So we didnt make it Villa de Lueyva, which is really just a tourist attraction for its fields of magic mushrooms, and instead skipped straight off to Medellin. the climate here is wonderful, not too hot during the day, and you can wear shorts and t-shirts all night long. although we havent accomplished much here apart from making friends with south africans, brits, kiwis, aussies, yanks, israelis, french and argentinian people, we did make it to pablo escobars grave. its meant to be a bit of a tourist attraction, although it is just a grave. it was quite interesting that it was located as close to the church as a grave could be, and nice that the entire escobar family was near each other. i was hoping we would see little bags of cocaine that people would have left to honor the king, but no such luck. i suppose if you have bags of coke then your not just leaving them lying around in a cementary.
we were going to head off to see his house turned muesum/zoo today, but its 4 hours out of town, quite expensive and we didnt wake up in time, so instead tomorrow we are going to go to a water park. i know, it makes perfect sense. it has been nice to be speaking a bit more spanish with the argentinians, its good practice. we also have a terrifying man sleeping under me (the bunk below) and next to hannah who tosses and turns very violently, and snors like a motherf***er. its interesting, hes in colombia, staying at a party hostel, and yet all day hes on his computer and he goes to bed early every night, making it all the more stressfull trying to get into plastic covered beds (thus quite loud) without waking anybody (especially him) up.
we´ll be heading up to the coast on saturday, where we´ll snorkle (and hopefully surf) and relax on the beach and take pictures of fish. i have tested out my camera in the pool here, and it seems to do quite well underwater, so all should be good. hope this wasnt a complete waste of your time, ill write about our cultural trip to the waterpark soon.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
La Catedral de Sal
Alright, hannah arrived safe and sound on monday night. tuesday we walked around the city a bit and went to the gold muesum, which is meant to be one of the best displays of gold in the world, and i can understand why. room after room was filled with pre-incan to post-colonial spanish gold. it was really quite amazing, if not a bit monotonous. gold is like sunsets, you´ve seen one piece, you´ve seen them all--more or less. we live in a nice part of town, right near two universitys, which means walking down the street you see all walks of life--hippies, headbangers, hipsters, you name it--there are some nice plaza areas, and a lot of chic resturants and bars. not much else to say about that, except that everybody here seems to know somebody who has been held up walking home, but ive been in some pretty rough places throughout south america and i havent been robbed yet, and im not starting now, so put your fears to rest blog readers.
yesterday we headed out to a town about 2 hours outside of bogota with 2 aussie guys and a brit. in this town there is the catedral de sal, or salt cathedral. its a massive underground tribute to jesus and shows the 14 steps of jesus being nailed to the cross, starting with him doing something like carrying the cross (i dont quite remember) and ending with him being nailed to the cross. since it was all underground the average shutter speed of my camera was 1/4 of a second, and thus the pictures are not what one would call "good." but you get the idea by looking at them what kind of work people did to carve out massive caves and caverns out of pure rock. we then saw a bad animated 3D short in spanish, and then headed back up. it was quite amazing, and, according to them, the largest tourist attraction in colombia, but lets leave that open for debate.
theres a cable car that goes up to a church at the top of the hill over the city that we might check out today, but its quite expensive, and we have tickets to see some world-famous Dj playing on the 30th story of an empty hotel on friday, and i think the views would be similar. so thats that for now. maybe on saturday we´ll head out, to a place called villa de lueyva or to medellin, we´ll see.
oh, the photos will go up soon, so hold your horses.
yesterday we headed out to a town about 2 hours outside of bogota with 2 aussie guys and a brit. in this town there is the catedral de sal, or salt cathedral. its a massive underground tribute to jesus and shows the 14 steps of jesus being nailed to the cross, starting with him doing something like carrying the cross (i dont quite remember) and ending with him being nailed to the cross. since it was all underground the average shutter speed of my camera was 1/4 of a second, and thus the pictures are not what one would call "good." but you get the idea by looking at them what kind of work people did to carve out massive caves and caverns out of pure rock. we then saw a bad animated 3D short in spanish, and then headed back up. it was quite amazing, and, according to them, the largest tourist attraction in colombia, but lets leave that open for debate.
theres a cable car that goes up to a church at the top of the hill over the city that we might check out today, but its quite expensive, and we have tickets to see some world-famous Dj playing on the 30th story of an empty hotel on friday, and i think the views would be similar. so thats that for now. maybe on saturday we´ll head out, to a place called villa de lueyva or to medellin, we´ll see.
