Travels

Finally back in D.C. (Bogotá D.C. that is), so I figured it was time to fill all y'all in our travels around the country. Because our apartment didn't open up until yesterday, we decided that if we were going to continue paying $20/night for a hostel, we might as well be spending those nights in new and interesting places.

First, we went to a restored Spanish colonial town called Villa de Leiva (see photo on the left) that was supposed to have lots of cool hikes in the area. The first day we went on a h

ike to two waterfalls and the "paso de angel," a 6-inch-wide ridge crossing bordered on either side by very, very, steep cliffs. Sadly, right as we accomplished that crossing, it started raining and thundering. Understandably, we realized that we were standing on a bare ridge in the middle of a thunderstorm and decided to turn back.

Not much more to report on Villa de Leyva, and next we headed to Colombia's coffee region, in search of a cup of coffee that would best Sr. Neuheisel's. Fellow travelers had raved about Jesus Martín's tinto (a small coffee shop in Salento, the backpackers' stop in the Zona Cafetera). It was crap. The owner of the hostel that we stayed at in Salento recently purchased a coffee farm nearby, and we sampled a cup of his coffee. Though better than Jesus Martín's, it still didn't stack up to the coffee produced in ol' 2566. On the coffee plantation, Robin learned where pineapples come from.

In Salento we also went on another beautiful hike to the Valle Cocora, home to some stunning groves of wax palm trees (and wild growing mushrooms - I'll let y'all guess as to which is the main reason for backpackers descending on Salento en masse). The hike was gorgeous and exhausting, though the clouds never did part to let us see the valley in all its splendor.

Although we initially had planned on spending all of our travel time in the coffee region, we decided that we were tired of sticking to the Lonely Planet trail and instead wanted to forge out on our own, taking several long bus trips to Popayán, another beautiful colonial city. 30 km from our hostel are some thermal springs, and the hostel arranged a trip for us to be driven (mostly uphill) through the Andes to the thermals with bikes, so that we could then bike down: Robin's Climate Ride Jr.

From Popayán, we took a 70 km/5 hr. bus ride through the Andes to a small to called San Andrés. Most travelers skip this spot because the ride is long and goes over very crappy roads. It was stunning. Nestled in a small valley, the town is known for the ancient tombs that dot the surrounding ridgelines. Not to be insulting to Colombia's indigenous cultures, after having been to Cappadoccia, these tombs just didn't seem as cool. However, the tombs were just a sideshow to the great hike that takes you up and down the mountains to see all of the different archeological hikes. The last ascent was the toughest, and Robin almost didn't make it, but I carried her up the last 200m.

Next, we decided to visit Tatacoa, Colombia's "desert" (it's not actually a desert - just a really, really dry tropical forest). If you've already been to Bryce Canyon, you aren't missing too much by not having seen the Tatacoa. It's like Bryce, except small, and with Colombians instead of Mormons. The Tatacoa was gorgeous, especially at night, and an amateur astronomer who was a bit too enthusiastic with his Spanish R's pointed out some new constellations to us. However, after one night of sleeping in hammocks and getting devoured by mosquitos, we decided that it was time to head back to Bogotá.

And here we are! This should be the last of our "travel" posts until Evan arrives. Now it's time for us to find a source of income...