Another stint in Cali filled with classes all day and dancing all night. Treasa was back at La Vaina and when I did have spare time, I spent it chilling with some combination of Treasa, Fleur, Giorgia, Alex and Sebastian. This week was also the week that I decided to broaden my horizons (read learning opportunities). I started Spanish lessons with Felipe, a guy who was on the Pacific coast trip, as recommended by Laura, a cool chica on the Pacific trip. I also continued my bachata lessons and have started kizomba lessons! Anyone who has danced with me will know that this is quite radical for me. Both bachata and kizomba require fluidity and my salsa is at a point where this is the main thing I need to improve, so this British girl, who is a natural stomper and enthusiastic doh-cee-doh’er, is trying hard to become more fluid and just generally better dancer! Pray for me! It’s no mean feat!
Aside from my classes, I went for a cute lunch with Laura one day in a vegan cafe, which provides various proteins and lots of veggies for lunch. Veggies are always a blessing in Colombia as they’re pretty hard to come by in restaurants – somehow providing only a rack of meat and rice seems to be more profitable! I also went for an impromptu lunch with Andrew, another fun guy from the Pacific trip and ate lots of my favourite wine cake, which I learnt is named ‘torta de novia’, as well as gping to Buscar por Dentro for cake and cute messages. My Spanish teacher Felipe have me coffee in a china cup from England, which I enjoyed too much! I went to El Rincon, an outdoor space for dancing on Thursday with Fleur and Marcella and Friday I went to pick up our rental car with Alex and Fleur and afterwards, Fleur and I got piercings (oi oiiii). Alex and I went to the street party and Malamana, a small bur lively salsa bar before our early 05.00 departure to begin our mad road trip to El Rincon del Mar.
Having said goodbye to both Luna and Miss Aisling in the last week, I was off on a new adventure to the Pacific coast, with Treasa, a cool Irish woman and a load of other dancers. Another two girls, Fleur and Giorgia were meant to go along side Aisling, but sadly there were roadblocks due to protests and so the trip was postponed by a day and so they dropped out for safety reasons and Aisling because of travel timings. I had considered if I should also drop out because now I would only know Treasa, a truly sociable being, friends with everyone and so I had to put myself out there! Eventually, I decided, I had wanted to do the trip for the salsa and beach combo and I would have to just brave it, because nothing ventured, nothing gained, y’know?!
After a Friday street party followed by a quick salsa in MalaMana, I showered and slept for a total of two hours before getting up and heading to the meeting point with Treasa. Luckily the meeting point was approximately 50 metres from our hostel, and at my favourite local bakery. We met many people, some of which had come straight from last night’s party and got a coach to the coast. When we got on the bus, there were more people than seats, so some people went in a separate car and the organisers just sat on the floor! There was loud music and people trying to chat, and quickly sleep. We ran into roadblocks after a bit, but they cleared soon enough and we were on our way again. We arrived in Buenaventura and then took a speed boat to another part of the coast, La Barra beach. The ride was pretty relaxing and I sat next to a Swiss guy. We chatted and we arrived half an hour or so later in a bay that looked bizarrely like Carmarthenshire!! Home from home!
Carmarthenshire beach (obvs minus the palms!)
We checked in and I ended up sharing with a chill gal named Laura from Australia. It was lunchtime straightaway and the we chilled, swam, and played volleyball (some) and football (me) on the beach. The boys were surprisingly impressed with my football skills. I tackled many guys and managed to head, chest and knee the ball, surprising no?! I got footballers respect, which I liked! 🤣🤣 After football, we chilled some more before sunset on the beach before a bucket shower and dinner. The showers were very primative and washing the hair seemed like a massive faff, but lucky I had had bucket shower practice in Thailand and Nigeria! After dinner, I took a nap and woke up at 22.30 when the party was just getting started. We salsa’ed and bachata’ed the night through and I eventually went to bed at 02ish. Apparently some people stayed up dancing until 06.00! Wild!
26/3/23
The next day was more of the same. We had an arepa breakfast followed by beach time with swimming and cards and then lunch. Lunch was soup, followed by fish with rice and patacones (plantain). After lunch, we chilled with tunes on the beach and we swam a few times. We chilled more on the beach and I saw Marcella, another Cali friend in the afternoon and we chilled a on the beach and in the sea. We watched sunset together from the ocean and then I went to shower before dinner. Dinner was simple and afterwards, we played cards some more and then Andrew, a Canadian guy rounded up willing victims to assist in making a bonfire on the beach. Of course, I offered and off we went, Andrew, Treasa, Gregory and I, picking up a few Pacifico hombres en route! Gregory got the fire going in no time and then the music and dancing started. More Pacifico hombres came and at some point, we moved back to the hostel and danced there, with the Pacifico boys in tow. The Pacific boys were not salseros, but one tried to tempt Treasa to the showers (cold, bucket showers).. She declined his advances and the party continued without drama.
27/3/23
Cute but stinky cuddles at breakfast as the dog had rolled in something I didn’t know about 😷
Today was the last day at the beach. We had a breakfast of eggs and arepas and then I headed to the beach with Laura, where some others had already gathered. We swam, chilled, chatted and swam some more. I went back to the hostel to shower ready for leaving at 13.30 sharp. Of course, nothing happens ‘sharp’ here and people were still wandering up the beach at 13.30. By 14.30, the hostel owner rounded us up and told us that if we didn’t leave soon, we’d miss the boat back to Buenaventura. We left pretty quickly after this, first walking up a steep muddy hill, then getting in and out of an overly loaded tuktuk attempting to off-road, before we arrived at the harbour. I got lunch (the fear if being hungry and without food is always real for me), so I ordered fresh fish with rice and plantains, which was glorious. I also bought some cute earrings and then we headed back on the boat.
The boat ride was particularly bouncy, considerably more bouncy than the way out. To make the journey more comfortable, it was best to try to ride each wave smoothly using your legs to rise and fall, as supposed to bunping around in your seat! After forty minutes or so, we were back in Buenaventura where the bus was going to meet us. The bus back was uneventful. I napped, we stopped for a snack and coffee break and made it back to the Cali bakery in time to grab my favourite torta de vino (a cake with fortified wine in it with a layer of squishy white icing round the edge, somewhat reminiscent of Christmas cake), before heading back to La Vaina, showering and heading for La Topa, Monday’s salsa night of choice!
Buenaventura harbour, looking Thai
La Topa was the same as usual but minus nearly all of the Pacific coast crew! Only Treasa and I made it out, but of course, Fleur, Giorgia and Alex, who hadn’t gone on the trip were there too!
Somehow another week on Cali has flown by? I arrived early on the 17th to be greeted by none other than Miss Aisling who had also booked my hostel for a few days. We had breakfast together in the hostel before our days continued with classes and chilling. On the evening, Luna arrived from her flight from the coast. Reunited in Cali once more! I spent the first few days chilling, catching up with Miss Aisling and Luna and enjoying parties in the night. Of course, Friday was the street party again and the whole hostel went together. Afterwards, I went to Manimala, a salsa bar and Luna went to a reggaeton place with my salsa teachers Steven and Sebastian. Aisling went home to sleep.
