Back into the Cordillera

Plaza Bolivar

Heading back to the cordillera also meant more cold and rain. The weather was really fitting to Bogota in my opinion, the whole city has this gothic and kind of ominous feel. I guess the gloom added to my actual feelings, Bogota was our last stop on this epic summer journey and I was not ready for it to end. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't dreading going back to Santiago, but I just could have kept exploring.

The Cathedral at Plaza Bolivar

The hostel in Bogota was one of my favorites from the whole trip. It was really small and probably had room for a total of about 15 people. Breakfast was included and there were hot showers! The neighborhood, La Candelaria, was also one of the best in Bogota, so I felt really comfortable walking around. Since the hostel was so small and only about half full, I actually got to know the other people staying there. That's where I met Kate! It is seriously such a small world, she is also studying in Santiago at my university for the year. Basically we were friends instantly.

So "me"

Most of the time when people think Colombia they think drugs and danger, but in all honestly, Colombia was the country where I felt the most safe. The people are just really cool and don't seem like they are out to get you (ehhmmm, Peru!). That being said, it wasn't that smart to wander around certain areas of Bogota at night, or really during the day, so we stuck to the well-lit areas.

In terms of sightseeing, day one was all the standard stuff: The central plaza, the biggest cathedral, and the government building (which are generally all in the same place). In Bogota that place took the name of Plaza Bolivar. Ohh and finding the grocery store is also vital. One major bonus for the grocery store in Bogota: doughnuts! They had like a legit selection. Grocery stores are really fun in other countries, seeing what they have to offer, Colombia was killin it in terms of a "global" variety of goods. We found Kraft Mac and Cheese...!!!! Nearing the end of the trip meant also nearing the end of our budgets, eating in was a must. Colombia surprised me with how expensive it was. It was still way cheaper than the US, but coming from Bolivia/Peru/Ecuador is seemed super expensive. The one absolute MUST-SEE in Bogota is el Museo de Oro (The Gold Museum). So much gold! It was really beautiful stuff too. An incredibly huge collection of ancient gold artifacts from latin america, I was blown away. Colombia also has some really awesome artesania, so a gander around the markets is definitely worth it.

















March 1st eventually rolled around and that meant it was finally time to go back to Santiago. Summer vacation was over and it was back to reality. Hands down, the best summer of my life. To sum it all up: November/December- Patagonia, Santiago, Home; January- Argentina (Buenos Aires, Iguazu), Bolivia (La Paz, Salar de Uyuni, Copacobana and Lake Titicaca), Peru (Cuzco and Machu Picchu, Lima); February- Peru (so many ruins along the north coast, Huaraz, Trujillo, Huanchaco), Ecuador (Guayaquil, Puerto Lopez, Quito), Colombia (Cartagena, Taganga and Tyrona, Bogota). What a freaking awesome trip!!!! To top it all off, when I got back to Santiago I had to go to the U.S. consulate to add pages to my passport because there was no more room for stamps :)

The end of a great vacation.

Taganga and Tyrona

Taganga :)

That's a fun title. Anyway, February 24th, my journey along the Colombia's Caribbean coast continued. The trip East started with the sketchiest cab ride of my life. I don't know why I was so paranoid but I was just on edge the entire time. Nothing bad even happened, but I was just running through all these scenarios in my head. What was I most worried about? My camera, obvio. Photos>Personal safety. I would have been pissed if my camera got robbed with all my photos on it. Nothing happened in the end and we made it to the bus terminal, but Briana had the same sketchy feeling the entire time too. Afterwards we laughed about it, but in the moment I was contemplating ways to escape from a moving vehicle.

 6 hours later we arrived at our final destination. Lot's of people told us that staying in Taganga was better than staying in Santa Marta, the nearby city, and I think they were right. Well, I actually never stayed in Santa Marta, but the small fishing village had a lot of character. Life there was just so relaxed, people were definitely not in a hurry and had a pretty laid back lifestyle. The next day we were heading into the Parque Nacional Tayrona, so while we were still in town we needed to load up on non-perishables. Standards: bread, jam, tuna, doritos, WATER and of course lots of toilet paper. Later that evening, at around 7p.m. the power went out, in the entire town. Another bummer: using the water requires and electric pump, so that was down too. It was kinda fun, but I was happy when the electricity came back on 2 hours later.

