Relaxing in the Boyaca Region

I have spent the last few weeks in the Santander and Boyaca regions of Colombian. These regions are considered some of the most beautiful of Colombia, where people go to relax and get back in touch with nature. They also provide the gateways to access the tallest mountains of the country, those in El Cocuy National Park. It is a little off the beaten tourist track, as there are not many large cities in the region and transportation is a little tricky sometimes. It is a very beautiful region, with decent size mountains everywhere you look, and then small colonial villages and towns settled down into the valleys.



From Bogota, I stopped in Zipaquira for a few hours to see the famous salt cathedral. I saw a salt cathedral in Poland, near Krakow in a little town called Wieliczka, and that was one of the most impressive things I have seen, so I was not expecting this salt cathedral to measure up. Anyway, the salt cathedral was incredible, and much larger than I expected. It is larger than the salt cathedral in Wieliczka, but lacked the detailed sculptures, pews, altar, and other ¨church-like¨ things that you find in churches. The Zipaquira salt cathedral had the stations of the cross in salt and huge shafts where crosses out of salt were displayed, along with kneeling pews for praying. However, I never really felt like I was in a holy place, or even a church. It was definitely impressive, especially the size of this place (you could easily get lost in there), but the intricate, detailed pieces and the powerful emotion I felt while standing in the Wieliczka cathedral was lacking.



I can say that the tiny town of Zipaquira has another cathedral in its little town square that really impressed me. It was just a simple cathedral, nothing special to the naked eye, but it was one of those places that you walk into a just get hit with some sort of feeling. It doesn´t happen to me very often, so I take notice when it does. This cathedral was something special, and much more impressive to me than the salt cathedral. The shame is that probably an incredibly small percentage of tourists that visit Zipaquira actually even see the cathedral from a distance. Or, maybe that is a good thing too, and part of the reason it does provide a special sensation to the person that does take the time to witness its grandness.














After Zipaquira, I continued on to the little city of Tunja. Tunja is the capital of the department of Boyaca and is the highest departmental capital in Colombia, located at an elevation of almost 8,500 feet. At this elevation, the city is significantly colder than any other city I have visited on my trip thus far. Days are nice and cool, and nights are colder, probably in the low 40s. Tunja is a university town, with something like 5 or 6 universities calling the city home. Therefore, most of the people walking the streets are young people. Unfortunately, I was not able to experience a weekend there, as I spent two days there, just to sample the city and see the colonial churches that the city is famous for. Well, just as my luck would have it, I chose the week during which all the priests were on retreat, and only 2 of the dozen churches were open. I was not able to see the interior of the grand cathedral, which I was a little upset about, but I did see the insides of the San Franciscan Church and the Church of Santo Domingo, which were both decorated in the Baroque style, with lots of gold and elaborate statues. While this is cool in one way, I prefer the simple churches. Call me a simpleton. I know. I can´t help it. When I think of God, the last thing I think about is gold and showy, gaudy decorations. To each his own (or her own) I guess.






After Tunja, I spent 4 days in a colonial town called Villa de Leyva. This charming little city is very peaceful and laid back. The roads in the main part of the town are all cobblestone, and there are very few cars driving the streets. It has one of the largest main town plazas in all of South America, and is the place to hang out at night, when all the little tiendas and restaurants are playing music at night and the square (called Plaza Mayor) transforms itself into the gathering place for old and young alike. I spent a few nights hanging out on the steps of the cathedral at night, watching over the square, talking to random people, and even listening to a few student bands play their rattles and other instruments as the town fountain in the middle of the square drew the young crowd into dancing and singing.



While in Villa de Leyva, I was able to visit some of the sights around the town. One really cool place I was lucky enough to visit was El Fosil. This place is the original site of an archaeological dig that uncovered the largest intact fossil of a prehistoric marine animal. The kronosaurus measures around 30 feet long and looks like a giant crocodile with huge, wing-like fins that propelled it forward. It must have been quite a sight for anything else in the sea. It was really, really cool to see, and just to imagine something that is 120 million years old is crazy!! 120 million years ago? Wow, I would give anything to see what this world looked like back then and what strange, awesome creatures were roaming about the earth before the mighty hand of Homo sapiens got hold of it. It is definitely fun to think about.







