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Travel Day
Nearly everyone personalises their trucks here Saturday 22
nd February (Odyssey Day 106)
Another travel day today, it’s a good thing Ithaca is comfortable since we spend so much time aboard her. We left Bogota at 0900 which was a rather late start actually and Hannah and I managed to find the time to head across the road to a café for muffins for breakfast. Whilst there I got chatting with an American girl who was there doing work for a documentary on Colombia. It was interesting to hear what someone who had already been in the country a few weeks had to say about the increasing tourism of the area, as well as the pre-conceived ideas most people have when coming here.
The reputation of Colombia is something we have all heard, and the most common things people mention when I said I was coming here was ‘is it safe?’ ‘What about the drugs and the military and the violence?’ Having no idea what to expect of the country means these thoughts are still in the back of your mind even though you know things have changed in recent years. We have a
Travel Day
Lunch stop seemingly in the middle of nowhere month in the country to form our own opinions but as of now, after just a few days, I’m pretty sure I’m going to enjoy my time here. So far the country is beautiful, the weather good, the people lively and the police friendly.
Our lunch stop was at a little town along the way today. Although I’m not sure it was big enough to be called a town since it was literally just a few buildings. A few of us ate at a little restaurant and Ellie was quite taken with a local kid who was blowing up balloons (or trying to) for what appeared to be a kids birthday party.
Unfortunately lunch didn’t agree with me today and I had to have Simon pull over shortly after we got on the road from lunch. I guess we are just lucky I was the only one who got sick – though admittedly I personally didn’t feel too lucky at the time...
Sunday 23
rd February (Odyssey Day 107)
San Gil
Cobbled streets of San Gil (pronounced San Hil) San Gil is apparently touted as the ‘adventure capital’ of Colombia. Having just recovered from my food poisoning, the only activity I put down to do was the hydrospeed, which is basically going down low grade rapids on a boogie board. We were picked up at the hotel at 1400, well we were meant to be at any rate. As usual, timing is rather relaxed here in South America, and they were a half an hour late. That’s pretty good time for around here, actually.
Lou and I were doing the hydrospeed and Andrew and Eamon were doing the same river at the same time but in a raft. We joined a few other people for the afternoon activities.
It was actually a bit disappointing, I was expecting it to be a lot more exciting but as it was, the first rapid (which was good) was really the only rapid we went through and the rest was rather tame. It was nice to be on the water for a change, but it wasn’t exactly an adventure sport…
While we
San Gil
The main square were out on the river, some of the others went mountain biking and Hannah managed to come off her bike and give herself a concussion. She ended up spending the evening in the local hospital and at least we know the health system here is pretty good.
Monday 24
th February (Odyssey Day 108)
Today was a free day for me in San Gil, which I spent relaxing around the town. It was far too hot to be too active, but a nice wander around was good. The town itself is quite quaint and far bigger than you expect when you see narrow cobbled streets.
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