Bogota, Colombia

The last stop on my journey is Bogota, Colombia.  Most people's initial reaction to this was, "Why would you go there?! Its so dangerous!" Well, I did do some research and it's a little dangerous in that there are some really desperate people there, but the whole getting kidnapped by FARC is pretty unlikely in the centre of Bogota.

My first surprise was the sheer magnitude of the city - there are over 8 million people living here - I thought this was going to be just a medium sized town. My second surprise was the temperature. I don't know why, but I thought it would be warm in Bogota...it's in Colombia; Colombia is full of jungles...no? Well, Bogota is 2625m above sea level, so it's wee bit chilly, especially compared Nicaragua! Third surprise: my hostal. This is by far the coolest hostal I have ever stayed at. It is located in the Candelaria neighbourhood, which is where Bogota's history began. Outside it's just a big iron gate and a hall. When you open the inner door you enter into a court yard with colourful hammocks and flowers. There are 3 courtyards in all, and the rooms line the outside. In the middle, between the first and second courtyard is the kitchen - with a great big wood stove keeping the room warm. Then, in between the second and third courtyard, is the dormitorio (where I stayed). Its an adobe building with pristine white walls on the inside. The covered hallways are cobblestone, the ceilings are exposed beams, and the floors in the rooms are old wood planks. Beautiful. The staff were always smiling and happy to lend a hand and there was an unlimited supply of tea and coffee. But back to Bogota...

Palace of Justice

After dropping off my bags and putting on a sweater, I tentatively ventured out...it does have a bad rap after all! The ladies at the hostal gave me a map of the area, and it was still light out, so I did my standard recon mission of the surrounding area - starting with the main square, Plaza de Bolivar. The plaza has the Palace of Justice (where the supreme court is) faced by the Congress building, and on the other 2 sides we have the Mayor's seat (called the Liévano building) and opposite that, dominating them all, is La Catedral Primada. There is a sad and ironic story to the Justice Palace, it is the 3rd building that has been built there - the other 2 were destroyed; once in 1948 during a riot and again in 1985 when guerrilla group M-19 took hostages there. The building was destroyed when the army was called to free the hostages. The irony is that the current mayor of the city, working in the building right next to the Palace of Justice, was once a member of the M-19 guerrilla group.

That artist I don't remember..

After wandering the streets for a while the skies opened up and there was a massive deluge (these were an almost daily occurrence I would soon learn). I stood under an overhang for 15 min with many others who had been caught without their umbrellas. I checked my map and saw that I was not too far from the Botero museum so I ran between the raindrops to see what Botero had to offer the world of art.  Fernando Botero is known for painting fat things. No matter what the subject matter his figurative style is fat. I have to admit that although his colours are beautiful and the work is clean - it just doesn't float my boat. As an aside, I did see some of his earlier works in the National Museum and I preferred that. Luckily for me there were other artists in there as well, Picasso, Chagall, Monet, Degas, Dali...you know all the big names! There were a few rooms dedicated to South American artists - one in particular that I couldn't tear away from...did I take a picture of his name so I could remember it? No. sigh. I wandered the gallery for a few hours and when I left the rain had stopped and the sun was saying goodnight.

I went back to the Hostal, hoping I could find someone who wanted to come out to dinner with me, as I was told not to wander the streets alone at night. Luckily, there was a British lady there who was hungry enough and who knew a great Mexican restaurant around the corner. There we had a lovely dinner and no mishaps to or from. Was all this just fear-mongering? Was it all just exaggeration?

Catedral Primada

Nicaragua

I left paradise the next morning. I was on my way to Nicaragua to visit my parents and see my brother who was coming down from Canada. For those of you who don´t know, my parents have retired to Nicaragua. They have a house near the town of Granada, which is close to the border of Costa Rica and at the foot of the Mombacho volcano. Now, I shan´t bore you with the details of my family reunion, but I´ll let you know about the things that I saw when I was there.

