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Columbia

Another border, another set of stamps in my passport (one out of the country another into the next country), another bunch of money changers. By now I was starting to feel like a seasoned campaigner, what had worried me at the start of the trip I now found common place.

Our next campsite was far nicer than the wet cinder football pitch in Equador, we stopped, up in the hills, in the grounds of a posh hotel with views of a lake. In the evening we sat drinking cold beer in one of the hotel's bars, when one of us saw a tarantula spider crawling along the floor. Not very big, but it was our first, so we all crowded around to look at it. The young barman came over to see what the excitement was about, seeing the spider, he got a broom and squished it, apologising to us for there being a spider in the bar!

Next day we came across a very strange, even for me, church. The story behind it, is that a lonely shepherdess, while tending her flocks, saw the Virgin Mary appear amongst the rocks. She told her local priest, who believed her and had the church built. Well, I'm a bit sceptical about all of this, but I suppose it's better than seeing the virgin Mary's face in a bagel!

Because of the steepness of the rock face, they had to build what is in effect a bridge to take most of the church. The altar end of the church revealed the bare rock face, where the miracle was reputed to have happened.

We moved on and, after soaking in the hot springs and playing on the water slide at Popoyan (we didn't camp there, as the local farmers had taken to supplementing their income by robbery), we stayed in San Augustin for a couple of days.

While there Greg (an American fellow traveller) and I decided to hire a local Chiva (charabanc) to show us the sights. This turned out to be quite an adventure. We were driven up into the surrounding hills, but the Chiva kept breaking down. Whereas most people would spend their money on the mechanical side of their vehicle, the Colombians spent it all on decoration. The Chiva looked beautiful, but was a mechanical wreck. Several times the driver had to repair a fault with the drive train, by putting in 3 inch nails in place of broken drive pins. At one point we were stuck next to a river for an hour while yet more running repairs were made. In the shallows, amongst the rocks, I found gold, lots of little flakes of the stuff. As time passed and we went from one breakdown to the next (often only 200 yards apart) Greg and I wondered if we'd ever get back to the camp. Fortunately a jeep came along the road and we managed to get a lift back into town.

After a long drive the next day, we arrived in Bogota. I had read much about how dangerous Bogota was, but in the couple of days that we spent there, there was no trouble whatsoever. Bogota is a nice place to visit, although it does have some strange traffic rules. At 7pm certain roads become one way. Coming back to the hotel by taxi, after a forray across town, had our driver going, in the dark, against traffic, as it had just turned 7 pm. A character building moment.

Christmas

Christmas day saw us all laying around a swimming pool, surrounded by palm trees, in a place called Honda. We had a large Christmas lunch, cooked by all the group, followed by lots to drink and presents from "secret Santa". All in all, a splendid way to spend Christmas day.

Not far from us was the city of Medellin, which was and still is the drugs capital of Columbia. Over the Christmas weekend, while we were enjoying ourselves by the pool, 72 people in Medellin died of quote unnatural causes end quote. Not a nice place Medellin. We passed through it in the truck, but did not stop.

Later near the coast, we passed a rather depressing spot. The local government had built a road through the mangrove swamps, and this (see picture) was the result. There wasn't sufficient river drainage provided, so the trees on one side died because the water was to salty and on the other (landward) side of the road, they died because the water wasn't salty enough.

New Year saw us in the Caribbean city of Cartagana (made famous by the film Romancing the Stone). Cartagana has two sides to it, the old part has many 16th to 18th century buildings, the new part is all high rise building and looks rather like Miami.

After enjoying such simple delights as Haagen Das icecream (on sale next to the Hilton hotel), crashing the new year party at the Hilton, and cold beer, it was time to move again. Our next stop took us along the Caribbean coast to Tyrona and then through some jungle, on foot, to the beaches of Arriciffs. Here we lounged around all day doing nothing, save swimming and avoiding being hit on the head by falling coconuts. I still have fond memories of sleeping at the beaches edge, my head resting against the trunk of a coconut palm. Waking slowly the next morning, slowly becoming aware of my surroundings, suddenly my brain "turning on" my ears and hearing the sound of surf on the beach. Idyllic.

All good things come to an end, and after three January days on a deserted Caribbean beach (save for the communal showers) we headed back to civilisation. Next stop Caracas and Venezuela.