Not our boat, but ours looked like this

Sleeping accommodations in the park

In the morning we set out for Parque Nacional Tayrona. We had heard nothing but good things about the park, everyone just raved about it, so I was really excited. To get into the park we took a boat, it was another crazy boat ride on the Caribbean sea. The driver said that we should put all of our valuables in the storage part of the boat because a lot of water enters. I wanted to have my camera in a plastic bag, but the driver disapproved, thank god I listened to him. We got SOAKED, head to toe, it was like endless drops down the Log Ride. I was cracking up the entire time, which only increased the amount of salt water that I swallowed. I just found it hilarious every time water hit the boat, I don't know why, but I am giggling just writing about it. It wasn't what I expected and I wouldn't say it was "fun" but it was a great moment. I was pretty glad to dig my toes into the sand when we finally arrived. Welcome to paradise.

A look to the right

The park conserves the pure beautiful coastline and has some scattered campsites for visitors to stay. There are lots of trails which lead into more jungle-like surroundings and obviously there are the gorgeous beaches. First things first, we picked out which hammock we would be sleeping in for the 2 nights we were there. Soon after we headed to the beach. It was really nice because there were a lot of people staying at Cabo San Juan, but it was easy for everyone to find a secluded spot on the beach. So peaceful, the waves splashing on the shore drowned out the conversations of the closest group of people, so it really felt like you were on a private beach. The entire day we were on the beach, reading, and dipping in the water, and napping and going back into the water. First night in the hammock was fun. I actually found my hammock quite comfortable and did not mind sleeping in it at all. The thing that got me, the mosquitoes! They attacked my entire face. Both nights, it was slightly out of control. I was covered neck down, so those little buggers went for the only exposed part of my body. Such a low blow, even for blood-sucking insects. I got lots of "well the mosquitoes sure do love you" comments.

The next day Briana and I hiked up to Pueblito, which was supposed to be an indigenous village. We thought it was still populated, but no, it was just empty. The hike to and from was worth it though because the scenery was gorgeous. I really liked how as soon as you left the sandy shores you were in the middle of dense jungle. There we so many cool animals and insects! We even saw an anteater!!! The one we saw is of a special species and is small and lives in trees, way cool. The butterflies were awesome too! So many pretty wings, I think I counted 11 different ones in about an hour. Unfortunately this entire beautiful day was not captured by cameras because we heard reports of being robbed, and like I said earlier, I cannot afford to loose my camera. I kind of like it though, because in my head the images are still pretty close to perfection. We completed the hike's loop and ended up on the beach, a nude beach just btw. Plenty of people embracing their "free spirits." We headed back to the campsite, changed into our bathing suits, and set off for the sandy shores once more.

The morning of our last day in Tayrona we packed up all our stuff and set off for the trail that leads to the entrance of the park. We decided to backpack out to save some money and to see a little more of Tayrona, apart from our little piece of beach heaven. Just breathtakingly beautiful. We got about halfway and then we saw horses. Obviously we were all about them, so we hopped on, with our huge backpacks, and continued towards the entrance. This is not ay mythical as it sounds, we didn't find wild horses and commander them and start galloping away into the distance, it was more like a guided trot through the dense jungle. Gorgeous. Sidenote: I do not recommend wearing shorts while riding horseback.

Once out of the park we headed back to Taganga, a 40 minute drive, only to be welcomed by no electricity. All I wanted to do was shower, but I couldn't, it was sad. So what do we do? Go to the beach, of course! It was so flipping hot that day, I could only be out of the water for about 8 minutes before I needed to go back in again. The electricity did not come back on until 10pm but by that time we were passed out, that sun really tires you out. Although I really loved Taganga and Tyrona I wasn't too sad to leave. I could have stayed there forever, and that is the problem, I still need to be productive with my life. I realized I can't spend all my time sprawled out on beaches if I want to see the world! I'll just do that every once in a while ;) We said goodbye to the Caribbean and headed into the heart of the cordillera.  

A little more visual stimulation:

We stayed until there was no more sun to be soaked up

Backpacking out of the park

Birana's backpack riding a horse

Attempt at a photo of Taganga Bay as we drove away

Captivating Words

"La musica es un viento que se lleva los años, los recuerdos y el temor, ese animal agazapado que tengo adentro"

--Isabel Allende, La Isla Bajo el Mar 

Shakira Has a House Here!

We never found it, but there were plenty of other things to explore in Cartagena. The old city is absolutely breathtaking. kind of like Quito, every single building in the old town was colonial style and built on cobble stoned streets. There were even horse and buggy tours you could take around the city, super touristy, but it still kinda added to the atmosphere. The old city is completely enclosed, the moment you step outside the walls, there is a noticeable difference, and not in a good way. We spent most of our time within the walls.