Sunday was Luna’s 24th birthday and we welcomed her birthday in in a fairly drunken stupor counting down the seconds til midnight in a reggaeton club. The whole hostel was out once more and it was a good time. We got talking to a guy Colada from New York who got us birthday cocktails (yes, I benefitted from Luna’s bday)! Shots of rum were poured into mouths while heads were tipped back and much perrea (basically twerking) was done by many!!
In the day on Sunday, I had a hostel breakfast and then, I rang first Georgia and then my mam for mother’s day. I made exciting plans with Gi for her to come out to meet me and for us to maybe live together again, but this time in London, eeeeep! Afterwards, Luna and I headed out for cake round one. We went to Sukha, a vegan, but very tasty cafe and had a nice girly time. Afterwards, we headed back and chilled by the pool with Aisling and another cool cat Marcella from the US. I went out for a but of a mooch around the park with Aisling and Treasa, another Irsih gal, I had met on my first trip and then later, we headed back out for dinner near the park. Aisling sadly couldn’t make it because she had an early night bus to the desert but Luna, Marcella and I headed out together. We sat on a rooftop overlooking the city and ate pizza and drank wine. While the pizza dough was not up to scratch, the atmosphere and the company really were 💛. The view over the city was gorgeous. After dinner, we got churros and strolled through the park, which was bustling with market stalls, theatre, love and laughter. There were some people effectively sledging down a hill on crates for drinks. Genius!! After dinner, we headed back and prepped for the night. We wanted to salsa and another girl Fleur who has been in Cali for ages mentioned a white party. We went there but the girls were not keen on it because there were a lot of old folk there. We changed and went to a place one of Luna’s mates suggested instead. It was a dance theatre with a huge Cuban car in the reception. It was very fancy and we did not feel prepared for it! We went in and were shown to our sears. Awhile later, the show began. It was unreal!!
After the show, we social danced a bit before we tried to go downstairs where more people were dancing. At some point a very serious security woman came to ask us to leave. We weren’t sure why but eventually it turned out it was because we weren’t well enough dressed! We went back upstairs for a little and I got to dance with a professional dancer from the show!! It was fun, but I can’t say it was ssleek on my side! 🤣🤣 Afterwards, we headed home. Luna’s birthday was over.
The rest of the week was filled with coffee dates, dance classes, lunches, nights out and the odd cocktail! It was a good time! Miss Aisling returned to Cali after a few days in the desert and we chilled and cooked together a few days and obviously got the happy hour cocktails in. There was much dancing as always in Cali!!
Today we had a hostel breakfast before heading out to see Comuna 13, a place famous for being one of the most dangerous places in the world only a few years ago. We were going on a tour of it, as it has since been turned around into a thriving tourist business after government wanted to turn it around and an NGO was given money to go in and promote and enable art and dance. Amazingly, this worked and now Comuna 13 is bustling and most importantly safe. Our guide had grown up in comuna 13 and could remember a time when he could not leave his specific neighbourhood or he may be killed. When we were there, they were doing a TV interview on a football pitch that was used to torture people that ‘assisted’ the paramilitary by ratting out the guarilla groups. There were stories of shootings, ‘false positives’, a regime that was used to make the statistics of reducing guerilla groups look good by murdering innocent peie that only lived in comuna 13 but were not guerilla, and sadly, stories of kids caught in cross fire from paramilitary groups while they were playing outside or on there way to school. The stories were so powerful and the place so vibrant. We were shown one of the largest mass graves in the world, high on a hill on the opposite side of the valley where many of the innocent people were buried. Apparently, the government does not recognise their involvement in this and won’t help to recover the bodies to return to the families for some much needed closure. We watched an incredible street dance performance, which reminded me of Britain’s Got Talent and then continued with our tour. We went to a playground, which used to be a rubbish dump, which was revamped to become a playground in the name of a kid that was caught on crossfire and died instantly due to a head injury. The playground had a large slide and we were talking about kd to go down the slide in the child’s honour and to enjoy the small things in life and not to be afraid to play like a child. It was a powerful tour and we also saw plenty of street art with layers of meaning, although in my personal opinion, Bogota’s street art is better!
Afterwards, we wandered a little more around the commune and then got a bus back to the main part of town and headed to the main square. The main square was odd because the subway ran through the middle of it obstructing half of the square from view. We got some lunch, a menu del dia, off the square and up some stairs above a load of phone shops. The food was good, the standard soup and then meat with rice and patacones (fried plantain) in the main square and then we looked for the tourist sites. There seemed to be limited things to do, and so we toured round a square full of my favourite artist Botero’s sculptures and were of course very mature about the nude figures!!
Afterwards, we got a coffee in a cafe on the edge of the square and chilled awhile. Then we headed through town by foot to look at an art gallery, a food market and food spot, recommended to me by my first friend in Ecuador, Kai. The walk was long and we walked through squares, down many roads without any tourists, including a road full of garages, where rsaurs were being made on the street, with spark flying. It’s on this street, we stopped at a bakery for cake, and then the lady in the shop gave us avena (a spiced oat milky drink) to try for free. It was so good, we ordered more. The lady was excited to know that we were from Europe, and particularly that I was from Reino Unido (UK). We were welcomed and sent off warmly by everyone in the cafe. We continued our walk past the art gallery and to the did market, which was more like a series of small restaurants and bars thst sold international cuisine. We sat in a cute shady square awhile and then continued to a different part of town. We made it to the famous Mondongos restaurant in time for dinner and ate very well. Afterwards, we went for margaritas (many) at a few different places before heading to a bar for dancing. The bar wasn’t so busy so we danced a bit, had a final drink and then got a taxi back across town. We had walked a longggg way that day!
15/3/23
Today I was off to Jardin, but had one final morning to enjoy in Medellin before I hopped on a bus. After the hostel breakfast, alongside a cute Costa Rican pup, we headed out on the metro to a museum town made in the traditional style of country towns in Antioquia, the region we were in. The town was small and cute and from above it, there were great views of the whole of Bogota, from the outskirts by the mountains to the airport, from communa 13 all the way to Mondongos on the opposite side of the city. It was beautiful. Afterwards, we got the metro back to the main part of town and got lunch before I headed off in a taxi to the bus station.
The bus took a long old time and the supposed three hour journey took five hours meaning I arrived late to Jardin and in the dark. I grabbed a bakery cheese bread before checking into my hostel, and realising that leaving Jardin in the afternoon the following day direct to Cali would be a struggle. I rang Clare for a late night (early morning for her) catch up.
