Beach day at Playa Grande

Today we wanted a relaxing day at the beach so after sleeping in, we had our breakfast and soon after, Cristina, andres’ aunt graciously offered to take us to Tagonga beach for the day.

During our drive we went on the outskirts of town and I learned another sad fact about Colombia. There is a rail system that transports minerals and such in the country, yet absolutely no public or passenger train system. The government really did a disservice to their country by making people immobile. And it made me realize how government is the failure or success of a country’s progress.

After taking the beautiful drive through a mountain pass to Tagonga, we headed for boats that would take you to beaches nearby. We took a quick 15 boat ride to Playa Grande, and found a spot on this less crowded beach. The sun was bright and the water a great cool temperature.

There were guys offering beach massages and after watching one, I decided that I’d give it a shot. I mean $7 for a 30 minute massage on the beach seemed like a great deal!

Lying on a mat directly on the beach, coconut oil was drizzled on my back and he massage started. The cool thing was as the sand blew around, it almost gave an exfoliant as well. The best part was after each rubdown, cool water was poured all over. It was so refreshing and after our huge hike, couldn’t have been better timed.

After spending several hours at the beach, we headed back in a boat to meet his aunt. We went back to their house and had a delicious spaghetti meal made by Feride.

Back to Santa Marta

After a horrible night of incessant winds, cold, and swinging back and forth in the hammock, I tried to salvage an hour or so by going upstairs and lying on the floor of the balcony of the hut. I got maybe a half hour before daylight broke. I headed down to the beach deliriously and looked for an open tent since not many people were around. I found one and like a hermit crab, took over my new house to get a little sleep. Sleep I did and that hour or two completely reset me for the morning.

I went over to the restaurant and the guys had all just sat down and we all balked about our horrible night of non sleep. After another bout of fun conversation we all got our things and the guys took off to do the hike up to pueblito and we headed toward Arrecife.

My legs were definitely sore on this one. We weaved again through beach towns and made our way to the last stop before exiting the park through another 45 minute hike through the jungle to the roads.

We took a van out of the park and got dropped off right where another minibus picked us up and took us straight to Santa Marta where we walked a few blocks to his aunts house.

Feride prepared a great spaghetti meal for us and after all the hiking I was ravenous. We ate a great meal and got cleaned up from our hike.

That evening, we headed to his other aunts house for dinner. They lived in a brand new place that was very cute. The aunt was so loving toward me despite us not really being able to communicate. She is a very talented artist and took us through her house showing us amazing pieces if creativity from carvings to paintings. I kept urging her that she definitely needs to sell her work :)

We continued the tour to the terrace outside and Andres pointed out a very sad thing. This lovely house and terrace had bars all over it. Windows I get, but I’d never seen an outdoor space covered in bars to prevent intruders. It felt like what I imagined South Africa’s homes to look like. While I haven’t seen one thing here that has made me feel unsafe, I understand Colombia’s history is riddled with violence, crime, and corruption.

We ended the night saying our goodbyes and Juan, andres’ cousin wanted us to go out. So we headed out for a night on the town by picking up 2 girls at their houses in the taxi and headed for a bar/club called La Puerta. It was very cute with colorful walls, an outdoor area covered by the leaves of a tree. Before we knew it, our group had grown to about 7 of us. It was fun to watch how everyone interacted.

Two of the girls were on their cell phones the entire time not being ‘present’ while others kind of rolled their eyes at their presence. It was funny to see that anywhere you go in the world, there are the same social situations that inevitably occur.

We then went inside to dance a bit. The music was mostly great and I wished we had places that did that type of Latin rumba music. The rhythms were so fun to dance to.

After our adventure out we took the girls back to their homes and headed back to andres’ aunt and uncle’s for the night.

Trip to Tayrona National Park

This morning we got up early to head out for our overnight excusion to Colombia’s natural jewel, Tayrona national park. After another delicious breakfast, we headed out to a bus that brought us near the park entrance to Calabazo.

We packed enough food and drink for one night and headed to the trail. We literally almost walked past the entrance because a woman wearing a nurse like uniform was helping a group of people. Once we noticed she was the entrance we paid out way in, one Colombian and one gringo (of course my price was about double) and we were on our way.

We headed up the trail and the previous night we had done some research on tripadvisor and saw that people complained about a lack of signage, but our first sign pointed us right in the direction of pueblito, the ancient city ruins that are still on the mountain.