My first view of the Caribbean

Searching for a hostel

On the plane ride over, we met Lucas, a Buenos Aires native, and his two traveling buddies Guido (no he is not italian) and Martin. We parted ways at the airport, but soon found them roaming the streets of old town Cartagena, looking for a hostel. We ended up joining forces and all looking for a hostel together, but it was basically impossible. Everywhere was full. We walked around for I think an hour and a half before we finally found a place. Oh, and it was HOT and humid and we were lugging our huge backpacks (significantly larger since our shopping in Otavalo...). Ten o'clock at night and I was sweating bullets, knocking on door after door only to be turned down. At one point, we found a queen size mattress and decided that it was warm enough outside to just spend the night there on that mattress. We didn't actually end up doing that, but the thought definitely crossed our minds. The hostel we ended up at was a total dive, one night there and then we relocated in the morning to a more prime location.

Flower vendors

The next day we were on foot exploring the streets of Cartegena. Briana and I ran into the Argentinians again in the morning and decided to hang out with them. They study architecture in Buenos Aires so I was suuuuper excited to see what they wanted to see. We wandered old town, all the while sweating like crazy because of the heat, and eventually made our way past the city walls and down to the original military fortress that protected the city. Under the fortress was a labyrinth of alleyways and small rooms lit by torches (well now they were lit by wall sconces with light bulbs, we we can pretend) and I was transported straight to a scene in Game of Thrones, geeeeek, I know.  We made several stops for fresh fruit juice, obviously. It is just so amazing that it's worth buying allll the time. That is one thing I definitely miss from the trip, Santiago is lacking in the department of delicious fresh fruit (apples and bananas are everywhere, but I'm talking mango, passion fruit, pineapple. orange, YUM!).

Looking of the city with our new friends

That night we cooked dinner in our new hostel, so much nicer, and hung out drinking beers before we went out dancing. Well, I was told there would be dancing, but there really wasn't. It was still really fun though. The nightlife in Cartagena is definitely crazy, there is always something going on. Just standing at the bar, while I was ordering a drink, someone came up to me and offered me coke. Like, what?! They are definitely not discrete about that stuff, I politely turned it down and was perfectly content with my beer. It was a really fun night, I talked to so many foreigners, basically no one at that club was Colombian, so touristy.

Perfection

Playa Blanca

In the morning we hopped on a boat and headed out to Playa Blanca. The boat ride seemed to take forever and we were just sitting on top of the boat roasting. I think I turned several shades darker just from that hour trip. At one point Briana looked at me and was like "ooo, you're pretty red" hahah. Thankfully I was just red because my body was overheating and not because I was super sunburnt. I have finally gotten in the habit of putting sunscreen on every morning, just as part of my getting ready routine, it's really effective. Regardless, that day I reapplied about 6 times. The rest of the day was just beach hopping and swimming in some gorgeous water, laying on some white sand, enjoying life. We had to head back to mainland Cartagena in the afternoon, but the Argentinian boys were staying overnight on the island. I was so jealous! If we had more time, we totally would have done that. We said our goodbyes and boarded for what would be the craziest boat ride of my life. A storm was coming in so the water was CRAZY rough and choppy. We were navigating through some HUGE waves, no joke I felt like we were in the perfect storm. For about 30 minutes, it was that constant feeling of your stomach falling up into your throat, like when you are on a roller coaster. I think 90% of the boat was barfing, thank god Briana does not get sea sick, I don't do very well with throw up. The captain did a really good job navigating the waves and I never felt in danger. Actually, that's a lie, there were points where I looked at the wave coming up and got really scared. Who knew the Caribbean Sea was so violent? I definitely did not.

Our time in Cartagena was too short, I could have stayed for so much longer. My first introduction to the Caribbean was absolutely incredible. Take me backkkkk. But we eventually did have to board a bus and head north along the coast. I knew there was even more beauty awaiting us further north, so that made having to leave Cartagena a little easier.

Living the life, vending ceviche straight from the water

Drinking straight from the coconut

Rain and Flip Flops

Ecuador, you have a cool flag and a room
in your government palace covered by yellow
fabric, bonus points.

Once in Quito, we headed for La Mariscal, the neighborhood that our friend Edgar recommended. The bus terminal was super far out of town so, when our bus arrived from Otavalo we split a cab with a Swiss couple that we met. We were all about trying to save money. La Mariscal was really cool and reminded me a lot of Bellavista in Santiago, just a tad bit more sketchy, but basically it's where all the young people hang out. We hadn't been making reservations for the hostels we were staying at, and we never ran into any problems, until Quito. The first like 5 hostels we tried had 0 available rooms. One had a private room available for $40/night, like I was gonna pay a whole $20 to spend the night somewhere, please. So we continued the search and eventually found a place (For $8/night), good thing all the hostels were so close together, we literally just walked two streets bouncing from one hostel to another. For dinner we heard about this delicious thai restaurant and Briana and I were craving ethnic food. Well it ended up being a sushi restaurant, but still delicious, and was pretty expensive. I was really annoyed about how expensive until Briana pointed out that it was all o.k. because we only spent $1.50 on a three-course lunch. That right there is legit justification.

