Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017--Banos
I have been traveling for 1 1/2 months, and today has been the first real day of rain. There have been several night rains, and there have been a couple of days when there was a brief afternoon shower. But today it was raining when I awoke and it didn't end until about 16:30.
I had intended to go to one of the bath houses again today. Instead, I stayed inside. I took a long, hot shower here. And I passed the day reading and doing travel planning. I had plenty of food here, so I have remained comfortable and have been productive.
One of my main accomplishments has been to finalize my travel dates for the rest of the trip. I had to cut one of the places that would have been most interesting to visit (the Quilotoa Loop or Traverse), but it was going to be very awkward to accomplish because of having to leave my luggage somewhere, because of rather inadequate places to stay overnight, and because of poor bus service. Unfortunately, I have also had to commit myself to one final 10-hour bus trip.
With the finalized schedule, I can now work on reservations for where to stay in each place. Today, I narrowed my possibilities down to two apartments in Vilcabamca, and I may finalize a reservation for there tonight. I have 6 more destinations following there ranging in stays from 1 to 6 nights.
Now that the rain has ended and the sun is out, I will take one last stroll around Banos. Tomorrow is a travel day.
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Friday, September 29, 2017
Extra Post: Photos from Rafting Trip
This is an extra post. The rafting company has posted photos from our trip a few days ago. To help you find me: I was in the yellow raft. The first half of the trip, I was in the front seat on the left side. The second half of the trip I was in the second seat- sometimes on the left and sometimes on the right. The Frenchman Max (tallest guy on the trip and wearing a white T-shirt) was beside me most of the time.
https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1678885632164277&id=129547057098150&set=a.1678882922164548.1073742379.129547057098150&source=54&refid=13&__tn__=%2B%3D
Early Morning at the Thermal Baths
Friday, Sept. 29, 2017--Banos
It was 5:30 when I awoke. At first, I thought of trying to sleep longer, but I wasn't tired and I new that the baths were already open. I gathered everything and headed out.
As I had read there would be, a crowd of local people were already there. I paid my $2 admission and another 50 cents to buy a nylon skull cap which is required. A woman gave me a plastic crate (like a milk crate) which I took inside an individual changing room. I put my shoes, clothes, and towel inside the crate and wore my swimsuit and my skull cap.
I took my crate to a small building where they placed it in a numbered shelf cubicle and gave me a wrist band with a matching number. I then went to an outdoor shower area to bathe before going into the pools. It was a pleasant surprise that the shower water was warm from inside the volcano that the bathing complex snuggles against.
There are 5 pools. I stayed upstairs, however, using only three (and mostly just two). My first stop was the HOT pool. Most people had trouble entering it because of the extreme heat. I handled it well, but it did seem to burn my legs just above the ankles. There is a 5-minute time limit for being in that pool.
Cascading down the mountain just beside the hottest pool is a dramatic waterfall. Some of the water from it has been diverted to open-air shower troughs by the hot pool. The water plunging out of the troughs provides a cold-water shock for the body after leaving the hot pool. I plunged under one of the troughs. Then I went back into the hot pool.
After about three rounds of that, I entered the warm pool where most of the people were. Some were swimming, but most were just sitting or standing by the sides. Many were visiting with each other since they were all locals who come there regularly. I was the only tourist as far as I could tell.
Early morning is a magical time to be there. It rains almost every night here, and mornings typically begin with low-hanging clouds, and with cold temperatures. I stood at the side of the pool enjoying the combined views of the waterfall splashing and the steam from the pools looking as if it could be the cause for the formation of the low, misty clouds.
I discovered later that the third pool on my level was a cold plunging pool. Hardly anyone was using it because the waterfall shower troughs provided the same effect. And the two other pools below were a small spa (hot tub) and another, but smaller, warm pool.
Feeling the warmth of the waters, watching the waterfall, and scanning the view of the lush, green mountains was such an enjoyable and relaxing experience that I stayed there more than 2 1/2 hours--mainly in the warm pool while occasionally returning to the hot pool briefly. But more people started arriving including families with children. And the clouds began to dissipate and the sun to peek through. It was still a nice place while losing some of its magical aspects. I got my crate and changed back into my clothes.
More than likely the "local atmosphere" and the $2 admission at the Termas de la Virgen will end soon. Construction of a much grander facility with a huge parking lot is almost complete next door. I don't see how they will be able to keep the low admission charge or the intimate, local atmosphere once it opens.
Back at home, I made coffee and had a bowl of granola for breakfast. Then I read the news on my phone.
In the afternoon, I went back out. I bought my bus ticket for leaving here Sunday. Then I took photos of some of the places here--the church (which has some interesting paintings of tragic events here where it is believed that their local saint performed miracles), interesting buildings, several of the bath houses, the waterfall, the mountains, etc.
I may go back out for a while tonight since it is Friday and Banos is known for being overrun on weekends with tourists from Quito. There should be a lively atmosphere in town versus the quiet sleepiness it has had during the week.
Note: I have ordered me a new travel computer to replace the one that was stolen. I had been researching new ones for some time and had decided that a Chromebook with a hard drive big enough to also load Linux on it as a second operating system would be best. Because of the fact that theft will always be a danger, I didn't want to spend too much money for it. I settled on an Acer Chromebook R11 with 4GB of ram and a touch screen. Other advantages are that it folds back 360 degrees to be used as a tablet and it is certified for using Android apps (allowing me both to play Netflix films on it and to download Netflix films for watching when I am somewhere with WiFi too slow for streaming as is the case where I am staying now). $249 plus taxes (plus 4 percent back--2 from my credit card and 2 from Costco--and free delivery. Too bad I can't have it on the rest of this trip, but it will be waiting for me when I arrive home in 28 days.
It was 5:30 when I awoke. At first, I thought of trying to sleep longer, but I wasn't tired and I new that the baths were already open. I gathered everything and headed out.
As I had read there would be, a crowd of local people were already there. I paid my $2 admission and another 50 cents to buy a nylon skull cap which is required. A woman gave me a plastic crate (like a milk crate) which I took inside an individual changing room. I put my shoes, clothes, and towel inside the crate and wore my swimsuit and my skull cap.
I took my crate to a small building where they placed it in a numbered shelf cubicle and gave me a wrist band with a matching number. I then went to an outdoor shower area to bathe before going into the pools. It was a pleasant surprise that the shower water was warm from inside the volcano that the bathing complex snuggles against.
There are 5 pools. I stayed upstairs, however, using only three (and mostly just two). My first stop was the HOT pool. Most people had trouble entering it because of the extreme heat. I handled it well, but it did seem to burn my legs just above the ankles. There is a 5-minute time limit for being in that pool.
Cascading down the mountain just beside the hottest pool is a dramatic waterfall. Some of the water from it has been diverted to open-air shower troughs by the hot pool. The water plunging out of the troughs provides a cold-water shock for the body after leaving the hot pool. I plunged under one of the troughs. Then I went back into the hot pool.
After about three rounds of that, I entered the warm pool where most of the people were. Some were swimming, but most were just sitting or standing by the sides. Many were visiting with each other since they were all locals who come there regularly. I was the only tourist as far as I could tell.
Early morning is a magical time to be there. It rains almost every night here, and mornings typically begin with low-hanging clouds, and with cold temperatures. I stood at the side of the pool enjoying the combined views of the waterfall splashing and the steam from the pools looking as if it could be the cause for the formation of the low, misty clouds.
I discovered later that the third pool on my level was a cold plunging pool. Hardly anyone was using it because the waterfall shower troughs provided the same effect. And the two other pools below were a small spa (hot tub) and another, but smaller, warm pool.
Feeling the warmth of the waters, watching the waterfall, and scanning the view of the lush, green mountains was such an enjoyable and relaxing experience that I stayed there more than 2 1/2 hours--mainly in the warm pool while occasionally returning to the hot pool briefly. But more people started arriving including families with children. And the clouds began to dissipate and the sun to peek through. It was still a nice place while losing some of its magical aspects. I got my crate and changed back into my clothes.
More than likely the "local atmosphere" and the $2 admission at the Termas de la Virgen will end soon. Construction of a much grander facility with a huge parking lot is almost complete next door. I don't see how they will be able to keep the low admission charge or the intimate, local atmosphere once it opens.
Back at home, I made coffee and had a bowl of granola for breakfast. Then I read the news on my phone.
In the afternoon, I went back out. I bought my bus ticket for leaving here Sunday. Then I took photos of some of the places here--the church (which has some interesting paintings of tragic events here where it is believed that their local saint performed miracles), interesting buildings, several of the bath houses, the waterfall, the mountains, etc.
I may go back out for a while tonight since it is Friday and Banos is known for being overrun on weekends with tourists from Quito. There should be a lively atmosphere in town versus the quiet sleepiness it has had during the week.
Note: I have ordered me a new travel computer to replace the one that was stolen. I had been researching new ones for some time and had decided that a Chromebook with a hard drive big enough to also load Linux on it as a second operating system would be best. Because of the fact that theft will always be a danger, I didn't want to spend too much money for it. I settled on an Acer Chromebook R11 with 4GB of ram and a touch screen. Other advantages are that it folds back 360 degrees to be used as a tablet and it is certified for using Android apps (allowing me both to play Netflix films on it and to download Netflix films for watching when I am somewhere with WiFi too slow for streaming as is the case where I am staying now). $249 plus taxes (plus 4 percent back--2 from my credit card and 2 from Costco--and free delivery. Too bad I can't have it on the rest of this trip, but it will be waiting for me when I arrive home in 28 days.
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Beautiful Mountains and Waterfalls around Me
Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 27 and 28, 2017--Banos, Ecuador
Wednesday was a travel day. I took a bus for 3 1/2 hours from Tena to Banos. It was beautiful territory, especially between the towns of Puyo and Banos. The road followed the walls of a deep canyon with a rushing river below. There were several tunnels. And the mountains were very green.
Banos is more expensive than the other places I have been on my trip. Restaurant prices are at least 60 percent higher. And the apartment I have rented here, although only $25 a night, is not nearly as nice as the others I have rented for this price. It's okay, but nicer would be better. And it has the worst WiFi of the whole trip since one account for only 5 Mbps is shared by about 11 people. Last night I gave up on the WiFi, because my share was only 0.8 Mbps--not enough to even load pages appropriately, much less to try to make a call or to watch a video.
I was so tired yesterday from the rafting trip that I stayed in the apartment the rest of the day and went to bed early. I am still a little sore from the trip. Paddling in rough water puts stress on shoulder, arm, and finger muscles. I am still a little sore today.
Much of this morning was spent exploring the town. Banos is in a small valley surrounded by green volcanic mountains. Anywhere one looks up is a view of these mountains. The one outside my bedroom window has a beautiful waterfall cascading down it. I wandered up and down the streets just seeing what is here. Then I stopped at the only supermarket in town and bought some groceries. Around 13:00, I returned to the same restaurant for lunch that I visited yesterday. My landlady says that they are the best in town, and my experience is that it is clean and reliable.
The main reasons for coming to Banos are 1) Gong to the thermal baths and 2) Participating in extreme sports. I am only interested in the thermal baths. There are several in town. I don't know if I will go to one tonight or not, but I definitely plan to go to one as soon as I get up tomorrow. The Termas La Virgen is the most popular, and it opens at 5:00 each morning!
This afternoon I will start a new book. I have waited two days to start it, because I like to think about one after finishing it and I don't like for them to run together in my mind.
I finished reading Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff. It is an interesting story of a marriage in which the husband's story is told followed by the wife's story, and they are so different. Yet the husband thought he knew his wife so well! I gave the book 4 stars out of 5. we
Wednesday was a travel day. I took a bus for 3 1/2 hours from Tena to Banos. It was beautiful territory, especially between the towns of Puyo and Banos. The road followed the walls of a deep canyon with a rushing river below. There were several tunnels. And the mountains were very green.
Banos is more expensive than the other places I have been on my trip. Restaurant prices are at least 60 percent higher. And the apartment I have rented here, although only $25 a night, is not nearly as nice as the others I have rented for this price. It's okay, but nicer would be better. And it has the worst WiFi of the whole trip since one account for only 5 Mbps is shared by about 11 people. Last night I gave up on the WiFi, because my share was only 0.8 Mbps--not enough to even load pages appropriately, much less to try to make a call or to watch a video.
I was so tired yesterday from the rafting trip that I stayed in the apartment the rest of the day and went to bed early. I am still a little sore from the trip. Paddling in rough water puts stress on shoulder, arm, and finger muscles. I am still a little sore today.
Much of this morning was spent exploring the town. Banos is in a small valley surrounded by green volcanic mountains. Anywhere one looks up is a view of these mountains. The one outside my bedroom window has a beautiful waterfall cascading down it. I wandered up and down the streets just seeing what is here. Then I stopped at the only supermarket in town and bought some groceries. Around 13:00, I returned to the same restaurant for lunch that I visited yesterday. My landlady says that they are the best in town, and my experience is that it is clean and reliable.
The main reasons for coming to Banos are 1) Gong to the thermal baths and 2) Participating in extreme sports. I am only interested in the thermal baths. There are several in town. I don't know if I will go to one tonight or not, but I definitely plan to go to one as soon as I get up tomorrow. The Termas La Virgen is the most popular, and it opens at 5:00 each morning!
This afternoon I will start a new book. I have waited two days to start it, because I like to think about one after finishing it and I don't like for them to run together in my mind.
I finished reading Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff. It is an interesting story of a marriage in which the husband's story is told followed by the wife's story, and they are so different. Yet the husband thought he knew his wife so well! I gave the book 4 stars out of 5. we
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Rafting!
Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 25 and 26, 2017--Tena, Ecuador
Monday was a day to arrange a rafting trip for Tuesday, to explore the town a bit, and to rest from the long day of traveling Sunday. I also researched places to stay in Cuenca and made a reservation.
There are two main reasons to come to Tena: 1) To do a homestay with an indigenous family, and 2) To go rafting. I came for the latter.
The river we rafted today is a Class 3 one. Although the one I rafted last year was also a Class 3 one, this one was more exciting with more and bigger rapids. I quickly made friends with a young French couple on the ride out. Then we were on the same raft as 3 young Brits--2 men and a woman. We all bonded and enjoyed our time together.
The trip on the river was 27 km (16 miles). We went through one Class 4 rapid early which was very exciting. But we also did other exciting things. Each of us took turns sitting on the front of the raft with our legs outside it and holding onto the outside rope between our legs as we went through rapids. That was somewhat like riding a mechanical bull. We took turns falling into the river and being "rescued." We made rhythms slapping our paddles against the side of the raft and then clapping the handles together. When we had an especially exciting splash or twirl of the raft, we raised our paddles into the air to slap a "high-five" and then slapped them against the river surface.
About halfway, we went to shore for lunch. While it was being readied, we played a couple of beach games. For one, we should in a circle holding our paddles upright. With one whistle, we let go of our paddle and moved to the left trying to catch the one there before it fell. Two whistles meant to go to the right. Three whistles meant to stay in place and dance wiggling our hips. The other game was jumping back and forth over a line with one whistle meaning to stay where you are and two whistles meaning to jump.
Lunch meant making our own tacos. They had tortillas, guacamole, beans, tomatoes, onions, cheese, hot sauce, and corn chips. They tasted so good!!! For dessert there were slices of fresh watermelon and pineapple along with cookies that tasted like animal crackers. Drinks were 7-Up, Pepsi, and water.
We were totally wet all day because of big splashes and being in and out of the water over and over again. But it was so much fun. We left at 8:30 and got back at 16:00, so it was a long day of pleasure with good company.
Monday was a day to arrange a rafting trip for Tuesday, to explore the town a bit, and to rest from the long day of traveling Sunday. I also researched places to stay in Cuenca and made a reservation.
There are two main reasons to come to Tena: 1) To do a homestay with an indigenous family, and 2) To go rafting. I came for the latter.
The river we rafted today is a Class 3 one. Although the one I rafted last year was also a Class 3 one, this one was more exciting with more and bigger rapids. I quickly made friends with a young French couple on the ride out. Then we were on the same raft as 3 young Brits--2 men and a woman. We all bonded and enjoyed our time together.
The trip on the river was 27 km (16 miles). We went through one Class 4 rapid early which was very exciting. But we also did other exciting things. Each of us took turns sitting on the front of the raft with our legs outside it and holding onto the outside rope between our legs as we went through rapids. That was somewhat like riding a mechanical bull. We took turns falling into the river and being "rescued." We made rhythms slapping our paddles against the side of the raft and then clapping the handles together. When we had an especially exciting splash or twirl of the raft, we raised our paddles into the air to slap a "high-five" and then slapped them against the river surface.