16/3/23
Today I was determined to make the most of my one day in Jardin and got up early to have a quick hostel breakfast before gadng out on a countryside walk. I walked through the town, checking on the bus situation en route, before crossing a suspension bridge over a river and waterfall out into the countryside. I walked along countryside lanes and small trials, skirting around some houses and farms. The scenery was beautiful with hills high above the town on both side of the valley. At one point, I had to walk across a yard and three dogs all started following me and barking. I kept walking and kicked near them and while they kept barking once I had crossed the yard, they stopped pursuing me. My nerves were shot, but my legs were fine! 😂 I passed a few waterfalls alobg the way, although annoyingly, one had been blocked by a private viewing platform that was closed to the public so I could only see the waterfall from afar. The other waterfall was a lovers waterfall, just at the side of a track, which was pretty!
Free dog food
I walked back into town after and decided to have a nice coffee and read in the main square, much like the toy town I had visited in Medellin. I had coffee and chilled before bumping into the same two Dutchies I had met in Otavalo, Ecuador and then again in Cali and Salento. Small world. I told them of my bus struggles and then went back to the hostel to get my stuff. My plan was to try and hitchhike to the next town, a wee 2.5 hours away and then take a bus to where I needed to be. I needed to hitchhike because the only bus left that was going that day was at 2pm which meant that there was no connecting bus for me to continue my journey that day. I walked to the top of the road, at the edge of the town, with my rucksack and waited. There were barely any cars on the road at all – it was mainly motorbikes and the odd tuktuk. The cars and lorries I hailed and pretty much all of them stopped bar two, but they were not going to where I needed to be, only a few minutes down the road. It seemed more risky to begin the journey and potentially get stranded somewhere completely isolated so I continued to wait. I decided I would only wait an hour and then head back into town and book a bus back to Medellin and then take a night bus from there. Many folk were helpful and recommended the bus or checked I was okay, but in the end noone was going to Riosucio on a long, slow windy road. You couldn’t blame them. I wouldn’t opt to do the journey often either! I walked back to town, went straight to the bus station and booked my ticket for 4pm. Then I left my big rucksack at the bus stop (shop) and headed out for lunch. I wanted something nice. I found a super cute cafe with a glorious courtyard to sit on with trees and snacks for the birds and sat there for an hour or so, enjoying the menu del dia with unlimited fresh juice. Life was good for a day that hadn’t gone my way. Afterwards, I went for a mooch around the shops before settling I to a small but perfectly formed coffee shop. I ordered a match latte and a cookie and sat there relaxing until I had finished my book. The heavens opened at some point while I was in there and I sat watching the rain bounce back up from the pavements. At some point, I had to make a dash for it, to get to the bus stop and get my bag.
The bus journey was uneventful – I had more space than on the way and it was a faster journey. I met Paolo in the bus station around 20.30 for a final catch up before I took a night bus all the way to Cali, where I was going to be reunited with Luna, one of the original Cali girls. In the station, there was a salsa class hoi g on and to my amusement, it wasn’t Calina, but corssbody salsa they were learning! It seems Cali is the only place they dance Calina salsa dsnd everywhere else does corssbody or Cuban. Classic! What was the point of even learning Calina if noone knows it?! Ach!! I got my 10pm bus and 11 hours later, I was back in Cali, having slept most of the wat, even with a slightly bizarre man next to me!
We had wanted to spend our Saturday in Medellin so we could try a lively night out in the favoured Colombian city, but sadly all the fun hostels were booked so we decided to change our plan and head straight to Guatape, a ‘nearby’ town that most people did as a day trip from Medellin. We decided to stay there a couple of days since it was meant to be pretty and seemed as good a place as any to chill a bit. We had a breakfast stop in the bus station in Medellin before getting another bus to Guatape. I also bought new bikini bottoms in the bus station for a £1 since mine had died in Banos’ hot springs and were becoming increasingly baggy!
Bus station lifr
On arriving in Guatape, we went for a nice lunch and then had a mooch around. Then we took a much needed rest after spending over 15 hours on a bus! We went back out for drinks in a bar with a live band and then ended up having burritos there too, which were delicious! We got stuck talking to a very drunk touring carpenter for quite some time before I could fully enjoy the music in peace! Afterwards, we took a stroll before sleeeeep.
12/3/23
Today was rock day. Guatape is known for ‘El Penon’, a very steep, lone rock, which you can climb up using a series of steps. Today was the day for us to visit and we wanted to go early to beat the queues on the steps. We headed out around 8.30 after a quick bakery breakfast of bad coffee and a croissant. We caught the local bus that goes past El Penon, which forgot to stop at the walkers stop, and then we started our walk. The view was already impressive, just a short way up the walk preceding the entrance.
We paid entry for the rock and headed on up. It took maybe twenty minutes of constant stairs to reach the top and have epic views. We enjoyed at least an hour at the top, from which you could see loads of little islands and a huge lake, in a strange formation due to a dam being built before. It was stunning. After we headed down, we got a fancy ice-cream each and then walked back into Guatape on foot, sometimes on the road and sometimes via steep winding packs up and down on the edge of jungle. We also crossed a very rickety, bouncy bridge. I stopped to get a fried doughnut, which a lady was making fresh on the roadside, but sadly she gave me an old, cold one, which I ended up donating to the street dogs! 😂
We wanted to kayak on the lake in the afternoon, but by the time wed had lunch, the rain was hammering down, so we took cover! We went for coffee and cake but the evening’s weather didn’t improve so much so we went to a rooftop (covered) restaurant for dinner before returning to the hostel to chill.
13/3/23
Today we were heading back to Medellin, but after a crepe breakfast, the sun was shining and we decided we may as well get our kayaking in. We walked along the promenade by the lake and found a guy with a kayak. Sadly for us, they didn’t have two solo kayaks so we had to work as a team to kayak, which always seems to be a challenge, unless I’m kayaking with my mum, in which case, it’s okay! We investigated various corners of the lake, trying to avoid the wake of large boats and jetskiiers, before heading back to shore. We had some lunch and then got the bus back to Medellin.
We arrived in Medellin 4 hours later in the dark, and took the metro to the hostel. When we arrived at the cute hostel we had booked, they let us in before showing us to a different hostel down the road, which was a lot less cute, since it was still being decorated. The owner was very friendly though. We headed out for food in the local area and ended up finding amaaaaazing arepas. Only locals were eating there, it was cheap and so tasty! After dinner, we chilled in the hostel and then slept.
Today was moving day once more. I got up early to go for my hostel breakfast in the nearby guest house and then went back to get my big rucksack before heading to the bus station. I was meeting Luna there, but I arrived first and it seemed we would not take the same bus as Luna could go direct to Medellin whereas I needed to change for Bogota. It would’ve made more sense to go to Medellin really, but I had agreed to meet Paolo, the guy I had met in Nepal and who I have travelled with a few times since there so that was that. I said goodbye to Luna and off I went.
