Ok so I´ve been a while since posting my last blog, sorry about that. I left Guayaquil Ecuador and went to Mancora Peru. Mancora is on the beach. Actually it is a surfers destination. As a matter of fact a couple of weeks before I got there they had a woman´s surf championship there. It really is a great place if you want to hang out by the beach, drink and surf. It is also dleightfully inexpensive, there are lobster dinners for $10.00 I mentioned this to a surfer friend in Hawaii and she said I had just described surfers heaven. I was only there for a few days because if I´d stayed any longer I´d probably still be there. I tend to be a victim of inertia. And actually it was only meant to be a stopover between Guayaquil and Lima anyway. I had an interesting experience on the bus between Guayaquil and Mancora. My beard is about 4 inches long now and in Guayaquil I managed to find a santa hat. I was wearing it on the bus to Mancora and when we got off to go through customs to leave Ecuador an ecuadorian woman asked me why I was wearing the has as it wasn´t christmas yet. I told her that it was the christmas season. Then she asked me for a picture with her and I said sure. Well a few minutes before I was talking to a guy from Ecuador, they were all part of a group, and after the picture he comes up to me with a letter from one of the other people in the group, it was a letter to Santa Claus. In spanish it said something like "Dear Santa I have always wanted to meet you. So I am taking advantage of this opportunity to ask you for everything that you´ve never given me. I expect a quick response to this letter." It was a little more involved than that but you get the idea. I´m going to have it framed when I get home. At any rate, moving right along as I seldom do(copyright Dick Damron) I left Mancora and went to Lima. It was on this leg of the trip that I found the most awesome, comfortable bus I have ever been on. They have seats the same size and comfort level as first class airplane seats and they recline 100% with a foot rest and everything. It even includes dinner. Granted it is basically an airline type of meal but they give you a choice of chicken, beef or vegetarian. It is the first time I have actually been able to sleep on a bus. I was only in Lima for a few days. Lima is a nice enough city but my reason for coming to Peru was to see the Nazca lines and Machu Pichu. I am writing this on the day I am leaving Nazca. The lines are pretty cool, you go up in an airplane for about 45 minutes and the pilot takes you over all the lines. He banks to each side so the people on both sides can get a look. I took a lot of pictures but I don´t know how many will be worth anything so I also bought a lot of postcards. I also visited the Cauchilla Necropoilis. Is necropolis a cool word or what? At any rate is is a pre Inca cemetary with mummies. You get to walk around and look at several graves with mummies in them while a guide explains the significance of the different graves. It was considered a sign of status and good health to have dreads. Imagine that pre incan rastafarians. There is a local liquor here called Pisco. I tried it today, interesting stuff it tastes like a combination of tequila and kerosene. Well that´s all for now, right now I´m just hanging out until my bus to Cusco leaves at 8:00 tonight.
The road goes on forever and the party never ends.
hasta la vista baby
Charlie
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Spring time in Ecuador
Greetings from Guayaquil Ecuador. I`ve been here about 5 days and so far I like it. This is the first I have been out of the mountains in a long time. I have been at altitude for so long that when I got here the first time I went out it felt like someone took off 10 pound ankle weights from each leg. I had so much energy I couldn`t believe it. Another advantage to spending a long time at altitude is when you get used to drinking there when you get back to sea level you can drink forever before you start to get drunk. I used to have the same experience when I lived in the mountains in Colorado. (remember that Peter) at any rate this is also the first time I have sweat since I left Santa Marta. The first night I got here I actually experienced a warm wind at night. Boy did that feel good. Moving right along as I seldom do (copyright Dick Damron) here are some impressions of Guayaquil.
Shopping centers.
OK in the states and in Mexico we have supermarkets and they are fine, here they have a HIPERMARKET, it is HUGE!!!!!!!!! according to one person it is 36000 square meters or about 375,000 square ft. This sucker is incredible. Imagine a Sam`s club or Costco combined with a Home Depot in one building and you are starting to get the idea of the magnitude of this place. Just think hsuband and wife could go shopping together and when they meet at the cash register later they are only $1000 poorer. Fascinating place, I love it.
The Malecon
OK in Mazatlan we have a Malecon and it is a nice wide sidewalk that follows the ocean and it is very nice. You ain`t never seen anything like this. This malecon is huge. Large parts of it are 30-40 yards wide. They one section that has a beautiful garden. Another part has an IMAX theater and an anthropology museum on another part is a food court. One part is 2 levels and on the bottom part is a commercial area with lots different stores and such and it goes on for a few hundred yards. There is a sailing ship next to the malecon where you can go on a 1 hour river cruise up and down the river. There is a sports bar on it. At the other end are Mercados Artesanias. There are bronze statues of famous people on it. There are fully equipped play grounds for children. There are fountains. Also there are usually a fair number of good looking people walking around. This is fabulous.
Otras Cosas
All you folks eat your heart out but regular unleaded gas down here is 1.50/gallon. The taxis are cheap and the people are friendly. I am enjoying the warm weather here and am in no rush to return to the mountains. Although this will be a necessity when I go to Machu Pichu. I am debating on whether or not to go to Bolivia and do the death ride. (Sounds pretty stupid doesn`t it? ("Gee should I do the death ride? I wonder) Right now with Morales there seems to be a fair amount of anti-american sentiment there. Also I have been told that a visa for americans is $100.00 Right now I am leading away from it. I think I will stay on the coast and the warm weather. Well that`s all for now.
The road goes on forebver and the party never ends
hasta la vista baby
Charlie
Shopping centers.
