Erin & Regan's South American Adventure

Hola,

We arrived in Piura at around 3pm, found some Peruvian money, some Peruvian food and some Peruvian bus tickets to Chiclayo.  The trip was only a quick 3 hours.  Once there we found a hostal... for 40 soles!  Almost twice what we paid in Cusco all those months ago!

The next morning we decided to visit the museum "El Museo de las Tumbas Real" in the nearby town of Lambayeque.  It was huge, shaped like the pyramid tombs it describes.  We were prohibited from taking photos, so you´ll just have to imagine it.

That night we took an overnight bus to Lima (11 hours or so), I got to watch "Una Noche en el Museo" with overdubbed Spanish.  Ben Stiller and Robin Williams just don´t sound right when they do that.

In Lima we discovered that all the hostals are twice the price of Cusco and also terrible quality.  At least they had a kitchen we could use and there was a supermarket nearby... where Erin had a fascination for the local breads.

We spent two days here, doing some touristy shopping and we also had dinner with an American diplomat we met in Quito and his wife (they live in Lima with their kids).  We spied this on the way home.  It takes watering the garden to a whole new level.

Our flight was 7am, which meant we had to get up at 3:50am in order to get there 2 and a half hours beforehand.  Goodbye Peru, for the second and last time.

Hola,

The train dropped us off in Alausi (it does a loop and returns there) and from here we caught a bus to Cuenca where we stayed for a number of days due to Erin feeling sick again.  We didn´t actually take any photos in Cuenca until we were leaving.  They sell 3 litre bottles of fizzy drink here!

From Cuenca we headed to Loja and then changed buses and headed to Vilcabamba.

We stayed at a really expensive place 2km out of town.  It had a pool we didn´t use, but the restaurant was excellent. 

The view from the hostal.

The next morning we decided to go for a walk... up another hill... what else would Erin want to do?

We were warned not to take any valuables because a few days earlier some tourists were robbed.  So, taking as little as possible we set off.  We were joined by Norbert, a German tourist who hadn´t heard the warning and has promised to send us some photos (fingers crossed).

In the meantime here is a view of the hill we climbed.  It had a ridgeline walk which was, in places, less than 1/2 a meter wide.

From here it was back to Loja to catch a bus across the border to Piura, Peru. 

Hola,

Our next destination was Riobamba, famous for the Devils Nose train journey.  We arrived, checked into a hostal (Tren Dorado - Golden TRain) right next to the train station and went for a wander.  We had a little lunch and then went back to the hostal for an afternoon nap, well Erin did, I had to go and line up to buy train tickets for the next morning.

The hostal had early morning buffet breakfasts for $3 per person so we signed up for 2 of those (figuring nowhere else in town would be open).  I spent the rest of the night watching football on TV (There is *always* a game on one of the channels!) while Erin wrote in her diary.

The next morning it was up early, breakfast and straight to the train station to get a good position in line (which we did).  Unfortunately the concept of a line went straight out the window when the trains (if you can call them that) arrived.

The people with luggage (like us) had to wait as someone loaded them into the train, consequently the people without luggage pushed past and climbed up onto the train to get the best seats.  As a result we ended up with possibly the worst seats (if you can call them seats).

As you might be able to see from this picture the trains are not really trains but more like busses with train wheels.  Sadly the original trains have long since retired.

It was also bitterly cold that morning and to top it off it was carnival season so the locals were throwing water at each other and tourists on the roof of a train are just too choice a target to pass up.  The older English lady got a water bomb right in the face, which was lucky for me because had it missed her it would have got me.

The scenery was much like the rest of Ecuador and we´ve seen so much of it we´re almost over it..

It was sunny, but still cold on the roof of the train.

Our artistic shot of the day.

More scenery, the legs off the side of the train looked kinda cool too.

We passed through some interesting places.  The track is famous for its feats of engineering.

We stopped at this point because the view was quite good.  You can see the other train(bus) below us.

Scenery, scenery, scenery...

At the bottom of the valley we stopped and those of us on the top had to switch with the passengers inside (some of whom had hopped on in Alausi).

Where´s wally?

There he is.

Hola,

To fully aclimatise for a climb you should spend 2-4 weeks at altitude, but, we had very little time before our flight from Lima, Peru to Santiago, Chile so we had to cut it short, to one night!  At first we weren´t even going to spend that long but some common sense prevailed and we organised to spend a night on the base of Cotopaxi at 3,800m.  The view of Cotopaxi from here.

