Caribbean Fishermen

Cartagena, Colombia. March 2010.

Chillaxin

This week Kristin and I have taken the slow road to Quito. We have meandered through smaller mountains towns sandwiched between cloud forests and coffee farms. The weather has been mostly rainy, but we've still enjoyed it. There are only a handful of travelers in each town and there is no real tourist infrastructure here, which we prefer. We haven't had another gringo on any of our buses and there are only Colombians at our hostel tonight.

Also, tonight is our last night in Colombia. After exactly a month here, we make a run for the Ecuador border tomorrow, hoping to make it all the way to Quito. From there, we'll try to spend as much time in the Andes as we can. Like the next three months.

Salento

Salento is "famous" for the nearby Wax Palms. This is the only place in the world where these 60 meter tall palms grow.

We hiked past many a farm, past the wax palms, into the cloud forest. Deep in the forest is homestead that has become a haven for hummingbirds. The birds are all wild, but they are not afraid of humans. I sat for an hour just watching them fly back and forth, sucking the nectar from bottles and flowers alike. This photo shows one hummingbird actually licking it's beak.

Our transportation to and from the wax palms and cloud forest. Guess how many people fit in this standard-sized Jeep? Nope, guess again. Higher. No, still higher . . . yes, 17 people!! Easy stuff first - squeeze three people up front and four on the seats in the back. I hung off the back, standing on the bumper, in between a Colombian couple. Another couple sat on the roof above the driver. Along the way we picked up a farmer (on the back) then two fisherman (I moved inside, standing still, but between the legs of the four seated passengers) and then other hitchhikers. Eventually we had the three up front, two on the roof, four sitting and two standing in the back of the Jeep with another six hanging off the side and rear. It was awesome.

Salento was the most colorful town we have been to. The people were very charismatic: a lot of cowboys, farmers, indigenous, and old men walking around with hats and handmade canes. People could care less that we were there. I think this was my favorite town so far, even though the food selection was extremely limited.






Popayan

It rained every day that we were here, but it did not deter us from staying for five days. Why? Well, we didn't see the nearby volcano or thermal springs because of the rain, but we loved our hostel. We got a lot of computer work done. There were four vegetarian restaurants within a few blocks from our hostel. And like Salento, nobody in Popayan cared that we were there. It is really nice to feel like a person, not a tourist/money sign.

Yes, we actually ate out. The vegetarian restaurants all had set-lunches that were excellent deals. This meal cost us $1.50. Now do you understand why we a) ate out, and b) stayed so long?

The view from our room. Each town has at least a half dozen churches. I don't know why, but I still try to see them all. They are typically the only thing of note in smaller towns like this. I might only spend 10 seconds inside, but it's worth it. I don't know how many thousands of churches I have seen.

Pasto
The least favorite of the three towns, this one serves only as a stopover between Popayan and Quito. The roads here are super sketchy and the bus drivers like to pass on the windy two-lane mountain roads. Additionally, there are horror stories ruminating in the backpacker world of buses that cross the border into Ecuador at night and then are robbed as all the passengers are gassed to sleep. No thanks. Anyways, there is not much to see here, though I did manage to peek into 4 churches. More importantly, we found another veggie restaurant, which was particularly important because our "hostel" doesn't allow us to use the kitchen. Lame.

On the way to Pasto, though, we did see a lot of these buses. Not only are they doorless and six-passengers wide, but they also lack windows. When it rains, they just hang the tarp of the center roof pole, dropping the tarp down the windows and tying them to the bus. I hope we have these style buses to look forward to in Ecuador.

Saying Good Bye to Bogotá

Last Wednesday we left Bogotá with heavy hearts, because we were leaving a most wonderful family that has practically adopted us. Grant and Kathleen hosted us, off and on, for two weeks over the last month. They taught us an immeasurable amount about Colombia, their family, and their beliefs. We ate an exotic array of excellent vegetarian food. Over dinner, we received an enlightened education on any topic that piqued our interest. Together, we played in the parks, shopped for food, and hiked through the nearby hills. It was perfect.

At the same time, Kristin and I were afforded the luxury of having a home for over a week. While Kristin programmed, I did our taxes, edited photos, wrote emails, blogged and did research for our future travels. We both read a lot and ran a few times, but mostly we just worked. It was a much needed break after six months of traveling. As we told them, our trip wouldn't be possible without the help of wonderful people like them.

