Need your luggage fixed? Recommendation for you here

Ah, I’m back “home” in Cartagena for a few weeks. It’s been fun reacquainting myself with the maze of Old City streets, drinking tropical fruit drinks, eating coconut rice, catching up with people, watching the Caribbean fisherman, and sweating in relishing the heat….

But more on all of that in a later post. What I may be most thrilled about is that I brought here with me two suitcases which had been deemed throwaways and they are now back in full working order!!

Excuse the “country dropping”, but while traveling in Europe last year, I used my sturdy Rick Steves roll aboard suitcase. In Spain, the rubber tread came off of one of the wheels. “Ay perdone señora, but I am sorry, that cannot be fixed” I was told at repair shops I visited. No biggie; I dealt with the crookedly rolling bag. 

In Italy, while running from one train to catch another, one of the suitcase “feet” fell off. “Mi dispiace, signora, no repair possible.” Now I had a bag that stood even more lopsided—if I forgot to stand it up by a wall, the bag was on the ground. Could be dangerous should an unsuspecting toddler walk by; I need to do something.

In the U.S., a call to the Rick Steves store said replacement wheels and feet were not available, but they’d be happy to sell me a new bag. “But it’s still functional!”, as a London friend of mine said. She was right….why are we often told that the best way to "fix" a broken item is to replace it? I knew just where it could be fixed: there are guys in Cartagena who have a street workshop right in front of the ATM I always used.

Fast forward to now and my spur of the moment trip to Colombia. Not only am I here to update myself for my vacation rental work, and all the reasons above, but another goal was to get my bag working like new again!! I had brought along my sister’s “unfixable” roll aboard as well. Sure enough, went to my former bank & right in front of that I found Luis & his father, working away. A day later I had two fully functional rolling carry-ons.

So my recommendation to you? Come to Cartagena for sure — it’s a UNESCO world heritage site well worth a visit, easy to get to, & the exchange rate is currently in most tourists' favor. But as a bonus, bring your broken luggage along with you, visit Talabartería Luis & head home with a “new” bag!

Luis's father told me he has been working here for some 40 years!

They fix luggage, briefcases, purses & leather paintings. Located in front of Davivienda bank on Panama St

San Agustin: Number 4

Paco, Barb, Martha, Carlos!

When I first decided to start my "new life" in Cartagena, in learning more about the place so I could tell everyone what I was doing, I learned it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Cultural site. As I spent more time in Colombia and traveled, I learned there were other such sites; I visited the second, the Coffee Zone (or "Eje Cafetero"), last New Year's. At Easter time, I visited another: Mompós. I was starting to think that maybe everywhere in Colombia was a UNESCO World Heritage Cultural site and so maybe it didn't mean so much, amazing as these places are. But I've since learned that there are only seven UNESCO World Heritage Cultural sites in Colombia, and, as someone wanting to learn a lot about the country and see the amazing places they have, I just happen to be hitting them.

The park is filled with sculptures & tombs

I hit my fourth in August, when I traveled with friends to San Agustin, in the Huila Department of Colombia. Martha, Carlos, Paco & I took an overnight bus from Bogota to San Agustin, a 525 km/325 mile trip that took 11 hours. The seats on the bus aren't bad, better than economy airplane seats these days. They even show movies (often US ones dubbed in Spanish & then subtitled in English!). Colombian buses have a reputation for "setting the air conditioning to stun" and so hand out blankets for the trip (why not just turn down the AC??? Who knows??!).

Small section of a carved river fountain

In the morning we got to San Agustin, a town of about 40,000 people and is known for it's Stonehenge/ Easter Island like ancient stone carvings & burial grounds. The main focus in the archeological parks there is on people who lived from 3,300 BC to about 800 AD. Not much is known about their lives, but these people left some amazing sculptures & mysteries, such as how did they move these multi-ton slabs around?? I was really impressed by how well-presented the sculptures were in the parks and how well-kept things were in general in this area, a little different from other parks and parts of Colombia that I've seen. 

