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Published: October 22nd 2008
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Hey everyone!
So sorry for the delay on the latest blog. This past month we’ve been on the coast living from hostel to hostel and beach to beach.... such a hard life, I know. But seriously, getting time to sit down and write this has been quite difficult. We are now back in Bogota for a few days. Lara´s sister Vicky and boyfriend Eric will be arriving this Thursday to Bogota for about 12 days. We can’t wait until they get here and show them around.
Since our last blog we had just left the gorgeous Parque Tayrona, and headed to Taganga where some of our luggage was stored at a hotel. We spent one night there, and then headed out to Riohacha, the capital of Colombia’s northernmost province, La Guajira. La Guajira is known here in Colombia as the final frontier of this country. The province is extremely desert like and mostly underdeveloped. Getting to Riohacha felt like as if we were refuges evading immigration officials. After our bus broke down half way, about 5 people and us piled into a pick up truck to finish the ride. The truck ended up literally picking up around 15 people
before we actually arrived to Riohacha. There were people hanging off the tailgate, people sitting in each others laps, you name it.
Finding where to stay was a whole other issue. It turns out there aren’t hostels in Riohacha, and the hotels are WAY over priced. Later we found out this could possibly be because the Colombian Mafia has its hand deep into Riohacha’s economy. We ended up staying at a hotel called Las Brisas, which was not exactly the most welcoming or cleanest either, but we did our best to keep a positive attitude and explored this final frontier. We took a cab to a flamingo/turtle sanctuary. One of the most notable things is the heat here. It really does feel like the desert, the sun bears down on one with no mercy. The flamingos spend their days in an area just outside the carribean in mixed salt/sweet water. Our fisherman wasn’t willing to take us any closer than the pictures show, mostly because it would have spooked the flamingos. Even though we couldn’t get very close to them, the experience of going out into this muddy swamp in a wooden canoe, turned into a sail boat and
extreme heat was worth the experience. We also got to see some actual Guajiro’s and Kogi natives who mostly reside in this province. The natives prefer to not have their pictures taken because many of them perceive the camera as a weapon which steals their soul.
Our stay was shorter than we would have liked in La Guijira, although my visa was about to expire and we needed to get the closest immigration agency to help us out with the extension. As we were leaving Riohacha we were actually a bit uncertain of where our next stop would be. Reality came crashing down as we sat in the bus with no place to go, not even a thought of where home would be for the evening. One thing we both had regretted was how short our time spent in Cartagena had been. Since we had some luggage in Taganga, we needed to get back there for a night to pick that up, but we were both anxious to get back to Cartegena the next day. We had a great little apartment to stay in for this past week, that my cousins’ family was able to help us with this
Guajira
Getting the sail boat ready for the flamingos arrangment and it was well worth it.
Our time in Cartegena was awesome. We got to see a lot more of the city we weren’t able to the first time around and have a lot more photos to show for it. On Thursday of our stay, we joined a tour bus to the Volcano called ‘El Totuma’. What made this volcano so particular was that it has no lava and is completely filled with mud. We made it to the top and got gently let into the top of the volcano. There is a sensation of total weightlessness. For some reason, it’s impossible to sink, the mud keeps you afloat the entire time. After the Volcano, we got shuttled off to the beach where we had lunch and waited for canoes to pick us up.
We all piled into about 4 or 5 canoes and set out into the swamp area next to the ocean where there is a nature reserve of mangrove trees, the only tree that can convert salt water to sweet water. Natural tunnels within the swamp were developed by these trees. The trip ended up at a pre-Colombian archeological park. The park had various
statues of different Colombian tribes native to that part of the country. Some of the statues represented actual natives which flattened there heads by tying boards to both front and back of their head as babies. This was done at the time as a representation of ones social status level. It was very interesting to see these various relics. We headed back to Cartagena for a couple more days until we endured a 24 hour bus ride back to Bogota. Luckily, this ride was much smoother than the first one we took. We only broke down once!
We will be in Bogota this week until Saturday. The four of us are leaving to visit as many places as we can during their stay. A few of them will be places we have already been to, and some new ones as well. After that we will be taking off to Medellin and the coffee zone or “Eje Cafetero” the heart of where all your coffee comes from, until next time, adios.
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Diana
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Awesome!
What an awesome trip. I am so jealous! Your trip to Cartagena brought back so many wonderful memories... Keep the e-mails coming. Take care. Love, Diana