While at the fossil site, I met a young Colombian couple, who I began talking to. It turned out that we were heading to the same place, and since they had a car, they offered to give me a ride. They were very nice and we got along very well. We visited a site called El Infiernito, which is a sacred, Stonehenge-like site for the Muisca people (think Incas, but of Colombia). In this site, the Muiscas erected these tall structures with which they used, along with the projection of their shadows at different times of the year, to determine the seasons of the year and the best times to plant their crops. There were also some tall structures shaped in the form of a male penis. Yes, I am not making this up! These structures symbolized male fertility, and since they were protruding from Mother Earth, also represented the partnership between mankind and nature. Hmm, interesting, and not exactly what I was expecting. In fact, when I first saw those large stones, I definitely thought to myself how much they resembled penises. I guess I have an eye for detail, because I was right!


Our next stop was at a vineyard to sample some of the Colombian wine produced in the region. While nothing special, it was a cool experience and something that I never thought I would do while in Colombia. Plus, it was a great way to sample several wines without paying too much. After a quick stop at an Ostrich Farm (kind of weird but definitely interesting- I got to pet an ostrich and let it peck at my hand (they wouldn´t let me try to ride him), we returned to Villa de Leyva, where I relaxed in a hammock for the rest of the day, before visiting the square again at night.




A short drive from Villa de Leyva takes you to the awesome little town of Chiquinquira, the most Catholic place in Colombia, where many Catholics from around the country and even the surrounding countries make a pilgrimage. There is a legend that a miracle occurred here a few centuries ago. There was a painting of Mary that had been painted by the famous Spanish artist Alonso de Narvaez. The painting was stored in a church that was basically falling apart, and the result was that the painting was damaged and the images started to fade. The image was finally taken to Chiquinquira and stored there in a chapel in 1577. Several years later, a lady from Seville rediscovered the painting, and although the images were very faint at this point, she loved to pray in front of it. One day, the lady came to pray at the painting when she discovered that the painting had been miraculously restored to its original condition overnight. Word spread of the miracle, and in 1829, Pope Pius VII declared the Virgin of Chiquinquira patroness of Colombia.



The church is elegantly simple and the painting is displayed behind a glass case, to prevent pilgrims from damaging it. The church itself is marvelous and one of the most impressive ones I have seen. Although it isn`t particularly old like many of the cathedrals in Europe, and definitely not as elaborately decorated as others, this impressive cathedral standing over this little town is quite a sight.





After Villa de Leyva, I traveled to the adventure town of San Gil. San Gil is one of the outdoor meccas of Colombia, offering plenty of activities for extreme sports athletes. By far the coolest thing I did in San Gil, and one thing that I will always remember, is a hike to the magnificent Cascadas de Juan Curi. This hike went up a small river for about 1 hour, through the dense cloud forest. Most of this time was spent hiking in the river, crossing the shallow areas where the river ran over hard bedrock. In the distance, I could see this amazing, enormous waterfall crashing down from the top of the mountain above. Passing numerous cascades and swimming pools (I jumped in most of them), the trek continued until I reached a huge waterfall towering over a cliff, into a deep, dark pool below. It was absolutely breathtaking, and one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I jumped in the pool, but there was a pretty wicked current, and after discovering that there was an undercut bank, was a little weery of being swept under and trapped, so I had to cut my time in that freezing pool short. After continuing on a faint trail through the jungle even higher, I came across an even more massive waterfall, tumbling over the true top of the mountain. This waterfall was almost 500 feet high, and crashed into a pool just above a giant boulder field. Just a few hundred feet downriver was the top of the last waterfall I had just seen, so I was able to crawl to the edge and peer down, with my chest hovering just above the water that was about to take a serious fall. Peering down, I could really see how high this waterfall was (probably 400 feet or so). I really, really wanted to try to climb to the top of the largest waterfall, but a thunder clap and some rain turned me back. However, this series of waterfalls was undoubtedly the most impressive waterfall I have ever seen, and one of the most impressive things I have seen period. I felt a little like Indiana Jones!



