All in the Family

Thanks to my favourite Canadian-Latina,  Justine + Nikki and I were treated to a rare and outstanding day spent with Colombian locals Eduardo and Rosita Velez! Two of the best hosts you could EVER ask for. Colombians are incredibly warm people and the five of us had an amazing day.  

How I managed to forget about my fear of heights until I arrived at the Piedra del Penol 2 hours outside of Medelline, is beyond me, but once I got up close to the staircase comprised of 659 steps I remembered pretty damn quick! 

It was actually not as scary as I had worried it would be and this is the view... well worth a few shaky leg moments...  

Here's Nikki, Eduardo, Myself and Justine at the absolute top. Rosita stayed at the restaurant level to order us up some fresh mango. Whadda lady!

Eduardo explained that the area was actually flooded about 15 years ago as part of a project to use the local river for hydro power.  

Our hosts took us on a boat ride through the canals to a waterfall nearby after we spent some time wandering the quaint colourful streets of Guatape. Love all the colours but check out the little critter on the exterior of this beauty... pink panther. You guessed it. Random!  

We also checked out the local church and though it is a strange sight to see I suppose I should be impressed to know they are using energy efficient bulbs in the chandeliers. 

We wrapped up the day with lunch and then on the way home we were taken to another small village about 40mins outside of Medellin, known for killer desserts. 

We had no problem crushing this waffle covered in Mora, Strawberry, Vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce! DELISH!   

Incredible hosts ... thanks Jess for the hook up!

Tomorrow Nikki and I will visit the National Park via the gondola and then board my 13th & 14th flights bound for Cartagena (via Bogota).   

Looking forward to working on my tan before I get home but the forecast for Cartagena says 38C... scary!

xo b

Pablo Vive!!! I think not and you can tell Elvis I said so.

It's hard to know if, as a tourist, you should even mention Pablo Escobar's name to Paisas (locals from Medellin).

People remain pretty passionate about the impact this infamous cocaine king pin had on their city and country but as you'd expect there are those who do want to share the story and make a few bucks in the process so there is no shortage of Pablo tours in the city.

The tour company we picked had creatively inserted the FBI symbol on their flyers and in fine print wrote "Find the Best Information" underneath. I appreciated the creativity so they had my vote. 

The tour lasts about 2.5 hours and had us driving around the city in circles so they could tell the life story of Pablo in sequence starting with how he originally became a petty drug (weed... does that REALLY count???) dealer and gravestone seller (stealing stones from the cemetery with his cousin, rubbing off the carvings and reselling them) because he was kicked out of school for stealing the answers to a test and selling them to his fellow classmates. Hmmm, I feel like I know someone with a similar school 'prank' story and they didn't become a massive drug dealer and/or murderer. Anywhoots to each their own and yes I am aware that I am oversimplifying.      



Our first stop was outside one of Pablo's homes. We learned that he had all of his homes built in white, to  honour the powder that was funding it all. This towering building was home to a total of five family members. Seems like overkill to me and it isn't even pretty. He should have called B's designer Karen.

The locals seem to think that his desire to be loved by the people and therefore to enter politics is what brought him and subsequently the Medellin cartel down.  Insane fact: The Colombian government allowed him to design his own prison and be in charge of the security when he finally did get "caught". 


We later came to the building where Pablo's life ended after escaping from "jail".  His aunt's home in a less affluent neighbourhood where he though he'd be safe.

There are three versions of the story on how he was killed, including one where he killed himself when he realized he was cornered. Then of course there are those who believe he is actually still alive. I don't think it matters who made the fatal blow but I am going to wager that he's not currently on an island with Marilyn or Elvis.

Last stop was his grave. Said to be the second most visited grave site in South America after Evita in Argentina, which I visited at the start of my trip. Brutal. I am SUCH a TOURIST.

Second Fun Fact: 2 years ago someone stole Pablo's tombstone. This is the replacement.   I guess it's true ... what goes around, comes around.  

xo b

Medellin - A playground with many faces

Once again I am pleasantly impressed with a city that has previously been given a 'bad wrap'. 

Though I wouldn't go so far as to say that all corruption in Medellin is a thing of the past, it seems to me that the current government has invested in the city over the past 15+  years and it shows!

There are a number of well developed museums, public spaces and an outstanding transit system that includes a gondola up to a national park you can access easily from anywhere in the city.

After a successful bus journey and a 6 hour 'nap' from 4am - 10 am, Justine and I met up with Nikki (California) at our hostel on day one of our Medellin adventures and headed out to see the sights - we managed to walk through one of the most dodgy and poor areas right out of the gates (by accident) but walking with confidence had no issues. whoops.

