July 2019 - Two Wise Nomads

San Blas Paradice

We were up reasonably early as we needed to be at the wharf by 8 for the start of our San Blas adventure. I avoided any food deciding to try starve this damn tummy bug. We had to waterproof our bags – with our big bags it required putting all our clothes in a plastic bag inside the bag and then putting the bag inside another plastic bag. Double bagged so to speak. Our day bags then had to be waterproofed as well. What have we got ourselves into?

Our big bags went in one boat and the 17 of us plus the crew of 4 went in another boat with our day packs. The boat was of reasonable size with 2 70 HP engines. The first part of the journey involved a 30 minute bolt to Armila in Panama to get our passports stamped and all our bags sniffed by a somewhat mangy old sniffer dog. It kept on chewing on bags simply out of hunger as it turned out. We were told is could take 4-6 hours so we were all relieved it only took 3 as the place wasn’t that pleasant.

It was back to the boat for around 75 minutes of bouncing around and stopping every 20 minutes or so to ‘sort the engines’ before arriving at the island of Atitub – a tiny little island. Here we cooled off, had lunch snorkeled and chilled out. After a few hours we then jumped in the local ‘yala’ and paddled over to the bigger island of Caledonia and our first taste of Kuna life. The yalas were quite hard going with steering proving a real challenge for dits and I. There were 900 inhabitants on the island of which 450 were kids. Their numbers were incredible – the place felt like a child care centre. They absolutely loved interacting with us and probably entertained us more than we them. The island itself was very basic with the highest point barely a meter above the sea – reminded me of Funafuti in Tuvalu. The island tour ended with a dance performed by some of the adults – they loved performing as it is a big part of their culture with competitions and performances on any festive occasion. We then had to play a game of rabbit goose with the kids. Loads of fun. Dinner was delicious and then Edi (a Ecuadorian volunteering with SBA) got out his guitar and sang some Oasis, REM and even his own songs. Very impressive. The youngsters in the group (mostly everyone bar Dits and I) kicked on until the midnight curfew. It sounded very wild.

We got hit by a hell of a storm around 2 am. I saw it coming so managed to close our door and window shutter before it hit. The lightning and thunder were incredible as was the rain. Most of our crew got wet one way or another so Dits and I were lucky that we didn’t. Breakfast was 7am to enable us to get most of the travelling done before the wind gets up in the afternoon. It was meant to be a 2 hour trip but turned into 3 with a few stops to sort out the engines. Stopping out at sea was tough for those that suffered from sea sickness. Charlie and Preston both took the opportunity to dive overboard to cool off. We arrived at a lovely little island called Tuplie which had been sent up for our sole use – multiple hammocks and even with a volleyball court setup. Lunch was an amazing selection of salads. I took the opportunity to do a number 2 in the ocean – quite easy as it turned out although I was a bit horrified when our Belgium couple decided to take a swim down current half way through. I let them swim in peace with no ill effect.

After a vigorous game of volleyball with local rules we spent an hour playing a drinking game called Piccolo – fun. The beer chilly bin got emptied very quickly. Around 430 we jumped in the boat for a 10 min ride to our home for the night on the island of Dubbir. Deryn and I managed to grab our own upstairs room with windows on 3 sides – makes for a nice breezy sleep! We had a walk around the island once again marvelling at the number of kids and how they loved interacting with us. We were told that we were not to pick them up as a few years earlier a guest had and broke the kids arm when they dropped him. It was bedlam apparently. Dinner was amazing again after which Preston borrowed Edi’s guitar and also impressed with his playing and voice. Deryn snuck off a bit early while I stayed around drinking Preston’s rum after polishing off my small bottle of 5 year old.

Dits and I slept through most of breakfast so it was only some fruit and cereal. The 75 minute trip the next island was pretty tough with us all getting soaked by the chop from the boat. However it was worth it when we arrived at our own little paradise called Coco Bandera. Everyone was allocated a hammock although again Deryn and I managed to only have to share our space with Tjeerd, our Dutch guide. The island really was paradise. The local Kuna owners cut down some fresh coconuts for us – made a great mix for our rum – and then a tub of lobsters were caught for dinner. We had a bit of a snorkel – it was tough getting out to the deep water because of the sharp coral – and then started drinking about 3.30. Our guides made this incredible punch which you got a glass of, plus some amazing potatoe fries once you said a few words about the trip. Then it was off to dinner to gorge on lobster and hit the rum again. Ailish gave a re-enactment of her Gaelic dancing mishap only to break her toe in the process. It was a late night but loads of fun.

It was a lovely relaxing morning on our little island in paradise. It was with a little sadness we left at 130 for our 90 minute trip to Carti and the end of our adventure. It really has been special. We reached the dock with no hassle but then spent ages trying to figure out who could go in which of the 3 cars to Panama City. The locals were the only ones ‘allowed to work’ so they had to do the logistics. Not a good idea. The Magnolia hostel crew jumped in one car for a cramped 2.5 hour drive. The road for the first 45 was really steep and windy. Our driver was grumpy and a very aggressive driver which made it interesting when we hit the traffic in Panama City.

The Magnolia Hostel was lovely and the hot shower, aircon, soft clean bed and laundry were a treat. We all headed out to a local burger joint for a group dinner and a received a gift of a San Blas Adventures singlet. It was sad saying goodbye to a great bunch of people.

