I'm not sure where I left off as the notes in my word processor don't match the notes that I thought I posted last. Will have to review this all when I have more time. In the meantime I think this will catch us up to the point when we left Santa Marta and headed into Tayrona National Park for two days and a night. Lots to report on but will do that later. All went well there. I have about 50 bites on my legs only and don't think they are mosquito bites - not itchy, but they're red so I'll watch them closely. We're guessing bed bugs or perhaps a spider. Jody has a broken blister on her big toe and is watching that closely. Diane, Jim and Jen are all ok except for being a bit tired and aching here and there. Will check in later when I get a moment to write some catch up notes.
LB
20080520
5/20/2008 16:35 PM
I’m sitting at the Juan Valdez Café in a very modern shopping mall in Santa Marta waiting for the others to return from a tip to a museum which is nearby. I’ve found that there is very little English spoken here and in many cases none at all so I have to rely on my language skills which are proving to be somewhat less than adequate as I have trouble processing the differences between English, Spanish and French. The museum would only confound the matter so I thought I’d enjoy a Juan Valdez coffee, which I might add, is far superior to Tim Horton’s. I can tell that even though I’m not what you’d call a connoisseur of coffees.
It’s clear to me that if future when visiting a country like this where there is limited English spoken, that whenever possible an English speaking guide would be an enormous benefit. We are managing just fine but I have so many questions about the many different things that I see and no one to turn to for explanation. (Chris isn’t always with us and I know that his limited time spent here doesn’t give him a very in depth understanding of questions that I’d have.
On another note we all witnessed an amazing spectacle this afternoon. I have pictures that I’ll try to upload later once I resize them to send onto the blog. When walking in downtown Santa Marta along the ocean front we saw about a half a dozen men (actually about two men and four or five very young boys – many children don’t attend school here as they can’t afford to go) pulling on a line that extended out to the Caribbean Sea. On a closer look I thought that the line seemed to head out to a small wooden boat that was about two hundred yards off shore (two football fields out). Sure enough it did. Then I noticed that there was a similar line of people about 50 or more yards further along the beach doing the same thing. It didn’t take long to figure out that that both lines were heading out to the same boat – they were drag-netting fish by hand. This is a far cry form the way they do it in the Maritimes with their huge and powerful processing ships! When I started watching there were only a handful of spectators – all seemed to be Latins but many were Latin tourists I’m sure. After ten to fifteen minutes the boat and nets had been pulled in closer to shore and the “pullers” were having to work much harder. Then three pelicans flew in and settled in the water just outside the net lines which now I could see had floats on them.
Another ten minutes or so and the boat and the net was fairly close to shore and the size of the spectators increased suddenly and dramatically to about fifty or sixty people. An event was happening! When the net was about fifty feet off shore in quite shallow water a number of fish were leaping over the top of the net and on to freedom. They were virtually leaping about three feet over the top of the water. The net finally was dragged up on the beach and there was the catch – I would guess about 150 pounds of fish, the largest probably being only a couple of pounds and most of them being under a pound. There was lots of excitement and a couple of the workers who noticed may keen interest and my camera beckoned me over to stand in front of the crowd to take a picture. It was quite exciting. I stepped back and looked up to see about six to eight pelicans flying in formation like geese approaching us and they just carried on, apparently well fed or not wanting to intrude on the others already there.
When we left the downtown area we all hopped on a local bus about the size of a small handy dart sized bus that we have at home – it seated about 25 people, and headed out to the shopping mall. This gave me a bit better view of all sides of life in Santa Marta as we passed several impoverished areas and commercial strips. Much different that the downtown core where we had been spending time and areas that I wouldn’t want to walk around in. The bus driver was just as aggressive as the cabbies and it truly is amazing that we’ve yet to see a single accident.
Tonight will be our last night at this location as we have a trip planned for us to go into a National Park and we have the choice of sleeping in a cabaña or a hammock outside. I know which way I’m leaning at the moment but we’ll see how adventurous I feel once I check the situation out. I’m glad that I decided to have my yellow fever vaccination because there is a higher risk of being bit by a mosquito in the park. So far I haven’t seen a mosquito or anything else that might bite so I’m feeling quite relaxed. The water here is not supposed to be the best so I’ve been drinking only bottled water, have avoided salads and anything else that might be washed in tap water so I’m doing my best. Some of the others have ventured into the swimming pools and have brushed their teeth with tap water. Jen said that she was feeling a little upset yesterday but is better today and surprisingly, Chris is the only one needing to take Imodium at the moment.
5/20/2008 18:56 PM We just got of the bus from Santa Marta and it was quite a bus ride. The bus is really a good way to travel here if you don’t have a car and you want to travel at a slower pace so you can take in the sites. Much less stressful than driving yourself – in fact I would be crazy to even think about driving here. The inside of the bus reminded me of busses that I’ve seen in movies or perhaps news clips of the ones in South East Asia and India. Inside this small bus that sat about 25 there were bangles, neon lights, neon signs and other ornate doo dads hanging around – mostly on the front half of the bus. The honking of horns is constant and they’re some sort of signal that the bus is going to pull over or have someone transfer to another bus or ?? On this trip we had two different street vendors hop on the bus and then hand out what appeared to be mini marshmallows in one case and some sort of candy in the other, both wrapped in cellophane. They handed out three each to all of the passengers and then gave a short spiel about what they were (I think) and then proceeded to walk around collecting them and putting them back in a bag. No one that I saw bought anything. The bus ride lasted at least 45 minutes and when we got off we had to walk about four short blocks to our hotel.
It started raining about two hours ago and the streets were filled with puddles and standing water that was sometimes three or four inches deep. Traffic seemed to be careful not to speed through the puddles to avoid splashing the pedestrians. The museum excursion that I opted out of was mostly outdoors and mostly in the rain as well so I was even more pleased that I opted out as I left my rain gear at the hotel. This is the time of year just before the rainy season so we’re maybe getting a bit of a taste as to what it might be like then. Jody and Jen are off to get rain jackets for our excursion into the national park tomorrow and Jim, Diane and Chris are just down the street having a beer so I’ll join them now.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
May 20 2008 Santa Marta
Hola!
5/20/2008 12:30 posting
Well, I finally found an internet cafe that I can hook my computer up to. It's very slow but it works. I had some trouble getting this far as all of the instructions and headings were in Spanish. Even the instructions as to how to get an English screen were in Spanish. Anyway, I'm here and have a bit better handle on how to navigate for the next time around. I apologize for the disorganized presentation of the blog so far - a result of me working through the various issues above. I did try to upload a number of pictures but the time it took to upload seemed very long and I'm guessing that the pictures were in too large a format. I'll work on sorting that out later.
Today we're took a taxi into Santa Marta to meet up with Chris and Jenn. I knew as soon as we got into our cab that we were in trouble as when I gave instructions to my cabbie he nodded ok but had a bit of a glazed look. I knew he didn't know where the Juan Valdez Cafe in Centro Commercial was but I figured if he could get us to Santa Marta (we're still in Rodadero (spelled wrong in previous entries) that we could find our way from where he dropped us off. After all the city only has a population of 400,000.
We were dropped off in a very busy downtown area where the crowds were already heavy. Several enquiries got us headed in the right direction on foot but it seemed to me we were heading in the opposite direction to what we should have been going. As it turns out I got the Spanish word for 14 mixed up with the French word for forty! Like I said once before (I think) - it's a good thing I don't know a bit of German as well or we'd really be in trouble. After wandering about a bit longer I hailed another cabbie and asked him if he knew where the cafe was and he said yes. We piled in and about three minutes later there we were! Jim and Jen's cabbie took them directly there and they'd been waiting for at least 15 minutes.
Chris and Jenn met (notice that Chris's Jenn is spelled with two "n's" and Jen Foote is with one "n") us about 15 minutes alter and we've all wandered off in different directions to do various things. We are to meet at the Jaun Valdez Cafe again at 14:00 so we'll see how the next reconoiter goes.
Jenn showed Jody the wedding dress that she made for her and it looks quite nice. It's very plain and white and Jody was pleased. It just needs to be hemmed and it's done. Jim has bought a white shirt and I guess I'll do the same at some point. We're having a birthday party for Jenn on Thursday at Chris and Jenn's place and that's when Jenn's parents will arrive from about three hours drive from here in the direction of Panama.
