Bogota, Medellin, Cartagena

Bogota

Few day stopover in capital city. Walked around town and stumbled across a party on the 30th floor one evening with panoramic city views.

Medellin

Another few day stop, this time in Pablo Escobar´s former hometown. In parts, was the most upscale city of the trip so far.

The perfect utensil for eating chicken - plastic gloves

A rare chance to do something good for the body

Cartagena
Night bus up to the Carribean and the romantic city of Cartagena (especially true if you find it romantic when your significant other is constantly wearing a thin coat of perspiration).

The travel group at the moment on the hotel deck, Michele, Ant, Abdi, Shane.

Playa Blanca

Boat trip to snorkle off the coast of the Rosario Islands and then stayed a night at Playa Blanca.

Slept in hammocks about 20 ft from the clear blue for about $3. I have a deep love for hammocks, a love for taking siestas in them and for what they embody, but found out it´s not the most comfortable way to spend the entire night.

With the beauty come the bugs

Some of the guys left earlier hitching rides of the back of locals bikes

Next

Bumming around the Carribean coast for the next 2 weeks. Re-entry into reality is coming soon, with a return plane ticket having recently been purchased for July 13th.

Ecuador and the start of Colombia

Montanita
Ecuadorian beach town similar in look and feel to Mancora, but probably had a bit more laid-back vibe in day and fesitive mentality after dark. A good place... unfortunately we arrived on a Sunday night in the off-season so it was quiet and the sea was chop so we didn´t stay long.



Banos
A return to the mountains to a town which is named after it´s hot springs or baths (also the word for bathrooms). Probably rained more in the 5 days we were there than it has in the prior 5 months of travel, so pictures are limited to ensure continued camera operation.

We did visit the hot springs, but they were nothing special and not worth writing about... well except when an English guy I´m traveling with used an elderly lady´s bar of soap for the pre-shower and she didn´t appreciate it, but that was just somewhat typical, confusing and hilarious spanish comedy.

I also did a 3 day white water kayaking course. Two days in a swimming pool and then a day on the river.


Learned to roll over, sometimes it worked...

and sometimes not so much. A good time with the highlight of course being on the river and the highlight of that was coming across 8 or 9 Ecuadoran boys swimming/bathing in the river. After a minute I had 4 of them hanging off of and sitting on the Kayak as I attemtped to paddle downsteam.

The Evil Empire of Colombia
So before the start of this trip (and really for the last 26 years) I´ve read and likely watched the same Colombian news highlights as you of how FARC is running wild and how this drug rich country continuously plots how to poison America´s youth. I had no desire to come here.

However, every person traveling that I talked to that had been to Colombia not only recommended it, but listed it as a highlight, with the most common claim being that the most friendly people residing in the sud americas live in this great dangerous evil empire. After hearing the same praises repeated, I set aside almost a month to travel here, basically ran though Ecuador to make it, and shockingly somehow lost even more faith in the always "objective" American media.

Cali
Toured around the town of Cali for two days. A good stopping point to break up the journey to Bogota, but was a nice big somewhat typical city... probably the richest city I´ve visited in several months. Was also rummored to have the most attractive woman in the world (often aided my modern plastics), but didn´t seem overly superior to other places.

Armenia
Stopped in Armenia to do a coffee tour. Found one about an hour out of town via local busses and then a 2 km walk down a plantane tree lined road.



Bean picker - makes about 15 cents per kilo picked. Picks around 70 - 100 kilos per day.


The winter cafe picking atire

New Zealand guy I´m traveling with, Shane, drying out the beans. Over a two hour tour where we saw and participated in the whole process.



Ant, Shane and I and one of the best cups of coffee I´ve ever had.

Next
Night bus to Bogota tonight.

Lima and Northern Peru

Lima

Esentially a living cesspool.

Stayed in the rich beach-side suburb of Miraflores. Also a cesspool, just with more money, American fast food chains, and an overcast/smog layer hovering over possibly the most polluted and trash strewn beach/sea out there.

Two notable things happened in Lima:
1. Bought used surfboard, wetsuit, bag
2. Rode in the backseat of a cab wedged between 2 prostitutes. Long story, but we assumed they were well intentioned locals, and soon after our 30 minute cab ride began I realized their intentions were slightly different than well intentioned.

Chicama (Puerto Malbrigo)

10 hours north to small fishing and surf town famous for claiming to have the longest left hand wave in the world (2km - 4km rides on a good swell)

For the first 2 days had a bit over head-high waves with a few sponsored surfers in the water and professional photographers on the beach.

The foam stairs: A beautiful long peeling wave with a view from our deck. Other than surfing, ate cheap seafood and slept.

Mancora

North another 8 hours to resortish town of Mancora, white beaches, clear lake-like water and large leafs roofing the restaurants and beach shacks. We were there mid-week in the off-season, so not too much craziness, but a fine place to relax for a better part of a week.

Traveling in style

A bit of an oxymoron - resort hostel where we stayed for about $10 per night

Beach soccer

Lobitos

Small small town about an hour south of Mancora and one of the highlights of the trip so far. Historically a military base. Now a hot spot for off-shore oil. And also a world class surfing beach since El Nino reconfigured the beaches a few years ago, with about 7 waves breaking within 2 miles of town.

View from the one hostal in town

The hostal - $5 per night. With food probably spent between $10 - $15 a day for the 9 days I was there.

A pretty good swell hit while we were there, probably peaking with about 3 foot overhead waves

Small town got a bit crowed when the waves hit. A few videos being shot from the beach.

Now:

Arrived in Montanita, Ecuador yesterday. Another beach town to relax for a few days... a hard life

...So it´s been a while. I´m still alive. Most of the past 2.5 weeks have been spent in small towns where finding Internet access has been a challenge. For example, in a surf town in Northern Peru now called Lobitos, where just keeping the water running proves to be a challenge. Staying in Lobitos for the swell to hit and then probably off to Ecuador early next week. When I make it to a large city I´ll update this properly.