Guatape and Minca – small town magic

It was a slow start as we had left Deryn’s iPad at the pub last night. The staff at 574 were really helpful with the owner’s dad driving me up to the bar just before opening to help me try track it down. Thankfully it had been found and was safely returned. We grabbed a metro to the northern bus station and for 8000 pesos each we were on our way to Guatape and its famous rock.

It was a pleasant 2 hour bus journey followed by a 5 minute ride in the local tuktuk to our Lake View hostel and a lovely room with a balcony overlooking the lake. We headed into town for some dinner (trout) before retiring to bed for an early night.

We hired a couple of bikes the next morning having decided to bike the 5 or so kms to the El Penon Rock. The rock is basically a bit of granite that has not been worn away – a bit like a mini Uluru. It was first climbed in the 1950s. Steps were built to get to the summit which now has several cafes and viewing platforms. Bike hire was 35000p each for the day. The ride was not too bad – not as hilly as we had feared – until the last km. We had to walk the last 300m because it was too steep to ride. Tickets to climb to the top where 18000p each which is quite ‘steep’ in the local context. It was roughly 750 steps to the top with some lovely views on the way up. Looking down on the circling condors was pretty cool.

The views from the top were spectacular. We both thought the views reminded us of the Bay of Islands with the multitude of watery inlets. Some of the houses looked very impressive. We cycled around the town upon our return. It was beautiful – every house was painted a range of different colours. I wonder what would happen if you dared to paint your house white. We both agreed that Guatape is a lovely little town that we both would have enjoyed spending a bit more time than the day and a bit. Most of the tour guides suggest a day trip from Medellin which does Guatape no justice.

We arranged for a taxi to take us to Medellin – 120,000p (about $55) as buses were a bit of a hassle involving several changes. We arrived nice and early and before long we had landed in Santa Marta – on the northern Caribbean coast of Colombia. The increase in temperature was noticeable. We grabbed a local taxi to take us the 30kms us to Minca. We got dropped off in the town square and then jumped on the back of a motorbike to take us to the hostel Finca Bolivar. Thankfully it wasn’t too far because sitting on the back of a motorbike with a heavy backpack on driving on a bumpy dirt road is not easy.

Our hostel was lovely, surrounded by huge trees and plenty of bamboo. Simon, the Swiss owner, talked us through the many activities available in Minca. Waterfalls and walks a plenty. It started to rain as he was wrapping up the intro which was a bit of a bugger as we were hoping to head into town for some food. We waited a couple of hours but no joy so we had no choice but to don our jackets and head into town. We stopped at the first place we found and both ordered garlic prawn pasta for 22000 each. What we got was a little bowl with 6 prawns in garlic oil, 2 crackers and 2 halves of bread. They obviously had no pasta! We will not be returning.

The next morning we had a bit of a wonder around the town and then spent some time chilling around the hostel, including having a swim (more of a dip). We got chased away by the noise of the guy doing the lawn so decided to visit some water holes just a wee walk out of the town. It was lovely. We had an early dinner on the way home and then played some cards and had a few quiets in our hostel – enjoying the fact we were the only ones staying in the hotel. We tried, reasonably well, to keep a lid on it as we had a big walk planned the next day.

We had our breakfast at the hotel with some granola, bananas and yogurt bought at the local dairy supplemented with fresh local mangoes grown at our hostel. Perfect. We headed out at 10 with plenty of water and some sandwiches. It took us over an hour to reach the waterfalls – basically climbing the entire time but at least it was on a dirt road. The waterfalls at Pozo Azul were pretty cool with some nice water holes to swim in. It was reasonably busy but thankfully not as bad as it could have been given the number of full vans that passed us heading down as we walked up. We both agreed that there was no way we could walk the full circuit as the heat and humidity made it really challenging. So we headed back to the hostel and went into town for an early dinner at a local restaurant that made its own pasta – Santa Isabela. Magic.

We grabbed breakfast in town before negotiating for 2 motorbikes to take us to the Mirador at Los Pinos – 30,000p each. We thought it was a lot until we spent at least 20 minutes traveling over incredibly rough roads to reach our destination. We were both glad to get off the bikes and thankful that we didn’t try walk it yesterday. Also being a weekend the number of vans at the waterfalls from yesterday made us gla we did it then – everyone in Santa Marta must head up for a weekend drive. The views across to Santa Marta wasn’t great thanks to the mist/cloud. We then walked down to Casa Elemento with its famous large hammocks. It was 10,000 each to get access to the hammocks but we also got a coffee and a swim thrown in. Amazingly we bumped into a couple of girls from the Lake View Hostel in Guatape. Small world this backpacking fraternity.

Next stop was the Cascada de Marinka, some more waterfalls about halfway back to town. The walk was pleasant enough although after an hour or so we were both thinking ‘motorbike’ but soldiered on. Again they were very pleasant without being spectacular. And thankfully not too busy. We then limped back into town for a well deserved burger at my local favourite The Lazy Cat. 11.7km which took us nearly 3 and half hours. The heat and humidity made it tougher than the numbers. After a well earned kip we headed down the enjoy the famous paella at Casa Antonio. The hostel was lovely, we were very surprised that we were the only guests. The paella was everything we hoped. Another couple of episodes of Stranger Things before trying to get to sleep in our hot and humid room.