OK in the states and in Mexico we have supermarkets and they are fine, here they have a HIPERMARKET, it is HUGE!!!!!!!!! according to one person it is 36000 square meters or about 375,000 square ft. This sucker is incredible. Imagine a Sam`s club or Costco combined with a Home Depot in one building and you are starting to get the idea of the magnitude of this place. Just think hsuband and wife could go shopping together and when they meet at the cash register later they are only $1000 poorer. Fascinating place, I love it.
The Malecon
OK in Mazatlan we have a Malecon and it is a nice wide sidewalk that follows the ocean and it is very nice. You ain`t never seen anything like this. This malecon is huge. Large parts of it are 30-40 yards wide. They one section that has a beautiful garden. Another part has an IMAX theater and an anthropology museum on another part is a food court. One part is 2 levels and on the bottom part is a commercial area with lots different stores and such and it goes on for a few hundred yards. There is a sailing ship next to the malecon where you can go on a 1 hour river cruise up and down the river. There is a sports bar on it. At the other end are Mercados Artesanias. There are bronze statues of famous people on it. There are fully equipped play grounds for children. There are fountains. Also there are usually a fair number of good looking people walking around. This is fabulous.
Otras Cosas
All you folks eat your heart out but regular unleaded gas down here is 1.50/gallon. The taxis are cheap and the people are friendly. I am enjoying the warm weather here and am in no rush to return to the mountains. Although this will be a necessity when I go to Machu Pichu. I am debating on whether or not to go to Bolivia and do the death ride. (Sounds pretty stupid doesn`t it? ("Gee should I do the death ride? I wonder) Right now with Morales there seems to be a fair amount of anti-american sentiment there. Also I have been told that a visa for americans is $100.00 Right now I am leading away from it. I think I will stay on the coast and the warm weather. Well that`s all for now.
The road goes on forebver and the party never ends
hasta la vista baby
Charlie
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Greetings from the north and south hemisphere
Hola jolly fun seekers. I have been in Ecuador a little over a week. It is a really cool place. Quito is a really nice city. Very european, or so I`m told by the eurpeans I`ve encountered. It is the second highest city in South America only La Paz Bolivia is higher. It is about 2800 meters high. Having wandered around the city I truly believe there are no flat parts. There is high and higher. It almost seems whichever way you go you are going up. There are a lot of cool places to visit. On an interesting note I bought a replica of pre-colombian art in a store beneath a cathedral in Quito, it is a coule copulating. Yep really, imagine the Catholic church approving of such a thing. Of course one of the things you have to do if you are in Quito is go to Ciudad Mitad del Mundo-The city of the middle of the world. This is the spot where the equator goes right through Ecuador. It is pretty interesting there is an impressive monument that marks the spot that contains an ethnographic museum of Ecuador. There is also a planertarium crafts stores and restaurants. Of course there is a line with a sign that says 0.0.0 latitude and everybody stands with a foot on either side of it and has their picture taken, yours truly included. So picture this you go in the park, you walk up this long impressive wide path with busts of all the scientists who were responsible in one way or another for mapping the equator and this path leads to the monument which is probably about 60 ft. high, you go to the north-south quadrant and have your picture taken and then they tell you that with the advent of GPS technology about 25 years ago they found out that the actual line is about 200 meters north. Well, I guess, that`s life. On another note I met an interesting couple in Quito, she (her name is Narcisa) is a holistic practitioner. I am still being bothered by the accident on my bicycle in El Salvador in June. I have been to doctors, physical therapists, acupuncturists, massage therapists. I have taken a variety of pain killers and used a variety of creams and salves etc. Some of it helps a little some doesn`t help at all. As I was wandering around Quito I saw a sign for Narcisa so I went in and talked to her. She worked on my shoulder did a chiropractic adjustment all sorts of cool stuff for about 2 hours and charged me $14.00 and it actually gave me relief for a couple of days. The best result I have had so far. At any rate I asked her if she was familiar with reiki, which is a technique I know and she said she wanted to learn it. So the next day I made an appt. with her and taught her reiki and her husband came and after wards we went out drinking and karaokeing. (is karaokeing a word? I don`t know but if it wasn`t before it is now). Then the next day I left for Cotopaxi Nat`l. Park. It is only about an hour bus ride out of Quito. Cotopaxi is the 2nd largest volcano/mountain in -ecuador at 5900 meters (the largest is Chimborazo at 6300 meters) I wanted see some BIG mountains so I went. The thing about mountains that high is that they create their own weather and are often covered with clouds. So I got a room at a hostel across the street from the entrance to the park. It was a beautiful day when I left quito about 10am but by the time I got there it was raining. So I used the only option I had, I started drinking beer and waited for the weather to clear up. Know that the hostel is at a little over 3000 meters (10000 ft.) at that altitude in Colorado this time of year it is snowing, ask anyone who lives in Leadville. But no snow just overcast and rain. So what did I do, well continued drinking of course. The next day it was overcast but not raining so i made arrangements for a 4 wheel drive tour of Cotopaxi. It is only possible to drive to the 15,000 ft. altitude of Cotopaxi and then, if you want, you have to hike the last 5000 feet to the top. I`m told it requires an overnight camp. Too old for that shit! So picture this: I`m in this 4wd pickup with this local Ecuadorian dude, ostensibly a guide, and he is taking me up to 15000 ft. As we get into the park it starts raining. Having lived in the high country of Colorado for a while I know it is entirely possible to get above the clouds. This is what I am hoping for. Because right now you can`t see anything. So get this, this guy makes his living driving his truck up to 15000 feet but doesn`t have snow tires on his truck. Well several hundred meters from the parking lot which is where we are supposed to be going, he can`t get through the snow. Now several other 4wd`s go past us, a friggin`tourist bus goes past us, but as soon as he hits snow he can`t move forward. ¿Can you believe this shit? He tried for about 20 minutes but he could not move his damn truck forward. Christ what a turkey. Well after that we went back to the hostel and I continued drinking. Other than checking out Cotopaxi there truly is nothing to do at this place which is about 1 mile off the road, so today I left and I am now in Los Baños. It is a cool little burg in the valley surrounded by huge mountains. BUT it is warm and the sun shines most of the time. In case you haven`t guessed, Los Baños is famous for it`s thermal hot springs. Which is the reason I came here. So I am here for a few days to enjoy the warm weather and hot springs then I return to Quito, where most of my stuff is stored, for a couple of days and then off to Guayaquil Ecuador. Guayaquil is the coast. I really need some beach action. From there I think Peru. That`s all for now.
