The Vagrant Gypsy Life

Day 314 Thu 14/7

Left the island at 08:30. I wanted to stay a night more, but it rained most of the night and was still raining when I woke up! Off the island at 08:30, taxi to the city at 09:30 and at my hostel at noon. Shower, chat with folks and off to lunch with Steffi, Maru and Barnaby, an Argentine-English couple who had been travelling aroudn Central America for a while.

We had lunch, again at Marisa’s, and walked to casco viejo. After a little bit of exploring, we caved into the heat and popped into an ice-cream shop. Nicest ice-cream I have had since I left Buenos Aires. Then off to the terminal to enquire about buses to Boquete. The others had to buy a tent/ cover for a bag etc and we ended up in the mall across the street. It, I think, is surely the biggest mall I have ever seen. We seemed to walk for ages and found ourselves lost a couple of times!

Back to spend a quiet night at the hostel. I did the polite thing and offered my bed to someone who arrived really late at night. The hostel didnt fancy asking a girl to walk around town at that time and as I, quite surprisingly, was the only person awake, offered me a sofa for free. Who is to argue with free lodging?

Day 315 Fri 15/7

The bus to Boquete wasnt to leave till midnight and so had the whole day to do more wandering. Spent the day doing a spot of walking, packing, getting tickets for the night bus to Boquete, eating more ice-cream and watching Harry Potter’s latest. Stopped by Marisa’s for lunch and goodbyes.

Day 314 Tue 12/7

The long day started at 04:30. Shower, put bag away in storage, wait for taxi. When the taxis did arrive, they didnt have enough space and since I was the only one not in a group, they asked if I could wait for another taxi. It showed up an hour later. This trip has taught me patience and the ability to deal with empty time. I was the only one in the taxi, so it was a very comfortable ride. My driver was a Colombian, nick-named Grande, who had been living in Panama for 20 years. He told me about the city, about Colombian football and also about his love for wrestling. I wasnt aware that there was a giant Indian plying his trade in WWF!

Arrive at the port in 2.5 hours after paying a 6 USD entrance fee and having my passport inspected. The boat to take me to Robinson’s island was waiting. I had two companions, a married couple from Israel, who were celebrating their honeymoon. Ayala was born in Israel, lived in LA for ages and finally moved back to Israel 3 years ago and teaches at the American school in Tel Aviv. Really nice chap and we enjoyed a couple of nice chats that day. Also ran into a couple I had seen in Panama City. Nathan, a physics teacher from Australia and Mari from Costa Rica. They both live and work in San JOse.

The island is inhabited by 6-7 Kuna families and has about 20-25 wooden huts, most of which are for housing tourists. Some of the men speak Spanish. The women are dressed in colourful clothes, but seem shy or dont speak Spanish. They are, however, friendly enough to smile as they pass you.

After a 5 min walk, which took me around the island, it rained very hard. The wind and the rain meant that we all were trapped in our wooden cabañas for an hour before it allowed us to have lunch. Lunch was followed by a nap.

Dinner was rice, lentils and chicken. The moon made it nice to take a walk around after dinner. The reflection of the moon on the water is always something that I find pleasant and soothing.

Slept on the hammock by the water that night as it was warm in my dormitory, which I had all to myself. It was oh-so-nice to see the moon and the stars hovering over me as I slept, swinging gently in the hammock tied between two coconut tress, hoping that there were no coconuts ripe enough to fall on me.

Day 315 Wed 13/7

Breakfast consisted of 3 crackers and hot water! Time for a long session of swimming before heading out of the water to lay on the hammock, reading my book! One of the Kuna folk climbed a nearby coconut tree and threw down coconuts for us. What a lovely way to quench on’s thirst on such a hot morning.

Lunch was tasty and then it was off to the island of dog (Isla del perro). Adding to my experiences, I went snorkelling for the first time in my life. There was a boat wreck in the water close to the island and plenty of fish congregated next to it. I had a great time and enjoyed the experience. I spent a couple of hours in the water, swimming and snorkelling. After that, it was time to head back home. It again started raining on our way back. Since our “shower” consisted on us using a bucket to pour water in a drum over ourselves, I preffered to soap myself in the rain. It helped to wash out the salt water.

Dinner and time chatting with the folks. It rained again after dinner, which meant that we couldnt really see the stars and the moon. Off to bed in my warm cabaña.

Day 310 Fri 8/7

Last day in Colombia; farewells and off to the airport at 09:30 for the 12:30 flight. The taxi driver was not the best I have had and tried to overcharge me. However, I knew how much it cost, roughly, to get to the airport and managed enough Spanish to tell him what I thought of his attempt.