Northern Colombia – the end of our South America adventure

I had a tough last night in Minca as I was hit by a nasty tummy bug. Deryn also started to feel a bit dodgy when we woke early for our 630am taxi to Santa Marta airport for our flight to San Andres Island. We arrived at the airport at 715am to find the Viva Air counter not yet open for our 930am flight. More worrying was the fact that we could not find the flight on the departure board. We checked the tickets again – we had booked from Cartegena not Santa Marta!! Luckily the Latam office was open so we managed to get a couple of tickets to San Andres via a 6 hour stop over in Bogoata. Just what the doctor ordered when you’ve got a dodgy stomach. We let Roz know that she would be getting to the apartment before us. We tried to see if we could wrangle a refund from the now open Viva Air office but the girl behind the counter did not speak English so we flagged it.

The time in Bogota airport was tough with no lounge available so it was iPad TV and reading with the odd dash to the loo for both of us. We finally arrived at our apartment – Tamarindo Centro VIP Apartment– in San Andres at around 730pm. 13 hours of fun. Roz was there to meet us outside which was lovely. The apartment was right in the heart of the town at an incredibly busy intersection – the noise and heat were incredible.

We grabbed a pizza and beer at a local pub before hitting the sack. Roz has arranged to go diving the next day while Deryn and I planned to try get over the bug. Roz arrived home around 1pm with a lukewarm response to the diving. She felt snorkelling would be as good. We headed off to see if we could find a boat to take us out to one of fhe islands on one of the next couple of days – to no avail. We did meet a friendly local and Deryn arranged the hire one of the many Suzuki jeeps endemic to the island for the following day. We had a bit of a session that night teaching Roz the finer points of cribbage.

We picked the Jeep up at 10am. 175k pesos for the day. You pay for what you get. It was basically an automatic with 1 forward and 1 reverse gear, had a top speed of 30 miles an hour (sounded like it was going to take off at that point), no review mirrors or seatbelts. However it did the trick and we spent the next 6 hours traversing around the whole island of San Andres. We stopped at La Piscinita down on the west side of the island where for 5000p you could swim with and feed fish, dive off a diving board and also bomb down a water slide. It was fun but a bit busy although the water slide was a blast – Roz must have hit the water doing a 100km/h and was lucky to retain her togs.

We then drove to a beach a couple of kms down the road for some snoozing and sun bathing. Deryn and I were still struggling with our bug so we enjoyed the kip. On the return leg down the east coast we headed inland to La Loma (a waste of time) and then stopped for some more kipping and sunbathing at the famous Rocky Kay – an island that you walk out to for cocktails. We didn’t walk out there instead preferring to hang around the beach enjoying the recliners and shade. It was a bit of a shame that the Colombians love of loud music made sleep a bit of a challenge. We found somewhere nice for dinner (Peru Wok) and enjoyed a lovely seafood meal.

The next morning Roz and Deryn headed off snorkeling while I tried once again to sleep off the bug. They enjoyed the snorkeling – there was only 4 of them and it was only a couple of hours so they didn’t suffer the usual ‘island challenge’ of hanging around for hours waiting. We played a few more hands of cards before sitting out on our deck enjoying a tropical downpour.

Our trip the next morning to Cartagena was uneventful – once again Latam and South American airports being a pleasure. We checked into our lovely hotel – Hotel Casa Lola– very swanky and just outside of the walls of the old city. The air conditioning was the most pleasant part as it was hot and sweaty. Our Kiwi mates from NY, Dave and Jane Fanning arrived 15 minutes after us so we all headed up to the rooftop pool to cool down, downed a few Pisco Sours and have some amazing burgers. The tab of 435k pesos let us know that it wasn’t going to be a cheap weekend. We headed out at dusk to explore the very cool city of Cartagena, first wondering around the old town, before heading to a local restaurant for some amazing food. The girls were all in bed by 11pm but Dave and I kicked on playing cribbage until the early hours.

It was off to the San Felipe de Barajas (Castillo San Felipe Fortress). The fort was built in the 1500s and was meant to repel all invaders trying to get their hands on Cartagena’s slave based riches. It was impressive although again the heat made it a real challenge. Even deep in the bowels of the fort, the heat was oppressive. We stopped for lunch at a local pub and to watch the All Blacks take on Argentina. Deryn, Jane and Roz left early to look around the town and headed home through El Centenario plaza where they got to see monkeys, sloths and iguanas that live in the park. Next was a couple of hours to chilling in our air conditioned rooms. We found a well rated ‘local’ cafe on Trip Advisor. Not sure how it got the rating because while the food was OK it was overpriced and the restaurant was totally lacking atmosphere. We headed back to the hotel and got stuck into our duty free vodka while playing 10&1. It was past midnight while playing Ralph that a hand appeared at a window above us furiously pointing to their watch. We had no idea we were sitting outside a hotel room. So we snuck back to the party room (room 22 – Dits and my room) and continued chatting until past 2am.

It was a slow start the next day with none of us rising much before 10am, in time to get breakfast. With the heat and humidity it was simply a matter of avoiding it during the heat of the day. Jomo did a bit of research and found a decent restaurant in the old town so we headed out around 5.30, stopped at a roof top bar to try grab some Pisco Sours but had to do with majitos as they were on special and they did not serve Piscos. The dinner was really good although we over ordered with a fair bit of seafood casserole remained uneaten. Dave was keen to kick on but he was alone on that front so we were all in bed by 10.

