El Amargal - Choco

It is not that easy or safe to go to Choco region, in Colombia. But we both wanted to see the Pasific Coast jungle, indigenous villages and the coastline before others will realize what they are missing. In few years beaches will be full of resorts. Luckily we found this volunteer project, El Amargal through HelpX. So we didn't have to spend tons of money staying in expensive cabañas or lodges, instead of, we worked. We actually didn't know what we would be doing, not so much information given. We knew that we will be middle of nowhere and that we have to bring everything what we need with us.

There is no roads to Choco, so we flew to bigger village, Nuqui. Oh my good, smallest airplane I have ever been and the loudest one also. From there we still had two boat rides to catch. And once again I felt like proper Justiina, complaining about being on time and right directions, while running like headless chicken around the village buying last minute groceries, because our first boat was suppose to leave in 30 min. Should have just enjoyed the cold beer and rum with the captain immediately when he offered.. He was enjoying his siesta and wasn't going anywhere for a while ;) Two hours later (or should I say 6 beers and half a bottle of rum later) we finally left the harbor.

One kilometer of beachline, one hut top of the cliff, nobody else nearby. Not bad at all. Very hot and humid once again, but no mosquitos! Other bugs - YES. Spiders, bats, lizards, crabs and ants everywhere, I am totally biten and eaten. We were the only volunteers there, Jazz was looking after us. He has spent the last 12 years learning how to live without everyday connections, cook with fire and eat from the sea and jungle. From our few ingreadients we brought with us, we learnt to be very creative. We had - 2kg of rice, beans and lentis, 1,5kg of pasta, 2kg of porridge, 6onions and 3peppers, 8potatos, 6carrots, 5platanos, 30eggs, salt and garlic, stock cubes, ketchup and teas. That's all! Imagine surviving with that for 2 weeks :D Luckily once Rob catched us a fish, you can imagine what a fiesta that was! I don't know how neither of us thought of buying any snacks with us, but I tell you it was a torture living without unhealthy stuff.

It was so relaxing to be in one place for two weeks, no need to wander around streets, look places to eat or pack our bags! It was so nice to listen to the sea, the jungle and insects. Sometimes it felt that we had to raise our voices, just for a normal conversation cos the nature was so loud. Afternoons were free so we chilled on hammocks, went for the beach (very good bodysurfing), did yoga (I managed to find perfect balance on headstand) or played some games. Definitely no stress, no hurry or negative thoughts in there. I didn't miss phone, tv or internet, but I did miss sugar! If I wasn't dreaming of cakes and different candies, I was thinking what would I like to have :D Mozzarella pizza, mango smoothie and triple chocolatecake, please!

For our time there we fixed two roofs and paved a part of the path with new rocks. Very heavy work indeed! The rocks we had to collect from the beach and carry back up, 95 steps! Also the palm leaves (900) we cut, piled and carried from the jungle. I can tell you a shoulder massage would be nice right now :) We used two different palm leaves for the roof. The other one was flat leaf which we just folded in half but the other ones were whole palms, crunched together and twisted between the wooden bits. I know there is a third option how to do roof from palm leaves cos neither one of these were the same style I learnt to do in Guatemala. So now I know how to do three different style of palm leaf roofs :D

Here are few clips from my diary during our stay -
Day 5 I want CandyKing blackred skulls, creamytoffee chocolate and salmiakki!! I am an addict for sugar! :) For five days we haven't had any sugar, unhealthy food or snacks. Today we had a two hour walk through the jungle to the nearest village called Arusi. Made a huge mistake buying two lollies. That's not enough for me! I should have bought all bisquits and sweets what they had in the store. But the walk was great, we saw a sloth!!! Amazing lazy little animal :) Heard very loud howler monkeys and were completely middle of the jungle.

Day 8 It has rained the whole night and day. Now I really would want to be inside a warm house, cuddling in a huge couch watching Pride and Prejustice, drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows and enjoying huge bowl of different ice creams, topped with caramel sas and whipped cream, maybe some white chocolate bits also ;) But no, instead of that we spent hours in the pooring rain picking more palm leaves for the roof. I have a blister and I am cold!

Day 9 Second day no work. Finally! I can't believe how exhausted I am after four hours of work in the mornings. I wake up early anyway, but today it was nice to lie in bed knowing that we don't have to start working soon. We went for a walk instead. Walked through banana plantation and sneaked few bananas (on Jazz's permission). I don't think banana has ever tasted so good, fresh and sweet! Hallelujah, fresh fruits! We walked to the river front where one indigenous family lived. Amargal is hard to get to, but how about this one then?