All those camp years learning to ride for naught :)

The area around San Agustin was beautiful. On our second day there, we visited some archeological sites on horseback. I hadn't been riding since I was about 15 probably. I didn't really need to worry about remembering how to do anything as the horse knows what to do, since he does this same route with tourists several times a week. But I would have liked to have stopped him from galloping off whenever he felt like it (although honestly our whole "pack" would all gallop off at the same time so I'm sure there would have been no stopping my horse!). It rained a bit that morning but it was still gorgeous countryside.

Few sculptures still had colored paint

That afternoon, we drove to a couple of more spots, including the narrowest part of the Magdalena River. The Magdalena is Colombia's principal river, running pretty much the length of the country on the western side. It starts near San Agustin and ends in Barranquilla, just an hour east of Cartagena. There is talk of putting a damn in the Magdalena near where this narrowest part is, which of course some are in favor but many are not....and it is such a gorgeous site it would seem a shame to flood it.

So in less than a year, without really trying, I've been to nearly all of the Colombian UNESCO World Heritage Cultural sites. (In comparison, the US has only 9 and I have only been to only 4 of those, not quite half!) It is a pretty amazing country with a lot to offer, and there are other categories of UNESCO sites to hit here too! I plan to be visit the last Cultural site, Tierradentro, in late November. But before that, I'll be visiting a "wannabe"--one of the sites that's on the "tentative list" for becoming one of these cultural sites--when I do the 4 night/5 day Ciudad Perdida ("Lost City") trek in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Tayrona National Park.

Rock sculpted on 3 sides overlooking the Magdalena

View of the Magdalena

More photos of San Agustin can be found here (day 1: parks) and here (day 2: horseback riding & Magdalena narrows).

Holy Week in Colombia

Typical La Guajira dwelling with burros out front

Holy smokes, what have I been up to? I know, you've probably all been wondering...it's been so long since my last post! Well, will try to catch you up on the key happenings bit by bit, but for now will tell you about my Holy Week, "Semana Santa", or Easter week, in Colombia. We were originally to work on the Monday & Tuesday that week, but about 10 days prior my school decided to close for the week, as apparently often people travel. We will make up the missed days by adding a few minutes to each class that remains for the 4 week cycle. I decided to take advantage of a last minute full week off.

Desert "toll station"!

I ended up traveling with a few women first to a remote region of northeastern Colombia called La Guajira (gwa-heer-a) on a 3-day organized tour, and then to Mompós, a "town that time forgot" inland from Cartagena, which is famous for its Easter celebration. See this map of our week's route; it's not exact but close enough. As you can see we logged about 1900 km or 1200 miles, and Google Maps calculates it out to be 2.5 days of travel time. You may think that sounds like an error, but with many dirt roads via van, bus & 4WD; a lot of driving through the desert in a 4WD; and a couple of ferry crossings, it may be about right! But it was an experience.

Wayuu gas station, Uribia

La Guajira is largely unvisited and uninhabited but known for its beautiful desert landscape and indigenous people, the largest group being the Wayuu. We spent two nights at a rustic "homestead" like facility with spaces for tents, open-air hammocks (which my traveling partners stayed in; it's a popular sleeping option in Colombia), and small rooms with beds (which I had; guess I'm getting old). A Wayuu family owned the facilities but it was run by an ecotour group, who seemed less keen on expanding the facilities and hosting more people than the Wayuu, for obvious reasons! (But I think the owners won out!) We had fabulous meals of goat, lobster, fish, and chicken, all raised or caught right within feet of the dining area.

Making friends :)

I love the desert and have in recent years been to amazing desert areas in Utah, Arizona, Death Valley, etc., and have had my jaw drop in each place. This was another such area, different, yet beautiful, and having a desert along the coast was breathtakingly gorgeous. The Wayuu live in mud and stick houses, raise goats (which are running all over the place seemingly wild, yet somehow each Wayuu family knows which goat is theirs vs their "neighbor's" and the goats automatically go "home" to their correct corral), fish, some work with tourists such as at our facility, among other things. I don't quite understand how it all works but somehow I think they also have almost a monopoly on dispensing gas in the region, as for cars/trucks. They have "gas stations", really areas with lots of ~20 gallon gas cans, funnels & hoses. In some areas that's the only place you can get gas; there are no conventional gas stations.

