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Published: October 6th 2009
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Hola!
Well I have had a crazy week in Southern Colombia. On my way to Salento (a cute colonial style town famous for coffee, cowboys and trout) I sat beside a beautiful young Colombian girl who did not speak English, but when she found out that I was travelling by myself she decided to take me to meet her friends, two of who could speak perfect English. I spent the afternoon walking around the town which was packed with Sunday Colombian tourists and I had a new fruit juice - Guanabana, absolutely delicious with milk.
The next day I did a tour of the coffee farm owned by the hostel I was staying at - the Plantation House. Colombian coffee is so renowned because they only grow Arabica beans (more flavour, less caffeine); apparently it would be sacrilegious to grow Robust (more caffeine, less flavour). After picking the berries there are two seeds inside covered with a sugary paste (which was quite tasty to chew on) these are soaked so the sugar comes off. They are dried in the sun, 2 more layers come off the bean, and then they are roasted and ready for drinking. A good crop
will result in 35% of the original berry weight.
I spent my time in Salento with Lucas from Berlin who was a coffee addict. We found a nice little shop in town that served up espresso or lattés for 30 cents. I think Bob Green and Nick Wilson would be extremely happy sipping coffee all day at that little shop. We also found a great place that served the deal of the day for $3 - soup and a fantastic trout. Yum Yum!
The next day we took a crowded jeep 20 minutes to the Valley de Cocora - home to the rare wax palm tree. The two of us set off on the 12 km hike - first grandma’s house - straight up a hill. I had a weird drink called agua panelle - a hot drink made from sugar and served with cheese, which you are supposed to dip. While we enjoyed our drink we sat about 1 foot away from an assortment of hummingbirds that make their home at grandma’s house. I have never seen anything like it, it was absolutely amazing! We climbed for a mountain view before a splendid 5 km walk back
to the jeep through the valley - so beautiful.
When we got back I convinced four of the guys to come play a local game called Teja. I am sure the St. Albert boys would give up bocce ball to play this one all day long. This is an old-man game, but they opened the place up for us. There are opposing clay pits with a metal ring in the middle - they put two small white packets folded with gunpowder on the metal ring. From about 8 meters back, you throw a metal rock. It took us about 20 minutes but finally the Aussie on the team hit it right and BANG! It seriously sounds like a gunshot. We played for over an hour and even though I was the worst player, I made two bangs (followed by squealing for joy and jumping up and down) 2 guys didn’t even get one bang so I was pretty damn proud.
I said goodbye to Lucas and headed for Cali - allegedly home to the hottest women in Colombia, and possibly the plastic surgery capital of the world. If I want a cheap rack, I can pick one up
in Colombia - would certainly make my beach pictures more exciting. I did a crazy day trip to San Cipriano. I woke the Aussie up early and we took the 2.5 hour bus to Cordoba, got off and walked down the hill to the train tracks. The only way to get there is on a trolley-type thing they have made. Basically it is a plank of wood on rails. They attach a motorbike to it - one wheel up on the wood, one on the rail. The motorbike propels the trolley down the tracks. We sat down on the bench that was placed on the wood - made it 200 meters before we had to jump off because a train was coming. I was laughing so hard - I can’t believe someone came up with it - or that we actually did it.
We strolled through the town - which feels more like Africa than Colombia and ordered lunch before we ripped up the road with tubes for a quick ride back down. Um - this was one level above the Pembina back home - I was ripping through rapids in an enormous tracker tire tube - laughing the
whole way. Back in town I had the best fish of my trip - a fresh mackerel done Cajun style. I am going to be 200 pounds before I leave Colombia.
I was planning on going Salsa dancing in Cali - Salsa capital of Colombia - but since they don’t go out until 1 am - I was exhausted and pulled the loser at midnight. I got up and caught an 8 am bus headed for San Augustin. We picked up Christine from Switzerland before making the gruesome 6 hour journey. Um - it is only 110 km, but takes 6 hours. This was by far the worst road I’ve been on; I can’t believe they won’t pave the road to the biggest archaeological sight in the country.
We spent the next couple of days checking out the stone statues all over the hills. We did a horse ride to some of the more remote locations. My horse was called crazy berry - he gave me that one since I had ridden and the two others with me had only been once. Our horses seemed normal until when we were going downhill and they would spot the upcoming
hill - they would set off into a gallop like we were in a Wild West film. I guess they were trying to use the momentum to get up the hill - it was hilarious.
San Augustin was filled with some great eats - the cheapest meals I’ve had and some of the best soups in the country. Our hostel left a bad taste in my mouth - they took my laundry - but felt the need to leave it out on the line while it rained three times a day. When we decided to pay the night before our 6 am bus out - she had it nicely folded back in my laundry bag and said no charge. I was furious as I had wring it out in the bathroom - and even more annoyed when I had carry it in my lap on the bus back from hell.
I’m in Popayan where I am drying my wet laundry and resting before a couple days of bus journeys.
Tomorrow I head to the border and on Wednesday I will kick it to Ecuador!
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Jody Young
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trolley
that rail trolley is brilliant! I might change my mode of transportation to work and back...