Granada is a lovely little town that was founded in 1524. It has colourful colonial houses which are very Caribbean-like (not surprising when you consider the location!). Here you can still see horse or ox pulled wagons alongside the new 4X4s. There are money changers in the streets with massive wads of cash that they wave at gringos as they pass. I bought a hammock from an organisation that teaches street kids how to make them - I wasn´t sure how I was going to fit a 2kg hammock in my already bulging bag, but....


Nicaragua is known as the country of lakes and volcanoes. It has a string of 13 volcanoes that make up a back bone of sorts on the Pacific side. We visited 2 of these; Mombacho and Masaya, as well as a laguna that used to be a crater, Laguna de Apoyo.

Coffee beans drying on Mombacho

They grow coffee on the Mombacho so half way up we stopped to have a taste and to have a glimpse of how they dry the green coffee beans. Every morning the neat, covered piles of beans are spread out with a shovel and then carefully raked into perfect rectangles. We continued up the volcano in the back of a pickup truck and the going was so steep that I feared that we would all fall out of the back. The temperature was dropping quickly as well - we were driving into the clouds that often hover over Mombacho. 


We had come prepared to do the 4 hour hike around one of the 4 craters, but when we got there we found that we were not allowed to go forward without a guide, due to potential Puma encounters. So we contented ourselves to a hike around the smaller crater. The cloud cover did not lift so we did not get a clear glimpse, but it is unknown when the last eruption here was and the inside of the crater is completely overgrown now with a lush, green forest. 



Masaya volcano

Volcan Masaya is a huge contrast. This volcano is still active and it last erupted in 2003. When you drive up towards the volcano, you can see that there isn´t much growing around here -the ground is littered with giant volcanic boulders.   The crater is grey and desolate. There´s a steady stream of noxious sulfur dioxide that slowly drifts up from the crater´s depths. Curiously there are birds (vultures I suspect) that float about in this stinky plume. When you climb up to the top - they recommend staying no longer than 20 min in case the fumes make you pass out. You can see the wide circle of devastation all around it.

Laguna Apoyo

Laguna de Apoyo  is the crater of a volcano that erupted 23000 years ago (how they figure this stuff out, I dunno) and is now filled with water. It´s a very popular local weekend destination as the views from the top are spectacular...and they sell sugar cane (makes my teeth hurt when I eat it, but I can't help myself!). You can go swimming there (we didn´t though) and I´m told that since its a volcano crater there is no slope - you jump in and its deep. You never touch bottom....well, not without special gear at any rate!

Nicaragua

Last Call

So what does one do on one´s last day in paradise? Well, I started with a trip to the hospital.

Three days had passed since my last dive and my left ear had still not "popped" so I still could not hear properly out of it. I was getting on the plane the next day and I feared what would happen with the pressure of going up and back down. So, to assure myself that all was going to be ok I went to the hospital, which was conveniently only 2 blocks away.  The lovely doctor there checked out my ear and said that there was no damage and that all would be alright eventually. Thus assured, I rented a snorkel and mask and went to the beach at Punta Estrada.

To get to Punta Estrada I had to take a water taxi across the small harbour, it literally takes 3 minutes, because there is no other way to get there. I shared my taxi with a lovely Italian couple who I kept running into that day. They had rented an apartment in Puerto Ayora for a month...for $500! I wish I had thought of that!

When I got to the beach it was low tide and when I went in with my gear I saw some more colourful fishies and even saw a sting ray. As a lake swimmer I´m used to not really worrying what´s in the water with me...its mostly harmless stuff down there. Seeing something that could potentially hurt you, if you disturb it, in relatively shallow water certainly gives one pause when swimming in the ocean!





There was another little place to see a little farther along called Las Grietas. It was a little bit of a hike to get there and I was wearing my flip-flops. Normally this would be alright, but it was really hot (again) and I had already busted 2 blisters - that hurt! The walk was over volcanic rock which made the straps really rub the raw meat of my poor feet.