Dave and Jane were on a 1pm flight back to New York so we said our sad farewells to them about 11am. We and Roz then headed into town for some lunch before we again sadly left Roz around 2 lying by the pool (her flight was 730pm) and we grabbed a cab to take us to the bus terminal for our 5 hour bus trip to Monteria. Deryn had been in contact with the bus company so we intended to head to their office but never made it as we were intercepted and convinced to jump into a minivan. It seemed like a good idea as it was cheaper, we could leave sooner and seemed comfortable. After 30 minutes of waiting and a few more passengers joining to van, we were thinking we had made a mistake. We left at 330 (instead of the 4pm planned bus departure). The trip was slow going with loads of road works resulting in periods of waiting for traffic to pass. We were then bundled out of our minivan into another far more crowded van for the last 90 minutes of the journey. We should have taken the bus!!

We had booked into a hotel – Hotel Florida Sinú– close to the bus station in Monteria as we had to grab another van the next day. The hotel looked pretty flash although on closer inspection it was like many of those second tier Chinese hotels. The shower drain did not work and the air conditioning only had one setting – full bore!. However the hotel did have an amazing burger joint across the road which did as good a chicken burger as we have had for a long time. We were woken in the middle of the night by an incredible storm – thunder like we have never heard before. It really did sound like explosions. We were back at the station by 10 the next morning and after an hour of waiting for the right number of passengers we were on our way to Necoclí. It took just over 3 hours. Necocli was a bit of a run down coastal town although after exploring the back streets we did find a lovely little square and some decent(ish) restaurants – shame we had already eaten some dodgy empanadas while purchasing some supplies for our trip to the San Blas Islands.

Our hotel – Hotel San Sebastián De Uraba– was a shocker. There was no blankets on the bed – I had to get up in the middle of night to go grab some from the front desk – plus the cafe next door blared music out until past midnight when I again went downstairs and asked the front desk guy to have a word. Colombians have this thing about deafening music. We were up early to grab our boat across to Capurgana – it was a 90 minute boat tide versus 1000km by car. The boat was a large speed boat with 3 300HP engines. Fully loaded there was about 30 of us on board and the boat did not mess around. The journey wasn’t too rough so Dits go to Capurgana without any serious sea sickness. We then had to grab another boat to take us to Zapsurro and our tiny little hotel called Hilltop Zapsurro. We didn’t get the name as there was not a hilltop in sight. Zapsurro was a sleepy little town with very few backpackers. We felt we were really integrating with local life. We struggled to find a place to serve breakfast or dinner outside of the official eating hours.

We spent a leisurely day exploring the village and catching up on sleep before getting an early night sleep. Once again we were woken by an incredible storm around 2am – the thunder really is scary sounding. We now know it is wet season in Central America this time of year. We grabbed a boat back over to Capurgana for our midday briefing from San Blas Tours. There are about 17 on the tour with a majority of women and a lot of them Irish. Deryn and I are of course older than anyone by at least 25 years. US$450 for 4 days of back to basic on these isolated islands with the local Kuna people. I can’t wait!

Stylish Salento and Medellin

We had a nice relaxing morning sampling some of the local coffee, wondering around the village and then booking our horse ride up the river. We got picked up at 1.10 and driven about a kilometre to the stables just outside of town (close to the Paremo trek office). Both our horses were amazing (compared to the older horses we usually get). There was only the 2 for us, 3 with out guide. We set off on the road for a fairly steep decline to the valley floor below. Our guide only had to make a noise with his lips (much like calling a cat) and the horses would break into a trot. It was quite hard work going down the steep road – I could feel the blisters building already where my thigh was rubbing against the saddle.

We reached the bottom of the valley after about 30 minutes and then headed into the river. It was a lot of fun riding up the river, at times heading into quite deep water. The horses were incredible – they obviously know what they were doing. After about 30 minutes walking up the river we started to head back to town, however this time it was up stone and mud paths. It was amazing how the horses coped climbing the very steep and slippery paths and before we knew it we were back in Salento, although on the opposite side of town. My horse was keen to get home so any opportunity and he was off. We were back at the stables in 90 minutes of a 2 hour ride, but that was great as our guide could see we could ride so he sped it up. Damn, my legs hurt when I first got off. Dits was a lot better. Our legs were taking a pounding with the hiking and now this. Best we go book in our mountain biking ride!

We went back to Salento Bikes and told the guy we were in for the single track downhill – he had spent some time trying to talk us out of it the previous day when we popped in. He even showed us a video. However he piped down when we showed him a video of Manly Dam. 150k ($A70) pesos each for ride. W e turned up the next day at 1.10 (after another fantastic feed at Brunch – my soup was a 3 course meal). The ride to the start of the ride was interesting, mainly because the van would suddenly lose all power. Our driver had to turn the car off and wait a while. The exactly same ailment befell our taxi on the drive up to the Teleferico in Quito. Weird.

