Un-Belize-able!!!

Iain & I cooling ourselves off with handmade palm fans at
Marcos Gonzalez Maya Site on Ambergris Caye

How did it take me so long to explore mainland Belize? Oh I know…I got sucked into the “laid back, island time” atmosphere & had a hard time extricating myself from the island of Ambergris Caye during my 3 month stay in San Pedro, Belize last fall. It is indeed tough to leave; I returned to the island this year in early May to pet sit for a month, and almost, *almost*, extended my stay there again. 

The relaxation all starts when you arrive on the island via a Belizean domestic airline puddle jumper flight from the 70s: there is zero, ZERO, luggage screening. Just drop your bag here & get on board, keep your shoes…um flip flops…on & bring all the liquids you want. No body zapper to walk through either, just help yourself to the complimentary coffee & tea. YAY!! 

My “month on the island” highlights: 

*Caught up with island friends as well as friend Iain who came in from the US for a couple of weeks, also to pet sit!

*Did lots of cat cuddling & dog walking (both for my "charges" as well as volunteering again at the shelter)

*Helped out at a new (for me) school in San Pedro, which is now also a Pack for a Purpose partner with the condos I work with on the island (more info here; definitely check out Pack for a Purpose  next time you’re traveling to a developing country!)

The Great Blue Hole

*Took a gorgeous aerial tour out over the Belize Barrier Reef to see the Great Blue Hole, which is basically a cenote (limestone sinkhole) such as the ones we’d seen in the Yucatan mentioned in my previous post, but this one is in the sea. It’s 980 feet (300 m) across & 400 feet (120 m) deep, in the middle of a shallow section of the Belizean Great Barrier Reef system, so you really see the color contrast of the deep hole with the shallow reef; it’s a popular scuba destination made famous by Jacques Cousteau in the 70s.

FINALLY, I boated over to Terra Firma in early June to explore more of the country. I’m so glad I did — it’s unBelizeable :) !! Belize is ~185 miles (300 km) long & ~75 miles (120 km) wide, about the size of the US state of Massachusetts. But it’s much less densely populated, with a population of only about 311,000 (vs ~6.7 million in Massachusetts). Think of all that leaves room for: jungle, caves, nature reserves, mountains, Maya ruins, WILDLIFE (jaguars people, jaguars!)....!! However, while the country is relatively small, there are really only four main paved highways & the going is not necessarily speedy. But it’s always interesting!

Hanging with a jaguar at the Cockscomb sanctuary

(Click here for a map noting the four main highways as well as locations mentioned in this post.)

I’ve done most of my travel on the long distance buses, which are retired US school buses painted a variety of colors. Under-bus & overhead luggage racks have been added, although my backpack normally gets shoved behind the last seat of the bus (you know, where the kids who smoked sat). Remember also doing emergency escape drills out the back door of the school bus? That’s now an unofficial passenger rear entry/exit. And those seats that are made with two kids in mind? If the bus is crowded, and we’re near a police checkpoint, sometimes three adults need to squeeze on to those seats or you need to crouch in the aisle so the police don’t see that the bus is overcrowded. Yep, fools them every time.

Another great aspect of local travel is discovering new (to me) transport methods, such as the hand-cranked ferry! I’ve been on three so far as a means to cross a river, twice in a bus & once on foot. Men literally turn a crank all day long to get the ferry moving along a cable which is strung from riverbank to riverbank. (These go along with the hand-cranked Swing Bridge in Belize City, which is manually opened & closed, now only for special occasions. Very few left in the world!) 

Which tortilla was made by the gringa?

Mainland highlights have been:

*Learning more about the Maya, both past & present. In southern Belize especially there are a lot of Maya communities. In one I visited a “Living Maya” home with displays of how the Maya lived, many until just a few decades ago, such as sleeping on beds made of bark, using gourds as water bottles, speaking only their native language (Kek’chi or Mopan in Belize), etc. As part of the visit you help make the lunch that is to be served; needless to say my tortillas did not come out looking anything like the round, flat pancake-like bread it was supposed to be!! (And a couple of local 6 year olds out right laughed at my final products!! :)

*Realizing all the wildlife that’s roaming the country! I visited the Belize Zoo, “the best little zoo in the world”, which houses only native rescue animals. It has toucans, deer, monkeys, crocs, tapir, gibnuts, macaws, jaguars, and more. I spent a day in the world’s first jaguar sanctuary (but of course saw no jaguars, nor expected to—they’re nocturnal & normally steer clear of humans when they can), hiking, “river sliding”, & learning about jungle plants & creatures. (Did you see Mel Gibson’s “Apacolypto” movie? The scene where the woman uses an ant’s jaws as sutures for a cut? Real, & we saw those mighty pincers in action!) Heard the roar of the howler monkeys & saw them literally hanging around as I wandered places.