About halfway, we went to shore for lunch. While it was being readied, we played a couple of beach games. For one, we should in a circle holding our paddles upright. With one whistle, we let go of our paddle and moved to the left trying to catch the one there before it fell. Two whistles meant to go to the right. Three whistles meant to stay in place and dance wiggling our hips. The other game was jumping back and forth over a line with one whistle meaning to stay where you are and two whistles meaning to jump.
Lunch meant making our own tacos. They had tortillas, guacamole, beans, tomatoes, onions, cheese, hot sauce, and corn chips. They tasted so good!!! For dessert there were slices of fresh watermelon and pineapple along with cookies that tasted like animal crackers. Drinks were 7-Up, Pepsi, and water.
We were totally wet all day because of big splashes and being in and out of the water over and over again. But it was so much fun. We left at 8:30 and got back at 16:00, so it was a long day of pleasure with good company.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Knife Pulled on Me
Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017--Ibarra to Tena
Today was a long travel day and hopefully the last that requires me to try to leave early. I knew the trip would take about 10 hours, so I needed to leave early to avoid arriving in the dark. (Because of being near the equator, days her are essentially 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness.)
I set my alarm for 4:45 planning to leave at 5:30 after eating breakfast and bathing. When I awoke at 4:00, I decided to rush things try to catch one of the 5:00 buses instead of the one I intended to take at 6:30. I just did what was necessary and was out of the apartment at 4:15 heading for the station. I knew the way well, and I always walk fast.
I was halfway there when a man rode up on a bicycle and started talking to me. I kept waking fast and responded minimally. Soon he started asking for money. I ignored him. As he persisted, I said, "No." Then he rode closer to me and pulled a knife out of his clothing. It looked like an 8-inch (20 cm) blade.
I picked up my suitcase raising it to shoulder level since I knew his being on a bicycle was a disadvantage for him. He didn't pull away, so I tapped him lightly with the bag so he would see his disadvantage and would know how heavy the bag was. I did this while saying, "No!" more firmly.
I put the bag back on the ground and started walking away, again at a fast pace, while looking back at him. He started to follow me again, so I kept my pace and kept watching him while starting repeatedly yelling as loud as I could: "Nooo!!! Nooo!!! Nooo!!!"
He obviously became concerned about the noise I was making and moved closer to the other side of the street. Then he turned away at the next corner. But I figured he would be back. Sure enough, as l neared the next corner, he was about 1/4 of the way down the block headed toward me.
I didn't wait. I immediately started yelling, "Nooo!!!" repeatedly and loudly again. He turned onto my street again but was obviously still bothered by the sound of my yelling. Plus, the next corner was where I would turn toward the station--a very busy street with cars passing. When I turned while still yelling at him, he continued straight.
I kept watching for him as I walked the final 3-4 blocks to the terminal, but I never saw him again and didn't really expect to do so due to 2-3 cars (including one police car) passing in each block.
I don't think he would have used the knife. I bet he carries it on himself as protection against anyone who might bother him. I think he pulled it out thinking it might convince me to throw some money at him. But I was fully prepared to hit him as hard as I could to knock him and his bicycle over and to continue pounding him if I had to do so once he was on the ground.
For the next 10 hours I was on busses. We crossed the Andes going from the dry, deserty western side to the lush, damp Amazonian side. We were up very high with clouds hanging around us and cold temperatures. For hours we followed a fast-rushing stream. The people up there are poor and live in houses built from odds and ends of pieces of lumber, old windows, etc. The towns are small and far apart.
Slowly, we descended. Instead of thick cold forests, they started to have some ferns and palms. And eventually the land started flattening out. Then we arrived in Tena. On one side of town the Andes rise to dramatic peaks, while on the other side there exists flat Amazonian forest as far as can be seen.
Today was a long travel day and hopefully the last that requires me to try to leave early. I knew the trip would take about 10 hours, so I needed to leave early to avoid arriving in the dark. (Because of being near the equator, days her are essentially 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness.)
I set my alarm for 4:45 planning to leave at 5:30 after eating breakfast and bathing. When I awoke at 4:00, I decided to rush things try to catch one of the 5:00 buses instead of the one I intended to take at 6:30. I just did what was necessary and was out of the apartment at 4:15 heading for the station. I knew the way well, and I always walk fast.
I was halfway there when a man rode up on a bicycle and started talking to me. I kept waking fast and responded minimally. Soon he started asking for money. I ignored him. As he persisted, I said, "No." Then he rode closer to me and pulled a knife out of his clothing. It looked like an 8-inch (20 cm) blade.
I picked up my suitcase raising it to shoulder level since I knew his being on a bicycle was a disadvantage for him. He didn't pull away, so I tapped him lightly with the bag so he would see his disadvantage and would know how heavy the bag was. I did this while saying, "No!" more firmly.
I put the bag back on the ground and started walking away, again at a fast pace, while looking back at him. He started to follow me again, so I kept my pace and kept watching him while starting repeatedly yelling as loud as I could: "Nooo!!! Nooo!!! Nooo!!!"
He obviously became concerned about the noise I was making and moved closer to the other side of the street. Then he turned away at the next corner. But I figured he would be back. Sure enough, as l neared the next corner, he was about 1/4 of the way down the block headed toward me.
I didn't wait. I immediately started yelling, "Nooo!!!" repeatedly and loudly again. He turned onto my street again but was obviously still bothered by the sound of my yelling. Plus, the next corner was where I would turn toward the station--a very busy street with cars passing. When I turned while still yelling at him, he continued straight.
I kept watching for him as I walked the final 3-4 blocks to the terminal, but I never saw him again and didn't really expect to do so due to 2-3 cars (including one police car) passing in each block.
I don't think he would have used the knife. I bet he carries it on himself as protection against anyone who might bother him. I think he pulled it out thinking it might convince me to throw some money at him. But I was fully prepared to hit him as hard as I could to knock him and his bicycle over and to continue pounding him if I had to do so once he was on the ground.
For the next 10 hours I was on busses. We crossed the Andes going from the dry, deserty western side to the lush, damp Amazonian side. We were up very high with clouds hanging around us and cold temperatures. For hours we followed a fast-rushing stream. The people up there are poor and live in houses built from odds and ends of pieces of lumber, old windows, etc. The towns are small and far apart.
Slowly, we descended. Instead of thick cold forests, they started to have some ferns and palms. And eventually the land started flattening out. Then we arrived in Tena. On one side of town the Andes rise to dramatic peaks, while on the other side there exists flat Amazonian forest as far as can be seen.
Saturday, September 23, 2017
A Party and a Market
Friday and Saturday, Sept. 22 and 23, 2017--Ibarri and Otavalo
Friday was a day to explore locally--churches, plazas, and the local museum. After a lazy morning with a late breakfast in my apartment, I headed out. I stopped at a restaurant around 14:00 operated by two ladies in native costume who were friendly and happy. I had potato-cheese soup, sausage, fried egg, cabbage salad, mashed potatoes, and juice.
Friday night my landlady and I walked over to her ex-husband's house--an ultra modern home. Once a month he and his present wife have a social event on their huge glass-covered patio. For a $15 cover charge, they provide food, all the craft beer (from his brewery) you can drink, and live music. The food was a huge pan of scrambled eggs, hominy, cream, herbs, and spices. He had 6 kinds of beer. My favorite was made from prickly pear (cactus) fruit that tasted a lot like an IPA beer. The worst was made with lime, salt, and jalapenos. It was far too salty and didn't really have a beer taste. Another I liked that had a good taste was made from figs.
There were several people there who spoke English. I visited with a female professor fom Spain and her date who is Ecuadorian of Japanese descent, a German man who is a butcher making German sausages and is married to a local woman, a Brazilian man who is a software specialist assigned here, the owner of the house who was born here of Swiss descent and who gave me a tour of his micro-brewery, and others. I returned home at midnight with the party still going strong.
This morning I was up early to catch a bus to Otavalo. It is a nearby city that has one of the two largest ethnic markets in South America. A major plaza is filled with stalls, and they continue down streets for at least a block in all directions.
The market is known for its weavings. There are many, too. But most stalls sell many things which gave me the impression that they probably don't make their merchandise themselves.
Ethnic weavings always make me want to look for drink coasters, because they would be light for packing and would make useful gifts. But the people doing the weavings are never aware of such an item. I was able to explain to two vendors the idea, and if they make them I feel sure that they will sell. I told them I would buy 60 of them if they had them today. Instead, I bought nothing. But I enjoyed seeing everything and watching people (huge numbers in ethnic garb both Manning booths and in town to shop for the day).
Friday was a day to explore locally--churches, plazas, and the local museum. After a lazy morning with a late breakfast in my apartment, I headed out. I stopped at a restaurant around 14:00 operated by two ladies in native costume who were friendly and happy. I had potato-cheese soup, sausage, fried egg, cabbage salad, mashed potatoes, and juice.
Friday night my landlady and I walked over to her ex-husband's house--an ultra modern home. Once a month he and his present wife have a social event on their huge glass-covered patio. For a $15 cover charge, they provide food, all the craft beer (from his brewery) you can drink, and live music. The food was a huge pan of scrambled eggs, hominy, cream, herbs, and spices. He had 6 kinds of beer. My favorite was made from prickly pear (cactus) fruit that tasted a lot like an IPA beer. The worst was made with lime, salt, and jalapenos. It was far too salty and didn't really have a beer taste. Another I liked that had a good taste was made from figs.
There were several people there who spoke English. I visited with a female professor fom Spain and her date who is Ecuadorian of Japanese descent, a German man who is a butcher making German sausages and is married to a local woman, a Brazilian man who is a software specialist assigned here, the owner of the house who was born here of Swiss descent and who gave me a tour of his micro-brewery, and others. I returned home at midnight with the party still going strong.
This morning I was up early to catch a bus to Otavalo. It is a nearby city that has one of the two largest ethnic markets in South America. A major plaza is filled with stalls, and they continue down streets for at least a block in all directions.
The market is known for its weavings. There are many, too. But most stalls sell many things which gave me the impression that they probably don't make their merchandise themselves.
Ethnic weavings always make me want to look for drink coasters, because they would be light for packing and would make useful gifts. But the people doing the weavings are never aware of such an item. I was able to explain to two vendors the idea, and if they make them I feel sure that they will sell. I told them I would buy 60 of them if they had them today. Instead, I bought nothing. But I enjoyed seeing everything and watching people (huge numbers in ethnic garb both Manning booths and in town to shop for the day).
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Tren de la Libertad Ibarra
Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017--Ibarra, Ecuador
Went to bus station. I have 2 options for how to get to my next stop Sunday. Neither is ideal. One is possibly an hour shorter, but it will mean getting off the first bus at a traffic circle and waiting and watching to flag down the next bus. The other is an hour longer, but I would change busses in Quito.
After that, I headed for the nearby train station. At 11:30, we left on a tourist train that goes along the rim of a canyon to Salinas, a small community established by freed slaves in the mid-1800s. We made a stop about 2/3 of the way there to view the canyon, to get a snack, and to use the toilet. When we got to Salinas a group of 5 young women and 1 young man performed dances with 2 of the women balancing wine bottles on their heads. Then we walked through the village to a shop selling homemade jams and bottles of Pina colada mixture. Next, we went to a cultural center to see how their buildings are made of mud and reeds and how they used to make salt for bartering. Finally, we had lunch at a restaurant before taking the train back.
When we arrived at the station, I went to a nearby supermarket to get some granola, milk, tuna, and cola for the apartment. Then I took the local bus home at the senior citizen rate of 15 cents. (They use the US dollar as their currency here.)
Note:. Put the title of this blog entry into Google and click on "Images" to see photos of the train and views along the route.
Spending for Colombia: I spent 1,982,460 pesos (3000 = $1 so $660.82 in pesos) and $686.03 in dollars on credit card charges for a total of $1346.85 over 35 days for an average of $38.48 per day.
Went to bus station. I have 2 options for how to get to my next stop Sunday. Neither is ideal. One is possibly an hour shorter, but it will mean getting off the first bus at a traffic circle and waiting and watching to flag down the next bus. The other is an hour longer, but I would change busses in Quito.
After that, I headed for the nearby train station. At 11:30, we left on a tourist train that goes along the rim of a canyon to Salinas, a small community established by freed slaves in the mid-1800s. We made a stop about 2/3 of the way there to view the canyon, to get a snack, and to use the toilet. When we got to Salinas a group of 5 young women and 1 young man performed dances with 2 of the women balancing wine bottles on their heads. Then we walked through the village to a shop selling homemade jams and bottles of Pina colada mixture. Next, we went to a cultural center to see how their buildings are made of mud and reeds and how they used to make salt for bartering. Finally, we had lunch at a restaurant before taking the train back.
When we arrived at the station, I went to a nearby supermarket to get some granola, milk, tuna, and cola for the apartment. Then I took the local bus home at the senior citizen rate of 15 cents. (They use the US dollar as their currency here.)
Note:. Put the title of this blog entry into Google and click on "Images" to see photos of the train and views along the route.
Spending for Colombia: I spent 1,982,460 pesos (3000 = $1 so $660.82 in pesos) and $686.03 in dollars on credit card charges for a total of $1346.85 over 35 days for an average of $38.48 per day.
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Computer Stolen
It has been a bad day, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. After going through immigration quickly on both sides of the border (because of special lines for the elderly), I took a collectivo to the border town. A professional thief broke into my backpack and stole my computer. He did it by inserting something like a ballpoint pen into the zipper to pry it open. Then after taking out the computer and the cord, he pulled the zipper back across-a self-fixing move. The good news:. He did not get my camera, my bag of electrical cords, my Kindle, or anything else valuable although he opened the zipper on at least one more section. (I figured out how he did it because the zipper on that one compartment was partially open with the zipper tabs still locked together.)
The best news:. I had planned to replace the 7-year-old computer I bought in China. The battery had quit working, so I had thrown it away. In pulling the cord out of the bag, the adapter that makes it work in the US or Ecuador came off inside the bag. Therefore, the thief cannot use the computer, and I doubt that he can find an adapter for a Chinese plug here or even someone who knows it is a Chinese plug. But if he does, he will then be surprised to find it has neither Windows nor the Apple system on it. It had a Linux operating system. I wonder if he can even sell it.
There will not be any more long blog entries. I will write short sentences of what I have seen or done. I will not have links to photos. You will need to do a Google in ages search if you want to see photos. Just enter the key words into the search bar and then click on r"Images" where there is a choice below of the type of search.
The best news:. I had planned to replace the 7-year-old computer I bought in China. The battery had quit working, so I had thrown it away. In pulling the cord out of the bag, the adapter that makes it work in the US or Ecuador came off inside the bag. Therefore, the thief cannot use the computer, and I doubt that he can find an adapter for a Chinese plug here or even someone who knows it is a Chinese plug. But if he does, he will then be surprised to find it has neither Windows nor the Apple system on it. It had a Linux operating system. I wonder if he can even sell it.
There will not be any more long blog entries. I will write short sentences of what I have seen or done. I will not have links to photos. You will need to do a Google in ages search if you want to see photos. Just enter the key words into the search bar and then click on r"Images" where there is a choice below of the type of search.
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Last Stop in Colombia
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017--Pasto to Ipiales
I really don't like sharing a place. I had to wait until Margarita was finished with the bathroom before I could go into it this morning. And I had to dress to go down there. It's nothing against her, she proved to be a wonderful and gracious woman. It's just me and my interest in privacy. A shared apartment is like staying in a hostel except that you don't have to share the room, too.
Margarita had made coffee for both of us when I came out after packing to go. We sat visiting while drinking it. She had been in Pasto for the jazz festival last week which she said was wonderful. She was supposed to leave over the weekend, but no flights were available, so she stayed for 3 extra days. She lives in Manizales which I was near just last week but did not visit.
Just as we were finishing our coffee, Fernando, the owner of the apartment arrived all excited. He had us follow him to the roof and upstairs to a deck he plans to use as a rooftop lounge once he completes work on another couple of apartments he is constructing in the building. It was a clear day, and he wanted us to see the nice view of the huge volcano that is just on the edge of Pasto. In all the time that Margarita had been there, she had been unable to see it because of cloud cover. We took photos, then Margarita's cab arrived to take her to the airport. I told her I would clean up the kitchen. She left, and maybe 10 minutes later, I did, too.