The drive there was only an hour and so we had the afternoon to kill.  We decided to do a bit of walking to see how we were feeling.  First stop was a gentle walk to a lagoon.

On the way back from the lagoon we passed the start of a walk to another nearby volcano, I forget the name.  We decided to start this walk, go for a while to see what there was to see then to return the same way.  The nearby volcano.

The start of the walk.

The next day, around lunchtime the guide picked us up and we drove up Cotopaxi to the refuge, or rather to the parking lot below the refuge.  We had to climb 300m from here to the refuge with all our gear.  At the refuge we saw some wildlife, a wolf (lobo) probably scavenging off the leavings of climbers.

We had a quick bite to eat, then a rest, and then we headed a little way up the volcano to the snow line to have a practice with crampons and ice axes.

We were fairly quick to catch on, and the climb wasn´t going to be technically difficult so after a short practice we headed back to the refuge for a sleep.  We were to wake up at 12 midnight to begin our climb at 1am.  The reason for the early start is that during the day the ice melts somewhat and it becomes more dangerous.

The climb was only 5 hours (not 8 like El Misti) but it was much steeper.  Erin really likes climbing in crampons because she usually falls over and crampons give her much more stability.

Sadly I was unable to reach the top.  I tried, but about 100m from the top I just couldn´t go any higher.  I suspect the altitude and perhaps my recent illness affected my fitness as Erin had no trouble whatsoever.  I was also a little worried about the descent, which is the more dangerous part, and decided to wait while Erin and our guide (a man of infinite patience) climbed to the top and back down to me.

Photos from the top!

The view from where I stopped.

Us, at the (almost) top.

Views on the way down.  It was light and there was much more to see!

This cliff face of ice was a whole heap more impressive in the daylight.

More views.

Our guide.  He´s done this so many times it must be boring.

Us, dead tired, in the car park saying goodbye to Cotopaxi.

Hola,

Once in Latacunga we hopped off the bus and wandered to a nearby hostal where we took a room for the night, it was surprisingly cheap at US$6 each.  We should have known...

At approximately 2am a woman arrived in the hostal, the doorbell woke us with it`s fire alarm intensity.  Then her heels made a loud clacking noise as she walked up and down and up and down and up and down repeatedly past our door.. oh and the hallway light shone brightly through the hole above the door, the window no longer in evidence.

To top it off she left and then returned an hour or so later, repeating her performance.  It was at this point that I got up, turned the hall light off and slamed our door.  I think she got the message.

The next morning we had quick showers and packed some day bags for a trip to the crater lake of Quilatoa.  To get there we hopped on a local bus to Zumbahua, and from there rode on the back of a 4x4 to the village at the rim of the crater.

The view of the lake is spectacular; the water is vibrant green.

From here (after buying more souveneirs!) we ate a quick brunch of scrambled eggs and coffee then headed off for a 5 hour walk to a place called Chugchilan. 

The weather was at first fine, then dreadful, the clouds blocking almost all view of the countryside.  To add to this the trail was no longer marked due to locals destroying the signage in order to drum up business as guides (of which we met none..)

Along the way we encountered two Americans, almost as lost as ourselves.  Oh, and the local variety of toi-toi.

Eventually, about lunchtime, we reached a small village and quickly (because the village was really small) discovered there was no food to be had, so we had to rely on what we had brought with us.

After a false start due to the path not being marked (see above), we decided to enlist the aid of some local guides, two small boys whose parents owned and operated the only hostal in town.  A captive but limited market.

Along the way we encountered a donkey and it´s young foal(?).  I held my hand out to it and eventually it crept close enough to touch, almost.  We carried on and it followed us for a way.

For their service we paid our guides US$1 and also gave them a NZ coin, not sure if they were pleased by this or not, I was getting sick of carrying them around.  They directed us down the middle of three paths and went on home.  The path went down into what can only be described as a crevice (30-40cm wide) between two walls of rock.  The trail then passed over an Indiana Jones style bridge.

At this point we became involved (not by our choice) in the Sunday afternoon antics of the local children who, at this time, being close to carnival, were soaking each other with water.

After scaling the side of a cliff which was slipping into the river below we climbed the ridge to Chugchilan where more locals were soaking each other with water.  Once again we joined the festivities, well Erin did. ;o)

There are 3 or 4 nice places to stay here, we just took the first we came to.  It was a lovely new place which included dinner and breakfast. 

We chatted with several other tourists (including the Americans we had met on the trail and an older English couple). 