oh, the photos will go up soon, so hold your horses.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Sickness
So ive been sick the 4 days ive been in bogota, but i put up some new photos. more when i can get off the couch and actually see some of this city.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
The Almost Perfect Journey: From La Paz to Bogota
First off you can have my intinerary (or whatever it would be, you'll read below...),
La Paz to Lima $50, 27 hours
Lima to Mancora $30, 18 hours
Mancora to Guayaquil $13, 8 hours
Guayaquil to Tulcan $20, 15 hours
Ipiales to Cali $13, 10.5 hours
Cali to Bogota $20, 13.5 hours
Brings us to a total of $146 and 92 hours of actually sitting on a bus. the distance between the two cities (as the bird flys or by road im not sure) is 1508 miles.
So i decided to get a bus direct from la paz to lima peru. i could have probably saved a little if i had gone to lake titicaca first, then switched buses for the ride to lima, but i wasnt feeling well in la paz and took the easy way out. I ended up having to change buses in the peruvian lake town anyway, which was annoying, considering thats what i was trying to avoid. no matter. a total of 27 hours later i was in lima, and the ride wasnt so bad, they fed us--pathetically small amounts of food, but what do you expect?--and the seats were good enough to sleep in (with the help of a little diazepam). upon arriving lima i found the bus to mancora, the northern peruvian laid back beach town i was going to rest in and had lunch while i waited the few hours for it to leave.
Same thing to mancora, easy ride, comfy seats, not much food. when i arrived in the morning i found the hostel i stayed at the last time i was there, right on the beach. all did for the 24 hours i was there was drink juice on the beach, eat amazing cheap seafood, and sleep on a bed. next morning was off to ecuador, which was fine, except the bus wasnt air conditioned and thus very hot. we arrived in a big dirty nasty city in ecuador called Guayaquil. i found a bus from there to the town on the colombian border meant to leave in 20 minutes. perfect...or so it would seem. nobody seemed to know from what area this bus departed, but i was pointed in a direction and after asking a few people i found a bus that could be it. i showed the driver my ticked and asked if the bus was going to Tulcan. he looked at the ticket (in low light) and said "yeah yeah yeah, tulcan." after about 20 minutes of driving the conductor came on to check tickets, he looked at mine and said (in spanish, i have translated it for your benifit) "no, this bus isnt going to tulcan. its going to salinas." i didnt know where salinas was, just praying it was near the border of colombia. but no, it was 2 hours due west and once we arrived i learned there were no buses leaving till 3 am. i was pissed. like just about to break some windows or something, but i realized i would be able to get to colombia if i was arrested in ecuador. so i found a hostel, slept the night, ate more seafood, and went back to guayaquil where i bought the same ticket again, and got on the bus. just over 15 hours later i found myself at the border of colombia.
easy crossing, no difficulties, i love being american, half the time i get through quicker than the locals, or even the europeans, dont ask me why. the border town of colombia is called ipiales and is famous for a cathedral they have there. i bought my ticket out, left my bags at the bus station and found my way out to the church. its unbelievable. forget notre dame. ill get photos up when i can, but its built clinging the side of a massive canon. its amazing. i then took my night bus to cali (and then would proceed from cali to bogota cause it was cheaper that way than to get a direct to bogota from ipiales).
i got to bogota last night, took a city bus from the out-of-town into the hostel district and was dropped a block from my hostel, from a city bus from a big ass bus station a half hour ride away. maybe that doesnt sound like an accomplishment on screen, but i was proud of myself. i switched hostels this morning cause i dont agree with paying for breakfast or internet when your already paying for a bed. so i found my new hostel (which is new itself--only been up and running for a month) and will spend a day or two chilled out to get over a little cold i have. which i got right upon coming into colombia (a place where swine flu may actually be a problem) and convinced myself that i probably got it from all the buses i have been taking. i dont think thats true, cause im not dead yet, but lets keep our fingers crossed.
well there you have it, 7 days, $146, 92 hours sitting on a bus, and god knows how many kilometers later i made it. it wasnt so bad.
La Paz to Lima $50, 27 hours
Lima to Mancora $30, 18 hours
Mancora to Guayaquil $13, 8 hours
Guayaquil to Tulcan $20, 15 hours
Ipiales to Cali $13, 10.5 hours
Cali to Bogota $20, 13.5 hours
Brings us to a total of $146 and 92 hours of actually sitting on a bus. the distance between the two cities (as the bird flys or by road im not sure) is 1508 miles.