At the northernmost point of South America

In driving through the desert, some Wayuu kids also set up "toll" stations; they'd string a rope or chain across a couple of cacti, blocking the road and would also put up blocks so a car couldn't drive around the toll area. You'd have to give them change (about 25c) before they'd drop the rope & let you pass. Amusing in some ways for those of us tourists although it likely gets old for the tour guides driving through the region all the time.

Besides the ever-present goats as well as random donkeys roaming the region, we also saw fabulous birds (including a huge flock of flamingos from a distance), iguanas, and the biggest darn grasshoppers I've ever seen. They were amazingly colorful and the size of a small bird; here's a photo from another's person's blog of one.

Anyway we did a bit of walking, beaching, sand dune running, body surfing, and learning about another region and people of Colombia. It was a quick but great trip!

Sunset, Taroa Sand Dune

From there, I headed with two others to Mompós. Traveling between places when going by land is not always easy, but that is part of the adventure also. Our La Guajira tour was to leave us in Riohacha, the main city of the region, and we planned to overnight in a city between Riohacha and Mompós. However, the last bus to Valledupar, our overnighting point, left Riohacha prior to our return, and so we had planned to get a "colectivo" for the 3 hour trip from Riohacha to Valledupar. A "colectivo" is essentially a shared taxi from one point to another--there's a set price for the full trip and it's divided by 4. If only 3 of you show up and you want to chip in the amount for the 4th (non-existent) person, you can, or you can wait & hope a 4th person shows up. "Colectivos" are normal forms of commuting transport within Cartagena; I was learning they were also normal forms of transportation between oft-traveled cities or towns. We were waiting in the appointed area for a colectivo to Valledupar, when a "real" bus stopped in front of us; someone got out, said he was going to Valledupar & did we want a ride. We agreed on a price and hopped in to the empty bus. He stopped at a few other points along the way and collected more passengers but we had a nice air conditioned bus almost to ourselves and arrived in Valledupar in style & for less than anticipated.

Just behind where I stayed

Contrasting this trip was our van ride the next day from Valledupar to Mompós. I blew this one, but to make a long story short we ended up paying more for a substandard trip--too many people packed in to a van with no AC, a chicken in a box, lots of dust blowing in, the van assistant traveling with our luggage on top of the van, and we, the gringas, paid more than anyone else for the trip. We crossed on a ferry that was really just a few planks hammered together on top of some old boats; we the gringas climbed out of the van while on the short but seemingly perilous crossing while the Colombians still packed in the van wondered why we'd gotten out. Ah well, we made it to Mompós with stories to tell!

Our dubious ferry ride while traveling by van to Mompos

Mompós is a beautiful little town that's worth the (no matter how you do it, as you have to travel dirt roads & take a shady looking ferry) less-than-comfortable trip there. It's very walkable, has beautiful architecture, at night everyone sits outside in their Momposian rocking chairs, and it's also been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We had a great meal sitting by the Magdalena River, which is the principal river of Colombia. Mompós used to be an important commercial port on the Magdalena, but then a hundred years ago this branch of the river silted up and transport shifted. Mompós hasn't changed since that shift, keeping its early 20th century feel.

Lunch in Mompos with our new friend Santiago and my student Nubia

That evening we saw our first of the famous Mompós Holy Week processions, which have been going on for over 400 years. They start at 6 pm and end sometime in the wee hours of the morning, having traveled a grand total of what can't be more than a half mile up one street & back another. But they march very slowly, taking one step backwards for every two small steps forward, carrying platforms with statues of various saints, etc., which have been around since colonial times. The Holy Thursday procession features the 12 stations of the cross. The "carriers" are honored by being chosen, but they are also dressed in several layers, all packed together, working hard carrying the heavy platforms; they are well deserving of that honor. The Good Friday procession was similar, with the main platform containing Jesus in an elaborate coffin. There's a 16 second video from that procession here.