The start was a little dark. It seemed like it would rain and the trail was a little damp and full of horse shoe prints. Soon the trail started to as end and we were definitely starting to feel the hike begin. After about a half hour or so of a pretty steep ascent I was definitely feeling the burn and heart rate. It was tough! Then all if a sudden we started to hear the rain begin and I was waiting to feel it. The canopy was so thick we didn’t even feel any rain. It was really nice and relaxing especially knowing we were staying dry.

After about another hour or so and the ups and downs of this mountain, we came upon a fork that lead us to pueblito. It looked like a little rest area that had been abandoned. We continued on and soon after we came up to a little hut that had a little girl was couldn’t have been for than 10 years old. She stood there next to a pile of mandarins like a perfect little shop owner and before we knew it she was offering coca cola, BEER and other drinks. I cracked up. Louisa seemed quite ready to serve us a refreshing drink but we didn’t need anything. We have her a 500 peso coin just for being there.

After we left Louisa, we saw the beginnings of the ruins as the area opened up and was really green grass with stone foundations and huts. We saw other hikers finally as well. We felt this was a perfect place to set up for lunch so sat down and got out the ham sandwiches we had prepared the previous night.

During our lunch, a guy passed us and was bleeding from his head. We asked if he was ok and apparently he slipped and came back to this area that had a building set up that perhaps had some first aid materials. This didn’t make me feel too confident on the next half if the hike!

After our delicious sandwiches (nothing can beat a simple ham and cheese sandwich), we started the next portion of this mountain climb in the jungle.

We saw a difference in the vegetation and humidity and the trail. As we wound through the jungle hearing birds chirping and pure silence, we came upon a pack of monkeys in the trees! They were jumping between the branches and playing around but all of a sudden a fight broke out and there was screaming and a lot of commotion. They swung from the branches and landed in other trees. It was so cool to see!

We then continued on the trail where finally we started to see the boulder part of this trail. This is where the descent began and climbing down rocks was really difficult. Some were slick, some moved, some had cliffs next to them. We were completely in the jungle at this point and there wasn’t a sound but of jungle life.

This part felt like it took forever. Although climbing up it seems like it would be impossible so I’m glad the route we took! Finally we descended to a flat area that was grassy, sandy, and full of palm trees. It was stunningly different from the jungle we had just traversed.

After weaving through this area, we finally arrived at our site for the time in Cabo San Juan. It was like the set of Lost. This secluded little community that had some huts and a shower area, laundry hanging and people walking around. We found our way to the restaurant and walked around the beach. The beach opened to this beautiful small bay that had a hut on top of a little hillside to the left, and the rocky coastline to the right.

We were told to get a hammock in this hut which had stunning views of the ocean and a full 360 degree view of the bay below. We were excited to secure one of these by waiting at the pay station to be first in line for the 2pm release of hammocks.

The rest of the afternoon I spent relaxing, waking around, and finding a boulder looking at the ocean to relax upon and do some yoga stretching and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

After relaxing a bit, I sat down next to an Australian named Ben and we started chatting about his journey coming to an end after almost a year of touring around the globe. A guy from New York, Chris joined our chat as well and Andres walked up.

We spent the entire evening chatting about topics from law to world travel to what we were eating throughout our trip. We had a lot of fun with everyone’s stories.

Beach Day at Rodadero

Today we slept in and had a nice breakfast prepared by the house maid. She is very sweet and has been with the family for many many years. After breakfast we got our stuff together for a beach day at Rodadero. The beach was pretty and apparently a place where the normal public comes to enjoy. It was nice to relax and enjoy the water and sun.

After a couple hours in the sun, we went to find some lunch and I had a paella of sorts. We sat on the beach and watched people and chatted. After a great lunch we headed back for a nap and got ready for andres’ uncle’s birthday dinner.

Tonight we will pack for our trip to Tayrona national park!

Arrival in Santa Marta

This morning, we got up rather early to ride a minibus up to Santa Marta. We were told to be at the neighboring hotel at 8am, but were also told that it would more than likely be very late. Much to our surprise, the little minivan arrived at 8:05 and had our names and two seats available right in the front. We got our luggage loaded and we were on our way.

