So... What next?

29/06/2009

We arrived in San Pelayo, a tiny little village up north. All year round days pass quietly here. However, for one long weekend per year, thousands of Colombians gather up to sing and dance unde rthe rythms of Porro, one of the numerous colombian rhythms ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porro ).







There, we met up with A. and E., whom we had met at the national meeting in Armenia, and also with a canadian, D. The guys had managed to rent a whole house for the weekend with very simple, yet large enough spaces for the seven of us to enter. And the cost for that? 35 dollars in total. That's 2.5 USD per person per night! HA!



From there on, that's when the crazy party began, the endless dancing and the ridiculous laughter. Young and old, men and women, the whole village going crazy. :)

















Μ.

26/06/2009

A six hour trip ended up being completed after 3 overnight stays, 2 big parties and almost half the car repaired.

After leaving Armenia, we made a "short" stop at the thermal baths of Santa Rosa. Problem was, it was so damn enjoyable that we ended up staying in the waters until 11pm. Obviously though, that brought us in a position of needing a place to spend the night. In this case, A. came to the rescue, a couchsurfer from the neighboring city of Pereira. She had given me her phone number and had said she'd be able to host one or two people if I happened to need it. Poor girl ended up with five nutcases in her house.

The following day we continued our journey. We were determined to reach Bogota, but fate had other plans for us (dramatic DA-DA-DA-DAAAAAN style music). Just outside of Ibague, the car's gearbox gave up on us. Without many options to choose from, we drove to the center, left the car at a mechanic and in the meantime I put a post in the Ibague couchsurfing group explaining the situation and asking for anyone's hosting help. How did this end?
Half an hour later we were already at a couchsurfer's house.
Two hours later we were joined by 12 couchsurfers, spending a night to remember.

The day after the car had been fixed. But out of total coincidence, Ibague happened to have a huge festival those days. How could we possibly leave? So there we were, staying yet another night in Ibague, in a middle of one hell of a party, with incredibly friendly people all around us.













On thursday we finally made a move to get to Bogota, where I was planning to stay a few days and see a rock festival. But there comes L., planting the bomb: "We are going to a concert tonight and tomorrow we are going to a village 20 hours north where there is a traditional, big music festival. From there we will continue towards the beaches of the caribbean. Wanna Join?" Of course, it didn't take much to get me convinced...



Let's see where we'll end up with this. The music and dance of Colombia shows no mercy...

Μ.

22/06/2009

One of the primary reasons that I dragged my arse all the way to Colombia for, the couchsurfing nacional meeting of Colombia, just outside the town of Armenia, is finally taking place.



The organisers have rented a house for the whole weekend, not too far from civilisation, but right into the coffee crops. We got all necessary elements for a successful long weekend: a house, a garden, hammocks, tents, a pool, a soundsystem and 100 wacky people, ready to laugh their lungs out.









Obviously, every single hour and every single moment, it was a bomb. But the best of it all had to be the so-called "chiva rumbera". The chiva is a classic, kolombian bus, which, for the purposes of a "festive night", it has suffered several modifications and has been transformed into a moving nightclub. So imagine, a bus with 40-50 people, all standing, all with drinks in their hands and the music blaring away, roaming through the streets. Every so often we'd make a stop at the main square of whichever village we were going through and set up a party with the musicians. People looking at us, other laughing at us and others even joining the party. This was one hell of a night and a story to tell for months to come.















Amongst all this we also visited Salento, a village nearby. It is a small, graphic village which happened to be holding those days (just like every other little village in Colombia as it seems) a muic festival. Well, to me, the two things I remember very fondly are (once again) gastronomic. A trout of epic proportions that we filled our stomachs with and the tubs of arequipe de cafe, or dulce de leche de cafe. You don't know what it is? Well, look it up! I'm not gonna be doing all your homework, am I?

On sunday early morning P. and I parted ways. She had no desire to do so of course, and I fully understand her (mmmm..... arequipe de cafeeeeee), but she had her flight already booked. After having travelled together for a whole month, it feels kinda strange now. It's not as if I'm used to travelling with other people, so this was something new for me. I must say, she was a perfect co-traveler and we had a blast. It's not an easy thing to achieve spending with someone 24 hours a day and not having had a single argument! So, next stop Brasil? :)

The party went on strong all day, despite the rain. It didn't seem to bother anyone. Without having slept much and after two days of partying however, the energy level were not exactly topped up, but the day progressed wonderfully.



Monday is here and people start making their way out. We have had an unspeakably fun weekend. Nevertheless, for some of us the fun seems to go on. Five of us squeezed our way into L.'s car and we're heading to Bogota. Let's just see what's next.......

Μ.

19/06/2009

We stayed in Cali about six days, but to be honest, it had nothing extraordinary to show. We walked around, saw the river, took some photos, cooked a lot (since eating out is ridiculously expensive!) and left.










Is this who I think it is?







I'd say there are three things worth mentioning:

1. Santiago, our couchsurfing host - A wonderful person who replied to our call for a couch and offered us more than we'd ever anticipate. We felt very comfortable in his apartment and totally abused the kitchen. I had really missed cooking. On our first night he took us out for dinner at a great restaurant and the next morning, the very moment we woke up, he ordered breakfast for all of us! And not to mention the tour of the city he gave us, or the fact that he drove us to a village 45 minutes away, where we were planning to spend the day. Thanks for everything Santi!

