A (brief) Tangent

Arriving at the first ''backpacker hostel'' I've stayed at in months, and my first in Colombia, I finally realized why I haven't met many backpackers during my stay in Colombia so far. It's because they stay in the hostel all day long, eating, drinking, watching episodes of "Two and a Half Men," and waiting for the sun to go down so they can get the party started with Colombia's most famous export. I hoped it was just a rumor that I had been hearing along the way, but indeed many of the 20-something backpackers in Colombia are here for only one reason. It's sad, considering the fact that they are in one of the most beautiful countries in the world (as I was told by a slightly intoxicated Colombian young man last night "Colooombia es paaaaaradise!") and they never see it in the light of day.

Here's an article about backpacking, cocaine-seeking tourists that sums it up well. http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/apr/01/colombia.southamerica

Being here, I have also learned first-hand about what the cocaine industry has done to this country. The amount of money that is made from exporting cocaine is extraordinary. A lot of which goes to para-military groups and the FARC (made by implementing ''taxes'' on drug trafficking organizations). I met a friend of Linnea's last night whose mother had been kidnapped and killed in the 90's by those groups. 3 million Colombians have fled the country as refugees and 40,000 have been killed since the early 90's. Being here really makes it sink in that making the decision to use cocaine isn't just affecting yourself, but an entire country.

Medellin: former headquarters of Pablo Escobar's drug cartel...

...Now the safest city in South America.

A fantastic change from crowded, overcast Bogota, Medellin had the perfect mix of sun, beautiful people, and a wonderfully organized metro. Part of the metro included the cable cars that I didn't realize were in store until it was too late. Those of you who have been lucky enough to witness my fear of hights first-hand should be glad you weren't with me in that metal box of death, precariously swinging hundreds of feet above the ground.

It was way higher up than it looks

Birthplace to Colombia's most famous artist, Fernando Botero, we spotted his chubby statues all over town. He has museums in both Medellin and Bogota which are FULL of his paintings and sculptures of overweight Latin lovers.

Plaza de Botero

We took a side trip to see "El Peñol," a huge rock that reminds you of Sugar Loaf in Rio, surrounded by a lake. It is one of the most beautiful places I have been on this entire trip. I can't even try to describe it, so I'll just post some pictures. Even they don't really do it full justice. I want to retire here.

"El Peñol"

The view from the top

We also went to the neighboring town of Guatape, which was the epitome of what I imagined a Colombian town to look like. Sitting on the side of a lake, a beautiful plaza surrounded by jeeps and colorful tuk-tuks, a cupcake colored church, cowboys standing in doorways and fresh empanadas for sale on every corner (the tastiest ever).

a street in Guatape

tuk-tuks by the cathedral

After returning to Medellin and spending one last day soaking up the sun and some disappointing botanical gardens, I got on a bus back to Bogota with Robin and Jun, two new friends who I'd been traveling with since Salento. They stayed with Linnea and I for a few days and had a squillion laughs together.

The Colombia Coffee Region, aka Heaven

I had been planning to take a trip last week up to the coast, stopping in Colombia's Adventure capital, San Gil, along the way. But then I ran into a CouchSurfing friend, Russ, I had met in Arequipa and decided to go with him to the coffee region and Medellin.

We left early Friday morning, settled into our cushy, wide seats in the front of the bus and prepared ourselves for the 8 hour trip. (They cost the same as the other seats, so why not? We tried to ask the other people on the bus why they weren't sitting in the comfy seats and they just shrugged.) The bus ride was beautiful, which made the 8 hours to Salento feel more like 5. Or so.

Salento is a beautiful, small, colonial town in the coffee region with brightly colored buildings and quite the local nightlife. Everyone goes out to the plaza on the weekends and drinks until dawn.

Salento

The place we stayed at was the cutest little hostel, with a very outgoing owner, Lili. Every time we told her "gracias" she said "con todo amor" really dramatically. Everything she did was fairly dramatic. She is the epitome of latina carinosa. And possibly made the best breakfast I have had on the whole trip.

casa de lili

Next day we took a trip to a little organic coffee plantation. A man of 70 years greeted us down the road and introduced himself as the owner, Don Elias. He didn't have any teeth, so you can imagine how well it went trying to understand his Spanish. His grandson gave us a tour of the farm which included a little crash course on growing coffee plants. He also showed us how they cultivate and roast the coffee, then we all tried a little sample. YUM

on the way to Finca de Don Elias

artfully demonstrating the roasting/grinding process

Seeing as how it was Friday night, we decided to spend it like the locals do, playing a popular game called Tejo. We asked Lili where we could play and she led us to a wonderfully seedy bar down the road. After getting over feeling a little strange being there, the 7 of us gringos started getting into it.

Tejo consists of throwing a metal weight underarm into a wooden packing crate. The wooden packing crate is filled with clay and set at an angle (see picture). Squished inside the clay is a metal ring. The object of the game is to get your weight to stick in the clay as close to the metal ring as possible.

where the action took place

Then just to make the game a little more interesting and a lot more Colombian there are folded paper triangles of gunpowder placed at the top and bottom of the metal circle. These triangles are touching the metal circle and, obviously, if you get metal hitting metal with gunpowder between them you get a large BANG! The best part! (And the scariest part for me when it happened the first time...)

We were playing with smaller weights and a smaller distance to throw, just trying to make it on the crate at first. The local men that were playing there were amazing at it, throwing their weights 80 feet (and 15 feet in the air) and getting it to stick in the clay every single time. It was good we were playing the smaller version (about 15 feet long), or else it was a concussion waiting to happen.

We played for a while before we started getting the strategy and really wanting that BANG! Eventually, one of us got it and we all flipped out, including all of the old men that were playing there too. A couple of rounds later, I got the BANG! Best part of my day :)

The next day we had another early morning (which was ok considering that i had been sleeping in until 10 or so every day in Bogotá) and headed to Valle de Cocora, a beautiful, green, lush ''valley'' with huge wax palms towering over it.

wax palms in Valle de Cocora

We hiked around for a few hours, making our way to a home where the owners has attracted hundreds of hummingbirds. Incredible. There were quite a few rickity bridge crossings, so I was glad I had brought my chacos and could just walk right through them. Tobias hadn't been so lucky, and his lack of balance caused each crossing to be quite the adventure.

tobias crossing the river, with russ holding a stick that will be used as a railing for tobias

After visiting Don Elias' finca, four of us decided that we wanted to find one of our own secluded finca to stay at. We put on our adventure hats and said ''lets just get on a bus and get off when it looks pretty and stay there.'' But the whole trip was pretty (breathtaking, in fact) and we were indecisive, (and most of the places charged over $30 per person) so we just ended up going all the way to Medellin.