During the ride we saw great landscapes including the ocean to the left, and the start of beautiful mountains to appear in front. After about two hours, we stopped for a rest and snack, and were surprised at how fast the trip up was going.

We then were dropped off just blocks away from his aunt and uncles’ home. We visited with them for a while and had an amazing lunch. Chicken wrapped in bacon in a creamy sauce with mashed potatoes and wonderful salad. After a nap, we met Andres’ cousin, and we went to pick up dinner. We stopped at a little stand to get these corn made items like an areipa but rolled.

After eating, we went out with his cousin and friend go Tagonga where there’s a beautiful beach and various bars. We walked around and found a really great bar that was run by a French owner. It was real;ly nice.

Full day in Cartegena

Last night, I went to the airport with Julio, who helps manage the small hotel were staying at. We took a taxi and waited for andres’ flight to arrive.

Hearing a plane overhead, we knew he’d be out soon. Finally, he appeared with his luggage and we were on our way back to the hotel. That night we walked on the beach and he swam for a split second and we went back to light small candles for the bellitas festival.

We chatted and caught up a while. All of a sudden, he said oh a dog is there, pointing to outside our gate. I turned around and didn’t see anything at first and then saw a dog head looking straight at me which startled me to the point of literally falling out of my chair.

The next morning, we got up and headed for the old city after our delicious breakfast of some flavorful eggs and fruit juice. The sun was getting hotter as we waited for a local bus to take us into the city.

After a good ride to the old city we started wandering within the city walls. The colors of these houses were so pretty, and the vegetation simply added to the character of every building. Wandering along the streets led us to churches, plazas, museums and fountains of water. We went inside a gold museum that had unique pieces that had been molded centuries before.

We then went to an amazing creperie called creeps and waffles. And as it sounds, it was divine. The interesting tidbit here is that the company is growing and employs only women. They make donations to women for appliances for the home as well. Andres had a steak one, and I went for the Peruvian chicken. At the end, we followed our meals up with a sweet crepe and I had the most decadent Nutella, almonds, and condensed milk cream crepe.

After our amazing meal, we were tired but kept up our walking throughout the beautiful streets. While the sun was hot, the breeze from the ocean was a welcomed coolant. We then decided to head back home for the day so caught a bus back to our place.

After returning, we headed for the beach to layout and rest a little while. It was so relaxing. We then decided it was time for dinner and walked down the road to a place called teso el blas. Here I had a huge steak and frites, and andres had a huge full fried fish.

We then strolled back home and andres’ aunt arranged for our trip to Santa Marta the next morning.

Arrival in Cartagena

This morning I was brought to the airport by sweet Sandra and Natalia. Natalia made me areipas for breakfast this morning for my first time having a traditional Colombian breakfast. After breakfast, we were then off to the airport to catch my flight to Cartagena.

The flight to Cartagena was quite easy. Apparently there was someone famous on the flight because a bunch of girls tried to take a photo with this man who was standing behind me. I asked the person in front of me if he was famous and they replied saying he was a famous singer in Columbia.

I headed out the exit for arrivals hoping to see someone with a sign with my name on it. Sure enough, there was señor benjamin written on a sign with an old man holding it. I introduced myself, and then we were off to my hotel.

After getting a little settled into my room, I took a shower and got ready for my afternoon out sightseeing downtown. Boy, was it hot.

The old man to me back downtown so I could have lunch at a restaurant that had been recommended by Sandra. I had a wonderful ceviche, and then the seafood stew that was too much for me to even finish.

I’ve been went for that Castillo de san Felipe, an old fortress that have been created by the Spanish. With my audio guide headset on, I toured around the entire castle winding through tunnels, going upstairs and seeing sweeping views of the city below. After a while sightseeing there, I headed back towards the old city and stopped for a bite to eat.

It started to get dark a little earlier than I had planned, so I decided to take a taxi back to the hotel. The city has come alive tonight and music is playing everywhere because of a festival of lights. It is quite the lively festivities for the beginning of celebrating Christmas.

Tonight, my friend Andres will join so I will go to the airport to pick him up. Stay tuned for more adventures in cartagena tomorrow!

Wow wow wow

The morning started very early. We’d set our alarms for 4:15 so we could get our breakfasts from the hostel and head to the bus station. Of course a night like this you don’t sleep we’ll because you’re thinking about making sure you wake up in time.