So i decided to get a bus direct from la paz to lima peru. i could have probably saved a little if i had gone to lake titicaca first, then switched buses for the ride to lima, but i wasnt feeling well in la paz and took the easy way out. I ended up having to change buses in the peruvian lake town anyway, which was annoying, considering thats what i was trying to avoid. no matter. a total of 27 hours later i was in lima, and the ride wasnt so bad, they fed us--pathetically small amounts of food, but what do you expect?--and the seats were good enough to sleep in (with the help of a little diazepam). upon arriving lima i found the bus to mancora, the northern peruvian laid back beach town i was going to rest in and had lunch while i waited the few hours for it to leave.
Same thing to mancora, easy ride, comfy seats, not much food. when i arrived in the morning i found the hostel i stayed at the last time i was there, right on the beach. all did for the 24 hours i was there was drink juice on the beach, eat amazing cheap seafood, and sleep on a bed. next morning was off to ecuador, which was fine, except the bus wasnt air conditioned and thus very hot. we arrived in a big dirty nasty city in ecuador called Guayaquil. i found a bus from there to the town on the colombian border meant to leave in 20 minutes. perfect...or so it would seem. nobody seemed to know from what area this bus departed, but i was pointed in a direction and after asking a few people i found a bus that could be it. i showed the driver my ticked and asked if the bus was going to Tulcan. he looked at the ticket (in low light) and said "yeah yeah yeah, tulcan." after about 20 minutes of driving the conductor came on to check tickets, he looked at mine and said (in spanish, i have translated it for your benifit) "no, this bus isnt going to tulcan. its going to salinas." i didnt know where salinas was, just praying it was near the border of colombia. but no, it was 2 hours due west and once we arrived i learned there were no buses leaving till 3 am. i was pissed. like just about to break some windows or something, but i realized i would be able to get to colombia if i was arrested in ecuador. so i found a hostel, slept the night, ate more seafood, and went back to guayaquil where i bought the same ticket again, and got on the bus. just over 15 hours later i found myself at the border of colombia.
easy crossing, no difficulties, i love being american, half the time i get through quicker than the locals, or even the europeans, dont ask me why. the border town of colombia is called ipiales and is famous for a cathedral they have there. i bought my ticket out, left my bags at the bus station and found my way out to the church. its unbelievable. forget notre dame. ill get photos up when i can, but its built clinging the side of a massive canon. its amazing. i then took my night bus to cali (and then would proceed from cali to bogota cause it was cheaper that way than to get a direct to bogota from ipiales).
i got to bogota last night, took a city bus from the out-of-town into the hostel district and was dropped a block from my hostel, from a city bus from a big ass bus station a half hour ride away. maybe that doesnt sound like an accomplishment on screen, but i was proud of myself. i switched hostels this morning cause i dont agree with paying for breakfast or internet when your already paying for a bed. so i found my new hostel (which is new itself--only been up and running for a month) and will spend a day or two chilled out to get over a little cold i have. which i got right upon coming into colombia (a place where swine flu may actually be a problem) and convinced myself that i probably got it from all the buses i have been taking. i dont think thats true, cause im not dead yet, but lets keep our fingers crossed.
well there you have it, 7 days, $146, 92 hours sitting on a bus, and god knows how many kilometers later i made it. it wasnt so bad.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Ginger's Paradise
I didnt realize just how long its been, wow.
alright, i left the animal reserve with an aussie named gemma. we headed to santa cruz, which apparently a lot of people think is beautiful, but its really just another big city with no character. hot, dirty...not great. but we managed not to spend too much money, although we also didnt see 3-D movies, go to aqualand or anything else we planned. after a few days we headed off towards a town called samipata (which has not ATM) but we stopped off at a farm called gingers paradise.