I spent another day in the little colonial town of Barichara. The town was almost completely empty because it was in the middle of the week, but that definitely gave it more of its charm. The church was amazing, just like the ones in San Gil and Chiquinquira. The only person I saw was a man sweeping the streets. It was really nice to find myself in such a quiet place. I decided to go for a little walk, so took a cobblestone trail down the mountain for a few hours to another even smaller colonial village named Guane. The trail passed mountain pastures and incredible landscapes for the duration, and was very relaxing and nice, almost like I was doing some sort of pilgrimage. When I reached the little village of Guane, people were very surprised to see me. Nearly all of the little tiendas were closed, but there were a few small groups of people hanging out in the main square. After seeing another amazing church, I visited with a few of the locals, and one lady took me into her home and showed me around. It was really cool and I thought to myself that I could easily spend a week in this charming little village, away from all the worries of the world.
One interesting note-- I tried hormigas (ants) for the first time. Although a little too crunchy for myself, they definitely have a distinct taste. However, I wouldn`t exactly sign up to have them with every meal, and you DEFINITELY need a drink with them, as they leave a fairly bad aftertaste!



So now, I am getting ready to leave Boyaca and head to the Caribbean Coast for some fun in the sun and a change of scenery. I´ll be sure to wear my sunscreen, and I guess I should start preparing for the heat. Ciao everyone, and I hope you are enjoying the snow back home!





Photos of Zipaquira: http://www.photoworks.com/slideshow/album/ACB9873386B5?source=pw980



Photos of Tunja and Villa de Leyva: http://www.photoworks.com/slideshow/album/AA417C2386B3?source=pw980



Photos of Chiquinquira: www.photoworks.com/slideshow/album/A4B9AD2389F3?source=pw980




Photos of San Gil: http://www.photoworks.com/slideshow/album/A3662E3389F1?source=pw980




Photos of Barichara: http://www.photoworks.com/slideshow/album/AA9FC53389F2?source=pw980

Coffee, Hills, and Nightlife

Hola Everyone! So after leaving the hustle and bustle of Quito, I finally returned to Colombia. It was great to get to settle down a little bit and practice my Spanish again. I traveled to the Coffee Region of Colombia, spending a few days in a university city called Manizales. Manizales has the most hills of any city I have ever seen. It was almost impossible to find a flat road within the city limits. It is a beautiful place, surrounded by mountains on all sides, with the impressive Nevado del Ruiz dominating the southern skyline. The first thing that I noticed in Manizales was how many students there are. I think 1 out of every 3 people walking down the street seemed to be a student, whether attending one of the several universities in the city, or one of the high schools. It really does bring a cool vibe to the place. The contrasts with Quito were obvious immediately-- very little traffic, a 45-minute walk from the outskirts to the city center (or a 5-10 minute bus ride), clean air all around, and very little noise. This is just the kind of place I needed after Quito.
I stayed with a family in Manizales, with two daughters. I hung out with the older daughter for most of my time there. She is attending La Universidad Catolica in the city, and even took me around the campus. She is really funny and cool, and despite not knowing English, we had a lot of fun together. My Spanish skills were really tested to the max during my few days there, but I can already tell that they improved just in that short period. One of the most impressive things in Manizales is La Iglesia de la Inmaculada Concepcion. It isn´t a particularly old church (something like 300 years old), but it´s wooden interior provides it with a homey, rustic feel that I really appreciated.