We thoroughly enjoyed the time with their family and deeply admire the work that they do as missionaries. They have literally dedicated the last 12 years to helping Colombians improve their own lives. At the Peniel Farm, Grant works with 24 boys who had a precarious future. In addition to giving them a safe and loving home where they can eat well, sleep comfortably, and have help with their homework, Grant also trains them in technical skills in the farm's workshop.

When Janie was here, the three of us spent a day touring the farm, meeting the boys and the on-site adults, playing soccer, and fixing a few bikes. We can attest to the excellent work that Grant and his team are accomplishing in giving these boys help for a more hopeful future.

If you would like to learn more about the work that Grant is doing on the farm, please see his brand new blog: Peniel Workshop


Taking a break at the Farm after an exhausting game of soccer.


Saying "Goodbye" for the first time, as we left for the Caribbean Coast


Many of the boys spend Easter Week with their family, but William and Einer didn't have anywhere to go. Naturally, Grant and Kathleen brought these two home for the week. We went up to the mountains for a day of hiking and gawking at the rock climbers.


Enjoying some veggie and non-veggie empanadas at a local restaurant run by the first Colombian to summit Everest without supplemental oxygen.


Sometimes balancing on the rail is easier when someone is holding your hand.


The view from the stairwell of our "perch" - the loft that we called home for two weeks.

How Chavez is Destroying Venezuela

In the last 11 years as President, Hugo Chavez has thrown Venezuela down a socialist path littered with totalitarian paranoia. Socialism is not the root of his evil, and indeed, it has proven to be the most popular current politcal stance in South America. The problem with Chavez is that he's got such a big anti/capitalist chip on his shoulder that he's steering Venezuela into destruction. Venezuela is faced with food shortages, malnutrtion, poor healtchare, high violence rates, and an energy crisis. What is doing about it? Buying $5 billion USD worth of Russian weapons (in addition to the $4.4 billion that he already spent). He is also in negotiations with China to purchase additional weaponry. Nobody is attacking Venezuela, so who is Chavez at war with? 

Chavez has riled more than a few national leaders with his angry rhetoric and shallow threats, but now he's turning against his neighbor, Colombia. An early turn came a few years ago when four Venezuelan soldiers were caught spying on Colombia. The Colombian military called President Uriba, who said "Give them a hug, tell them that they're our brothers, and send them home." Why was Chavez spying on Colombia? Nobody knows, but it goes against the two country's long history of peace.

In 2008, Colombia attacked a FARC guerilla camp in Ecuador, just over the border from Colombia. This was an unprecedented move which upset relations with Ecuador, but netted some very "interesting" information. Besides the fact that Ecuador was harboring the guerillas, two laptops revealed records that over the last several years, Chavez had funneled over $300 million dollars to finance the FARC in their fight against Colombia. Again, we ask why?

Earlier this year Chavez manually, and arbitrarily, reset the exchange rate for the Venezulan dollar. He instituted a two-teir pricing system that would make domestic goods cheaper but double the prices of imports. In the long run, all the prices will rise as Venezuela has very little domestic producing capacity and has to rely on imports for most manufactured goods. But in the short term, it netted the goverment an extra $50 million USD from oil sales, that he was free to use as he wished. It just so happens that his re-election is just a few months down the road. One of the other effects of this monetary change? Colombian farmers who exported agricultural products to Venezuela, were shafted out of their payments. Trade between these two countries was effectively killed, even though Colombia used to be Venezuela's biggest trade partner.

Just this week, a Colombian family living in Venezuela has been accused of espianoge. The family of 8, who run an ice-cream factory in Venezuela, have been jailed on the basis that the father of the family had taken a photo of an electrical substation. He was later found to have pictures of bridges, roads and buildings. Under this criteira, I would be considered a spy in every country I've been too. Chavez didn't stop there, however. He further blamed the "spies" with acts of sabatoge to the electrical infrastructure. Venezuela has been in a painful draught this last year, which, as a result of their heavy dependence on hydroelectric power, means that they have also faced dire power shortages. Chavez has previously blamed the lack of rain, but not he has a new reason: these Colombian spies have been behind it all. Never mind the fact that the family has lived in Venezuela for 17 years. It's also convenient to neglect the fact that Chavez spent $9.4 billion on Russian weapons instead of improving the power infrastructure, among other things that need help.

Also this week, I was alerted to the fact that Caracas is one of the 10-most dangerous cities in the world and holds the noble distinction of being the murder-capital of the world. Way to go Chavez. Look who is Number One now, biatch!