Alas at 4:30am my body woke us up and neither of our alarms had worked. My iPad was ringing but was set to vibrate, and Karthik’s phone died in the middle if the night. Lol. Alas, we rushed and had an adrenaline to get ready and I headed out first to start waiting in line for the buses that started to load at 5:30am.

I walk we’d from the hostel just a few minutes but found myself in the marketplace weaving through a maze of darkness which made me a little nervous, but then appeared a security police guard just walking around and all was fine. I then saw the street that had all the buses lined up and a flood of hikers ready to do their trek, and wait in line for the bus.

I sat next to a group of older people from Canada whom we’ve kept bumping into the entire trip. They were talking about an older woman about 79 who had always wanted to see Machu Picchu and got this far but fell ill to altitude sickness and had problems so much so that she was in the hospital. Another reminder that I’m so glad I didn’t have any issue with the s altitude.

Karthik then showed up and so did our guide so all was good with us making our way up to the gates for the opening at 6am to see the sunrise coming over the mountains. We boarded the second bus and started our way immediately down the path towards the mountain. As we began our ascent, the bus weaved long swoops up the hill with tight hairpin turns that led us to the next level.

Once at the top, we saw the queue at the entrance and there were about 45 people in front of us who were huffing and puffing drenched with sweat for having hiked up the mountain to the entrance rather than the bus ride up. We’d considered this, but ended up being persuaded to take the us since we were doing the steep huyana picchu climb starting from 7-8am.

Minutes after we arrived, our guide told us to get our passports ready with all our tickets and we were soon going through the check point. We then moved quickly ahead everyone else because they were parts of bigger groups that had stragglers that made them wait. We walked just a little up the hill and around a corner, we turned and you see the first house on the hill. And just a few steps more, the entire picture perfect Machu Picchu splendor is before your eyes. The cool blueness of predawn had a eerily effect to it, but the serenity and wonder of it all really was absolutely breathtaking. It is one of the sights I will log in my memory bank as something unforgettable– the moment you see something so familiar, but for the first time in real life.

We then began the history lesson of the tour from our guide nayruth. We started the tour but needed tot ale pictures immediately since there wasn’t a soul in the foregrounds. After pictures, we continued on to the main points in the areas visiting the inca house (the kings room) where you saw where his bed and bathroom were. You could see the drainage system that was being used, and the holes on the rocks where torches would be held for lighting. The precision at which the rocks were placed together is a marvel that even today’s technology would have a hard time to reproduce, if even possible. After the house, we saw astrologers areas where they would view the constellations in a reflection from a rain puddle. We also saw a number of places that had so many amazing stories about these people. It was truly amazing.

After our tour of about two hours throughout the ruins, we got to the entrance gate of huyana picchu, which only limits 400 climbers a day. 200 between 7-8 and 200 between 11-12. We were lucky to have tickets to this, yet, we’d received so much inconsistent feedback that we were a little worried. So,e people said it was an excruciating hike up the mountain, with dangerous steps that you could fall off the side of the mountain. Others recall a cave that you have to bet your hands and knees to get through. Karthik has acrophobia so was concerned as well.

We started our hike at a little after 8 and I was surprised that they were shutting the gates behind us to the stragglers who were late. We got our sunscreen on and bug spray (again people said the bugs were horrible) and started our way up the mountain.

It was tough for sure. At this altitude the air is very thin and you huff and puff up the turns up this amazing mountain. There wasn’t hardly anyone around, but as we started getting more than halfway up, we saw others starting the trek down. The feedback seemed positive so we continued on. We met fellow texans on the trails well as Californians, Japanese, French, Austrians etc. at the main part where it becomes difficult, was about another 20 minutes away from the top. Karhtik opted to stay at the terraces, and I co tuned onto the peak. This is where it became very steep, and while wrapping around the mountain in more stairs and paths, the spectacular view of Machu Picchu was amazing. There aren’t enough times I could take photos I of this to ensure that I had the best picture possible to try and translate the view into something so flat as a picture.

There was a small cave part that had stairs and was a tight squeeze for bigger people, but I did just fine, as well as finally getting to e top, the most dangerous part of the hike. The only reason it was dangerous was because of it being the top. It’s not just a flat plane,it had rocks jutting upward so you had to crawl around to find good positions for pictures.