The next morning at approximately 3:30am we heard the bus honking it´s horn as it came through the village.  We jumped out of bed, handed over our key and got on.  The reason the bus leaves so early is because the locals travel to the markets in Latacunga, they need to arrive at 7am.

Once we arrived back in Latacunga we had a nice view of Cotopaxi, our next destination!

Hola,

When we had finally recovered enough to feel like doing something we decided to take a quick trip to a place just outside of Quito called Mitad del Mundo  (or, the middle of the world AKA the ecuator).  That´s right, the Ecuator runs right through the middle of Ecuador, who´d have thought.

To get there we jumped on a bus, which dropped us off at another bus station where we caught a 2nd bus to Mitad del Mundo.  There is an official site here complete with a monument and other displays and things you can visit.  Unfortunately the monument is 200m meters from the "real" ecuator as measured by GPS.

We hadn´t meant to go into the official one but we couldn´t see the other un-official site until after we paid (US$2 each) and entered the it, then over the wall we saw the other one.  In the official site you have to pay again to visit each part so we took a quick photo of the monument then high-tailed it to the other site.

The unofficial site, called Intiñan (meaning path of the sun) actually costs more to enter (US$3 each) but includes a tour with a guide who lets you try out all the experiments like pouring water down a sink, balancing an egg on the head of a nail and so on.

In addition you get a tour of some native style houses and a brief history of their culture and lifestyle.

They even have a real shrunken head and some details on the process of how to go about shrinking a head.

They used to have a giant tortoise but it recently died.  They had many jungle insects, snakes and snake skins on display.  Plus a native blowgun, sadly the dart was missing so I didn´t get a turn.

This particular native tribe uses a piece of string to hold their genitalia, that does not look comfortable to me!

Some nets for fishing.

There were some native people living right here on the site, they perform weaving and sell their designs to visitors.  Apparently as a child they have to learn a number of weavings off by heart and as they age they learn even more.

The obligatory "I´m standing on the Ecuator" shot.

A native sun clock.  The natives divided the day into only 3 parts, morning, mid-day and evening.  The clock is double sided because for 6 months of the year the sun only shines on one side.

There were a number of native cactus here, Erin liked this one (sorry I forgot to rotate this photo!)

We returned to Quito by catching the first bus that rolled past the official Mitad del Mundo.  It dropped us somewhere strange and eventually we caught a taxi to the local mall hoping to see a movie.  Sadly the mall had no theater so we asked for directions to another one and walked there.  It had movies but none in English so we decided to leave it for another day.  I had Burger King for dinner and we caught a bus back to our hostal.

The next morning we got up and headed into the old city for a quick peek.  The old city is full of big old buildings.

There were many strange people wandering through the city, including a group of monks... with a nice new backpack.  I guess monks need good bags too.  On the way back to the bus we stopped in at a shop selling glasses and they fixed my sunglasses (which had broken the day before) for free!

Sick of Quito we returned to our hostal, grabbed our bags and hopped a taxi to the terminal catching a bus to Latacunga.

Hola,

Near to Ipiales is a church famous for it´s gothic design and the fact that it literally spans a valley including the river at the bottom.

To get there we walked and took a colectivo (a car this time, usually it´s a bus).  It dropped us off at the top of the valley where we could just make out the church.

We walked down into the valley to he church.  My still weak body was not going to like walking back out of here!  The church itself had some interesting windows.

The waterfall was kinda cool too.

The bridgelike part which spans the valley is nifty.

The church is too.

Looking back across the valley.  Notice the valley wall is covered in plaques, more on these later.

The interior of the church, the altar is itself carved into the valley wall.

The plaques.  We figure they are prayers or blessings of some sort.

We took the same colectivo back to Ipiales, returned to our hostal and then had to ask around for the colectivo to the border.  Once there we got our exit stamps in customs then walked to Ecuador.  In Ecuador we changed our money (Ecuador uses US currency!) and got our entry stamps.  From here it was a short colectivo ride to a small town with busses south.

We jumped on a buss to Ibarra but the bus didn´t stop to let us off and before we knew it we were on the other side and heading for Quito.  We figured what the hell, paid for the longer trip and went all the way to Quito.

In Quito we took a taxi to the cheap hostal in the book.  Unfortunately it seemed to have closed down, luckily (or so we thought) there was one right next door. 

We checked in and discovered the sheets hadn´t been changed since the previous ocupants.  Erin was in no mood to sleep in dirty sheets so I went and requested new ones.  There was some grumbling but eventually they complied.

