TravelStream™ news feed for member sainty1 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/sainty1 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 02 Aug 2009 20:38:04 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1248733190/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1248733190/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1248733190/tpod.html Sun, 02 Aug 2009 20:38:04 -0400 The long way home...

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Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador

The plan today is to head as far south into ecuador as we can get as we fly from quito so its going to be easier to see that later.

We jump out of bed (sort of) and head to the border at about 7:30 and we are stamped out of columbia in record time. (we´re the only ones there). We head over to the ecuadorian side and see a queue (uh ohhh). At 8 a guy comes out to tell us to wait i think that they are exiting people from the country first. At 9 the queue starts moving as groups are let into the inner sanctum. by 10:30 we have made it to tulcan (after the ecuadorian guy struggles to find a space in the passport for the entry stamp) which is probably less than 20 km from ipiales. Our slowest border crossing by far (even the americans would struggle to be as slow).

5 hours later we are in quito and have to change from the new north terminal to the new south terminal. They´re handing out helpful leaflets about services that aren´t actually running but after working out that we change onto the trolley bus at la y, off we head its now about 5.

Becca and me realise at this point we might not make it as far south as we hope as the trolley bus is taking forever to cross town so hop out at the nearest stop in the old town and lucky old becca finds us a hotel pratically opposite the trolebus stop (jammy i think should be her nickname).

A quick impromptu wander around the old town before bed both of us still wondering why we are in quito.
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Ipiales, Nariño, Colombia

The journey from san augustin to mocoa was not too bad then we changed to the olympic elegance (not my phrase but the bus guys) of the next bus to pasto. now the book says that the road is prone to landslides and looking at the road this is no surprise. 4 hours winding up a pretty much single track dirt road squeezing past trucks (reversing at times to let them past) is pretty dramatic as the waterfalls flow across the road you just seem to go up and up and up but pretty beautiful. we were stopped four times by a combination of police and army on the way (for our passports) through this region so the guerrilla´s are still about and the police at the top who are obviously a little bored quiz us on our ages and where we entered columbia how we can be possibly travelling for so long. All in the kind of good cop back cop style where you´re never too sure if they´re friendly or not.

Arriving in pasto we stay near the bus station in the mar del sol surprisingly nice for 20000 becuase all we are doing the next day is heading to ipiales to see a church.


Next day we take the short hop to ipiales dump the bags and head to las lojas a gothic inspired chruch 7km out of ipiales. As churches go it impressive and is renowned for a lot of mircales. (google it for more).

On the way down to the church we see a guinea pig with a broom handle shoved in its mouth being bbq´d and how can you resist temptations like that so we return there to sample the delight for lunch. I´m still not really eating (damn you sore throat) but becca tucks in with gusto to the treat. As culinary experiences go Guinea Pig is a little disappointing. Chewy, bony, leathery body with not much meat on it at all. You have to fight it to eat it. But it was worth it for the picture of a guinea pig with a broom handle in it´s mouth.

With a bad throat i thought it tasted a bit fishy but i could be all wrong its chewy though and theres not much meat of the little blighter.

Tonights our last night in columbia so we have a burger and get ready to head into ecuador.
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San Agustín, Huila, Colombia

After the big sell on the jeep tour or horse tour by the agencies and not accepting the special price just for me of 25000 we decide just to head to the park of statues (must have another name can´t remember it though). However today i have no energy whatsoever so the 2 km walk uphill makes me tired and wishing we had taken the bus, sometimes we are fools.

The park is nice with some interesting statues but today i am really not caring that much so i´ll let becca add more to the description of a park with statues in it.

Poor Paul, not a happy bunny. He pretty much just fell asleep everywhere while I took pics. Very interesting giant sculptures with the usual ´we don´t know why they are here or what they are for´ museum. If anything it was a nice walk in the park, like the yorkshire sculpture park for example.

There are 5000 pizza restaurants and not much else. But we did find a hippy place that sold lasagne and pumpkin soup. But we ordered way too much and had to take it with us. Not a lot else going down in this place. We headed to Pasto nearer the Colombian/Ecuador border at 5.30am the next day.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1248731345/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1248731345/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1248731345/tpod.html Sun, 02 Aug 2009 20:15:33 -0400 The long way home...