Sometimes bus stations can be a problem. There were many companies offering rides to Ipiales, and the mini-vans do not leave until full. But you do not know how many people are already on the van when you buy your ticket. Well I got outside, and a van from the company that had sole me my ticket was leaving. I was put in an empty van to wait for it to fill. Well, after 20 minutes, vans from other companies had filled and left, but I was still alone in my van. Frustrated, I went back inside to complain. I went to the window and said, "No bueno," while holding up my ticket. I got a glance, but the 3-4 people in the booth went back to talking. I said it again louder. Then a man walked up to the window, and I motioned that he should leave while repeating it to him. That got their attention. They offered me my money back, and I took it. I still had no way to know which company to use, but a man led me to a booth that he said would be leaving soon. I bought a ticket, but I had to wait another 15 minutes before it left. At least it already had people waiting when I entered.
The trip was beautiful. Again, we followed a canyon with steep walls. It was semi-dry--greenish-brownish rather than the lush green I am used to here, but not as dry as the desert-like area I went through yesterday. The trip was only 1 1/2 hours. I was so thankful, since I was still tired from sitting and twisting and winding on the long bus trip yesterday.
Ipiales was a surprise. Instead of being in a valley like so many other Colombian cities, it is on top of a hill. I had to climb to get from the bus station to the center of town--a steep climb! Along the way, it was obvious that this is much like any border town--a hodge-podge of buildings with nothing much special about them, far more poor people than ones doing well, lots of cross-border shopping going on even though none of the shops seem that special, etc. I easily found my hotel, the Avanty, which, as I had read, is quite nice.
I stopped here for two reasons. 1) I wanted to visit a tourist site near here called Las Lajas Sanctuary. 2) I didn't want to cross the border until tomorrow so that I would have the whole day to deal with getting across and getting transportation to my first stop in Ecuador.
Las Lajas is actually a small church built beside and across the river at the bottom of the canyon a few miles outside of town (and was in many of the search photos in the link for Ipiales above even though it isn't in the city). Supposedly, God told a woman to build a church there after a miracle happened to her. Actually, the church, mainly because of its setting, but also because of its architecture, has become one of the top tourist spots in Colombia. It is typically pictured in any montage of sites to visit in the country.
I had to walk back to the bus station after leaving my luggage at the hotel to get transportation to Las Lajas. The usual way to go is by colectivo, a taxi which waits to be full before leaving. Again, I was the only person there when I arrived, so we needed 3 more people. After waiting 20-25 minutes with no one arriving, I just made an offer to pay for 4 people if the driver would leave then and not stop to pick anyone else up on the way.
It looks just like its pictures. Because it is down at the river level, everyone has to walk down to get to it. It is a pilgrimage destination for many Catholics, but it was busy there with just ordinary people like me wanting to see it. I took photos from a distance, went into the church and took more, and then went lower on the river level and took photos from there, too. Then I faced the huge climb back up.
At the top, guess what happened. A colectivo had just filled and was leaving for town and I was the first person for the next one! I refused. I knew there was a lookout with a good view of the river and the church about 1 km (a little over half a mile) up the road and I had also seen some buses on my way there earlier. I walked up and up and up to eventually reach the viewpoint. It was nice, but was really too far away and had the view somewhat spoiled because of the dumpy town built on top of the canyon walls. I continued walking just a short distance further and saw a boy waiting at a bus stop. Just as I crossed the street, a bus pulled in to let people off. I asked the boy, "Para Ipiales?" He responded positively. It was the end stop where the bus turns around and heads back to town. I didn't have to walk the final 3.5 to 4 km (2 miles) up the mountains to get back to town!
For a late lunch, I had a hamburger. I've been thinking of having one in Colombia just to see what it would be like. I watched as the lady put a thick, frozen patty of beef on her griddle. Then she put lots of shredded onions on it, squirted 4 sauces on the onions, and placed two pieces of cheese on them. She continued to cook the onion/cheese mixture. To the side, she had a bun toasting. In the meantime, another woman had made my fries and brought them to me which I was eating with a mixture of an avocado sauce and some tomato/onion/pepper salsa. When I got the burger, it was as thick as the ones at Crofutts in Bayside near Rockport (if Crofutt's still exists after Hurricane Harvey). I could barely get my mouth open wide enough to take a bite. In addition to the meat and cheese/onion mixture, it had tomatoes, lettuce, and a slice of sandwich meat ham. It was good.
It's evening, and I am in the hotel. I washed out my pants in the shower. I had sat somewhere damp and dirty and the whole seat was stained. Rather than wait and just change to another pair, I wanted to get them clean. I've read the news for the day, done some travel planning, and I am about to watch another episode of Narcos on Netflix.
I really don't like sharing a place. I had to wait until Margarita was finished with the bathroom before I could go into it this morning. And I had to dress to go down there. It's nothing against her, she proved to be a wonderful and gracious woman. It's just me and my interest in privacy. A shared apartment is like staying in a hostel except that you don't have to share the room, too.
Margarita had made coffee for both of us when I came out after packing to go. We sat visiting while drinking it. She had been in Pasto for the jazz festival last week which she said was wonderful. She was supposed to leave over the weekend, but no flights were available, so she stayed for 3 extra days. She lives in Manizales which I was near just last week but did not visit.
Just as we were finishing our coffee, Fernando, the owner of the apartment arrived all excited. He had us follow him to the roof and upstairs to a deck he plans to use as a rooftop lounge once he completes work on another couple of apartments he is constructing in the building. It was a clear day, and he wanted us to see the nice view of the huge volcano that is just on the edge of Pasto. In all the time that Margarita had been there, she had been unable to see it because of cloud cover. We took photos, then Margarita's cab arrived to take her to the airport. I told her I would clean up the kitchen. She left, and maybe 10 minutes later, I did, too.
Sometimes bus stations can be a problem. There were many companies offering rides to Ipiales, and the mini-vans do not leave until full. But you do not know how many people are already on the van when you buy your ticket. Well I got outside, and a van from the company that had sole me my ticket was leaving. I was put in an empty van to wait for it to fill. Well, after 20 minutes, vans from other companies had filled and left, but I was still alone in my van. Frustrated, I went back inside to complain. I went to the window and said, "No bueno," while holding up my ticket. I got a glance, but the 3-4 people in the booth went back to talking. I said it again louder. Then a man walked up to the window, and I motioned that he should leave while repeating it to him. That got their attention. They offered me my money back, and I took it. I still had no way to know which company to use, but a man led me to a booth that he said would be leaving soon. I bought a ticket, but I had to wait another 15 minutes before it left. At least it already had people waiting when I entered.
The trip was beautiful. Again, we followed a canyon with steep walls. It was semi-dry--greenish-brownish rather than the lush green I am used to here, but not as dry as the desert-like area I went through yesterday. The trip was only 1 1/2 hours. I was so thankful, since I was still tired from sitting and twisting and winding on the long bus trip yesterday.
Ipiales was a surprise. Instead of being in a valley like so many other Colombian cities, it is on top of a hill. I had to climb to get from the bus station to the center of town--a steep climb! Along the way, it was obvious that this is much like any border town--a hodge-podge of buildings with nothing much special about them, far more poor people than ones doing well, lots of cross-border shopping going on even though none of the shops seem that special, etc. I easily found my hotel, the Avanty, which, as I had read, is quite nice.
I stopped here for two reasons. 1) I wanted to visit a tourist site near here called Las Lajas Sanctuary. 2) I didn't want to cross the border until tomorrow so that I would have the whole day to deal with getting across and getting transportation to my first stop in Ecuador.
Las Lajas is actually a small church built beside and across the river at the bottom of the canyon a few miles outside of town (and was in many of the search photos in the link for Ipiales above even though it isn't in the city). Supposedly, God told a woman to build a church there after a miracle happened to her. Actually, the church, mainly because of its setting, but also because of its architecture, has become one of the top tourist spots in Colombia. It is typically pictured in any montage of sites to visit in the country.
I had to walk back to the bus station after leaving my luggage at the hotel to get transportation to Las Lajas. The usual way to go is by colectivo, a taxi which waits to be full before leaving. Again, I was the only person there when I arrived, so we needed 3 more people. After waiting 20-25 minutes with no one arriving, I just made an offer to pay for 4 people if the driver would leave then and not stop to pick anyone else up on the way.
It looks just like its pictures. Because it is down at the river level, everyone has to walk down to get to it. It is a pilgrimage destination for many Catholics, but it was busy there with just ordinary people like me wanting to see it. I took photos from a distance, went into the church and took more, and then went lower on the river level and took photos from there, too. Then I faced the huge climb back up.
At the top, guess what happened. A colectivo had just filled and was leaving for town and I was the first person for the next one! I refused. I knew there was a lookout with a good view of the river and the church about 1 km (a little over half a mile) up the road and I had also seen some buses on my way there earlier. I walked up and up and up to eventually reach the viewpoint. It was nice, but was really too far away and had the view somewhat spoiled because of the dumpy town built on top of the canyon walls. I continued walking just a short distance further and saw a boy waiting at a bus stop. Just as I crossed the street, a bus pulled in to let people off. I asked the boy, "Para Ipiales?" He responded positively. It was the end stop where the bus turns around and heads back to town. I didn't have to walk the final 3.5 to 4 km (2 miles) up the mountains to get back to town!
For a late lunch, I had a hamburger. I've been thinking of having one in Colombia just to see what it would be like. I watched as the lady put a thick, frozen patty of beef on her griddle. Then she put lots of shredded onions on it, squirted 4 sauces on the onions, and placed two pieces of cheese on them. She continued to cook the onion/cheese mixture. To the side, she had a bun toasting. In the meantime, another woman had made my fries and brought them to me which I was eating with a mixture of an avocado sauce and some tomato/onion/pepper salsa. When I got the burger, it was as thick as the ones at Crofutts in Bayside near Rockport (if Crofutt's still exists after Hurricane Harvey). I could barely get my mouth open wide enough to take a bite. In addition to the meat and cheese/onion mixture, it had tomatoes, lettuce, and a slice of sandwich meat ham. It was good.
It's evening, and I am in the hotel. I washed out my pants in the shower. I had sat somewhere damp and dirty and the whole seat was stained. Rather than wait and just change to another pair, I wanted to get them clean. I've read the news for the day, done some travel planning, and I am about to watch another episode of Narcos on Netflix.
Monday, September 18, 2017
Travelling through the Most Dangerous Area of Colombia
Monday, Sept. 18, 2017--Popayan to Pasto
Every reference I have read said NOT to take a night bus between Popayan and the Ecuadorean border because it is dangerous. It's about a 10-hour trip, and I didn't want to make it all in one day, so I booked a night here in Pasto and made the 6 1/2 hour trip to here today during daylight.
Actually, it was dark when I left the apartment in Popayan at 5:30. I wanted to take the 6:30 bus so that I would have the afternoon to explore the town some. The streets were mostly empty, but I saw 1-2 persons on each block as I made my way to the bus station. About halfway there, someone called my name. I looked over, and it was Gustavo on his electric motor bike. (He owns two of them--a true environmentalist in Colombia!) He had heard me leave the apartment and said he was worried that it might not be safe for me to be on the quiet streets at that hour of the morning. He made me get on the bike with him and took me the rest of the way to the bus station.
The trip was long, but the scenery was among the most beautiful I have seen so far. Almost the entire way was through an area of the mountains called the Colombian Massif--where three difference ranges begin to separate from the Andes. About half of the trip was in green mountains with dramatic drop-offs. These were very tall mountains with narrow canyons below. There were areas that looked like a jungle, areas that were coffee plantations, and mainly just rich, green mountains dotted frequently by small shacks. This is the poorest area I have seen of Colombia. Most people seem to be peasants barely getting by. They ride horses, have carts pulled by mules, they walk, etc. Their physical characteristics seem to indicate a higher percentage of genes from original indigenous people.
Then there was a dramatic change to dry desert mountains with tall cacti, scraggly bushes, barren brown ground, and hot air. The types of homes and people remained the same except that there were fewer of them. But the high, steep drop-offs continued.
Then, right before we got to Pasto, everything turned green again and it became cold. I had been told it was at a high altitude and would be cold, so I had a pullover with me to put on before getting off the bus.
Pasto is a medium-sized city. Like other Colombian cities, it winds its way through a valley including up the sides of the mountains. It's not a tourist town, but it is a pleasant city. As I wrote before, for me it is a stop to break up a long trip to get to the border. My room is just down the street behind the church that can be seen in the second row of photos at the link above. It is a semi-apartment. There is an apartment that has two rooms that are rented out separately. The bath and the kitchen are shared. A woman is staying in the other room. Since I was to be here only one night, and since Pasto doesn't have lots of choices of apartments, I figured this would work (especially since it cost only $12! It's new, modern, and very clean.
As soon as I checked in, I went out to eat. It was already 14:30, so I stopped at the first place I found. I ordered fish as my main course within the usual combination of soup and sides. It was interesting. The sea is not far from here, so it probably came from the fishing village that is there or maybe from a river in the mountains. It was a medium-sized fish that was split open and deep fried (head still attached). The meat was light pink like salmon. It was soft, flaky and delicious. From what I have read, it must have been trout.
As I walked around the city exploring, I came across something I missed in Popayan. In this part of Colombia, it is common to make ice cream in copper bowls that are resting in a bed of ice while being twirled. As the mixture in the bowl begins to freeze to the sides of the bowl, they scrape it away slowly piling the frozen ice cream in the middle of the bowl. They serve it in small plastic cups with a wafer cookie and a small plastic spoon. The flavor I got was vanilla, but in a shop in Popayan they make it this way and have a variety of choices of flavors. The shop was closed yesterday, and I didn't make it there on Saturday, so I was glad to have the experience here in Pasto today of getting ice cream made in a spinning copper bowl.
I hope to sleep well tonight. My room is in the back of the building away from street traffic. It is very quiet right now, but I heard a rooster this afternoon. I will put out my earplugs to use when he starts making noise tomorrow morning.
Every reference I have read said NOT to take a night bus between Popayan and the Ecuadorean border because it is dangerous. It's about a 10-hour trip, and I didn't want to make it all in one day, so I booked a night here in Pasto and made the 6 1/2 hour trip to here today during daylight.
Actually, it was dark when I left the apartment in Popayan at 5:30. I wanted to take the 6:30 bus so that I would have the afternoon to explore the town some. The streets were mostly empty, but I saw 1-2 persons on each block as I made my way to the bus station. About halfway there, someone called my name. I looked over, and it was Gustavo on his electric motor bike. (He owns two of them--a true environmentalist in Colombia!) He had heard me leave the apartment and said he was worried that it might not be safe for me to be on the quiet streets at that hour of the morning. He made me get on the bike with him and took me the rest of the way to the bus station.
The trip was long, but the scenery was among the most beautiful I have seen so far. Almost the entire way was through an area of the mountains called the Colombian Massif--where three difference ranges begin to separate from the Andes. About half of the trip was in green mountains with dramatic drop-offs. These were very tall mountains with narrow canyons below. There were areas that looked like a jungle, areas that were coffee plantations, and mainly just rich, green mountains dotted frequently by small shacks. This is the poorest area I have seen of Colombia. Most people seem to be peasants barely getting by. They ride horses, have carts pulled by mules, they walk, etc. Their physical characteristics seem to indicate a higher percentage of genes from original indigenous people.
Then there was a dramatic change to dry desert mountains with tall cacti, scraggly bushes, barren brown ground, and hot air. The types of homes and people remained the same except that there were fewer of them. But the high, steep drop-offs continued.
Then, right before we got to Pasto, everything turned green again and it became cold. I had been told it was at a high altitude and would be cold, so I had a pullover with me to put on before getting off the bus.
Pasto is a medium-sized city. Like other Colombian cities, it winds its way through a valley including up the sides of the mountains. It's not a tourist town, but it is a pleasant city. As I wrote before, for me it is a stop to break up a long trip to get to the border. My room is just down the street behind the church that can be seen in the second row of photos at the link above. It is a semi-apartment. There is an apartment that has two rooms that are rented out separately. The bath and the kitchen are shared. A woman is staying in the other room. Since I was to be here only one night, and since Pasto doesn't have lots of choices of apartments, I figured this would work (especially since it cost only $12! It's new, modern, and very clean.
As soon as I checked in, I went out to eat. It was already 14:30, so I stopped at the first place I found. I ordered fish as my main course within the usual combination of soup and sides. It was interesting. The sea is not far from here, so it probably came from the fishing village that is there or maybe from a river in the mountains. It was a medium-sized fish that was split open and deep fried (head still attached). The meat was light pink like salmon. It was soft, flaky and delicious. From what I have read, it must have been trout.