About to kayak through caves!!!

*There is an amazing number of caves here! These caves are all pretty much now archeological sites as there are numerous Maya artifacts (bones, stone tools, pottery) found in them. For the Maya, the caves were Xibalba: entrances to the underworld & home of some gods. They were used a lot for ceremonial purposes. I did three different guided day trips through caves and would love to do more. 

—First was a kayaking trip through the Nohoch Chen Caves Branch Archaeological Reserve through the dark, with rapids, stalactites, etc. 

One of the waterfalls I rock climbed up
(& then on the return, jumped off!)

—Next was hiking up a river, in a cave, with 6 waterfalls. I had always been a bit wary of rock climbing & had never tried it, but it was baptism by fire here in this adventure! At least we would only be rock climbing on the way up; on the way back down we JUMPED from the top of the falls in to the pools below. (This would never fly in the States—are we too coddled?)

—And finally I toured Actun Tunichil Muknal, popularly known as the ATM cave. This involves swimming, walking through water, squeezing through narrow spaces, a bit of rock climbing, and the like. At the end you are in a huge cavern used by the Maya for human sacrifice, blood letting, & other ceremonies. It was truly awe-inspiring to think what had happened in that cave—especially as you actually see the bones of sacrifice victims, including a complete skeleton. (If interested, there’s a great detailed write up here with photos of one person’s experience on this tour.) 

And lest you think I'm not working -- of course I am! As a result of this trip I'm also able to advise & book folks for accommodations & tours in the jungle in addition to island accommodations. Let me know when you want to come to Belize!

Tomorrow — on to Guatemala!

A farewell view of Belize from the top of El Castillo, Xunantunich 

Maya site near the border with Guatemala

Getting my flip-flop tan back

What is this white stuff we're on??!

Silly me, I spent the winter in the U.S., mostly in the northeast experiencing more snow & cold than I have in this century! But it was great to spend time with a variety of family & friends, both in the frozen northeast & then later while thawing out in the beautiful California weather. I am especially glad that my flexible lifestyle allowed me to do several days of kid sitting for my cousin in Connecticut & my brother in So Cal — what a fun way to spend quality time with the “cousinettes”, nieces & nephew! (I hope the kids had as much fun as Aunt Barb did! :)

While in California, in addition to catching up with more friends & family, I “lightened my load” — did some serious work on having less stuff. Back in 2011, when I started this 6-12 monthlong venture (ha, that was 48 months ago!!), I was pretty good about getting rid of a lot of things, but I still had a packed 4x6 foot storage unit. That has now been emptied: family heirloom/antiques are now in my brother’s new home; 40 years of photos which were in 8 boxes worth of photo albums have been taken out, photo by photo, organized into boxes, and await scanning (yes, I’ll get to it, probably via a service); Monica got lots of stuff to sell at a garage sale (and I hope some child is now enjoying my vintage 60’s/70’s collection of Barbies--sniff, sniff!). There were various letters, journals, and other memorabilia from high school, college, & my 20s which were fun to read through and then send on to appropriate friends who would appreciate them. Ha ha they get to store my stuff now :).

In the SF Bay Area working my 1st TNT SAG stop -- *great* way to catch up with folks: Melissa, Eileen, Merla, Dennis, Susie, Steve, Steve, Sarah, Kieran, Neil, KSue, Barb, Tom, Shirley, Jon, Anna, Ross, John.....and MORE!

Storage unit emptied = time to use the passport again; it had been gathering dust for 4+ months! First stop: México. My sister Carol-Ann, her 12 year old son Jacob, & I had a great l week exploring the Yucatán Peninsula — colonial cities, Maya ruins, cenotes  (loved the ones with rope swings, even if I was not the most graceful of "Tarzans"!), & up close & personal swimming with sea turtles! The temps were over 100 F (40 C) most of the week, & fortunately we were able to plan a swim somewhere every day.