Check-in went smoothly. Had to pay airport taxes/ fees of about USD 60! Short, uneventful flight and we got in at around 14:00. Customs and immigration went by quickly as well. A collectivo to the hostel and I am in Panama City. Went to the closest supermarket to get some food. I couldnt get over how much it looked like a supermarket in the US. The influence of USA in Panama is everywhere!

Fix dinner and do some reading before heading to bed. Glad that the room has AC since Panama City is hot and humid!

Day 311 Sat 9/7

Walked around in the morning for a while before getting stopped by a dodgy cop. He asked for my passport and wasnt satisfied by my copy and asked me to pay a fine. I had the quite surreal experience of bargaining with a cop over his bribe. A robbery in daylight.. welcome to Panama. I wish I had put my foot down and insisted he take me to the police station. Didnt think of it at the time, and probably a good thing I didnt. Not quite sure how the folks at the station would have behaved!

It rained in the afternoon, and spent the afternoon taking a couple of bus rides. Some of the buses are brightly coloured and look like school-buses! They call them DIablos Rojos and they cost a quarter for a ride. The drivers turn the music up high, it is crowded; quite a cultural experience!

Watched a weird movie at night with an Argentine, who was waiting for his cousin to arrive.

Day 312 Sun 10/7

Walked along the water to casco viejo. It is a mixture of new-looking, renovated buildings and run-down, empty shells! Well-worth a visit and has some charm. Plenty of police presence since it has some dodgy neighbourhoods and can be dangerous at night.

After about 3 hours wandering around casco viejo, had lunch at one of the oldest establishments in town, only to be disappointed at the quality of food.

I had decided to head to San Blas on Mon, but ran into someone I had met travelling in COlombia and decided to postpone my trip to SB by a day to spend a day with her. Also spent time with Alejandro and his cousin.Played chess with Alejandro while Ivana was recuperating from her fever. Our (Alejandro & mine) medical advice didnt seem to help her much. A nice, enjoyable evening!

Day 313 Mon 11/7

A slow day. I was left on my own as Ivana and Alej went to the doctor’s and Steffi had still not arrived. Spent some time reading my Borges book and chatting with my neighbours, a girl from DR and another from Scotland.

Ivana had gotten a couple of injections and was told to rest. Alejandro, Steffi and I decided to head out to Panama Canal after lunch. We had lunch at a street stall run by a fat, cheerful Dominican lady, who was extremely friendly. Her food was delicious as well: beans, rice and veggies. Washed down with a coconut. Off to Miraflores locks next where we saw the process by which ships crossed the locks. It was all quite exciting!

Back to the hostel where Alej and I played more chess. We ended with 4 games, 2 wins for either of us. They had decided to get to San Blas on Wednesday and we decided we would play our tie-break in SB. Off then to watch the COpa America match between Argentina and Costa Roca, where Arg finally burst to life and got 3 goals, 2 of them thanks to Messi’s magic! Time to pack, say goodbyes and off to bed.

Lunch at Marisa’s. Panama Canal w Alej and Steffi. More chess; Arg vs CR game at Copa America.

Day 308 Wed 7/7

Back in Bogota after saying godbyes to the folk at Villa and a 3 hour bus ride. Yet more beautiful landscape. Rain didnt seem to make the driver slow down much and we made it to Puerta del Norte within 3 hours. TransMilenium over to La Candelaria, check in, and off to lunch at a local vegetarian restaurant. Made another trip to Museo Botero and renewed my acquaintance with the La Candelaria area.

Spent the evenign watching football (Copa America Colombia vs Argentina) with a couple of Argentines I had met in Quito. They shared a flat with some Colombians and, as a nuetral, it was quite funny to see the reactions of the two groups of supporters.

Day 309 Thu 8/7

I had missed seeing the Museol del Oro, the museum of gold, the last time I was in Bogota. It has quite a collection of items. As I came out of the museum, I was quite sick and tired of gold.

Walked around more and went back to the hostel where I tried to catch up on my blog entries, and get prepared for my trip to Panama.

Day 304 Sat 2/7 – Day 307 Tue 6/7

If the weather in Mompos werent so hot and muggy, I would have stayed there a couple of the nights I spent in Villa. Villa is at 2000+ metres and makes for cool temperatures. It can be quite warm when the sun comes out, but not hot.

Villa de Leyva: I had been there almost a week and seen most of the place and done a few hikes. This time around, I went there to relax in the lovely hostel in the mountains, take a few walks, enjoy the food. I have a flight from Bogota in less than a week’s time, but I preferred spending my time in Villa instead of Bogota.