Weather is typical Caribbean hot but it's quite bearable - no rain today except maybe a cooling off shower in the afternoon. I have had two showers today to rinse off and they're quite refreshing. I did ask the hotel about my shower head (there isn't one - the water just comes straight out of the pipe) and they said that was normal. It's definitely different but I do see their point; you really don't need a shower head.
Well, that's it for now so will try to forward some pictures next time around.
LB
5/20/2008 12:30 posting
Well, I finally found an internet cafe that I can hook my computer up to. It's very slow but it works. I had some trouble getting this far as all of the instructions and headings were in Spanish. Even the instructions as to how to get an English screen were in Spanish. Anyway, I'm here and have a bit better handle on how to navigate for the next time around. I apologize for the disorganized presentation of the blog so far - a result of me working through the various issues above. I did try to upload a number of pictures but the time it took to upload seemed very long and I'm guessing that the pictures were in too large a format. I'll work on sorting that out later.
Today we're took a taxi into Santa Marta to meet up with Chris and Jenn. I knew as soon as we got into our cab that we were in trouble as when I gave instructions to my cabbie he nodded ok but had a bit of a glazed look. I knew he didn't know where the Juan Valdez Cafe in Centro Commercial was but I figured if he could get us to Santa Marta (we're still in Rodadero (spelled wrong in previous entries) that we could find our way from where he dropped us off. After all the city only has a population of 400,000.
We were dropped off in a very busy downtown area where the crowds were already heavy. Several enquiries got us headed in the right direction on foot but it seemed to me we were heading in the opposite direction to what we should have been going. As it turns out I got the Spanish word for 14 mixed up with the French word for forty! Like I said once before (I think) - it's a good thing I don't know a bit of German as well or we'd really be in trouble. After wandering about a bit longer I hailed another cabbie and asked him if he knew where the cafe was and he said yes. We piled in and about three minutes later there we were! Jim and Jen's cabbie took them directly there and they'd been waiting for at least 15 minutes.
Chris and Jenn met (notice that Chris's Jenn is spelled with two "n's" and Jen Foote is with one "n") us about 15 minutes alter and we've all wandered off in different directions to do various things. We are to meet at the Jaun Valdez Cafe again at 14:00 so we'll see how the next reconoiter goes.
Jenn showed Jody the wedding dress that she made for her and it looks quite nice. It's very plain and white and Jody was pleased. It just needs to be hemmed and it's done. Jim has bought a white shirt and I guess I'll do the same at some point. We're having a birthday party for Jenn on Thursday at Chris and Jenn's place and that's when Jenn's parents will arrive from about three hours drive from here in the direction of Panama.
Weather is typical Caribbean hot but it's quite bearable - no rain today except maybe a cooling off shower in the afternoon. I have had two showers today to rinse off and they're quite refreshing. I did ask the hotel about my shower head (there isn't one - the water just comes straight out of the pipe) and they said that was normal. It's definitely different but I do see their point; you really don't need a shower head.
Well, that's it for now so will try to forward some pictures next time around.
LB
To Santa Marta
20080519
5/19/2008 20:00 PM
Up at 07:00 and out the door at 07:55 to meet the women at their place for breakfast. I couldn’t help taking a few pictures of our street as we walked down it noticing the dozens of wires feeding of one concrete hydro pole servicing several houses. The wires looked a bit like a demented spider had been doing its work with many wires lying on top of other wires as they reached out to their final destination. There are very few grounded outlets here and I’m sure that many electrical outlets, telephone lines, cable tv lines (if that’s what they were) and others must be electrified to some degree. It’s surprising things work as well as they do, although several of the plugs in our apartment didn’t work and some only sort of worked but I’m not sure that’s what their problem was.
We also passed a couple of motorcycle taxis on our street waiting for their passengers to emerge from their houses. This is a far faster way to get to where you’re going than the conventional cabs. Jim took one in Cartenenga (another resort town on the Caribbean that he visited a couple of years ago). When you hire one of these cabs you put on a yellow jacket with the cab’s number on the back of it and a helmet and away you go. I don’t think I’m up to that for some time but we saw one well dressed brave woman sitting in on the back of a bike with her helmet on just as we reached the end of the street.
I think we all were rested up after a busy day yesterday and ready to go again. I met Joanna, one of the agents that I’d spoken to when in Canada and arranging for our accommodation and then met Christina, who I’d also spoken to. Christina is the wife of the owner of the apartment building or maybe of the whole operation.
Our breakfast was quite awhile in coming as there was only one young lady in the kitchen cooking for the five of us and two other guests who showed up from another apartment somewhere. We had a very simple breakfast of Tang, scrambled eggs and two pieces of toast with a small dollop of butter in the middle of the toast. Coffee was some time in coming and was welcomed when it arrived. No seconds though.
Joanna arranged for two of their own cars to take us to the airport but only one arrived so there was a bit of a scramble to get the other one on short order. It all happened though and we arrived at the airport in good time.
I haven’t been able to post any of these notes on my blog as in both cases (the hotel and at the airport) I haven’t been able to hook up to the wireless internet. Hopefully I’ll have better luck in Santa Marta with some of Chris’s help.
After checking in at the airport we had a bit of time on our hands so decided to have a coffee in the general lounge area. A young lady approached us dressed in white and black and seated us in the food fair seating area. We ended up being duped as she took our order for five coffee and charged us 6,000 pesos for each coffee – other food outlets in the food fair had coffee offered at 1400 pesos. I said something about the prices to our delightful young greeter and she only smiled back at me. Shades of Europe from 1972!
The flight to Santa Marta was uneventful and although I had a window seat we were above the clouds for most of the flight except for the last 15 minutes or so while on approach. I noticed huge sections of plantations with evenly spaced rows of trees of some sort, but was too high to even guess what they were. No one that I’ve spoken to since knows either other than they aren’t coffee beans at they usually grow on the side of hills. We guessed mangos.
Chris greeted us at the airport and we caught a couple of cabs to our hotel which is across the road from the beach in a small town just outside of Santa Marta called Rodedero. The rooms are quite sparse and similar to our apartment hotel in Bogota with all floors tiled and the basics for furniture. Quite adequate and comfortable though. No suicide shower here as there is only one tap for water in the shower. People who want a warmer shower usually wait until later in the day after the sun has done its work on the water tower. I’ll try and brave my early morning shower. Prices are very reasonable at $40.00 per night per room. We have a bar fridge as well and bellhop (for lack of a better word) counted each item out in the fridge and had me acknowledge it was all there. We also have a fresh water swimming pool and a restaurant.
We met Chris’s Jenn and she is very nice and beautiful. She had flowers for the ladies and a bead type bracelet for the men as welcoming gifts. She left after a couple of hours for a nap as I’m sure she was very uncomfortable as she couldn’t speak any English at all. Chris seems to manage fairly well now with his Spanish.
The afternoon was spent lounging under a tent canopy of sorts. Everyone went for a swim except Jen, Jenn, Chris and I. The water is calm and the perfect temperature – I’m guessing about 85F. Diane wanted to rent kayaks so I joined her and we paddled along the beach for about 15 minutes and then back. They are open, plastic type kayaks that work well for this type of paddling. Diane hadn’t been in one before so I gave her a mini lesson and she managed quite well.
Late afternoon found us wandering the street near the hotel window shopping and buying the occasional thing. The merchants all try to call you in to their shops but don’t harass. After about an hour of this we decided to have a beer and after that found a seaside restaurant where we had dinner. We all had something different and the food was very good. The price for six of us for food and beverages totaled about $45.00! Amazing!
We were back in our rooms about 20:00 and I decided to stay put but some or all of the others decided to congregate around the pool. I wanted to get these notes caught up and then catch some early shut-eye. I did try an internet café across the street from our hotel again but they still aren’t able to connect to my computer. All my blog notes are done on Word and I was hoping to cut and paste them into my blog but need to be able to get this machine online first. I’m told there is a place in Santa Marta that probably can accommodate me so will try that tomorrow.