On a funny note, you would not believe the number of mullets I have seen in Colombia! It seems like that is definitely the latest rage with young men from about 12 to 25 years old. If there is ever a Mullet Revolution to bring the mullet back to life across the globe, it should definitely start here!

The drive from Manizales to Medellin, through El Cafetera (the coffee growing region), was pretty spectacular. It is definitely not a ride for those that get car sick, as the road has twice as many switchbacks as any road I have ever seen. The road passes through mountains and hills lined with coffee fields, providing a rich scenery for the entire 5-hour ride. Unfortunately, the road is also just a two-lane road, and because of its curvy nature and the steep climbs and descents, the going is slow. When you add in the fact that every other vehicle is either a bus or a huge truck that stalls to a crawl anytime the road isn't flat (so pretty much the entire ride), my patience was definitely starting to wane near the end. When I saw a sign telling me that we only had 25 kilometers (~15 miles) left, I thought we were good. I didn't expect that last bit to take about 2 hours or so. Needless to say, I was very happy to actually set foot in Medellin.

Medellin is a city with a very dark history. In the 1980s, the infamous Pablo Escobar made the city the world's cocaine capital. The city was marred by murders and violent crime, making it one of the most dangerous cities in the world. There was a lot of money in the drug business, and because of this, Medellin seems more modern to me than anywhere else I have been on this trip. With Escobar's death in 1993, the city turned itself around, and now can be called one of the safest big cities in Latin America.

I can tell you without any doubt at all that Medellin is my favorite place that I have visited so far in either Ecuador or Colombia. The city is surrounded by mountains on all sides, the highrise buildings are all this cool red color, providing a cool contrast to the green mountains around. I am staying down in the El Poblado area, which is the part of the city with all the coolest clubs and bars. It is incredibly fun down there, and there is definitely no shortage of beautiful girls wherever I look. I met a bunch of people for a few nights' worth of fun, going out to the clubs and dancing until 4 or so in the morning. I also just happened to see that the bachata group, Aventura, was giving a concert in Medellin while I was going to be there, and that this tour is billed as the group's last. What a coincidence! I could not pass up this opportunity to see Aventura in Colombia! One of my friends and I bought some tickets and spent the night listening to the bachata sounds pulsating through the crowd at the stadium. Despite the over-exaggeration of the term "Latin time," (the concert was supposed to start at 8:00 but didn't start until 9:30), the fact that there were 4 opening acts, and that Aventura didn't actually start playing until about 1:30 in the morning (bringing our total time at the stadium to a whopping 8 hours!!), it was absolutely incredible! The energy in the crowd was amazing, and everyone was dancing and having a blast. I still can't really believe that I was lucky enough to see them in Colombia! How random is that?

I have also made some really good friends in Medellin, including a British guy I met, and a paisa (people from the Coffee Growing Region) girl and guy. We had a lot of fun hanging out and I will definitely miss them, but hope to see them again soon.

So my time in Medellin has been characterized by late nights at the dance clubs, an Aventura concert that I won't soon forget, and a sore neck from doing double takes at all the beautiful girls here. I have really enjoyed my time here and hope to return again at some point. Now it is back to the smaller cities in the Boyaca region of Colombia, where my Spanish will be tested once again, and I will get a little more taste of authentic Colombian life. Until next time, ciao everyone.

Photos of Manizales at: http://www.photoworks.com/slideshow/album/A8C98523865B?source=pw980
Photos of Medellin at: www.photoworks.com/slideshow/album/A6A1D1338632?source=pw980