The fruit market was on Saturday. I had been to the fruit market during my previous stay and had chatted with a pretty lady who sells fruits. Went back there looking for her. She was working and, surprisingly, she remembered me as well. A pleasant 15 minutes of (trying to, really) flirting and catching up, while buying enough fruit to last me my stay in Villa. She gave me some free fruit after I had paid for my purchase. Maybe she took pity on my inability to flirt in Spanish. Little were she to know about my inability to flirt in any language! Free fruit and radiant smiles: life is good.

The rest of the time was spent relaxing, reading a couple of books, visiting the French bakery in town (the folks there knew me as well from my numerous trips, buying pastry), playing some chess, going on aimless walks. I didnt make much of an attempt to talk to other folks in the hostel, bar the folks who worked there. I had a private room, which the folks at the hostel gave to me at a discount! I was a repeat customer, after all.

The weekend was some sort of a festival in Villa. I was too tired to go to the village Sat night, but I enjoyed the music on the square Sunday night, while watching the people. Children playing, grandparents, parents, young couples, foreigners, what have you… A funny thing happened Sunay night at the square while I was occupied doing nothing. A young lady was playing with her dad and a friend, when a young lad of 2 or 3 joined them. After a while, she looked around and walked up to me. “Hablas ingles?”.. “Yes”; “Is this your son?” “My dear young lady, I havent laid my eyes on him before now”; “Does that mean he is your son or not?” “No, he isnt”. She walked away for a bit, stopped and came back to me: “Are you certain he isnt your son?” I nearly collapsed laughing. I dont quite think I will forget that experience for a while!

Monday night I managed to see a Tejas game. It involves throing a disk at a clay target. Different parts give you different points. They also place firecrakers on the clay target and you get extra points if you hit a firecracker and set off an explosion. The thing I noticed was that there were no women and quite a bit of beer being consumed. The Colombian men were very friendly and happy to teach me how to play. Miguel, one of them men, took it upon himslef to be my teacher to calls of “professor” fom his friends.

It was a refreshing stay.

Day 302 Thu 30/6

Mompos is a lovely, sleepy, colonial town on Rio Magdalena, which was well worth the effort it took me to get there. I left the hostel in Cartagena at 6:00 and got on a collectivo to Magangue that left at 07:30. The rains in Colombia has left the surrounding region in floods and wrecked havoc with the roads. There were no direct buses to Mompos. It took us 5 hours to get to Magangue. Then it was time to get on a “chalupa”, a small motor-boat, to get to Bodega. I didnt even look around Bodega, but hopped on a (shared) taxi to Mompos.

The hostel in Mompos where I stayed, Casa Amarilla, is run by an English journalist. He lives in Bogota with his girlfriend, but was in Mompos for a couple of days. I had a nice conversation with him and Carmen, who takes care of the hostel.

I walked around time. The people in Mompos are very friendly and are quite happy to chat. At the store I went to get a snack, someone noted that I looked like someone’s nephew. Later on, I would get a hug from the lady whose nephew I resembled. Carmen would also speak of my resemblance to the said lad. Must be one cool cat; afterall my Doppelganger has to share some attributes with me.

While I would have liked to have spent one more night, doing nothing and chatting to people, the buses to Tunja from El Banco dont run every day and I decided that I wouldnt mind an extra night in Villa de Leyva. Mompos and Villa are two of my favourite places in Colombia, but the heat and humidity pushed it in Villa de Leyva’s favour.

Day 303 Fri 1/7

Before the chalupa left to El Banco, I had enough time to make another round, taking in some of the sights a second time. 3 hours in the chalupa, followed by a ride in a moto-taxi to the bus terminal. The moto-taxi is a motorbike that people use to ferry folks around. I had seen it in a couple of towns, but had never tried it before.

After a 2 hour wait at the bus station, I was off on a 19 hour bus-ride to Tunja. I was joined, after about 5 hours, by a pretty young lass. Like most of the Colombians I have met on my trip, she was friendly to a fault and I was more than happy to practise my Spanish with her. We shared some snacks and she even shared her blanket with me because she felt I looked cold, even though I had my jacket on. Colombian buses are quite notorious for turning the A/C on to ridiculously low temperatures at night.

Day 300 Tue 28/6

3 hour ride to get to Tolu; walk around village and beaches; sunset on the beach, dinner and sleep. Tolu is a small town, on the coast, extremely popular with Colombian tourists.

300 days in South America! I wish I could rewind time and start it all over again. It has been a lovely trip and I have had a nice time, with a few hiccups.