Really pumped about my maple doughnut

Just like in all the other big cities that we had traveled to, it was cold and rainy in Quito. I ,however, only had flip flops to explore in. My hiking boots were still soaked from getting thrown in the river, and since it was so cold and wet in Quito, it would take our entire 3 day stay for them to dry. So I just got really used to my toes being cold and slipping and sliding all over the place. After we bundled up we headed out to explore some museums and the huge park in Miraflores. Seeing all the families in the park made me really happy. It was just full of people taking advantage of time off work or school or whatever for Carnaval and just having a grand old time in the park. There was a band playing some cover music, lots of artists selling their crafts, and delicious street food for sale. I was extremely pumped when I found doughnuts!! I hadn't had a doughnut in sooooo long, and boy was it delicious! 

Old Town Quito

My favorite part of Quito was the old town. The buildings are just incredible! To get there we took the trole, which is like a bus system, but it has it's own lane on the street so it avoids traffic. Pretty neat, provides modern public transportation without having to deconstruct the entire city to build a metro. Anyway, we missed our stop the first time and had to backtrack, but we made it, just in time for the torrential downpour to stop, score! Flip flops-Rain- Wet Cobblestones... not the greatest combination. I think I bruised Briana's arm from the amount of times I had to grab onto her to keep from falling. Anyway, Old Town, so pretty! The main square was just gorgeous, all the buildings in/around the main plaza are super colonial and painted really pretty colors. We got a free tour of the government palace too! Why is it that all other countries have all these regal names for their main government buildings and ours is a white house? That's not nearly as cool sounding. It was super awkward though because, when we entered, they asked us to salute the flag, Briana and I looked at each other then just kind of speed walked past the flag and into a group that was awaiting the tour. The weather really dictated what we did and when we did it, so when it was raining when we emerged from the tour, we just headed back to the hostel. 

Congresional building

I really liked the contrast

A little color to spice up the gray sky

A little cathedral we happened to stumble upon

Being in two places at once

Another Quito highlight, was our journey to Mitad del Mundo (The Middle of the World), as in the equator! I have lived that scene from A Walk to Remember, I have been in two places at once, except instead of straddling state lines, I was straddling two HEMISPHERES. It was really cool. The monument is actually huge and awkwardly bulky, but whatever, I've been to the equator! There were some other random museums and displays around the monument but they were all really lame, just being there though, there was a  When I get to see things like this, I can't help but think how lucky I am to be having this whole experience. I wish everyone could have one, equally as life changing, because it's just the shit. 

I wish I had more time in Quito because I feel like there were so many things that I missed. I never even got to see the Volcano Cotopaxi because the weather was so bad and overcast. That is just one of the many reasons why I feel like, of all the places that I have traveled to on this dream vacation, I need to return to Ecuador. There is just so much to explore in that tiny little country! We did however, have to leave after only 10 days in Ecuador, but this time we got to take  a PLANE to our next destination: Cartagena, COLOMBIA! 

Carnaval in Otavalo

We arrived in Quito at 5:30 in the morning from Puerto Lopez, we left for Otavalo at 7 in the morning. There are two bus terminals in the city so we ended up having to take a cab, which ended up being a 40 minute drive, to the terminal to where buses left for Otavalo. The market at Otavalo is one of the things you cannot miss if you go to Ecuador, allll the guidebooks recommend it and so does pretty much every traveler you run into. 

That stuff loved my hair

I was pretty tired when we finally got to Otavalo, so I took a two hour nap (at like 9:30 am), before we headed out. It's a pretty small town but we heard about a really pretty park/waterfall close by so that's where we headed. It was February 17th, the first day of Carnaval celebrations. All the students were just getting out of school and throwing water everywhere and spraying each other with this foam-silly string-like stuff, it was pink and smelled slightly of raspberries haha. Us gringas were waiting at the bus stop when we first got hit. There was this wall behind the bus stop and over it came flying a giant bucket of water that landed right on me and Brianna, getting us pretty wet. We were pretty shocked and all the locals started laughing at us, there was not much we could do but laugh too. Then once we moved to a safer location, a bus came by and when the doors opened, whoever was inside unloaded a can of that foam stuff, not such a safe location after all.

