Erin & Regan's South American Adventure

Hola,

We had a few last things to do before leaving Cartagena for good.

1. Buy a really big Avocado (Aguacate) and make Guacamole.

2. Have a fresh juice, made from the leftover fruit we bought at the market.

3. Buy lollies!  They have all sorts of strange and unusual things.

4. Visit a sculpture by Botero (a Colombian artist), more of these at a later date.

I literally had to drag Erin away from Cartagena, she is threatening to live there one day.

or at least we hope so! We´re hoping it´s not an expensive piece of glass.

The long story is that after visiting la Palacio de la Inquisición, we went to the emerald store and arranged for them to make a white gold ring with an emerald we picked out.

The next day we returned and found the ring was too big and that we no longer liked the emerald. Part of the problem was that an emerald needs more protection than a diamond (being weaker) so the setting we chose was not possible. As a result a thicker setting was used and we didn´t like it as much.

With true salesmanship they persuaded us to buy a larger, higher quality (we hope) emerald for the cost of the ring. Our bargaining skills were honed to perfection, as we dithered they slowly lowered the price. Hopefully that´s not a bad sign.

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for... The emerald itself!

Hola,

The next day we set out to climb La Popa, a nearby hill upon which sits a monastery.  It is named La Popa because it´s profile resembles the poop of a ship.  On the way we met a local who decided to guide us there and back, for his time and trouble we ended up paying him 5,000 plus 2,000 for a taxi.  Not bad for a few hours work.

The monastery itself has been restored and is rather beautiful.

The church in the monastery is small but also beautiful.

Outside the gates to the monastery a man was selling photos with his pet sloth (the spanish word for sloth is perizoso, which also means lazy).

Once we had paid off our guide we headed back to Castillo de San Felipe because we realised we had forgotted to visit the old boots (botas viejas).  A monument to something we have forgotten or never knew.

That evening we decided to do a circuit of the walls themselves, they protect these cool old buildings.

These ladies make fresh fruit salad, Erin loves them.

Just me, chillin.

Wide enough to drive a bus down.

There were several soccer fields right outside the walls.

The colours of the buildings and churches is quite vivid.

You can buy all manner of things on the walls, like a good coffee.

Lush vegetation plus old buildings makes for a neat photo.

I lined up the bus and...

From the walls you can see Castillo de San Filipe.

The streets themselves are also colourful.

And so ended our last night in Cartagena, but first...

Hola,

That afternoon we headed into the centre of the old city, to look at the cool old buildings.  To get there you pass through this clock tower which is part of the wall which surrounds the old city.

There is some interesting art work in the plazas inside the walled city.

We decided to visit the Palacio de la Inquisición which has been converted into a museum.  We even splashed out and paid for a guide (15,000 pesos, or approx NZ$10).  The guide was good, very funny, and knew all sorts of things you didn´t see written on the walls and exhibits themselves. 

He even put me on the rack, and got Erin to crank it up!

The museum contained a number of nasty looking torture devices including...

A skull crusher, they crank it until your brain comes out your eye sockets, eew.

This bad boy is placed around your neck.  The spikes on the inside puncture your throat and the others your shoulders and chin etc.

A thumb crusher... it crushes thumbs.

After the Palacio de la Inquisición our guide took us to one of the many emerald and associated jewellery stores  (probably his sisters/aunties/nieces store, or he gets a commission).  More on that later ;o)

Later, outside the Palacio de la Inquisición we saw some buskers with a difference.  They dance so fast the camera cannot catch them.

Night fell and a church nearby was lit with interesting colours.

Hola,

We arrived in Cartagena at night time and took a taxi to the popular hostal "Vienna" (in Getsemani, an area within the old walled part of the city), where they have everything a backpacker needs.

Unfortunately for us they were lacking the one thing we really needed, beds for the night.  Luckily they were really helpful, they even called a nearby hostal (Hotel Familiar) for us and arranged a room.

The next day we walked to the nearby Castillo de San Felipe, a massive fortress which is the largest Spanish fortress built in the Americas. 

It has extensive sloping tunnels within, including one which could have been used to escape a siege.

The flag atop the fortress is simply huge.

One of the guard posts on the corner of the fortress.

Erin surfing on a canon.

A view of the city from the fortress.

The walls are quite impressive.

A nice "shot" at the high rise apartments and CBD.

Erin just had to buy this enormous red necklace made from... you´ll never guess... a vegetable, called Tagua AKA vegetable ivory.

The grass area surrounding the fortress looked kinda cool with its palms and canons.

We finally got to go to Ciudad Perdida.

A four wheel drive drove us to a small village in the jungle.  While walking out of the village to the beginning of the track we saw this odd looking chicken.

These are some of the people in our group after maybe 2 hours of walking.  We were already soaked through with sweat - it literally dripped off us.

The scenery was pretty stunning.

A farmer decided that this tree was dangerous and could fall on some one.  So he took the safest option and decided to burn it.

This was our first camp site (also the location of a coke factory!).

A spider on one of the rocks in the river.  They can walk on water - very cool.

Our hammocks on the first night.

The next morning we visited the coke factory.  It is pretty much just for foreign tourists.  The Colombians in our group didn´t come with us - either they knew it all as they had seen it all before or they weren´t interested.

After the coke factory we began the trekking.  We came across a village which looked like it was abandoned until we met some of the indigenous inhabitants.

A toad we spotted along the way.

Some scenery and the river we swam in on our second day.

Our hammocks in the camp we stayed at on the 2nd and 4th nights.

On the third day we had to cross the river many times.  This was the first and most comfortable river crossing - we didn´t have to get our feet wet!

