The point of this little diatribe is that one can’t help but be impressed with the Incan Empire, and coming to Peru, you find bits of their history everywhere. Fortunately, in Peru, you also find remnants of Pre-Incan civilizations as well; such as the Chachapoyan ruins at Kuelap. The next stop on our journey: Cajamarca. Cajamarca is a nice blend of Pre-Incan, Incan, and Spanish cultures. After spending 2 days driving through the mountains on a winding little dirt road, we arrived in a beautiful old city in the mountains with a rich history beginning before the Incans came along and continuing through present day as the center of Peruvians battle against outside interest’s desire to extract their resources. In this case a foreign national company (with a US company as the majority owner) wants to put in a new gold mine, near the location of an already existing gold mine (also owned by foreign interests) that has already done untold damage to the environment and local culture. In the past few months, the people of the area have been standing against the mine with demonstrations and picketing. You can’t go anywhere in the area without seeing signs stating: CONGA NO VA! (or NO TO CONGA), Conga being the proposed location of the mine. All in all, in made Cajamarca an interesting place for a visit.

The view of the Cathedral from the Plaza de Armas

Upon our arrival in Cjamarca, after taking a day to stroll around the town and enjoy the huge plaza de armas and the small streets, markets and colonial buildings, we headed out to Cumbe Mayo the site of pre-Incan water canal system, built by the Chachapoyas to divert water from the Atlantic watershed towards the pacific. The area is surrounded by tall rock monoliths giving the area the name of Los Frailones or stone monks. We took a short hike through the frailones and checked out the water canals. We couldn’t help but be impressed by the engineering of the canals that in some places go straight through huge rocks that have been carved out.

Los Frailones

The present day city of Cajamarca was built by the Spanish after conquering the Incans in the area. The conquistadors mostly tore apart the Inca city and used the stones to build on top of what was there. There is one remaining Inca building here, which while not impressive to look at it does have some impressive history. Atahualpa, the Inca emperor when the Spanish conquistadors arrived was enjoying the famous Inca baths, hot springs located in the outskirts of Cajamarca. The Spanish captured Atahualpa and held him prisoner in this last surviving Inca structure. As the story goes Atahualpa offered the Spanish a ransom of enough gold and silver to fill the room he was being held prisoner to a height of his fully extended arm over his head in exchange for his release.

A painting at the entrance to the ransom room depicting the height to which Atahualpa promised to fill the room with silver and gold

Naturally, the Spanish accepted the deal and got a boat load of gold and silver. Naturally, the Spanish didn’t uphold their end of the deal and instead kept Atahualpa prisoner for another nine months before killing him in the town square, effectively ending the Inca Empire’s reign.

The entrance to the “ransom room” is only 5 soles (less than 2 bucks) and includes entrance to a museum around the corner in an old hospital attached to the Iglesia Belen. The museum isn’t anything spectacular but worth checking out. The interesting part of it is the “cubbies” set into the walls that are the former sick rooms. If you think spending time in a modern hospital is bad, these rooms would be a whole lot worse.

A recreation of a "hospital room". Not somewhere I would want to spend a lot of time.

By far our favorite place in Cajamarca was Usha Usha bar. Not necessarily for the reason you are probably thinking of. Don’t get me wrong, the drinks were excellent (in fact we enoyed our first Pisco Sour at Usha Usha), but the atmosphere, the owner, and the music were amazing! The place is a tiny hole in the wall, with just a few tables, a tiny bar, and walls covered with writing left by visitors. The owner, Cesar, has lived in the area his whole life and offers his visitors great conversation on the history and politics of Cajamarca and Peru. He is also a very talented musician. He and his band (which includes any one who can play an instrument and/or sing) play Peruvian folk songs all night, while the patrons sing and clap along. By the end of the night (morning really), the place is packed with people, all singing and joining in the music. We didn’t know any of the words to the songs, so instead we just sat back and let the wonderful atmosphere dance around us.

The amazingly friendly and talented host of the Usha Usha bar.

We had never heard of Kuelap before we started planning our trip to Peru, but once we started looking into we realized it is  a very special place. Some go as far as comparing it to Machu Picchu. We will reserve judgement, but I must say it is an impressive place.

Let’s share some background on the place, the educational aspect of Lost World Expedition if you will. Lacey briefly spoke of the Chachapoyas on the last post, so we know they were a pre-Inca civilization that thrived in Northern Peru. Sadly the Chachapoyas were conquered by the Inca Empire around 1475AD not long before the Spanish Conquistadores came to Peru, which means a lot of their history is lost. All we know of them comes from their conquerors the Inca and the Conquistadores so I am sure there is a little bias…

As far as fortresses go Kuelap is impressive, it was built at approximately 9,800 feet above sea level on a ridge overlooking the Utcubamba Valley. The stone walls of the fortress are 60 feet in height and at its widest the fortress is about 360 feet. The entrances that remain are very narrow and provide very easy means to regulate entry to the fortress. If this place was indeed conquered there must have been a very long siege.

Kuelap, a view from the opposite ridge. Most of the ridge you can see here are what is left of Kuelap

Lacey leaning on the tiny wall of Kuelap

Kuelap Exterior Wall Panoramic shot, hard to show how large it is

Within the fortress there are as many as 400 dwellings(?) of cylindrical shape, sadly only the bases of the structures remain; however, one structure was rebuilt in order to give visitors an idea of what the “houses” looked like.

A typical structure from Kuelap restored. We were told that there is some debate as to the actual degree of slope o the roof

A Kuelap cylindrical home or what is left of it

A cluster of homes on the edge of one of the entrances to Kuelap

One thing both Lacey and I found quite fascinating was a small structure that remains inside most of the cylindrical houses at Kuelap.  In order to save myself and the reader a very bad description, see the photo below. We asked our guide and he informed us that these were “cuyeras” or cuy (guinea pig) housing.  It seems to make sense to have fresh food at all times, to grow your own cuy inside the house and feed them all your scraps just like we saw in a current rural abode (on last post).

I must say we were thoroughly impressed by Kuelap. The location, the size of the walls, the views from the top it is all beautiful and seems very well thought out.  It has been a while since we visited ruins so we came with a fresh disposition (unlike our 10th ruin visit in Mexico). Kuelap seems a lot more pragmatic than the giant ruins of pyramids we saw in Mexico and Guatemala. Why? Because it is a more usable place. There is very little space used for anything other than homes and gathering places, and it is a very easy place to defend which meant a lot then. Pyramids although beautiful, seem like a waste of manpower to build. The Chachapoyas built a big fort and a ton of houses… “simple” and to the point. They did take the time to choose a beautiful spot to build and decorated with some neat images and architecture

“25,000 miles . . . That’s not so far, certainly we could make it to Ushuaia in five months, nine months at a leisurely pace.” This is what we told ourselves back home, staring at the maps laid out on the kitchen table. Maps should have a warning like side view mirrors, this country is larger than it appears.

