Colombia: The Trampoline of Death, Pasto, and Ecuadorian Boarder Crossing

The Trampoline of Death:

 My next adventure was the need to get to Ecuador.
There are a couple ways to get across the boarder. Although only considering distance, going directly South seemed to get us into Ecuador quicker, we heard of terror stories both with transportation unreliability, as well as muggings and other dangerous endeavors. Our other choice was to take what was called the "trampoline of death," a one lane road lingering among some very very tall mountains.
Saying good-bye to our oasis of a hostel in Mocoa we headed off the the bus station. We were told to get a truck or small van to take us, since the bigger the bus the smaller the space you have on the road. O.K. great.... we booked our tickets plenty of time in advance and sat waiting to board.
The truck is best described as this. A five passenger cabin with a roll cage over the top, three seats loosely bolted in the cap and a tarp over the top. I tried to put myself in the cap but was quickly rejected and told the that gringos sit in the back.
We began our journey, and after the first 10 km of incredibly bumpy roads, hitting our heads on the roll cage, and getting blasted with wind, my friend's chair became unbolted. More comical for me, he now held himself up while we only began our pass.
The views were breathtaking and terrifying at the same time. The caution tape that lined the cliff side gave me false comfort, and I can't say I didn't shut my eyes for some of it. I felt like I was caged up like an animal especially when the people in the cab kept buying food for us and feeding us traditional food through the windows since it was to difficult to escape from the back cap.  But was it worth it? YES. Was it a memory I will never forget? YES.


Pasto:
So we arrive in Pasto just as it was getting dark. WE had intentions of pushing on to the next town but the town didn't seem incredibly safe and we felt we had done enough for the day. We grabbed the first hotel we could find. A big purple building with flashing lights. It was the cheapest room I had had the entire month. ($10 for 2) We ate dinner on the roof overlooking the streets below filled with horses, cars, taxis, and motorbikes, drank some well deserved beers and slept.

Boarder Crossing:
EASIEST BORDER CROSSING EVER. They really have it figured out. We took a bus to the boarder town, a shared taxi to the boarder, walked the boarder, and then repeated on the other side. It was so easy and made us relieved we hadn't chosen the other way since we found out a flood had washed out a bridge and we would have been stuck for days. WIN!

Colombia: Mocoa

Transport: The last couple weeks I had been really stoked on haggling with the bus drivers and getting deals on all my transport. It often worked wonderfully, yet this time it backfired a bit. I was convinced on getting a better deal taking two busses rather then a direct bus that left to late for our liking yet when it was all said and done. They overbooked the bus and left us waiting for an hour until they finally returned our tickets and we ended up getting no deal and leaving later than the first bus. either way after a lot of waiting we made it to Mocoa.

Casa del Rio: Again, a fabulous hostel about a 30 minute walk from the town but a ride can usually be hitched. The hostel is set next to a pupular local swim spot, has beautiful grounds and gardens, and even has a river running through the middle that one must cross to reach the dorms. The morning is filled with the sounds of birds and the worlds tiniest monkey!
The first day was gorgeous and the next night was one of the biggest rain storms I had ever experreinced. The next morning the little stream that ran through the hostel was a raging river. We waited til the afternon to hike and see some of the waterfalls while flooded.

We went on two really amazing hikes, one to a waterfall with a fantastic swimming hole and the other was to a waterfall called Fin del Mundo. Heading to the Fin del Mundo, we paid our fee and the guy told us we wouldnt be able to make it becuase the river crossings were flooded. Yet, determination go tthe best of us and after some debatable dodgy river crossing we made it!

the final day were were going to go to a conyon but half way to town we decided to scratch it and head to Pasto over the road dubbed the trampoline of death.

Colombia: Tatacoa Desert

I left early in the morning with Darren and Gary with the intention of going to Mocoa. We all had to go to Pitalito first where the bus terminal was so we all jumped in the back of a collectivo. While talking with them I was convinced to ditch my plans and go north with them to the 1 or 2 deserts in Colombia for a break from the jungle and cactus wine and chocolate.
So off we went, a bus to Neiva, a collectivo to Villa Viaje, and a sorry state of a motor-taxi into the desert till we were in the middle of nowhere staying on mats in clay tepees  The afternoon was spent drinking the cactus wine with the owner forcing me to use the word chevere (meaning cool) to anything I asked for.