Las Grietas

Las Grietas is a fissure in the volcanic rock that has filled (partially) with some briny water - its about 15m deep. I had envisaged a quiet, peaceful place - but it was Saturday and everybody and his brother was there. The water was notably colder here since the sun rarely had a chance to warm it. Again I donned my mask and snorkel and set out. 


I swam to the end where there were less people and I noticed that beyond some rocks, the water continued. I climbed over the rocks, with great difficulties - volcanic rock is pointy - and continued swimming. There were three more rock obstacles and yes, there were some pretty sizable fish in there. At the end of Las Grietas was silence. I could hear nothing of the chaos at the other end. 


After swimming back and putting on my flip-flops, I realised that there was a problem - feet slide right off flip-flops when they´re wet. I nearly fell over trying to climb over the rocks. The walk back was not as painful as the walk in - I guess my feet became numb to the pain - and when I got back to the beach high tide had come in. The beach had almost completely disappeared! I went in for another swim and lazed in the sun while chatting with the Italians again. I used to be able to spend the better part of the day on the beach, but I must say that this doesn´t appeal to me anymore. So, after a short while I took the water taxi back to Puerto Ayora.




This was my last night here, and I spent it wandering the main street, watching the pelicans and sea lions vying for the fishermen´s leftovers (so much for not interfering with the wildlife!) I stopped for a fantastic passion fruit and blackberry gelato and I savoured it while watching the waves come into the port.

I´m definitely coming back here!

Payment is Due

I paid for the awesomeness of the 2 dives the next day.

I should have just stayed in bed and given my sick body time to recover from the dives and my cold - but I didn´t. I organised a tour of Isabella island instead. I should have known that when not even the Sinutab worked that it was a bad idea.

The 2 hour boat ride was uncomfortable and the tour itself was slapdash. We got to the island and had to take a water taxi to the dock..."ok this one...no, this one...oh, he´s not coming - we´ll wait for the next guy". When we finally got there we had to wait for the bus...waiting, waiting, waiting. "Ok quickly, quickly everyone on the bus, we´re going to see flamingos." We drove to a tiny salar - looked more like a pit that someone had dug out with a bulldozer - where there were 3 flamingos. "Usually there are more. Has everyone taken a picture? Ok back on the bus, we´re going to the beach." They drove us to the beach where we had 30 min to enjoy- I spread out my rain poncho, that I had brought just in case, and had a nap. Anyway, the tour continued in this fashion and I was just so congested, sore and tired that there was no way I could enjoy.

When I got back to my hostal at around 5 I just crashed and burned. I slept til 9, found a restaurant that had chicken soup and went back to sleep. I had planned to go on a tour of Floreana island the next day, but it didn´t look good.
Oddly enough, the next day I felt much better and decided to give Floreana a go.

Floreana

The tour to Floreana was much better and quite informative. Its a small island south of Santa Cruz - there are only 5 families living there - it has a sad and tragic past. Pirates used the Galapagos as a hiding spot in the 1600 and it was actually a pirate that first mapped the area. Floreana is the only island with a fresh water source, so you can well imagine how important this tiny speck of land was. Pirate wars were fought here over this little spring. Later, early settlers went mad at the isolation of the place and died lonely deaths.

 

The giant tortoises, unique only to Floreana, were a handy meat source for pirates and later explorers on their long sea voyages since they don´t have to be fed or watered for long periods of time. There are now no longer any of these tortoises left. Conservationists are using this is island now to house hybrid tortoises that had been interbred many years ago. They are now all quarantined on this island so that they don´t interfere with the "pure" DNA of the tortoises from the other islands. These lovely creatures live over 150 years - they look like a link to the prehistoric past.

We also went snorkeling at Floreana - I could have gone on Isabella as well, but I was scared that I was going to fall asleep and drown! The water was quite chilly, but again I got to see some wonderful sea turtles and some great colourful fishes...and at one point a penguin dove in right in front of me! He and his buddy hung around me for a few minutes and then they were gone - Holy crap they are fast swimmers!