Over the course of our first 3 days we visited the following sites:

1. Museo de Agua: only open for a few months it is a highly interactive and well executed museum outlining the impact water has on earth.

2. Uribe Palace of Culture (striped building in image above) and surrounding Plaza Botero:  Green space which is filled with donated bronze sculptures from Medellin's own Fernando Botero.  If you aren't familiar with Botero's work I will summarize it to say he liked to present the more rotund version of his subjects.

For Aunty H and Kruz' benefit I will admit that the statement I imagined all of his subjects make, once they see the finished product, is "Are you calling me fat?"

3. Parque Explora:  A theme park of science experiments, a reptile room, random rubbery dinosaurs and a swank aquarium next to the Botanical Gardens complete with an orchid area nestled under the coolest wooden roof which also acts as a site for local events.
Now you tell me this city isn't worth visiting.

Tomorrow we're going to take a tour of the city as described through the life of Pablo Escobar. Let's see if that changes my mind concerning this city any.

Nighty Night. 

xo b

Coffee 101

I have to admit that Coffee & I, well we´ve had a rollercoaster of a relationship. Strangely enough, we only started seeing eachother in China in 2000 when for all the tea in China I couldn´t find any I liked and figuratively dipped my toe into the world of coffee instead. Years later I learned that my personality doesn't blend well with caffeine. I love that so many of your probably roll your eyes, thinking you could have told me that WAY sooner.  

Anyways, the decaffeination process has once again brought us together and being in Colombia I was interested in how the bean; that is responsible for starting most of our days, is grown etc.  Luckily Salento is in the coffee area of Colombia so a group of us decided to take the tour. My expectations for the tour were pretty low and I was pleasantly impressed with all that we learned and had the chance to see first hand.

The photo to the left is a summary of all the stages but I'll elaborate further a little later in this post.
Allow me to first pass on some of my newly gained 'general' knowledge.
1. There are two varieties of beans... Arabia = high flavour but low caffeine at 2/3 of the world's bean production and Robusta = the high caffeine low flavour remaining 1/3.
2. Three top producers in order of volume Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia.
3. To decaffienate coffee the best way roast the beans over charcoal. Each time you do this 15% of the caffeine is removed so repeat as required.

Impressed yet? Didn't think so... you are a tough crowd (you take after me a little in that way) Okay... here let me try again.

After the hostel owner (a British gent who rambled a little but was full of info once he got warmed up) gave us the one hour english rundown on coffee plantations he sent us down to his farm to see it all first hand.

Obviously the process starts with a bean (all with the intention of ending with many of course)... and moves to become two little leaves in a few weeks. A plant takes 3 years to deliver any 'fruit' at which time beautiful plump 'cherries' are harvested by hand in either of the two annual rainy seasons and then a machine is used to 'pop the cherries' exposing the two beans inside the red skins.

The beans are soaked for up to 72hrs to remove the sugars (and any that float are separated for domestic sale as they are considered lower quality beans... which is why it is so hard to get a good coffee in a country that produces so much for the rest of the globe!), then it is off to the metal roof to dry in the sun before being sold based on weight.

The farm lead went so far as to take a frying pan full of beans off the drying roof, remove the second skins in the grinder with some help from Roma and myself, roast them on the stove and once again run them through the grinder (more finely this time) to brew some 'home grown' coffee on the spot.

Take that Starbucks!

Understandably the coffee wasn't decaf so I only sipped a small amount but overall it was a wonderfully educational and 'hands on' trip down coffee lane.
Gold star Salento.

The farm also produces fruit like lulo (similar in flavour to lemon), mora (blackberry), bananas and pineapples as well as tobacco and some pretty stunning flowers. If anyone ever offers you a lulo and mora fresh jugo... go for it and thank me later.

Tonight we leave for Medellin. The trip takes 7hrs so could be done during the day but after a week in Colombia all but two days have been spent on a bus, for some duration of time, and that just gets OLD. Better to take a night bus and not lose so much daylight.

We'll arrive at about 3am and pray that our chosen hostel will be open and have available beds!

Cross your fingers!
xo
b

The sound... of silence

Now this is what I am talking about!

Since I couldn't be home for this May long weekend, the Valley of Cocora, which is situated slightly outside Salento will forever rank highly in my memory as a terrific replacement. 