We arrived at our destination – La Alegria single track. Rated hard and as a black diamond track by Trailforks. Nothing like a challenge. The first part of the track was on pine needles through a pine forest – with a smattering of eucalyptus trees. It was slippery!! Things were made a lot more difficult as well as the brakes were the opposite side to what we were used to. It was challenging but sort of fun. We both came off a few times so our guide knew what to expect. It was just so different to anything that we had ridden. After about 20 mins the terrain changed to paddock which was a lovely reprieve. We cycled through a fair bit of farmland with plenty of animals. It was the clam before the storm. The last 2 kms were slipping clay on tracks that were v shaped crevices. I went over my handle bars twice (the brake issue) but still loved it – it was the old story of ‘speed is your friend’. It’s just takes a fair bit of getting used to going sideways all the time. We made it to the bottom in 46 minutes, over our target of sub 40. They had a championship here a month or so ago in which the winner did 17 minutes. I have no idea how. Starva says I was the second fastest of all time (in the 55-64 age bucket!).

We did originally have plans for doing 2 runs but they amount of physical activity we take undertaken over the last 5 days just made it a bad idea. We would kill ourselves if we tried it again. So it was a quiet night ahead of our early departure to the airport and our flight to Medellin.

We caught the 750am bus to Pereira airport for our 11.55am flight to Medellin via Bogota. We arrived at the airport just after 9 so we got put on the earlier 10.30am flight which meant we got to spend 3 hours in the Avianca business lounge in Bogota. It was lovely – good internet and unlimited good food. Medellin was a lot greener and a loft wealthier than I was expecting – as it turns out it was just where we were staying – 574 Hotel in the Astorga area. The hotel was lovely with the guy at the frond desk being really sweet.

I had my Ayahuasca experience booked for the next day so I had to go meet my guide Orion, at a coffee shop at the Estadio Metro Station at 730pm. We decided to grab the metro there until we bumped into Maya (of Bogota fame) who said to avoid it. The line of people waiting was incredible. Most office people do a 730 to 5pm shift so starting out our journey at 530pm was not a good idea So we started walking until the rain forced us into a taxi. And traffic. We made it with 15 minutes to spare. Orion was there with his nurse partner – he is a doctor that does Ayahuasca experiences on the side. He believes completely in its healing properties. He asked what I was hoping to get out of it – a lot of people do Ayahuasca to treat mental and even physical issues. Mine was simply about going on the journey. He questioned Deryn a bit as to why she was not doing it, telling her it would be good for her.

I met Orion the next morning at 8 at the North bus stop (off Caribe metro station) and after a 40 minutes drive we arrived at our location. It was an incredible experience for so many reasons and I would happily share the note I wrote about it. Just reach out and ask.

I was back home by 3 and met Deryn who had been on a city centre walking tour with Maya and friends.

I’m sure exactly what I expected from Medellín but it is a noisy, chaotic South American city. After meeting the doctor who was taking Sean away for his Ayahuasca treatment I was comfortable he was in good hands so I signed up for the Free Walking Tour.

It was excellent. It gave me better understanding of Medellin and it’s Paisa people. We visited many of the attractions in Downtown Medellín – Botero Square was my favourite with all his statues in one square, but the most interesting part was learning about its transformation. Medellín has gone from one of the most dangerous cities in the world (economic suffering, crime drug trafficking, civil unrest) to being recognised as one of the most innovative. Poor and high crime areas have been revamped and transformed into beautiful areas. Low income neighbourhoods boosted with library, parks and community centres. The guide asked how many of us had family who were happy for us to be here. Several of us put up our hands. He said 3 years ago no hands would have been up.

Taylor had told us about a great local she had met when she travelled through Medellin 2 years earlier so we decided to meet up with him. He was a blast, so full of energy. We could see why Taylor enjoyed him.

The next day it was off to the famous, previously infamous, Comuna 13. Once one of the most violent spots on the planet. Now its a massive tourist attraction. I do wonder how the locals cope with not being able to move most of the year as the place is packed with walking tour groups. Like ours. Our guide was terrible so we bailed out once we got to the escalators (HK is the only other city in the world that has them). The upper levels were great. Plenty of buskers, food sellers and atmosphere. On the journey down we passed our tour group so had to take evasive action to avoid detection.

The next day we decided to take the gondola from the Acavdo Metro stop to Arvi and the national park up there. The metro in Medellin really is amazing. It transformed the city when it was built in 1995. It is a breeze to navigate with basically 2 lines – a north and south and an east to west. The gondolas run off various stops and head into the hills. Medellin won the worlds most innovative city in 2012 for the work that it is doing to integrate the different social classes and hence reduce crime. We had a brief walk around the park looking for a lake that was meant to be nearby. After 45 minutes of walking we gave up – nothing was signposted with a maze of paths making it impossible to find the lake. We headed home and wandered up to the funky Lalinde area for an early dinner and some cards in one of the many bars. For once we were the last to leave (it was a 10.30pm close!). We were off to Guatape tomorrow. We both felt like we had not really given Medellin a fair crack. It was probably because of the location – a wee bit from the city center and the nightlife spots and also because we were shattered from all the physical activity in Salento.

And, finally a dog …

Salento – Los Nevado National Park 4 day trek

We had a day to chill before we headed off on our trek in the Los Nevados National park. We decided to walk to the two Miradors to enjoy the view and get in some altitude ‘training’ :). The walk to the view took all of 10 minutes but it certainly was impressive. It really is a beautiful part of the world. Apparently Salento was a bit of ghost town 15 years ago due to the number of FARC guerillas in the area; it is now a bustling tourist destination (local and overseas). We certainly would not be doing our trek. We had a local coffee – Salento is also known for its coffee with a lot of Arabic coffee grown in the area.