5/19/2008 20:00 PM
Up at 07:00 and out the door at 07:55 to meet the women at their place for breakfast. I couldn’t help taking a few pictures of our street as we walked down it noticing the dozens of wires feeding of one concrete hydro pole servicing several houses. The wires looked a bit like a demented spider had been doing its work with many wires lying on top of other wires as they reached out to their final destination. There are very few grounded outlets here and I’m sure that many electrical outlets, telephone lines, cable tv lines (if that’s what they were) and others must be electrified to some degree. It’s surprising things work as well as they do, although several of the plugs in our apartment didn’t work and some only sort of worked but I’m not sure that’s what their problem was.
We also passed a couple of motorcycle taxis on our street waiting for their passengers to emerge from their houses. This is a far faster way to get to where you’re going than the conventional cabs. Jim took one in Cartenenga (another resort town on the Caribbean that he visited a couple of years ago). When you hire one of these cabs you put on a yellow jacket with the cab’s number on the back of it and a helmet and away you go. I don’t think I’m up to that for some time but we saw one well dressed brave woman sitting in on the back of a bike with her helmet on just as we reached the end of the street.
I think we all were rested up after a busy day yesterday and ready to go again. I met Joanna, one of the agents that I’d spoken to when in Canada and arranging for our accommodation and then met Christina, who I’d also spoken to. Christina is the wife of the owner of the apartment building or maybe of the whole operation.
Our breakfast was quite awhile in coming as there was only one young lady in the kitchen cooking for the five of us and two other guests who showed up from another apartment somewhere. We had a very simple breakfast of Tang, scrambled eggs and two pieces of toast with a small dollop of butter in the middle of the toast. Coffee was some time in coming and was welcomed when it arrived. No seconds though.
Joanna arranged for two of their own cars to take us to the airport but only one arrived so there was a bit of a scramble to get the other one on short order. It all happened though and we arrived at the airport in good time.
I haven’t been able to post any of these notes on my blog as in both cases (the hotel and at the airport) I haven’t been able to hook up to the wireless internet. Hopefully I’ll have better luck in Santa Marta with some of Chris’s help.
After checking in at the airport we had a bit of time on our hands so decided to have a coffee in the general lounge area. A young lady approached us dressed in white and black and seated us in the food fair seating area. We ended up being duped as she took our order for five coffee and charged us 6,000 pesos for each coffee – other food outlets in the food fair had coffee offered at 1400 pesos. I said something about the prices to our delightful young greeter and she only smiled back at me. Shades of Europe from 1972!
The flight to Santa Marta was uneventful and although I had a window seat we were above the clouds for most of the flight except for the last 15 minutes or so while on approach. I noticed huge sections of plantations with evenly spaced rows of trees of some sort, but was too high to even guess what they were. No one that I’ve spoken to since knows either other than they aren’t coffee beans at they usually grow on the side of hills. We guessed mangos.
Chris greeted us at the airport and we caught a couple of cabs to our hotel which is across the road from the beach in a small town just outside of Santa Marta called Rodedero. The rooms are quite sparse and similar to our apartment hotel in Bogota with all floors tiled and the basics for furniture. Quite adequate and comfortable though. No suicide shower here as there is only one tap for water in the shower. People who want a warmer shower usually wait until later in the day after the sun has done its work on the water tower. I’ll try and brave my early morning shower. Prices are very reasonable at $40.00 per night per room. We have a bar fridge as well and bellhop (for lack of a better word) counted each item out in the fridge and had me acknowledge it was all there. We also have a fresh water swimming pool and a restaurant.
We met Chris’s Jenn and she is very nice and beautiful. She had flowers for the ladies and a bead type bracelet for the men as welcoming gifts. She left after a couple of hours for a nap as I’m sure she was very uncomfortable as she couldn’t speak any English at all. Chris seems to manage fairly well now with his Spanish.
The afternoon was spent lounging under a tent canopy of sorts. Everyone went for a swim except Jen, Jenn, Chris and I. The water is calm and the perfect temperature – I’m guessing about 85F. Diane wanted to rent kayaks so I joined her and we paddled along the beach for about 15 minutes and then back. They are open, plastic type kayaks that work well for this type of paddling. Diane hadn’t been in one before so I gave her a mini lesson and she managed quite well.
Late afternoon found us wandering the street near the hotel window shopping and buying the occasional thing. The merchants all try to call you in to their shops but don’t harass. After about an hour of this we decided to have a beer and after that found a seaside restaurant where we had dinner. We all had something different and the food was very good. The price for six of us for food and beverages totaled about $45.00! Amazing!
We were back in our rooms about 20:00 and I decided to stay put but some or all of the others decided to congregate around the pool. I wanted to get these notes caught up and then catch some early shut-eye. I did try an internet café across the street from our hotel again but they still aren’t able to connect to my computer. All my blog notes are done on Word and I was hoping to cut and paste them into my blog but need to be able to get this machine online first. I’m told there is a place in Santa Marta that probably can accommodate me so will try that tomorrow.
suicide showers and taxi cabs
5/18/2008
5/19/2008 07:07 AM (notes made for yesterday)
Suicide showers! But definitely safer than those in Costa Rica. These ones have the lead wires to the heater on the shower head taped over which gives one a much more secure feeling when your hand is dangling in the air above the electrical water heater built into the shower head, while washing under your arms. Costa Rica often had bare wires feeding the leads to the shower head heater!
Remember the saying, “I can’t remember what happened yesterday, let alone last week”? Well, here goes.
Jim and I walked about 400 yards down our dead end street (we presume that our neighborhood is somewhere middle class) as there is a kiosk with a security guard at the beginning of the street and most of the cars are locked away behind metal garages with decorative grates on them, (this is going to be what my teacher of decades ago said was a running sentence) to meet the women at their bed and breakfast. The street is just wide enough for two cars to pass and the sidewalks are quite rough with uneven concrete and the occasional pothole that you wouldn’t want to step into. As today is Domingo (Sunday) the bed and breakfast doesn’t serve breakfast but there are three small shops including a bakery within 50’ of their front door. We tried the bakery for some fresh baked goods and got a mix of fresh and what must have been yesterdays as well. I was one of the lucky ones and my bun with some fruit in it was quite good. It was about 08:30 and after breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee, while still sitting at the table I commented on how nice it was (no rain forecast for today) and that it already was quite warm. I think it was Jenn who commented that was likely because we were sitting beside the bake oven and it was producing more of today’s fare! The eating area and work area of this store are somewhat combined. After a few moments of thought I figured that I’d best keep my observations to myself from now on!
The taxi cabs here are for the most part tiny little Atol’s (I think that’s the way you spell it) which are some form of Hyundai (sp again). They seat four comfortably including the driver and they go like stink. We ordered two of them and I thought that I got a first hand experience of what it must be like to be beside the driver in the Grand Pris. Very few of the roads have painted lines of them and there are quite a number of serious potholes to consider and most of the roads are at least two lanes wide – I should say that they’re wide enough to hold two cars side by side traveling at 100 km with three inches between the side mirrors. Seat belts are only provided for the front seat passengers and the cabbie insists that you wear it. Back seat passengers don’t count as the buckle is buried beneath the bench seat somewhere – in every cab we were in. Most of these cars are fairly modern and I will say that from what I saw the taxi fleet is in quite good condition – perhaps better than at home. The one comforting thing is that the drivers are very capable. It’s amazing how they dodge in and out of traffic without signaling a lot of the time, beep their horns to avoid a pending disaster and just carry on – often with one hand on the wheel. The first couple of rides I stepped out of the car onto the sidewalk and almost kissed the broken concrete. After awhile one just becomes “aware” of what’s going on and is able to carry on with limited conversations.
About 10:00 we headed down the street for about a five minute walk to a very modern shopping plaza called Hayeleous. Most of the stores were closed and there were very few people in the mall at that time. We decided to head downtown to Commercial Centro and to the Plaza de Bolivar which has some historic buildings surrounding it. This was our first introduction to beggars and there are a number of them but if you simply say no about three times they leave you alone. There were gazillions of pigeons sharing the plaza with the people but they are trained somehow as there was very little evidence of bird poop. They all seemed to be pecking at something on the ground but even when looking closely I couldn’t see what they might be eating.
We wandered into an enormous church adjacent to the plaza and it was truly enormous inside and truly beautiful. There were a number of people sitting inside praying and then a number of others just milling about like we were. I’m sorry, I couldn’t find a name for this church so will have to look it up later. No literature anywhere.