As I walked around the city exploring, I came across something I missed in Popayan. In this part of Colombia, it is common to make ice cream in copper bowls that are resting in a bed of ice while being twirled. As the mixture in the bowl begins to freeze to the sides of the bowl, they scrape it away slowly piling the frozen ice cream in the middle of the bowl. They serve it in small plastic cups with a wafer cookie and a small plastic spoon. The flavor I got was vanilla, but in a shop in Popayan they make it this way and have a variety of choices of flavors. The shop was closed yesterday, and I didn't make it there on Saturday, so I was glad to have the experience here in Pasto today of getting ice cream made in a spinning copper bowl.
I hope to sleep well tonight. My room is in the back of the building away from street traffic. It is very quiet right now, but I heard a rooster this afternoon. I will put out my earplugs to use when he starts making noise tomorrow morning.
Another Nice Day with Gustavo in Popayan
Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017--Popayan, Colombia
My apartment is attached to the home of Gustavo and his family. There are high windows that open from my kitchen area into their patio area. I had barely been up and had just opened my computer when I heard Gustavo addressing me asking, "Randell, I have to go to the bank and then I am going shopping for fruits and vegetables at the local mercado. Do you want to go with me?" His wife and children had gone home with her parents yesterday afternoon to spend the weekend at the finca--the family farm. Of course, I took advantage of the chance to learn about all the different things I have seen in markets without knowing what they all were.
Because most people work during the week, the market is open both Saturday and Sunday for people to do their weekly shopping. And because Colombia has such a great climate, almost everything sold at the market is actually sold by farmers who have grown it rather than people who have bought wholesale crates of things to sell. I learned about tree tomatoes (also known as tamarillos). I tasted a small fruit that is related to the coconut but is a coarse orange color and is peeled, sprinkled with salt, and then coated in honey. I had a drink made from corn, pineapple juice, and other ingredients which was sweet and delicious. I saw wonderful looking kinds of fresh beans available including a red-speckled white bean. There were lots of varieties of potatoes and some of them still had the fresh dirt on them like Arne always preferred because it is a sign that they were only recently dug from the ground. Gustavo bought a huge shopping bag and a medium shopping bag full of berries, fruits, potatoes, cauliflower, etc.
Back at his place, he insisted on making us breakfast. We had white corn roasted in a skillet with chunks of homemade cheese and ate it with a sweet tamale (sweet masa--no filling), and juice he made from tree tomatoes.
In the afternoon, I went to the bus station to check out schedules for tomorrow. It is supposed to be 6 1/2 hours to the next city (because it is all in the mountains), so I am going to have to force myself to get up early again. I am going to try to catch the 6:30 bus, since I want to visit a major tourist site outside Pasto, the next city, tomorrow afternoon.
Then I went back to the main square for a while to enjoy the food festival. I wasn't hungry, though, so I eventually came to the room and did some things on the computer. Around 17:00, I went back to the bus station to buy a ticket for that bus tomorrow only to find out that I cannot buy one until tomorrow morning. So instead of arriving at the station at 6:15 with a ticket in hand, I need to get to the station around 6:00 and get in line to buy a ticket. Anyway, I returned to the festival and enjoyed hearing some jazz on the stage. As I walked along looking at the foods one last time, I passed a booth with Black female dancers wearing white frilly dresses and white bandanas on their heads. One of the women held up the end of her dress in her hand and twisted her body so that her shoulders were turned toward me. I turned my body so that my shoulders aliened with hers and wiggled them a little. The crowd laughed and applauded.
The festival was coming to an end, however. Some of the booths had already closed and all of them were beginning to run out of food. It's normal for Colombians to head home by 19:00 on nights before workdays, but I had enjoyed the festival enough anyway.
Gustavo and his wife invited me back to their home for dinner. She had cooked more corn and cheese and we had it with broccoli and peas and some avocados she had picked off the trees at the finca this afternoon. I really didn't need more food and I worried about the expense involved for them, but it was fun to share the meal with the whole family. They are really nice people.
Tonight, I will try to go to sleep at 22:00, and I will hope that I will be able to hear my alarm tomorrow morning. As with every place I have stayed in Colombia, I will have to wear earplugs at least until midnight due to traffic noise. Usually, some time in the early morning hours I wake up and can remove them until about 6:30 when the street noises begin again.
I only have two more nights in Colombia--one tomorrow night in Pasto and one the next night in Ipiales on the border. After that, I will be in Ecuador for the remainder of this trip. Fortunately (because of the high fees they charge here), I haven't had to withdraw any more money from ATMs in Colombia. Yet I am almost out of pesos. I think I have enough for the next two days and may have maybe the equivalent of $10-20 left to change back into dollars at the border. It will be interesting to see how it works in Ecuador, since they use the US dollar for their currency. With no foreign exchange involved, will VISA still charge their normal 1% fee on ATM withdrawals or will there only be the bank fee for using their ATM? (Panama is the same, but I don't remember if I made a cash withdrawal there or if I had enough US money with me to not have to do so. I have about $200 in US money with me, but that won't be enough for 5 weeks in Ecuador.) The nice thing will be not having to plan it out to try to end the trip with no leftover currency, since I can just bring what is leftover home with me to spend in the US.
My apartment is attached to the home of Gustavo and his family. There are high windows that open from my kitchen area into their patio area. I had barely been up and had just opened my computer when I heard Gustavo addressing me asking, "Randell, I have to go to the bank and then I am going shopping for fruits and vegetables at the local mercado. Do you want to go with me?" His wife and children had gone home with her parents yesterday afternoon to spend the weekend at the finca--the family farm. Of course, I took advantage of the chance to learn about all the different things I have seen in markets without knowing what they all were.
Because most people work during the week, the market is open both Saturday and Sunday for people to do their weekly shopping. And because Colombia has such a great climate, almost everything sold at the market is actually sold by farmers who have grown it rather than people who have bought wholesale crates of things to sell. I learned about tree tomatoes (also known as tamarillos). I tasted a small fruit that is related to the coconut but is a coarse orange color and is peeled, sprinkled with salt, and then coated in honey. I had a drink made from corn, pineapple juice, and other ingredients which was sweet and delicious. I saw wonderful looking kinds of fresh beans available including a red-speckled white bean. There were lots of varieties of potatoes and some of them still had the fresh dirt on them like Arne always preferred because it is a sign that they were only recently dug from the ground. Gustavo bought a huge shopping bag and a medium shopping bag full of berries, fruits, potatoes, cauliflower, etc.
Back at his place, he insisted on making us breakfast. We had white corn roasted in a skillet with chunks of homemade cheese and ate it with a sweet tamale (sweet masa--no filling), and juice he made from tree tomatoes.
In the afternoon, I went to the bus station to check out schedules for tomorrow. It is supposed to be 6 1/2 hours to the next city (because it is all in the mountains), so I am going to have to force myself to get up early again. I am going to try to catch the 6:30 bus, since I want to visit a major tourist site outside Pasto, the next city, tomorrow afternoon.
Then I went back to the main square for a while to enjoy the food festival. I wasn't hungry, though, so I eventually came to the room and did some things on the computer. Around 17:00, I went back to the bus station to buy a ticket for that bus tomorrow only to find out that I cannot buy one until tomorrow morning. So instead of arriving at the station at 6:15 with a ticket in hand, I need to get to the station around 6:00 and get in line to buy a ticket. Anyway, I returned to the festival and enjoyed hearing some jazz on the stage. As I walked along looking at the foods one last time, I passed a booth with Black female dancers wearing white frilly dresses and white bandanas on their heads. One of the women held up the end of her dress in her hand and twisted her body so that her shoulders were turned toward me. I turned my body so that my shoulders aliened with hers and wiggled them a little. The crowd laughed and applauded.
The festival was coming to an end, however. Some of the booths had already closed and all of them were beginning to run out of food. It's normal for Colombians to head home by 19:00 on nights before workdays, but I had enjoyed the festival enough anyway.
Gustavo and his wife invited me back to their home for dinner. She had cooked more corn and cheese and we had it with broccoli and peas and some avocados she had picked off the trees at the finca this afternoon. I really didn't need more food and I worried about the expense involved for them, but it was fun to share the meal with the whole family. They are really nice people.
Tonight, I will try to go to sleep at 22:00, and I will hope that I will be able to hear my alarm tomorrow morning. As with every place I have stayed in Colombia, I will have to wear earplugs at least until midnight due to traffic noise. Usually, some time in the early morning hours I wake up and can remove them until about 6:30 when the street noises begin again.
I only have two more nights in Colombia--one tomorrow night in Pasto and one the next night in Ipiales on the border. After that, I will be in Ecuador for the remainder of this trip. Fortunately (because of the high fees they charge here), I haven't had to withdraw any more money from ATMs in Colombia. Yet I am almost out of pesos. I think I have enough for the next two days and may have maybe the equivalent of $10-20 left to change back into dollars at the border. It will be interesting to see how it works in Ecuador, since they use the US dollar for their currency. With no foreign exchange involved, will VISA still charge their normal 1% fee on ATM withdrawals or will there only be the bank fee for using their ATM? (Panama is the same, but I don't remember if I made a cash withdrawal there or if I had enough US money with me to not have to do so. I have about $200 in US money with me, but that won't be enough for 5 weeks in Ecuador.) The nice thing will be not having to plan it out to try to end the trip with no leftover currency, since I can just bring what is leftover home with me to spend in the US.
Maybe the Best Day of the Trip
Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017--Cali to Popayan
I set the alarm for 5:30, but I got up at 5:15. I was at the bus station at 6:00 and got a ticket for the 6:15 bus. Then it was a 3 1/2 hour trip to get to Popayan on a bus where they allowed people to stand. Fortunately, I had a seat.
My goal was to get here before 10:15, because Gustavo, the owner of the apartment I am renting here, had to leave with his family at 10:30 and would not be back until 14:30. I arrived at 9:55 and checked in.
Gustavo had written that Popayan would be having its annual gastronomic festival here today and tomorrow. So I headed downtown to check it out. The main square and the streets for a block in all directions from it were blocked off for the festivals. There were tents with booths, there was a stage, and there was the central plaza which was filled with people. Traffic was so bad in town that many people must have come from out of town to enjoy the weekend.
The festival had stall after stall selling interesting foods: Gutted pigs which had been stuffed with a rice mixture and cooked and then had been cleaned out, the meat shredded, and then it mixed and all stuffed back into the pig. Racks of ribs that were cooking over charcoal. Pots of seafood dishes in sauces--shrimps,
fish, etc. Fried pork skins served with slices of pork and sauces. Exotic juices. Ice creams. Pastries. Etc. It was fun seeing everything. I probably should have tried the stuffed pig, but by the time I got ready to eat, the crowds were so big that it was impossible to get a place to sit at the long tables they had set out. So I bought a sandwich made with pork and sat in the park to eat it. Later, I also had a coconut ice cream bar and a glass of tamarindo juice.
Back at the room for a while in the afternoon, I researched places to say in Tena, Ecuador, for a third time and eventually settled on a choice, although it isn't ideal. The better places are in the country and require a car. I decided on a small hotel (about 9 rooms) that is in the city and has a high rating by many previous guests even though it is basic and costs only $15 a night. But it is nice to have that out of the way, since it will be going there in only a week.
I returned to the square just before dark to enjoy being among the crowds. I milled around hoping the music would begin on the stage, but I was tired from having gotten up so early. I decided to head back home.
Almost immediately, I got a message on my phone from Gustavo asking if I wanted to come to his place next door and visit. His wife and children were with her parents tonight and he was home alone. We had discussed earlier that he is a math teacher, and he had said he hoped we could visit later. I went over, and we sat and visited for about 3 hours. It was such a good visit with a wide range of topics being discussed. He is a very nice young man (35 years old) who has a degree in civil engineering. But it was hard to find a job, especially here in Popayan, in his field, so he has become a 6th grade mathematics teacher.
This was the first good conversation I have had in weeks. And we both seemed to enjoy talking about a wide variety of topics which interested us both. I went to the store and bought us a beer, and he had some leftover food from his mother-in-law, so we ate and drank and visited until we were both too tired to go any longer. And the visit allowed me to get answers to various questions I had about Colombia from the experiences I have had up to now.
The food festival combined with the nice evening of visiting with Gustavo made it a great day. As the title for this entry implies, it is probably the best day of the trip!
I set the alarm for 5:30, but I got up at 5:15. I was at the bus station at 6:00 and got a ticket for the 6:15 bus. Then it was a 3 1/2 hour trip to get to Popayan on a bus where they allowed people to stand. Fortunately, I had a seat.
My goal was to get here before 10:15, because Gustavo, the owner of the apartment I am renting here, had to leave with his family at 10:30 and would not be back until 14:30. I arrived at 9:55 and checked in.
Gustavo had written that Popayan would be having its annual gastronomic festival here today and tomorrow. So I headed downtown to check it out. The main square and the streets for a block in all directions from it were blocked off for the festivals. There were tents with booths, there was a stage, and there was the central plaza which was filled with people. Traffic was so bad in town that many people must have come from out of town to enjoy the weekend.
The festival had stall after stall selling interesting foods: Gutted pigs which had been stuffed with a rice mixture and cooked and then had been cleaned out, the meat shredded, and then it mixed and all stuffed back into the pig. Racks of ribs that were cooking over charcoal. Pots of seafood dishes in sauces--shrimps,
fish, etc. Fried pork skins served with slices of pork and sauces. Exotic juices. Ice creams. Pastries. Etc. It was fun seeing everything. I probably should have tried the stuffed pig, but by the time I got ready to eat, the crowds were so big that it was impossible to get a place to sit at the long tables they had set out. So I bought a sandwich made with pork and sat in the park to eat it. Later, I also had a coconut ice cream bar and a glass of tamarindo juice.
Back at the room for a while in the afternoon, I researched places to say in Tena, Ecuador, for a third time and eventually settled on a choice, although it isn't ideal. The better places are in the country and require a car. I decided on a small hotel (about 9 rooms) that is in the city and has a high rating by many previous guests even though it is basic and costs only $15 a night. But it is nice to have that out of the way, since it will be going there in only a week.
I returned to the square just before dark to enjoy being among the crowds. I milled around hoping the music would begin on the stage, but I was tired from having gotten up so early. I decided to head back home.
Almost immediately, I got a message on my phone from Gustavo asking if I wanted to come to his place next door and visit. His wife and children were with her parents tonight and he was home alone. We had discussed earlier that he is a math teacher, and he had said he hoped we could visit later. I went over, and we sat and visited for about 3 hours. It was such a good visit with a wide range of topics being discussed. He is a very nice young man (35 years old) who has a degree in civil engineering. But it was hard to find a job, especially here in Popayan, in his field, so he has become a 6th grade mathematics teacher.
This was the first good conversation I have had in weeks. And we both seemed to enjoy talking about a wide variety of topics which interested us both. I went to the store and bought us a beer, and he had some leftover food from his mother-in-law, so we ate and drank and visited until we were both too tired to go any longer. And the visit allowed me to get answers to various questions I had about Colombia from the experiences I have had up to now.
The food festival combined with the nice evening of visiting with Gustavo made it a great day. As the title for this entry implies, it is probably the best day of the trip!
Friday, September 15, 2017
Great Concert
Friday, Sept. 15, 2017--Cali
I have been traveling for a month now. I still have another 5 1/2 weeks to go before I return home in late October.
During the daytime, I stayed in my neighborhood. I walked about 15 minutes further north to where two malls are located just to explore the neighborhood. And I walked through the adjacent area of small shops which covers about 10 blocks just to see what was there. There were at least two blocks of small electronics stores.
In the afternoon, I watched a couple of episodes of Narcos on Netflix, then I made myself an early dinner. I left for downtown at 18:00 and arrived at the Teatro Municipal at 18:30 where I was able to buy a ticket to tonight's performance by the Orquesta Filarmonica de Cali concert starting at 19:00. I got an orchestra seat in the 10th row just off the center aisle for $7 and the seats on both sides of me were empty.
The theater is beautifully restored on the outside, so it was a bit of a surprise to see how aged it is inside. It's a pretty theater in classical style with multiple balconies. But the seats are worn, the plaster and its gold trim need restoration, and everything inside just seems a bit faded.
The orchestra was good. I was a little worried, since it is small (43 musicians) and since it is not a well-known city for the arts. But their sound was good. And the soloist, violinist Santy Abril from Ecuador, was fantastic. He's young, so I have a feeling he will be playing all over the world within a few years. The orchestra played Beethoven's Symphony #6 in F Major. Then the soloist and the orchestra played Tchaikovsky's Concerto for Violin in D Major, Op. 35. It's interesting to note that the program here did not use the note letters, instead, the symphony was in "fa" major and the concerto was "re" major.
Anyway, it was a great concert except for one thing. A man behind me started humming along with the orchestra three times. The first time, I did nothing. The second and third times, I turned around and stared him down. Either he didn't want to hum anymore, or he got the message that I would keep turning and staring at him, because that ended it. Why do I always get seats near people who can't keep quiet and just enjoy the concert?!!