The heat has thankfully broken & I am now back in Valladolid, a city of some 50,000 in the middle of the Yucatán Peninsula. Mostly I’m catching up on work (marketing Colombia & Belize vacation rentals) as well as planning what’s next, but I'm also enjoying wandering around the colonial streets. Flip-flops are once again my constant footwear -- how quickly those tan lines return!

What’s next? At the end of the week I’ll make my way back to La Isla Bonita (aka Ambergris Caye, Belize) with a day or two each in Chetumal, the coastal city on the Mexican side of the border, and Corozal, the city on the Belizean side. Then I am back in San Pedro for a month of pet sitting & laid back island life — friend Iain will meet up with me again there, spending 2 weeks at his own pet sitting gig right down the beach from me. (Iain's met up with me over these nomadic years in Ecuador & Peru as well as now Belize for the 2nd time.) After a bit of island time, I’ll explore mainland Belize, then meet up with friend & previous travel buddy Sara in northern Guatemala and we'll travel a bit in Guatemala & Mexico.

August will find me back in the U.S., meeting up with family in Montana to explore Glacier National Park & more. We’ll see what the future brings after that….I have a few ideas--there's a lot of the world I haven't yet explored & have laptop, will travel! 

I am VERY lucky!!

Jacob, CA & I biking the beach in Tulúm, Mexico!

Apparently I’m an island girl

Pooch attack!

I arrived at La Isla Bonita, aka Ambergris Caye, Belize, in late August intending to stay 7.5 weeks, the length of my house/cat sitting gig. Despite the gorgeous setting, I honestly thought my first few days there that being there for several weeks would be  l o n g.  After all, this is the city gal slash world traveler, and here I was in a small town with lots of dirt roads on an *island*!!

As mid-October rolled around, I decided the relaxed lifestyle wasn’t so bad after all….I was enjoying the volunteering (mainly tutoring at the schools--liked being back teaching--& walking the shelter dogs—they are not exactly “leash trained”, but it was a great workout & a blast, plus social time with friends at breakfast on the beach afterwards!). I was becoming more & more knowledgeable about Ambergris Caye in order to help the guests I was booking for Sunset Beach Resort. And if I took off to travel, I’d have to *plan* that!

My high school after school group (one camera shy :)

So, when the homeowners returned, I moved into a little apartment in another area of the island for a month. I figured I’d travel the last couple of weeks in November before my return flight to the U.S. and that would be fine. BUT I actually put off my departure from the island TWO more times until it finally happened—I have a flight to catch from Cancun back to the U.S. tomorrow so must get there!! (Although I was asked by an islander: “Couldn’t you change that flight?” :)

What kept me on the island?

*I haven’t worn anything but flip flops & sand shoes for three months — although wearing anything on my feet at all made me “dressed up” in comparison to the locals, who often don’t wear shoes (even the national Minister of Tourism & Culture was barefoot at a presentation on a national holiday). Tonight I will put on sneakers and see how I fare.

*The people are also the nicest around: expats (& there are many of them) and locals alike.

Biking the beach with Iain

*Biking on the beach! I’ve been a cyclist for many years & at first was annoyed at the road conditions (not all are paved and even those that are leave a bit to be desired), but thought it was better than the sandy beach. But then what’s a beach cruiser for if not to roll along and admire the sea with one eye while watching out for driftwood, dogs & kids with the other? So what if it was the rainy season & that often meant mud/sand splattered legs, clothing, & day pack — little badges of honor!! Loved it & may miss that the most.

Bad photo, but croc holding will likely not happen again!

*I learned & got *slightly* less freaked out about critters, and there were many that came closer to me than I might normally have liked: little lizards on the kitchen counter, crab crawling up my screen door, scorpion in my shoe, tarantula by my kitchen table…on the other hand, I willingly went on an educational crocodile boat tour & held a 2 foot croc in my hands! (Plus saw some AMAZING critters while snorkeling the barrier reef, including sea turtles, octopus, rays, not to mention swimming with sharks!)

Mobile produce store!