While Colombia is not completely safe and has it's own violent history, things are quickly improving. Years ago, the Colombian cities of Medellin, Cali and Bogota were high on those lists of most dangerous places. Now, none of them are. Colombia sees five time more international travelers than Venezuela, even though Colombia is the only country with a US State "Travel Warning." Chavez is vehenmentally opposed to the right-leaning Colombian government, who, along with US help, is aggresively and successfully dismantling the FARC. People say the war on drugs isn't working, but I can tell you that in Colombia's case, it has made a huge difference.

While Kristin doesn't feel as safe as I do, we have not had any problems in our month in Colombia. We have encountered some of the friendliest people in South America. The only safety issues other travelers have exprienced are the corrupt Ecuadorian border police, who are notorious for stealing valuables while rifling through your backpack during the customs "inspection."  We have one more week of traveling south before hitting the Ecuador border. You can bet that we'll employ all of our tricks to stop the border police from taking any of our belongings. 

I apologize for the heavy nature of this blog, but I believe it is an important issue that might not get fully covered in the US. Most of this info is all stuff that I have learned while traveling. In the US we have this image of Colombia as dangerous and maybe we know of Chavez as a little off his rocker. But he's crazy and could personally cause distability (or war) here in northern part of South America.

And if it wasn't obvious, this also explains why we are traveling in Colombia and not Venezuela.

Colombia: Turning Guns into Guitars

The Colombian Coast - Just the Photos

While Kristin and I enjoy an eight hour bus ride to Salento, you can check out a few photos from our trip with Janie along the Caribbean Coast of Colombia.

Getsemani, Cartagena

San Diego, Cartagena

Old Town, Cartagena

San Diego, Cartagena

Old Town, Cartagena

Between Cartagena and Playa Blanca

Playa Blanca

One of many odd-shaped rocks lining the beach at Playa Blanca

Tayrona National Park

Taganga

Taganga

Taganga

Guest Blog: Travelling with Kristin and Danny

Our friend, Janie, is guest blogging today:

On March 1st, 2010 my life changed. The man I had been dating for the past year and with whom I was madly in love, suddenly broke things off with little explanation and even littler warning. On March 2nd I booked a trip to Colombia to meet Kristin and Danny for two weeks. Planning the trip gave me a distraction, something to read about, something to be excited about, and something to do over spring break with the dreaded empty time. I also knew that K&D would give me back my hope, since being around people in good relationships always seems to help the rest of us see what it can feel like when two people come together with shared dreams, love, and the energy to become an "us". K&D have that feeling of "I CAN'T WAIT TO SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE WITH YOU!", and it feels good just to watch their healthy tan faces plan the bus route together.

Traveling with them, however, may not be entirely comfortable for everyone - and I say this with complete appreciation for all styles of travel. I like a daiquiri poolside and watching american tv in the air con after a long day in the tropical heat just like everyone else, but K&D don't roll like that. You will find yourself having a great time drinking hand filtered water and eating store bought peanuts on a 40 year old schoolbus, talking about the merits of colonizing mars or how epigenetics really works, but you may not be as "comfortable" as you would prefer. We started off our trip in Bogota, at the house of an Uncle of Danny's friend. An important sidenote: they are Christian missionaries who have been helping in Colombia for 12 years.

This was my first moment of saying, "Weelllll....let's see how this goes". And wouldn't you know it, I ended up having absolutely fantastic meals, conversations, and even had the chance to go out to a farm with 24 parentless children where we helped fix bikes and played soccer. Grant, Danny's friend's Uncle, and his wife, Kathleen, gave us an insight into a world we likely never would have seen and as they prepared Colombian meals (with vegetarian options) and told us story after story, I began to feel like I had been given a completely unexpected gift. During our time in Bogota, we ate cheaply, took the local buses (another uncomfortable - but hilarious situation), and planned our trip up North to the Caribbean.

It just so happened that flights (1.5 hours and safe) to the Caribbean were cheaper than buses (22 hours and maybe not safe), and so we booked flights for 1 week of travel to Cartagena and Santa Marta, score 1 for comfortable travel and zero for getting hijacked on a 22 hour bus! When we arrived, our hostel was ok. Humid lounge area and tiny spaces, but they did have computers available, coffee around the clock, and we met some interesting folks. K&D may appear at first to be antisocial, but I learned that this is due to the repetition of the "hostel conversation", a boring list of questions referring only to where you have been and where you are going, peppered with overzealous recommendations based on dubious memories of mediocre travel destinations from people who largely like to party while traveling.

