Villa de Leyva
Sierra and Diana picked me up at the hostel in San Gil, and together we drove down to Villa de Leyva. This was the last stop on my Colombian tour, and it was utterly splendid from start to finish.(More photos of Villa de Leyva in this post.)
(We stopped for a bit in a little town called Oiba to stretch our legs.)
The Plaza Mayor. Villa de Leyva has a very rich colonial history.A few shots from the farmers' market:
This hood ornament is just about the coolest thing EVER.
In lieu of seeing the "dinosaurs," we opted for some actual fossils at a tiny paleontology museum:
We also spotted a fossil in the courtyard of a local winery.
After my friends went back to Buca, I had a day and a half more to potter around town before heading back to the airport in Bogotà. I amused myself with lugubrious religious art at the Carmelite museum...
...went for a walk in the hills outside of town...
...and reconnected with a friend I'd made back in San Gil. I also met this precocious little home-schooler, with whom I played a few coin toss games. (I can't remember what the game is actually called.)I also chatted with a new friend we'd made whose parents own an adorable cafe in town, and he promised to make me a tinto campesino--a traditional style of coffee flavored with cloves and other spices—but when I went back in the morning, the cafe was closed. Wistful sigh!(Thus concludes my Colombia recap.)
Funtimes in San Gil
From Bucaramanga I took a bus down to San Gil, which has a reputation as a mecca for adventure sport enthusiasts. It's a cool little town with a lively backpackers' scene, and although I did spend more time "out" than I had up until that point (as you do, traveling on your own), I still managed to get some good writing done at a shady picnic table on the hostel patio.It's the easiest thing just to book your rafting, kayaking, rappelling, paragliding, or what have you through your hostel or guesthouse. I stayed at Macondo and it's excellent—helpful staff, very clean, comfortable common spaces, and attracts a friendly crowd. I also loved wandering through the indoor produce market in the center of town--picked up fresh fruit to nosh on, and a lot of the stalls offer juices and smoothies.
I rappelled down that waterfall in the background, and someone took this really awesome shot of me as I was doing it, but she never sent it to me. Oh well, you'll just have to take my word for it.
I played tejo with a bunch of guys from the hostel. Really fun.
The other popular thing to do in the area is El Camino Real, a 200-year-old donkey track linking two quaint little colonial towns, Barichara and Guane. Rene and John and I took the bus from San Gil to Barichara, and walked around town for a bit before starting out on El Camino Real.
The postcard-pretty church on the Barichara town square.
We had no trouble finding the cute little vegetarian café mentioned in the guidebook, and sat down for a lovely meal.
These kids were SO OVERJOYED that school was out, it cracked me up. (You can also see how extremely quaint is Barichara!)
El Camino Real was my favorite part of my time in San Gil. Lovely hills and pastoral scenery and camouflaged butterflies.
This hairy hanging stuff is known as "old man's beard." (I wanted to call it "witches' beard." I think that would be way funnier, especially since the effect as you're standing under it is a little eerie.)
On the outskirts of Guane, a four-legged local came over to greet us.
We were taking the local bus back to San Gil, so once we got to Guane it was time for a relaxing drink in a cafe courtyard.Only one more Colombia post left!
Bucaramanga
After Cartagena I took a bus to Bucaramanga, where Sierra lives, and it was so absurdly late that I didn't get to her house until three o'clock in the morning. She had to get up again in a couple of hours to teach, but that didn't stop her greeting me with a hot meal, cooked on the spot.
(I really do have the awesomest friends in the world.)We spent a very happy week and a half together. Sierra threw a beautiful dinner party with all her friends (from school and elsewhere), I continued to get really good work done on the children's novel, I lounged in the hammock reading Outliers and The Historian, and I even sat in on her classes one day.
Sierra is one of those wonderfully inspired and inspiring teachers. She spends hours decorating her classroom at the beginning of the year.
She took me to the multi-level central market downtown, where fortunately the animal products were located on a separate level from the beautiful fruits, veggies, and herbs:
We picked up ingredients for vegan pesto and roasted garlic and tomato soup.
Delicious hot drinks at Café Con-Verso.
You can tell how much she loves her life. Spending time with people like this makes you even happier than you already are!
Snapshots from Cartagena
(Scribbling Away in Cartagena; all Colombia entries.)
The café at our hotel.
Colombians make the best graffiti.