The bus took almost the whole day, although I was lucky that we I arrived in the first bus station where I needed to change and find the bus for Bogota, one was going within ten minutes. The bus journey was uneventful and I had prepared another avocado sandwich for the journey, which I ate well before lunchtime (of course) along with a tinto (black and very sweet coffee)!
I arrived in Bogota around 18.30 and for the last half hour or so of the journey, got chatting to the guy next to me, who was from Leicester, but lived down south somewhere. He was going to more or less the same area as me so asked to share my Uber, to which I agreed. I put his hostel in first and gave the taxi driver the address. It was pouring with rain. We went to the road intersection and neither the taxi driver nor the guy could ‘find’ the hostel. I looked on Google maps and pointed at the building it was meant to be in. Granted, there was no sign. The taxi driver rang the guest house and the guest house told them an address. The taxi driver said this was a completely new address and drove far away, far away from my hostel too. I asked where he was going and he said it was somewhere else, but after a lot of driving we arrived back outside the very same building as before! I had had enough (I was hungry and tired) and told them this is the same place as before. The taxi driver said it was the place I had said it was all along. Eventually the guy got out and the taxi driver shouted for someone to come and let him in. Ten minutes later, I arrived at my very cute and colourful hostel. Thank goodness! I went out for food right away. I wanted to find something tasty but the rain was so bad that after looking in one street, I just went to the place closest to the hostel and got a lasagna. It arrived cold and I had to ask them to reheat it, but second time round it was acceptable and of course, there was garlic bread which was glorious! Then I made a coffee and chilled with my book and waited for a phone call from Clare. I caught up with Clare and then waited for Paolo to arrive. His flight was late and when he arrived we caught up a little before sleep called.
8/3/23
Today we had a slow morning. After a hostel breakfast of an egg bap with a strong coffee, I had a nice catch up call with Jess, and Paolo had a work call from Mexico. After this, we headed out for a mooch before we went to join a food tour. We wandered through a market which reminded me of Timeout market in Porto, got a snack and then headed to the food tour. The food tour consisted of us, a British couple, a Dutch couple, a German girl, an American guy and a Swiss guy (all the classics really!).
We walked through the streets of Bogota, stopping to eat many things including empanadas (Colombian Greggs), although sadly they use maize flour and not wheat flour here so for me the pastry is vastly inferior to Greggs, arepas huevos, which is maize flour fried with a fried egg in the middle, some strange tomatoey-potatoey fruit served with honey and salt, which most people didn’t like and I found bizarre, some barbequed kochabuura (a giant rodent apparently) and veal, which of course was tasty! After this, we moved on to sweets and had obleas, which consists of two thin wafers with cream, fresh berry compote and dulce de leche in between, often served also with cheese in Colombia, because Colombians are mad for cheese it seems and they serve it with everything. I tried the oblea with everything, and it was tasty but sadly the cheese was just too weird so I had to leave most of that! Apparently, Mick Jagger once ate an oblea on the streets of Bogota and since then nearly all the stalls were decorated with his face! The only one without was the best friend of the vender who originally sold the oblea to Mick Jagger out of loyalty for her friend. Of course, this is the stall we tried the obleas from, and they were great! While we munched on obleas, an old, well dressed man was dancing salsa alone to his music blasting from a speaker. A random woman went to join him and they danced beautifully. Another two people went to join them and it became a party. At the end, one of the other dancers went round the audience with the old man’s hat took money for him. Then they all danced again and a small boy went round with the hat. After this, we moved onto a place for drinks, which we had to walk through a jewellery shop to reach! I had hot chocolate with cheese (another Colombian classic) and others had some kind of sugar cane shot flavoured with liquorice. Anything like sbuxa could do one as far as I was concerned! The American headed off for a hot date and we headed to the final stop, for coffee of course! I was happy to see, it was a cafe I had been eyeing up since I had spotted it that morning. I ordered a medium one (since Colombian coffee seemed to mess with my head) and it was prepared through a drip filter. Paolo ordered a strong one and it came served in an old school chemistry set, the same one we have at home, inherited from my dad’s grandma. I was so surprised to find it here, all the way in Colombia. What a nice piece of home!
With my obleaImpromptu salsaaaa
After the tour, we wandered around the city centre a little more, stopping in a beautiful square for a fruit tea with honey. We sat on some steps and looked out at beautiful government buildings, and behind us, there were riot police dressed like robocops, ready incase the International Women’s Day protests got out of hand. Apparently, they had before in previous years and the police had used a lot of unnecessary violence. Sometimes it seems the world is the same over. International Women’s Day the year before had also been filled with AK-47s since I had crossed from Israel to Palestine and had visited Hebron a place completely divided and ruined by the ongoing conflict in Palestine. Anyway, after a tea and a further mooch, we headed back to the hostel to chill a bit. We didn’t feel we needed dinner after the food tour!
9/3/23
I woke up feeling better. We had the hostel breakfast, before we had to hot step over to the square to start the street art tour that we wanted to do. The weather was shite but we had decided we would do it anyway and go prepared. We both wore walking boots, jumpers, hats and raincoats. The rain wouldn’t touch us!! When we arrived, it was just us and a different guy from the US, this time a New York banker. We began the tour and then a German girl and an Israeli girl joined us along with a Colombian helper. Luiz, the guide was super passionate and told us loads of history about Colombia, because of course street art is nearly always political and so you need to know the context to understand the art. I was excited to see works by Stinkfish, an artist I had already seen in Bristol and who is known internationally in the graffiti world. We walked around for three hours in the on/off rain before we escaped to a coffee shop for the final chat. Afterwards, we went for lunch with the American guy in the market local to our hostel. We had another delicious menu del dia before heading back to the hostel.
Stinkfish (who also features in Bristol) as seen on a gals trip with mamOne for Jenna 💛
We chilled for an hour or so and then headed back out to an art gallery belonging to a Colombian artist Botero. There were many (maybe too many, since I wasn’t too much of a fan!) of his own works in their, but also works owned by him, painted by Freud, Bacon, Matisse, Miro, Picasso, Pisarro, Monet, Dali and many others. It was an impressive collection and I really liked some of Botero’s own works although some just seemed bizarre. He is known for painting or modelling things to appears very short and squat which makes for interesting viewing. His horses for example looked so bizarre! Afterwards, we had hot drinks in the hostel and rested a little.
In the evening, we went to a cool arty square with the vibe of Covent Garden with lots of street art and a spot for street performers to showcase their talents and sat in a bar restaurant. We had cocktails and Paolo had a thick fish soup. Afterwards, we went back to chill, since I wasn’t feeling so good. An early night would surely do me some good!
10/3/23
Today, we wanted to go to one of two Salt Cathedrals in the world, the other being in Poland. It was meant to be a day trip from Bogota so after breakfast, we headed off, first by taxi and then by bus to the town with the Salt Cathedral. By the time we arrived there, it was more or less lunchtime (or it would be halfway through our tour of the cathedral), so we headed in search of lunch before we began our tour. We found a place above a car park to eat. It didn’t look fancy but it smelt great! We ordered and ate, the usual yummy soup followed by meat, rice and plantain. Then we headed on to the Salt Cathedral.