As someone who is excited about local foods, K&D appear to have lost interest and prefer to stick to to grocery store bought avocados, whole grain bread, bananas, yogurt, granola and the like. I often found myself feeling like I was missing out on some of the culinary delights, but whenever I tried them, they weren't so delightful and I felt much better eating with K&D as opposed to experimenting with street food or spending too much money for a fried fillet of white fish and rice. For those of you planning trips to meet K&D, please feel free to eat what you like and drink as much and often as you like, but be warned that you may find yourself alone for that element of your trip. I talked them into a few meals out, but our meals in were much more creative and fun (breakfast: best oatmeal ever, eaten out of a pot with 3 spoons, lunch: peanut butter & jelly, prepared on your own lap, dinner: fantastic spaghetti from minimal ingredients, cooked in a stolen kitchen in a random "ecohotel", also eaten out of a pot with 3 minimally functional forks).

When I was flying home from my trip visiting them, I felt I had learned so much and had such a great time, it was like putting neosporin on the cut of my break up. You know the commercials that show no scar from the lady that used neosporin compared to the one that didn't? That is how being with K&D was for me. It was vibrantly fun, physically strenous, financially about as cheap as it gets, and they gave me such a gift of time and great conversations. I encourage anyone looking to break out of a rut, have an adventure, heal a broken heart, or just explore a new part of the world to go visit them - and to be open to the wonders of cheap discomfort. You may have a better time than you would have with that poolside daiquiri.


Sharing photos with the boys on the farm, after a breath-taking soccer game (at 2700 meters).


Old Town Cartagena.


Old Town Cartagena.


The digs at Playa Blanca.


Just as Janie described it - making the best of what we have, in terms of food, shelter and entertainment.


Just outside our campsite at Tayrona National Park.


Sunset at Tayrona National Park.



Standing atop the Kogi ruins of El Pueblito.


Hiking through the tropical jungle to find El Pueblito, and then eventually to a small town where we could get a ride home.

Minimizing Risk?

Last week we enjoyed a blissful ten days along the Caribbean Coast of Colombia. We were joined by our good friend Janie, who has written a brutally honest guest blog that I will post on Monday: Traveling with Kristin and Danny.

Until then, however, I'd like to share a short story. The three of us had just finished an exciting trek through Parque Tayrona and were trying to catch a bus back to Santa Marta. Well, we didn't just catch any bus. No, we rode in a decrepit van that was overloaded with 21 people. The tires were bald and the van teetered on turns, aided by the extra weight of luggage and potatoes and who knows what else strapped to the roof rack. The sliding side door was always wide open, as the "helper" boy hung halfway out, trying to get new customers as we whizzed down the highway. Of course there were no seat belts, which wouldn't have even mattered for me as I sat on a wood box. We used the left lane to pass trucks on blind corners, just as often as we rode the right shoulder to avoid oncoming cars. There are no cops out here to make sure drivers go the appropriate speed limit; instead the government has installed speed bumps (what the Jamaicans call "sleeping policemen"). The roads are in bad condition, as we would expect. And, we're obvious gringos in FARC drug territory in a country deemed dangerous by our very own government. Despite all of this, we had no hesitations about this ride. I guess you could say we've grown accustomed to transportation in South America.

I chuckled to myself as we roared along this Colombia roller coaster. How things have changed for me since we left Davis. For the last four years at Outdoor Adventures, our biggest concern was improving transportation safety, particularly in regards to the vans that we used on many of our trips. We got rid of 15-person vans and now couldn't carry more than eight people. We didn't use roof racks and our vans were religiously maintained and heavily insured. We went to various college and adventure travel conferences which had presentations and workshops specifically about this topic. We increased guide training, we created manuals, got signatures and copies of driver documents. Our efforts transformed our program into a model of safety that was adapted by Campus Recreation and used as a template for the rest of the University.

And now, one year later? I don't think twice about entering a statistical death trap . . . and paying fifty cents for it. Woo hoo! 

I was reminded of this today as I read a review of new book was recently published. It is titled: The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World . . . via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes. It looks like a good read, except it hits too close to home for us. Maybe it's better to read it after we've traveled to all the places highlighted in the book.  

Yeeeah, that looks safe.