Day 14 Bastard wasp!! I got stung by one and it's much more painful than Finnish wasps. Damn! Whole elbow has been numb for hours. We finished the roofs and the path so we haven't been working. We wanted to have one more walk in the jungle so Jazz took us for the nearby waterfall and natural pool. It was so beautiful when sun was shining through the leaves and hummingbirds flying around us :)

Outdoor shower

Great catch

.

Medellin

If you want nice restaurants and pub crawls this is your place! If we would be end of our trip and I would have tons of money left, I would want to stay two more weeks here only trying the cafes and restaurants. But cos we are not and we have gone over the budget already, we only indulged few of the amazing restaurants.

Verdeo, oh my goodness! Set menu of the day, you don't even know what you are getting and I thought I was in heaven :) and the place was so cozy as well! So many ice cream and proper sundae places for dessert. Yesterday we met Maria (from Ciudad Perdida trek) and went to eat in Lentajes, another delicious vegeterian place. It was actually really hard to find a place open because of Easter, almost every restaurant was closed. 

We got the last bus tickets from Bogota to here and we barely found a hostel to stay. Arcadia Hostel was already fully booked, five people sleeping on the floor. It was too cramped so we went like ten different hostels to look for another one, all full. Eventually after two hours of internet search we found one, jihuu!! Wouldn't have believed how busy it really gets on Semana Santa, and mostly with Colombians. Tried to get in to Parque Arvi, but already at noon they had closed the gates cos limit had gone over. Next day we went again, nine in the morning and still had to wait more than an hour. Ridicilous. Cable car ride top of the hills and poorer areas was so cool, walks around forbidden paths and picnic area along the river was a very nice day trip. Got sunburned again :(


We didn't sign for Pablo Escobar tour or went to Guatepe, way way too busy for those. Maybe when we come back from the volunteer project. Definitely could spent few more days in here, ride in the metro (only metro line in Colombia), eat some more ice cream and visit few more parks, maybe do paragliding.. It was very nice just to relax for few days, enjoy a Colombia vs Bolivia football game (these people take it seriously) and catch up with people we have met earlier on this trip :)

Botanical Garden

Sometimes you just feel like dancing :)

Bogota D.C

Welcome to the big city! It wasn't actually that bad as I was afraid, except the pipe and coca which I found from my bed, nice welcoming gift ;) We changed hostal, didn't want stay there if there would have been some other drugs also. I liked the most the street art, graffitis. Lot around town and such an amazing pictures! Would have been interesting to hear the stories behind the pictures. We were told that it is much quieter around La Candelaria area because of Semana Santa (easter), but I think there was quite a lot of people anyway, locals mostly. We stayed in El Chapinero, much nicer and quieter area. Area was very modern and it didn't felt like Colombia. Fancy restaurants, no local food or street vendors, no rubbish or homeless people, very safe.

Bogota has hundreds of kilometers if cycling lanes, and lots of people using them, Sundays and holidays many main roads are closed just for cyclists and runners. We didn't have chance to cycle cos we desided to leave a day earlier, enough for city life. Not fan of gay clubbing or partying till morning, what most of the other guests were doing. We were happy with chilled beers in BBC, Bogota Beer Company. We checked the Museo de Oro and the view from Cerro de Monserrate. Travelled around different areas with TransMilenio bus, very cheap, effective and fast system if you know how to use it! Around Bogota there are quite a lot to do and if you like cities why not stay longer, but for us two days was enough. (Plus we shared a room with a person who snored so much! Seriously, I thought he was choking) Taking a night bus to Medellin, so another bad night sleep ahead. 

Almuerzo, typical lunch

Sogamoso + Villa de Leyva

Enough for small towns now, we are heading towards Bogota! (Rob is looking forward and I feel horrified the amount of people there will be) I must say that the last two weeks has been the most beautiful ones. So nice atmosphere and friendly people, it has felt so safe. 

We stayed in Finca San Pedro in Sogamoso and it was such a peaceful place. Beautiful flowers and fruit trees, rabbits and chickens plus gorgeous peacock, 5 cutest dogs which I couldn't stop cuddling :) There was garden and yoga studio, few different livingrooms, kitchen.. our stay there was one of the best ones. This was actually the first time we got some rain and I had to wear long pants and a jumper. Sogamoso was the coldest place with worst weather what we have had and still we got sunburned! We hiked from Aquitania to Playa Blanca in Lago de Tota, Colombias largest lake and a really high altitude one also 3015m. We passed hundreds of onion, potato and pea fields where people were working. Locals are so nice and friendly in Boyàca region. I think they were surprised to see gringos in the mountain area. You could easily tell which ones were from the mountains, wearing sombrero and ruana (shawl/poncho).