I have been traveling for a month now. I still have another 5 1/2 weeks to go before I return home in late October.
During the daytime, I stayed in my neighborhood. I walked about 15 minutes further north to where two malls are located just to explore the neighborhood. And I walked through the adjacent area of small shops which covers about 10 blocks just to see what was there. There were at least two blocks of small electronics stores.
In the afternoon, I watched a couple of episodes of Narcos on Netflix, then I made myself an early dinner. I left for downtown at 18:00 and arrived at the Teatro Municipal at 18:30 where I was able to buy a ticket to tonight's performance by the Orquesta Filarmonica de Cali concert starting at 19:00. I got an orchestra seat in the 10th row just off the center aisle for $7 and the seats on both sides of me were empty.
The theater is beautifully restored on the outside, so it was a bit of a surprise to see how aged it is inside. It's a pretty theater in classical style with multiple balconies. But the seats are worn, the plaster and its gold trim need restoration, and everything inside just seems a bit faded.
The orchestra was good. I was a little worried, since it is small (43 musicians) and since it is not a well-known city for the arts. But their sound was good. And the soloist, violinist Santy Abril from Ecuador, was fantastic. He's young, so I have a feeling he will be playing all over the world within a few years. The orchestra played Beethoven's Symphony #6 in F Major. Then the soloist and the orchestra played Tchaikovsky's Concerto for Violin in D Major, Op. 35. It's interesting to note that the program here did not use the note letters, instead, the symphony was in "fa" major and the concerto was "re" major.
Anyway, it was a great concert except for one thing. A man behind me started humming along with the orchestra three times. The first time, I did nothing. The second and third times, I turned around and stared him down. Either he didn't want to hum anymore, or he got the message that I would keep turning and staring at him, because that ended it. Why do I always get seats near people who can't keep quiet and just enjoy the concert?!!
Exploring Cali
Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017--Cali, Colombia
Although Cali is on the coast and has warm temperatures, it isn't as humid as it was along the northern Caribbean coast. This is the Pacific coast of Colombia. Apparently it makes a big difference, because it is much easier to wander the city without wanting to escape to the air conditioning.
Being my first full day in Cali, I set out for some of the major sights. If anyone reading this has seen the third season of Narcos on Netflix, you will have seen glimpses of where I went.
First, I walked along the riverfront downtown. The city has closed a street beside the river, has planted palms and other trees along the way, and has put benches, sculptures, etc. It makes an easy way for pedestrians to get from one part of the city to another. The river is down below, so it doesn't show in photos of the walkway, but it has a low flow with rocks showing and is pretty. It can be seen in many of the scenes in the series on Netflix.
I used the walkway to get to the far side of downtown to visit the Museo la Tertulia, the modern art museum here in Cali. Like most contemporary art museums, it was heavy on videos. But I found three of them to be interesting--one showing a staged documentary being filmed in Cali in the 1970s, a documentary criticizing the country for spending so much money to bring the Pan American Games to Cali in the 1970s when there was so much poverty in the country, and one by the artist Karen Lamassonne who began her career here. In the case of the latter, it was interesting to see how aspects of the film were used in other artworks she produced. An artist I had not known whose work I enjoyed seeing was Santiago Caisado. He's apparently from Ft. Worth, and they had two short video pieces by him with one in 3D. This is not the video I saw, but watch it and see what starts happening at the 1:00 minute mark.
From the museum, I headed uphill to the San Antonio area of Cali--part of the original city with old colonial homes and a few cobblestone streets. On top of the hill is the Iglesia San Antonio with a nice view of the city of Cali.
Downtown, my first stop was Iglesia Merced. It reminded me of the mission churches in San Antonio in size and general appearance. Next, I stopped at the Cali Teatro and toured the Gold Museum across the greet from it--another of the wonderful gold museums scattered around Colombia with smaller exhibits similar to those of the big museum in Bogota.
Next came Plaza de Caicedo, the main square of the city and the Cali Cathedral which is rather simple inside. Finally, I saw the Iglesia La Ermita, a fairly new church patterned after one in Europe, before crossing the river again and heading back home.
I stopped twice for refreshments on my tour during the day. First, I had an unbelievably delicious lemonade from a street cart. It was both tart and sweet and so refreshing! Then later, I ate a meal at a restaurant just before getting back to the apartment--the usual soup, meat, rice, side dish, salad meal, but the vegetable was tasty when mixed with the rice, the chicken leg had a nice sauce over it, and the soup, as always, was the best part.
Although Cali is on the coast and has warm temperatures, it isn't as humid as it was along the northern Caribbean coast. This is the Pacific coast of Colombia. Apparently it makes a big difference, because it is much easier to wander the city without wanting to escape to the air conditioning.
Being my first full day in Cali, I set out for some of the major sights. If anyone reading this has seen the third season of Narcos on Netflix, you will have seen glimpses of where I went.
First, I walked along the riverfront downtown. The city has closed a street beside the river, has planted palms and other trees along the way, and has put benches, sculptures, etc. It makes an easy way for pedestrians to get from one part of the city to another. The river is down below, so it doesn't show in photos of the walkway, but it has a low flow with rocks showing and is pretty. It can be seen in many of the scenes in the series on Netflix.
I used the walkway to get to the far side of downtown to visit the Museo la Tertulia, the modern art museum here in Cali. Like most contemporary art museums, it was heavy on videos. But I found three of them to be interesting--one showing a staged documentary being filmed in Cali in the 1970s, a documentary criticizing the country for spending so much money to bring the Pan American Games to Cali in the 1970s when there was so much poverty in the country, and one by the artist Karen Lamassonne who began her career here. In the case of the latter, it was interesting to see how aspects of the film were used in other artworks she produced. An artist I had not known whose work I enjoyed seeing was Santiago Caisado. He's apparently from Ft. Worth, and they had two short video pieces by him with one in 3D. This is not the video I saw, but watch it and see what starts happening at the 1:00 minute mark.
From the museum, I headed uphill to the San Antonio area of Cali--part of the original city with old colonial homes and a few cobblestone streets. On top of the hill is the Iglesia San Antonio with a nice view of the city of Cali.
Downtown, my first stop was Iglesia Merced. It reminded me of the mission churches in San Antonio in size and general appearance. Next, I stopped at the Cali Teatro and toured the Gold Museum across the greet from it--another of the wonderful gold museums scattered around Colombia with smaller exhibits similar to those of the big museum in Bogota.
Next came Plaza de Caicedo, the main square of the city and the Cali Cathedral which is rather simple inside. Finally, I saw the Iglesia La Ermita, a fairly new church patterned after one in Europe, before crossing the river again and heading back home.
I stopped twice for refreshments on my tour during the day. First, I had an unbelievably delicious lemonade from a street cart. It was both tart and sweet and so refreshing! Then later, I ate a meal at a restaurant just before getting back to the apartment--the usual soup, meat, rice, side dish, salad meal, but the vegetable was tasty when mixed with the rice, the chicken leg had a nice sauce over it, and the soup, as always, was the best part.
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Arriving in Cali
Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017--Pereira to Cali
Moving days are always stressful. I awoke this morning at 5:30 and could not get back to sleep. I knew my apartment would be available at 13:00 and my guidebook had said that it was a 4-4 1/2 hour trip from Pereira to Cali. I also knew that a bus would be leaving every hour on the half-hour and that it was supposed to take about 30 minutes to walk to the apartment from the bus station in Cali. The timings added up to indicate I might as well get out of bed, bathe, shave, eat breakfast, pack, and try to make the 7:30 bus. That would get me to the apartment just about 13:00 if I checked out the bus schedules for my next move before leaving the station.
Well, the timings were off. As usual, the bus didn't leave on time. We finally left about 7:45. And the route we took was a surprise compared to all my other trips. Somehow we found a long, narrow valley between two mountain ranges and had a 4-lane highway (What a luxury!) with no twisting and turning (Unbelievable!).
I was reading and finished my most recent novel just before the bus stopped at a restaurant. (See below for details.) So, I had not used our phone to check our progress. I pulled it out and opened the map app to check our position using GPS. It was 9:15 and we were already half-way to Cali!
The stop was brief. No one got food. Many bought a coffee and maybe a pastry to have with it. I just stretched my legs and started wondering if maybe the 4-lane road was going to stop and that would cause the second have to stretch the time to 4 to 4 1/2 hours.
Back on the road, we continued at the same fast pace. By 10:30 we were in Cali and by 10:40 we were getting close to the bus station. But we hit heavy traffic where we had to turn and merge into another road (just a quarter or a half a mile from the terminal), and that ate up some time. But at 10:55 I was off the bus wondering what to do to pass the time until 13:00, since I had all my luggage with me.
I decided to go ahead and walk toward the apartment thinking maybe I would come across a park or a plaza. I found a tunnel that took me under the expressway and followed the street numbers toward where I needed to be. Within 10 minutes (not 30!), I was 2 blocks from the apartment. But it was a nice area of shops. And what a surprise, there was a bench in front of one of the shops. I headed for it knowing I just needed to do something there to pass the time.
Last night, because I knew I would be finishing te book was reading, I downloaded another. Normally, I don't like to start a new book on the same day that I finish one. I prefer to continue to think about the previous one. Also, that makes a disconnect that keeps me from getting confused as to whether something happened in the new book or the old book. But two hours was a long time to wait, and I knew that reading would be the fastest way to pass that time. I sat and read. An old man passed and saw me reading from my Kindle and asked, "Amazon?" He was impressed that I had an electronic reader. Another man sat on the bench briefly and tried to have a conversation, but left when he realized my Spanish was limited. Anyway. at 12:55, I had finished 10% of the new novel and was putting the Kindle away to walk the final two blocks to the apartment.
The apartment here in Cali has huge rooms--a big living/dining/kitchen and a big bedroom. It's nice. Also, it has a/c which is needed now that I am back in the warm coastal area. The bedroom TV even has a Roku box, so I may see if I can watch my upcoming episodes of Narco on the TV instead of the computer.
I went out to explore the neighborhood not long after arriving. I walked maybe 10-12 blocks toward town, then I went back two blocks and returned. That took me through the city's Zona Rosa (dining and entertainment district that also has lots of specialty shops) district known as Granada. It's mainly for the tourists who want to party and pick up women and for the locals who have money and want to party as if they are not in Colombia. (It has a Hooters and a KFC, for instance.) It's not my type of place. I'll find my hole-in-the-wall restaurants tomorrow when I head further into town, and I passed a few between the bus station and here, too. But before returning home, I stopped at a supermarket a block away and bought some coffee, a cola, some pasta, and some pasta sauce. I had missed the time to eat lunch while I had my luggage and was reading, and because it took a while to settle in and go out to explore, the restaurants were closing or clearing their boards of their menu for the day because of running out of items. So it was pasta for me to night rather than an early-afternoon meal at a restaurant.
The book I finished reading earlier on the bus was The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner. It took me longer to read it than other books have, because there kept being sections that bored me. It deals with artists in New York--their social lives, their sex lives, their dinner parties, their conversations, etc. They can expound forever on the most uninteresting topics! There is more to the book than that, and the two story lines at different points in history were interesting. Readers' reviews on Amazon show an almost even distribution of ratings with 16% giving the book only 1 star and 23% giving it 5 stars with the overall average being 3.2 stars. I give it 3 1/2 stars, and that is a bit generous because of the quality of the writing being so good; the story itself wouldn't rate that high.
Moving days are always stressful. I awoke this morning at 5:30 and could not get back to sleep. I knew my apartment would be available at 13:00 and my guidebook had said that it was a 4-4 1/2 hour trip from Pereira to Cali. I also knew that a bus would be leaving every hour on the half-hour and that it was supposed to take about 30 minutes to walk to the apartment from the bus station in Cali. The timings added up to indicate I might as well get out of bed, bathe, shave, eat breakfast, pack, and try to make the 7:30 bus. That would get me to the apartment just about 13:00 if I checked out the bus schedules for my next move before leaving the station.
Well, the timings were off. As usual, the bus didn't leave on time. We finally left about 7:45. And the route we took was a surprise compared to all my other trips. Somehow we found a long, narrow valley between two mountain ranges and had a 4-lane highway (What a luxury!) with no twisting and turning (Unbelievable!).
I was reading and finished my most recent novel just before the bus stopped at a restaurant. (See below for details.) So, I had not used our phone to check our progress. I pulled it out and opened the map app to check our position using GPS. It was 9:15 and we were already half-way to Cali!
The stop was brief. No one got food. Many bought a coffee and maybe a pastry to have with it. I just stretched my legs and started wondering if maybe the 4-lane road was going to stop and that would cause the second have to stretch the time to 4 to 4 1/2 hours.
Back on the road, we continued at the same fast pace. By 10:30 we were in Cali and by 10:40 we were getting close to the bus station. But we hit heavy traffic where we had to turn and merge into another road (just a quarter or a half a mile from the terminal), and that ate up some time. But at 10:55 I was off the bus wondering what to do to pass the time until 13:00, since I had all my luggage with me.
I decided to go ahead and walk toward the apartment thinking maybe I would come across a park or a plaza. I found a tunnel that took me under the expressway and followed the street numbers toward where I needed to be. Within 10 minutes (not 30!), I was 2 blocks from the apartment. But it was a nice area of shops. And what a surprise, there was a bench in front of one of the shops. I headed for it knowing I just needed to do something there to pass the time.
Last night, because I knew I would be finishing te book was reading, I downloaded another. Normally, I don't like to start a new book on the same day that I finish one. I prefer to continue to think about the previous one. Also, that makes a disconnect that keeps me from getting confused as to whether something happened in the new book or the old book. But two hours was a long time to wait, and I knew that reading would be the fastest way to pass that time. I sat and read. An old man passed and saw me reading from my Kindle and asked, "Amazon?" He was impressed that I had an electronic reader. Another man sat on the bench briefly and tried to have a conversation, but left when he realized my Spanish was limited. Anyway. at 12:55, I had finished 10% of the new novel and was putting the Kindle away to walk the final two blocks to the apartment.
The apartment here in Cali has huge rooms--a big living/dining/kitchen and a big bedroom. It's nice. Also, it has a/c which is needed now that I am back in the warm coastal area. The bedroom TV even has a Roku box, so I may see if I can watch my upcoming episodes of Narco on the TV instead of the computer.
I went out to explore the neighborhood not long after arriving. I walked maybe 10-12 blocks toward town, then I went back two blocks and returned. That took me through the city's Zona Rosa (dining and entertainment district that also has lots of specialty shops) district known as Granada. It's mainly for the tourists who want to party and pick up women and for the locals who have money and want to party as if they are not in Colombia. (It has a Hooters and a KFC, for instance.) It's not my type of place. I'll find my hole-in-the-wall restaurants tomorrow when I head further into town, and I passed a few between the bus station and here, too. But before returning home, I stopped at a supermarket a block away and bought some coffee, a cola, some pasta, and some pasta sauce. I had missed the time to eat lunch while I had my luggage and was reading, and because it took a while to settle in and go out to explore, the restaurants were closing or clearing their boards of their menu for the day because of running out of items. So it was pasta for me to night rather than an early-afternoon meal at a restaurant.
The book I finished reading earlier on the bus was The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner. It took me longer to read it than other books have, because there kept being sections that bored me. It deals with artists in New York--their social lives, their sex lives, their dinner parties, their conversations, etc. They can expound forever on the most uninteresting topics! There is more to the book than that, and the two story lines at different points in history were interesting. Readers' reviews on Amazon show an almost even distribution of ratings with 16% giving the book only 1 star and 23% giving it 5 stars with the overall average being 3.2 stars. I give it 3 1/2 stars, and that is a bit generous because of the quality of the writing being so good; the story itself wouldn't rate that high.
Exploring Pereira
Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017--Pereira, Colombia
Downtown Pereira is a busy place. It goes for blocks, and it is crowded with people. Unfortunately, there isn't much of interest for tourists. But I managed to see a few highlights:
1. The Cathedral is especially interesting because the earthquake that destroyed most of Armenia also affected this city. Here, the cathedral remained standing, but lots of the plaster work cracked and fell. Underneath, they found the the ceiling was built from thousands of pieces of wood. They left it exposed, and it is beautiful to see how they pieced the wood together to create the arches and the dome.
2. Bolivar Plaza is a nice, open square with big trees around the center. But the most interesting aspect is that the sculpture of Bolivar is different from all others. Instead of being of classical design with him standing there, it shoes him forging forward on a horse and in the nude. It was quite controversial when installed, but with every town having a statue of Bolivar, it is nice to see something different.