Us and some indigenous children who were happy to have their photo taken with us but steadfastly refused to speak to us.  The flies buzzing around them were a sight to behold.  The indigenous people only change their clothes once a month in sync with the moon.

There were many beautiful waterfalls (cascadas in Spanish).  Here is just one of them.

The beginning of the 1200 odd steps which lead up to Ciudad Perdida.

The bottom levels of the lost city.

This view gives some idea of why the city lay hidden for so long.  It was not discovered until the 70s.

The bottom of the main platform.

Me on the main platform.  Taken by a kind tourist while Regan was still in bed. 

The lower echelons.  These houses are not inhabited but are just to show what they would have looked like.  The men and women live in different houses (even after marriage).  The womens` house has one entrance and the mens` has two.

Our accommodation on the 3rd night in Ciudad Perdida.  Hammocks again.

A self-portrait shot of the main plaza.

Scenery.

A map of the city.

Stairs in Ciudad Perdida.

The king`s throne.

A piggie we met on the trail home.

Hola,

From Bogota we took a bus to Santa Marta (on the coast in the north of Colombia), the oldest city in Colombia.  As we boarded the bus we realised we had left our boots at the hostal.  As the bus tickets were so expensive (NZ$146) we decided to stay on the bus and sort it out via phone.  A lady on the bus very kindly lent us her cell phone and then refused to accept any payment for it.  The hostal located the boots and secured them for the night.  18 hours later we arrived in Santa Marta.

The beginning of the "boots saga"...

We called the next day and arranged to have the boots sent to us at Casa Familiar in Santa Marta.  2 days later the package arrived however instead of our boots we received a cheap nd nasty knife set... not so useful for a 6 day trek!  The hostal owner was kind enough to accompany us to the ServiEntrega office to inform them of the problem.  They very quickly decided it must have been a mixup and that they would sort it out and our boots would arrive in 5 days due to the holiday period over New Years.

As we couldn´t do the Ciudad Perdida (lost city) trek without them we decided to go to the beach - New Year´s at the beach, what a change!

The beach at Tayrona national is very popular with the locals.  There were not many gringos.  You have to walk for 45 mins to get to the beach - it is not possible to go by car, although you can hire horses. 

We slept in hammocks but somehow forgot to take a photo.... ooops.

The water is clear and quite warm (not a surprise being on the Caribbean coast).  There are some reefs which create safe places for swimming.  Otherwise the beaches are a bit like Piha but no one here is silly enough to try and swim there.  There are no life guards anywhere.

We met a father and son on holiday from Bogota (Bogota is cold as it is at altitude so every single person from Bogota goes to the beach over the holiday period).  They accompanied us on a walk to Pueblito - an indigenous village built at the same time as Ciudad Perdida.  Some indigenous people still live there.

A postcard shot of the coast as we descended.

After 2 nights we walked out and while waiting for the truck back to the road a nice couple (from Bogota - where else?) offered us a lift to the road.  Then as they were going back to Santa Marta they dropped us off at the bus station.  The air conditioning was heaven.

Our boots didn´t arrive - as we expected.  We went back to the office with Fabio (the very nice man from the hostal) and they said they would check for them again and would know the next day.

The next day arrived.  No boots.  We decided to buy new boots for Ciudad Perdida and sorted out some documentation to request reimbursement for the lost boots.  We left this with Fabio and went to Ciudad Perdida.  (It would appear that none of the women in Santa Marta do any kind of trekking as there were no boots, anywhere, for women so Erin got to wear shoes).

Hola,

From La Paz, Bolovia we took a flight to Bogota, Colombia. However it turned out that our flight was not as direct as we thought it was. First it landed in Cochabamba, then on to Santa Cruz (both in Bolivia). Then! it flew up to Caracas, Venezuela and finally back down to Bogota.

Our next surprise was how expensive everything was in Colombia. The currency is pesos with NZ$1 being worth around 1,518 pesos. Our taxi from the airport to our hostal cost 18,000 pesos or NZ$12. Bear in mind we have been paying NZ$2 on average up until this point. The hostal was 36,000 pesos a night! (or more than NZ$20, again we had been paying NZ$12 or less in Peru and Bolivia).

The hostal, "Platypus", was great.  It is Colombian owned but called Platypus because it is an uncommon name in Colombia and unlikely to already have been used.  If the name you want to register is already in use you have to try again - paying for the privilege each time.  Where is the Companies Office when you need it!!!  (the lawyer in me struggles free). 

The Platypus is apparently the party hostal in Bogota, though we didn´t know this at the time. As it was xmas they put on a free xmas dinner consisting of local Colombian food (tamales) and of course beers which you could buy.

The next day we hiked up a large hill (called Montserrat) for a view of the city.  It is also part of a pilgrimage the local people make at Chrismas and Easter.  There is a church at the top.  Needless to say there were lots of people who obviously never walk anywhere!

They use motorbikes for everything here!

Erin visited the gold museum while I played some football (Soccer, but I say football because I need to attempt to become more English in preparation).

You will have guessed that everything in the gold museum was made from gold.  It has a collection of gold artefacts showing the progression in design and technique of the various cultures throughout Colombia.  These are some of what I saw.

These monkey earrings were probably my favourite thing in the whole museum.  They are designed to show movement.

These disks are used by the shamans to put them into a trance.  They remind me of things we used to make as kids.

Death masks placed over the face.

Various gold rings.

Urns for ashes.  It´s a bit macabre but they were beautiful and very well made.

A seat used by the chief.

Random things.

A statue which comes from the south of Colombia.  We are going to see more of them later.

Spindles for spinning wool.

Various other things including bats, birds and toads which have special significance.

The museum was very good and I´m tempted to go back when we return to Bogota.