So... What next?

05/07/2009

There are so many screams of happiness and achievement in my head that I don't know where to start and which images to describe first.

I am at the exact stereotype of most people's paradise. A quarter-circle beach covered in fine, light-colored sand and rocks on either side of it that form a closed hug that protects it by the waves of the open sea. At the top of the rocks of one side there is a simple, cylindric construction made of wood and palm tree branches for the roof. Some people have put up their hammocks in there and get softly rocked at night by the slight wind.
From there one can see the background of this image, a bright-green mountain with thick, tall vegetation that ends with a row of palm trees at its foot. And I, lying on my orange hammock that I put up between two of those palm trees, listening to the waves crashing at five meters away, pushing the water all the way under my hammock, writing about how much in love I am with this country, while drinking the milk out of the coconut I cracked open not so long ago.


Our shopping for a week on the beach.












My bedroom. :)





During our first evening there something happened that I had never witnessed in my life. The sun was close to its dusk while we were putting up our tents. Suddenly, I sensed this strange light in my eyes. I can see everything orange! No, it's not my obsession with that color. The moment the sun went down a red veil covered the sun, washing everything with a light, orange filter. As the light was getting less and less, the scenery was getting more and more red. I have never seen such colors during a sunset.





This, guys, is the caribbean. In the heart of this picture we spent almost a week with L., M., D., E. and A. Spending every day from the sea to the hammock and from the hammock to the sea, lighting a fire to cook in our huge pot, drinking coconut milk and enjoying fine colombian coffee filtered straight through a sock. This is the life!!!







At some point, however, I had to leave the beaches of park Tayrona. I am now in Santa Marta, the neighboring beachtown and tomorrow I'll be setting off towards Cartagena, always sticking near the coast. After almost two months of traveling, I am now traveling solo. :)

M.

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.