Good Friday procession

Our slightly less dubious return ferry on a real bus

While in Mompós, we also took a boat trip along the river to see the birdlife, more iguanas than you can count, and a lone monkey napping in a tree. It's a beautiful little town which deserves another visit; I no longer recall the 8 hour bumpy return bus ride to Cartagena and so may just do it! :)

This weekend the Summit of the Americas is in Cartagena--perhaps I'll run into my friend Barack! Hasta luego!

More photos of La Guajira here; more photos of Mompós here.

Feliz Año Nuevo!

Quindío wax palms, Valle de Cocora

I spent the week around New Year's on a "finca" in Colombia's "Coffee Triangle" with friends from Spain & Colombia--talk about beautiful & relaxing! The finca was a large vacation house which the 9 of us easily fit in to;  we were so busy with the pool, jacuzzi, beach volleyball & enjoying the surrounding countryside that we never even got to use either of the two pool tables, the tree swing, or the soccer field which were also available. It was a working farm with cows--we had fresh milk, dogs, cats, rabbits, roosters (although we could have done without their early morning wake up calls) & even peacocks roaming the yard.

Great food & gorgeous views!

I was told that many of these vacation homes several years ago belonged to various drug lords who ruled the area. While in the past the average Colombian wouldn't have dreamed of vacationing in this area due to the drug lord and guerrilla activity, tourism is now booming. We visited the Cocora Valley, where 60 meter tall Quindío wax palms (Colombia's national tree) shoot above the cloud forest below--an amazing sight; floated in (& out of! :) a bamboo raft down a river; soaked in thermal hot springs; went under, through & behind water falls; strolled through Salento, a typical Antioquian town; toured a coffee plantation and tried our hands at picking coffee beans; and of course we ate very well!

Burning last year's woes...

For New Year's Eve itself, I was introduced to a few Colombian traditions. First we wrote down on pieces of paper things from the past year we wanted to leave behind; they were then all put in a pot in preparation for burning at midnight--get rid of all the bad from the 2011! Many people will make large dolls, dress them in clothing from all the family & stuff them with the "bad" from the past year to burn at midnight--our pot had a tiny doll representing this. In in our pockets we also had lentils to ensure a year of abundance and some kind of cash for financial security. At the stroke of midnight, we each ate 12 grapes, a tradition I'd been introduced to in Spain as well. I learned too late that I should have been wearing yellow underwear at midnight to bring wealth & prosperity in 2012!

Touring the coffee plantation.

After a week in the coffee zone, I returned to Bogota by car with my Spanish friends who are living in Bogota, an ~180 mile trip that took us a lightning fast 9 hours. As there is no train system in Colombia, all goods are transported by truck and passenger buses are also popular. Any goods arriving at Buenaventura, Colombia's Pacific port, arrive at the capital city by truck using the very route (ie, the only route) we were using to get to Bogota; buses between Bogota and the other main cities of Medellin and Cali use this road as well. The single lane highway climbs a mountain and is filled with hairpin turns; you can imagine how slowly these trucks laden with goods climb and how difficult it is to pass with all of the turns. So it's slow going....and an experience!! One of the pluses about this route, however, is the amazing scenery, although for our climb it was cloudy & rainy and we couldn't see much (this weather added to the excitement of the drive! :), but for the descent, the green countryside with its steep terrain was amazing.

A "fiambre" lunch wrapped in banana leaves during our bamboo raft trip

I'm in Bogota briefly before returning to Cartagena. The weather has been taunting me here with beautiful mornings & early afternoons--my friend's apartment has floor to ceiling windows with fabulous views of the mountains and is right near a great park, so at least for a couple of days I've been out "running" (& I use that term loosely). It's all making me wonder why I'm not living in Bogota....but once the rain starts in the afternoons & I hit traffic whenever we venture out, I remember why. Still, it's growing on me and I do have some great friends here, so I'll be back!


A few more photos of our week in the Coffee Triangle are here.