23/11/2011

I had a good chat with the girls working in the hostel this morning,,they were more than interested in my stories and I needed to practice my Spanish. One of the girls recommended the city centre to take some pictures and to kill some time before I made my way out of town. I would stay longer but I got an invite by one of my brothers friends I met several years ago to join her to a beach town in Ecuador on the weekend, this meaning I will have to rush to Quito where she is leaving from.
I'm very hesitant to take pictures with my new camera because this camera and the lens basically shouts out "steal from me".
I'm beginning to think it wasn't such a good idea to bring this but at least I'm insured.
Cali is suppose to be a place where the girls are all fixed up and fake meaning his is the place to be if you wanted any plastic surgery but during my short time of walking around I did not see one girl that caught my attention. As I was telling the taxi driver that took me back to the bus terminal if you want to see stunning chicas with no plastics involved - go to Sweden!
I took the bus in the afternoon to get to popayan which is an old colonial town that apparently is worth seeing. It's right on the way down to ecuador so I thought why not. It was pissing it down when I arrived so I opted for a two dollar taxi to a hotel recommended in the lonely planet. Unfortunately there were no backpackers staying there but again it gives me the opportunity to practice my Spanish.

Im not organising the pics but there are some taken in Cali and Popayan

22/11/2011

9 to 12 hours is what I was told for the time it was going to take from Bogota to Cali instead it took a ridiculous 23 Hours!
Yesterday I said the bus was spacious and comfortable, it was until they blasted the air conditioning on maximum freezing all the passengers on the bus; this is a common complaint amongst backpackers wherever in the world you may be. I know I have complained about this issue several times in this blog but really WTF? There is no need to have it up so high. Thankfully though I remembered my blanket for this journey and it was only just warm enough for me to have a relatively good nights sleep.
Being stuck in the traffic jam in the mountains wasnt all that bad as the views were lovely, well least until the clouds rolled over and the rain came. Despite the rain It would have been the perfect time to Cycle, cutting through the traffic with beautiful scenery on either side of the road
The reason behind the held up traffic was a combination of road works, rain and the risk of another landslide. A landslide occurred recently in the area so many police and surveyors were holding up the trucks and buses.
Arriving in Cali at 8pm I was obviously starving and sat down at a bakery to munch down some pastries, the people who worked there were incredibly curious about me and even offered me a free drink. Chatting to them about kangaroo meat and the weather in Australia but my conversational skills in Spanish are somewhat limited.
I was going to go by foot to the hostel listed in the lonely planet guide that I had downloaded illegally for my iPod touch but this certainly saves me a lot of weight considering I now have most, of not all the guidebooks to everywhere in the world.
The taxi set me back 8,000 pesos and took me to the hostel that was dead, only hosting a German guy and a Russian guy.
I had a few drinks and a few games of mortal kombat with one of the workers before crashing in one of the dorms that I had to myself.
But something I cant believe 23 hours in a bus! That was S-H-I-T!

Stupid 23 hour bus journey in the crazy rain, but the views were nice

21/11/2011

The meal I cooked last night apparently made a bunch of people sick, rich from California was throwing up all morning and everyone else wasn't feeling all too well, only myself, the other Richard and Anne-Marie were just fine. Next time I'll use more poison to do a better job, haha. Kidding. Seriously though, I'm sorry guys, you may need to tame your stomach better for the amount of spices I use in my cooking.
I was going to leave the household today but instead i took the suggestion that Anne presented me and just head to Cali in the evening.
I was having issues with my bank card being problematic and for the afternoon I tried to sort that out, always having to withdraw cash using my credit card isn't a good thing.
Anyways after cooking dinner, packing my gear and saying my farewells I caught a taxi to the bus terminal for the apparent 9 hour journey to Cali. It set me back 55,000 pesos about $25 but like always I tried to get a discount but was unsuccessful. The bus was comfortable and spacious, 9 hours ain't so bad...

20/11/2011

I took Richards (awful) bicycle into town today to cruise about the city to take some pics, the cycle into the center was great because is it was a Sunday a major street had been turned into a pedestrian walkway and cycle path. I had been to the center of the city before 7 months ago and had seen a lot in the  downtown area of Bogota, I took a few pics but nothing all that special.
I bumped into Paul who I met last night in the street, we grabbed lunch and when we went to pay I checked my wallet and had a lot less than I thought I did, Paul paid for my lunch but I will pay him back when I move to the hostel tomorrow afternoon.
I cycled back to Richards in the rain and chilled there and napped for the afternoon. Later I cooked up a huge delicious dinner for the household with ribs, mustard mash, steamed broccoli, rice and caramelized carrots that everyone adored. It is a nice gesture as they gave me free accommodation for the last couple of days.