We went upang a stair before paying £20 entry (a lot if you ask me!) to enter. To be fair, a lot of time and effort had gone into the construction and design of the cathedral and it had also been voted Colombia’s First Wonder of the World. There were various stations inside representing different parts of Jesus’ life with a focus on when he died and rose. Each separate piece was very carefully curated and with the audioguide, you could clearly see what the artist had imagined. After the story/art was done, there was a maze of stairs and corridors to a cathedral hall, a chapel, and some other room for peasants like me that haven’t been baptised!There was also a baptism font made from rock salt and therefore using salt water too. Outside the cathedral hall, there were many pictures of Mary and just along from here was the commercial area with churros, hot dogs, a museum on natural stones that quickly turned into a gift shop selling emeralds and best of all, a museum on the Egyptians. We were in stitches!! Brilliant! We watched a video on the construction of the salt mine and how it was converted into a cathedral and how they still mine sat from the rock now using a more stable method. Then we headed back and I got an obleas, the wafer thing, along the way. We stopped for a coffee in a cute square, went upto a viewpoint over the town and then got the bus back to Bogota.
Chandelier made with rock salt
The bus back took some considerable time! Sadly we hit rush hour around 16.30 and were stuck in traffic for a good hour or so. We eventually made it back to the sto we had got on at, only to find we could not get out of the bus station without paying for a new ticket. We bought new tickets and figured we may as well use them instead of take an Uber back to the centre, but the bus took ages to come! We made it back to the hostel around 8pm after getting off the bus and walking the final bit through to La Candelaria, stopping only to get some street food on route (I had a grilled corn on the cob with lashings of butter, salt and chilli, so much that it stung my already burnt lips)! We chilled in the hostel after that with a hot tea (from the square with the Covent Garden vibe, which was absolutely buzzing since it was Friday), until it was time to head to a different bus station to take the night bus to Medellin.
We got the bus no problem and since Holly had advised me that I would need my wooly hat and gloves for the bus, I had come well prepared and managed to sleep the whole way. Paolo woke me up on the outskirts of Medellin as we were about to arrive. What a winner.
Today we got up for a breakfast of kings in the hostel, pancakes no less!! Then we headed out to walk to a nearby coffee farm to take a tour. We walked down a country lane with pretty views of luscious green rolling hills on all sides. After an hour ish, we arrived at the farm, having crossed paths with both cows and yellow jeeps along the way. We got a coffee before the tour began and enjoyed looking out at the vista before us, multiple coffee farms reaching down the valley and as far as the eye could see. Beautiful.
The tour was interesting. I didn’t realise that it takes two years for each coffee tree to even be able to produce coffee beans and even once they do, the coffee beans are sorted rigorously and only the best ones are used for the best coffee, some are thrown away and some are used for cheap coffee. Also the picking season is normally the same as the rainy season which makes the tiered farms (necessary for good drainage) very difficult to walk on. The pickers carry a basket around their neck and if they fall, all the beans would roll out too! After the tour I decided that real coffee is very good value for money!! We had another coffee (this time an espresso to ‘do it properly’) before heading for lunch at a little cafe in the opposite side of the lane, overlooking a different plain with a river and waterfall. We had arepas (corn bread) with schnitzel, although of course it was called something else!!
Then we walked back and went to a recommended chocolate shop where they make the chocolate on site. We were sad to find that they didn’t have tours but took a dessert anyway. I had a banana split which I thought was a super British dessert but who knows?! It was good anyway! Afterwards, we went to chill, though of course, I needed to change hostels too since I hadn’t booked far in advance! I went to chill in my new hostel before we re met up for dinner. We went to an Italian place which had pizza, pasta and soup. I wasn’t so hungry so just had a spinach soup with garlic bread and my new fave drink a limonade de coco.
6/3/23
I had agreed to meet Luna in the square around 8am, but of course I was a little late. I had breakfast included in my hostel but it wasn’t on site so I had to go on a small goose chase to find it. On my way, I bumped into Holly’s mate Steph sitting on the curb at the side of the road on the phone. We had a quick chat before I went for breakfast, making me that little bit later! Steph and Holly had just got off a night bus and were waiting to check in to their hostal. After breakfast, I made an avocado roll and headed to the square. Luna had already got the jeep tickets so we headed off to Valle de Cocora, the valley with the tallest palm trees in the world. Ay ayyy!
We arrived in the valley maybe half an hour later along with the rest of the Netherlands it seemed! For the first quarter of the walk, everyone was Dutch apart from me! Strange since The Netherlands is a pretty small country but there we are! We passed a spot with many stations for Instagram influencers to pose with plastic signs and began our hike. Half an hour later, we reached the first viewpoint and another fifteen minutes or so we were at THE viewpoint. It was stunning. The trees started way down the valley and reached up so high they were almost touching the rocky mountains behind! We took some snaps, gazed at the view and then headed onwards. We climbed a fair bit more, stopping to pick wild strawberries before, which reminded me of Wales. I had first eaten wild strawberries in Laugharne, home of Wlesh poet Dylan Thomas and now the very same strawberries appeared again. What a treat! Soon afterwards, the path dropped down steeply into the valley and we met the river. We walked along the main path only for a man in flipflops to tell us we were walking to a hummingbird watching station and we were not on the route. We turned around and he quickly disappeared ahead of us, scrambling along in his flipflops!
There were meant to be seven bridges for us to cross back and fire across the river. All of these bridges were suspended and very bouncy! We enjoyed jumping up and down on the bridges, and bounding along them, while the thunder was roaring and a middle aged couple behind us tutted. After they crossed the bridge, they raced passed us – I reckon they were trying to beat the storm. Shortly after this, the rain began, along with the thunder and lightning. The couple slowed. The rain only lasted ten minutes or so, but it was so heavy, like a wee you’ve been holding in for a solid ten hours at work! We were absolutely drenched through but thankfully had coats (both bought by our mums) so carried on regardless. We bumped into some more Dutchies, one of which was a guy I’d met in Otavalo and again in Cali, who were just started the walk. They decided to turn back instead of doing the full hike in a storm. We made it back to the jeep place an hour later and waited in the rain for a jeep back to the town.
Back in the town, we went for a hot chocolate on the square and then headed back to our respective hostels to shower and chill. We would meet later for dinner, along with Holly and Steph too. I took a nap post shower and had a coffee in bed, which the hotel staff kindly brought to me while I lounged! Afterwards, I headed out to meet the gals. We went to a fancy Colombian restaurant which was so popular that we had to wait outside for a table! The food was yummy. Me and Steph ordered the same meaty dish again, and we chatted. After dins, we said our goodbyes and I headed on home.