hasta la vista baby
The road goes on forever and the party never ends
Charlie
hasta la vista baby
The road goes on forever and the party never ends
Charlie
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Funny statues and other stuff
Sorry for the delay in posts, I´ve been having fun. San Agustin is a nice place. It is a nice little mountain town in the middle of Colombia. But it ain´t near anything. The climate is more agreeable than Bogota it rains less and is somewhat warmer. The people are very friendly the women are cute and petite, and friendly. As I said in my previous post the main attraction of San Agustin are the statues, and there are lots of them. They are all located outside of town in the Archeological Park and various sites. The first day here I went on a 4 wheel drive tour of various sites and locations. It was fun, it was an all day affair and it´s only about $15.00 what a deal. The second day I did a tour of other sites on horseback. That was even better. We went places i would not have walked to or been able to take my bike on because of muddy conditions or whatever. It has been years since I rode a horse and I loved it. My guide was the delightful Ana. Remember what I said about cute, petite and friendly that´s Ana. One of the places we visited was called the Chaquira, no not that one her name is spelled Shakira, as opposed to being a statue this is acarving in a rock or carvings I should say. On one side is a carving is a carving of a male figure, facing the sunrise, on the opposite side is a feminine figure facing the sunset. Apparently the site was used for ritual sacrifice or something. But it was pretty cool, the scenery in the area is fabulous. I have close to 200 photos of the statues and of the local area--but mostly statues. I had heard that the statues were like those of Easter Island. I have not yet been to Easter Island but from the photos I´ve seen there is not much similarity. The tallest statue I saw was perhaps 10 feet high (3 meters). All the rest were perhaps 1-2 meters high. Many of the statues were tomb guardians for high ranking people. Variously featured were shamans, farmers, warriors, eagles and women of various social stature. Almost all are carved on a thick flat surface. The skill that went in to carving these statues using stone tools is absolutely incredible.
San Agustin is a nice place but after eating and drinking and possibly smoking weed there isn´t much to do here. The nearest movie theater is a 45 minute drive. Mall surely you jest. While in town I stayed at the Hostal Itaca. The owner is a nice friendly sort. Some of the locals told me to be wary of the guy, and I took their advice, but I couldn´t really see what the problem is. He´ll bend over backwards to make your stay pleasant. He makes an excellent breakfast for $2.00 and is all in all a very pleasant guy. At one time I was in a hammock reading and he comes in with a bud in his hand and says "Do you like this?" Of course I enthusiastically said SI. He said "this is for you if you want more no problem." So I smoked that and asked if he could get me $5000 pesos worth and he said no problem. (5000 pesos=2.50) I wasn´t expecting very much but he comes back 5 minutes later with a 4 finger bag. I was impressed.
Cute women and dope dealing hostel owners are all well and good but it was time to move on from San Agustin. The place sort of grows on you. Land is incredibly cheap. I checked out a couple of farms. I could have bought a small coffee farm (real small maybe half acre) for about $7000.00 I was tempted but then I looked at my stocks and said no. My plan for when I left San Agustin was to go to Popayan Colombia, spend a couple of days there and go to Quito Ecuador. As often happens plans changed. The owner of the hostel talked me out of going to Popayan because it went right through the area where FARC is the strongest. Several other people concurred with him. So instead I went to Mocoa and from there to Pasto. The trip to Mocoa was nice and pleasant but from there to Pasto things got really interesting. When going to Mocoa we were following a valley and everything was fine. To go to Pasto we had to go over the mountains. Soon after we left Mocoa in a full size bus the road turned to dirt and we started going up. This is when it started getting interesting. Imagine a city bus going over the mountains on a 4 wheel drive jeep trail. Yup that was the experience. We were actually above the clouds for a while. Quite a few times when we encountered another vehicle on the road one or the other of us would have to back up and let the other one by. The distance was a little over 100 kilometers yet it took us about 8 hours of driving time to do it. The busses in Colombia have a digital speedometer in the passenger compartment so you can see how slow you are going. We spent an awful lot of time doing about 12-14 kilometers per hour. Even on rare occasions when we got onto pavement we rarely got above 40 kmh. We were stopped twice by the military and made to exit the bus and be frisked. But only the men. I wonder how long it will take the FARC to figure they can have women armed to the teeth and they won´t get frisked. I finally got to Pasto and get a room across from the bus station and go out to have a few beers. There is a disco right across the street.So I go. I´m sitting there and the police come in and tell all the men to get in line to get frisked. It is only on this part of Colombia that I have experienced this. They must be really worried about terrorists down here. I had heard that the gov´t really hadn´t goten control of that part of the country yet. I guess they are right. I am now in Quito Ecuador, I got in at about 9 last night. I will report more soon.
hasta la vista baby.