The PanAmNotes Rig doing its thing

Realizing this didn’t take long.  We spent hours ogling the trip reports of past PanAm journeys. We craved the surf in central America, offroading in Bolivia, and mountain climbing in Peru. We recognized the necessity of driving to a place, rather than through it. Before even shifting the truck out of park we decided nine months wasn’t going to cut it. We were still in the process of saving money and dug deeper shooting for 12 months.
We hit Mexico at our planned 12 month pace. Driving aggressively, averaging too many hours in the truck each day, we watched the country fly past. We spent over a month in Mexico and while we look back fondly on it, we know we missed damn near all of it with our exhaustive schedule.  After Mexico, we seemed to downshift a little bit more with each country, lingering longer, absorbing more, and living better.

Brianna "downshifting" to the proper speed

We maxed out our three month visas in Peru and had to admit it was a major part of the reason this country topped the list of our favorites. Peru had become familiar, a culture we could grasp, foreign not at all.  It was here we made yet another extension to the journey. The logistics behind the decision were still forthcoming.  Financially we were in the same spot as our previous January end date.  We didn’t have the money but we had a plan.  Living slowly makes life more affordable. Rather than arriving in town after an eight hour drive and embarking upon the executive two day see-it-all affair, you can spend a week or two wandering around soaking it all in. With less driving the gas costs diminish and the need for luxury and convenience become unnecessary.

We have found a happy middle ground in between the overstuffed tour bus takers and the long term apartment leasers (SprinterLife we’re looking at you). We stick around long enough to meet folks, hear the local gossip, and engage in arguments over the best brand of mate (without a doubt, it’s Amanda).

There seems to be a growing popularity of speedy efficiency among travelers, especially Americans. If I have a week I can see a country, if I have a month I can see a continent, if I have three months, I can see the world!

Driving the PanAm is a malleable journey, it can be whatever you want it to be. Whether you’re seeking immersion, volunteering to better other lives, or just looking for a period of introspective extroversion, there’s just nothing fast about it.

Logan peak baggin'

Alas, Luis woke up in the middle of the night before we were leaving with a bad stomach and ended up spending the rest of the night in the bathroom with a visit from Montezuma (second time in 2.5 years, not bad really). Thinking this would not be a good way to spend the 4 day trek, Lacey went down to the tour office and explained the situation. “No problem, you can leave tomorrow,” was the reply. Since we were already committed to the idea, we agreed, never once thinking maybe this was an omen that we shouldn’t be going at all, or at least Luis shouldn’t.

The first day of the tour was more like bussing than trekking. We first went out to the Ciudad de Los Muertos (city of the dead), where we hiked along impossibly narrow shelves built by the Chachapoyas in the middle of impossibly steep cliffs to check out sarcophagi and the remains of what appear to be small houses built along a shelf running the length of the cliff. The sarcophagi are too far to get a good look, but they look like egg shaped mounds of clay that contain mummies. Some of them have what appear to be faces on the top of them.

The sarcaphagi mounds set into the recess of the cliff.

Our next stop was at Karajia where some more impressive sarcophagi are found. These sarcophagi are made out of wood and stand almost 10 feet tall. They have some vaguely human shape to them, and are pretty amazing to look at. Like the less refined sarcophagi at the Ciudad de Los Muertos, these are also set into recess in the middle of cliffs. One has to wonder how the hell they got these things up there.

The end of the first day found us winding down into Valle Huaylla Belen slightly reminiscent to the Valle de Cocora in Colombia and one of the most beautiful and picturesque valleys I’ve seen. The valley bottom is covered in green grass with a little river snaking through the middle and surrounded by jagged mountains on all sides. The valley is now protected in a type of land trust, but our guide told us it has always been considered sacred among the people living here, which is how the valley has escaped being split up into plots of agriculture by the locals.

The view of the valley from above.

The morning of the second day arrived cold, cloudy and drizzly, but we were exited anyways because we would be hiking all the way to our next destination for the night. As we started walking out of the valley, the clouds broke and the sun came out making it a very pleasant hike. Leaving the valley behind we started walking through the mountains following a pre-Incan path of laid rock that connected the different cities of the Chachapoyas people. The really cool part is that the path is still used by the campesinos in the area. It was pretty amazing to think about how many generations of people had passed through these same paths in the over 1,000 years since the rocks had been laid. In the afternoon, we arrived at the ruins of one of the towns, just as the sky opened up and began to pour rain. One of the unique and interesting things about the Chachapoyas people is the architecture which is characterized by circular stone houses.

Luis walking the trail of the Chachapoyas.

From the ruins, it was all down hill to the town way in the valley below where we were staying the night. Unfortunately the rain wasn’t helping the already treacherous and slippery trail get any easier to walk down. About half way down, Luis slipped on some rocks and went down. Everybody let out a collective gasp as they saw the angle of his foot and leg that he fell on. There was a few minutes of panicked discussion as our guide told us we were still a good hour from town. Luckily, after a few minutes and some attention from his personal nurses (the two girls, Amy and Romney, we were on the hike with had taken wilderness first responder courses) he was able to get up and continue to walk. It was a very painful walk into town, as Luis’ injured ankle didn’t deal well with the slippery, rocky path. As we relaxed at the place we were staying, and watched the cuy running around in the kitchen where our food was prepared, we discussed what Luis was going to do. In the end, at the urging of our guide (who no doubt didn’t want to have to deal with anymore falling Luis) it was decided that Luis would return to Chachapoyas in the morning and sit out the day while the rest of us continued on. He could catch a bus the following morning (the 4th day of our trip) and meet us for the grand finale of the trip: the ruins of Kuelap.

The kitchen at our bunk house. If you look closely you can see a bunch of guinea pigs huddled under the stove.

Our third day started out with more rain, surprise, surprise! It had rained all night, so we weren’t too excited at the condition of our trail for the day. Today we were spending most the time on horses, with some hiking in between when the trail was too bad for the horses. What our guide failed to tell us was that our horses were actually part mountain goat, and the trail was going to be INSANE! The ride started out mellow enough, but soon went from mellow to white knuckled hold on for your life crazy. We were traversing straight up mountain sides, in some places feet deep in water and mud, and climbing over wet, muddy, slippery rocks. Yes, all while riding horseback! I have never been on a ride like this before, and probably won’t ever again. The first hour or so, I was riding in terror, thinking as we approached each new crazy slope that there was no way these poor horses were going to make it up, and planning my no doubt ungraceful departure from the horse. After about an hour or so, however, of still finding myself in place on the horses back after each leap and scramble, I started to trust my horse and relax a bit to enjoy the ride. Our horses were really quite impressive, taking each leap and bound in stride. While there was a bit of slipping and sliding on their part, not one of the three horses ever came close to going down in the entire 5 hours of our ride. By the end I was convinced that they really were part mountain goat. The other amazing part of this ride was the horse guide. He scrambled along with us the entire time, wearing shorts and sandles in the pouring rain, while furiously chewing his bag of coca leaves. No matter how steep and slippery the slope was, he was always right there along side the horses and never once appeared to get tired or out of breath. I for one was totally impressed by this, as the few times we had to hike up a hill I was floundering along out of breath within minutes.