Totacoa - La Villa de Marquez : The morning was bright and hot. Raphael sent us off with just a point of his finger. Its hard to describe this place. It is like Utah or Arizona but at a small scale where you can jump over canyons, valleys are the size of your leg and the tallest mountain is 20 m high. Some reviews say this desert is overrated but I found it really neat! I have never seen anything like it and you are if in the area I think it´s a worthy stop especially when breaking up a drive from Bogota to the south.

Colombia: Popayan and San Agustin

I had only a quick stop over in Popayan. I was going to stay longer but I found I was a little bored with the colonial town. It was beautiful none the less and the particular night I was there a famous church bell ringer was in town. Kids congregated in all the bell towers (there were at least 5 of them) around the square and played a series of ´songs.´ I couldn't decipher anything but a cacophony from it did bring out a lot of the local people... and with people brings street food!

Hostel: Park Life hostel - Situated next to one of the churches, this hostel used to be a wealthy family's living quarters before an earthquake destroyed it. They remade the place to have a resemblance to the house. It´s quirky and has a lot of character with views over the park. Yet when I was there, it was quiet and the creaky floors made it a little spooky.

Waiting for a ride...

A man I met named Gary and I headed out to San Agustin. It was a beautiful drive (around 6 hours) with only one hiccup...when the bus dropped us off 10km out of town and the guy who was supposed to give us a ride for free told us we either pay him or he was going home because he would only give us a ride for free if there were two more people to fill up the truck.

Hostel: Casa de Francois - This hostel is set up on a hill over looking the town. It was a very lovely place! It had hard, but large beds which were a nice change from the usual creaky bunk beds. The hostel grounds were filled with pebble walkways and flower beds. He and his wife cooked fabulous dinners and each building was uniquely shaped and built out of concrete and glass bottles.














San Agustin Archaeological Site- A park with a series of sculptures from the 1st through 8th centuries. The park itself is in a beautiful area and you can tell they spend a lot of time keeping the area pristine. The great part was we were the only ones in the park the whole day! I would know more about the statues but they were currently redoing the museum and we couldn't go in.

Colombia: Salento

"upstairs"

I spent a little over 3 weeks in Salento, volunteering at an eco hostel called La Serrana. It was about 1 km away from the town which provided a nice 15 minute walk any time you needed to leave with stunning views of the mountains anywhere you looked.
The hostel was one of the more upscale ones I've been to with three buildings, its own dining room, developing garden, and plenty of space to do whatever you pleased. Dinners were plentiful and the company was genuine.

Our dining room

Hiking in a cloud

Downtown Salento

River crossing to the coffee farm

Over my three weeks Salento became home. I had a coffee place, a fruit man, a vegetable man, and a brownie man. The town of Salento is very quaint, the buildings are painted bright colors and it is a perfectly acceptable place to use horses as your transport. Anyone you pass by greets you with a 'buenas' or offers up a conversation.
Although I spent a lot of time relaxing here there was never something you couldn't do. There were countless coffee farms, some a 2 hour hike away down a valley and a long a river, or some just down the hill. There were tons of shops with artesian goods where you could easily get lost for an afternoon in the incredible craftsmanship. Yet my favorite place to go was Valle de Cocora; A national park with tons of trails offering endless hiking opportunities among wax palms, hummingbird gardens, cloud forests, and river beds. I spent multiple days exploring the area, getting lost, or getting rained on. Each was a memorable experience.

Tejo: If you haven't played this game in Colombia, hurry and find a way to do so. If you play mexican horseshoes in the states, it is quite similar. One has a clay pad at the end of a throway. Each person takes turns throwing a heavy rock at the clay pad in order to hit the center which has a little bit of explosives and makes quite the noise when hit. You play in teams adding up points while sipping beers.

Colombia: Guatape

Hostel: El Encuentro: One of my favorite hostels! We stayed in the dorm rooms one night but Kate and I decided to spoil ourselves and get a private room with a little balcony. The hostel was like a lakeside cabin and felt incredibly homey. It had great views, wrap around balcony, and gorgeous sunsets.

