San Gil

---

And now, for Colombia. I flew into Bogota on a Monday afternoon. I spent the afternoon looking at the old main square and visiting some museums. Colombia´s most famous artist is a man named Botero. There is an excellent little Museo Botero near the town square that not only features his work but has a great collection of Impressionist as well as Surrealist artists considering the size of the museum. The following day, and my first morning in Bogota, I met new friends Sue and Kim at the Platypus hostal. Up until then, I had really had a hard time deciding what I was going to see and do in Colombia. I looked at the map over and over but nothing came to me. So when the ladies from San Diego invited me to go to Santa Marta with them, along the Caribbean coast, decision made! We spent some time that afternoon trying to find cheap flights to Santa Marta but to no avail. In the process, we did get to see a lot of Bogota. It is a massive city! Ultimately, we put off the Santa Marta trip for a day and ended up taking a night bus to San Gil.

San Gil is about a 6 hour bus ride away from Bogota. The town is known for being an adventure hot spot - river rafting and the like. When we arrived at the hostal (Maconda - not recommended) we saw a picture of some people rappelling next to a waterfall. NEXT TO a waterfall. So imagine my surprise the next day, and sheer enthusiasm, when I realized we´d actually signed up to rappell IN the waterfall. Man, it was so exhilirating. First we climbed up alongside the waterfall and waited (and waded) in shallow pools along an upper ridge for the group ahead of us to go. When it was finally our turn, what a thrill! Sue and Kim went before me. They got to the bottom of the falls just as I was starting to head down and fortunately pulled my camera out of the dry bag (pictures of me rappelling attached). I tried to look up, but there was waterfall in my face. Looking down, there were rainbows everyone! I was high for a good 20 minutes afterwards.

The San Gil territory is beautiful. The people are lovely. The town is a gem. In addition, for preparing for our next bus ride - 11 hours overnight to Santa Marta, I discovered that you can get generic Ambien for super cheap!! Five dollars for ten pills. No tossing and turning for me (SIDENOTE: generic drugs seem to be pretty cheap here. Hurry up and send me a list if you want me to pick any up for you. Send the generic name!)

We only spent one night and one day in San Gil. Santa Marta update to follow.

Flickr set here (18 photos total): http://www.flickr.com/photos/69192286@N00/sets/72157622505348403/

---