Riding horses on the muddy trail. This is actually the better part of the trail. Unfortunately, I was either to scared or it was pouring down rain to get pictures of the "better" part of the trail.

Our fourth day of the trip we were picked up by a bus and drove up to the ruins of Kuelap. Kuelap is said to be the Machu Pichu of northern peru, with the advantage of having way less visitors. We will save our opinion on the matter for after our visit to Machu, but Kuelap was indeed well worth it. It is a huge fortress, perched at an elevation of 3,000 meters (almost 10,000 feet) on a mountain top, with amazing views of the surrounding mountains in all directions. For more on the Kuelap ruins see the separate post soon  We had so many great photos we decided to post them separately. But as an enticement to check it out here is a small preview.

On days that we spend more than a few hours in the car, we usually end up grumpy and on a mission to get where we are going. For some reason, maybe the beautiful scenery or maybe just the fact that we knew it was going to be a long drive and had prepared for it, we actually took our time and enjoyed the drive. We even stopped after a few hours on the road and made some coffee having missed our morning caffeine intake in an effort to get started early.

Once we hit the mountains, the landscape turned a lot more scenic, with lush green mountains covered in clouds in all directions. There is something about the Andes, with the exceptionally high peaks dropping into steep narrow valleys that make you feel how small we truly are. We saw lots of goats scattered all over the hillsides as we wound our way around the hairpin turns. We even saw this little guy (picture below), giving a new meaning to the joke: “why did the tarantula cross the road.” It is hard to tell in the picture just how big he is, but the fact that we were able to spot him crossing the road as we were driving might give some indication.

The road is dotted with memorials along the roadside every 500 meters or so as a testament to all those who have come before and a good reminder to drive safe and keep your eyes on the road. These are the type of roads that always make us especially appreciative to be in our own vehicle. It is scary enough without having to put your life into the hands of some maniac bus driver that goes barreling around the corners, while looking at the steep hillside as it drops off the road so far below.

Almost every big truck we passed had a biker hanging on the back. Smart bike riders, we wouldn't want to have to peddle up these hills either.

After what seemed like hours, oh yeah it was, we finally dropped out of the mountains into the Amazon region, and what a change in both temperature and landscape! It is hard to explain the difference in the greenness and vegetation between the lush mountains and the even lusher tropical region. Here, the hills are more rolling and even greener if that makes any sense. All of the trees and cliffs have vines growing all over, and the valleys are terraced and full of growing rice. The air is thicker and more humid and the temperature warmer.

After a while we climbed back out of the topical area into more mountains although not quite as high this time. By the time we arrived in Chachapoyas we had come to a happy medium. Nestled in the mountains, it is high enough to be out of the hot humidity of the lower tropical region, but not high enough to reach the coldness of the high andes. As it was New Year’s Eve, we made it just in time to stroll the plaza enjoying all the families and kids letting off fireworks. Our nightcap for the evening was watching a very drunk Peruvian who pulled up to the plaza right at midnight with his girlfriend. He proceeded to get out of his truck with the radio blasting the Bee Gees, light an incredibly long roman candle (it had to be at least 4 feet long) and do a strip dance (he managed to keep his clothes on, but you get the idea:) ) while shooting colored lights into the sky. Unfortunately we had forgotten our camera at the hotel when we had gone out (I know bad travelers), but you get the picture. We couldn’t help cracking up while enjoying the show and toasting to midnight. Any new year that starts with this much comic relief is bound to be a good one! In true Lost World Expedition style, we are a bit late with this post, but we want to wish everybody a Happy and Blessed New Year.

After hearing how busy this particular border crossing was, imagine our surprise when we arrived and found we were the only ones there! The place was completely empty. Ecuador was easy to check out of, the immigration guy even kindly offered to give us another 3 months in Ecuador if we so desired (at a small fee I’m sure). We thanked him kindly but said no it wasn’t necessary and were on our way out of the country. Even with nobody else around to make us invisible, the customs office for the truck is a good 4 km from the border so nobody noticed. Crossing the bridge into Peru, we were the only ones on the huge 4 lane road. It felt a little weird.

The Peruvian side of the border was just as easy and deserted as the Ecuadorian side. The plus side of this was no long lines to stand in. We just walked right up and got taken care of. Everybody was even really nice and friendly. Within a half hour we were all set and on our way. So far the easiest and most pleasant border crossing experience we’ve had. I guess we should note that the virtual desertedness of the border isn’t really normal. One of the border guys on the Peru side told us a few days before it was so busy, a woman who had arrived at 8 in the morning didn’t get out of there until 2 in the afternoon due to the long lines. I guess we had a bit of luck on our side!

We knew that our fellow overlanders Tree and Stevie of Sprinterlife were somewhere near the border so we kept our eyes peeled and sure enough, in true travelin’ mojo, not an hour down the road we spotted their sprinter on the side of the road in the town of Zorritos. We pulled over and after talking with them decided to spend a few days hanging out. We stayed at a place right on a nice beach, relaxed, and tried to get used to the heat. So far a great start to our 11th country on the road! If you want to see more about Zorritos, you should check out the BodesWell blog. These guys stayed here for quite a bit longer than us and do justice to the area in their posts.

The four of us squeezed into the back of a tuk-tuk on the way to dinner.

Oh, we almost forgot the most important picture of the post. In Zorritos, we got our first opportunity to try the famous Peruvian ceviche. Without a doubt it lived up to its reputation!

The Andean paramo is in my opinion (Lacey) one of the most beautiful sites to be found in Ecuador. The grasslands are found at altitudes above the tree line and below the permanent snow line. As you look across the landscape you see mostly bunch grasses that give the area its name. The grasses are varied in color from light brown to deep greens and everything in between. Once you start walking through the park you find that the ecosystem is much more complex than originally meets the eye. There are different types of lichens growing in little clumps that look like miniature versions of the hobbit house, small bunches of moss, and tons of different little tiny flowers and some big spiny cacti as well growing in between the grass.

Since we hadn’t been at altitude for a while, we were not exactly up for a lot of high altitude hiking, but the scenery from the visitor’s center was so stunning we decided we at least had to make an attempt. There is a large lake right in front of the visitors center, so we took off for a little hike around the lake to see if we could get some different views. On every hilltop we got to, we found more lakes and little streams feeding into even more lakes. After about an hour of hiking, Lacey was starting to get a headache and Luis’ head hurt soo bad he had tunnel vision, so we decided it was time to turn around. Good thing too, because it started to rain just as we reached our truck. As a reward for our good timing we got to see this cute little bunny rabbit hanging out in the grass .