We wandered down a commercial street and by this time the streets were full of people all enjoying their Sunday outing. I didn’t see one other person who I could identify as a tourist and that was for the whole day yesterday. I was keenly aware of the glances that I got from many looking at our group as we easily stood out from the locals. Jim fit in the best I think as he was wearing khaki shorts and sandals with a somewhat local type shirt which wasn’t tucked in and a sombrero type hat that looked newer but somehow fit in. Apparently we were targeted by a pair of thieves who had said something about they were going to take something from us. Two young school aged girls who spoke English very well overheard them saying this in Spanish and they immediately told Diane and Jody.
One of them saw Diane talking to me and I made eye contact with him. He was about ten paces away from me and we were walking towards him. He immediately turned and headed in the same direction and came to a corner and turned right. We arrived at the corner about five or six seconds later and he had simply disappeared. We had also turned right but he was nowhere to be seen. I guess he figured that we were on to him, but where he went so quickly, we’ll never know. I wasn’t too concerned as there were police and army personnel nearby but who knows what they had in mind.
We carried on up an Avenue heading to the Monserrate, which is a church high up on the mountainside overlooking the city. We caught the aerial cable car up to the top which was about another 1000’ in elevation and I think we were at that point well over 10,000’ in altitude. The area up there was absolutely beautiful with nice hillside gardens, another beautiful church which was not much smaller than the one that we’d been too earlier, and absolutely stunning views over the city of Bogota. This outlook gave us a good perspective of the city and its surrounding area. One might expect that the city, being at an elevation of 8,700’, would be on a hillside or mountain side but not so. Most of the city is in a large valley that’s slightly bowl shaped but is for the most part level. The commercial center has many high rise buildings and is quite modern. We went into the church and the situation was similar to the other church in that there was a service going on but many others who weren’t participating were wandering about. It was huge and one wonders what effort was made to build such a large building and surrounding complex at this altitude above the city. This church really was near the top of the mountain. There were a number of outbuildings surrounding it including offices, medical stations and police and military stations along with a long corridor of merchants that seemed to be ordered by having the most expensive ones first and at the very end – about a city block long – the very low end shops and food outlets.
We spent an hour or so up there and I was disappointed again not to find any literature in any of the shops or the church itself about where we were and some history.
Our trip down on the rail cable car was uneventful and there was less opportunity for seeing the view as we were really jammed into the car – standing areas only and I’m sure there were at least 50 of us in this small car. The system worked well and the only hint that there might have been some tension is when the car finally stopped at the bottom and quite a few people applauded – I presume for having arrived safely.
Once grounded we decided to head back tour rooms to freshen up and we hailed two cabs and you know the story here, but we arrived safely again.
The elevation here is high and I thought that I was getting a bit tired with all of the walking that we were doing and when I lay my head down for a nap for 20 or so minutes I realized how tired I was. It was nice to feel that flood of relaxation spread over my body as I dropped off for my snooze.
We decided that we were going to go out for dinner to Zona Rosa. This is a high end area of the city and when we arrived there it was clear that it was upscale by all the shops and their expensive displays. The restaurants were for the most part high end as well. We’d planned on having Italian cuisine but couldn’t find the restaurant even after getting directions from at least four or five policemen and doormen to restaurants and pubs. In the end we learned that it had closed or gone out of business! We ended up having a beer at the Bogota Beer Company and I had one of the best glasses of beer ever – it was a mix of Bogota light and dark, somewhat similar to Herman’s dark but much better. We ended up at a Mexican restaurant for dinner and I think we all enjoyed the food. It was all a bit different tasting from the usual Mexican fare that I’d been used to but was good.
I’m having a bit of trouble writing this note as there are a couple of love birds sitting in front of me and one of them keeps adjusting her seat in jerky sort of motions which makes it hard to find the right keys on the keyboard. I get most done when they have their heads together and are relaxing. It would be easier if they just settled down!
As a final note to the day we had our usual cab ride home and I was in bed by about 10:30 and I was very tired. There is no heat whatsoever in our apartment – apparently the climate stays relatively the same year round and it’s quite moderate. Despite that I was cold in the night a couple of times the night before so folded the blankets on my double bed into single bed size and dozed off into oblivion.
5/19/2008 07:07 AM (notes made for yesterday)
Suicide showers! But definitely safer than those in Costa Rica. These ones have the lead wires to the heater on the shower head taped over which gives one a much more secure feeling when your hand is dangling in the air above the electrical water heater built into the shower head, while washing under your arms. Costa Rica often had bare wires feeding the leads to the shower head heater!
Remember the saying, “I can’t remember what happened yesterday, let alone last week”? Well, here goes.
Jim and I walked about 400 yards down our dead end street (we presume that our neighborhood is somewhere middle class) as there is a kiosk with a security guard at the beginning of the street and most of the cars are locked away behind metal garages with decorative grates on them, (this is going to be what my teacher of decades ago said was a running sentence) to meet the women at their bed and breakfast. The street is just wide enough for two cars to pass and the sidewalks are quite rough with uneven concrete and the occasional pothole that you wouldn’t want to step into. As today is Domingo (Sunday) the bed and breakfast doesn’t serve breakfast but there are three small shops including a bakery within 50’ of their front door. We tried the bakery for some fresh baked goods and got a mix of fresh and what must have been yesterdays as well. I was one of the lucky ones and my bun with some fruit in it was quite good. It was about 08:30 and after breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee, while still sitting at the table I commented on how nice it was (no rain forecast for today) and that it already was quite warm. I think it was Jenn who commented that was likely because we were sitting beside the bake oven and it was producing more of today’s fare! The eating area and work area of this store are somewhat combined. After a few moments of thought I figured that I’d best keep my observations to myself from now on!
The taxi cabs here are for the most part tiny little Atol’s (I think that’s the way you spell it) which are some form of Hyundai (sp again). They seat four comfortably including the driver and they go like stink. We ordered two of them and I thought that I got a first hand experience of what it must be like to be beside the driver in the Grand Pris. Very few of the roads have painted lines of them and there are quite a number of serious potholes to consider and most of the roads are at least two lanes wide – I should say that they’re wide enough to hold two cars side by side traveling at 100 km with three inches between the side mirrors. Seat belts are only provided for the front seat passengers and the cabbie insists that you wear it. Back seat passengers don’t count as the buckle is buried beneath the bench seat somewhere – in every cab we were in. Most of these cars are fairly modern and I will say that from what I saw the taxi fleet is in quite good condition – perhaps better than at home. The one comforting thing is that the drivers are very capable. It’s amazing how they dodge in and out of traffic without signaling a lot of the time, beep their horns to avoid a pending disaster and just carry on – often with one hand on the wheel. The first couple of rides I stepped out of the car onto the sidewalk and almost kissed the broken concrete. After awhile one just becomes “aware” of what’s going on and is able to carry on with limited conversations.
About 10:00 we headed down the street for about a five minute walk to a very modern shopping plaza called Hayeleous. Most of the stores were closed and there were very few people in the mall at that time. We decided to head downtown to Commercial Centro and to the Plaza de Bolivar which has some historic buildings surrounding it. This was our first introduction to beggars and there are a number of them but if you simply say no about three times they leave you alone. There were gazillions of pigeons sharing the plaza with the people but they are trained somehow as there was very little evidence of bird poop. They all seemed to be pecking at something on the ground but even when looking closely I couldn’t see what they might be eating.
We wandered into an enormous church adjacent to the plaza and it was truly enormous inside and truly beautiful. There were a number of people sitting inside praying and then a number of others just milling about like we were. I’m sorry, I couldn’t find a name for this church so will have to look it up later. No literature anywhere.
We wandered down a commercial street and by this time the streets were full of people all enjoying their Sunday outing. I didn’t see one other person who I could identify as a tourist and that was for the whole day yesterday. I was keenly aware of the glances that I got from many looking at our group as we easily stood out from the locals. Jim fit in the best I think as he was wearing khaki shorts and sandals with a somewhat local type shirt which wasn’t tucked in and a sombrero type hat that looked newer but somehow fit in. Apparently we were targeted by a pair of thieves who had said something about they were going to take something from us. Two young school aged girls who spoke English very well overheard them saying this in Spanish and they immediately told Diane and Jody.