The next morning we got up at 8 and had showers, unfortunately the shower flooded the entire room!  Looking at the walls it was obvious this had happened before.  We packed up, paid the bill and hurried out the door.

We went straight to a slightly more expensive place "El Cafecito" which had been recommended by Ian.  It is a cafe, bar, restraunt, and hostal.  We checked into a lovely little room and then went downstairs for breakfast, pancakes and juice!

Erin, for some reason, loved the downstairs bathroom.  Something about the large double windows, who knows, she´s a bit crazy after all.

The next day we spent in bed, Erin came down with a flu and I was still recovering from my fever and associated stomach (and other) problems..  We did little more than eat and sleep all day, except perhaps a little internet.

The only problem with "El Cafecito" is that the bar is open until midnight and sleeping before then is difficult.

Hola,

No photos in this post, we were too busy clinging on for dear life!

The road in question runs from Popayan to the southern Colombian border, a town called Ipiales.

Imagine, if you will, the Manawatu Gorge but make it 10x deeper and 10x longer. Take one small bus, a 20 seater. Find one driver, select him from a mental institution for his obsessive compulsive desire to go as fast as possible and pass everything that gets in his way, even on blind corners.

At one point an old woman and her 4 year old(?) grand daughter were literally thrown from their seats. At that stage mother handed granny the 1 year old(?) and took the 4 year old... We spent the rest of the trip worried granny´d go for another tumble and this time with the 1 year old!

The reason for this manic behaviour, I think, is the fact that this road can only be driven by day, by night there is too much chance of an encounter with guerillas. As it stands the bus driver nearly killed us all, never mind the guerillas.

Well, we finally arrived in Ipiales in one piece, however it seems that I had come down with a fever and upset stomach (probably not related to the bus driving) so we decided to find a place for the night. I hibernated the rest of the afternoon and night, the next morning I was feeling weak but no longer feverish.

Hola,

On our next day in San Agustin we planned to visit a few of the other sites in the immediate area.  Our guide gave us a price of 120,000 pesos (NZ$87) for 4 sites (divided amongst Erin, Ian and I) but before agreeing we did a little bit of research and then some bargaining and got him down to 100,000 pesos (NZ$73).

The first stop was a waterfall, the viewing platform was a rickety structure suspended over the edge of the cliff.  Erin and I weren´t too keen for all 3 of us to be out there at the same time but Ian seemed oblivious.

The waterfall was quite cool.

Destination number 2 was another burial site with statues and carvings.  A typical burial site.

Each site was typically topped by a large flat carving, anthropomorphic in design.

Another of the large flat carvings.

Two tombs side by side with closeups of the guardians.

We´re not sure exactly what this is, perhaps another coffin like structure.

A good side on view of a typical burial chamber.

A more intricate coffin like structure.

The burial tombs are usually pretty deep in the ground.  This view is from the rear of the tomb, not you can see the back of the guardian.

Third stop, another waterfall, first the view down the valley.  At first the entire place was clouded in.  The guide started whistling at the clouds and saying that it would help them clear.  Strangely they cleared in fairly short order... hmm.

Then the waterfall itself.  We had to walk down the side of a valley to see this one.

On the way I saw a spider web and decided to get "arty".

This seemed the perfect spot to pose for a photo.

The valley sides were quite steep.

Fourth stop, another site of tombs and carvings.  I snapped this one of Erin when she wasn´t ready.

I thought this statue looked kind of granny like, except it´s also pregnant.

After taking that photo of Erin she wouldn´t let me get away without taking one of me.

From there it was back to a small town (I forget the name) to have lunch and await the bus.  While we waited we had a look around and saw a man selling hats.

A lady making toffee.

Several interestingly loaded local busses (Chiva´s).

Our bus finally arrived at 2:30pm and we had to run to catch it, because it wasn´t stopping where we were told it would.  The trip was exciting, not only was it the bumpiest I have ever been on but we also had a flat tire at one point.

We stopped for a toilet and snack break and I managed to climb the dirt bank beside the road to get this photo of the nearby range.  I just missed out on the perfect photo, when the entire range was lit by the setting sun, oh well.

After a 6 hour ride we finally ended up back in Popayan, went to bed fairly early to catch a bus the next morning for the real ´worlds most dangerous road´ (more on that next post)

Hola,

We were up early the next morning for our ride to San Agustin.  It was much quicker in the jeep with the tour guide than it would have been in a bus, plus he took us to a good place for breakfast and then to a decent hostal in San Agustin (run by someone he knew, of course).