We headed off to the Paremo Trek office at 4 for our trek debrief. Fortunately for us, another trekker had just turned up which meant we could now do the 4 day trek for the price of our planned 3 day – as there was originally only 2 of trekking we had to pay for all guide ourselves, adding a third meant his costs were now shared 3 ways. She was Katrin from Switzerland. We were told to be back at the office at 7am the following morning.

We met our guide Freddy (aka Chuko – means Jesus) the next morning and got given some snacks for the 4 days as well as our lunch for the day. A bit of a challenge to find some space in our fully laden backpacks (we took our little ones – leaving the big packs back at the hotel). We then headed off for a hearty feed at a local cafe before loading ourselves into one of the many Colombian ‘Willis’ jeeps for a hour drive to the start of the trek in the Cocora Valley (2390m). It was here that we were meant to encounter lots of the famous Quindío palms – they can grow up to 300ft tall. While we certainly saw plenty of them, we didn’t walk amongst them as expected. It was a bit chilly at the start of the trek but it soon warmed up as we climbed, and climbed and climbed some more. Once we got above 2800m the trees thinned and we started to encounter the paramo de frailejones – weird looking cactuses out of a Dr Seuss book. It was here that Chuko gave us some of his cocoa & baking powder mix to provide energy. It was akin to sucking on chewing tobacco but it worked.

We finally made it to our “finka” for the night around 3pm – La Argentina at an altitude of 3400m – it had taken us nearly 6 hours to cover the 13km but in that we had climbed an incredible 1461m!. To say the hut was basic was an understatement but it had served the family living there for many generations so it was certainly good enough for us. There were plenty of animals around – cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, dogs – including a couple of shivering Chihuahuas!!. The family’s main revenue used to come from cheese making but now it was from hosting tourists. They built a room alongside the house to sleep up to 14 tourists in double bed bunks – thankfully there were only 7 of us to we got to have a double bunk each. There was no lights in the room – head torches were a must. The shower was magic if somewhat cramped.

When not in the sleepout, the time was spent sitting on a raised bench above the wood fired stove and kitchen bench to enjoy the warmth. It was certainly cosy with all of us in there. We all got given a bowl of lovely potato soup before settling in to watch the quarter final of COPA America. I snuck off for an hour kip before the Colombia v Chile game at 615. It was very pleasant watching the game and our hyper-busy hostess preparing dinner. The old owner popped in from a day out on the farm for dinner and to say hello. Dinner consisted of more potato soup and then a plate of beans, avocado, fried plantain(banana) and rice. Lovely. We gave up on the soccer at half time (Chile ending up winning on penalties) and headed to be at 730. It had been a tough day – Deryn had found it particularly so but had soldiered on like the trooper she is.

It was a restless night sleep with the wind howling, dogs barking, cows mooing and roosters crowing. I was also a bit dehydrated which did not help. We were told breakfast was at 630 so get up at 6. I was in the kitchen waiting for brekkie at 6.20 but only got anything at 650. Colombian time! Breakfast was potato soup (of course), rice, scrambled egg and a cracker. Plus a cop of cocoa tea followed by a coffee. It was past 8 before we got away for another tough day of climbing.

We basically climbed for the first 4 km to nearly 4200m – 800m in 2 hours. Brutal. We had a brief stop at the farm called Buenos Aires – no idea why these weird names – before continuing our climb. It was pretty cold and cloudy so we did not get to see the Paramillo del Quindío (4,750 meters) volcano but thankfully that was it for the climbing which meant we could start to enjoy the splendour of our remote landscape. Chuko was great at pointing out some of the stunning plants in the area as well as the odd bird. We were going to walk to base of the volcano but after climbing the hill on part of the journey, all decided to flag it. The cold wind combined with the distance put us all off. Plus we had a long day tomorrow.

It was a gradual decline until to Buenos Aires finka at 3800m – it was visible about an hour out – it was a long hour given how tired we were from the 2 days of climbing. I was also continually piddling as I was drinking so much water to avoid the dehydration from the previous day. I stopped 7 times during the day!

The farmhouse was situated in a beautiful valley with a lot more flat paddocks around it. The kitchen was a lot smaller than Argentina but a lot neater, the toilet even had a lid!. We all enjoyed the shower again, knowing there was no shower the following day. The kitchen was a bit small so we all ended up having a bit of a kip (and read) in the dorm before dinner. It also gave us an opportunity to try out the beds and to add another 3 blankets on top of the mattress to soften it. So for me it was 3 blankets below and 3 on top – Deryn had 4 on top – it really did get that cold overnight. We walked 11.4km climbing 888m in just over 6 hours.

Dinner was some lentil soup, followed by some fried chicken, avocado, fried plantain, some beetroot & onion mix and rice. Delicious. We were all in bed by 7 reading and asleep soon after. It wasn’t as cold as the previous night but we had the pleasure of the roosters deciding 430am was a decent time to start crowing. Including the rooster who lived on the roof above my bunk. Breakfast of course included a hearty potato soup. We managed to get away by 7.45 am with another climb of 250m to start the day. We now entered the National Park proper after our first 2 days of walking through privately owned farms. The trekking was a little easier then previous days as a lot of our gear was being transported to our next stop on a mule. It meant that Deryn and I only had 1 light bag between us – which I carried of course being the perfect gentlemen. After the 90 minutes of the climb, it flattened out and we really started to enjoy ourselves. The views were incredible and many of the paramo were in flower – the flowers showed why they are the same family as the sunflower. The varied landscapes made us all very glad that we had opted for the 4 day hike over the 3.