3. There are two other pleasant plazas downtown--Lago Uribe Uribe on the west end and Parque la Libertad on the east end.
This has been the least interesting area of Colombia I have visited. Only the countryside is nice. The only reason to come here is if someone wants to stay in a finca--a private home on a coffee plantation--and it is better to have a car if doing that.
Downtown Pereira is a busy place. It goes for blocks, and it is crowded with people. Unfortunately, there isn't much of interest for tourists. But I managed to see a few highlights:
1. The Cathedral is especially interesting because the earthquake that destroyed most of Armenia also affected this city. Here, the cathedral remained standing, but lots of the plaster work cracked and fell. Underneath, they found the the ceiling was built from thousands of pieces of wood. They left it exposed, and it is beautiful to see how they pieced the wood together to create the arches and the dome.
2. Bolivar Plaza is a nice, open square with big trees around the center. But the most interesting aspect is that the sculpture of Bolivar is different from all others. Instead of being of classical design with him standing there, it shoes him forging forward on a horse and in the nude. It was quite controversial when installed, but with every town having a statue of Bolivar, it is nice to see something different.
3. There are two other pleasant plazas downtown--Lago Uribe Uribe on the west end and Parque la Libertad on the east end.
This has been the least interesting area of Colombia I have visited. Only the countryside is nice. The only reason to come here is if someone wants to stay in a finca--a private home on a coffee plantation--and it is better to have a car if doing that.
Monday, September 11, 2017
Day Trip to Armenia (The Colombian City)
Monday, Sept. 11, 2017--Pereira to Armenia and Back
I took a bus to Armenia early this morning. It's another city here in the "Cafeteria" District of Colombia where coffee is grown. It is known for being higher up in the mountains and has beautiful, tall mountains behind it. It is also known as a city that was greatly destroyed by an earthquake in 1988.
The trip there is considered to be a road through the nicest countryside of the Cafeteria District, and it truly is pretty with mostly rolling rather than peaked mountains. It is densely populated with homes scattered everywhere along the way--not just along the road but in the hills beyond it. The trip takes just about an hour.
Armenia is not a very good destination. I think the guidebooks like it because of the views of the mountains and because it is more active in terms of business and entertainment than Pereira or Manizales, the other two cities in the district. But there is little character to the city. Almost everything is new because of the earthquake. Even the Cathedral is an ultra-modern A-frame structure that is distinguished only by its pretty, contemporary stained-glass windows. (The other, older church you see in some of the images is also in Armenia and apparently survived the earthquake, but it isn't the Cathedral.) The fact that everything is new in the city, however, makes it a clean downtown.
After wandering around the city, viewing two exhibits (one of photographs of the city in the early 1900s and one of women of the region), and enjoying the view of the mountains, I stopped for lunch at a small place and had the usual kind of plate--soup (potato today), meat (pork today), brown beans, salad (lettuce and tomato today), fried plantain bananas, and juice (watermelon/lime today). Then I caught a bus back to Pereira.
Our bus (a large van) didn't get far, though. A man stopped it to get off at the edge of town and the automatic side door didn't close properly. The driver pushed the button about 3 times having it go back and forth until it stuck there. After manually pulling it partially open, I could see the problem, a pin that held a two-pronged bar that connected to the automatic sliding device had come loose at one end causing the pronged piece to slip out of place, hit and frame of the door, and bend the pin. Anyway, we sat there for about 15 minutes or so until they could get another bus to us to continue our journey.
The rest of the day was spent in the apartment. It had been hot, and my face feels a bit sunburned. I bought a Coke Sin Azucar (formerly known as Coke Zero) at the nearby supermarket and enjoyed drinking it while relaxing and reading. Then in the evening I watched two episodes of Narcos on Netflix. I've been watching the series while I am here in Colombia and am now about 2/3 of the way through the second season.
I took a bus to Armenia early this morning. It's another city here in the "Cafeteria" District of Colombia where coffee is grown. It is known for being higher up in the mountains and has beautiful, tall mountains behind it. It is also known as a city that was greatly destroyed by an earthquake in 1988.
The trip there is considered to be a road through the nicest countryside of the Cafeteria District, and it truly is pretty with mostly rolling rather than peaked mountains. It is densely populated with homes scattered everywhere along the way--not just along the road but in the hills beyond it. The trip takes just about an hour.
Armenia is not a very good destination. I think the guidebooks like it because of the views of the mountains and because it is more active in terms of business and entertainment than Pereira or Manizales, the other two cities in the district. But there is little character to the city. Almost everything is new because of the earthquake. Even the Cathedral is an ultra-modern A-frame structure that is distinguished only by its pretty, contemporary stained-glass windows. (The other, older church you see in some of the images is also in Armenia and apparently survived the earthquake, but it isn't the Cathedral.) The fact that everything is new in the city, however, makes it a clean downtown.
After wandering around the city, viewing two exhibits (one of photographs of the city in the early 1900s and one of women of the region), and enjoying the view of the mountains, I stopped for lunch at a small place and had the usual kind of plate--soup (potato today), meat (pork today), brown beans, salad (lettuce and tomato today), fried plantain bananas, and juice (watermelon/lime today). Then I caught a bus back to Pereira.
Our bus (a large van) didn't get far, though. A man stopped it to get off at the edge of town and the automatic side door didn't close properly. The driver pushed the button about 3 times having it go back and forth until it stuck there. After manually pulling it partially open, I could see the problem, a pin that held a two-pronged bar that connected to the automatic sliding device had come loose at one end causing the pronged piece to slip out of place, hit and frame of the door, and bend the pin. Anyway, we sat there for about 15 minutes or so until they could get another bus to us to continue our journey.
The rest of the day was spent in the apartment. It had been hot, and my face feels a bit sunburned. I bought a Coke Sin Azucar (formerly known as Coke Zero) at the nearby supermarket and enjoyed drinking it while relaxing and reading. Then in the evening I watched two episodes of Narcos on Netflix. I've been watching the series while I am here in Colombia and am now about 2/3 of the way through the second season.
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Starting to Move Southward toward Ecuador
Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017--Medellin to Pereira
As was expected, the bus terminal was alive with people heading out today. It may be that way every Sunday, but I have a feeling it was a little busier because of people who came into town for the weekend to see the Pope. My bus wasn't completely full, but it was the most expensive company making the route I was taking. Except for a restaurant break at 14:00, it was non-stop from Medellin to Pereira.
This bus ride was the first now in my movement through southern Colombia as I head toward Ecuador. Although I will be stopping at some places not well known for tourism and some that are, each stop was planned to move me toward Ecuador without having too travel too far in any one day and to avoid the one long stretch that many people take at night because of the number of hours involved even though it is one of the few areas of Colombia where night travel is still considered to be dangerous.
The Colombian countryside continues to impress me. Even though the mountains mean that it takes forever to go anywhere, they are so lush and so green. They are the color of green that I expected Ireland to be when I toured that island. And the mountains are so steep; one is always looking deep down into a valley or way up to the tops.
On the bus, they were showing an American film dubbed into Spanish starring Sofia Vergara. I hadn't thought until then about her being from here. I wonder if her popularity has fueled the Colombian tourism related to men coming specifically to party and meet women? I was told by someone at one of my previous stops, when responding to their question about where I would be visiting in Colombia, that Pereira is known for its beautiful women. I also know that my next stop (Cali) is considered the best place in all of Colombia for partying and meeting women.
Pereira is one of the 3 major cities (along with Manizales and Armenia) in the Eje de Cafeteria region of Colombia--a region where much of Colombia's coffee production takes place. It is a region known for nice fincas which are the plantation homes of the owners.
The apartment where I am staying in Pereira is in a great location. I walked from the bus station in just a few minutes. Then I walked later just 3 blocks to an area with a huge shopping mall surrounded by lots of bars and restaurants. I didn't do any more exploring, because I was tired. But the apartment is also modern and nice, so it is a pleasure to be inside it.
Coming back from my walk, I stopped at a supermarket just two blocks down the street. It is a very nice one--clean and modern with lots of specialty items. In fact, their stock makes me wonder if there is an American expat community here since they had products that are typical of American and not seen much in foreign supermarkets--peanut butter, pancake mix, pancake syrup, etc. Foreign things are expensive, though. But food in general is expensive in Colombia. People here must spend a higher percentage of their income on food than people in most countries do.
As was expected, the bus terminal was alive with people heading out today. It may be that way every Sunday, but I have a feeling it was a little busier because of people who came into town for the weekend to see the Pope. My bus wasn't completely full, but it was the most expensive company making the route I was taking. Except for a restaurant break at 14:00, it was non-stop from Medellin to Pereira.
This bus ride was the first now in my movement through southern Colombia as I head toward Ecuador. Although I will be stopping at some places not well known for tourism and some that are, each stop was planned to move me toward Ecuador without having too travel too far in any one day and to avoid the one long stretch that many people take at night because of the number of hours involved even though it is one of the few areas of Colombia where night travel is still considered to be dangerous.
The Colombian countryside continues to impress me. Even though the mountains mean that it takes forever to go anywhere, they are so lush and so green. They are the color of green that I expected Ireland to be when I toured that island. And the mountains are so steep; one is always looking deep down into a valley or way up to the tops.
On the bus, they were showing an American film dubbed into Spanish starring Sofia Vergara. I hadn't thought until then about her being from here. I wonder if her popularity has fueled the Colombian tourism related to men coming specifically to party and meet women? I was told by someone at one of my previous stops, when responding to their question about where I would be visiting in Colombia, that Pereira is known for its beautiful women. I also know that my next stop (Cali) is considered the best place in all of Colombia for partying and meeting women.
Pereira is one of the 3 major cities (along with Manizales and Armenia) in the Eje de Cafeteria region of Colombia--a region where much of Colombia's coffee production takes place. It is a region known for nice fincas which are the plantation homes of the owners.
The apartment where I am staying in Pereira is in a great location. I walked from the bus station in just a few minutes. Then I walked later just 3 blocks to an area with a huge shopping mall surrounded by lots of bars and restaurants. I didn't do any more exploring, because I was tired. But the apartment is also modern and nice, so it is a pleasure to be inside it.
Coming back from my walk, I stopped at a supermarket just two blocks down the street. It is a very nice one--clean and modern with lots of specialty items. In fact, their stock makes me wonder if there is an American expat community here since they had products that are typical of American and not seen much in foreign supermarkets--peanut butter, pancake mix, pancake syrup, etc. Foreign things are expensive, though. But food in general is expensive in Colombia. People here must spend a higher percentage of their income on food than people in most countries do.
Saturday, September 09, 2017
Moment of Panic
Saturday, Sept. 09, 2017--Medellin
I had a moment of panic after leaving my apartment this morning. I had stayed inside dealing with some reservation matters and didn't leave until about 11:00. I walked down the street and everything was quiet. Almost all shops were closed with their medal awnings down. Only a very few places selling breakfast were open. I came to the big street, and it was the same. Suddenly, I wondered: Is it Sunday? Did I get confused about my dates? Because if it was Sunday I had missed my bus already.
I pulled out my phone to check. Sure enough, it was Saturday as I had thought. I do not know if all Saturdays are this quiet here. It could have been that everyone decided to take the day off due to the visit of the Pope. He was already here and a TV at one small place was showing him speaking at the inner-city airport where they had planned the biggest gathering. So maybe everyone stayed home to see this and were coming out later. Anyway, I had quite a sense of panic there for a few moments.
There were both regular police and military police out all over town. Every corner seemed to have at least 2-3 of them standing guard with guns. Later in the afternoon they were still around. I think the Pope's helicopter flew over my apartment. I heard one for a long time and finally looked out; it was slowly moving around and occasionally stopping briefly. I figured the Pope might be getting a tour of the city that way, and the helicopter looked like the one I saw on TV with him in it. However, it could have been that there was a sense of danger somewhere just north of here and that it was security people flying slowly trying to locate a reported problem.
While out, I wandered across the river into a nicer part of town where the local branch of the University of Colombia is located. It's a fairly new campus and has beautiful grounds--lush green with wonderful flowering tropical plants. Living in an area of Medellin that looked like that would be nice. I had hoped to see two art exhibits--one at the university and one at a library. Both were closed with the library looking like extensive remodeling was occurring.
Returning back toward town, I wandered down the pedestrian shopping street. At one end of it, there were people waiting at barricades for the Pope to pass. I took a photo of 4 children who were so excited and were waving banners with the Pope's image on it. I asked the mother what time the Pop would pass, and they still had about 2 1/2 hours to wait. At that time, the crowd was at least 3 rows deep. There's no telling how bad it got by the time he passed.
I returned through town just watching people. Many people were out shopping, visiting, etc. As I neared my neighborhood, there was a clap of thunder and an afternoon shower came. I opened my umbrella and headed home. I saw a few people who had left the lines for the Pope's visit; they were obvious because they were carrying small plastic chairs. I wondered about everyone else. Were they braving the rain and staying? I hope they were, because the shower only lasted about 15 minutes and then it didn't rain again the rest of the day.
Another reason I came back to the apartment was to make a phone call. Nurse Grethe had several of my other friends over for a dinner. To call while they were still there and had finished eating at the table, I had to do it around 15:00 here/22:00 there. It was nice to have a quick conversation with them while they were all together.
Before it got dark, I made one more trip out to wander the streets. But even on Saturday things start closing down early. Shops were shutting at 18:00. The park had people in it, but most of them were probably not going to be there long. The Lido Theater had people lining up for tonight's concert. And the sidewalks in my neighborhood were already very quiet when I got back.
I had a moment of panic after leaving my apartment this morning. I had stayed inside dealing with some reservation matters and didn't leave until about 11:00. I walked down the street and everything was quiet. Almost all shops were closed with their medal awnings down. Only a very few places selling breakfast were open. I came to the big street, and it was the same. Suddenly, I wondered: Is it Sunday? Did I get confused about my dates? Because if it was Sunday I had missed my bus already.
I pulled out my phone to check. Sure enough, it was Saturday as I had thought. I do not know if all Saturdays are this quiet here. It could have been that everyone decided to take the day off due to the visit of the Pope. He was already here and a TV at one small place was showing him speaking at the inner-city airport where they had planned the biggest gathering. So maybe everyone stayed home to see this and were coming out later. Anyway, I had quite a sense of panic there for a few moments.
There were both regular police and military police out all over town. Every corner seemed to have at least 2-3 of them standing guard with guns. Later in the afternoon they were still around. I think the Pope's helicopter flew over my apartment. I heard one for a long time and finally looked out; it was slowly moving around and occasionally stopping briefly. I figured the Pope might be getting a tour of the city that way, and the helicopter looked like the one I saw on TV with him in it. However, it could have been that there was a sense of danger somewhere just north of here and that it was security people flying slowly trying to locate a reported problem.
While out, I wandered across the river into a nicer part of town where the local branch of the University of Colombia is located. It's a fairly new campus and has beautiful grounds--lush green with wonderful flowering tropical plants. Living in an area of Medellin that looked like that would be nice. I had hoped to see two art exhibits--one at the university and one at a library. Both were closed with the library looking like extensive remodeling was occurring.
Returning back toward town, I wandered down the pedestrian shopping street. At one end of it, there were people waiting at barricades for the Pope to pass. I took a photo of 4 children who were so excited and were waving banners with the Pope's image on it. I asked the mother what time the Pop would pass, and they still had about 2 1/2 hours to wait. At that time, the crowd was at least 3 rows deep. There's no telling how bad it got by the time he passed.
I returned through town just watching people. Many people were out shopping, visiting, etc. As I neared my neighborhood, there was a clap of thunder and an afternoon shower came. I opened my umbrella and headed home. I saw a few people who had left the lines for the Pope's visit; they were obvious because they were carrying small plastic chairs. I wondered about everyone else. Were they braving the rain and staying? I hope they were, because the shower only lasted about 15 minutes and then it didn't rain again the rest of the day.
Another reason I came back to the apartment was to make a phone call. Nurse Grethe had several of my other friends over for a dinner. To call while they were still there and had finished eating at the table, I had to do it around 15:00 here/22:00 there. It was nice to have a quick conversation with them while they were all together.
Before it got dark, I made one more trip out to wander the streets. But even on Saturday things start closing down early. Shops were shutting at 18:00. The park had people in it, but most of them were probably not going to be there long. The Lido Theater had people lining up for tonight's concert. And the sidewalks in my neighborhood were already very quiet when I got back.
Friday, September 08, 2017
I'm a Compañero!