Charlie
San Agustin is a nice place but after eating and drinking and possibly smoking weed there isn´t much to do here. The nearest movie theater is a 45 minute drive. Mall surely you jest. While in town I stayed at the Hostal Itaca. The owner is a nice friendly sort. Some of the locals told me to be wary of the guy, and I took their advice, but I couldn´t really see what the problem is. He´ll bend over backwards to make your stay pleasant. He makes an excellent breakfast for $2.00 and is all in all a very pleasant guy. At one time I was in a hammock reading and he comes in with a bud in his hand and says "Do you like this?" Of course I enthusiastically said SI. He said "this is for you if you want more no problem." So I smoked that and asked if he could get me $5000 pesos worth and he said no problem. (5000 pesos=2.50) I wasn´t expecting very much but he comes back 5 minutes later with a 4 finger bag. I was impressed.
Cute women and dope dealing hostel owners are all well and good but it was time to move on from San Agustin. The place sort of grows on you. Land is incredibly cheap. I checked out a couple of farms. I could have bought a small coffee farm (real small maybe half acre) for about $7000.00 I was tempted but then I looked at my stocks and said no. My plan for when I left San Agustin was to go to Popayan Colombia, spend a couple of days there and go to Quito Ecuador. As often happens plans changed. The owner of the hostel talked me out of going to Popayan because it went right through the area where FARC is the strongest. Several other people concurred with him. So instead I went to Mocoa and from there to Pasto. The trip to Mocoa was nice and pleasant but from there to Pasto things got really interesting. When going to Mocoa we were following a valley and everything was fine. To go to Pasto we had to go over the mountains. Soon after we left Mocoa in a full size bus the road turned to dirt and we started going up. This is when it started getting interesting. Imagine a city bus going over the mountains on a 4 wheel drive jeep trail. Yup that was the experience. We were actually above the clouds for a while. Quite a few times when we encountered another vehicle on the road one or the other of us would have to back up and let the other one by. The distance was a little over 100 kilometers yet it took us about 8 hours of driving time to do it. The busses in Colombia have a digital speedometer in the passenger compartment so you can see how slow you are going. We spent an awful lot of time doing about 12-14 kilometers per hour. Even on rare occasions when we got onto pavement we rarely got above 40 kmh. We were stopped twice by the military and made to exit the bus and be frisked. But only the men. I wonder how long it will take the FARC to figure they can have women armed to the teeth and they won´t get frisked. I finally got to Pasto and get a room across from the bus station and go out to have a few beers. There is a disco right across the street.So I go. I´m sitting there and the police come in and tell all the men to get in line to get frisked. It is only on this part of Colombia that I have experienced this. They must be really worried about terrorists down here. I had heard that the gov´t really hadn´t goten control of that part of the country yet. I guess they are right. I am now in Quito Ecuador, I got in at about 9 last night. I will report more soon.
hasta la vista baby.
Charlie
Friday, October 3, 2008
Bogota Update-----Dead nuns
Well I bet that got your attention. Since my last post I´ve been museum hopping around Bogota. One of the places I went was the Banco Nacional de La Republica Museo de Arte. I´m not quite sure what the Banco Nacional is but I think it might be their treasury or whatever. Regardless they have a couple of pretty cool museums in one building. The first is a numismatic museum, a history of the coins and money used in Colombia. It is pretty interesting. But the other is the art museum. It isn´t huge but what it lacks in size it makes up for in quality. They have paintings and sculptures by a number of heavy hitters: Degas, Chagalle, Picasso, Renoir to name a few. They also have a collection by a Colombian artist named Botero. His paintings are very popular all over Latin America. They never did a thing for me. He paints fat people and fat things. Every subject he paints is fat. People, with and without clothes, animals, trees, fruit all fat. I don´t deny the man´s talent but as I said looking at fat people does nothing for me. I imagine if you google him you will find pictures of his art and you can decide for yourself. But I digress, there is one wing of the museum dedicated to------Dead nuns. In fact that is the title of that section Monjas Muerte. It is nothing gross or disrespectful they are all paintings of nuns in coffins. I don´t know what the motivation was for this and as much as I don´t wish ill on anyone after all those years of catechism I can´t say I was sad to see all of them in one place. So now you know the reason for the second half of the title. Another museum I went to was dedicated to Colonial Art. I actually found that sort of boring. Most of the paintings were portraits of people of whom I knew nothing about and cared even less or they were all religious in nature. So no great reviews for that place. The next place was the museum of fabric and clothing. If it hadn´t been free I never would have gone in. Actually it was more interesting than the museum of colonial art. It showed what people wore before the Spanish got here (the natives) and what the Spanish wore and the Colombians have been wearing since colonial times to the present. It was interesting but I´m still glad it didn´t cost anything. Next was the Military Mueum. This was actually pretty cool. The Colombian Military through the ages. Displays of swords, uniforms, guns, airplanes, artillery all sorts of cool stuff. So if you are into that kind of stuff, as am I it is really cool. And it´s free. Then the big one, the Museo Nacional. It is a good way to blow off a few hours on a rainy day, which is what I did. After Simon Bolivar I know nothing about Colombian history. So all the portraits of the countries forefathers didn´t really do anything for me. But the rest of it was pretty good. The dioramas of colonial dwellings etc. There are also some art exhibits. I know I´m not doing a very good job of making this place sound interesting because it truly is. I truly enjoyed it. I think I may be Bogota´d out. I yearn to get back to tropical weather. It has been in the 60s here most days. It also rains a little every day. However they do have hot water here. The first place since I left Mexico. So either tomorrow (saturday) or Monday I am going to leave and go to San Agustin. I don´t know if it is going to be any warmer but it will be interesting. There is an archeological park there where they have Easter Island type of statues. Nobody knows anything at all about the culture that created them. So that is what is next on the agenda. Then from there to Quito Ecuador. So that´s it for now.
