Advertisement
Published: December 22nd 2010
Edit Blog Post
I hopped on the bus from Santa Marta and expected to be in Barichara within 8 hours…however, due to the rain, road repairs and mudslides I didn’t arrive until TWENTY-TWO HOURS later!!! That is a very long time to sit in a bus, but my 11 year-old seat mate, Zharidth, helped me pass the time. Her desire to learn English led us to not only cover basic conversation and simple vocab but we also had a grammar lesson around 9 am! I can only hope my kids back in Ecuador develop this same drive and determination. In Barichara I met up with Jeremy, one of the guys from the jungle house. We had traveled together before and I expected nothing more than a week of laughs and the proper mix of relaxation and adventure. We strolled all over this beautiful, colonial and bright flowery town. I think my favorite part was walking inside the bland looking expensive hotels to see what the front doors were hiding. Usually a whole other world awaited inside; the beauty of extensive indoor patios. They were all so different and beautiful and brought a sense of peacefulness as we were there out of season. Amalia, a
friend of a friend from back home, showed us the town through her eyes. We got to see a beautiful sunset overlooking the city as well as the park in which the community is trying to grow the native plants for a conservation project. Another favorite memory was sitting outside in the central park sipping coffee flavored sabajon during the evening hours and enjoying the scent of the tree, El Caballero de La Noche. It is an overwhelmingly delicious scent that is only noticeable with the coming of darkness and for me, that added a level of romance to this small town.
Guane The walk to Guane along the Camino Real transformed us into real-life adventurers for the day. Guane is an orange dust filled town about an hour and a half walk from Barichara…however, we encountered a mud-slide, chatty farmer, a large murky-water swimming hole, and too many butterflies to count. The town itself is super tiny, with almost everyone hanging out in the town square, meaning they saw Jeremy and I playing soccer with all the town's youth. Rather they saw Jeremy because even though I can play, no one wanted to pass the ball to me. Oh
the pains of being female.
Villa de Leyva After a few wonderfully lazy days in Barichara we decided it was time to mozy on over to Villa de Leyva. There was excitement in the air; turns out, the annual firework contest was the same weekend we were in town. This meant higher prices, lots of people, a larger police presence and an excess of aguardiente (homemade alcohol). Jeremy and I left our bags, intent on not paying $40 a night, and went in search of cheaper options. Patrick, a Frenchman who had obviously passed much of his day in the bar where we met him, was keen to show us the way. The hostel wound up to be about 25minutes outside of the town, on foot, and set within a beautiful scenery with tastefully decorated rooms, an outside kitchen and more hammocks than needed…and it was available! We hit the market and cooked up a feast the first night, thanks to tips from a few Colombians we had met. We ran into them later and knew we were in trouble…they were there for a wedding, so you can imagine the festivities. It seemed as though the whole town was out
for the pre-contest drinking festivities. At midnight “tester fireworks” were launched and we watched the large burning wooden sticks fall just within our reach. Obviously safety is not the number one concern...and it was made even more evident the following evening with the whole shebang. Also, that night I learned the definition of caleta: It was defined as the hidden alcohol, so that the drinking can continue even after everyone thinks it’s done. We returned separately than the group of celebrating Colombians and found 2 of them enjoying the caleta on the front porch….I extracted my secret stash of rum from my jacket pocket and we joined them. Meanwhile, Jeremy and I made a promise to each other that night…(don’t worry guys, nothing serious between us!) we promised that regardless of how yucky we felt in the morning we were getting up early and renting bikes to see the surrounding countryside…mind you this is close to 4 am. Miraculously we were out the door by 9 a.m. in the pouring, cold rain. The lady at the hotel looked at us and informed us that, “You guys are going to get yourselves wet.” Really? Ha. We ended up seeing things from
a different light (and somehow neither of us fell during the day). It was funny, well actually unnerving, but as we were about 1.5km down the rocky, sandy hill from the hostel we realized that we did not have helmets. In the end, the bike ride was a wonderful, exciting, tiring and really really fun experience but the advertised Pozo Azul in my mind is not worthy of a visit. We bypassed the ostrich farm (mistake or no??) and biked on to Raquira in search of ceramics. What we found was the most colorful and tourist oriented town in all of Colombia, creo yo. There were some beautiful murals but also lots of tourist tat; we took it all in, along with the strange looks we received (as we were both covered in mud, wet and full of giggles.) Just on the outskirts of town we found something wonderful…a rustic restaurant with our splurge meal for the trip….and a fire place!!! It was so incredibly painful to get back on the bicycles after that feast. In fact, so painful that for the first hour or so we tried to hitchhike back to Villa de Leyva!! Lazy bastards, right? Finally our pride returned and we finished the route, arriving in the dark completely exhausted and starving. I swear, nothing was better than a hot shower that night. As we left the next morning, nothing else extraordinary sticks out about my last day Colombia…well except for the empanada-tasting tour, the lazy, fat police dog and my mounting excitement about our return trip to Florida in which I was to surprise my parents.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.154s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 14; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0984s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Angie
non-member comment
Your Blog Is Fantastic
I have started reading your blog as i have many friends from Colombia and am very interested in their beautiful culture. Always so happy and up for good times, laughs and celebrations. I am from Australia and am a 23 yr old female. I would love to go and experience first hand their love for futball, there lovely passion for food and the celebrations that everyone is willing to take part in no matter what the occasion. The colours of the Raquira look amazing and the countryside looks absolutely beautiful. Are you both from Ecuador? You mention that you will be going there and i am wondering if you are from there or teaching English or travelling as if you were from their i can imagine you would speak fluent Spanish and not be so amazed with the fantastic new words you are learning. I am also learning Spanish at my university alongside a psychology degree and am really enjoying it. I find it hard to remember all the vocabulary though but really enjoy studying the culture and the language is so very beautiful and romantic to me. I think you are extremely brave trying to hitch-hike in Colombia from the stories i have heard of the dangers in the country, guess these dangers are every where though. The bike riding sounds like a fantastic way to get off the beaten track and get to speak to the locals and experience things you wouldn't have done so had you not gone exploring on the bikes. I am keen to read more of your blog as i have really enjoyed this entry. Take care, enjoy your travels and thank you for the enjoyable time I got from reading your blog :o) Angie