That afternoon we took a tour of the main site, near town (with a guide he recommended, of course).  Our guide was excellent, so full of information it is difficult to recall even a small part of it.  All the sites in the area contain burial tombs, like Tierradentra, but this time they are combined with stone statues and other stone carvings.  Each successive culture built on what was left behind by the previous one.

A typical sort of stone statue, note the belt-like clothing, this identifies the statue as female (on male statues the genitalia is visible).  Note also the asiatic eyes but the wide almost african nose.  There are several details like these which appear to link these statues to many of the ancient cultures on the planet which suggests the carvers knew of these distant places somehow.

The entrance to a tomb.  These three statues are guardians of the  tomb.  Notice that the figures to either side have both a human figure and a snake-like one.  The lower figure is a carving of a person and the upper figure is what they want to be re-incarnated as.

The figure is anthropomorphic, meaning part man part animal.  In this case the triangular head is that or a big cat, like a puma perhaps.

There is a river nearby and at this river was found the following "mating frogs" statue, they point the way to carvings in the river itself.

The river carvings show faces, animals, and people (and some anthropomorphic figures also)

At the top of a hill were found more statues and tombs.  Note again the statues which contain two figures, the person and the creature they wanted to be reincarnated as.

This large flat carving covered the entrace to a tomb, it is anthropomorphic showing a human head on an animals body (crocodile, I think).

This one resembles the head of a monkey.

This one shows a bird eating a snake.  The guide suggested this was linked to Quetzalcoatl the god of the Aztec/Toltec peoples.

This stone coffin is just that, the guide suggested a person was placed inside it before burial for mourners to visit and pay their respects.

This somewhat greusome looking statue actually depicts the birth of a child.  It shows a mother and the midwife with the child.

There is then a lovely walk through the forest to see many more such statues, here is Erin being terribly disrespectful to this statue which appears to have sticks up it`s nose.

A selection of statues.

This one continues the mating animal theme which we saw throughout, this time it`s monkeys.

This culture was also fixated on penises, these are apparently represent penises, one with foreskin, one without.

In addition to statues it appears these people had rather detailed knowledge of a person internal organs.  One statue had the inner structure of a human heart carved on it.  Another the internal reproductive organs of a woman.  The guide suggested that they could perform surgery on these organs, I think it´s more likely that they just cut up dead people.

One stautue had been defaced by someone carving their own name into it... that wasn´t really very clever now was it.  Needless to say they were caught.

There was also evidence that these people practiced the elongation of the head technique which we first saw in Peru.  They would break the skull and bind it into an elongated shape.  They believe this would give a person more intelligence, it´s not known whether it worked but it is known that the person did not live long after such an operation.

Hola,

South of Popayan is a small place called San Andres de Pisimbala though most tourists just call it Tierradentro because it is the location of burial tombs by that name.

To get there we took a bus from Popayan that leaves every morning at 10:15am (the guide book said 5am and someone at the bus station said 6am but they were both lying).  The road was a windy dirt/gravel road through the mountains with a steep drop off to the side.

On the bus we met an american called Ian who planned to visit the same things as we did and so we ended up travelling with him.

The village of San Andres de Pisimbala has a lower and upper section.  We decided to stay in the lower section because that was where the museums and trail heads are located.  We stayed in a hostal called "Hostal Lucerna" run by a lovely old couple and their friendly dog called "Condor".

By the time we were all set up in the hostal it was 3pm.  As the museums close each day at 4pm and the trail we wanted to walk takes a full day we decided to see the first museum then call it a night.

The museum contains a number of artifacts from the burial tombs, including burial urns like this one:

There was a lot of additional information about the tombs and the various cultures that inhabitied the area over time.  The oldest tombs are from 2000 BC (at least) and are a simple vertical shaft to a small cave-like area.  The newer tombs have complex spiral stairways to larger chambers containing pillars and sometimes painted walls and ceilings.

The next morning we started on our walk to visit the 5 sites in the area.  At all of the sites except El Aguacate the tombs have been developed for tourism with a protective building over them, concrete covered stairways and a locked gate over the entrance.