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San Agustín, Huila, Colombia

The route from tierra dentro to san augustin is not particularly complex but is still more of a arse that i need today as i am not feeling tippy toppy. However out of san andres we grab the 7:30 collectivo (jeep come truck) to la plata (3.5 hours). Finding out on the way thats its columbian indepence day july 20th and there isn´t much transport about today. we offered a direct bus to pitalito for 18000 but the french couple we are with today are way tighter than me (yes it is and was possible) so take the 8000 option to garzon (1.5hours) with our luggage falling off the roof 3 time. Changing there turns into a bit of an artform with the bus to pitalito starting a 10000 (which the french don´t like) . so we play the standard waiting game and eventually get it for 7000 ( a total saving over the direct bus of 3000 - bargain go the french). Just one connection to go and i can get in a bed. Its a 40 minute blast from pitalito to san augustin (4000). where the tour agencies accost us to sell us stuff before heading to where we are going to stay (casa japonese okay but we think you could do better). 20minutes of sellling later i get into bed at a last. All in all takes about 11 hours to make the journey with the faffing involved.



Anyone doing this route:
Get the early bus out of san andres at 5.30 as we think there is a connection to san augustin at 10:30 in la plata.


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tierradentro, Cauca, Colombia

Off for a big walk uphill today. All started lovely with signs to follow and everything ( trust me this is a rarity) and we hit the first tomb in no time, can´t visit it without paying the entrance fee and the museum however which is 1.5km down the hill or random at the site but he doesn´t have change but would radio the office to give us change later we decide not to worry about the tomb as we will probably see lots later.

We head up hill and after about 1 and a half hours the path starts to get very thin and quite hard to climb. The obligitory question comes from becca "are you sure we are going the right way" to which the real answer is" how do i bloody know" but comes out more like "yeah lets just keep going". After a few more minutes becca thinks that asking the local is the way to go and she confirms that yes this barely existent path is the right way. It cost us some sweets for the kids though. Further up we encounter crazy old man in pants who shouts a lot at us about not wanting something so i apologise a lot and we carry on. Just around the corner is a sign for aguacate (which we are heading for) perfect place we think and adds to the mystery as to why the crazy old man in pants is so upset with us.

The view from the top is great but again with out the entrance fee we can´t look...ah well a few more sweet bribes to the kids of the vigilante at the top and we take a sneak peak at our first tomb. Its another hour down to the museum which are locked and the security guard opens them if you want to take a look.

Up a little further to segovia there are 23 tombs of which about 12 are lit. i mention this important fact because most of the tombs are 5 metres underground with large steps going down to them. Having already been walking for about three to four hours the prospect of 23 tombs is a little daunting. Never the less we head for our first one. They´re quite cool underground tombs some much better than others with paintings and carvings. Becca cleverly lets me go down first to see if the tomb is worth her presence before descending. After 12 tombs we are knackered but still have more tombs in a place calle duede and some statues at el tablon (but they´re both on the way home).

Duede is more of the same but i am determined to finish that last four off. A little further uphill we make it to the road it should be all downhill from here. El tablon has 6 statues (ish) which are okay but we are glad they are on the way and not a detour. We end up back in town absolutely knackered and have a nap before dinner. Dinner is great again we don´t even order tonight just sit down and two courses and a drink turn up.

Its a tough day but a good one.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1248729682/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1248729682/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1248729682/tpod.html Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:50:30 -0400 The long way home...

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tierradentro, Cauca, Colombia

Today is another travelling day with 6 hours of mountain roads ahead of us before arriving in san andres de pismbala (tierra dentro). The road starts out great i.e. tarmac although heading out of popoyan the first clue to our long day is that the bus is being overtaken by just about everything except bizzarly the local inline skating team practicing up the hill.

anyhow after many hours bumping along on a mountainous dirt road we pull over a little to the side to let one of many trucks go by (i mean that its mostly single track and your always lettingstuffby) however our driver gets a little to close to the edge and gets slightly stuck on the verge.

It could have been easy to get out of there by letting everyone off the bus and pulling out but no our drivers got a plan to just rev as hard a possible with the surprise outcome of burying us axle deep in the mud and tilting the bus over a fair few degrees.

after this driver decides maybe we will get off and a surprisingly cheerfu bunch jump on and start chatting and joking with everyone. To get us out we have some pushing, some pulling with the worlds thinnest rope and some more driver revving. then a light bulb hits the driver and he decides that maybe the truck could help us instead of us trying to pull the bus out. ah but the worlds thinnest rope is not up to the job so someone disappears to the local indegionous to borrow a better one. 1 hour after getting stuck we´re free to continue.