Hasta la Vista baby
The road goes on forever and the party never ends
Charlie
Hasta la Vista baby
The road goes on forever and the party never ends
Charlie
Saturday, September 27, 2008
(The road to) Bogota
You´ve all heard about the road to perdition, well this is not about that. This is about the road to Bogota. The road to perdition is nothing new, I´ve been on it for years:) It is almost 1000 kilometers to Bogota. The people I talked to said that the only safe places to camp in Colombia were campgrounds. I looked at the maps I have and 1) I didn´t see any campgrounds between Santa Marta and Bogota and 2) The number of towns between Santa Marta and Bogota seemed pretty thin. It did not look good for finding a town within my daily cycling distance and even if I found one there would be no guarantee that there would be a motel there. And 3) I´ve gotten out of shape and lazy. So for these reasons I decided to take a bus. The bus was scheduled to leave at 2:00 so to be sure I got there about one an a half hours early. I got my ticket and was shown where to wait. It wasn´t so bad there was a little store in the terminal that sold beer so I amused myself with a number of beers while I was waiting. Central and South America have a more relaxed attitude toward beer than the puritan U.S. It is amazing that almost anywhere you can buy and drink beer down here, including in the bus terminal. No you don´t have to hide it in a brown paper bag either. AT ANY RATE I got on the bus and settled in for the 16 hour bus ride. I had a book, sandwiches, snacks, and a bottle of rum, what more could anyone ask for? For the first few hours I alternated between reading my book and looking out the window. Also once in a while I would try to strike up a conversation with the young cute large breasted woman sitting next to me but that wasn´t working out so well. So the sun went down and the scenery disappeared the light for my seat wasn´t sufficient for reading and miss big boobs wasn´t talking. What to do, what to do? The answer was obvious, start drinking, which I did. For the 16 hour trip the bus company supplied a snack, about a one and a half ounce bag of peanuts and about a 4 ounce bottle of orange drink. So I drank a little out of the fake orange juice and filled it back up with rum. And every time I got enough room to add more rum I did. Obviously after a while I just ended up drinking it straight, which wasn´t so bad, it is pretty good rum. I got about half way through the bottle this way and decided maybe it would be a good idea to get some sleep. I have never been one of those people who could sleep on a plane or a bus but with about half a liter of rum in my belly I thought I would give it a try. I was starting to relax when it started. I don´t what caused it but all of a sudden there was a huge jolt to the bus that made it feel like it swayed to the side. Then there was another jolt that made it bounce. Know that this is not one of those recycled school busses that are so common down here. No, this is a fairly new Mercedes, you know the kind with the airplane style seats the whole bit. Now you are probably thinking ok but that was it right? NO it wasn´t it. It was only the beginning of it. Some times were worse than others but it never ended, and people were sleeping through this. Of course to top it off the little kid on the other side of the aisle(maybe 18 months old) let out the most god awful, stinkiest fart that has ever been smelled on god´s green earth. Fortunately the assistant driver also smelled it and went and got a can of Glade air freshener (I guess they keep it on the bus for just such occurrences) and sprayed it into the ventilation system. Catastrophe solved. Of course this did nothing to straighten out the road. So you have probably figured out by now that this is a long way of explaining that I didn´t get any sleep that night. The bus arrived in Bogota at 6 am.