There are hundreds of small villages, pueblos. It is impossible to choose which ones might be the nicest ones. But I must say Mongui has been one of the best one. Surrounded by the mountains, beautiful square and cute houses, stairs leading you to the Paramó, high altitude with different eco-systems. After Mongui we continued our bustrip to Punta Larga, exploring Colombian winery with few tastings. Can't say I am a fan of the Colombian wines but it was a great experience. Later we got stuck in traffic on our way to Villa de Leyva. Colombians started celebrating Easter already yesterday. And definitely haven't seen so many locals taking it easy, playing music or just sitting on the square drinking beer. It is nice to see so many locals instead of other tourists. Villa de Leyva is definitely an escape place for city people.

Today we rented bikes (looked good but were crappy ones) and went for dinosaurs hunting. Few kilometers out of town there were museum with one of the largest Kronosaurs fossils found. Museum hold collection of many other sea dragons and turtles also, it was really interesting. These creatures have been walking here already 130 million years ago!! And how huge they were!? We were suppose to continue till waterfall and stonehedge site but we had to go back cos it felt too dangerous continuing with those bikes. Explored the Saturday market and for dinner we tasted different style empenadas and arepas, enjoyed the atmosphere at the squere with hundreds of locals :)

Feelings after 5 weeks

Tomorrow comes five weeks of travelling! Unbelievable, where has the time gone? And, yes we are still in Colombia :) and we will be at least a month more, I think. 

Colombia is great! So much to see and do. We have changed towns pretty frequently and still we have skipped half of the places where we would have liked to go. I am amazed how safe it is here (okey we haven't been in the biggest cities yet), even every smallest village has police station. And how easy it is to find and take a local transpotation. Buses are much more expensive in here than in Central-America. And sometimes it doesn't make sense at all, taxi for two and half an hour ride might be 15mil (4e) and half an hour fully packed local bus 6600 (less than 2e). Hostels are usually around 30mil (8e), cheapest one we have got for less than 3e. Some has very nice breakfast included.

Food has been so good. Very delicious rice and beans or lentils with plantains. That's our tipical lunch and dinner. At the coast sometimes fish and lobster, but I am not so keen eating them after seeing them swim so happily when we were diving ;) And Jugos Naturales! Thank good for those heavenly fruit shakes - maracuay, pineapple, banana, mango, papaya, lulo, tomate de arbol, granadillo, zapote, nispero,.. Beer is the drink what everybody drinks in here, I still don't like the taste of it. Small corner 'pubs' everywhere, only selling beer :) Local soda is called Colombiana, taste pretty much like Muumi limu :D once in a while I treat myself with that. We have been drinking tap water, it is okey to drink in big cities, saves so much plastic not have to buy a bottle everytime. Though we have met so many travellers who only buy half litre bottled water, ridiculous! 

Today was actually the first time we had to dig our rainjackets and some warm clothes. Otherwise it has been +35 pretty much everyday. We visited Colombians largest lake, Lago de Tota, in 3015m and it was only +13 and drizzly rain and we still got the worst sunburns, how do you explain that?! We haven't spent lot of time on the beach, walking around towns has been our main activity. National Parks demand entrance fee from tourist, around 40mil so we try to get most out of it if we visit them, stay a night or two. 

I am so happy travelling with Rob. Saves me from the eyes and yells of the local guys. No, that is not the only reason :) We have had our arguments, believe me, but it is nice that there is someone all the time to be with. No need to look another person to have dinner with, or ask somebody to look after your bag while you need a toilet. I do feel safer with him. Travelling alone you meet much more people, now I think we spend lot of time with other couples, which is fine. Most of the people we have met are from Germany and in their early 20s. Now we are the old ones :) 

Rob was sick once and I have felt little sick twice. But otherwise we have been fine and healthy, lets hope it stays like this. After Rob was sick that was the first time we both wanted western food, enough for rice, beans and eggs. Otherwise we have sticked with the local restaurants or cooked our own meals at the hostels. It took two weeks that I was frustrated repacking by backpack. Now I have pretty good system with it, only use one ppair of clothes :) laundry service is so cheap in here so I don't even bother thinking of doing it myself. Mayby at the volunteer place I'll start doing some Nyrkkipyykkiä :) Very happy and content with everything. One thing what I don't find in here is postcards! No postcards anywhere, so I can't send any, sorry. First place where I see them, I buy loads and start sending them <3