We wandered into a random art gallery. Old furniture, a video projection of a woman licking the floor, machetes hanging from the ceiling (as political commentary)...
...And the building itself was part of the installation.
A torture implement (horquilla del hereja, 'heretic's pitchfork') at the Palace of the Inquisition. (It seemed like pretty much everything in that museum is a reproduction though.)
Ventana de la Denuncia outside the Palace of the Inquisition.
Ciudad Perdida, part 2
(Ciudad Perdida, part 1.)
It's going on a year and a half since our trip to Colombia. I don't know why it's taken me so long to post these photos! We're going to Uganda in August (it's the good old crew--Kate, Elliot, Jill and Spencer), so I figured I'd better finish this up before we leave.I've been thinking a lot about Colombia lately because I've made a new friend (yes, Sarah, THAT kind of friend--ha!) who just spent two weeks in Bogota, Medellin, and Cartagena. I've enjoyed looking through his photos from Bogota especially, since he saw completely different street art than Kate and I did. Makes me wonder if they regularly paint them over.
"Use your brain or the zombies will," haha! RT @nomadicotravel: #colombian #streetart twitter.com/NomadicoTravel...-- Camille DeAngelis (@PettyMagic) May 23, 2013
Anywho, here are the rest of our photos from the Ciudad Perdida trek. If I can give you one piece of advice, it's this: if you have to do this hike in four days (instead of the standard five--we were short on time), be prepared to be exhausted. We arrived at the ruins quite late in the day, and fumbled our way home in the dark. It was dangerous (although more guides came back for us with flashlights, bless them!), and I was spent, and I had a meltdown. It wasn't my finest moment by any stretch, but that's another great thing about traveling with your sister. No matter what goes down, you're still going to love each other at the end of it. She's stuck with me!
Don't get me wrong, though. I LOVED this part of our trip. I just wish we'd done it in five days so we could have enjoyed a more leisurely pace.
Spending the night in a hammock is way more comfortable than you might think. You just need to put a blanket under you so your bottom doesn't get cold!
We stood by a stream in the darkness, watching the frogs get frisky.
The hiking route takes you past several indigenous villages.
The upside of arriving so late in the day: we had the site all to ourselves! It was really misty up there, and we felt like explorers stumbling upon the ruins for the first time.
With our honorary sister, Alecia.
They were building this suspension bridge when we first passed, and it was finished by the time we were on our way back!I've still got photos from Cartagena, Bucaramanga, San Gil, and Villa de Leyva to share with you. Hopefully it won't take me another year and a half to post them!
Ciudad Perdida, part 1
We said goodbye to Sierra in Bogota and flew to Santa Marta, on the Caribbean coast. The next day we set out on the Ciudad Perdida ("Lost City") trek, which we did in four days (it's usually done in five or six).
(Kate took at least half of the photos in these posts.)
Pausing for a banana break with our new friend Alecia.
More photos and the full story coming up next.
Art is Free, part 2
Two museums you must not miss while in Bogotá: the Botero (FREE!) and the Museo del Oro (A BUCK FIFTY! Unbelievable.)
The courtyard at the Botero.
Botero's version of Leda and the Swan. (Is it just me, or is it getting rather hot in here?)
"According to myths, the gods gave men musical instruments so their sounds could regenerate the world. They were sacred objects, which were only exhibited and used at certain ceremonies."Our tour at the Museo del Oro lasted for well over an hour, and we picked up plenty of interesting tidbits: of tribal rituals and poisonous amphibians ("A shaman will tell you which frog is safe to lick"), and the scientific explanation behind "the curse of the pharaohs."
In another display case we discovered an ornamental phallus, and our guide said, "It is better than the original. It shines and plays music."
Botero's Terremoto en Papayán. It pretty much blew my mind that he could make a scene of cataclysmic destruction so pleasing to the eye.
Okay, I neglected to write down the title and artist for this one (the photo's not good enough for me to zoom in on the info panel, and Dr. Google couldn't help me this time), but I do remember it was painted an astonishingly long time ago--in the 1950s, I think? It looks more like 2050 to me. Awesome. If anyone can identify the artist, I'd be very grateful.
Art is Free
Bogotá wasn't our favorite stop in Colombia, but we LOVED the street art. I've never seen such gorgeous graffiti.
(Kate took at least half the photos in this post.)