*At the last place I stayed, despite the muddy road, there were entrepreneurial folks delivering “take out” & offering home grocery service: the golf cart (main form of motorized transport on these small island roads) beeping outside at 8 am had breakfast burritos for you; the one at 11 am was a rolling produce stand—veggies, fruit, fresh herbs, eggs!!; and then at noon you had a hot meal of your choice — would you like fish, chicken or pork today with your rice & beans and salad?

I did make one day trip to the mainland in my three months of island living, the goal being to see the Maya ruin of Lamanai. Incredible structures those guys made! (Of course I watched Mel Gibson’s

Atop a Maya temple!

Apocalypto, based on the Maya just before the Spanish arrived here; ok so not totally accurate but still gives an idea of what things may have been like?) There is still lots more to be seen here about the Maya, so I will be back. (And TONS more to see & learn about in Belize!)

And yes, I am also making strides work-wise! My Ambergris Caye vacation rentals site is long last up & running, yet always a work in progress. I’ve also been able to combine my non-profit background with the accommodation booking work, and have connected both the Belize & Colombia vacation rentals to an organization called Pack for a Purpose (which I wish I had thought to create--what a great idea, combining travel with easily helping the destination community!). Our guests now easily have the opportunity to support a community organization in an impoverished area of Cartagena and the humane society in San Pedro. I am working on more of “meaningful travel” opportunities for the future--there will be more blogging associated with that & the vacation rentals.

With a few of the great people I met here (& dining right on the beach!)

And now, I am off the island and heading back to the U.S. shortly. I’ll be there through the holidays & am not yet sure what 2015 will bring. However, keeping my "homeless" status for now! I’ll be back on La Isla Bonita for more pet sitting next year (house/pet sitting is now obviously fully on my list as a way to travel & live among the locals, so let me know if you’re ever in need of a sitter, no matter where you are! :) & figuring out the rest. Will keep you posted....!!

International Nomad

Cheering on USA in the World Cup

Did you see this article in the NY Times this past weekend? “Increasingly, Retirees Dump Their Possessions and Hit the Road”

While I’m not a retiree (“pre”-tiree perhaps), the article described my life well in many ways!

“international nomad”

“…downsized to the extreme, choosing a life of travel.”

“While many…..ultimately return home or become expatriates, some live like vagabonds.”

Ha! I’m a vagabond? “a person who wanders from place to place without a home or job” No! As one of my fellow travelers said in the article, “Where I am is home.” And I work online--that's a job, right? So I’ll take nomad: “a person who does not stay long in the same place; a wanderer.” Currently guilty. 

Where have my wanderings taken me since March?

There were about 40 of us there this year for the annual reunion on the Cape--yay for our hosts, the Tietjes!

With friends + Mom in Seville!

First, to the U.S., for highlights such as seeing my 11 year old nephew in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, spending a great week with family at an old Lake Placid camp, and catching up with college friends on the Cape at the Falmouth Road Race.

I spent 3 months in Europe (!!), starting on the Iberian Peninsula for about 5 weeks: touring Portugal & Spain with my mom, catching up with old friends, “interning” with a great vacation rental group in Madrid (if visiting Madrid & need a recommended place to stay, let me know), & trying to relearn how to conjugate  verbs using “vosotros.” :)

Cinque Terre hiking

Can a vagabond go on vacation? If so, I was on vacation in Italy & it was amazing. I did what needed to be done there: held up the Leaning Tower, tasted all the gelati that I could, sipped cappuccino in the mornings, and got sore muscles while hiking and taking in the fabulous Cinque Terre scenery.

My German family picked the right team! :)

In 1978-79, I took a “gap year” (if I can use the modern term!), living with a family and attending high school near Cologne, Germany. That was 35 years ago!! On this trip, I got to spend 2+ fantastic weeks with my extended German family (even stayed in my old room :) plus visit another German family who took me traveling with them during my exchange year. I (unintentionally of course, because what do I know about soccer??!) planned my Germany visit for the start of the World Cup, and so got to watch and cheer along with the future winners!