I said my byes to Narja, who was flying to Medellin for a final few days before flying home to London and then headed out for breakfast, which I found in a bakery. A Dutch girl had come to tell me that she did want to share a taxi with me to the airport after declining the day before, which meant that I had time for a proper breakfast as I didn’t need to mess about trying to find a collectivo. I had a breakfast in a bakery, where miraculously the woman could understand me perfectly and all was well. Then I went back and we got the taxi to the airport. Finally, I was going to the real Colombia, the bit with colour, energy and danceeee. I was ready.
Huevos perico. Apparently perico can mean many things, one, eggs with tomato and onion, two, a parrot and three, cocaine.. How bizarre, right?! Forever here for the baked goods 😍
When I arrived in Cali, I got a taxi straight to the hostel. I got chatting to an old man who was sat next to me on the bus and seemed concerned for my welfare. Having heard many stories of Cali being dangerous, I appreciated him looking out for me. He walked me to the cab and waved me off. I got to my hostel maybe thirty minutes later. It was beautiful inside, like some kind of peaceful Moroccan sanctuary in amidst the supposed chaos and crime of Cali. After checking in and unpacking, I decided to brave a walk around the local area. I had looked up what to do and apparently there was a nearby area, San Antonio which was very cute. Off I went with minimal money and my phone out of sight! I wasn’t taking any chances!! The roads were packed, and there were lots of people selling street food on the flyover of the road. It smelt good. There was epic street art everywhere, most of which I didn’t snap for fear of taking my phone out and it being snatched!
San Antonio was cute! I mooched about, walked through a small park and then decided I needed to do a food shop and went in search of a supermarket. I found one along the river, along with a park full of cat statues (bizarre, but famous in Cali) and went in. I got a lot of stuff – I was thrilled to find they had wholemeal bread, fruit, nuts and granola (what more could a girl want?!),and when I got to the till, I realised I’d spent more than I had! Luckily, I could pay contact less so all was well. I went back to the hostel and cooked filled pasta with veggies before the 6pm group salsa class. After the class, I chilled a little and then got ready for the night. The hostel was going out at 10pm to Gringo’s Tuesdays, a night I had heard a lot about in the last two months of travelling South America. I sat with some Germans, a Venezuelan and a Dutch guy and got a cocktail. Awhile later, we headed out, with some of the other girls from the dance class too.
Gringo’s Tuesday had a salsa room downstairs and a general (Gringo’s) room upstairs. Quickly the salsa room emptied out and everyone went to dance reggaeton and sing along to the Spice Girls instead – v bizarre! The squad was fun though, the three Germans, plus Luna and Marieka, two solo Dutch girls, Eva, a Spanish girl living in Switzerland, and Shireena, a Londonder who now lives in Fuertaventura, as well as two of our hostel salsa teachers, Steven and Stiven. I got slightly used to the reggaeton by the end of the night and like it a bit more than before now (the same story as bachata in Ecuador – if you listen to something enough, I think you get to like it!). We left pretty late (gals together) and headed back to sleep.
1/3/23
Happy St David’s Day, you Welsh beauties! 🏴
Today I enjoyed my granola breakfast with dried fruits and kiwi and then chilled. I had booked a salsa class for the afternoon with Stiven at 4pm so had until then to chill. I lay by the pool with a coffee and read my book. Luna had mentioned a good place for lunch the day before and both Eva and I fancied it. We set off together and had a glorious pulled pork lunch, with juice and soup and a little lemon mousse to finish, all for less than $4! On the way back I asked Eva about the shop for shorts since my denim shorts, which I’ve had at least since uni had absolutely died!! We went to an outlet shop and I tried on many a short, after the guy in the shop tried to guess my size! 😂 I found a good one successfully and was pleased that I didn’t have to wear jeans to the salsa night that night – it had been a rather hot affair the previous night!). I was back in time for my salsa class, which was at the same time as one of Marieke’s with other Steven. The class was fun and afterwards, I went back outside to chill and chat with the other gals. I had some food and went to get ready for La Topa. I was skipping the 6pm hostel class today because another woman in my hostel, Irish Tracey, had told me that there were two free classes in La Topa, THE salsa bar in Cali, so I decided I’d rather go to those. Tracey had already checked out of the hostel, so I headed there alone, checking that it was safe to walk there at 7pm. It was, and when I joined the queue to get in I got talking to a Cali couple in my dodgy Spanish. They were very nice and friendly and shortly afterwards, Irish Tracey appeared, followed by a guy Leo from Lyon.
Ciao dead shorts
The class started shortly after this and we made our way to the front at the side so we could see well. There was a lot of footwork but it was all fun! We did a full hour of dancing before a quick give minute break and then onto the next one! After the two hours of dancing, there were some dance contests on stages and Irish Tracey did one. Everyone was routing for everyone on stage, it was great!! I chilled a little and then Eva came to get me and we went next door to see a live big band – a fusion of jazz and Latin. We met her friend and a few hostel folk there and I treated myself to a margarita for the grand price of $6. The band was great. It reminded me of my big band with Mr Cheeke back in the day. All the players had a beer at their side and they were all clapping each others solos/improvs once they finished. I was also pleased that they had a full compliment of saxophones – 2 altos, one tenor, one bari (who ran in late, classic!), and a soprano when it was needed, played by one of the alto peeps. After an hour or so, the concert was done, and Eva and I headed back to La Topa for more salsa. I was still feeling a little frustrated at my lack of Calina salsa skills, and sat at the side for a fair while before getting up for a dance. Once I was up, I stayed up for awhile. Eventually, Eva, Luna and Shireena all left but I decided to stay a little longer since I was now in the swing of things. I watched an incredible cha cha danced by my two salsa teachers Steven and Sebastian too. Everyone stopped dancing to watch their dance play out. I headed home just before it closes for the night.
2/3/23
Today I made myself the usual granola breakfast with kiwi and then chilled by the pool all morning and then headed to Nona for lunch, the same place I had gone the day before. On the way, I bumped into the girls and we all went for lunch together, a full set of five of us. We had a great chat but I had to leave lunch a little early to make it back for my 3pm dance class.
My classes were fab. I had an hour with Sebastian and then an hour with Steven, who both taught me differently but both worked. Afterwards, I had an hour to chill and breathe a little before the group class. After the group class, lead by Sebastian and full of shines (lotssss of footwork), I cooked dinner. Afterwards, I went to get ready for the evening. Tonight was El Rincón, a dance space which was apparently outside.