The trail starts behind the museum, crosses a river:

and heads up the hill to a site called "Segovia".  These are the most impressive tombs, with the most complex stairways and painted walls:

Note the concrete coated stairway:

The tombs are lit and flash photography is forbidden (to protect the painted walls) so many of our photos are quite dark:

Some tombs still contained the burial urns and other pottery:

Another impressive stairwell:

In addition to being painted some of the walls are carved:

Me, backlit by the tomb.  Note the fence, this is as far into the tomb as we are allowed:

At the first site we met a tour operator from San Agustin (our next destination) taking a group on a tour of some of the same sites as we were visiting.  We got to talking and found out he was heading home the next day which was perfect for our schedule and so we organised a ride with him for about the same cost as the bus, what luck!

From the first site it was a short hike (further up the hill) to the 2nd site "El Duende" where they have more burial tombs.  On the way we saw a local pig.  The poles tied to it´s neck are to prevent it going through the fence.

The tombs in the 2nd site were less impressive, but still worth a visit.

At each site was a caretaker who would unlock each tomb for us to visit.  This one was also kind enough to pose for a photo.

From the 2nd site it was another short hike, this time downhill along a dirt/gravel road, to the 3rd site "El Tablòn".  Along the way we saw a lot of bamboo.

"El Tablòn" contains stone sculptures, they are not as old as the tombs and come from a different culture that inhabited the same area at a later stage.

From the 3rd site it is a short hike to the upper part of the village of San Andres de Pisimbala where they have a nice white church:

We sat in a local restraunt and had lunch, while we ate we saw a local "Chiva" (normally for passengers) being used to cart wood:

Then it was off to the 4th site "El Alto San Andrés".  To get here we walked down into a valley, across a river

then back up the other side of the valley to the site itself, along the way we saw a colourful tree.

At the site itself we saw an unexpected visitor, this guy was at least 20cm long.

From the 4th site it was a much longer hike around a ridge, through a valley then up to the top of the higher ridge and along that to the 5th site "El Aguacate" (which means "The Avocado").

Along the way some local children offered us some "mandarinas", they looked great so we agreed.  Sadly they were the sourest I have ever tasted, in fact I think I have had lemons which were less sour.  After choking part of one down we thanked them, it was then they told us we had to pay for them, we gave back the ones we hadn´t eaten and paid them a small amount.

The views from the top of the ridge were spectacular.

The site "El Aguacate" has 30-40 tombs, not developed for tourism but left "au natural" or rather how they were left by tomb robbers and such.

Some of these tombs also have painted walls.

From here it was a half hour all downhill walk back to the museum and a well deserved juice and night`s sleep.

Hola,

From Bogota we headed into the coffee region. We had two options, one expensive, one cheap. The expensive option was an all inclusive coffee farm/ranch with horse riding, a swimming pool and food included (70,000 pesos, per person, per night NZ$46). The cheap option was to head to Salento, stay in a hostal (15,000 pesos, per person, per night) and visit two nearby coffee farms (7,000 pesos) and do a day walk through the cloud forest.

In the end we chose the cheap option, not because it was cheap but because it allowed us to see the cloud forest and the wax palms (Colombia`s national tree).

Getting to Salento was not as easy as we`d first imagined, we spent too long in Bogota and caught a later bus which was then delayed by bad traffic arriving in Armenia at 11:30pm. The last bus to Salento was at 8pm. As a result we stayed the night in a cheap (pay by the hour?) hostal in central Armenia (which had only cold water for showers) and took an early bus the next morning to Salento.

Salento is a lovely little town. The hostal most travellers stay in is called The Plantation House (because it was once a coffee farm itself). It is run by an Englishman and his Colombian wife. They have 3 children, 3 dogs, 2 cats and goldfish. The hostal itself is very relaxed (no formal checkout time) and the owner is full of useful information and maps for the various sites in the area.

The afternoon we arrived we decided to tour the two coffee farms. They were both within easy walking distance and the countryside and walk along the way was interesting.

The first farm was a small farm still run in the traditional manner which is to grow coffee but also have other means of income and sustenance like livestock i.e. chickens, a pig, etc. At this farm a young boy gave us the tour showing us the different trees they use. Colombian (taller, shorter lived, with yellow beans).

and Arabic (smaller, longer lived, with red beans).

Although the skins of the fruit are different colours they both contain a small white bean covered in a gelatinous membrane.

They also grow banana trees in amongst the coffee plantation to provide shade for the coffee trees from the direct sun. In addition he showed us another denizen on the plantation which they are pleased to have... a small spider shaped a little like a coffee bean which preys on the insects which destroy the bean crops.

As well as coffee this area has a type of bamboo which grows really large and fast. They use it for constructing houses and fences and so on.

The small farm has a small hand-powered machine for removing the yellow and red skins from the white bean.