I have always done a pretty good job of keeping up with people over the years even from a distance, but it’s so much better to be able to visit with them “live.” The time in Europe was great for catching up with so many! Many people I met up with were from my 80s/90s days in New York City, and some I hadn’t seen in over 20 years. A gang of these folks were in Seville, Spain; a couple in Grenoble, France; others in London; and a few of us met up in Rathmullan, Ireland (& how convenient that our Rathmullan hosts recently opened Kinnegar Brewing!). As a bonus, a TNT friend & her husband nicely moved to Oxford just so I could visit them in that beautiful city. :)

It has been a fabulous few months!

1991 NYC Roomies in Donegal

As of last week, I have once again Headed South. I am currently in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye (aka Madonna's “Isla Bonita”), Belize, where I’ll be til mid/late October at least. I am cat sitting (thank you, kitty, for bringing me that *iguana*!!!) and as of next week will be doing some after school tutoring at the local high school. My main goal is to get to know “my” vacation rentals here better and get Vacation-Rentals-Belize.com to have the content that VacationRentalsCartagena.com does! (Note shameless plug for both my sites :) After San Pedro, I’ll travel around Belize a bit and then continue on to the Yucatan. I’ve never actually been to Mexico but it’s about time. 

Biking through London's Olympic Village with Sara

With Deb in Oxford

Stay tuned....!

Still here...!

Ah, it's March, must be time for my annual blogpost. Yes, I have turned into not much of a blogger, eh?! But I'm still here, in the "south" (ie, Latin America)!

As a brief update:

I spent basically all of 2012 & 2013 living in Cartagena, Colombia, where I taught English at the Centro Colombo Americano. It was the first time I'd ever taught & I really enjoyed it; I'm also glad I had taken the one month intense ESL teaching certificate program (CELTA) in San Francisco before I left there--it helped a lot.

At Ciudad Perdida with niece Carolin & friend Luisa!

I was able to travel quite a bit in Colombia, both with friends (some living in Colombia, some who came to visit) and solo. It's a hugely diverse & fascinating country -- I highly recommend it! Just to mention some highlights: traveling with Spanish friends who live in Colombia (& whom I met during my junior year in Madrid 1981-82); when my "German niece" (from the family I lived with in Germany in 1978-79!) came to visit & we did the 5 day Ciudad Perdida hike with friends; and also when my sister & her 11 year old son visited me in Cartagena--my nephew said it was the best week of his life. I love being an aunt! :)

What 11 year old (& 50 something year olds!) wouldn't love a mud volcano?!

Surprisingly, there was so much to see & do in Colombia I didn't venture much outside of that country, beyond trips back "home" (which could mean a few places) for special events. But I did get to Peru for a couple of weeks--Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley are all that they say it is and more--and Ecuador for a month. While in Ecuador last July, I volunteered for two weeks on the coast in the fishing village of Puerto López, helping with a Spanish reading program in elementary schools, an after school kids' club, and teaching English.

When I decided that I was ready to move on from Colombia (after all, my 6 week stay there turned into over 2 years!!), I decided to go back to Puerto López to volunteer again. So here I am for a couple of months! I'll be moving on again soon, but perhaps I'll be back to Ecuador. I haven't yet made it to the Galapagos & that is definitely on my list.

And no, I haven't turned independently wealthy. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to help out with some vacation rental apartments, something I can do totally online. I started doing this with some apartments located in Cartagena's Walled City in 2012, and a few months ago was able to add on renting out vacation condos in Ambergris Caye, Belize. Check out my webpages, always works-in-progress:

www.VacationRentalsCartagena.com

www.Vacation-Rentals-Belize.com

The current plan is to travel more while maintaining the "rental business" thanks to the internet. Know anyone planning to visit Colombia or Belize? Please share my links! :)

Will try to make sure it's not another year before I update things again...meanwhile, I'll catch you on the road! (in Latin America? Europe? the U.S.? Who knows!!) Let the adventure continue.....Hasta pronto!

Teaching an English class on the beach with a fresh tropical juice in Puerto López!

Reading with kids in Puerto López!

You eat ants?

Wow, it's Easter again, or Semana Santa (Holy Week) as they call it in Spanish-speaking countries. Last Semana Santa I traveled to the desert of La Guajira, northeast of Cartagena, and then a bit inland to Mompós, which is famous for it's Holy Week processions. I never thought I'd still be in Colombia a year later, but here I am, still with lots to do and see!