I went there with Luna and some other girls from the hostel. Shireena had bailed because she needed to pack, Eva was ill and Marieke was coming post hot date. I liked the vibe of the place, with lots of seats outside, a solid sound system with lots of additional cow bells (lol) and a tiled floor installed outside with a gazebo over the top to dance in. I danced a few salsa and bachata and then there was a performance by two incredible dancers. Wowwww. They did fast feet, leaps, swings and generally just had a great time. Afterwards, I got better at looking for the people that could dance Cuban or Cross body salsa so I could have a chance of dancing something half decently! I ad a few good dances, but my best one was with a guy who ended up being from Greece, but worse than that, had learnt salsa in Scotland. Go halfway across the world for your best dance to be with someone who’s learnt salsa in Scotland – bloody typical that!! Watched another performance, danced a few more before Luna and I left around 02.00. Another late one!!
3/3/23
Sadly, today was an unintentional moving day. I had tried to book a final night in La Vaina, but my hostel had been fully booked so I was off to another place. I checked out off my room and spent some time chilling by the pool, before heading off to see the artesanal market with Eva and Luna around 11am. Sadly, when we got there, they told us it didn’t open til 1pm. We mooched back and decided to wait it out in a nice cafe nearby. Eva went back since she wanted to rest and Luna and I enjoyed some coffee and cake, mmm. We returned after 1pm to find some stalls open. I was searching for a choker necklace which Marieke had set me the challenge of finding after she had admired my Ecuadorian one. Sadly, we found none, but we did buy some pretty beaded bracelets. We walked back, got a bakery snack of cheese bread and then I rested a little by the pool before my two hours of class. Two hours is hardcore and today it would be intense because it was all with Sebastian.
We did one general hour of dance and one hour of ladies styling which I definitely need because I dance like an awkward British person!! Sebastian tried to make me flow a little better which resulted in crunching both my hips and shoulders in strange motions, which were apparently the movements I should be doing naturally when I danced!! Wild!! After the class, I had a quick mooch about town – I really wanted some food from the supermarket and ended up finding two beautiful squares on route. By the time I arrived back at the hostel, it was time for the group class. The group class was again fun. We did various shines, this time led by Steven. After class, I went to check in to my new hostel. I showered and changed and got chatting to a girl from Pasto in my room who was here for work. I invited her to come to the street party with my old hostel since the dorm was pretty sleepy and we headed off together.
We chilled at the hostel a little before walking the few blocks to the already popping party! The music was loud, the cow bells were abundant and the entry and the drinks were cheap as chips!! We all had a few salsas int eh street although it was a different skill because there really was no space to dance!! At some point, the party was closed because someone had done something stupid and so everyone dispersed between a few different clubs. Sadly for me, the salsa club was already full by the time we left the street party, so we ended up in a reggaeton club. It was fun but there was so much reggaeton and booty shaking to be seen!! The Stevens (both teachers at our hostel did a few sandwiches of us tourists lot which was funny!) and we all danced together in undulating circles. At around 02.30, I left because I was knackered. I grabbed a barbecue chicken skewer on the way out and got an Uber.
4/3/23
Today was moving day, properly. I had a class at La Vaina at 11am and went over pre-class for a coffee with the gals (Eva, Luna and Marieke since Shireena had left early in the morning). My final class was fun and we just did flares and cross body salsa so that was nice. Afterwards, Eva, Luna and I would go for lunch before Luna and I headed to Salento. We headed to a new place for lunch, which played jazz in the background. It was pretty hard to find but eventually we arrived and ordered foccacia and salad. An hour later, we enquired as to where our food was and they seemed surprised even though the only other remaining people in the room already had their food! Shortly afterwards, our food came. We wanted to have coffee and cake afterwards but couldn’t face another potential hour long wait so went elsewhere. Marieke had recommended a cute cafe which also did yoga and massages and we went there. It was cute. When we arrived, we realised it was almost entirely vegan apart from having some normal milk available for coffee. We had coffee and I had vegan cheesecake which really was surprisingly good!! Afterwards, we headed back to the hostel.
Luna and I had meant to leave for Salento, the coffee region straight after a ‘quick’ lunch. Since this hadn’t happened and we had enjoyed a leisurely lunch, we needed to get our skates on! We grabbed our thighs, filled our bottles and taxied to the bus station. From there, there was a bus leaving within ten minutes to Salento, so we made back time. Maybe five hours later we arrived in Armenia, a town nearby that we needed to change buses in. We switched to a small minibus and carried on. The next bus was meant to take an hour, but thankfully took only half an hour.
We arrived in Salento and went in search of food. We had expected Salento to be a small, sleepy town, but we were wrong. It was absolutely buzzing when we arrived on a Saturday night! Everyone was sat in bars and restaurants on the square enjoying life. We found a restaurant for food and ordered a mysterious ceviche (normally a raw fish soup) and a trout with prawns. When the food arrived, the ceviche came in an edible plantain bowl and had pineapple, potato and fried pork in it. It was not what we expected, but the flavours were really good. The trout was glorious too and I finally got to try the infamous drink Narja had told me about, limonada de coco, fresh lemonade with coconut milk. It was bloody delicious!!! After dinner, we headed to the hostel to check in and sleep.
Today was border day! We left Otavalo, Ecuador straight after breakfast and had been told by the hostel to take a bus to the next town’s terminal to take a direct bus to the border. Sadly, when we arrived there was only one bus a leaving nearly two hours later. We walked across town to where a different terminal was meant to be. When we got there, there was no terminal, so Narja asked the local bus driver and he told us to get on his bus, which we did since we weren’t really sure what else to do! After half an hour or so of standing up at the front of the bus, bouncing over each bump in the road with out large backpacks hanging from our backs, he eventually waved us to the opposite road side, where there was a minibus to the border. No terminal, no bus stop, but a small minibus with a sign tacked to it’s front window ‘Ibarra – Tulcan’. We ran to it and got on. We left pretty soon after that and got to the border town in no time. In the border town, everyone got off the bus and we headed for a collective, another small bus to go to the official border.
How pretty is this bus?!
We were dropped off on the Colombian side so first we had to walk back into Ecuador to get our exit stamps. Afterwards, we walked back to the Colombian side to get our entry stamps. There was some form we were meant to do online, but it hadn’t been working fora week or so (Narja had been checking) and when we got to the desk they didn’t ask about it, only about where we were staying. The border stuff was remarkably quick – we were done with both side in less than fifteen minutes, with basically no queues – miraculous! After getting our two new stamps, we got another collectivo to the city centre of Ipiales. We checked into our hostel and the headed for lunch – I was starvinggg! We decided on a bakery, which had a menu del dia with fresh juice, soup, then trout with rice and plantains and then a small dessert. It turned out to be a fairly fancy place with the menu costing just over $4! It was worth it though!
After lunch, we took another bus out of Ipiales to visit the nearby church that was nestled in the valley, bridging the two sides of it. We got out the bus, waved off by the locals who were also getting off at that stop, all dressed up on their Sunday best ready for church. We then all walked the steep decline to the church. We passed one lady who was huffing and puffing way to much to be going down hill, arm in arm with another. I wondered how she would ever get up again, but perhaps they were hopeful that a prayer session would see to her health. We passed by and headed down to the church, peering in on the service, and admiring the nearby waterfall, the crashing of the water, mixing with church song. A beautiful place. We decided to get the cable car back up since it was verrrry hot and didn’t fancy too much of a hike, plus the view from the cable car should be good!