2. La Ermita - A chapel in the middle of the city. It looks like a palace they took out of Disneyland and placed it in Gotham city. It forms a big contradiction that does not let you quite decide if you like it or not, though whichever the case, it is a truly magnificent image. A big, bright blue, well-designed chapel right in the center of the city, putting in shame all the rest of the buildings that lack color, joy and attention.



3. Mono Nuñez festival - At the nearby village of Ginebra, thousands of people stream in once per year to party under the sounds of local, national and international folklore music. The small village is transformed from a quiet, empty location into a huge, outdoor party where everyone drinks, laughs, sings and dances until dawn. Well, those that last anyway. At first it was just myself and P. there, while waiting for the rest of the couchsurfing bunch, but that didn't stop us from drinking lots, meeting loads of people, laughing our arses off and becoming some sort of new attraction. When the rest arrived, to be honest the fun did not reach ridiculous proportions. A bit of a quiet bunch, so we just got separated with 2-3 people and made our own night. We left fairly early actually (2am), because the music focused more on cumbia, vallenato (a known colombian rhythm which does not appeal much to me) and salsa rather than folklore, so I got tired and bored quickly.







And that would be it with Cali.
What follows? What I originally started planning to come here for.
The second national couchsurfing meeting in Armenia, Colombia. HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOO...........

M.

18/06/2009

It's almost midnight and we are starving. We asked Santiago, our host, where to find something to east at this time and he suggested we walked by the river towards the center, where we'd definitely find something. In fact, he specifically mentioned a place called Mario Bross, which I had also noticed earlier, so we decided to go there. We took 13000 pesos with us (that's approximately 7 dollars), thinking that it should be more than enough. Besides, food in south america is quite cheap.

We walked for about a quarter of an hour and we arrived at the infamous Mario Bross.



We sat down, grabbed the menu, had a look... and our jaw dropped. A plain hot dog starts at three dollars!!! We couldn't believe it! We asked what the hell the other strange thing on the menu are and ended up ordering one each of something that supposedly has corn with cheese and bacon on top. That costs 6500 pesos (just over three bucks), so by ordering two plates we were spending all the money we had on us. The waiter asked what would we have to drink and we obviously asked for two glasses of tap water!

And our plate arrives... It's a shame I did not have my camera with me at the time to immortalise that creation. Guys, this little crappy plate appeared in front of me, which contained a few cord seeds, a bit of grated cheese and THREE small pieces of bacon!


We're talking kilometers wide.


As for its depth, I wouldn't know where to start!

I called for the waiter and after explaining to him that I am aware that he is not responsible for the prices and that I have nothing against him, I asked: "Can you please explain to me with what criteria do you guys charge this much for a tiny plate like this that comes with THREE tiny pieces of bacon?". And what did this very intelligent boy reply: "The meat is imported, it comes from Canada"!

Feeling my intelligence well underestimated and strongly believing that I alone had paid for the ticket of a canadian cow, I laughed, I ate my "meal" and left..........

M.

17/06/2009

There is so much fun to be had non-stop in Colombia that I can't find two hours to write a couple of things in my blog.

For now I'll tell you that I've been through Cali, Ginebra (the colombian one, not the swiss one), Armenia (not the country, but the colombian city instead), Salento (the colombian one, not the place that exist in some whatever place I'm sure) and had a trip that got me to meet lots of great people, three cities, thermal baths and one of the biggest parties I've ever seen.

I am now in Bogota with L. and M. and tomorrow we're going towards another huge party and from there to the caribbean coast for about a week. Don't know when I'll be able to post updates, but I promise lots of stuff as soon as possible.

M.

Today I would like to talk to you about... the granadilla.

No, it has nothing to do with the spanish city of Granada (or wherever else in the world happens to be a city/town/village/neighborhood/location/thing with the same name).
It also has nothing to do with grenadine, that red, liquid, chewing gum tasting thing that we used to put in our orange juice when we were kids to pretend we were drinking some sort of fancy cocktail.

What I am talking about, is a fruit! An exotic fruit, the existence of which I discovered while looking for cheap food near Machu Picchu.


I couldn't resist and I just opened it...

Its skin is orange, with white, little spots. Its outside is hard, but smooth and tender and can be easily broken, so please be gentle with it.

You can open it by slicing gently across the middle and tearing the two halves apart with your hands. You can now admire its beautiful content, a mass of black seeds, covered in a soft, transparent fleshy goodness.



Once you become more experienced, you should be able to tear it in half, while maintaining the entire content on just one half!



It is possible that for some it may not look very inspiring, but believe me, it's one the most delicious things you will ever try. Just sit back, relax, stick your tongue in that delightful ball of seeds and suck it in.



Keep it in your mouth while chewing it and let its sweet, fruity juices take over all your senses. Let yourself sink into the delight of this addiction.

Unfortunately, as all things, this too will come to an end.



But now without leaving you with a great smile on your face, giving away the satisfaction of the recently experienced pleasure! :)



Enjoy. If you happen to be in Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela or Ecuador that is...

M.