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Published: November 10th 2008
Hi all,
We are back in Bogota after spending a mini 12 day trip to the coast and back. Vicky and her boyfriend Eric came to visit us on October 23rd and we wanted to show them the best areas of the country we have found. We were on a very quick pace to show them as much of the country as possible in 12 days, which is no easy task.
Our trip started off showing Vicky and Eric around different areas in Bogota. After getting their yellow fever vaccinations at the airport we went to San Andresito, an area in south Bogota that sells just about everything under the sun at a discounted rate. Some of the items are counterfeit and others are legit. We then went back to the 'Plaza De Simon Bolivar' to feed the pigeons once again. How we still havn't been pooped on by one of these pigeons yet, is beyond my understanding. Later that night we met up with my cousin and a few of his friends for a birthday party where mariachis showed up for a late night performance.
We got up early on Saturday ready for our trip to the
coast to begin. We all left around 9:00am and headed once again to the beautiful cobble stoned village called Villa de Leyva. It was here that we met a few new friends as well. Marty and Monica are both from California and are doing volunteer work here in Bogota for whole year. The work they are doing is for children through the YMCA. Most of our day was spent walking through the village and buying a few souvenirs.
Since we were on such a tight schedule, after a night in Villa de Leyva, we needed to head out to San Gil, the extreme sports capital of Colombia. The first time Lara and I went to San Gil from Villa de Leyva, an employee for one of the bus companies told us incorrect information and the trip was much longer than anticipated. This time around, we knew we had to go through a tiny city called Arcuabuco, and that would shave off about 2 hours from our trip. Little did we know that getting to Arcuabuco would require us and about 24 other people crammed in a Volkswagen van. I think we set a Guinness world record for how many
people were crammed into the van. For those of you at home, ask Eric to see the video of this bus ride. In Arcuabuco we waited for a big bus to take us to San Gil and we arrived later that evening.
On Monday we were all ready for some extreme sports. Since Lara and I opted out of the Paragliding and repelling having already done it, all four of us wanted to try out the river rafting. It had been raining so much in San Gil that this typically category 3-4 river had been escalated to a category 5.... a death wish to an extent, especially for beginners. Luckily, our guides were none other that team mates of the Colombian national river rafting team. These guys compete against other teams all through out South America and have rafted the roughest rivers in South America.
We left on an hour ride to the spot in the river we would be starting at and then went through a mini training course where we learned how to survive if our raft flips over, which was a very likely possibility due to the rivers' current conditions. Once we finally got in,
the river pulled the raft straight to the center and we were off, no turning back, and you could definitely feel how strong the current was. Paddling was near impossible at times and the fear of falling out was ever present. Our guide did an awesome job at directing us where and when to row and we luckily made it all the way through the 3 hour ride. At the end there was a freak current that tossed out five people (including Vicky, Eric, me and two others who were also paddling, Lara on the other hand held on strong and did not fall in to the water), but we all have a feeling it was our guide who intentionally made the raft tip! The whole experience was totally exhilarating. There were times where you could see absolutely nothing but a gigantic raging wall of muddy water and all you can hear is the river and guide screaming at the top of his lungs to keep rowing. We would hit some of the rapids and the entire raft would be under, we couldn't tell which way we were going and also were chest deep in water; 2 seconds later our
raft would pop out the water and we were on our way again. We have an awesome video of the tride as well as pictures but have not yet been able to upload them.
The next day Eric and Vicky took off for paragliding and repelling down a waterfall. Unfortunately the day was not very windy and Eric was not able to go up. I'm not sure who was more unfortunate though, Eric didn't get to go up but Vicky crashed in the middle of a field filled with blood sucking insects!! The poor girl not only had to deal with these critters but had to hike about an hour back to the main road where the bus picked her and the guide back up. Besides the insects, she was totally fine. It's not so much of a crash rather than a unexpected lazy decent to wherever on the ground below.
Tuesday night was spent on an 8 hour bus ride to Santa Marta. We arrived to Santa Marta and took a cab back to the fishing village of Taganga. We decided to stay at a highly recommended hotel from a guy called Jullian who lives in Miami
and happened to be in Tayrona the first time we went. The hotel ended up being the most tranquil one we have been to with absolutely amazing views of the water below and for only $25.000 US per night! The pics below show it all off. The overnight bus ride was pretty rough, because the conductor refused to turn the music off and kept the air conditioning at absolute zero the whole night, since the night was so unrestful we headed off to El Rodero that afternoon to spend a lazy afternoon on the beach.
Late that afternoon we did all our grocery shopping for 'El Parque Tayrona' and were all ready to head out the next morning to the park. I think we mentioned this before, but there are 2 ways to get to the park. One is by bus and a 3 hour hike. The other is by a 1.5 hour boat ride. We opted to take the boat ride as we did the first time we went. What we didn't know before hand is how much rougher the water was than the previous time. I think the boat ride was scarier than river rafting. We crammed
18 people in a skiff with 2 engines and headed out into the open water. What's so unsettling about the trip is that we go really fast in the boat, fly off 10 foot waves and worst of all, the boat captains don't have any method of communication if we sink, the boat cracks in half, or people get thrown out. Needless to say, all of us and our stuff was absolutely drenched.
Arriving to Tayrona was paradise as usual. Luckily, there were hammocks available in the upper cabana, where we stayed for 4 days. The following Saturday we went on a really steep hike to El Pueblito, a small village in the rainforest that was inhabited by 2,000 people thousands of years ago. It was very surreal to be here, we could have easily been in a city park in Seattle and not known the difference had it not been for the hike.
Vicky and Eric took off a day early from Tayrona and headed back to Taganga and we stayed until that Monday. We arrived Monday night and stayed at the Hotel Ballena Azul. On Tuesday we went to Santa Marta and El Rodadero to do
a bit more souvenir shopping and then headed out to the Airport to catch our flight back to Bogota. Vicky and Eric were leaving back to Seattle the next morning, so we just went back to abuelita's so they could pack up. A HUGE thank you to both Eric and Vicky for taking back a full extra suit case of ours!!
Since they left we have been here in Bogota. We celebrated my cousin Catalina's birthday last week. Saw "Saw 5" which is absolutely terrible, went to Tenjo where my aunt Constanza cooked Cuchuco, a delicious soup. This week we are heading out to Zipaquira and the dairy farm Alipina on Thursday. On Saturday we're leaving for Armenia where my uncle Mario is going to give us a tour of Colombia's coffee zone, and we will be in Medellin most of next week.
In conclusion, we had a great time revisiting some of our favorite spots with Eric and Vicky. For all of you reading out there, if you are interested in doing this same trip in the next few years, we have a pretty solid itinerary and would love to show you around. Until next time!
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KatieLynn
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HOLY CRAP YOUR STILL ALIVE
besides the fact that i can't understand a single place you have gone, and it sounds very exhausting to travel there, i am more of a lay on the beach all day ever day person, and besides the fact that place sounds incredible, I CAN'T BELEIVE YOU ARE STILL ALIVE! I see arms and legs are still in tact, and i haven't received a call for ransom, i'm still waiting....i am so happy for you guys for truly exploring and being apart of a bigger world, i wish you all the best and so much fun, there is no way you will be the same people that left us which feels like so long ago! soak in every second and think about suckers like me back at home, who will never get a taste of such an expereice. I love you both , and I can't wait to see the Last of the Mohicans again...stay in touch!