Day 301 Wed 29/6

Walked around a little bit in the morning; took me 6 hours from the time I left the hostel to get to Cartagena as most of the buses were running full.

The main point of the day came about when I checked in at the hostel in Cartagena. The person working at the front desk to check me in was someone who had worked at a hostel I stayed in Rosario, Argentina. We had met about 7.5 months ago! This trip has seen a fair share of re-encounters. I was too tired to do anything; went on a short walk to the local market and went to bed.

Photos

Day 297 Sat 25/6

A 5 hour luxury trip to Cartagena. Instead of taking a bus, I signed up to take a minivan that picks you up at the hostel and drops you off at a main square in Cartagena. There was no difference in price and it was a much more relaxed way to travel.

After checking in at the hostel, I was off for a walk. Who shoudl I run into at a nearby hostel, but the Norwegian girls again. They were headed out to Panama in a couple of hours’ time. Time enough to catch up and exchange names – it only took about 4 encounters.

Dinner with Rosario and Cynthia who had made it to Cartagena the previous day and another traveller we knew from Villa de Leyva. Midway through dinner, rain hit the town. Quite the deluge! I dont recall seeing such a downpour in years! Within minutes, the streets looked like rivers and we were trapped at the restaurant. It took about an hour before the rain stopped. We said our goodbyes and it was quite an adventure heading back to the hostel!

Day 298 Sun 26/6

Walked around most of the day. Cartagena is extremely photogenic and the colonial old town has some pretty buildings. Sunset and outdoor (free) music helped mark a lovely end to the day.

Day 299 Mon 27/6

Walked around a bit in the morning. One of the reasons I stayed back was to visit some of the museums, all of which were closed! It was some sort of a public holiday. I had also forgotten to take into consideration that it was Monday – doh!

Watched Rafael Nadal play Del Potro in the fourth round and then headed out to catch the sunset again. This time, I was stopped by a policeman who wanted to see my id and wasnt satisfied with the copy of the passport I carry around with me all the time. Apparently, he wanted me to carry my passport with me all the time. More chances to exercise my Spanish muscles, but one I could have done without. Back to the hostel, planning to wake up early to head to Mompos.

Day 295 Thu 23/6

After a night in Santa Marta, I thought I would escape the heat by heading to the mountains. Minca is at an altitude of 800m, 45 minutes from Santa Marta and is also famous for its coffee. There are a few nice hikes in the region, but I wasnt quite impressed. After 5 days of hiking in the jungle, the scenery didnt attract me. Not to mention the fact that it rained most of the time I was there. I ended up observing the sunset frm my hostel and trying to learn some Spanish grammar. Slept quite a bit as well

Day 296 Fri 24/6
It wasnt raining in the morning when I woke up and I headed out for a walk/ run. However, by the time I got back an hour later, it started to rain. Breakfast, some more time with the grammar book and I was ready to head back to Sta Marta. The rain followed me to Sta Marta and I spent the afternoon watching wimbledon and wrapping up a book, the Handmaid’s tale.

I also brought a ticket to Calgary from San Jose, Costa Rica for mid August. A short break from travel before hitting the road again! I had been debating whether to visit Panama & CR or head back to Brasil, espécially since I had an invitation to visit a friend in Northern Brasil. In the end, Brasil proved to be a very expensive affair. I will be back in Brasil in a few years’ time, anyway. I have a lot left to see in Brasil: it is after all a love affair that has spanned decades!

Ciudad Perdida Trek photos

Day 290 Sat 18/6

I was up and ready way before the time the tour jeep was coming by to pick me up (at 08:30). There were 3 others, one of whom was someone I had met at Villa de Leyva.

The Ciudad Perdida trek lasts 4, 5 or 6 days. I chose the 5 day, 4 night option. 4.5 days of walking in the jungle, crossing rivers, swimming, getting bitten by mosquitoes. I had read quite a bit about the trek and I had been looking forward to it. Of course, having built it up, there is always a chance of disappointment and I was aware of that. One cannot do it alone, but with a guide. But any tour group arranges for places to sleep, food for 5 days and transportation to and from the hostel, all for about 500000 CoP (300USD).

The first day consisted of a 3 hour ride to the village where, after lunch, we started our journey. We hiked for about 2.5 – 3 hurs, spent about half an hour swimming, crossed a couple of rivers (I sadly managed to get my shoes wet the first crossing). About 3/4 of the way in, it started pouring rain – which set the tone for the next 4 days: sunny mornings and rain in the afternoon. The rain made the rest of the hike miserable. The muddy slopes were slippery and it made going down really hard. I was happy when we made it to the camp, wet and muddy. We were to sleep in hammocks (with mosquito nets). Mosquitos had already had a field day with me.