It was started by an american guy married to a bolivian and their 3 children. you can pay a certain amount and just hang out, or pay a little less and work with them for a few hours in the morning. but the farm is all organic, and they are almost completely self-sustainable. they grow almost all their own food, solar panals create electricity, a wood fired oven makes food and hot water, its quite amazing. it would have been cool to stay longer (money and time gave us only 3 days there) because i think there is a lot to be learned from the family. and the day before we arrived they had a baby monkey given to them, so i kinda helped them figure out what kind of food it needed and when and all that.
then it was off to samipata, the place people say will be the biggest hotspot in bolivia soon. the only problem: almost all the awesome things to see and do--ruines, waterfalls, treks, jungle...--are taxi rides away from the town, and with no ATM (and being poor travellers in general) we werent able to do much. although we did take a shared taxi to some waterfalls the last day, only to find that these normally deserted and serene falls were teeming with the local bolivians yelling and playing soccer and volleyball, since it was may 1, they all had holiday. so not quite as nice as it could have been, but at least we got round to doing something.
from there headed back to santa cruz for a bus to la paz, and gemma waited an extra day for her bus to sucre. although when i got to the santa cruz bus station, i realized why gemma couldnt get a ticket for that night--may 1st--and had to wait an extra day. apparently nobody wants to work on that day, even though they celebrated it not on monday, like the rest of the world, but on friday (they already dont work on saturday or sunday) and kept the celebration going on monday and tuesday, so everything shut down for almost 5 days. that included the buses. not one bus was in the massive santa cruz terminal. so i stayed an extra night and left the next day.
been in la paz for a few days now, and im leaving tomorrow morning for puno. they have a sunday night thing here called cholita wrestling, and its bolivian women and men doing WWE style fake wrestling. quite funny, i have some decent pictures and videos of that. but at the wrestling they were handing out surgeons masks "so you dont get swine flu". but even people in bolivia are making precautions if they run tourists buisness and everywhere you see posters saying "beat the swine flu, we now have updated airborne disease defense systems with our tour
group." its hilarious.
anyway, tomorrow starts the many day bus journey to colombia. i dont know how much internet access ill have, but ill try and get an update out at some point, i dont really know how long its gonna take me to get there. oh, land border crossings, im excited...
alright, i left the animal reserve with an aussie named gemma. we headed to santa cruz, which apparently a lot of people think is beautiful, but its really just another big city with no character. hot, dirty...not great. but we managed not to spend too much money, although we also didnt see 3-D movies, go to aqualand or anything else we planned. after a few days we headed off towards a town called samipata (which has not ATM) but we stopped off at a farm called gingers paradise.
It was started by an american guy married to a bolivian and their 3 children. you can pay a certain amount and just hang out, or pay a little less and work with them for a few hours in the morning. but the farm is all organic, and they are almost completely self-sustainable. they grow almost all their own food, solar panals create electricity, a wood fired oven makes food and hot water, its quite amazing. it would have been cool to stay longer (money and time gave us only 3 days there) because i think there is a lot to be learned from the family. and the day before we arrived they had a baby monkey given to them, so i kinda helped them figure out what kind of food it needed and when and all that.
then it was off to samipata, the place people say will be the biggest hotspot in bolivia soon. the only problem: almost all the awesome things to see and do--ruines, waterfalls, treks, jungle...--are taxi rides away from the town, and with no ATM (and being poor travellers in general) we werent able to do much. although we did take a shared taxi to some waterfalls the last day, only to find that these normally deserted and serene falls were teeming with the local bolivians yelling and playing soccer and volleyball, since it was may 1, they all had holiday. so not quite as nice as it could have been, but at least we got round to doing something.
from there headed back to santa cruz for a bus to la paz, and gemma waited an extra day for her bus to sucre. although when i got to the santa cruz bus station, i realized why gemma couldnt get a ticket for that night--may 1st--and had to wait an extra day. apparently nobody wants to work on that day, even though they celebrated it not on monday, like the rest of the world, but on friday (they already dont work on saturday or sunday) and kept the celebration going on monday and tuesday, so everything shut down for almost 5 days. that included the buses. not one bus was in the massive santa cruz terminal. so i stayed an extra night and left the next day.
been in la paz for a few days now, and im leaving tomorrow morning for puno. they have a sunday night thing here called cholita wrestling, and its bolivian women and men doing WWE style fake wrestling. quite funny, i have some decent pictures and videos of that. but at the wrestling they were handing out surgeons masks "so you dont get swine flu". but even people in bolivia are making precautions if they run tourists buisness and everywhere you see posters saying "beat the swine flu, we now have updated airborne disease defense systems with our tour
group." its hilarious.
anyway, tomorrow starts the many day bus journey to colombia. i dont know how much internet access ill have, but ill try and get an update out at some point, i dont really know how long its gonna take me to get there. oh, land border crossings, im excited...
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