Bogota
I got a taxi into town. It was about a half hour trip. After all I understand that there are about 6000000 people in Bogota. I made a reservation at a hostel named Anandamayi. The reviews I read said that if you want a relaxed peaceful place to stay in Bogota this is the place. Boy were they right. This place has more of an atmosphere of a buddhist meditation retreat than a hostel. But that´s ok I was ready for a little kicking back and relaxing. Besides it is close to all the tourist stuff. This place is staffed by angels, seriously. On my first night here my socks smelled so bad that I put them outside so as not to offend the other people in the room. The next day I forgot about them and put on a different pair. When I came back later on that afternoon the socks had been washed, dried, folded and put on my bed. Wow had I known that I would have put all my laundry outside:)
Impressions of Bogota
This city is fabulous. I am staying in the centro historico, funny it seems I usually end up in the historic center of the city. The first thing you need to know about Bogota is that it is very hilly. And steep. They have planned it well, at least this part of town. A large section of the town has been converted into pedestrian walkways, no cars. I love it. They have a couple of different bus systems here. One is the local which run all over the different parts of the city and surrounding area. The other is the Tecmilenio. From what I understand the rush hour traffic runs north-south. This is the direction that the tecmilenio goes. Well it may very well go other ways too but I am not knowledgeable about that yet. These are the caterpillar busses that you may have seen in some cities in the U.S. and cities outside of it. They are the length of 2 busses and have a flexible portion between the 2 halves. They have their own dedicated lane so they are moving while people in cars and other busses are stuck in traffic. I hear everyone thinking "Ok great Charlie, but what have you seen so far?" I am wirting this on the evening of my third day here. A few hours ago I just got back from the Salt Cathedral. This place is incredible. It is underground and it is carved ENTIRELY OUT OF ROCK SALT! On the way in are 14 stations of the cross, each individually carved by a different Colombian sculptor. There are naves off to the side, the main sanctuary can hold 8,400 people, as I said this place is huge. I can´t do it justice describing it if you want to know more about it just google Salt Cathedral Colombia and I´m sure you´ll get a lot of hits. But yes that is what it took to get me back in a Catholic church. The first day I got here I obviously had a lot of time on my hands as I checked in at about 7 am. The first thing I did was take a nap. But obviously when I got up a couple of hours later I still had a lot of time on my hands. There is a church on top of a mountain here in town it´s name is Monserrate. Yeah just like Montserrat in France. The church is nice but nothing spectacular but what is spectacular is the view from the top. You take a train car up a very long steep hill to get there and a cable car to get down. No I don´t know why, it´s just a catholic thing I guess. (I can hear some of you thinking "God Charlie, 2 catholic churches in less than a week what has got into you?) Well to those of you thinking that relax, after today I intend to go back to ignoring them the same way I have for years. I was done at Monserrate at about noon so I went back down and that I would check out the Gold Museum. It is a museum dedicated to pre colombian gold. Sounded interesting so I got a cab and went. I get there and find out it is closed for the months of sept. and oct. However there is a place across the street that is bunch of small stalls inside a building that sell art and handicrafts. I went and checked it out and I bought a beautiful painting. It is about3 ft. long and 18 inches high. The material it is painted on is a combination of palm and yucca fibers or something like that. It is not framed. I figured I could just roll it up in a tube and I could squeeze it in one of my panniers. WRONG! It rolls up but not small enough to fit in a tube that will fit in my panniers. So then I have a brilliant idea, I think to myself "Self why don´t you just send it back to Mazatlan?" So I go to DHL and ask how much it would cost to send. I am informed that in order to do that, since it is a painting, I have to get a permit from the ministry of culture. WELL AIN´T THAT JUST SPECIAL!? So I get there and am given the information I need and the forms and am told to come back on friday between 8:30 and 12:30. Now keep in mind that if I had been bringing this back on a plane I wouldn´t have had to do any of this. So friday comes and I go jump through all the hoops and they say no problems your permit will be ready in 8DAYS. And that brings me to today which I´ve already told you about. So that´s all for now.
The road goes on forever and the party never ends.
hasta la vista baby
Charlie
Bogota
I got a taxi into town. It was about a half hour trip. After all I understand that there are about 6000000 people in Bogota. I made a reservation at a hostel named Anandamayi. The reviews I read said that if you want a relaxed peaceful place to stay in Bogota this is the place. Boy were they right. This place has more of an atmosphere of a buddhist meditation retreat than a hostel. But that´s ok I was ready for a little kicking back and relaxing. Besides it is close to all the tourist stuff. This place is staffed by angels, seriously. On my first night here my socks smelled so bad that I put them outside so as not to offend the other people in the room. The next day I forgot about them and put on a different pair. When I came back later on that afternoon the socks had been washed, dried, folded and put on my bed. Wow had I known that I would have put all my laundry outside:)
Impressions of Bogota
This city is fabulous. I am staying in the centro historico, funny it seems I usually end up in the historic center of the city. The first thing you need to know about Bogota is that it is very hilly. And steep. They have planned it well, at least this part of town. A large section of the town has been converted into pedestrian walkways, no cars. I love it. They have a couple of different bus systems here. One is the local which run all over the different parts of the city and surrounding area. The other is the Tecmilenio. From what I understand the rush hour traffic runs north-south. This is the direction that the tecmilenio goes. Well it may very well go other ways too but I am not knowledgeable about that yet. These are the caterpillar busses that you may have seen in some cities in the U.S. and cities outside of it. They are the length of 2 busses and have a flexible portion between the 2 halves. They have their own dedicated lane so they are moving while people in cars and other busses are stuck in traffic. I hear everyone thinking "Ok great Charlie, but what have you seen so far?" I am wirting this on the evening of my third day here. A few hours ago I just got back from the Salt Cathedral. This place is incredible. It is underground and it is carved ENTIRELY OUT OF ROCK SALT! On the way in are 14 stations of the cross, each individually carved by a different Colombian sculptor. There are naves off to the side, the main sanctuary can hold 8,400 people, as I said this place is huge. I can´t do it justice describing it if you want to know more about it just google Salt Cathedral Colombia and I´m sure you´ll get a lot of hits. But yes that is what it took to get me back in a Catholic church. The first day I got here I obviously had a lot of time on my hands as I checked in at about 7 am. The first thing I did was take a nap. But obviously when I got up a couple of hours later I still had a lot of time on my hands. There is a church on top of a mountain here in town it´s name is Monserrate. Yeah just like Montserrat in France. The church is nice but nothing spectacular but what is spectacular is the view from the top. You take a train car up a very long steep hill to get there and a cable car to get down. No I don´t know why, it´s just a catholic thing I guess. (I can hear some of you thinking "God Charlie, 2 catholic churches in less than a week what has got into you?) Well to those of you thinking that relax, after today I intend to go back to ignoring them the same way I have for years. I was done at Monserrate at about noon so I went back down and that I would check out the Gold Museum. It is a museum dedicated to pre colombian gold. Sounded interesting so I got a cab and went. I get there and find out it is closed for the months of sept. and oct. However there is a place across the street that is bunch of small stalls inside a building that sell art and handicrafts. I went and checked it out and I bought a beautiful painting. It is about3 ft. long and 18 inches high. The material it is painted on is a combination of palm and yucca fibers or something like that. It is not framed. I figured I could just roll it up in a tube and I could squeeze it in one of my panniers. WRONG! It rolls up but not small enough to fit in a tube that will fit in my panniers. So then I have a brilliant idea, I think to myself "Self why don´t you just send it back to Mazatlan?" So I go to DHL and ask how much it would cost to send. I am informed that in order to do that, since it is a painting, I have to get a permit from the ministry of culture. WELL AIN´T THAT JUST SPECIAL!? So I get there and am given the information I need and the forms and am told to come back on friday between 8:30 and 12:30. Now keep in mind that if I had been bringing this back on a plane I wouldn´t have had to do any of this. So friday comes and I go jump through all the hoops and they say no problems your permit will be ready in 8DAYS. And that brings me to today which I´ve already told you about. So that´s all for now.