We finally made it to Laguna Otun (a lake) around 1. Chuko gave us each a bar of chocolate to celebrate the achievement and then cooked us lunch over a little gas stove. Powdered mash potato and vegetables – just add water and cheese. It was lovely. As was the coffee.

Our descent to El Jordan was brilliant. Chuko took us on his many shortcuts, some of them involving traversing incredibly steep banks, climbing over fences and crossing many streams. We also got to walk through some cloud forests with its NZ like palms and ferns. It really was magic and made all the hard work of the last 2 and a half days well worth it. We also got to share some of NZ’s favourite past time with Chuko. After 19.5km and over 9 hours, we made it to El Jordan. While we had only climbed 752m that day, we were shattered. I had won the days piddling contest with Katrin – 13 to 12. The farmhouse was lovely – although the owners were certainly a lot less friendly than our previous hosts. The views were incredible. The lack of a shower was compensated by some beers and spectacular views. Dinner was awful. Boiled spud, dry chicken and some rice.

It was a much milder night with fewer disruptions so we all had a better nights sleep. Jeez, I can’t wait to sleep in a decent bed again! We got away our earliest yet at 7.20am – I guess Chuko wanted to finish early. Again it was a very pleasant walk (no hills to climb!!) and it wasn’t long before we started to encounter other trekkers – initially heading down – but soon more and more doing a day hike out o El Cedral. It was a long weekend in Colombia so it was busier that normal. It took us 3 hours to reach the Otún Quimbaya Fauna and Flora Sanctuary with its large, and busy, campground. We had a brief stop before pushing on to finish the last 6km. A lot of it was walking down a riverbed which thankfully was not too wet which meant it was comparatively easy. Certainly the walking poles came into their own in terms of providing balance. We made it to El Cedral by 12.10 – we covered the 14.3km in just under 5 hours. A bit too quick as our car had not yet arrived. He showed up at 12.30 at which point we agreed to pay 100k pesos ($50) between the 3 of us to get him to drive us straight back to Salento rather than the Pereira bus stop. The public holiday meant the bus station would have been a nightmare.

As it turned out the drive was brilliant. It involved navigating some pretty narrow and steep mountain roads – at one stage the 4 wheel drive car could not get traction on a particularly steep bit of road and had to back up and try again. We drove though some very fertile areas with plenty of onions and avocados being grown. We arrived back in Salento by 3 and went straight to Brunch for some incredible burgers. We said our fond farewells to both Chuko and Katrin before heading back to our hotel for a long shower and a change of clothes. After catching up with the world we headed down to the one Indian restaurant in town for a disappointing curry. The airy room and a soft bed was brilliant. Over the 4 days we walked 59km, climbed an incredible 3200m over 29 hours. Deryn and I both agreed its was the toughest tramp we had ever done.

Bogota – City of colour

It was an early start the next morning and before we knew it, we were in our hotel in Bogota. The Arche Noah Boutique Hostel in the funky La Candelaria zone of the city. This was in the old part of the city which had incredible colours and graffiti everywhere. Our original room (the family room) did not have a private bathroom. It’s a function of age that you need your own toilet in the room. Anyway after some negotiations we landed a room with a toilet and an external window. Amazing what we now regard as luxury. We went for a stroll to admire the incredible graffiti that fills the place. Quite amazing. A lot of them are done by famous artists. Importantly we also found the party street which we parked for later.

We headed back to the party street after a kip. We got offered some hash ice cream which we declined. The drug scene here is interesting. It is legal to possess 1gm of cocaine and 5g of pot, however it is illegal to buy or sell. So what happens is someone will sell you a beer that comes with the substance as a gift. The beer costs more than it normally would. We then headed home for some cards, I got myself a bottle of Columbian rum called Ron Viejo de Caldas – not bad and Deryn had a vino. We got a bit enthused so headed out around 9 to party street and a few more Vodka & soda’s before getting home around midnight.

We had the Bogota Bike Tour booked for 10.15am so we could have a leisurely start which was just was well. It turned out it was a public holiday, so a perfect day for a bike tour as the city closes a whole lot of roads to cars on public holidays. It was raining for the start of our tour but as Bogota has a highland climate most days get some rain so we went with it. We headed to Bolívar Plaza first and then into Santa Fe, Bogota’s red light district. I tell you what, at 11am on a Monday morning it is a very sad place. Looked destitute. We then arrived at a local coffee shop that produces some of Bogota’s finest coffee. We got shown around the shop before we got to try the coffee. Perfect – especially after the previous nights shenanigans. It was then a decent ride – stopping to look at some of the amazing graffiti- before we arrived at a local cafe to play Tejo – the national game of Columbia. You basically lob a 1kg bit of round granite at a circle of little white triangles surrounded by clay and headboard. The idea is to hit the triangles or land in the middle of them. It was fun. Our guide was trying really hard to hit a triangle but did not manage it. I did, as did another guy and girl. Just saying. I obviously did not hit it properly as he showed afterwards what happens. It contains gunpowder and hence makes a bit of noise. I reacted more violently than everyone else to the noise. We arrived back at the shop at nearly 3.30 – much longer than the apparent 4 hours. It was a really good day and something we could really recommend. We are going to try hard to do bike tours when we are in a larger city – if not, then a walking tour. We have enjoyed every one that we have been on.