The Joys of Traveling

Well, I have been in Quito for longer than I had originally planned. Due to some passport problems, flight problems, debit card problems, and pretty much anything else you might want to throw in there, I have had to stick around here for a few more days. It is a long story, and becoming more complicated every minute, so I will spare you all the details until we can sit down together and have a glass of wine (I think I will need a bottle to myself to recount this story).
In any case, I have been around Quito since my last blog post. My friend Mark and I have gotten outside a little bit. Two weekends ago we decided to climb a volcano called El Corazon, located about 20 miles southwest of Quito. We had been looking to climb another volcano named Illiniza Norte, but after seeing some horrendous pictures on the internet of snow and ice-covered Paso de la Muerte (Pass of the Dead), and taking into consideration that neither of us had proper warm clothes, climbing boots, or, come to think of it, any equipment whatsoever, we decided on El Corazon. Well, El Corazon didn't turn out to be as easy as we had planned either. The ascent is a steady climb for several hours, before coming to the base of the mountain face. We felt good and made good progress, but then the clouds rolled in, obscuring our view of the route to the summit just as we arrived at the base. We were able to sneak a peek at the summit through the clouds, so we started scrambling and almost rock climbing up to the point that we saw. After probably an hour of tough scrambling, we arrived on the summit. However, almost to jeer us, the clouds parted again for a few moments, revealing two more summits above us that we hadn't even seen! We were both a little discouraged, but believed we could make it to the other two summits, but then the mountain gods threw some wind and snow at us (I thought this was supposed to be near the equator!) and turned us back. We then descended for about 2.5 hours in the pouring rain, getting soaked, but loving the feeling and exhilaration of getting high in the outdoors.
This last weekend, Mark, our friend Laura, one other girl, and myself went to Mindo, the cloud forest 2 hours from Quito. We took a cable car across the forested canyon (awesome views!) to the other side, where we hiked for several hours from waterfall to waterfall. Keeping with tradition, I jumped in every pool I came across, although I looked a little funny wearing only my boxers. We ran into a family from Ecuador who was really excited to meet us and almost race us from waterfall to waterfall. They were really nice and gave us some company along our hike.
After the hike, Laura and her friend Audrey went back to Quito, while Mark and I stayed the night in Mindo and had some of the best pizza I have had outside the U.S. The next day, we did a hike through another part of the forest. I was excited because we were heading into spectacled bear habitat. Spectacled bears are one of the most endangered bear species in the world, and are only found around the Andes Mountains. Despite not seeing one (although we did hear a fairly big animal roaming around the forest at one point), we had a great time walking through the narrow corridors of cloud forest surrounding us, while I tried to find the perfect vine to swing on and show off my Tarzan skills (unfortunately for Mark, he never did get to see this properly). We later got on a bus and headed back to Quito.
I am really starting to get tired of big cities now. I was in a bus yesterday for 1.5 hours going downtown, only to discover that I had to go back today at 8 in the morning. The bus ride back was about an hour, with traffic going every which way and everyone seeming to totally ignore the traffic lights. It definitely reminded me of Cairo. I would really hate to have to drive here. With the road rage that happens in the States, I'm sure this kind of traffic would solve our overpopulation problem.
So, after getting many logistics finally taken care of (some are still pending, and will probably remain that way until I get home), I am off to Colombia again on Sunday morning. I can't wait to get back traveling. Although it has been awesome hanging out with Mark and Laura for these few weeks, and a lot of fun hiking around here, I am starting to feel like I am standing still. For those of you who really know me, you also know that that is something I absolutely cannot stand. Therefore, traveling again is the perfect solution-- getting the chance to really practice my Spanish again, trying to figure out what bus to take, meeting random people along the way, and figuring out how to deal with the multitude of problems that will inevitably come my way in the next several weeks. I am super excited to see more of Colombia, practice more of my salsa and cumbia steps, and make more friends.
I hope all of you are doing well, and thank you to those who have emailed me. I really like reading about your lives back home. Un abrazo from Ecuador!
El Corazon Pics: http://www.photoworks.com/slideshow/album/AA6608138543?source=pw980
Mindo Pics: http://www.photoworks.com/slideshow/album/A80A0C238543?source=pw980

P.S.
One ridiculous thing I have seen here is the price of a dozen roses-- $1! If I had a girlfriend here, she would be receiving fresh roses every day! Well, I guess not every day. There would be some tulips thrown in too.