Cabrera town square

It was arranged so that we wouldn't have to teach classes during Semana Santa at the Centro Colombo Americano. While the school was open for a couple of days during the week, we "overtaught" by several minutes each class period in the three weeks coming up to Semana Santa so we could make up time and take the entire week off. Fine by me! I headed out last Saturday night with a friend on a 13 hour overnight bus trip south to Bucaramanga, capital of the Santander department. From there we connected to another bus for a 2.5 hour trip to San Gil, "adventure sports capital" of Colombia, and then continued on to our third bus for an hour's trip to Cabrera, a small colonial pueblo. I had planned a 3-4 day hiking trip from small town to small town outside of San Gil, culminating with a hike down--and then up--the Chicamocha Canyon. 

It not only takes a long time to get anyplace here, it's also hard to get information sometimes. So despite the fact that several guide books/online sites spoke about a 2-4 day hike between these small towns, information on the actual routes and accommodations in each spot was difficult to find -- for example, despite multiple inquiries to various tourist type places, I hadn't been able to find out if the pueblo of Cabrera had any kind of accommodations at all. However, upon hearing that we were looking for a place to stay, our friendly San Gil-to- Cabrera bus driver immediately called someone in the pueblo and had rooms for us booked at the one place in town. I needn't have worried!

Playing tejo

Cabrera was cute! The few kids who were playing around the main square practiced their English with us: "Hello!" "Hi!" "How are you?" We also got to see the only other thing happening in town that night: a "tejo" game, a national sport based on an indigenous game. In a way it's kind of like horseshoes (or for the younger crowd, cornhole) -- you have to throw a little metal disc into a box of clay. In the middle of the box of clay is gunpowder, and if you hit it right you set off a little explosion. Fun!! Add to this the fact that everyone drinks beer while playing, and you have a *really* fun time. Alcohol plus gunpowder--gotta love it!?!?

Camino Real

We started our trek the next day along the Camino Real, a trail originally used by the indigenous Guane people and then later by the Spanish. It was rebuilt in the late 1800s and still pretty well maintained. Our first 30 minutes or so of the trail was pretty much straight up -- great way to start the day! The plan was to hike ~2.5 hours to Barichara, known as "Colombia's prettiest town", but we ran into some locals partway along who gave us a ride half way to Barichara, and who were we to say no?

Melanie & the "chismosera"

Along with these locals, who owned an artisan shop in Barichara, we met another super nice couple who own a family vacation home in the town. They invited us in for a glass of wine and to see their fabulously renovated home, complete with "chismosera" (if I'm remembering the word correctly?? it comes from "gossip"), which is a built in little nook just below and inside the windows that allow you to easily see what's going on in the street--this way you can of course keep up with what your neighbors are up to!!

Unfortunately, not edible

One thing that Barichara is well-known for is their edible ANTS! As Mowgli said, "You eat ants?" Yes, ants: "hormigas culonas" or "big assed ants" (literally). I knew it was something that I *should* try but it wasn't really something that I *wanted* to try. And I was in Barichara for ant season. When it rains, they come out of hiding the next day, and then they're scooped up and toasted; supposedly they taste like popcorn. It rained heavily the night before we hiked to Barichara and stopped that morning...yikes, I was in "luck." But then I learned that they wouldn't emerge until the day following the big rain, and after that they'd need a day to toast them and get them to their delectable goodness. So no, I didn't eat ants; drat (?), a missed opportunity!

Leaving Barichara

After Barichara, we continued the next day to Guane, another town "lost in time", where my travel buddy Melanie decided to hitch a ride to the next destination. We had met up with a local guide there who was the support vehicle for 3 guys who were hiking from Cabrera that morning (where we had started 2 days prior). He offered to take Melanie to Villanueva, our destination that day, and suggested I wait for the 3 guys and hike from Guane to Villanueva with them. Fortunately, I decided not to wait for the 3 guys, thinking they'd likely catch up to me anyway on the trail. Turns out these three guys were part of an adventure racing team doing everything for time, so they would not have wanted me as their hiking companion! But in any event, these guys decided it was too hot & got a ride most of the way to Villanueva--hey, "no wimps", guys!! (After hiking 3 hours from Guane to Villanueva, I still arrived just before the adventure racers anyway!)