The sanctuary is actually in the outskirts of Puyo, and as it turns out there is other rehabilitating wildlife there not just monkeys. The sanctuary consists of a few acres of fenced in property where most monkeys can roam freely. There are a few very large cages for some of the monkeys that are less socialized and more likely to hurt human visitors or other monkeys. The place is run by Fundacion los Monos, Selva y Vida and they keep funded by donations and from the entrance fees to the sanctuary. There are several volunteers from all nationalities living in the premises, which is kinda cool until you find out there are very few spots on the premises (including the house) that don’t have monkey dung and urine.

The place is awesome! Most of the monkeys are curious and super friendly. In fact Lacey had a female cling on to her for most of our tour of the facility and the only way to get her off was offering her food.

Lacey's adopted "daughter" Paola, she loved Lacey!

Sweet Paola

We opted to do the self guided tour of the facility and whilst walking by a creek we picked up another friend! A river otter that fancied itself a puppy dog. As soon as the otter saw us he swam to shore, ran up to us and started “barking” non-stop and rubbing up on our feet. It was awesome! He followed us for most of the walk around the place “barking” most of the way. Due to his incessant barking and true to our cheesy nature we named the otter Sir Barks a Lot (I know we are cheesemeisters).

Our faithful wanna be canine companion: Sir Barks a Lot

Sir Barks a Lot rubbing up on Luis' foot

A stroll through the woods with a monkey and a river otter from Lost World Expedition on Vimeo.

It was a great experience. We were visited by all the different monkeys at the sanctuary and Luis even had a Coatimundi and a spider monkey jump on his lap. Amazing day! Enjoy the photos

So the story goes as follows: We spent a week in Reserva Cuyabeno a National Park that is part of the Ecuadorian Amazon (more about this wonderful place in another post). On one of our daily canoe day trips we went fishing, not for food, but for the tourist practice of fishing for piranha (the Amazon’s Deadliest Catch?). Touristy, but fun.

Armed with “fishing poles” (sticks with a mono line and a rusty hook) and some raw beef, we find a good spot and start casting. It doesn’t take long for us to start bringing in piranha. They are ruthless eaters and a feeding frenzy ensues.  Luis catches one…

And proceeds to unhook, this is a catch and release fishery after all…

The problem comes when Luis attempts to place the tiny piranha on his hand in order to allow Lacey a good view for a photo… piranhas are quick and vicious and have razor sharp teeth… This tiny fellow proceeds to bounce of Luis’ hand an take a chunk off his thumb!!!

Lesson learned. Don’t mess with piranhas, no matter how small Our guide brought up the good side of the event: “Can we keep the photos, so that we can show other tourists exactly what not to do?” Yes ladies and gentlemen, Luis took one for the team so that others could learn from his mistakes (as usual).

The other thing we realized today is that we are still thinking in terms of the US and are a little rusty with this travel thing. We were headed to Riobamba which is only 150 km south. As we started driving we thought, “Oh that won’t take long at all.” Well, after getting lost in Quito, finally getting on the panamerican and having to take 2 different detours one of which took us out to the middle of nowhere, we realized this might take a bit longer than we thought. Then, after stopping for fuel, we noticed a very strong smell of diesel in the car and a large amount of people looking at our car kinda funny as they pulled up next to us at stop lights (very nice people that they were, they didn’t bother to say anything).  It turns out a hose on the fuel tank had come off and we had lost a bit of that fuel we had just bought. So after a little stop on the side of the road, and about 5 hours after leaving Quito we made it to our destination. 5 hours to go 150 kms? Welcome back to South America. In a few months none of this is going to seem crazy to us anymore, but for now, the adventure continues!

The city/town of Machachi is the nearest population to SGC (a 45 minute drive), it is also the home to some of Secret Garden’s employees including the main transport man and general Mensch: Don Arturo. Don Arturo invited us to a shindig at his house and insisted we attend, we accepted and even changed our departure date from SGC for this event.

The night of the event we donned our best party clothes (very slim pickins’) and crammed into the LandCruiser for the 45 minute drive to Machachi. When we arrived at Arturo’s the party was already hopping, there was a large party tent in the backyard and a DJ set up inside the house. Arturo received us with great big hugs and a small gift commemorating his sons first communion (apparently the party had two-fold meaning; in honor of the communion of his son and a house warming party, we were informed of neither until we arrived at the party).

We were quickly shuffled into the house and sat on the dining room table, where we quickly received our dinner which included a wonderful chicken soup and as a main plate a big juicy BBQ’d Cuy (Guinea pig). Let me (Luis) take a minute to say that even though I am extremely open minded about food and you could even say I am adventurous about eating (bugs do not bother me and offal is always a treat), but Cuy is definitely not my cup o’ tea. I have tried it on 4 different occasions, cooked 3 different ways and no go. Surprisingly enough Lacey, the timid eater who a few years ago did not like beets, enjoys the tiny rodent! Well, enough sidenotes…

While enjoying our dinner we where sort of the center of attention because we were next to the dance floor and the only ones at the dinner table and the only ones with big fat Cuy on their plate… every one else was enjoying chicken while standing or at party chairs spread around the house. It was awkward, but we lived. Before I even finished my dinner an older (than me) lady grabbed my hand and pulled me to the dance floor… now to some reading this that may mean little, but folks who know me realize that for me to dance there usually is a blue moon and lots of alcohol involved. It was quite enjoyable and very awkward. I did not do much dancing, just a few songs, but Lacey definitely shuffled for a while.

We did discover one interesting thing about drinking alcoholic beverages in this region. Nobody at the party had a drink in their hand, but several people had bottles and a small glass on their hands. They go around and when they feel you need a drink they pour you one and you must drink it (as a straight gulp) in front of them. Let me tell you, being the oddity at a party does not pay over here (unless you like a never-ending parade of shots). Within 20 minutes I had probably had 10 shots of random alcoholic treats… whisky, rum, moonshine, and best of all an Ecuadorian spirit called Zhumir (ethilic alcohol with artificial flavorings horrible stuff). Arturo’s dad was particularly fond of us and delivered shots every few minutes! How could I say no?

It was a wonderful evening that we will never forget. Gracias Don Arturo.

These guys are all dressed and ready for some rodeo action.

The judge who sat his horse and followed the riders in the ring, calling out the disqualifications was probably the most entertaining person of the day. He had a big bottle of whiskey in a pocket of his chaps, and in between every team, he would ride over to the announcers, pull out his bottle of whiskey, pour himself a great big shot, then share it around with everybody else.