Let's Go Back to Bogotá

We have been in Colombia for two weeks now and I have yet to write a blog about it. I feel negligent to the thousands of readers who have been forced to settle for lesser forms of workday distractions. However, I am delighted to report that in the two weeks we have yet to be kidnapped, drugged, or conned by cops. In that same time, nobody has contacted us to make sure we're still OK. Either way, we are fine and you can now go back to your regular work-day distractions.

To be blunt, in the US Colombia is known for cocaine and kidnapping. For this reason we did not originally plan to come here. However, in talking with intrepid travelers over the last six months, we have heard one rave review after another. Our plans weren't set in stone so we decided to alter our course to explore Colombia. I found a cheap one-way flight from Buenos Aires to Bogotá on studentuniverse.com. A good friend connected us with his extended family here. And to top it all off, we were delighted by the news that our friend, Janie, would be joining us for two weeks.

It felt like everything was going to work out perfectly. Still, we were nervous. After all, only ten years ago Colombia averaged ten kidnappings per day. I think the country's murder rate was so high that they couldn't even count it. Does the name Pablo Escobar ring a bell? He was the notorious, ruthless kingpin of cocaine in the 80s and early 90s. He was the fourth richest man in the world. Can you name any other famous Colombians? I couldn't.

(Note: Juan Valdez - the coffee guy - is fictional. Shakira is Colombian but has deliberately distanced herself from her homeland)

So here we are in Colombia. We stayed in Bogotá for five days, mostly exploring the old part of town. The city is interesting, to say the least. It sits at 2640 meters, smack dab in the middle of the country. Bogotá has grown dramatically in the last decade as rural folk move to avoid the dangers of the drug war. The eight million or so residents didn't have a lot of city-pride, but I think that is changing as conditions improve. It now has an efficient public transport system, one of the most extensive bike networks in the world, new shopping centers and better roads. Safety has increased dramatically. In the 90's, Bogotá witnessed over 4,000 murders a year. Now you can walk one block downtown without seeing a police officer. It seems like police corruption has been mostly eradicated, but there is still the problem of police impostors. Our host family had a ton of personal horror stories of con-artists, fake cops, robberies, getting drugged, and seeing dead bodies in the streets. However, they can also attest to the fact that things are getting better.

Bogotá has a lot to offer and is tourist friendly. However, Janie had aspirations of seeing the Caribbean coast while here. We normally takes buses everywhere, but this time we were able to find a 90 minute flight that was cheaper than the 20+ hour bus ride. We jumped on that without hesitation. We toured the coastal areas of Cartagena, Santa Marta, Taganga, and Parque Tayrona. I'll blog more about that later as I still need to upload the photos.

Ten days of brutal heat and humidity and we were ready to return to Bogotá. We found the same great deal on flights. Janie left for the states yesterday while Kristin and I are spending the week here working on various projects. I'll also talk more about that later too. For now you can enjoy the nifty map I've created that shows everywhere we've been. *see sidebar on right


Inside what we called the Candy Cane Church. The exterior is the same design, which made it a useful and easy-to-find landmark.


I realize that I am posting fewer and fewer pretty pictures and more documentary ones. I mean really, how many old churches and big mountains can you stand? This is a view of Bogotá. I don't think any photographer could make this look pretty.


My ladies.


Spooky masks on display at the Gold Museum. Colombia has more gold deposits than any other country. This museum displays the "leftovers" that weren't taken by Spain, pirates or grave robbers. These leftovers number over 300,000 pieces in this ONE museum. I can't imagine what originally was in Colombia.


The mass transit system is very cheap and efficient. I can not say, however, that it was always comfortable.


A tour of the five story police museum was our highlight. We got a free English-speaking guide who gave us coffee, took photos with us, and flattered us with cliches. It wasn't all fun and games though - the entire bottom floor was devoted to the drug war. This wall shows some of the more infamous drug dealers, including Pablo Escobar on the right. I apologize for gruesome nature of the photos, but I want to present the full picture.


Janie is holding up the secret shelves of Escobar's desk. He had four of these built by a special carpenter. Then Escobar killed the carpenter and his entire family, so that no one would find out the secret. Escobar also underwent four plastic surgeries to change his face to make him harder to recognize. I could go on and on about the interesting stories that we learned.


William, our police guide, brought us coffee. In Colombia they drink their coffee strong and sweet, in little plastic cups, at all times of the day.