Piedra del Penol: This is a huge monolithic rock that is the centerpiece of the town. It has 740 stairs to the top and presents beautiful views of almost the entire lake. From the hostel we decided to rent some bikes and went on a ride through the back country roads. We found out how much we miss our bikes and how hard mountain bikes are to ride with low tires. Nevertheless, it was great fun.

The lake of Guatape was created 50 years when the government damned the river and flooded the valley. While doing so they relocated the original town of Guatape, didn't bother deconstructing the city, and flooded the whole thing. When we got to the town we were a little bummed because the lake was far below its usual height which kept us from swimming because of shallow waters and the foundations of the old houses protruded out of the lake. The reason being was the 50 year contract with the dam had just ended and now they are slowly (or rather quickly) using the power and selling it to other countries. It was difficult to find information on this and we had to keep asking everyone we met to learn the details yet, its concluded that this is the lowest the lake has ever been and the town doesn't know when it will be controlled.

As for the town, when the new one was built they tried to recreate what had been flooded. The houses are a multitude of colors each with sculpted square 3D tiles with and image. The key store has keys, the meat store has cows etc. The taxis are called chivas and are 3 wheeled little go cart things each painted unique to its owner. They rush around town with locals and tourists alike. The place honestly feels like you are in a part of Disneyland.

Colombia: Medellin

Set in a valley, Medellin has sprawled up the hillsides covering the mountains with brick shantytowns. (I wish I had photos, but while walking through those areas, the last thing you want out is a nice camera). In the center, they have designed the city beautifully with tons of parks, a botanical garden, museums  and public spaces, all connected by a great metro system with sky trams that go all the way up the hills and even to a nature reserve.

We didn't spend a ton of time here but I enjoyed walking around, watching all the activities in the botanical gardens and drinking beers with friends in the public square (it's legal to drink anywhere in Colombia).
Also, a must do is taking the sky cars up over the city. It takes you over the neighborhoods and it is great seeing everyone living their lives outside. Clothes are hung everywhere, people are getting their shoes shined, hair cut, playing dominoes, kids playing games and men sitting around drinking beer. Its amazing how much of these people's lives are done in a community and outside since their living space is so small.
 

Hostel: The Pit Stop (23,000) . The hostel was alright. They had their own bar which closed at 12:00 allowing people to get a decent rest if they chose, and forced the party goers out to the streets. The kids here seemed to be looking for the next high and a lady to take home which didn't appeal to me. Yet, they did have a free pool table, a large kitchen, and an awesome t.v. room.

Colombia: The Lost City Trek

I was unsure about dropping the $350+ to do the the Lost City trek, yet I had dreamed about climbing to the Lost City since I started researching my trip so I decided to take the plunge. I couldn't have been happier about it. We went through Expotour which, we believe, was a good choice. No matter who you go through you get the same meals, but what we perfered was our hiking group of 6 rather then 15-20.

Day 1: We were picked up at the hostel. We each had a small backpack and Kate and I brought a jar of Nutella to keep our sweet tooths at ease. Kate, Nina, and I (both are friends I met on the boat from Panama to Colombia) met up with our other 3 hikers (from Spain, U.S. and Austria). We had the smallest group which was really nice. We drove about an hour before Kate and I dove into the Nutella. Unfortunately we were unaware of the bumpy, hour long road which turned our stomachs before even setting foot on the trail.

With that aside we started our journey. The first day was straight uphill yet, at the end of each difficult pass there were shacks handing out fresh fruit and vending drinks, chocolate, cigarettes and any other guilty pleasure you could want.  The fruit breaks almost became comical seeming to appear every 1/2 hour.

We ended up at a small house with 50 hammocks which also had a 'piscina natural' including a waterfall, places to jump and sit. Awesomely refreshing after sweating like a dog for the last 4 hours.

Day 2-3: We continued the trek, hiking about 3-6 hours a day. More fruit stands, snack shacks, endless goodies from our fearless leader Miguel (Guia sin miedo) and plenty of opportunities to swim. The views were extrodinary as we traversed along the mountainside and we often shared the path with mules, cows, and indigenous families. 

