a bit of the city. Thanks to some very lucky timing, Luisa, the only Colombian I know in the whole world was in town, back from the USA for the first time in a couple of years and offered to show us around. After some sight seeing we had a traditional Colombian lunch with Luisa and her family. Was really nice being back in an actual family house and having a family meal though made us all a bit homesick I think. Thanks heaps Luisa!
After a horrific 15 minutes squeezed on the Metro at rush hour that evening with our enormous bags we made it to the bus station and onto a night bus bound for Cartagena, our planned destination for Christmas. Bounced our way through the night and as at sun came up the next morning we seemed to be driving across an enormous lake. The flooding here had been partiularly bad with the highway about the only thing above water level and sometimes not even that. Camps had been hastily erected along the roadside by people who`d been left homeless. We passed whole villages where the roofs of houses barely poked out above the water.
Fifteen hours after leaving Medellin we arrived in Cartagena and on stepping out of the air conditioned bus were met by a wall of tropical heat. Along with the heat, the sights, sounds and smells gave the city a definite Carribean feel. Was a relief to have made it here and know we had a few days without carrying bags or sitting on buses to look forward to.
Cartagena was a famous Spanish port and was now a World Heritage site because of the historic city center where many of the buildings date from the 1500`s. With a history of sackings by pirates trying to get their hands on the treasures the Spanish had `gathered` (i.e. stolen) from across South America the Old City was surrounded by a huge stone wall. Along with the cities sweet old buildings the other highlight for us was the 'Australian Cafe'. Run by an Aussie chef, the place served good aussie tucker including VEGEMITE TOAST!! Not quite marmite but we weren`t in any position to be fussy.
Pretty much as soon as we got to Cartagena I came down with that dreaded lurgy, the man-flu which has stuck with me for a couple of weeks. Spent my time doing lots of sleeping, reading and a fair bit of eating. For Christmas we were back to the Australian Cafe, where, after numerous visits, the chef now recognised us as soon as we stepped in the door. They put on a proper Christmas lunch with ham and turkey and even stuffing. No beans or rice to be seen! After lunch and an afternoon nap/food coma we had our orphans christmas party complete with gift giving, poetry of dubious quality, and since we were in the Carribean, rum (also of dubious quality).
Couple of days after Christmas and we were back on the road, up the coast to Santa Marta and the little fishing village and beach resort Taganga. Still here actually, one of those places where its very easy to put off doing anything and just have another day at the beach. Trying to think what we`ve actually done since arriving and not coming up with much. Been good though...sunshine, beach, food, and drink. Saw the New Year in at Taganga`s only discotecha, the (in)famous Sensations where every night out here seems to end with. Still feeling under the weather I was very well behaved and tucked up in bed by three, feeling better than most people in town the next day for it.
Since seeing in the new year it`s been more of the same. Had a few days up the road in Tayrona National Park with Jess while Guinny went trekking. We arriving at the park entrance planning on finding hammocks or tents at one of the parks camping grounds and found a crowd of holidaying Colombians with similar ideas for their new years break. Paid the overseas entrance fee of 35,000 peso and started walking.
The track was a absolute mud wallow and we´d soon ditched our shoes and spent all three days there barefoot. After much foot-sucking jungle mud we made it out to the beaches and eventually found a campground that had spare hammocks and was complete with kiwi friends and a bakery shack that managed to turn out fresh cakes twelve hours a day. Beautiful beaches with jungle creeping right down to beach. Two nights there before walking back out and busing back to Taganga for a shower and some serious foot scrubing to hopefully avoid any rare tropical parasites from three days frolicking barefoot in the mud.
Reunited with Guin, who was back from her trek sporting an impressive collection of mosquito bites and stories of endless mud, sweat and stairs. Still managed to convince me it was a great trip so that might have to make that my next adventure...
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