By the end of the day, we wondered how he was still sitting his horse. Then he rode out into the middle of the arena, dismounted and proceed to take a VERY long piss up against his horse. If this wasn’t funny enough, when he went to get back on the horse, the horse wouldn’t stand still and the judge kept falling off. Finally, after five minutes of watching him try to mount the horse only to stumble back down, somebody had to come out and help him back on. Then he rode back to the announcers for a celebratory shot of whiskey.

In the afternoon, the dancers in traditional dress came out in a procession with the young ladies dancing in front and the men following behind playing guitars and flutes and singing. The procession made quite a site as they circled the arena. As we looked on, Cotopaxi came out for a view with a great big rainbow standing over the dancers. It was one of the most arresting sites I’ve ever seen.

When an old woman came up to me at the end of the day and told me the mountains of Ecuador where one of the most beautiful places in the world, I could only agree.

The view from the front of the hostel at sunset: Volcan Cotopaxi and Volcan Rumiñahui.

One of our happiest discoveries upon our arrival here were the four hostel dogs that immediately won us over. Basil and Milo are Dalmatian mixes and Mash and Daisy are wiener dogs. They all have great loving personalities. Basil and Mash are the tough guys who go everywhere with us including the 6 hour horseback rides and all 4 of them come on walks to the waterfall and around the area. Milo and Daisy are the lovey dovey dogs who are always down for a snuggle on the couch.

These dogs have about as rough a life as we do

One of the other wonderful things about being here has been all of the awesome people we have met. Besides all of the awesome travelers that have come through here (some of whom we didn’t want to leave), the people that work at secret garden are all wonderful people and we feel like we have become part of a big family. Getting to know the people here has been a great pleasure, with the added bonus that Lacey can actually say for the first time on this whole trip that she is actually learning spanish! (Yes, I know how sad it is that after 2 years on the road this is just now actually happening).

For the past two months, we have been relaxing in the beautiful scenery, guiding hikes to a beautiful waterfall an hour away, and riding horses as much as possible. After a full day of activity, we relax in the evenings with a glass of wine, and enjoy the sunset over the mountains and the amazing colors of the clouds. In the beginning the lack of internet and availabality of the outside world was hard to get used to, but in the end we didn’t even have a desire to go to town or know what is going on in the world. We became hermits, and it was actually a wonderful feeling. Of course when you have amazing scenery and great hikes or horseback rides to enjoy it is easy to forget about anything else . At the risk of letting out the secret and sending the masses flocking to Cotopaxi, we can say that this area and the hostel truly is paradise.

After a few days in Puerto Ayora we were fortunate enough to find some last minute spots on a boat for an 8 day cruise. We were even able to find 4 spots, so the longest ever double date with Tom and Jenny was able to continue. We booked our passage on the Daphne, and headed out to sea. The Daphne turned out to be a really nice boat and the crew and our fellow passengers were all really great. In fact, we were very spoiled while on the cruise, with nice bedrooms with AC, delicious breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks served at regular hours, and great places to relax on the boat while soaking some rays and the amazing views. We spent our nights sailing from island to island and our days walking around and snorkeling the different islands. The variety of land and vegetation on the islands was surprising. Since the islands were formed by volcanos at different times in history, some are very old and covered in vegetation while others are nothing more than barren hills of lava.

Our sweet ride for 8 glorious days.

Our first morning on the boat we woke up at the island of Genovesa where we were told if we were lucky we would get to see the magnificent frigate birds with red pouches inflated to look like big red heart shaped balloons attached to their neck.  They do this during the mating season to attract the females, the red balloon is usually accompanied by some cool gobbling sounds and a little dance with their wings. On the daphne we went up on deck in the morning to find ourselves in a big beautiful bay surrounded by rock walls on all sides. It was our first morning away from civilization and it was a spectacular place to welcome the day. We were all excited to be out on the cruise and to see some wildlife, so when Tom managed to spot a bit of red on the cliffs everyone got really excited to try to get a peak of the frigates. It turns out this was a pretty funny overreaction because by the end of the day we could walk right past a frigate with his pouch all puffed up and looking pretty for the ladies with out even stopping for a photo because we had seen so many. Nevertheless, no matter how many you see, they remain pretty spectacular. Genovesa turned out to be the bird island, with thousands of birds flying all around. This was also the only place we got to see the red footed booby, not quite as famous as its cousin the blue footed booby, but in our opinion, just as pretty.

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The island of Santiago was our first up close look at the marine iguanas (other than the fairly tame Puerto Ayora fish market residents). These iguanas hang out on the rocks and in the pools of water, but when it is feeding time they swim out to sea and dive under to feed on algae. They somehow manage to look very graceful and at home swimming in the ocean. When the iguanas come out of the water to resume their sun bathing on the rocks they blow saltwater out through their noses, like a mucous rich sneeze. There are hundreds of them laying all over the rocks and each other. We had to be really careful where we stepped because they wouldn’t bother to move out of our way, and they blend in with the lava rocks really well. We came really close to stepping on a few.

Our guide was the only complaint we had during our time on board the Daphne. He was a really nice guy, but he had been a guide for over 20 years, and he seemed to be pretty over it. He couldn’t quite find enthusiasm for any of the things we were seeing. He would deliver a quick emotionless mumble; “over here is the blah blah blah” and move on. The one exception to this lack of enthusiasm was on the island of Bartolomé. Bartolomé is basically a big volcano with little to no vegetation, just lava rocks. Bartolomé does however offer an amazing view from the top off its former active volcano, so up we climbed. At the top, we happened upon 6 Galapagos hawks who were soaring around and landing within arms distance of our gawking group. They would stay and pose long enough to get some great photos, then soar around the top and land next to somebody else. It was pretty incredible, and we knew it was a rare treat by the enthusiastic reaction of our guide. He even broke out his camera for some photos (first and only time we saw him use said camera during the 8 days).

North Seymour Island:

South Plaza Islet:

Santa Cruz Island:

We’ve heard a lot of tales of how the wildlife on the Galapagos is both abundant and fearless of humans, but we had taken this  information with a grain of salt, nothing prepared us for how true it was. At times we were practically stepping on iguanas and nesting birds and they didn’t even bat an eye at these crazy humans trying to get pictures. It really is quite unbelievable. We joked a lot about how the National Park must be paying the animals to pose for the tourists or perhaps they are all trained to stay clos to the tourists and pose. Even the sea lions -which we are quite used to on the coast of California- are more appealing in the Galapagos. They lay around on the beaches and rocks and somehow give a whole new definition to relaxation and lazing around in the sun. They also somehow manage to be a lot cuter than the ones we are used to in California, especially the little ones. When you start snorkeling around them, the young ones come right up to you and play in the water with you or for your amusement. It is an amazing experience. That is until the big daddy or momma sea lion gets in the water and decides to make sure you aren’t a threat to the little ones. Then it is time to get the hell out of dodge because they have some scary brown stinky sharp teeth.