I spent a full day in the countryside and though I started out with two other travellers and later our group expanded to five with the addition of two Colombians visiting from Bogota I still managed to spend the majority of the day on my own (who knew I was such a speedy walker?) just enjoying the stunning scenery and contemplating all I´ve seen and done in the past 4 months.

The trail took about 5 solid hours for me to complete and was bookended with 45min jeep rides to and from Salento, but it was really a spectacular day. 

Walking in some seriously muddy conditions (check out the team to the left) I was very thankful our hostel provided rain boots for the adventure. Especially since many people chose to ride horses as opposed to walking and the cows and horses leave tons of ¨landmines¨. The trail takes you through cow fields, across rivers, into a nature reserve focusing on hummingbirds, up a ¨mountain¨ that rose to 2,950m (because what South American adventure is complete without a little thin air) and finally through the ancient wax palm forest I had truely been looking forward to.   As I walked into the valley for the last 90minutes it was like the trees were insulating the path and I was in another world.

As I close in on the final weeks of my trip I am often distracted by all I am missing at home by being here. Can you believe it! ´The grass is always greener´ theory is such a monster.

At home I can´t contain the excitement I build up when I start thinking about taking these trips and then when I am away I slowly start to think more & more of home.  Today, however, was an exception. Though I do miss home and am endlessly thankful to have a family, friends and a country I adore, today I focused on all the incredible memories I´ve accumulated through this 7 country adventure. I am really so very lucky. Make no mistake home was on my mind when I passed this insanely coloured mushroom & Eriskay´s smile popped into my mind. But, I know I will see her and V soon enough and for now there are a few more gems to try to visit before I board my AC flight for a summer in Canada!   

xoxo b

They call me ´Bozoman´ here in Colombia?

So after yet another 15 hour overnight bus from Quito, I have made it safe and sound to Colombia. The bus journey was completely miserable however and I will now make every effort to avoid any further experiences of the kind. Yes, yes I know you are all thinking ¨hey listen, at least you get to be out there exploring the world while I am here doing XYZ¨ but just give me a moment to elaborate.

I´m told they keep buses cold to stop people from getting sick due to the ever winding roads that the drivers insist on racing down but I was colder on this bus, for a solid 15 hours, than I am in a Canadian winter. That coupled with the most foul smelling bus toilet and you can imagine the thoughts that were bouncing around in my mind as I dreamt of home. I even had to buy a blanket from a street vendor conveniently situated outside the boarder crossing offices at 4.30am. Hmmmm conspiracy?

Okay so now that I am here, allow me to change gears and tell you about my first five days in Colombia. The wonderful land that brought us Latina Luis!

Our first stop was the city of Popayan. We were told this was once the capital of Greater Colombian before Ecuador and Venezuela gained their independance. At least this is what I think I was being told. Seriously my spanish has improved but some things remain out of my vocabulary. 

All of the buildings in the city center are painted in a spanish colonial white-wash, a requirement because of the city´s historical importance and gives the town a very classy feel. Hence the name 'ciudad blanco'. The majority of the buildings were destroyed in an earthquake on Good Friday 1983 and have been painstakingly rebuilt.

As one would expect there seems to be a ratio of 1 church to every 5 other establishments. My favourite is the San Francisco church because of the yellow contrast. I´m not really a church girl but I do love my architecture.   
 

What you probably didn´t expect is that this country is also the capital of plastic surgery with a major focus being placed on a specific version of beauty. The sign to the left, and many others like it, are found hanging inside those beautiful white buildings offering non-surgical options for enhancing one´s beauty.  Avisa (Aussie) and Estelle (French), who I was traveling with, found it impossible to ignore those in town who seemed to have ¨bought¨ into the lifestyle.

Check out the bum ¨plumpers¨at the bottom... I mean you can´t make this stuff up. I don´t feel a desire to plump anything sadly.

On our second day in town we took a local bus to the thermal spas ´Agua Tibia´, which weren´t as nice as those in Quito but did have a waterside that Estelle and I tried. Made of cement and angled quite steeply I´m not sure I´d recommend it since I found myself plummeting down the slide yelling in pain, trying to drag my feet along the dry sides to slow down, and then finally submerged under bog water! Bet you all wish I had a photo ... sorry to disappoint.

The three of us decided we weren´t yet ready to seperate so we then took a two day trip to Terradentro which is a seriously bumpy 5hr bus ride east of Popayan to see some precolombian ruins that it seems no one knows a thing about. The road was so rough we actually had to whisper with eachother for an hour afterwards because we were dealing with total sensory overload.

The ruins are basically about 10 statues like the one on the right and 30+ tombs. Sadly the statues were moved from their original locations and grouped together under a green corrugated roof to stop them from crumbling under the weather.