Thursday and Friday, Sept. 8 and 9, 2017--Medellin
Both yesterday and today I went out to see some of the significant sights in the city. Neither day was I impressed much. Medellin is a city that was built rather cheaply and has worn badly through the years. I started yesterday at Parque de Bolivar its Cathedral Metropolitana. The square is old with crumbling sidewalks. It is filled with poor and homeless people (and maybe an addict or two). It has a nice fountain on the end in front of the church, but the steps up to the church and the pavement in front are also crumbling. The church is large and impressive, built of handmade, sun-dried bricks, but it is nothing special compared to what I have seen elsewhere. The shops on the streets around the plaza have faded signs from decades ago and cheap merchandise.
From there, I walked down a pedestrian street that continued the feel of being in the downtown of a border city like Laredo at home. Filled with poor people from across the border shopping at cheap stores with music blaring, hawkers shouting, etc. It wasn't attractive.
From there, I went westward to see Plaza Botero--a large plaza that has maybe 30 of his sculptures. The scupltures were impressive. There were hoards of people there--tourists taking photos, locals trying to sell to them, and a few bums. There was a nice garden area there, but it was hard to appreciate it. What was most impressive there was the Palacio de la Cultura building, a beautiful, well-constructed, and well restored building--one of only 4-5 impressive old buildings I have seen in the whole city. I wandered through it to see its architecture and the art exhibits that filled most of the first floor. I visited for a few moments with 4 young Catholic seminarians who asked me to take their photo and who are here to see the Pope tomorrow. I ended my tour by checking out the Hotel Nutibara which was the "grand dame" of hotels here for decades. It is far from that now; imagine the building in those glossy photos with layers of grit on the stone and the plexiglass on the front.
I shopped at a supermarket and brought everything home around 14:30. I just stayed inside the rest of the day doing some travel planning. I completed reservations for 4 of my next 5 stops on my trip.
Today, I headed further south from where I was yesterday. I found the major pedestrian shopping street in town, but it didn't seem like ones I have seen elsewhere. Again, many of the buildings are ones that were cheaply constructed. The shops ranged from cheap merchandise to average things--nothing special. The people were the same mixture ranging from homeless men sleeping on the sidewalk, to filthy laborers collecting cardboard or going through trash, to poor people, to office workers, to tourists. I found another impressive building there--the Palacio National which is now a mall specializing in sporting goods stores and cafes and restaurants. (Both it and the Palacio de la Cultural building I saw yesterday seem to be former bank buildings which have been restored and converted to their present uses.)
I stopped at a square called Centro Administrativo de Alpujarra. Even the newer office towers around it have a thick coat of grit from traffic. It's horrible to see new, well-designed buildings look bad because of a layer of dirt. One that has golden metal paneling really showed up as dirty. While at the square, I saw the exhibits inside the Biblioteca Central.
From there I headed to Parque de los Pies Descalzos (Barefoot Park). It was designed for people to take off their shoes and enjoy nature and is a popular luncheon spot for office workers. It has water, sand, grass, trails with soft clippings, etc. It's a nice idea for a park.
No one was there to walk barefoot or to eat lunch today. A dark cloud was headed toward the city. I left quickly, but started getting hit by sprinkles soon. I managed to make it back to the library where I sat and read for mayb 30-45 minutes until the rain became light, then I made my way home quickly without getting too wet due to awnings in fronts of buildings. The rain stopped completely for the rest of the day about 5-10 minutes after I got here.
This evening, I went to a concert. The Lido Theater facing Plaza Bolivar has programs of some kind almost every night. I had seen the program, and for tonight it said, "Musica. Concerto de Confluente." I didn't know what style of music it would be or what the cost would be, but I decided to go. I went there early and wandered around the pedestrian street which was alive with shoppers, entertainers, etc. I got a sandwich for a quick dinner, because the concert was to start at 18:30. I joined the ticket line as directed by a lady at the theater who said we would be admitted at 18:20. As I rounded the corner for the box office with my money clip in my hand, I noticed everyone was handing the man their ID which he scanned. He saw me and my money and first said, "Plaqueta." But then he just motioned for me to go past him and into the theater. The theater was a typical 1940s looking modern cinema with plaster walls in the form of curtain waves. The band was Edo B y su Banda who played adult contemporary music. Click on the link for some of their videos on YouTube.
Notes:
1. At least twice here in Medellin I have been addressed as "Compañero." In this area, it tends to be a term that came from the socialist/communist movements to reference a friend/colleague who was against the Big Man and Big Business. Today, I guess it is just used to be friendly rather than distant with someone.
2. I know most of my entries have complained about Medellin. What I find most beautiful about it is the lights at night. The city is located in somewhat of a bowl-shaped valley. As it has grown, people have built houses up the sides of the mountains--all the way to the tops! It is so pretty to see the outline of the mountains formed by the street lights.
Both yesterday and today I went out to see some of the significant sights in the city. Neither day was I impressed much. Medellin is a city that was built rather cheaply and has worn badly through the years. I started yesterday at Parque de Bolivar its Cathedral Metropolitana. The square is old with crumbling sidewalks. It is filled with poor and homeless people (and maybe an addict or two). It has a nice fountain on the end in front of the church, but the steps up to the church and the pavement in front are also crumbling. The church is large and impressive, built of handmade, sun-dried bricks, but it is nothing special compared to what I have seen elsewhere. The shops on the streets around the plaza have faded signs from decades ago and cheap merchandise.
From there, I walked down a pedestrian street that continued the feel of being in the downtown of a border city like Laredo at home. Filled with poor people from across the border shopping at cheap stores with music blaring, hawkers shouting, etc. It wasn't attractive.
From there, I went westward to see Plaza Botero--a large plaza that has maybe 30 of his sculptures. The scupltures were impressive. There were hoards of people there--tourists taking photos, locals trying to sell to them, and a few bums. There was a nice garden area there, but it was hard to appreciate it. What was most impressive there was the Palacio de la Cultura building, a beautiful, well-constructed, and well restored building--one of only 4-5 impressive old buildings I have seen in the whole city. I wandered through it to see its architecture and the art exhibits that filled most of the first floor. I visited for a few moments with 4 young Catholic seminarians who asked me to take their photo and who are here to see the Pope tomorrow. I ended my tour by checking out the Hotel Nutibara which was the "grand dame" of hotels here for decades. It is far from that now; imagine the building in those glossy photos with layers of grit on the stone and the plexiglass on the front.
I shopped at a supermarket and brought everything home around 14:30. I just stayed inside the rest of the day doing some travel planning. I completed reservations for 4 of my next 5 stops on my trip.
Today, I headed further south from where I was yesterday. I found the major pedestrian shopping street in town, but it didn't seem like ones I have seen elsewhere. Again, many of the buildings are ones that were cheaply constructed. The shops ranged from cheap merchandise to average things--nothing special. The people were the same mixture ranging from homeless men sleeping on the sidewalk, to filthy laborers collecting cardboard or going through trash, to poor people, to office workers, to tourists. I found another impressive building there--the Palacio National which is now a mall specializing in sporting goods stores and cafes and restaurants. (Both it and the Palacio de la Cultural building I saw yesterday seem to be former bank buildings which have been restored and converted to their present uses.)
I stopped at a square called Centro Administrativo de Alpujarra. Even the newer office towers around it have a thick coat of grit from traffic. It's horrible to see new, well-designed buildings look bad because of a layer of dirt. One that has golden metal paneling really showed up as dirty. While at the square, I saw the exhibits inside the Biblioteca Central.
From there I headed to Parque de los Pies Descalzos (Barefoot Park). It was designed for people to take off their shoes and enjoy nature and is a popular luncheon spot for office workers. It has water, sand, grass, trails with soft clippings, etc. It's a nice idea for a park.
No one was there to walk barefoot or to eat lunch today. A dark cloud was headed toward the city. I left quickly, but started getting hit by sprinkles soon. I managed to make it back to the library where I sat and read for mayb 30-45 minutes until the rain became light, then I made my way home quickly without getting too wet due to awnings in fronts of buildings. The rain stopped completely for the rest of the day about 5-10 minutes after I got here.
This evening, I went to a concert. The Lido Theater facing Plaza Bolivar has programs of some kind almost every night. I had seen the program, and for tonight it said, "Musica. Concerto de Confluente." I didn't know what style of music it would be or what the cost would be, but I decided to go. I went there early and wandered around the pedestrian street which was alive with shoppers, entertainers, etc. I got a sandwich for a quick dinner, because the concert was to start at 18:30. I joined the ticket line as directed by a lady at the theater who said we would be admitted at 18:20. As I rounded the corner for the box office with my money clip in my hand, I noticed everyone was handing the man their ID which he scanned. He saw me and my money and first said, "Plaqueta." But then he just motioned for me to go past him and into the theater. The theater was a typical 1940s looking modern cinema with plaster walls in the form of curtain waves. The band was Edo B y su Banda who played adult contemporary music. Click on the link for some of their videos on YouTube.
Notes:
1. At least twice here in Medellin I have been addressed as "Compañero." In this area, it tends to be a term that came from the socialist/communist movements to reference a friend/colleague who was against the Big Man and Big Business. Today, I guess it is just used to be friendly rather than distant with someone.
2. I know most of my entries have complained about Medellin. What I find most beautiful about it is the lights at night. The city is located in somewhat of a bowl-shaped valley. As it has grown, people have built houses up the sides of the mountains--all the way to the tops! It is so pretty to see the outline of the mountains formed by the street lights.
Wednesday, September 06, 2017
The Pope's Attraction Won't Stop Me from Leaving Sunday!
Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017--Medellin
Well the weather forecast was wrong. There wasn't a drop of rain all day. In fact, I walked so much (15 km/9 1/3 miles) that I began to worry that my nose might burn. It burned slightly a week ago. Anyway, as I wrote previously, my intention was to get my bus ticket for Sunday to my next stop as early as possible after arriving in the city. The Pope will be here Saturday, and people are expected to come from all over this area to try to see him. Most people here travel by bus, so I didn't want to take a chance of the buses being sold out on Sunday when I have to move because of having a reservation in my next place.
I walked to the Terminal Sur bus station which is 6.0 km from my apartment because I wanted to see what was along the way. I essentially followed the metro route to get to all but the last leg of that route. I could have ridden the metro, but it would have zipped by everything in a flash. I have a much better idea of Medellin because of having walked. Plus, it was fun to see unique things. For instance, I saw a store that rented time on sewing machines. There were maybe 30 or more machines for rent, and there were about 3 ladies in there at the time. What a good idea that is in a poor area. Women who know how to sew but can't afford a machine can rent one--either for sewing things to sell or for saving on clothing costs by sewing for the family.
The bus station is not too far from a neighborhood clustered around Parque Lleras which is known as the tourist area of Medellin. I almost booked an apartment there myself, but in the back of my mind I kept questioning whether it was the best place for me to be. I wanted to see what it is like, so I headed there after buying my ticket. It's nice. It has a pleasant atmosphere with small boutiques, bars, restaurants, trees, etc. It reminds me of the Zona Rosa in Mexico City 40 years ago when it was the fairly new tourist area of that city. But it's a neighborhood that could be anywhere. The people who stay there do so for one or both of two reasons: 1) It's Party Central for drinking and having fun every night. 2) It has a safe, modern reputation.
Walking back to the apartment I followed a slightly different, somewhat parallel route that took me through some rather bad areas of town with very poor people on the streets who live in make-shift shacks I could see going up the hill starting a couple of blocks away. Seeing this brought back memories of Rio de Janiero with its nicer areas and its bad ones. In fact, it made me think that Medellin is a lot like Rio. In general, the downtown area of Medellin is run down and a little scary. People who can have slowly moved further and further away. I see no signs in either city of the downtown areas or the areas near them being improved in any way (except for some new sidewalks being installed here in Medellin).
Besides poor people, I also have seen lots of homeless people living on the streets here. And I have seen some who seemed to be passed out or in a stupor due to drug use. In that respect, I have seen some large areas of Medellin that are a lot like the old 2-3 block wide warehouse area of San Antonio just to the west of the newgovernment buildings (Bexar County buildings, Robert E Green University Hospital, and UTSA Downtown Campus) lining Frio Street.
I was exhausted as I neared my apartment. And I was hungry. I was looking at menus posted in front of restaurants when I saw one that had a special for Bandeja Corrientes which I had read was a popular local dish. I took a free table and ordered it. It was the Menu del Dia meaning that it had more than one course (with choices for the main course) and included a free drink. For me, that meant I started with a big bowl of soup (which was delicious as has been every soup I have had in Colombia)--a yellow-colored soup with chunks of potatoes, bits of beef, and green and red specks. Then I was served a large plate. It included the choice I had made for a pork steak (boneless and generous in size) accompanied by rice with a fried egg on top, brown beans, a small slaw salad, and fried (soft rather than crispy) plantain banana. For my drink, they gave me a glass of juice that seemed to be an orange/banana combination. I was so stuffed that I haven't eaten anymore today. And all of that cost $3. I may return there tomorrow to see what they have as their special.
Because I was tired, I spent the rest of the day (from about 15:00 onward) in the apartment. Tomorrow will be my day to start exploring the major tourist sites here if the rain stays away again.
Well the weather forecast was wrong. There wasn't a drop of rain all day. In fact, I walked so much (15 km/9 1/3 miles) that I began to worry that my nose might burn. It burned slightly a week ago. Anyway, as I wrote previously, my intention was to get my bus ticket for Sunday to my next stop as early as possible after arriving in the city. The Pope will be here Saturday, and people are expected to come from all over this area to try to see him. Most people here travel by bus, so I didn't want to take a chance of the buses being sold out on Sunday when I have to move because of having a reservation in my next place.
I walked to the Terminal Sur bus station which is 6.0 km from my apartment because I wanted to see what was along the way. I essentially followed the metro route to get to all but the last leg of that route. I could have ridden the metro, but it would have zipped by everything in a flash. I have a much better idea of Medellin because of having walked. Plus, it was fun to see unique things. For instance, I saw a store that rented time on sewing machines. There were maybe 30 or more machines for rent, and there were about 3 ladies in there at the time. What a good idea that is in a poor area. Women who know how to sew but can't afford a machine can rent one--either for sewing things to sell or for saving on clothing costs by sewing for the family.
The bus station is not too far from a neighborhood clustered around Parque Lleras which is known as the tourist area of Medellin. I almost booked an apartment there myself, but in the back of my mind I kept questioning whether it was the best place for me to be. I wanted to see what it is like, so I headed there after buying my ticket. It's nice. It has a pleasant atmosphere with small boutiques, bars, restaurants, trees, etc. It reminds me of the Zona Rosa in Mexico City 40 years ago when it was the fairly new tourist area of that city. But it's a neighborhood that could be anywhere. The people who stay there do so for one or both of two reasons: 1) It's Party Central for drinking and having fun every night. 2) It has a safe, modern reputation.
Walking back to the apartment I followed a slightly different, somewhat parallel route that took me through some rather bad areas of town with very poor people on the streets who live in make-shift shacks I could see going up the hill starting a couple of blocks away. Seeing this brought back memories of Rio de Janiero with its nicer areas and its bad ones. In fact, it made me think that Medellin is a lot like Rio. In general, the downtown area of Medellin is run down and a little scary. People who can have slowly moved further and further away. I see no signs in either city of the downtown areas or the areas near them being improved in any way (except for some new sidewalks being installed here in Medellin).
Besides poor people, I also have seen lots of homeless people living on the streets here. And I have seen some who seemed to be passed out or in a stupor due to drug use. In that respect, I have seen some large areas of Medellin that are a lot like the old 2-3 block wide warehouse area of San Antonio just to the west of the newgovernment buildings (Bexar County buildings, Robert E Green University Hospital, and UTSA Downtown Campus) lining Frio Street.
I was exhausted as I neared my apartment. And I was hungry. I was looking at menus posted in front of restaurants when I saw one that had a special for Bandeja Corrientes which I had read was a popular local dish. I took a free table and ordered it. It was the Menu del Dia meaning that it had more than one course (with choices for the main course) and included a free drink. For me, that meant I started with a big bowl of soup (which was delicious as has been every soup I have had in Colombia)--a yellow-colored soup with chunks of potatoes, bits of beef, and green and red specks. Then I was served a large plate. It included the choice I had made for a pork steak (boneless and generous in size) accompanied by rice with a fried egg on top, brown beans, a small slaw salad, and fried (soft rather than crispy) plantain banana. For my drink, they gave me a glass of juice that seemed to be an orange/banana combination. I was so stuffed that I haven't eaten anymore today. And all of that cost $3. I may return there tomorrow to see what they have as their special.
Because I was tired, I spent the rest of the day (from about 15:00 onward) in the apartment. Tomorrow will be my day to start exploring the major tourist sites here if the rain stays away again.