The next morning we set off on a planned tour of a few museums. We started with the highly rated Gold Museum – a historical guide on how the previous metal, as well as copper and silver, as been an integral part of Columbian history. To be honest it was a bit over-powering. After an hour of looking at some quite incredible artifacts, fatigue set in so we headed off to find the Art Museum which had a interesting exhibition on show. Unfortunately it was closed. No idea why. We did pass the Santuario Nuestra Señora del Carmen (a church) on the way to the museum so popped in for a look. The colours were incredible.

Given we now had some time up our sleeve we decided to head up Mount Monserrate gondola. It was a nice walk there through the university zone of Bogota. It was a 45 minutes wait to get on 1 of the 2 cabins operating – they pass each other mid mountain. The views on the way up were great – if you are quick or lucky enough to be near the front getting into the cabin. Up top was nice but then having to wait another 45 minutes to get back down again sort of took the fun out of it all. We ended up staying on the same side on the way down so go the same view! All in all we could have given this a miss.

We headed back to our hostel for some r&r before around 4 heading to the party zone once again to get revved up for a big night. We headed back to the hostel for some cards and booze but didn’t really get the chance to play cards as we got talking with the owner Tim (a Brit who is trying to build an empire of hostels in Columbia – walked out of a corporate job in London 18 months earlier) and a lovely English girl called Maya who was starting her adventures. We were disciplined in making sure we were in bed by 11 because of our need to travel to Salento in the morning.

Our flight departed at 1pm so we were at the airport nice and early, not being sure on the traffic in Bogota as we had arrived on a Sunday. It was a 50 minute flight, followed by a 15 minutes cab ride with a slightly mad driver to the local bus stop to grab a bus to Salento. It was a bit crazy at the bus station but we managed to get 2 tickets and be one the bus with a couple of minutes to spare – otherwise it was an hour wait until the next one.

It was a beautiful drive to Salento though very green, mountainous terrain. It was a bit of a walk to our hotel – Hotel Salento Real Eve Cafetero. The hotel was lovely and Salento had a really nice vibe. We went for a walk along a lovely colourful Main Street – the streets in Columbia are numbered Calle one way and Carrera the other – makes for easy navigation). We then grabbed a meal of the local favourite – trucha (trout) in the main square. Delicious!

Galapagos – Bachus, North Seymour (7&8)

It was sad waking up knowing it was our last proper day in the Galapagos. Although Deryn and I agreed we had seen virtually everything we had wanted to see. We all boarded the zodiac for a leisurely couple of hours chilling on nearby Playa los Bachus. It would have been magic except for the mossies that were out in force when we first landed (the bites itched for 4 days!). Nice to be on a beach again.

On returning to the boat, we headed to the channel between North and South Seymour for some snorkeling. We moored the boat and then jumped into the zodiac to head up current before all drifting to the North Seymour side of the channel. It was amazing. Firstly it was deeper than we had been before and we got to see some sharks, including a couple of Galapagos Sharks that looked a lot like little Great Whites. We also passed a dead seal floating in the water which everyone saw except me. I’m actually glad I didn’t. A couple of Spotted Rays glided underneath us which was also very cool. It was sad to be fishing our snorkeling for the last time, knowing it’ll be a rare opportunity to be so close to many of these creatures again.

Following this we dry landed on North Seymour to walk amongst the nesting and mating Frigate’s and Blue Footed Boobies. It was amazing. There we so many of them with chicks, quite a lot of Boobie twin chicks. They had absolutely no fear, you could literally hold your iPhone 20cm from them and they wouldn’t budge. The male Frigates look for a good spot for a nest, build it and then sit with their red gullet puffed out letting the females know that we was available and check out their attributes. And with a house. We also got to see some hawks and get very up close and personal with sea lions.

It was the back to the boat and a short trip to the port next to the airport. All the staff got dressed into their uniforms so we could thank (and tip) them. They really had been amazing. Whenever we left the boats, they would go in and tidy our cabins. Manuel would also offer Deryn a wine class at 5.30. We also thanked our guide Franklin, who had been so impressive with his knowledge and passion of wildlife and geography. Smart, funny man.

We all had to be off the boat by 8am to allow the crew to prepare for the next tour. We all agreed that calling the tour 8 days was mid-leading. 7 days was more accurate as we then had to spend 3 hours at the airport waiting for our flight. I had a hotdog and chips at the airport – smart move having a fast food restaurant at the airport as most people would have a junk food craving after the fresh food frenzy that is the Galapagos experience.

Once again we stopped off in Guayaquil for 45 before arriving at Quito around 4. Dits and I were a bit bummed that we had not planned it better and stayed at an airport – our flight was 9.30am. We expected it to take over an hour to get to our hotel, but it was barely 30 minutes. The hotel we had booked was magic as well – the Kaia Hotel. It had the best internet we had encountered in Sth America so we loaded up on all our current TV shows. We had a nice Mexican which I followed up with some chicken and chips from a dodgy chicken shop on our way back to the hotel. I reckon I was still in a junk food deficit.