The waterfall

We made it to the waterfall which was really pretty. But walking through the park I could not help but notice all the kids throwing water and I knew that being a tourist was not gonna help us escape, we were in for it. Walking up to one of the viewpoints for the waterfall, we were asked to take pictures with this group of kids. At first I though they wanted a photo of their whole group, but no, they just wanted some white chicks in their pictures. So we obliged, but even after, when we were walking away we knew they were still snapping away with their cameras. I officially feel like a celebrity, where the role paparazzi is played young ecuadorians using camera phones. On our walk back to the entrance of the park is when we got captured and thrown in the river...

Since we had arrived at the waterfall, a ton more people had entered the park, it seemed like there was no "safe route" to escape. We started walking down this one path and noticed about 20 screaming girls running towards us (this is all in good fun, so when I say screaming, think like screaming-giggling) so we turned around and bolted too. We made it to a part where there was an opening in the path and stepped aside to let all the screaming girls go by. Mistake. We thought that the boys chasing them would just continue chasing them and pass the tourists aside. We were so naive. The boys slowed down when they came to us, glanced at the girls they were originally chasing, then started chanting, "GRINGAS! AL AGUA" (White chicks, to the water!) Oh shiiittttttt. We started pleading, please no, please no, I don't want to get wet. Completely useless, we were being herded towards the river. Briana and I were still resisting, we I was finally like "OK, ok, fine. But can we go one at a time, so our backpacks don't get wet?" They were at least nice enough to let us do that. I would have been PISSED if my camera got ruined, PISSED! but it didn't, thank god. Briana was first, and with a sad puppy dog look on her face they lifter her up and threw her in (keep in mind it's not like a huge rushing river, more like a large creek) then just started splashing to make sure she was thoroughly soaked. I was next.... They definitely made sure that there was no part of me that was dry, completely drenched, head to toe. Even my waterproof hiking books could not withstand being completely submerged and my socks got all squishy and gross. I HATE that feeling, so that was honestly the worst part haha. 

Lunch for $1.50 (Not pictured: the second plate of meat, rice, salad, and patacones

After that whole experience they let us go in peace, but what an experience it was. At first I was kind of irritated that it happened, then I just started bursting out laughing and I am glad I got to experience Carnaval in that way. It was a Carnaval experience so different than copious amounts of drinking and massive parties that everyone is expecting, but to me it felt more authentic. Walking back through the park to the entrance, we got plenty of people pointing, laughing, and thinking to themselves ooooohhhh, they got the gringas. We had to beg a cab driver to let us into his cab soaking wet by telling him that we would sit on our jackets (that were still dry), we just wanted to get back to the hostel and have hot showers. The cab's seats still got completely soaked, but he was really nice about it. That evening, we were pretty freaking wiped out, we searched for a cozy cafe where we could just relax, eat some tasty food, read, and journal. It was quite an exciting day.

One of the side streets

Day 2 in Otavalo was equally as exciting but for a different reason: SHOPPING! I had been so good on the trip, not buying too many things, but that state of mind went out the window. This market is HUGE! It takes over the entire town, you could walk for 15 minutes on one street in one direction without escaping the white stalls and vendors. Incredible. It's really neat because the market has different "sections": meat, veggies, flowers, food to retain shopping sustenance, clothes for the locals, clothes for the tourists, other tourist stuff, jewelry, etc. The stuff was cool too! It was nice, not like so many of the other "artisan" markets in South America. Ecuador definitely takes the cake for coolest artesania (I don't know that translation in English). 

I spent so much money, but everything I bought was a smart purchase. The really fun part is that you get to haggle or bargain to get the price you want. Briana is a pro! She was trying to teach me her ways, but I'm just not as good at it. I don't think I ever got ripped off, but I also probably could have paid less if I really wanted to get down to the nitty gritty. The size of my backpack, which I thought was already pretty full, basically grew 1/3. I had been so good shopping wise on the trip so far, so I did go a little nuts, but even today I don't regret any of the purchases I made. 

SO MANY PRETTY PATTERNS!

 Now with our ginormo backpacks, we decided it was time to make our way back to Quito. This is one thing I love about backpacking South Am, when you are ready to leave, you just get up and go. We walked to the bus terminal and just got on a bus headed for Quito, no ticket or anything. I mean we ended up paying once we were on our way, but it's just so easy. Buses leave all the time and little planning is needed (Obviously this state of mind bit us in the ass a couple of times, but for the most part, it always works out.) So Ecuador continued to amaze me, and Quito would be no exception.