The road goes on forever and the party never ends.
hasta la vista baby
Charlie
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Part 2 the return from Ciudad Perdida
Sept.17 2008
We get up and have breakfast and take the tour of Ciudad Pedida. The sun is out and it is a beautiful day. We tour the entire area. Much of it is the same as the main area jsut spread out. After the tour we pack our stuff and leave. Paddy Francisco and I start out first knowing the rest will catch up. As we are going down the first set of steps, the wide ones, an indigenous guy comes from behind us and says "Con permiso" ( excuse me) and passes us. While we are gingerly, carefully, going down one step at a time in our hiking boots and shoes he is running down the steps in his bar feet. Yeah that makes us feel real good, you betcha. In counterpoint, Francisco fell on the steps 3 times. Later on in the day yours truly slipped and fell on the muddy trail 3 times. Did I mention that it started to rain about 1 hour after we left? Well it did. Fairly hard too. When we got to our destination for the day I was very happy to take a shower and get all the mud off.
A word about the indigenos, they are generally speaking, short of stature, with broad shoulders and dark skin. These are the people described the conquistadores, the ones who carry heavy loads all day and all they eat are coca leaves. And yes that is what they eat too, coca leaves. While the people in our party were struggling with backpacks these guys have these huge packs that are fashioned out of 100lb. coffee sacks and such. They are bulging whenever you see them. For footwear there are 3 options for the indigenos: Most common are your average every day flip flops. Next are rubber boots with stiff soles that give good traction. The third option is nothing at all-bare feet. I don´t know why bu you almost never see them smile. They all dress the same a white cottom tunic and white cottom pants. They all look like Juan Valdez. Just joking; but not much. The men all have long hair and none of them have beards.
Sept. 18 2008
Thank god I got to sleep on a mattress last night. I think I passed out immediately. I was so sore that I couldn´t believe it. So although I slept well when I woke up this morning my entire body was as stiff as a board. Large quiantities of Traumeel and Ben Gay were required to move. It was a laid back kind of morning for us as we had a three and a half-four hour hike to our next destination and once we got there the day was ours. To refresh your memory this is the place with the toucan and the guy who claps his hand for service. Before we left our guide pointed the tree that is used to make a date rape drug. I guess it is the flower which is used. The flower itself is beautiful, it is about 8 inches long and hangs down from a branch. We had a long climb out. On the way in it was nice because after an initial day of climbing we spent a large part of the day going down to the seconc one. However as today we were leavind the second one and going back to the first one we were going in reverse which means up. I had heard that the first and fifth day were the worst. So during breakfast I used the rest of my cocaine and put it in my coffee. You know some people use artificial sweetener....well this was more helpful. This is paste not powder, you can´t snort it. Ingesting it gives you an entirely different experience. You still get a head buzz but it is a whole different kind. You also get a body rush. It also gives you energy. There are 2 therapeutic uses of cocaine-energy and pain relief. I needed them both. For those of you who criticize my drug use during this trek all I have to say is: You´re right. There are a myriad of reasons why it is a bad idea. Legally, ethically, morally, and health wise. So why did I do it? Well a number of reasons. First of all I have used drugs in the past. Coke was a very once in a while thing for me. Cocaine is a drug that the further removed from it´s source the more diluted it becomes. The chance to try it pure and unadulterated straight from the factory so to speak was too good to pass up. I mean imagine if you had only drunk watered down whiskey all your life and now you get a chance to get a sample at the distillery. I know it´s an imperfect analogy but you get the idea. The second reason as I already mentioned is therapeutic. At 56 it is no easy task keeping up with a group of 20 somethings. The energy was very helpful. Necessary might be a more accurate word. And after a day of work followed by sore muscles the coke when rolled up in a joint (yup smoked weed too) was very therapeutic in alleviating the soreness. So those are my reasons, I make no apologies. However I will say that what happened in the mountains stays in the mountains and I am not about to start looking for any drug of any sort now that I am out of the mountains.
So, moving right along as I seldom do (D.Damron) we left camp and started the long climb out. Yes the coke helped a lot. We made it to our next stop at about 11:30 am. From that point on the day was ours to do whatever we wanted. There is a natural pool there with a waterfall at one end. After we were done swimming we spent the rest of the day smoking a bunch of weed that I had bought and playing cards. It was about one fourth of an ounce for 5000 pesos or about $3.00. Russ taught us a game called president ( also shithead or asshole). That was pretty much how we spent the entire day. When I went to bed I was sore. In fact every muscle felt sore. I couldn´t quite place it until I went to bed that night but even my toes were sore. Leading a fairly athletic life I´ve had my share of sore muscles but never have I ever had sore toes.