Espanola Island:

On Isla Floriana we visited Post Office Bay. The area got its name, because in the old days, the sailors who were in the area would stop at this island and drop their letters for family back home at a big “post office box”. When a sailor who was heading home stopped at Post Office Bay, he would check the mailbox and if any addressee was in his route/destination he would take the letters with him to deliver. For example, a sailor who was returning to England would stop at Post Office Bay and see if there were any letters addressed to people in England. He would take those letters back with him and deliver them. This way, sailors would be able to get mail back home to their family. Nowadays, the post office box is still there, but instead of letters, it is full of post cards from tourists. We went through the stack of post cards and if one was found to be addressed to the same town as anybody on our boat, they took them with them to be delivered.

We got to do some snorkeling at pretty much every island we visited. Sometimes the water would be really clear with great visibility and other times it wouldn’t be so great. We still managed to see a lot of fish and swim with some animals that you usually only get to see in aquariums. We think the highlight was seeing the green sea turtles that didn’t seem to care about us swimming with them and the sea lions.

After our cruise we still had a few days left, so we took a “bus” to Isabella Island, the bus is nothing but a large speed boat, the only way to move between the populated islands. Isabella is the least developed of the 3 islands that have towns on them. It is a smallish town, with sand streets and lots of beautiful beach frontage. We stayed at the Casa Rosada, which is a great little place right on the beach. The marine iguanas all hang out on the corner of the hotel all day. We hooked up with a couple guys that were on the cruise with us and lazed around on the beach soaking up as much sun and sea time before we had to head back to cold and rainy Quito.

All in all, the Galapagos turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip so far. We don’t regret a single penny spent, and would tell anyone thinking of going, JUST DO IT!!!!!

In Puerto Ayora we also went to visit the tortoises living at the Charles Darwin Research Station. The most famous Giant Tortoise perhaps in the world, Lonesome George, is one of the residents here. He is the last surviving member of his particular species, being from Pinta Island. You see, seven of the islands are inhabited by tortoises, with each island having one or more distinct species that only live on that particular island. The tortoises of the different islands vary by size and shell shape according to the climate. We visited Lonesome George at the research station, but unfortunately, he was hanging at the back of his pen which meant no pictures of the most famous tortoise to show here. We did get to hang, up close and personal with some other less famous tortoises, who unlike their wild counter parts couldn’t care less how close you get. So while we didn’t get any hissing reactions, Lacey did get to pretend to sit on one.

For the first few hours after we arrived on the island of Santa Cruz and made our way to the town of Puerto Ayora, we couldn’t help exclaiming in wonder, “We’re on the Galapagos!” every few minutes. Eventually we settled down and made it to town. We were actually quite surprised at the size of the town we found here. It is much bigger and built up than we had expected and there are new buildings going up in all directions.  That isn’t to say the town is ugly. There is a nice pier looking out on the beautiful turquoise water and all the ships anchored in the bay and there is even free wi-fi internet on the pier.

The view of the Puerto Ayora bay.

The morning fish market in Puerto Ayora is probably the highlight of the town. If you go in the morning, the local fisherman are bringing in beautiful yellowfin tuna, wahu, and other fish that make your mouth start watering. The main entertainment of the place though is the mix of local wildlife that come for the bits of fish they get. The pelicans circle around fighting with each other and two sea lions make their daily appearance to beg for some food. The sea lions have been trained by the fisherman to not take any fish without it being handed to them, so they stand around and try to look cute enough for some handouts. We couldn’t help thinking of them like dogs the way they would give the puppy dog eyes to the fisherman cutting up the fish. One of the sea lions seems to be more in charge than the other one and every now and then he’ll go bark at the other sea lion and try to get him to leave. The other one just lays down and looks cute. You get the feeling that this happens every day. Once in a while a marine iguana will drop by and steal a few mouthfulls of fish before they get caught as well. The fisherman shoo them off, but as soon as their backs are turned again, the iguanas are back chowing down on the fish. All the while there is a big crowd of gawking tourists trying to get photos and laughing at the antics of the animals. It made for endless entertainment for us and we usually found ourselves there for a few hours each day.

One of our other favorite places in Puerto Ayora was the Calle de Los Kioskos, which is a street in town lined with food kiosks. The street is closed down in the evening and filled with tables and chairs, and immediately fills up with diners looking for a cheap meal. We could get huge plates of fresh fish and all the usual (rice, beans, plantains, and salad) for $6. It was definitely the place to be around dinner time.

Dinner at the kioskos. Note Tom's fantastic mustache.

A short boat ride from Puerto Ayora and a nice hike will take you out to Las Grietas, meaning cracks, which is literally a big crack in the lava where salt water from the ocean and fresh rain water mix (hence the name). The swimming hole is really deep and there are quite a few fish swimming around to see. Luis even got up the guts and jumped off the cliff (it only took him a few minutes to get up the nerve ).

Here are a few more pictures from Puerto Ayora:

Let us start by quickly introducing our cast for the night of our visit to Andres: Our great new friends Fico and his girlfriend Titi; in another post we will talk about how we met Fico, a local Bogotan that took Lacey and myself in and treated us like family for 3 weeks! For the visit there was also Paul, better known in some circles as “UK4X4 a Brit and fellow member of ExpeditionPortal.com forum, who happened to be in Bogota for a few days. And to round up the night Lacey and yours truly.

The truth is I think it would be near impossible for me to describe Andres Carne de Res with my lack of descriptive skills. The place is amazing! It is one of the most interesting and fun experiences I have ever had. I may sound like I am exaggerating after all this is just a restaurant, but I am not and this is a lot more than just a restaurant. It is a restaurant/live theater/dance your butt off place/ bar… and more.  Andres is probably about the size of a whole city block yet it is filled with an interesting cornucopia of random paraphernalia and crazy decorations with no real rhyme or reason. There are people of all ages and social stratta (granted the cost does keep it a little narrow), and everyone is in such a good mood and such a party mode that it is contagious. You cannot help to be giddy and happy to be there. By the way this is not a sponsored post, even Luis danced most of the night!!!

I will attempt to take you there by showing you the following fully annotated gallery, so please check it out (pardon the poor quality of the pics). If you ever visit Bogota do not miss Andres Carne de Res!

The beginning of our hike into the beautiful Valle de Cocora.

There are a few different lengths of trail you can hike in the valley, but we opted to see it all, thus hiking a big loop through the valley and back out. Due to all the rain lately, we had some muddy hiking through the valley, which gave plenty of time to enjoy the view of the palms. I especially like the palms that have air plants growing all the way up the trunk.

A lone wax palm. Notice all the air plants growing on the trunk.