Tuesday, September 05, 2017
Heading to Medellin
Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2017--Bogota to Medellin
I was up by 6:30 and out of the apartment about 9:00. I wasn't sure how the traffic would be going to the airport, and I wanted to get an early start even though I didn't have to be there until 11:00 to check in for my flight. A nice woman was headed the same way and volunteered to use her slap card for me and let me pay her cash. She spoke English, so we visited on the way there. Not only was there really no problem with traffic, but it was one of their Transmilineo rapid transit buses which operate like a street-level subway, with dedicated stations, dedicated traffic lanes, fast in/fast out stops, etc. I was in the terminal at the airport by 9:45.
When I got in line to check in with Avianca for my flight, I was a bit worried about the Kiwi.com ticket I had bought. At $60, it was 2/3 what the airline website was asking. But the Avianca agent didn't bat an eye. She even went further and told me that my 13:10 flight was delayed until sometime after 15:00, but she could put me on an earlier flight leaving at 12:40 if I wanted. Of course, I wanted. That meant I would be boarding in just a couple of hours. I suggest anyone who flies to check out the link above for Kiwi.com to see if they offer any good prices for where you plan to go. I became familiar with them because Kayak.com now lists their rates for flights when searching there, so it isn't necessary to go to Kiwi, Kayak will redirect you there if you choose one of their offerings.
Well, that new flight got delayed, too. But we ended up leaving only about 20 minutes after my original flight would have left. So I still made it to my apartment in Medellin (pronounced here as "Med-a-zheen") by 16:00 as I had originally planned. It was a rush though. My bus from the Medellin airport got caught in traffic about 5 blocks from here as it was turning the opposite direction to go to its final stop another 3 blocks away. I managed, with the little Spanish I speak, to beg the driver to let me out because I needed to go the opposite direction. He pulled over to the curb, the one other passenger remaining from our previous stops got out also, and the driver opened the back trunk for me to get my suitcase. I rushed that 5 blocks, because the person meeting me for the apartment had planned to be here only from 15:30 to 16:00. I arrived at 15:55!
My apartment here isn't as nice as the one I had in Bogota, but it is nicer than it looks in the photos (as you will notice if you read some of the reviews). It has more of a lived-in feel to it and is older. But it is plenty big for me (3 bedrooms, 2 baths, living/dining room, and kitchen. It is only 4 blocks from the main plaza in the old downtown area, and there is a metro station just 3 blocks away. And it is very inexpensive, especially compared to hotel rooms here.
I am exhausted. But I still wouldn't be here if I had taken a bus. Getting up at 6:30, the earliest bus I could have caught would have been about 8:00. That means I would have arrived here about 30 minutes ago AT THE BUS STATION and would probably be getting near to the apartment about now. It would have made a much worse day than sitting reading in the airport, taking a 45-minute flight, taking a 35-minute bus ride into town, and then walking 5 blocks. I've been here at the apartment now for over 3 1/2 hours. And by flying, I got to look down on the beautiful, green, crinkly mountains of Colombia. It really is a gorgeous place even if it was made for no one to be able to get from place-to-place easily (or at least quickly).
I bought a Cuban sandwich at a shop on the corner, and it came with a Colombian soft drink--sweet and sparkly. A young woman who came in to eat at the same time, chatted with me. She was fascinated that I was touring Colombia for so long without speaking Spanish better than I do. She had a great time teasing me by asking or saying things I couldn't understand. One reason I went there is that everywhere else in the area had TVs going and were crowded with people eating and drinking while watching other soccer matches before the main one between Colombia and Brazil tonight.
I am tired and staying inside tonight. It's so nice to relax. It's been a big change from Bogota where it was cool to cold all the time. It is so warm here that I have opened my windows to let some air inside. Unfortunately, the forecast for the days I will be here calls for rain--rain throughout the day for the next 3 days and then rain at times after that. I have not had any disruptions in my plans during the trip because of rain so far even though it was sometimes forecast. So we'll see.
I was up by 6:30 and out of the apartment about 9:00. I wasn't sure how the traffic would be going to the airport, and I wanted to get an early start even though I didn't have to be there until 11:00 to check in for my flight. A nice woman was headed the same way and volunteered to use her slap card for me and let me pay her cash. She spoke English, so we visited on the way there. Not only was there really no problem with traffic, but it was one of their Transmilineo rapid transit buses which operate like a street-level subway, with dedicated stations, dedicated traffic lanes, fast in/fast out stops, etc. I was in the terminal at the airport by 9:45.
When I got in line to check in with Avianca for my flight, I was a bit worried about the Kiwi.com ticket I had bought. At $60, it was 2/3 what the airline website was asking. But the Avianca agent didn't bat an eye. She even went further and told me that my 13:10 flight was delayed until sometime after 15:00, but she could put me on an earlier flight leaving at 12:40 if I wanted. Of course, I wanted. That meant I would be boarding in just a couple of hours. I suggest anyone who flies to check out the link above for Kiwi.com to see if they offer any good prices for where you plan to go. I became familiar with them because Kayak.com now lists their rates for flights when searching there, so it isn't necessary to go to Kiwi, Kayak will redirect you there if you choose one of their offerings.
Well, that new flight got delayed, too. But we ended up leaving only about 20 minutes after my original flight would have left. So I still made it to my apartment in Medellin (pronounced here as "Med-a-zheen") by 16:00 as I had originally planned. It was a rush though. My bus from the Medellin airport got caught in traffic about 5 blocks from here as it was turning the opposite direction to go to its final stop another 3 blocks away. I managed, with the little Spanish I speak, to beg the driver to let me out because I needed to go the opposite direction. He pulled over to the curb, the one other passenger remaining from our previous stops got out also, and the driver opened the back trunk for me to get my suitcase. I rushed that 5 blocks, because the person meeting me for the apartment had planned to be here only from 15:30 to 16:00. I arrived at 15:55!
My apartment here isn't as nice as the one I had in Bogota, but it is nicer than it looks in the photos (as you will notice if you read some of the reviews). It has more of a lived-in feel to it and is older. But it is plenty big for me (3 bedrooms, 2 baths, living/dining room, and kitchen. It is only 4 blocks from the main plaza in the old downtown area, and there is a metro station just 3 blocks away. And it is very inexpensive, especially compared to hotel rooms here.
I am exhausted. But I still wouldn't be here if I had taken a bus. Getting up at 6:30, the earliest bus I could have caught would have been about 8:00. That means I would have arrived here about 30 minutes ago AT THE BUS STATION and would probably be getting near to the apartment about now. It would have made a much worse day than sitting reading in the airport, taking a 45-minute flight, taking a 35-minute bus ride into town, and then walking 5 blocks. I've been here at the apartment now for over 3 1/2 hours. And by flying, I got to look down on the beautiful, green, crinkly mountains of Colombia. It really is a gorgeous place even if it was made for no one to be able to get from place-to-place easily (or at least quickly).
I bought a Cuban sandwich at a shop on the corner, and it came with a Colombian soft drink--sweet and sparkly. A young woman who came in to eat at the same time, chatted with me. She was fascinated that I was touring Colombia for so long without speaking Spanish better than I do. She had a great time teasing me by asking or saying things I couldn't understand. One reason I went there is that everywhere else in the area had TVs going and were crowded with people eating and drinking while watching other soccer matches before the main one between Colombia and Brazil tonight.
I am tired and staying inside tonight. It's so nice to relax. It's been a big change from Bogota where it was cool to cold all the time. It is so warm here that I have opened my windows to let some air inside. Unfortunately, the forecast for the days I will be here calls for rain--rain throughout the day for the next 3 days and then rain at times after that. I have not had any disruptions in my plans during the trip because of rain so far even though it was sometimes forecast. So we'll see.
Monday, September 04, 2017
The Pope Is Causing Me Anxiety
Monday, Sept. 4, 2017--Bogota
First thing for today was more travel planning. I decided I needed to find a place to stay at my next stop after Medellin which is Pereira. I looked at hotels first, but they seem quite expensive with a surprising number of them NOT offering free WiFi. So I went to Airbnb to search. I found 3 possibilities for apartments and wrote questions to each. One answered shortly afterward, another answered in the mid-afternoon, and the other never responded. Anyway, I booked with the conscientious one that answered first, but I didn't commit until mid-afternoon when I realized only one other was writing.
It was 10:30 before I got away for sightseeing. I headed to the center of town which I still had not seen. It's a long walk there with very busy sidewalks the whole way. But when I got there this time, Bolivar Plaza was open to the public unlike last Friday when it was closed for protests against peace with the FARC rebels.
It's a beautiful square with the Cathedral on one side, the Palace of Justice on another, the City Hall on another, and the Presidential Palace on the other. It was the Cathedral with its white and gold interior that was a beehive. It was filled with people and had lines going for blocks. Why? Because of the Pope's visit on Wednesday. I think all those people waiting in line were doing so to go to confession. There was no mass occurring at the time. The line was headed down the main aisle, but anyone could walk in and out the side doors. I walked in and got all the way to the front of the church were ropes and guards kept anyone away who wasn't entering from the lineup. I got good photos of the crowds, the workers dusting the whole interior, the huge bouquets of white flowers to welcome the Pope, the choir which was singing songs, etc.
Out on the main square, more workers were cleaning. Some were power washing the pavement, some were sweeping up dust, cigarette butts, etc., that had accumulated along the curbs, etc. I walked 1 1/2 blocks away to see Iglesia de Concepcion which the guidebook recommended. It was full of people, too! It's smaller, but actually prettier inside, I think, than the Cathedral.
From there, I walked down a closed street (had to have my bag inspected) lined with government buildings. Each looked as if it had been power washed, too. Everything was spic and span, and people were coming and going in a rush all apparently in anticipation of THE VISIT.
I stopped to see another church, St. Augustin, then I toured a small museum, the Archaeological Museum. There wasn't much to it. The guidebook had said it was worth visiting to see the old house that is its home. I thoroughly agree that the exhibits weren't worth the effort, but I'm not even sure the house was worth it either.
Some of the nicer original homes of Bogota are on Calle 10 going uphill from Bolivar Plaza. From it, I turned onto Carrera 2 which is a street with lots of students and, therefore, lots of small restaurants and shops and which led to a wonderful square called Plazoleta Chorro de Quevedo which had fascinating shops and restaurants at it and on the narrow streets leading away from it. One of the shops on that small street was offering coca tea which I assume is a tea made from coca leaves.
I was far from home and had to walk back. Before leaving that neighborhood, though, I stopped at a small place offering "pizza y gaseosa"--pizza by the slice and a soft drink. The slices were huge (about the size of a slice at Costco) with a nice, crispy crust. I got an all vegie one with lots of spinach, tomatoes, cheese, onions, mushrooms, etc. I was surprised that the gaseosa (soft drink) wasn't a choice; they brought a small cup of the Colombian version of Big Red. Wow, did it taste sweet! But that was quite a meal to have been only $1.65 US.
Back at the room, I had more planning to do. I am worried about the Pope's schedule interfering twice. Things were so busy today in advance of his Wednesday arrival that they may be worse tomorrow. I have decided to take the bus toward the airport 1 1/2 hours before I need to be there. Normally, it is a 42 minute bus ride from here, but I don't want to take a chance of traffic jams or of buses passing me up because they are already full.
But my worries about the Pope continue in Medellin. I will arrive at the airport rather than the bus station since I am flying, but I feel I need to get to the bus station and buy my ticket for Sunday, since the Pope's visit there will be on Saturday and pilgrims coming to see him from the countryside may fill every bus leaving town on Sunday. But my research showed that it was a 1 hour cab ride to the bus station or 1 1/2 hours of walking. Fortunately, I finally found I can take the metro all the way except for a 20 minute walk at the end, so that's what I will do Wednesday morning and buy me a ticket to leave on Sunday.
I spent probably a total of 6 hours planning this morning, late this afternoon, and this evening! It's frustrating to have to spend so much of my travel time doing that. But now I am okay for a few days. I want to enjoy Medellin and maybe make a day trip out of it to one of two possibilities. Oh, if I do that, I will have to plan how to get to the OTHER bus station, since the buses leaving for either of them will go from the north station, and my bus Sunday will go from the south. Maybe I'll just stay in the city and enjoy it.
First thing for today was more travel planning. I decided I needed to find a place to stay at my next stop after Medellin which is Pereira. I looked at hotels first, but they seem quite expensive with a surprising number of them NOT offering free WiFi. So I went to Airbnb to search. I found 3 possibilities for apartments and wrote questions to each. One answered shortly afterward, another answered in the mid-afternoon, and the other never responded. Anyway, I booked with the conscientious one that answered first, but I didn't commit until mid-afternoon when I realized only one other was writing.
It was 10:30 before I got away for sightseeing. I headed to the center of town which I still had not seen. It's a long walk there with very busy sidewalks the whole way. But when I got there this time, Bolivar Plaza was open to the public unlike last Friday when it was closed for protests against peace with the FARC rebels.
It's a beautiful square with the Cathedral on one side, the Palace of Justice on another, the City Hall on another, and the Presidential Palace on the other. It was the Cathedral with its white and gold interior that was a beehive. It was filled with people and had lines going for blocks. Why? Because of the Pope's visit on Wednesday. I think all those people waiting in line were doing so to go to confession. There was no mass occurring at the time. The line was headed down the main aisle, but anyone could walk in and out the side doors. I walked in and got all the way to the front of the church were ropes and guards kept anyone away who wasn't entering from the lineup. I got good photos of the crowds, the workers dusting the whole interior, the huge bouquets of white flowers to welcome the Pope, the choir which was singing songs, etc.
Out on the main square, more workers were cleaning. Some were power washing the pavement, some were sweeping up dust, cigarette butts, etc., that had accumulated along the curbs, etc. I walked 1 1/2 blocks away to see Iglesia de Concepcion which the guidebook recommended. It was full of people, too! It's smaller, but actually prettier inside, I think, than the Cathedral.
From there, I walked down a closed street (had to have my bag inspected) lined with government buildings. Each looked as if it had been power washed, too. Everything was spic and span, and people were coming and going in a rush all apparently in anticipation of THE VISIT.
I stopped to see another church, St. Augustin, then I toured a small museum, the Archaeological Museum. There wasn't much to it. The guidebook had said it was worth visiting to see the old house that is its home. I thoroughly agree that the exhibits weren't worth the effort, but I'm not even sure the house was worth it either.
Some of the nicer original homes of Bogota are on Calle 10 going uphill from Bolivar Plaza. From it, I turned onto Carrera 2 which is a street with lots of students and, therefore, lots of small restaurants and shops and which led to a wonderful square called Plazoleta Chorro de Quevedo which had fascinating shops and restaurants at it and on the narrow streets leading away from it. One of the shops on that small street was offering coca tea which I assume is a tea made from coca leaves.
I was far from home and had to walk back. Before leaving that neighborhood, though, I stopped at a small place offering "pizza y gaseosa"--pizza by the slice and a soft drink. The slices were huge (about the size of a slice at Costco) with a nice, crispy crust. I got an all vegie one with lots of spinach, tomatoes, cheese, onions, mushrooms, etc. I was surprised that the gaseosa (soft drink) wasn't a choice; they brought a small cup of the Colombian version of Big Red. Wow, did it taste sweet! But that was quite a meal to have been only $1.65 US.
Back at the room, I had more planning to do. I am worried about the Pope's schedule interfering twice. Things were so busy today in advance of his Wednesday arrival that they may be worse tomorrow. I have decided to take the bus toward the airport 1 1/2 hours before I need to be there. Normally, it is a 42 minute bus ride from here, but I don't want to take a chance of traffic jams or of buses passing me up because they are already full.
But my worries about the Pope continue in Medellin. I will arrive at the airport rather than the bus station since I am flying, but I feel I need to get to the bus station and buy my ticket for Sunday, since the Pope's visit there will be on Saturday and pilgrims coming to see him from the countryside may fill every bus leaving town on Sunday. But my research showed that it was a 1 hour cab ride to the bus station or 1 1/2 hours of walking. Fortunately, I finally found I can take the metro all the way except for a 20 minute walk at the end, so that's what I will do Wednesday morning and buy me a ticket to leave on Sunday.
I spent probably a total of 6 hours planning this morning, late this afternoon, and this evening! It's frustrating to have to spend so much of my travel time doing that. But now I am okay for a few days. I want to enjoy Medellin and maybe make a day trip out of it to one of two possibilities. Oh, if I do that, I will have to plan how to get to the OTHER bus station, since the buses leaving for either of them will go from the north station, and my bus Sunday will go from the south. Maybe I'll just stay in the city and enjoy it.
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