We were told that both types of bean (Colombian and Arabic) produce the same flavour coffee, however the Arabic, in general, grows larger and therefore higher quality beans.

From that farm it was a short walk to the larger farm, run in a more businesslike style. It turns out the owner actually studied in Hamilton, New Zealand!

Along the way we passed a small farm where they had an interesting collection of animals.

The larger farm had many more coffee trees and therefore required a much larger machine for shelling the beans.

They produce a much larger amount of coffee. These farms shell and dry the beans but do not carry out the roasting, grinding or packaging.

The farm homestead itself was a beautiful building surrounded by many flowering plants. After our tour they treated us to a coffee and we purchased some ground coffee (but not instant Mum!).

From here we followed a path down to the river and walked along the river to a small village where we flagged down a bus back to Salento.

The hostal had recently obtained 2 kittens, one was particularly small and probably shouldn`t have been without its mother. That night Erin took a liking to it and would have packed it away in our bags if I hadn´t been keeping a close eye on her.

The next morning we were up early to catch the jeep to the start of the day walk through the cloud forest. It was then Erin discovered the kitten dead in the corner of the kitchen, perhaps from a broken neck. It seems likely one of the dogs got it during the night.

Due to the upsetting event of finding the kitten we only just made it in time to catch the jeep. Jeeps here function like buses, picking up and dropping off passengers. I ended up standing on the back and holding on but Erin got a seat. The jeep dropped us off just down the road from the start of the trail into the cloud forest. The trail itself began as a small dirt road/track through farm land.

It also contained a number of bridges over the stream which we followed up into the hills. This was the first.

The view from the valley floor up into the hills was impressive, the wax palms (the worlds 2nd tallest tree?) give the hills a "hairy" appearance.

The 2nd bridge.

The 3rd bridge, this one was a little in need of repair!

The 4th bridge.

The 5th bridge.

The 6th bridge, also in need of repair.

The 7th bridge.

We reached the end of the valley and a place called Acaime where a local couple run a hostal and cafe in addition to collecting the park entrace fee. They have a number of hummingbird feeders allowing us to get a few good shots of the birds themselves. Apparently there are 6 distinct types in this area. One type of hummingbird, about the size of a bumblebee, is the world´s smallest bird. We also learnt that they have hummingbirds in France!

From Acaime we walked back and up the valley side to a lookout point called simply "El Mirador". The view was good but not amazing (despite Erin being in the photo) as we were not at the high point.

From here we dropped back into the valley retracing our steps a little back across one of the bridges and then climbed another ridge to a place called "La Montaña", another hostal/cafe establishment.

The view from here was much more impressive.

At this point you enter the cloud forest where the wax palms (seen earlier as a hairy hillside) grow.

From here we descended back down to the start of the walk and waited for a lift back to Salento, also by jeep. We arrived back just in time to avoid the rain!

That was all we had time for in Salento. Our next destination was south to Popayan and from there to Tierradentro (ancient burial tombs) and San Agustin (ancient stone sculptures/statues).

Hola,

The next day we decided to hire bikes and visit a couple of the local attractions. Actually it was Stepan´s idea to hire the bikes and he organised it too, getting us a small discount, way to go Stepan.

The first stop was El Fosil.  An aquatic dinosaur that they haven´t quite managed to classify as yet.

In addition there are a number of other fossils displayed here.  Our favourites are shown here.

A shellfish.

No-one knows what these 2 are.

Another shellfish.

A fern.

A pine cone.

Destination number 2, El Infiernito.  Yet another location where the indigenous people have a fixation with penises.

Some small.

Some large.

A field of penises.

The scenery is stunning.

This is thought to be a calendar.

On the way back to Villa de Leiva we spotted this monstrosity which Erin loves.

Now, on to the pottery.  We caught a colectivo (which was late by half an hour and then delayed by road works) to Raquirá, a nearby village, the home of the local pottery (rumoured to be some of the best in Colombia).  We had just enough time to arrive, buy some pottery and then catch the same bus back.

The central plaza has some interesting sculptures.  If Erin ever goes back she vows to take 2 empty suitcases.  We´re carrying the pottery around with us - fingers crossed it makes it to the UK intact.

Back in Villa de Leiva, the central plaza is the biggest in South America (we believe)... though it´s empty of all but a tiny fountain. Weird.

Erin would have stayed here much longer but we´re fast running out of time, we have to be in Lima, Peru by the 20th of Feb for our flight to Santiago, Chile and we still have all of Ecuador to go!