Eventually we arrived at the mountains and the trail started to wind its way up through the trees. There was a lot of criss-crossing back and forth over the creek with log bridges to keep it interesting for us. Halfway up the mountain we took a detour to a hummingbird “farm,” which turned out to be a little house with a very nice couple and a few hummingbird feeders with sugar water. On the bright side, there were plenty of hummingbirds and it was a nice break from the climb.

Back on the trail, Luis and I thought we were going to die before we made it to the top of the hill where a mirador was waiting for us. This hike turned out to be a good reminder of how out of shape we’ve become! Finally just as we made it to the top, the clouds rolled in and covered the view before we could even catch our breath to snap a photo. So you are going to have to take our word for it that it was a beautiful view.

The clouds blocking our hard earned view.

From the mirador we had a pleasant 5 kms of walking back down the hill on a nice road. There were ample opportunities for more wax palm photos, and we could only be thankful we weren’t still going up hill. We made it back to the bottom just in time to catch a Jeep back into Salento, while we reflected on the amazing beauty of the valley and our poor aching feet

After waking up early from a not entirely comfortable night at Plantation house we decided to go get some breakfast and check out La Serrana. La Serrana had been recommended to us by a few people, and we knew Luis and Lacey were there, so we were planning on switching if it looked as nice as we had heard. Well Tom was actually ready to switch the night before as soon as we found out there was no WiFi at Plantation house, and I was ready to switch about 5 minutes before that; due the cold welcome we had received from the staff. ***Jenny: Hola! Tenemos una reservacion abajo del nombre Tomas. Super mean front desk girl: No acceptamos reservaciones despues de las seis en la tarde. Jenny: Oh. Lo siento, Yo mande una correo electronico sobre nuestra llegada a las siete…Tom: Ud. tiene habitaciones libres?Super mean front desk girl: Si. Tom: Luego, la reservacion no esta importa. Podemeos tener una cuarto?<Super mean front desk girl kind of rolls her eyes and walks out>Jenny: (whispers to Tom) Are we supposed to follow her? I don’t get it…Tom: I’m not sure. <Super mean front desk girl comes back and waves impatiently at us for us to follow her>***After we walk up the Hydrangea lined path to La Serrana, we come upon the office and ask the woman there if she has availale space. Its a bit early and everyone is sleeping so she tells us that we can check in later, but that she can’t show us the dorms or rooms because they are all occupied. I think it was only about 8am at this point. As we walk around the grounds (did i mention absolutely freaking stunning?) We run into Luis and Lacey, and all decide to go horse-back riding in a couple of hours.
We arrived back at La Serrana at 10:30ish and run into Lauren (the Californian we had met during our stint as hostel volunteers in Guatape) right at the entrance. Lauren, as it turns out is joining us for horsie riding, so we are all of a sudden rolling in a California posse 5 deep. Notes on horsies:Luis and Lacey both actually know how to ride so they were given the spirited horses. I may have died if I was on Luis’ horse. Lauren is seriously allergic to horses. Like no joke-seriously freaking allergic. We were all super impressed that she was down to go actually. My butt raised about 6 inches from the saddle and slammed back down with incredible force every 3 seconds or so, while Lacey’s shoulders just kinda jiggled while her butt maintained contact with the saddle the whole time. I don’t even get how that worked. Horse back riding in Salento is absolutely amazing and beautiful, and may be one of the highlights of the trip. It pretty much felt like we were on an awesome epic fantasy quest the whole time. We scaled steep ravines and galloped through emerald green countryside, and forded rivers. Horseback riding+our guide+ Salento=AWESOME.

After we all hobble back on our saddle sore legs, backs and butts to La Serrana we decide that later that evening we are all going to go “in town” to play a game of Tejo. Tejo is a pretty amazing game. It almost seems like too much of a Colombian stereotype to be true, but it’s totally real. Its almost like ski-ball (like at chuck-E-cheeses) but with drinking, mud and gunpowder. Basically there is a metal ring set into some mud with gunpowder folded into paper triangles at the 4 cardinal directions (if the circle was a compass). You throw metal pucks at the box of mud trying to land in the metal circle. The point breakdown is as follows:If you land right in the middle of the circle-6 points; If you make the gunpowder explode (bigger bang than you’d think)-3 points; If no one makes it in the circle or makes it explode than whoever is closest to the circle gets-1 point.
Add some beers and aguardiente and you gotta game! My favorite is when the paper triangles explode, and then flare up in flames while we all cheer. Explosions are good and all, but explosions plus a li’l bit of fire are even better.

Tejo from Lost World Expedition on Vimeo.

All in all a perfect day in Salento, Colombia!

We camped in Villa de Leyva for several days. “Several days!?” some have said, “in a year and half driving through Latin America haven’t you tired of Spanish colonial towns?” Well, no. At least not yet. Villa de Leyva is welcoming and beautiful and so far we cannot get enough of Spanish colonial architecture and its signature 3 foot thick walls and inner courtyards. During the work week there are very few visitors from Bogota and the town has a very relaxed, almost lazy feel to it that we can totally relate to

Other reasons to visit Villa de Leyva? Wonderful weather, great hiking, beautiful scenery,  waterfalls, weird mud house, a very beautiful monastery, wine tasting at a vineyard (albeit not that great), great farmers market (only Saturdays), great camping spot, an almost complete fossil of a Kronosaurus on display, an ostrich farm (if you are into that), Werner Herzog filmed here and last but not least there is El Infiernito (The Little Hell) a pre-columbian site full of phallic menhirs purportedly used as a rudimentary astronomical observatory of sorts. Need I say more?

How about some photos…

Villa de Leyva, a pictorial

The monastery of Ecce Homo. I won’t go all professor Lost World on ya, but “Ecce homo” or “Behold the man” was how Pontius Pilate presented Jesus Christ shortly before his crucifixion. Trivia for some essential for others. About the monastery: they claim four Dominican monks built this monastery in the 1600′s, the place is absolutely beautiful and many of the rocks used for the construction have amazing fossils of trilobites and other cool critters and plants. The cloister patio has 33 columns, which somehow  represent the years Jesus lived and a Passage of the Dead, under whose bricks abbots are buried. On that note…

La Periquera, a great hike through some private property that houses a wonderful series of waterfalls

The Mud House. A homeowner decided to get creative with his house and it has become a bit of an attraction due to its unusual design. We really liked some aspects of the design and if there were no houses around it the house could blend quite well with the landscape.

There is much more, but we are selfish… we keep some for ourselves Thanks.

We met a really cool Australian girl named Kate in San Gil, who shared some of the same images as I did. As with anything that scares us, facing it with two is always better than alone, so we decided to go together. After driving out of town a ways, we headed out a dirt road that climbed up to the top of the rolling hills, with beautiful views of the surrounding countryside. When we got out of the van the wind was blowing hard enough to almost blow us over, which I took as a good sign that just maybe our parachute really would catch the air after we threw ourselves off the cliff.