Around downtown Bogota

19/11/2011

I lazed around all day today just really wasnt in the mood to leave the apartment and I also had to sort out an alternative means to get travel insurance, the issue is that it is very difficult to get insured after leaving for your trip, however I did find one online company that does insure people after departing. Although it was expensive but I am now covered for this trip – better safe than sorry, this will keep mum happy.
In the evening I went out with a bunch of people to play 'teho', similar to throwing a discus but with a target of explosive paper triangles set in clay. Im not going to explain the rules but it was a fun game with the bunch of 14 of us that played most of which were from a hostel.
I think ill go to this hostel Monday morning to find someone who is traveling the same way I am.
After plenty of beers and several games of Teho the bunch of us went out to a reggae bar to continue the drinking.
I had a good laugh with an Aussie guy (Paul) who lived not too far from where I am from near Melbourne and I look forward to drink with him again.

Playing Teho in Bogeta

18/11/2011

It was a relatively chilled day today where I spent some of it trying to repair a computer that had gone kaput, I was unsuccessful but at least I tried, I also fixed up Richards bicycle meaning tomorrow ill head out for a bike ride around the city hoping the weather stays clear unlike today where it pissed it down.
In the evening I again cooked up a quick pasta dish for the house and accidentally sliced my fingernail off... its difficult to type this now with a bandaged wrapped bloody forefinger but it will heal.
Speaking of blood, this is a good time to mention what I got up to this evening. It was something I wanted to get see last time I was traveling Latin America – Cock fighting. It was certainly an eye opener – no pun intended as one of the fights amounted to one cock pecking out another cocks eye, really it was gruesome stuff and as such the two girls I went with Isa and Anne-Marie wanted to leave... this I could understand and after 3 matches I was keen to leave too.
Locals would bet money and good money at that on the winning rooster and to be honest seeing how brutal the fights are its something that only needs to be witnessed once in a lifetime.
I took some pics but only a few came out well.

Cock fighting and Iza getting her nails done – quite the contrast

17/11/2011

I woke early this morning to join Richard and his friend (Anne Marie) on a hike up the mountain that towers up nearby his home.
To be able to walk from the center of the city to complete forest within an 20 minutes was quite unusual,and only hiking for an hour the noises from the city were dampened and soon it was just us and this forest with no-one else around. Climbing up steep cliff faces and slipping in mud was part of the adventure. We were very lucky to have the weather we did because most afternoons in Bogota it rains heavily, fortunately for us we didnt get this and although there was a little bit of fog or perhaps haze from the pollution it was mostly sunny meaning I ended up with a little bit of sunburn.
Rich recommended I shouldnt bring my nice camera as it could be unsafe so all the pics I took today was with my little point and shoot...
It was a fun-filled hike where we managed to reach the summit where we had a fantastic panoramic view of the city where there were some crazy rock formations that were some of the most unusual I have seen.
Getting back to Rich's place we were all staving but we were back just in time for the lunch his house mates were cooking up, we ate Arepa's that were delicious albeit a bit bland as most of the food I have tried in Columbia and before I knew it I was out sleeping for the afternoon.
Rich and his housemate had their weekly cleaning lady over and I spent some time practicing my Spanish with her.
Later in the evening there was a couch-surfing meeting in a bar nearby where I went along with Anne-Marie to check it out. I got chatting with a bunch of people using my broken Spanish and getting by reasonably well; here in Columbia I find it difficult to approach randoms for a conversation because of the language barrier but I hope in the coming months ill be able to improve and not hesitate to join in on a most Spanish speaking conversations.
It was a good night only drinking a few beers but I was feeling quite ill from the sun, beer, altitude and lack of sleep but that didn’t stop me cooking up a quick pasta dish for people in the house before going to bed.

 

Crazy Rock formations at top of mountain beside Bogota City.

View of the City

More unusual rock stuff -  these would break off into almost perfect cubes

On the hike up the mountain… i lost part of of one of my dreads – pic above