We got the cable car back up with a couple, who definitely wanted a cable car to themselves so they could make out fit the full thirty minutes that the cable car to reach the top. Tough luck! The view was pretty impressive looking back down at the church as we climbed up the valley. At the top, everyone was out, relaxing with tents and picnics in the park. We caught a bus back to the city from the road side. We chilled awhile and then went to buy supplies for dinner. I wanted avocado but sadly had left it too late – all the market folk and roadside sellers had gone so I settled for fresh bread with coffee. I would find my avocado the next day! I had a yoghurt and some chocolate too and then was antisocial, and read my book in bed. Narja chatted to some other hostel peeps.
27/2/23
Another moving day (my third in a row, arghhh)! After a hostel breakfast of huevos muy rico (scrambled eggs with onions and tomatoes) with bread and coffee, we walked to the bus station to catch our bus to Pasto. The final street was almost vertically down but we made it to the terminal and our bus was going in a few minutes. A couple of hours later, we arrived. Again, we went for lunch straight away, because I was starving, in another bakery. I asked if they had a lunch menu in Spanish to which she replied to Narja (who speaks far better Spanish than me), that she does understand ‘her’. Charming. She refused to speak to me for the rest of the ordering process and spoke only to Narja, which was funny when I knew what she was saying!! It seems Colombians are more sassy than Ecuadorians! While I was irritated that she had been so rude at the time, I realised afterwards that I just needed to bring back my Birmingham sass, which had not been required for a while (not in sleepy West Wales, nor in Ecuador!).
My fave fruit 💛
After lunch, we pottered about a bit and bought some fruit and then went to check in at the hostel. After waiting awhile to be received for check-in, it was done and we were free again. I went back out to mooch about and find a good coffee shop (of course) to read in and Narja sorted her stuff for the flight and chilled. Later I came back and we did a beer run and sat on the terrace with drinks and snacks watching the sunset. Sadly since we were so high, the sun didn’t seem to set exactly, more just disappear, but it was still nice. We also chatted to an Italian girl, who had just graduated Nurse School and was taking a break before finding a job. She was cute. I had avocado toast and a coffee for teaWe. went to bed relatively early since we both had to be up for flights in the morning.
I said by to Martin at the bus stop and then got my bus back to Quito. There I had to change bus terminal and take another bus to Otavalo, where I would meet Narja, another Mompiche friend I had re-met in Banos weeks later. I got a taxi between the terminals and got a bus to Otavalo pretty quickly, with just enough time to grab a corn on the cob with mayo and cheese (apparently something of a delicacy here), before heading off. Two and a bit hours later, I was in Otavalo. Again, the drive was beautiful, but sadly the man next to me who had the window seat had shit the curtains, so I only got small glimpses of the hills and valleys we were weaving through.
I arranged to meet Narja at a coffee shop when I arrived for a catch up and since my couchsurfing host Geovanny wasn’t quite ready. I had anticipated a slower journey to Otavalo so had told him the afternoon sometime and instead had arrived promptly at half 12ish. I got coffee and cake and then caught up with Narja, talking carnival, various other travel bits, London and plans for Colombia. Geovanny came to meet me at the cafe and then we walked to his to drop my stuff. Nadja left to do her own thing while I sorted myself out. We chilled in Geovanny’s for a bit and he played guitar, all improve, which was quite impressive and then we headed out to a nearby lake for a walk.
We caught the local bus and got off at the road side, walking down small lanes to the lake. It was beautiful and we walked through lots of reed plants which are apparently big business here, and are used to make rattan furniture. I got a fruit ice lollies afterwards which turned put to have salt in it which was a little bizarre! We got the bus back to town and then went to eat before meeting Narja to go to a nearby waterfall. I had the menu del dia with soup and of course, chicken and rice with a glass of juice.
After dinner, we got a cab to the entrance and walked up just before sunset. The walk through woods was pretty, and it was quieting down for the day with the market stalls mostly closed. We crossed a ‘bridge’ made of two beams with a large gap in between them and without any sides, wobbling along, while locals strode across confidently – classic! We saw some llama/alpacas on the way back. Then we headed back. We chilled, I played some guitar while Geovanny showered and then I went to bed.
25/2/23
It’s my birthdaaaaay!
Woke up and spoke to my parents, from the terrace looking out at the mountains as the sun rose up the valley. They were enjoying my birthday from sunny St David’s, a great spot! The filled me in on home news and gave me my present of a silver jewellery making workshop in Roath – local and very cool! Afterwards, I had tea made by Geovanny, sweet bread, and fresh fruit with granola and chia seeds before heading to meet Narja for the infamous Otavalo artesanal market. Yaaaaas! Geovanny also came, although at some point got bored and wandered off. He was meant to be meeting his aunt around lunchtime and there wasn’t a chance we would be done by then anyway! We weaved up and down the lines of stalls, scouring each carefully. I bought some colourful dangly earrings, and a cute ditsy floral set of choker, bracelet, ring and bracelet for $4 – what a bargain! Narja also fancied some new dungas, so we went on an extensive hunt and of course, I ended up buying some dungas too, lilac ones no less!! I also bought some more waist beads and miraculously resisted many a beautiful dream catcher! 😂😂
After a good few hours, we took a break to go for lunch. We thought we were done, but after a rest, a bagel, and a coffee and cake (you’ve got to one your birthday!), we headed back in search of the perfect embroidered white blouse for Narja and a final pair of beaded earrings for me. Afterwards, we were poofed! 💤
Carrot cake with cheese icing 😋
We went to get my bag from Geovanny’s because he had messaged to say that his sister had some problem which meant she needed I stay with him overnight and therefore he couldn’t host me. I’m a way, it was a good thing for me, because it meant Narja and I could leave from the same place in the morning to cross the border together. When we got to Geovanny’s, I couldn’t open the main door to get into the block of flats. I tried to buzz, but it was Saturday and everyone was out. We waited a little before waling back to Narja’s hostel. At least I could check in and I would go back later to collect my bag when Geovanny was there to sort the door. Another key incident! Keys 2 – Sarah 0!
We chilled a but in the hostel before Narja started cooking and I got a taxi back to Geovanny’s. I grabbed my bag, said bye and rushed back to my cute taxi driver who was nice enough to wait for me and it charge me any more. When I got back to the hostel, dinner was nearly ready. I was excited since we were having lots of veggies (and veggies aren’t really a thing in Ecuador) fried up with some veggie burgers. I offered ti do the washing up since Narja had cooked but she said that was not happening since it was my birthday! We drank beers on the balcony afterwards, and chatted with a French Swiss guy with stripey thief trousers, and then prepped for our border crossing the next day.
wanderingwelshie2 travels 