The tombs are obviously where they were originally dug with cool staircases leading into what seems the center of the earth.

Inside there are painted and carved little caves. Avisa and Estelle at the bottom of one of the tombs. They aren´t very deep and at the bottom of the stairs they are barricaded so you can´t damage anything. Sortof reminded me of a prison.

The walk was beautiful and the lady at our hostel was the cutest thing. She even made us popcorn one night because there is NOTHING to do in Tierradentro but stare at your neighbour after 7pm.

Once again took a 5hr rock n´roll bus back to Popayan at 6.30am the following day. Below is a photo of the local bus I only slightly wish we were on... amazing paint job but with the rain I was glad we had windows in ours!

The girls have now left for Cali. The city people describe as being dirty, boring and dangerous by day and the capital of salsa by night. Hence why I gave it a pass.

Instead I´ve purchased a ticket to Salento, 7 hours north of Popayan so I can enjoy the coffee plantations Colombia is famous for and some ancient palm forests people have highly recommended seeing. As I glance down at my ticket I realize that the agent has finally spelled my first name properly and not added the standard E in front Estacey as they normally do...  BUT I am now BOZOman. Oh Colombia thanks for the chuckle. 

Sad to be missing the May long weekend and the sunny weather up at Rose with my family but with only a few weeks left I´m off to continue the adventure. 

Take Care & See you soon

b

Surviving the Amazon

It must be said, though it sounds ridiculous, but the Amazon... yah it's a pretty damp and buggy place. There are almost no mosquitos in the area where we ventured, so that was a huge win but when out on a night walk on our first evening we saw our fair share of giant crickets, grasshoppers and spiders! Yes Nicola this is not the place for you!

We also saw many frogs... in all sizes... some so small you would never notice them without a guide, and loads with plenty of poison in their skin to ruin your day if you touched them by accident so I wont suggest Franklin add this location to her list of must do's either. Will be sure not to post any photos of frogs either since I know what they do to you darlin!

For context Lago Agrio is located in the North East of Ecuador and thou I flew there from Quito on a 35min flight (my 11th and later 12th and  shortest flights to date) it still took 2 hours via mini bus and then 3 hours by motorized canoe to get to Siona Lodge on Lago Grande which was homebase for four nights.

Through the five days we saw anacondas and boas but I expected them to be way bigger. I mean this is the Amazon right???



I still find it hard to believe that we took a sunset dip in the AMAZON one night and then went fishing for piranas the following evening but I wasn't alone when I jumped off the side of the boat and I didn't see or FEEL anything scary when I was in there.

I even did my favourite under water somersaults during my dip!

Went on a long walk one day as well and our guide Luis showed us how tribes use the biting claws of one type of ant to sew wounds. It is a little hard to see here but close up you could clearly see them piercing through his skin...eeeeewwwww!!!!!!

I loved these little mushrooms growing on a tree trunk (so rainforest) because they, like all mushrooms, remind me of Skavie!!! Miss you my dear.

On the last day we visited a shaman to hear how he "trained" to be a healer (aka took hallucinagenics since age 8) as well as a local village to learn how to make yuka bread. Tastes like crisp/crunchy nothing and not in the celery with an ice cold Bloody Mary kind of way :(  These kind of experiences never feel very legit but hey when in the Amazon you just go with the flow.

At least I got to see the smallest monkey in the world (or so we were told and I therefore chose to believe). I never understand why people pet wild animals least of all monkeys. I steared clear of direct contact but it is pretty crazy to see how small this full grown ¨pocket monkey¨ gets.

That basically sums up our time in the Amazon except that we also saw, albeit briefly, the pink river dolphins which so many people are drawn here to catch a glimpse of. You only see their backs or ripples in the water where they have been so I almost forgot to mention them at all. The Galapagos will spoil you!

We also saw Snakes, giant bugs, caimans, piranas, monkeys, more birds, plants that will either kill you or save your life... the usual.

After five days Avisa and I were ready to head back to civilization where we would once again shower in water not drawn from the lagoon or worry about fist size bugs inside our mosquito nets... AND be able to buy bus tickets to COLOMBIA!

I did manage to get some allergic reaction rash slash souvenir on my neck that I really wish would go away but that was probably to be expected and it is pretty minor.  Still I would appreciate any positive vibes you could send my way towards it clearing up soon!

Okay well one more boarder crossing to do and I will be in my 43rd country and the last leg of this adventure. I promise to be safe and look forward to seeing you in a few weeks!!!

xox
b