We arrive in san andres 7 and half ours later but find a new accom made of bamboo opposite la parada restaraunt which does lovely grub for 5000 and get into bed for the evening.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1249255979/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1249255979/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1249255979/tpod.html Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:41:16 -0400 The long way home...

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Arboletes, Antioquia, Colombia

Took a quick day trip detour to a cute little town with one major attraction: a mud volcano. This little beauty was a living, breathing crater with bubbling mud in it that you could swim in. It was absolutely brilliant, we were there for hours. There´s no facilities to speak of, you just get in your cossie and jump in. Everyone is covered in the stuff, it´s in your ears and eyes and on your lips, but it´s the most weird sensation, like being weightless, or swimming in custard. It´s warm and gooey, you have no idea what anyone looks like - it makes it much easier to start up a conversation - and there´s lady in there who gives you a massage. It was incredible. I don´t think I´ve ever been so relaxed in my whole life. You´ve also got the added bonus of being able to sit on the bubbly bits. It´s quite funny when they erupt underneath you. And that was all. We had a quick roast chicken for dinner and jumped straight on a bus to Medellin arriving at 4.30am!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1249254621/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1249254621/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1249254621/tpod.html Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:32:32 -0400 The long way home...

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Tolú, Sucre, Colombia

Said goodbye to lovely pipster and wandered off to the Colombian holiday resort of Tolu. What an absolute s$%&hole. Luckily we found a (slightly overpriced) lovely place to stay which was very useful for recovering from the illness I´d picked up in Cartagena. It just won´t seem to go away! This meant another trip to the doc. He was running his surgery out of his living room. It was absolutely impossible to work out who in the room was next and when we tried to ask they all laughed at us. We were eventually invited in and for the first 10 mins the doc thought we were swiss. I left with yet another set of drugs. I should by shares in pharmaceuticals.

Once slightly recovered we ventured out to the San Bernado Islands which was a fantastic little day trip with 5000 other Colombianos. They are quite a happy bunch on holiday. We were the only foreigners on this boat, it was quite an eyeopener. Stopping at one of the most beautiful, white sand, turqoise sea, you get the idea, islands in the group we were hassled by every man and his dog to buy lunch, fruit salads, liquers, snorkels; the only way to get away from them was to go in the sea, so we swam about for a while and even then they were harassing us from the shoreline, persistant little blighters. Anyway, we decided to have lunch after this guy charmed us with a beach side table. Well, it was actually on the beach. I could put my feet in the water. Wonderful fish lunch for $12. But then the guy really annoyed us by takng more than 30mins to give us our change back. Paul had to accost him twice. But you can´t be annoyed on a tropical island so we sat on the beach and ate fruit salad and couldn´t help looking at a colombian couple. The lady had the most atrocious bum cleavage I have ever seen. Her bikini bottoms were really far too small for her. Unfortunately our nosey staring meant a conversation was started. It turned out their daughter was living in Bournemouth until October and the next thing you know we´ve offered to meet her and take her out!? What were we thinking. Emails were swapped, but as yet, nothing has come of it.

I then left my towel on a tree. I have now lost more things in the last month than in the whole 2 years we have been away. It must be an omen.

Wandering around the town at night was hilarious. The Colombians were really living it up hooning around the town on 6 seater bikes with whole extended families clinging to them, ragged street sellers grabbing at you to buy their crappy jewellry and gangs of kids hanging outside pubs playing deafening loud music. It´s like they´ve not been let out before.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1248729439/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1248729439/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sainty1/1/1248729439/tpod.html Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:30:11 -0400 The long way home...

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Popoyan, Cauca, Colombia

Bypassing Cali which we hope is just another dirty city (as we didn´t go there) we stop in Popoyan for the night before gettting the bus to Tierradentro the next morning. Popoyan turns out to be nice surprise in its historical centre as whitewashed buildings and plaza´s but really only have time for a wonder around before dinner and bed. Becca gets her haircut and has a pedicure for $10. Haircut is a bit wonky, but hey, it was $5!

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Armenia, Caldas, Colombia

We´re heading south and i think it would be classed as some sort of crime if we went past the columbian coffee region without stopping. So, we stop in one of the main towns because we didn´t realise we had to get off the bus to go up to the main tourist town of salento. No matter its only 40 minutes on a bus from Armenia and we check into a nice hotel with telly for 30, 000 so all is good in our world.


We take the bus up to Salento the next day and its a lovely little town to spend the day in with nice trout lunch and a wander around. However it is surprisingly hard to actually purchase unground coffee in the coffee region but we manage it and head back to Armenia which trust me is just a town.


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