These ubiquitous political stencils are incredibly effective, are they not? (A little more information here, along with more photos.)
The irreverent ones made us smile:
On the tops of buildings you can see the "green men," who are made of papier-mâché. Sierra said they were installed about twenty years ago. It's amazing they're still in such good condition! (The clown above was our favorite.)And another green man:
Looking back over our photos now, this one is definitely my favorite.
Ishkabibble!
Sierra in Villa de Leyva on a sunny Sunday morning, wearing the Ishbel I made her as a birthday/hostess gift."Ishkabibble" is my grandfather's sometime nickname for my sister, after a comedian/musician from the 1940s. There are well over 10,000 Ishbels on Ravelry, so I thought I would call this one something different.
Limonada de coco. OH. MY. GOODNESS. We can die happy. (This was in Cartagena, not Villa de Leyva. I had to sneak Kate in here somehow.)Now for more pictures of a pretty shawl (perfect marriage of yarn and pattern!) on a very pretty lady...
I used Jill Draper Makes Stuff Splendor Sock, which is THE yarn that is making me sad to be going 100% vegan (i.e., not buying any more wool. If you'd like to know why I've made this decision, listen to this podcast.)
(Ravelry project link.)
This is one of my favorite photos. She's got a secret and wouldn't you like to know it. Hee!
Eating Vegan in Colombia
Sierra made this incredibly delicious soup by roasting tomatoes, onions, and garlic for a couple hours and then putting it through the blender. HOLY CRAP it was awesome.People keep asking me, "Wasn't it REALLY hard to be vegan in Colombia?"Nope.That's not to say it isn't carne, carne, y más carne everywhere you go, but there are many good vegetarian eateries too. I found at least one in virtually every town I visited:
Girasoles in Cartagena. This is the place I went to every day while I was writing. We also went to Govinda's, which was fairly good, but Girasoles is better, and a way better value too (7,000 pesos for juice, soup, and a big plate of yum).
Albahaca in Bucaramanga. I love that all the ingredients are laid out in little plastic tubs on a table by the door, and you just choose what you want and they sauté it up for you with fresh herbs.
Restaurante Vegetariano Saludable Delicia in San Gil. Best seitan steak ever!
Mandala Arte y Sabor in Barichara. Same deal here for lunch--only 7,000 pesos. I believe they called this "vegetable paella." Nom!
A very friendly veggie café in Villa de Leyva (I can't seem to find the name by googling, but it's just north of the Plaza Mayor on Calle 12). That lentil burger with chutney was taaaaasty. Again, only 7,000 pesos, and that included soup, juice, tea, and dessert!(You may have noticed that there is no entry from Bogotá. We wanted to try Quinua y Amaranto, but every time we went it was closed. Boo!)
Scribbling Away in Cartagena
(Reading D.K. Broster in the hotel hammock. Couching at the Door is an excellent collection of creepy stories!)I'm home! Pretty much every trip I take seems like the best ever, and Colombia is no exception. I've got plenty of photos and stories to post, but for now I just want to show you how I spent my last three days in Cartagena, after Kate went back to D.C. and Sierra home to Bucaramanga.
I wrote. A LOT. Don't look too closely at the scribbling—it's still a rough draft—but you get the idea. I went down to the hotel café for coffee, headed out to a vegetarian restaurant for lunch each day, and one afternoon I took some time out to visit the Palace of the Inquisition, but for the most part I just wrote. Leaving my laptop at home was a very good idea. (You can pick up WiFi at most hotels and cafés in Colombia.)
After Cartagena I took the bus to Bucaramanga to hang out with Sierra for a week and a half or so. (I went with her to school and watched her teach! She cooked fabulous vegan meals and threw a dinner party in my honor!) I got a lot done in Buca too, but there's definitely something to be said for self-imposed social isolation when you're looking to--figuratively speaking-- kick your own took. Nova sometimes books a hotel room for a weekend so she can write non-stop, and I'd really been wanting to try it myself. I managed to find that essential combination: an inexpensive but comfortable hotel (i.e., where I can sit for hours and no one will bother me), no company, and no WiFi. That was all I needed.
Once I'd written enough to feel that glow of satisfaction in the afternoon, I treated myself to a shake. Mango + spearmint = BLISS!I'll tell you more about what I'm working on once I've actually finished the draft. Until then--more about Colombia! (And Turkey too, I still haven't finished blogging about Turkey!)