Sept. 19, 2008
This morning is pretty casual we have about a half hour climb out of the camp and then it is all down hill. It was sort of a bitch as I´d used the last of my coke yesterday morning. I struggled some but then YES! All the way down hill from here. We made it back to the town at about 11 am and had lunch, drank beer and played cards until 1:30 when they came to pick us up.
We get up and have breakfast and take the tour of Ciudad Pedida. The sun is out and it is a beautiful day. We tour the entire area. Much of it is the same as the main area jsut spread out. After the tour we pack our stuff and leave. Paddy Francisco and I start out first knowing the rest will catch up. As we are going down the first set of steps, the wide ones, an indigenous guy comes from behind us and says "Con permiso" ( excuse me) and passes us. While we are gingerly, carefully, going down one step at a time in our hiking boots and shoes he is running down the steps in his bar feet. Yeah that makes us feel real good, you betcha. In counterpoint, Francisco fell on the steps 3 times. Later on in the day yours truly slipped and fell on the muddy trail 3 times. Did I mention that it started to rain about 1 hour after we left? Well it did. Fairly hard too. When we got to our destination for the day I was very happy to take a shower and get all the mud off.
A word about the indigenos, they are generally speaking, short of stature, with broad shoulders and dark skin. These are the people described the conquistadores, the ones who carry heavy loads all day and all they eat are coca leaves. And yes that is what they eat too, coca leaves. While the people in our party were struggling with backpacks these guys have these huge packs that are fashioned out of 100lb. coffee sacks and such. They are bulging whenever you see them. For footwear there are 3 options for the indigenos: Most common are your average every day flip flops. Next are rubber boots with stiff soles that give good traction. The third option is nothing at all-bare feet. I don´t know why bu you almost never see them smile. They all dress the same a white cottom tunic and white cottom pants. They all look like Juan Valdez. Just joking; but not much. The men all have long hair and none of them have beards.
Sept. 18 2008
Thank god I got to sleep on a mattress last night. I think I passed out immediately. I was so sore that I couldn´t believe it. So although I slept well when I woke up this morning my entire body was as stiff as a board. Large quiantities of Traumeel and Ben Gay were required to move. It was a laid back kind of morning for us as we had a three and a half-four hour hike to our next destination and once we got there the day was ours. To refresh your memory this is the place with the toucan and the guy who claps his hand for service. Before we left our guide pointed the tree that is used to make a date rape drug. I guess it is the flower which is used. The flower itself is beautiful, it is about 8 inches long and hangs down from a branch. We had a long climb out. On the way in it was nice because after an initial day of climbing we spent a large part of the day going down to the seconc one. However as today we were leavind the second one and going back to the first one we were going in reverse which means up. I had heard that the first and fifth day were the worst. So during breakfast I used the rest of my cocaine and put it in my coffee. You know some people use artificial sweetener....well this was more helpful. This is paste not powder, you can´t snort it. Ingesting it gives you an entirely different experience. You still get a head buzz but it is a whole different kind. You also get a body rush. It also gives you energy. There are 2 therapeutic uses of cocaine-energy and pain relief. I needed them both. For those of you who criticize my drug use during this trek all I have to say is: You´re right. There are a myriad of reasons why it is a bad idea. Legally, ethically, morally, and health wise. So why did I do it? Well a number of reasons. First of all I have used drugs in the past. Coke was a very once in a while thing for me. Cocaine is a drug that the further removed from it´s source the more diluted it becomes. The chance to try it pure and unadulterated straight from the factory so to speak was too good to pass up. I mean imagine if you had only drunk watered down whiskey all your life and now you get a chance to get a sample at the distillery. I know it´s an imperfect analogy but you get the idea. The second reason as I already mentioned is therapeutic. At 56 it is no easy task keeping up with a group of 20 somethings. The energy was very helpful. Necessary might be a more accurate word. And after a day of work followed by sore muscles the coke when rolled up in a joint (yup smoked weed too) was very therapeutic in alleviating the soreness. So those are my reasons, I make no apologies. However I will say that what happened in the mountains stays in the mountains and I am not about to start looking for any drug of any sort now that I am out of the mountains.
So, moving right along as I seldom do (D.Damron) we left camp and started the long climb out. Yes the coke helped a lot. We made it to our next stop at about 11:30 am. From that point on the day was ours to do whatever we wanted. There is a natural pool there with a waterfall at one end. After we were done swimming we spent the rest of the day smoking a bunch of weed that I had bought and playing cards. It was about one fourth of an ounce for 5000 pesos or about $3.00. Russ taught us a game called president ( also shithead or asshole). That was pretty much how we spent the entire day. When I went to bed I was sore. In fact every muscle felt sore. I couldn´t quite place it until I went to bed that night but even my toes were sore. Leading a fairly athletic life I´ve had my share of sore muscles but never have I ever had sore toes.
Sept. 19, 2008
This morning is pretty casual we have about a half hour climb out of the camp and then it is all down hill. It was sort of a bitch as I´d used the last of my coke yesterday morning. I struggled some but then YES! All the way down hill from here. We made it back to the town at about 11 am and had lunch, drank beer and played cards until 1:30 when they came to pick us up.
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