One of them saw Diane talking to me and I made eye contact with him. He was about ten paces away from me and we were walking towards him. He immediately turned and headed in the same direction and came to a corner and turned right. We arrived at the corner about five or six seconds later and he had simply disappeared. We had also turned right but he was nowhere to be seen. I guess he figured that we were on to him, but where he went so quickly, we’ll never know. I wasn’t too concerned as there were police and army personnel nearby but who knows what they had in mind.
We carried on up an Avenue heading to the Monserrate, which is a church high up on the mountainside overlooking the city. We caught the aerial cable car up to the top which was about another 1000’ in elevation and I think we were at that point well over 10,000’ in altitude. The area up there was absolutely beautiful with nice hillside gardens, another beautiful church which was not much smaller than the one that we’d been too earlier, and absolutely stunning views over the city of Bogota. This outlook gave us a good perspective of the city and its surrounding area. One might expect that the city, being at an elevation of 8,700’, would be on a hillside or mountain side but not so. Most of the city is in a large valley that’s slightly bowl shaped but is for the most part level. The commercial center has many high rise buildings and is quite modern. We went into the church and the situation was similar to the other church in that there was a service going on but many others who weren’t participating were wandering about. It was huge and one wonders what effort was made to build such a large building and surrounding complex at this altitude above the city. This church really was near the top of the mountain. There were a number of outbuildings surrounding it including offices, medical stations and police and military stations along with a long corridor of merchants that seemed to be ordered by having the most expensive ones first and at the very end – about a city block long – the very low end shops and food outlets.
We spent an hour or so up there and I was disappointed again not to find any literature in any of the shops or the church itself about where we were and some history.
Our trip down on the rail cable car was uneventful and there was less opportunity for seeing the view as we were really jammed into the car – standing areas only and I’m sure there were at least 50 of us in this small car. The system worked well and the only hint that there might have been some tension is when the car finally stopped at the bottom and quite a few people applauded – I presume for having arrived safely.
Once grounded we decided to head back tour rooms to freshen up and we hailed two cabs and you know the story here, but we arrived safely again.
The elevation here is high and I thought that I was getting a bit tired with all of the walking that we were doing and when I lay my head down for a nap for 20 or so minutes I realized how tired I was. It was nice to feel that flood of relaxation spread over my body as I dropped off for my snooze.
We decided that we were going to go out for dinner to Zona Rosa. This is a high end area of the city and when we arrived there it was clear that it was upscale by all the shops and their expensive displays. The restaurants were for the most part high end as well. We’d planned on having Italian cuisine but couldn’t find the restaurant even after getting directions from at least four or five policemen and doormen to restaurants and pubs. In the end we learned that it had closed or gone out of business! We ended up having a beer at the Bogota Beer Company and I had one of the best glasses of beer ever – it was a mix of Bogota light and dark, somewhat similar to Herman’s dark but much better. We ended up at a Mexican restaurant for dinner and I think we all enjoyed the food. It was all a bit different tasting from the usual Mexican fare that I’d been used to but was good.
I’m having a bit of trouble writing this note as there are a couple of love birds sitting in front of me and one of them keeps adjusting her seat in jerky sort of motions which makes it hard to find the right keys on the keyboard. I get most done when they have their heads together and are relaxing. It would be easier if they just settled down!
As a final note to the day we had our usual cab ride home and I was in bed by about 10:30 and I was very tired. There is no heat whatsoever in our apartment – apparently the climate stays relatively the same year round and it’s quite moderate. Despite that I was cold in the night a couple of times the night before so folded the blankets on my double bed into single bed size and dozed off into oblivion.
Underway aye yi yi
5/16/2008 15:26 PM Think ahead. Pinch myself.
Eileen dropped me off at the ferry terminal after I had an uneventful last minute packing session. I’m a bit worried though as this all seems too casual – not the normal panic that I’m used to when going away for more than a few days. What worries me is that the last two items I packed and that I only thought of at the last moment was to take a hat and my clip-on sunglasses – not items that one would normally think of at the last minute! I do only have one backpack type suitcase and a small carry-on which is good – but on the other hand I’m not sure why my backpack weighs close to 40 pounds. It’s under limit but I’m beginning to wonder what’s in there that weighs so much! All necessary stuff of course, and a lot of it is electronics – computer, peripherals, manuals etc. etc. Eileen would have been much happier to see me off with a novel instead of all of my “stuff” – maybe I won’t even open them and will pick up a novel – chances are ….?
I’m sure I will make it to Bogotá despite the fact that when I walked onto the ferry and settled into my kiosk work station I realized that I had to buy a bus ticket to take me to the airport! Not to worry that they only sell the bus tickets for the first thirty minutes after the ferry is underway – I made it by an easy ten minutes after I packed my computer etc. as I didn’t want to leave it and my bags unattended. It did make me stop and take a moment to think about what other steps I might have to take to get to the hotel though. It’s not possible that this confident traveler who just forges ahead and gets to where he’s going without a problem has relied more heavily than realized on my usual traveling companion – don’t think so but a seed has been planted!
Another issue that will amaze me throughout this whole trip is the price of things. I thought the ferry fare would be about $11.00 and it was $13.00. Then when I got around to buying my ticket from the ferry to the airport I figured another $13.00 – but of course it was $19.00! I just had to ask the ticket agent why, but I already knew his answer, “I don’t know”. I realize this will be a constant amazement as I travel along my way so I need to do a little thinking about prices so as to reduce the shock during my trek.
5/16/2008 21:23 PM
Arrived at my hotel in good time and checked my email to find that there was a message to call asap from Bogotá. I spent 15 minutes trying to call out and couldn’t get my phone to work. I thought it was because of the long distance calling from the room but no. After going to the front desk and then having a serviceman check out the phone they decided that it wasn’t working so they gave me another room! By then it was too late to call – Bogotá is three hours ahead of Vancouver. I’ve emailed them to find out what the message is about – I’m sure that war hasn’t broken out and the airport is closed!! I’ll find out more tomorrow. I’ll be up early as I need to check in about 05:45.
Eileen dropped me off at the ferry terminal after I had an uneventful last minute packing session. I’m a bit worried though as this all seems too casual – not the normal panic that I’m used to when going away for more than a few days. What worries me is that the last two items I packed and that I only thought of at the last moment was to take a hat and my clip-on sunglasses – not items that one would normally think of at the last minute! I do only have one backpack type suitcase and a small carry-on which is good – but on the other hand I’m not sure why my backpack weighs close to 40 pounds. It’s under limit but I’m beginning to wonder what’s in there that weighs so much! All necessary stuff of course, and a lot of it is electronics – computer, peripherals, manuals etc. etc. Eileen would have been much happier to see me off with a novel instead of all of my “stuff” – maybe I won’t even open them and will pick up a novel – chances are ….?
I’m sure I will make it to Bogotá despite the fact that when I walked onto the ferry and settled into my kiosk work station I realized that I had to buy a bus ticket to take me to the airport! Not to worry that they only sell the bus tickets for the first thirty minutes after the ferry is underway – I made it by an easy ten minutes after I packed my computer etc. as I didn’t want to leave it and my bags unattended. It did make me stop and take a moment to think about what other steps I might have to take to get to the hotel though. It’s not possible that this confident traveler who just forges ahead and gets to where he’s going without a problem has relied more heavily than realized on my usual traveling companion – don’t think so but a seed has been planted!
Another issue that will amaze me throughout this whole trip is the price of things. I thought the ferry fare would be about $11.00 and it was $13.00. Then when I got around to buying my ticket from the ferry to the airport I figured another $13.00 – but of course it was $19.00! I just had to ask the ticket agent why, but I already knew his answer, “I don’t know”. I realize this will be a constant amazement as I travel along my way so I need to do a little thinking about prices so as to reduce the shock during my trek.
5/16/2008 21:23 PM
Arrived at my hotel in good time and checked my email to find that there was a message to call asap from Bogotá. I spent 15 minutes trying to call out and couldn’t get my phone to work. I thought it was because of the long distance calling from the room but no. After going to the front desk and then having a serviceman check out the phone they decided that it wasn’t working so they gave me another room! By then it was too late to call – Bogotá is three hours ahead of Vancouver. I’ve emailed them to find out what the message is about – I’m sure that war hasn’t broken out and the airport is closed!! I’ll find out more tomorrow. I’ll be up early as I need to check in about 05:45.
the 24 hour clock
5/17/2008 06:37 AM
For thirty nine years Eileen has poo poo’d my use of the 24 hour clock. I don’t know why as she’s from a railroad man’s family. I must admit that because of the slight doubt that I’ve had in using the 24 hour clock, that I haven’t used it 100% of the time – and of course Eileen refuses to even consider using it so when we talk about time we use the conventional system.