Getting strapped in and ready for my flight. It looks like I'm happy here, but actually I'm trying to tell myself that this really is a good idea!

Well as it usually goes with things we are afraid of, all that fear was for nothing because as it turns out, paragliding doesn’t involve throwing yourself off a cliff. Duh! The method of getting into the air is actually quite smooth. As I was being strapped in to all the equipment, and even after watching a few people take off, I still have to admit there was still a bit of fear sitting in the bottom of my stomach, but mostly excitement for the thrill of the ride. Once we were all strapped in, all it took was a quick flick of the parachute to get it up in the air, and literally two steps down the hill by the instructor (all the while I was already sitting in my little pouch, it looks a little funny but is actually quite comfortable) and next thing I knew we were airborn and drifting ever higher as I watched the ground recede below me. Once we were in the air and I had gotten over the fact that I was in the air, I was able to notice the sensations and what was going on around me. Paragliding is actually quite peaceful and relaxing. Well that is unless the instructor decides to take you on a tight dizzy making spiral in the air (I actually thought I might puke at one point after one of these spirals, but it was so fun I had to do it again!). It feels like floating in the sky more than anything else, and it is a lot more quite than I would ever have thought. In fact my instructor was so relaxed up in the air that when his phone rang, he answered it and proceeded to have a conversation while 300 feet in the air! From the air, we had great views of the surrounding countryside and the rim of the Canyon Chicamocha which is the largest canyon in Colombia and another great place for paragliding as my instructor told me. I can definitely say, if I have the chance I will do it again. Although, it did look pretty technical, so I might just stick with the tandem flights for a while longer, no matter what Luis says!

Big word, serendipity, but our meeting with Hernando truly was. As we drove out of Cartagena towards Santa Marta we pulled off to the side of the road to take some pics and some guy driving a LandCruiser pulled over next to us and proceeded to introduce himself. Hernando a fellow 4×4 enthusiast, a fellow member of ExpeditionPortal.com and admirer of the magazine Overland Journal! Not only did we have those things in common we also had friends in common back in the ole US of A. Small world indeed!

After some small talk Hernando invited us to stop by Iguana 4×4 his shop in Barranquilla and he also offered to accompany us on a trip to La Guajira! Needless to say we were ecstatic and we agreed to meet him. Hernando later explained that though a lot of the stories about La Guajira are true (smugglers abound, and apparently the Wayuu do have a bit of a bad rep) it is OK if you know where you are going and specially if you caravan. Feeling better about safety we planned, packed and a few days later we sailed forth on our big land yachts; Hernando and his lovely girlfriend Sophie in the Nissan Patrol and us in the trusty LandCruiser. The drive was amazing. Beautiful country (except for a few areas of Barranquilla and RioHacha).

This is our camping spot the first night, on our way to Cabo de la Vela, less than an hour east of Santa Marta

And this is our view from camp... that is the beach down there

We stopped in RioHacha for their "world famous" cebiche, and it was truly delicious. While there we met some great people... locals and an American couple.

The beginning of the seemingly endless dirt road or "destapado" this is by far the smoothest part of the road

Our original idea was a drive to Punta Gallina, but once again the extended rainy season foiled our plans. The “trocha” or off road trail was so bad that We had to “settle” for a wonderful time in Cabo de la Vela. Cabo de la Vela is a truly beautiful destination in itself and due to the bad roads we had it almost completely to ourselves!

We would really like to thank Hernando, Sophie and Hernando’s family for their friendship and hospitality we will forever cherish our time with them. Not to mention the help that Hernando’s shop Iguana 4×4 and Capi the shop chief wrencher did for the LandCruiser… muchisimas gracias.

Please enjoy the barrage of images:

The view of the "volcano" from afar. If you look closely you can see the crowd of people at the top.

However, people don’t come to Totumo for the sites. The volcano is known for its fantastic “pool” of mud at the top of the mound, where you can bathe to your hearts content and for a small tip, you can even get a nice rub down by the locals who hang out in the pool for just such a purpose. December and January is vacation time for Colombians, so when we arrived we were greeted to a huge crowd of people packed into the little space atop the “volcano”. After getting our tickets, we climbed to the top ready to get our bathing on.

The impressively small and pimple-ish volcano

The crowded pool of mud bathers.

At first our American since of personal space prevented us from diving on in with the rest of the bathers as the pool was jammed feet to shoulder with bathers. However, as the Colombians didn’t seem to mind sitting shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of strangers, and the mud bath was calling, we eventually gave up our reservations and jumped in with the rest.

It was quite cool considering the fact it was full of people...

Getting into the pool of mud causes some pretty interesting sensations. The mud is really thick and viscous, and some weird property of pressure from below the pool prevents you from sinking. In fact you have to actually push your feet down to get as submerged as much as you can. I would say this is the closest feeling to weightlessness we’ll get. Moving around the pool consisted of having people in front of you grab on to your arm and pull you along, because doing the doggy paddle to get around just doesn’t cut it! If given the room you can actually lay out and float on the mud. It is really quite comfortable; if you close your eyes and relax you can almost imagine your laying on a nice feather bed, that is until the mud starts seeping into your ears! Without really asking for it, we ended up geting a rub down by the locals. We have to admit, we enjoyed it quite a bit!

Luis looks like he is enjoying his soak!

Lacey relaxing in the mud

After a good long soaking which insured we were covered in mud from head to toe, we’d had enough. The conveniently located lake next to the volcano makes a great way to end the experience. We made our way down to the lake to go for a swim and wash off the mud. When we were all cleaned and refreshed (well at least as clean as we were going to get, there was still a bit of mud stuck in our ears!), we sat down for a beer and some fruit and enjoyed watching the other mud covered bathers.

We arrived by plane a few days before the Landcruiser, so we ended up at a hostel inside the old city walls. We spent a few days just exploring and checking out the old city. The old city within the walls seems to be split into two parts, the tourist section where most of the buildings have been restored and house nice restaurants, hotels, and upscale boutiques, and the market section where there are carts lining the roads and so many people bustling back and forth you have to keep a close watch on where you are going to avoid running into people. After a few days we realized one of things we liked about the old city is how much the atmosphere changes between day and night and even on Sundays, when most of the busy streets are empty except for the never ending string of tourists walking around. Walking down the same street during the day, then walking it at night, is like being in a completely different place. When it wasn’t raining the heat during the middle of the day would become so unbearable that walking anywhere just wasn’t an option. When this happened we’d find one of the numerous parks or plazas around town -our favorite was the centrally located Parque Bolivar- and buy a nice cold beer, water, or ice cream and sit down to people watch for a while.