A highlight was when Miguel took us off the trail up to a series of three waterfalls. We all climbed to the top and went swimming.

It was really great to have Miguel as our guide since he grew up around the area which seemed to give us the advantage of going to neat spots we might have not seen with another guide.

Day 4: We walked the 2,000 steps up to the Lost City. We were told that the city was so high up because of the necessity of privacy while the Spanish invaded. It took us about 2 hours to walk around the area which is only 30% escavated. We were also told there are a number of other 'lost cities' around the area yet are kept secret by the indigenous people who consider themselves caretakers of the land and keepers of the past.

That night, one of the indigenous men (Taironas) sat with us and talked about his life, religion, and history. When the men turn 18 they are given a gourd which is filled with crushed seashells. Throughout the day they chew coca leaves and mix it with the shell powder to create a paste. They take the paste from their mouth and mat it around the gourd creating a white structure. When the formation becomes distorted they bring the gourd to the Shaman who reads the structure like a diary and tells them about their past, present, and future. Since the indigenous people don't have a written history they use these gourds as a way to explain their life. 

Day 5: We retraced our steps back to the start, up and down the mountains. To pass time Kate and I were shamelessly talking about running away with our cook to his farm in the jungle thinking he didn't understand a thing. Until he turned around and proved otherwise.

Colombia: Santa Marta/ Taganga/ Minca/Barranquilla

Santa Marta is about 4 hours by bus from Cartagena. It is a relatively large city with not a lot to do. But the surrounding areas are filled with some of the best beaches and nicest mountain views Colombia has to offer.

Hostel: We stayed a little bit out of town in a hostel called the Dreamer (20,000 cop or 11 US). This could be one of my favorite hostels of the trip. Set up around a courtyard, the Dreamer has a swimming pool, grass, tons of hammocks, an open kitchen and plenty of seating areas. It's really easy to socialize and many hours were spent lounging by the pool and making costumes for Carnaval.


We used the dreamer as a home base and then traveled to Taganga for a day, Minca for two, and Barranquilla for Carnaval.

Taganga: It takes about 20 minutes by bus. You ride the bus along the headlands until you come down onto the quaint town of Taganga. The landscape is very dry and looks a lot like Nevada. The ocean is scattered with fishing boats and the beach is filled with hippies. You can walk along the headlands to more secluded beaches or just for a nice view. The sunset was breathtaking and the street food was delicious.

Minca: Minca was a HIGHLIGHT of my trip. It is up in the mountains 25 minutes away from Santa Marta. The first night we stayed at a hostel called Casa Loma. It was a hike to get there but it sat on the hill over looking the mountains, the beach and the city lights of Santa Marta. The next morning we went on a hike further up the hill. First we went to a coffee farm called Valencia which started in 1890 and still runs off the original machinery and techniques.
After the coffee farm Kate and I decided to keep climbing to another hostel that lies on an old FARC military outpost which was said to have even more amazing views than Casa Loma. IT took us about 1.5 hours to reach the top. THE VIEW WAS AWESOME. So awesome, I decided to stay the night up top. I slept in a hammock that hung over a hill and made me feel like I was floating above Santa Marta. For dinner we made a fire and cooked a huge pot of soup and sang songs.

My bed at Los Pinos

The next morning I took a mule trail back down to Minca. This was the jungle experience I have been waiting for. Tons of flowers, green everywhere, and an incredible amount of trees. I turned a corner once and looked into a tree and saw 5 howler monkeys, 3 toucans, and some parrots all in the same place.

Carnaval: We took a day trip to Baranquilla to experience Carnaval. The floats were amazing, the outfits were outrageous, and again the parade was disorganized. People openly walk around with their fifths of rum and generously pass it out. While the parents get sauced the kids are playing with these canisters full of foam which are in endless supply between the busy street dealers and the parents full pockets. We spent hours having wars with the kids as well as being targeted because we were gringos. By the end of the night we became professionals each with a foam gun in our hand ready for war. It was everything Carnaval should be, bright, merry, crowded, crazy.