I found another single traveler that had a good camera so we started taking pics of each other so we could get some shots. After winding back down the back side of the mountain, the oath came back together and I felt an amazing sense of accomplishment to have made it to the top and enjoy the amazing view. The stairs down fromthis were tedious, but fine, and I met back up with Karthik to head back down the mountain. At this point my breathing was completely calm so as we continued down the mountain, people were huffing and puffing and thinking, wait, why aren’t you breathing so heavily. So I calmed their own nerves by describing what was upcoming. And I was so impressed how many older couples I saw attempting this hike. So may families seeing this amazing thing together, as well as random travelers who quickly start up chats. It definitely lit my travel fire again and I realized how much I’ve missed being a traveler when I was younger.

Ats we approached the entrance to huyana picchu again, we reapplied sunscreen and went through other areas of the park to see anything that the tour a have missed. We then wanted to go to the sun gate which is another grandiose hike up the other mountainto get the other view of Machu Picchu.

Despite a simple looking hike, this trail is the inca trail that leads to Machu Picchu. It was really difficult. The sun was extremely hot and the climb seemed to go on forever. Probably because we had been hiking for so long already. We made it up the mountain but Karthik was getting a bit overheated and needed to stop frequently. We made it to the top for pictures and another amazing view of the ruins below. After some more pictures we headed down to the entrance and we were spent. We got tickets for the bus and headed back to aguas Calientes to get our bags together and go eat.

After cleaning up a little, we went to find a restaurant nearby and I had a simple hamburger with fries. I was so hungry after the long day that it went by quickly. After acting we went back to the hostel to get our things and make our way to the train station. There we revisited some people who’d wed seen throughout the day. It’s funny to see all the little connections you can make when doing the same routes.

After boarding the train, there was a Dutch guy and a half American Venezuelan girl that sat in our group of four. After talking and introducing, turns out the girl not only lived in Nashville in her you for years (she currently teaches at a university in northern Iraq) but she and I went to the same elementary school and had several of the same teachers. It was absolutely ridiculous hearing names of teachers from elementary school again after all these years.

After the train ride, we bid our farewells and found our driver. We endured a long drive home that was about to make me sick from fumes, the winding and weaving, the passing on double yellow lines etc. finally we made it back in one piece and took showers and headed to get another but pe to eat after this long 20+ hour day.

Journey to Machu Picchu begins!

Today we set out in the morning to Ollantaytanbo to catch a train for Aguas Calientes where the base of Machu Picchu is. The ride from Cusco was by a private car, and I’m never sure where miscommunication happens but we could not communicate that we didn’t want the windows down when there were fumes or dust from trucks in front of us, and wanted ac because when we closed our windows, we got too hot. It was like a game with us rolling windows up and him turning on the vents, but not the ac, and back and forth.

Anyhow, we arrived in plenty of time to get some food to eat for lunch and catch one of the most scenic train rides winding through first the countryside, then the jungle. Huge mountains towered above our sky-lit train and the windows all around made it easy to see. We met a family from the US who were visiting with her three children, dad and son were on a hike, and the two daughters were with the mom on the train. They were really nice, and the kids were being home schooled. No longer do I think the stigma of home schooling exists, and with all the craziness that happens in the public school system, I think it’s pretty cool to have a field trip to Peru when I was learning about the Incas.

We arrived to Aguas Calientes and we were greeted by the worker at the hostel, and she led us to our hostel. We were warned that they weren’t as nice as Cusco, and sure, that’s understandable. It’s a launching point for a hike, not a luxury b&b. We got into our plain room, and put our stuff down to go explore the little town and see the hot springs.

20130510-205610.jpgAfter wandering around we came to the gate of the warm springs and we entered to take some photos, then liked what we saw and headed back down to get our trunks on so we could take a dip. It’s been really hard to gauge anything because some people say it’s terrible, some people say it’s great. I thought it was fine, relaxing, and fun to talk to others sitting in the water with you. I also like the idea at the medicinal qualities of it may be doing some good too.

After the springs, we headed back and got ready to find dinner. We found a restaurant that seemed decent, though as touristy everything is, it was pricy. Per warning, they tried to slide in a 20% surcharge on top of the bill which we didn’t pay. Typical of tourist places.

After we ate. We headed for our hiking orientation and met our guide, Nayruta, who was telling us we needed to know for our very early morning tomorrow to see Machu Picchu at sunrise!