I’ve never been able to really justify why I preferred the 24 hour clock until this morning. Yesterday I received an “asap” call from the hotel we’ll be staying at in Bogota and by the time I received the message and tried to call them back, they were closed (it’s an apartment hotel in case that raised a question). This morning I called to see what the message was – hoping for the best - but wondering. The hotel just wanted to confirm that they were sending their driver to fetch us at 8:45 PM and not 8:45 AM. Now if I hadn’t faltered in my ways I would have told them originally that it was 20:45 that we were to be picked up and would have avoided all of that confusion. I was right all these years after all – it just took a long time to prove it!
And no – I’m not trying to fill the page with notes for whoever might be reading this – the 24 hour clock is the way to go!
Tilley pants aren’t the best travel clothes! Why? Because when you are going through the various screens and scans when trying to check through the American Customs lines – the plastic zippers, legging holders etc. etc. keep setting off the scanner alert button. I had special scrutiny this morning as I stood at the scanner with my shoes off, my belt buckle undone and hanging, and my arms extended like I was in an aerobics class; I had this stern faced custom fellow grasping each leg like he was throttling a chicken and running his hands up and down my legs. It wasn’t just once he did it – for some reason he had to be thorough. Finally he realized that he had gone far enough when he glanced at my eyes and saw that they had that blank look in them – sort of looking off in the distance but not seeing anything. Fortunately my fly didn’t set off the scanner!
I’m more or less settled now and have had my last Tim Horton’s coffee for ten or eleven days. It’ll be interesting to see how Colombian coffee stands up to Tim Horton.
45 minutes to go now until flight time so I’m going to get a bit of exercise and do a stroll about the airport corridors.
5/18/2008 00:22 AM
Well, I really lucked in with my seating. Both flights I had seat 14A which was an emergency exit seat and nobody sitting in front of me. I had my backpack set up as a footstool and I must say that I think I might have been more comfortable than passengers in first class.
Vancouver to Houston was uneventful and even though I had a window seat there wasn’t much to see. I did notice that when we wee over what I think was Texas that there was an awful lot of spare looking territory, but of course that was from six miles up! I did notice what seemed to be an enormous haze hanging over the area as we approached Houston and I presume that’s what it was. I also noticed a lot of large housing sites that had been prepared for housing with the roads and curbs in but no houses being built anywhere that I could see.
All worked out well upon arrival in Houston. My bag was checked right through to Bogota so when arriving at the airport I didn’t have to leave the secure area. I was think that if I had to I might have dodged into a bathroom and changed into my bathing suit and a tank top so as to avoid further body searches.
Gate 16 is where Jody, Jenn, Jim and I were to congregate – Jo and Jenn non stop from Calgary and Jim from Denver and me from Vancouver. Jo & Jenn arrive about noon, me about 13:30 and Jim about 13:50 (notice the time!). All four of us were on the same flight to Bogota with Diane meeting us in Bogota coming in from Toronto.
Another delightful flight from Houston to Bogota but not much to see out of the window. We arrived in Bogota on time and unfortunately in the dark. I’ll get a bit of a view when we leave next week at we leave at 08:00. The one thing that I did notice approaching the city was how few lights there were over such a large city – nothing like flying into a North American city at night.
Very long line to clear customs but it only took about ½ hour. I probably took the longest of any passenger to clear customs except for those who might have been detained for other reasons. I wasn’t wearing my hearing aids and my agent hardly opened his mouth when he spoke and even then I don’t think his English was very good. I could see our conversation leading to somewhere where I didn’t want to go but couldn’t do anything about it. Finally, in exasperation (but polite) he beckoned to the agent in the kiosk next to him. This fellow was much more fluent but by then I was a bit tongue tied myself and was probably talking very loud as I tend to do that when I communicate with others of a different language – somehow I think loudness helps. Anyway we did manage to make it through the questions – I think he asked me a few extras because of the unusual situation – and I was relieved to hear the clank of the official stamp as it hit the first page in my new passport. That was the other issue – he seemed to have some concern about the emptiness of my passport as he flipped through the pages twice looking for other point of entry stamps. It didn’t help matters to have a well dressed army type policeman standing only ten feet away.
Out to the baggage area and a short two or three minutes later my blue bag appeared on the conveyor belt. It was definitely the worse for wear as it was quite dirty and scuffed up – but that didn’t matter, it was there! I no sooner picked up my bag and turned around and there was Diane Tyler (a good friend who we met through Jo & Jim) smiling and waving her Canadian flag. She’d arrived about 45 minutes earlier. Jo, Jim and Jenn were a few minutes behind me so I wandered out to the ramp to see if I could see our hotel driver. Sure enough, there he was in the middle of the multitude of other expectant greeters all holding up signs with the names of those they were to meet. It’s amazing how many there were – in the hundreds for certain. But there amongst them all was a smiling young fellow holding up an 11”x8.5” sheet of paper sideways with my name typed on it! All continues to go well!
We waited for the Footes to come along and then all walked a hundred paces or so to our car. It was older and although it had a front and back seat plus a truck type box covered with canvas at the back we soon realized that there were five of us plus our greeter (who spoke some English) plus another women who turned out to be our driver. Jenn and the driver piled into the front as there were only two seats up there and Jim, Jo, Diane and I squeezed – and I really mean squeezed into the back seat. I was hoping that with all of us and our luggage that we were going to make it. The fellow who spoke a bit of English we presumed was left behind as there was no way another body would fit in.
Our problem now was to try to communicate with our driver who only spoke Spanish. As we are located in two different buildings about two blocks apart, we wanted the women dropped off first so Jim and I would know how to walk back to meet them in the morning. I couldn’t remember what first was in Spanish so I along with others were saying things like “senoritas uno” and “hombres Segundo” . I was combining French, English and a bit of Spanish all in my translations – I even said, “gute (for good)” once which brought raucous laughter from the group. It’s a good thing I don’t know bits and pieces of German too or we really would have had her confused. In the end we got our point across and lo and behold we pulled up in front of the apartments where the women were staying. I decided that Jim and I had better check out their digs before we left them on their own and I pried myself out of the back seat and went around the back to get their luggage – and guess what? I couldn’t believe it, our greeter was standing at the back of the vehicle and started to unload our baggage! I couldn’t believe that he ran behind us for ten minutes – he didn’t actually – he just piled in on top of the luggage. Another laugh.
The digs were wonderful, clean, everyone has their own room and bathroom. It’s really a three bedroom, four bathroom apartment. Kitchen, television and computer with internet included!
Jim and I were driven about two blocks away and our place isn’t a B & B like the women’s place is, but nevertheless it’s quite suitable and well appointed – without the internet though. Jim’s bag got put in the better room by our driver – he has a large painting of a nude on the wall while all I get is a lonely pine tree of some sort.
Jim and I walked back (we were assured that the neighborhood is quite safe) and fetched the women and then went for a beer and a bite to eat. The streets and sidewalks are very rough for the most part but some sidewalks have nice inlaid tiles on them. I found out twice that those tiles are very slippery when it’s wet (raining lightly). I didn’t go down but will be wearing my sandals tomorrow as they have good gripping soles on them.
We ended up in a small restaurant that looks a lot like a cafeteria out of the fifties because of the colourful arborite (sp?) tables and chairs with silver plated legs. Jim at first ordered chips and then changed his mind and ordered a meal of chicken. The rest of us ordered cerveza. The cerveza came and four of us had two each. Then Jim’s chicken meal came and it was a plate large enough to feed six! We all had a small taste. The interesting thing about this meal was that we all were given plastic gloves to wear (not latex – just loose fitting plastic gloves). I wondered what that was all about and was a bit hesitant to even try anything at first but we decided that the gloves were to avoid getting greasy fingers (no cutlery was brought). Three or four minutes later three full sized fish dinners came along! Our communication with the waitress wasn’t great and she didn’t get the message that Jim changed his mind about the chips and ordered the chicken instead. We also didn’t understand that the chips (French fries) come with a large piece of fish! Aye yi yi! We all pitched in and bits and pieces of this and that and made a respectable showing but there was food left on the table when we finished. 60,000. pesos later and we were gone. (Not as bad as it sounds – about $30.00 for all that food plus 8 bottles of beer).