Since a couple of the folks in our tour group had signed up for a 4 day hike, Tillmann and I were to join another group (through another tour company) of 8 people. We already had our dinner before the group showed up around 18:30. Introductions, small talk and before long, time for bed. The showers and toilets were clean and all in all, and I slept well.

Day 291 Sun 19/6

This was probably the easiest of the 5 days of hiking. We started late, around 08:30 – 09:00 after breakfast. I ran into the Norwegian girls (from Salento and Barichara) again! They were on their way back after doing a 4 day hike. They had some bad news to impart. Apparently a 23 year old Frecnh tourist had been swept away by the current, while crossing a river, and had been found downstream, dead. Not the best news!

We only had about 3 – 3.5 hours of hiking that day. Except for a steep climb of 30 minutes, it was quite easy. We also managed to get about 30 – 45 minutes of swimming while the tour guides (2 of them) cut pineapples to feed us. Pineapples combined with swimming; it is not often in life I can get to splash around holding pineapple slices in both hands.

Maybe because of the death of the tourist, we did our first river crossing of the day in a cable car. (this was the crossing where the unfortunate French guy had died). The second river crossing was on foot and fairly easy.

The one shock I had was when I was a bit ahead of the group. A snake slid into the path in front of me and slithered across the trail into the dense undergrowth on the other side. It was extremely colourful and poisonous. I was thanking my lucky stars that it had crossed a metre in front of me and gave me enough of space to get over my shock. My heart was in my mouth for a few seconds! My fear of snakes or all slithering things did not make the encounter any easy to handle. We also passed an “Indian” village.

It started raingin after we got to the camp and had our lunch. A bunch of us had planned to go swimming in the river near the camp, but the extremely strong current and rain put paid to those plans. We played some cards, had dinner and were in bed by 20:00! The pillows did smell though, and the bedsheets were far from clean. Roughing it out does have some issues that I do not enjoy!

Day 292 Mon 20/6

4 hours of walking, a swim in a river and at a waterfall, brought us to the next camp. I knew there was a military presence at the lost city, but were surprised to see a few soldiers at the camp. Since a group of foreign tourists were kidnapped at Ciudad Perdida, there has been a military presence at the city. They explained that they come down to the camp to replenish their supplies. A soldier spends about 4 months at the city before heading back to “normal” duty

Another exciting night of card games!

The camp had the worst facilities of all the 3 camps we had been in, but we survived. It helped that we would be seeing the Ciudad Perdida early in the morning!

Day 293 Tue 21/6

We started early and made it to the lost city before anyone else. The 1200 narrow steps to climb added to the adventure, after a river crossing and a fairly easy trail.

We spent about 3 hours at the city. I managed to scare myself and the others by falling about a metre and a half, into a dense growth, from a rock. A bunch of folks were sitting down, enjoying the view, and I decided to sit down as well. The rock didnt think much of the plan and fell down, taking me down with it. One minute I was there and the next, I was flying down to the ground below. Luckily it was a terrace like ground and I landed on soft land, before I had time to react!

The soldiers at the site were friendly and posed with all of us for photos. They must lack for things to do and any company must be welcome!

We took a different route to camp. This route gave us time to swim in extremely cold water for about 20-30 minutes and also involved 4 river crossings, fairly easy ones. Got back to camp, had lunch, picked up our stuff, which was already packed, and were off to repeat the 3rd day’s hike in reverse. Got back to camp 2 just before the rain poured down! A shower, a quick snack and more card games.

Day 294 Wed 22/6

Longest day of walking – 6 hours of hiking.

We left extremely early, after a quick breakfast and made it to camp 1 after about 3 hours, where we had a rest, and some fruit. Watermelon is indeed a welcome snack after a long hike, especially since it was hot and muggy. After the snack, we had time to swim in the river nearby. The main adventure was the jump into the water from a point about 3m high. It took me a little bit of time to “screw my courage to the sticking place”.

3 more hours of walking and back to the village where it all began! A quick shower and lunch and time to say good bye to the gang. The group was quite diverse: an American, 2 folks from England (including a girl whose mom is Colombian and acted as translator for the folks who didnt understand Spanish), a German, 2 Dutch, a Canadian, an Ethiopian, an Indonesian from Australia and yours truly.

To celebrate the successful completion of the hike and to delay saying goodbye, we met up in Santa Marta for drinks/ dinner. We were all quite tired and were more than ready to say to head to bed around 10:30pm.