So, back to Bogota we go!

Hola,

On the colectivo to Villa de Leiva we met a Czech traveller called Stepan.  We ended up seeing the sights of Villa de Leiva with him.

Our purpose in visiting Villa de Leiva was initially to walk up (another) hill to a lake and see the 3 stages of vegetation on the way.  We had been told it was beautiful.  However, Erin also discovered the local pottery.. more on that later.

Our day started at 6:30, we had managed to convince a local lady to get up extra early and make us breakfast.  We caught the colectivo at 7am and arrived at the start of our walk at around 7:35. 

The first part of the walk was 3km up a gravel road to the ranger station where we met the nice ranger, signed in, paid the fee and tried out his bike.

Actually, he has a new one now. 

These photos show the 3 different stages of vegetation.

When we arrived at the lake there was a mighty fog, we couldn´t see the lake and in fact didn´t realise it was less than 3m away.

It was also rather cold (but still sunny, yes, sunny).

The fog eventually cleared, note the crazy woman is still in shorts.

We retraced our steps only to discover that the transport home was a few hours away.  We tried to hitch a ride but the only vehicle going our way didn´t even blink at us.  Finally we lucked out (of a sort) and got a lift on the back of a truck carrying freshly cut eucalyptus poles.  It was .. interesting.  (Erin says fun!).

Back at the hostal we discovered the pet duck playing in the fountain.

Hola,

From Bogota we decided to make a day trip to a place called "Zipaquirá" where an old salt mine has been converted into a cathedral.  The best part for us was the atmosphere, it was cool but not freezing and the size of the place was staggering.  The religious significance of the 14 stations of the cross was lost on us but the carving was interesting.

From Zipaquirá we continued on to a little place called "Villa de Leiva".

Hola,

From Cartagena we headed to Medellin.  I was sort of looking forward to Medellin because we planned to stay at a hostal called "The Black Sheep", owned and operated by a kiwi.

So, taking an overnight "Buscama" (bus with a bed) from Cartagena we left for Medellin.

When we arrived we took a taxi straight to the hostal, that is to say once we found our way out of the bus station, a 4 level giant of a place.  The taxis left from the 3rd floor, go figure.

We were in for a bit of a surprise, the area where the black sheep was situated was so developed it could have been a suburb of Auckland.  The hostal itself was an un-assuming place with only a small black sheep painted on the fence, and no sign announcing its presence.  At first we thought we were in the wrong place.

The hostal was perfect.  It had a kitchen with actual hot water coming from a tap in the sink.  It had good showers and a decent sized bed.  Kelvin (the owner) was full of useful information and probably the best part of all was the comfy sofas to lounge around on.

Medellin has a metro system (something Auckland seriously needs to consider, actually I have another idea for Auckland but more on that later).  The metro is great, you pay 1 price and you can travel as far as you like, there is one main line and 3 to 4 smaller ones crossing it.

The next morning we took the metro into town to look for the sculptures by Botero (you may remember him from Cartagena).  There is a plaza here containing maybe 30 huge sculptures and a museum with some of his paintings. Here are a few of our favourite sculptures:

The next day we again took the metro (I loved that thing) to the bus station and hopped on a bus to a big rock called "El Peňol".  There is a staircase built into the side and great views from the top of the surrounding area, filled with lakes themselves filled with trout.  Unfortunately we picked the same day to visit as a million other people (almost all Colombians) and it took forever to climb up, due in part to the narrow places where the people going up had to wait for those coming down. 

From the rock we walked 30-40 mins to the nearby town of "Guatapé" (oddly there is a town not so nearby called "El Peňol", go figure) where we had lunch, Erin had the trout and I tried a local dish called "Mondongo".. bad move, it was essentially a soup with bits of unidentifiable meat throughout.

The town was nice, we quite like this shot of the church.

It was nearing dusk and the weather was cloudy and not at all warm, plus our transport home was to be this "chiva", an open sided bus.

So, we decided to purchase a blanket to keep us warm (I had also forgotten my jacket!).  We ended up with a "Spiderman" blanket which Erin keeps confusing with Superman (what is it with women and superheroes?). 

I think a blanket has to be on the top 10 things to have travelling in South America.  We have used it a couple of times in hostals and on overnight buses in Colombia where they crank up the air conditioning to full for the whole trip, because, get this "we´ve paid for it").  You don´t however need to bring one with you because you can just buy one once you get here.

We didn´t do much else in Medellin, from here we shot back to Bogota.