We walked the women back to their digs and then Jim and I had a difference of opinion as to which way to go back to our place. Surprisingly we thought in opposite directions. As I was so certain as to the way we had come we decided to try my way first and walked about two blocks to where I thought our place was. The directions felt right to me but nothing looked familiar as we walked along. We came to the end of the street where the apartment was supposed to be and for certain nothing was familiar. The apartments along this street for the most part have a grated car park securing their vehicles with a keyed pedestrian door in the grate which leads to the apartment door. We tried the last three doors on the block with our keys (which were sticky to start with) to no avail. I still felt that we were on the right street but we decided to head back to the women’s apartment and then start out from there on Jim’s route. We didn’t get very far when we both realized that this was not the right way to go – nothing resembled familiarity this time. I suggested we go back as I was still certain that where we’d been was the right place. We walked back and this time jiggled the keys in a couple of locks and “hooray” we’re in!
And now – it’s bedtime after a fun day of traveling.
For thirty nine years Eileen has poo poo’d my use of the 24 hour clock. I don’t know why as she’s from a railroad man’s family. I must admit that because of the slight doubt that I’ve had in using the 24 hour clock, that I haven’t used it 100% of the time – and of course Eileen refuses to even consider using it so when we talk about time we use the conventional system.
I’ve never been able to really justify why I preferred the 24 hour clock until this morning. Yesterday I received an “asap” call from the hotel we’ll be staying at in Bogota and by the time I received the message and tried to call them back, they were closed (it’s an apartment hotel in case that raised a question). This morning I called to see what the message was – hoping for the best - but wondering. The hotel just wanted to confirm that they were sending their driver to fetch us at 8:45 PM and not 8:45 AM. Now if I hadn’t faltered in my ways I would have told them originally that it was 20:45 that we were to be picked up and would have avoided all of that confusion. I was right all these years after all – it just took a long time to prove it!
And no – I’m not trying to fill the page with notes for whoever might be reading this – the 24 hour clock is the way to go!
Tilley pants aren’t the best travel clothes! Why? Because when you are going through the various screens and scans when trying to check through the American Customs lines – the plastic zippers, legging holders etc. etc. keep setting off the scanner alert button. I had special scrutiny this morning as I stood at the scanner with my shoes off, my belt buckle undone and hanging, and my arms extended like I was in an aerobics class; I had this stern faced custom fellow grasping each leg like he was throttling a chicken and running his hands up and down my legs. It wasn’t just once he did it – for some reason he had to be thorough. Finally he realized that he had gone far enough when he glanced at my eyes and saw that they had that blank look in them – sort of looking off in the distance but not seeing anything. Fortunately my fly didn’t set off the scanner!
I’m more or less settled now and have had my last Tim Horton’s coffee for ten or eleven days. It’ll be interesting to see how Colombian coffee stands up to Tim Horton.
45 minutes to go now until flight time so I’m going to get a bit of exercise and do a stroll about the airport corridors.
5/18/2008 00:22 AM
Well, I really lucked in with my seating. Both flights I had seat 14A which was an emergency exit seat and nobody sitting in front of me. I had my backpack set up as a footstool and I must say that I think I might have been more comfortable than passengers in first class.
Vancouver to Houston was uneventful and even though I had a window seat there wasn’t much to see. I did notice that when we wee over what I think was Texas that there was an awful lot of spare looking territory, but of course that was from six miles up! I did notice what seemed to be an enormous haze hanging over the area as we approached Houston and I presume that’s what it was. I also noticed a lot of large housing sites that had been prepared for housing with the roads and curbs in but no houses being built anywhere that I could see.
All worked out well upon arrival in Houston. My bag was checked right through to Bogota so when arriving at the airport I didn’t have to leave the secure area. I was think that if I had to I might have dodged into a bathroom and changed into my bathing suit and a tank top so as to avoid further body searches.
Gate 16 is where Jody, Jenn, Jim and I were to congregate – Jo and Jenn non stop from Calgary and Jim from Denver and me from Vancouver. Jo & Jenn arrive about noon, me about 13:30 and Jim about 13:50 (notice the time!). All four of us were on the same flight to Bogota with Diane meeting us in Bogota coming in from Toronto.
Another delightful flight from Houston to Bogota but not much to see out of the window. We arrived in Bogota on time and unfortunately in the dark. I’ll get a bit of a view when we leave next week at we leave at 08:00. The one thing that I did notice approaching the city was how few lights there were over such a large city – nothing like flying into a North American city at night.
Very long line to clear customs but it only took about ½ hour. I probably took the longest of any passenger to clear customs except for those who might have been detained for other reasons. I wasn’t wearing my hearing aids and my agent hardly opened his mouth when he spoke and even then I don’t think his English was very good. I could see our conversation leading to somewhere where I didn’t want to go but couldn’t do anything about it. Finally, in exasperation (but polite) he beckoned to the agent in the kiosk next to him. This fellow was much more fluent but by then I was a bit tongue tied myself and was probably talking very loud as I tend to do that when I communicate with others of a different language – somehow I think loudness helps. Anyway we did manage to make it through the questions – I think he asked me a few extras because of the unusual situation – and I was relieved to hear the clank of the official stamp as it hit the first page in my new passport. That was the other issue – he seemed to have some concern about the emptiness of my passport as he flipped through the pages twice looking for other point of entry stamps. It didn’t help matters to have a well dressed army type policeman standing only ten feet away.
Out to the baggage area and a short two or three minutes later my blue bag appeared on the conveyor belt. It was definitely the worse for wear as it was quite dirty and scuffed up – but that didn’t matter, it was there! I no sooner picked up my bag and turned around and there was Diane Tyler (a good friend who we met through Jo & Jim) smiling and waving her Canadian flag. She’d arrived about 45 minutes earlier. Jo, Jim and Jenn were a few minutes behind me so I wandered out to the ramp to see if I could see our hotel driver. Sure enough, there he was in the middle of the multitude of other expectant greeters all holding up signs with the names of those they were to meet. It’s amazing how many there were – in the hundreds for certain. But there amongst them all was a smiling young fellow holding up an 11”x8.5” sheet of paper sideways with my name typed on it! All continues to go well!
We waited for the Footes to come along and then all walked a hundred paces or so to our car. It was older and although it had a front and back seat plus a truck type box covered with canvas at the back we soon realized that there were five of us plus our greeter (who spoke some English) plus another women who turned out to be our driver. Jenn and the driver piled into the front as there were only two seats up there and Jim, Jo, Diane and I squeezed – and I really mean squeezed into the back seat. I was hoping that with all of us and our luggage that we were going to make it. The fellow who spoke a bit of English we presumed was left behind as there was no way another body would fit in.
Our problem now was to try to communicate with our driver who only spoke Spanish. As we are located in two different buildings about two blocks apart, we wanted the women dropped off first so Jim and I would know how to walk back to meet them in the morning. I couldn’t remember what first was in Spanish so I along with others were saying things like “senoritas uno” and “hombres Segundo” . I was combining French, English and a bit of Spanish all in my translations – I even said, “gute (for good)” once which brought raucous laughter from the group. It’s a good thing I don’t know bits and pieces of German too or we really would have had her confused. In the end we got our point across and lo and behold we pulled up in front of the apartments where the women were staying. I decided that Jim and I had better check out their digs before we left them on their own and I pried myself out of the back seat and went around the back to get their luggage – and guess what? I couldn’t believe it, our greeter was standing at the back of the vehicle and started to unload our baggage! I couldn’t believe that he ran behind us for ten minutes – he didn’t actually – he just piled in on top of the luggage. Another laugh.
The digs were wonderful, clean, everyone has their own room and bathroom. It’s really a three bedroom, four bathroom apartment. Kitchen, television and computer with internet included!
Jim and I were driven about two blocks away and our place isn’t a B & B like the women’s place is, but nevertheless it’s quite suitable and well appointed – without the internet though. Jim’s bag got put in the better room by our driver – he has a large painting of a nude on the wall while all I get is a lonely pine tree of some sort.
Jim and I walked back (we were assured that the neighborhood is quite safe) and fetched the women and then went for a beer and a bite to eat. The streets and sidewalks are very rough for the most part but some sidewalks have nice inlaid tiles on them. I found out twice that those tiles are very slippery when it’s wet (raining lightly). I didn’t go down but will be wearing my sandals tomorrow as they have good gripping soles on them.
We ended up in a small restaurant that looks a lot like a cafeteria out of the fifties because of the colourful arborite (sp?) tables and chairs with silver plated legs. Jim at first ordered chips and then changed his mind and ordered a meal of chicken. The rest of us ordered cerveza. The cerveza came and four of us had two each. Then Jim’s chicken meal came and it was a plate large enough to feed six! We all had a small taste. The interesting thing about this meal was that we all were given plastic gloves to wear (not latex – just loose fitting plastic gloves). I wondered what that was all about and was a bit hesitant to even try anything at first but we decided that the gloves were to avoid getting greasy fingers (no cutlery was brought). Three or four minutes later three full sized fish dinners came along! Our communication with the waitress wasn’t great and she didn’t get the message that Jim changed his mind about the chips and ordered the chicken instead. We also didn’t understand that the chips (French fries) come with a large piece of fish! Aye yi yi! We all pitched in and bits and pieces of this and that and made a respectable showing but there was food left on the table when we finished. 60,000. pesos later and we were gone. (Not as bad as it sounds – about $30.00 for all that food plus 8 bottles of beer).
We walked the women back to their digs and then Jim and I had a difference of opinion as to which way to go back to our place. Surprisingly we thought in opposite directions. As I was so certain as to the way we had come we decided to try my way first and walked about two blocks to where I thought our place was. The directions felt right to me but nothing looked familiar as we walked along. We came to the end of the street where the apartment was supposed to be and for certain nothing was familiar. The apartments along this street for the most part have a grated car park securing their vehicles with a keyed pedestrian door in the grate which leads to the apartment door. We tried the last three doors on the block with our keys (which were sticky to start with) to no avail. I still felt that we were on the right street but we decided to head back to the women’s apartment and then start out from there on Jim’s route. We didn’t get very far when we both realized that this was not the right way to go – nothing resembled familiarity this time. I suggested we go back as I was still certain that where we’d been was the right place. We walked back and this time jiggled the keys in a couple of locks and “hooray” we’re in!
And now – it’s bedtime after a fun day of traveling.
Friday, May 16, 2008
20080516
5/16/2008 15:26 PM Think ahead. Pinch myself.
Eileen dropped me off at the ferry terminal after I had an uneventful last minute packing session. I’m a bit worried though as this all seems too casual – not the normal panic that I’m used to when going away for more than a few days. What worries me is that the last two items I packed and that I only thought of at the last moment was to take a hat and my clip-on sunglasses – not items that one would normally think of at the last minute! I do only have one backpack type suitcase and a small carry-on which is good – but on the other hand I’m not sure why my backpack weighs close to 40 pounds. It’s under limit but I’m beginning to wonder what’s in there that weighs so much! All necessary stuff of course, and a lot of it is electronics – computer, peripherals, manuals etc. etc. Eileen would have been much happier to see me off with a novel instead of all of my “stuff” – maybe I won’t even open them and will pick up a novel – chances are ….?
I’m sure I will make it to Bogotá despite the fact that when I walked onto the ferry and settled into my kiosk work station I realized that I had to buy a bus ticket to take me to the airport! Not to worry that they only sell the bus tickets for the first thirty minutes after the ferry is underway – I made it by an easy ten minutes after I packed my computer etc. as I didn’t want to leave it and my bags unattended. It did make me stop and take a moment to think about what other steps I might have to take to get to the hotel though. It’s not possible that this confident traveler who just forges ahead and gets to where he’s going without a problem, has relied more heavily than realized on my usual traveling companion – don’t think so but a seed has been planted!
Another issue that will amaze me throughout this whole trip is the price of things. I thought the ferry fare would be about $11.00 and it was $13.00. Then when I got around to buying my bus ticket from the ferry to the airport I figured another $13.00 – but of course it was $19.00! I just had to ask the ticket agent why, but I already knew his answer, “I don’t know”. I realize this will be a constant amazement as I travel along my way so I need to do a little thinking about prices so as to reduce the shock during my trek.
5/16/2008 21:23 PM
Arrived at my hotel in good time and checked my email to find that there was a message to call asap from Bogotá. I spent 15 minutes trying to call out and couldn’t get my phone to work. I thought it was because of the long distance calling from the room but no. After going to the front desk and then having a serviceman check out the phone they decided that it wasn’t working so they gave me another room! By then it was too late to call – Bogotá is three hours ahead of Vancouver. I’ve emailed them to find out what the message is about – I’m sure that war hasn’t broken out and the airport is closed!! I’ll find out more tomorrow. I’ll be up early as I need to check in about 05:45. I know that I'll at least get as far as Houston before I'm stopped with an advisory! Sweet dreams.
Eileen dropped me off at the ferry terminal after I had an uneventful last minute packing session. I’m a bit worried though as this all seems too casual – not the normal panic that I’m used to when going away for more than a few days. What worries me is that the last two items I packed and that I only thought of at the last moment was to take a hat and my clip-on sunglasses – not items that one would normally think of at the last minute! I do only have one backpack type suitcase and a small carry-on which is good – but on the other hand I’m not sure why my backpack weighs close to 40 pounds. It’s under limit but I’m beginning to wonder what’s in there that weighs so much! All necessary stuff of course, and a lot of it is electronics – computer, peripherals, manuals etc. etc. Eileen would have been much happier to see me off with a novel instead of all of my “stuff” – maybe I won’t even open them and will pick up a novel – chances are ….?
I’m sure I will make it to Bogotá despite the fact that when I walked onto the ferry and settled into my kiosk work station I realized that I had to buy a bus ticket to take me to the airport! Not to worry that they only sell the bus tickets for the first thirty minutes after the ferry is underway – I made it by an easy ten minutes after I packed my computer etc. as I didn’t want to leave it and my bags unattended. It did make me stop and take a moment to think about what other steps I might have to take to get to the hotel though. It’s not possible that this confident traveler who just forges ahead and gets to where he’s going without a problem, has relied more heavily than realized on my usual traveling companion – don’t think so but a seed has been planted!
Another issue that will amaze me throughout this whole trip is the price of things. I thought the ferry fare would be about $11.00 and it was $13.00. Then when I got around to buying my bus ticket from the ferry to the airport I figured another $13.00 – but of course it was $19.00! I just had to ask the ticket agent why, but I already knew his answer, “I don’t know”. I realize this will be a constant amazement as I travel along my way so I need to do a little thinking about prices so as to reduce the shock during my trek.
5/16/2008 21:23 PM
Arrived at my hotel in good time and checked my email to find that there was a message to call asap from Bogotá. I spent 15 minutes trying to call out and couldn’t get my phone to work. I thought it was because of the long distance calling from the room but no. After going to the front desk and then having a serviceman check out the phone they decided that it wasn’t working so they gave me another room! By then it was too late to call – Bogotá is three hours ahead of Vancouver. I’ve emailed them to find out what the message is about – I’m sure that war hasn’t broken out and the airport is closed!! I’ll find out more tomorrow. I’ll be up early as I need to check in about 05:45. I know that I'll at least get as far as Houston before I'm stopped with an advisory! Sweet dreams.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
pre trip frenzy
My #1 has just created my blog and now it's up to me to do the reporting.
It's amazing that this is actually happening two days before I leave for Colombia! It's actually quite good as I'm not yet into full panic mode although I do feel it coming on. Tomorrow was supposed to be a day of relaxing before I head over to Vancouver on Friday, but inevitably work has crept into my schedule so I will be quite busy tidying things up before I leave. Thanks to #1 I'm 90% packed and only have a few personal things to do tomorrow.
I'm looking forward to escaping from Victoria's sub-normal climes - coldest start to the year that I can remember. Although Bogota is 8700' elevation and average temperatures of 64F, the majority of our time will be spent in Santa Marta where the average temperature is in the 80's.
Can't wait.
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