Planting seeds by hand

Melanie chose to bus it back to civilization from Villanueva, so I set off shortly after dawn on Wednesday to avoid as much of the heat as possible. This would be my last hiking day and I had 7-8 hours ahead of me, which included a descent into a canyon and then the climb out. Just on the edge of town I ran into a man carrying empty containers and asked him to make sure I was heading out the right way to Jordán, my next destination (a ghost town at the bottom of the Chicamocha Canyon). He said yes and we walked along about 10 minutes together. He heads out this way every morning "for exercise"....and to get water so that he has some at his home. I passed several people out in the fields, some even planting seeds by hand (beans and tobacco are the big crops in this area I was told). The previous day on the trail I had seen someone carrying a case of beer (essentials!!) on his back up the trail from Guane. It is amazing what the day to day is like for many people here, and even living here I am still constantly amazed.

After about an hour I sat down by the side of the road to have a little breakfast. As I was eating, a hiker (obviously a foreigner) walked by & asked if I was going to Jordán. "Yes! We'll see each other in Jordán or on the road!" I finished my breakfast & caught up with the guy a short ways later as he was asking directions of a local. Turns out Bert was a Swiss grad student, and while we started speaking in Spanish, I asked him if he wanted to speak Spanish, English or German. At first when he just heard Spanish or English, he chose Spanish; but then when he heard he had a 3rd choice, he said, "You speak German?" "Yes" "Why??" "Gute Frage!" :) So we spoke German. (While it is hard for me to switch from one language to another, in the past several months I've had more opportunities to speak German while living in Colombia, so it's getting easier. Still there are times when my brain knows it should speak "foreign" but pops out a German word instead of Spanish, or vice versa, and I get some funny looks. But it's getting better....!)

Checking out the descent...

At one point we were advised to get off the "road" (really a jeep track") and take the hiking trail down the canyon. You get directions from the locals which don't always make sense to you (given the language obstacle and unfamiliar territory) until you get to the place they may have described, and then you have to remember what they said about it. For example, one woman we asked was telling us what to do when we got to the "cabrera", which I only realized later meant "goat herd" (not a word I use a lot!), so I didn't even realize what she was talking about until I saw all the goats, and then I had to remember what she said to do once we got to the goats. But always a fun challenge, and from where we found the "cabrera", we had a great view of the canyon--what we were about to go down and the other side that we'd be going up.

The hike down was fine--not a lot of shade but some neat cactii, birds (vultures!) flying around, a snake even. Once at the bottom we passed a "caiman" farm; we chose not to enter but it also brought back up one of those "Oh, I thought someone *did* say something about caimans & I thought maybe I misheard." Nope, alligators. Presumably not native.

Jordán itself really was pretty much of a ghost town. We stopped at the one shop that was open & got cold drinks. Funnily enough, the display case in the shop was full of different kinds of what appeared to be freshly baked breads, rolls, etc, with racks of pans filled with balls of dough that were ready to be baked should the supply need to be replenished. I don't know who bought or ate all this bread, because 90% of the few buildings in town seemed to be abandoned or closed down and we didn't see more than a dozen people wandering around. We were directed to the one place we could get lunch: cross the bridge & stop at the house at the other side, the woman there will make you a meal. And she did.

On the bridge in Jordán

After our meal in Jordán, we headed up the trail that went up the other side of the canyon. We were going to go up some 3000 feet in I don't know how many miles; my written guide said it would be a 2 hour hike if fresh or a 3 hour hike if you'd started from Villanueva that morning (4.5 hiking hours ago). There were lots of switchbacks so in reality it wasn't that bad, but it was a constant ascent and I had my pack filled with my possessions for the week on my back. And I am not in Ironman shape!! I was dragging a bit and stopped after 30 minutes, telling Bert to go on, but he said he'd hang. After another half hour we stopped again & he offered to switch packs. I said ok, picked up his & he asked, "do you notice a difference?" while at the same time he picked up mine and said "oh, yeah, there is a difference." His was filled with helium; mine not quite. He carried mine the rest of the way which was great for me--we did end up reaching the top in 2 hours which I was pretty happy about, mainly because it meant we were DONE! :)

At the top was Los Santos, a small town. I had planned to overnight there and take the bus in to Bucaramanga the next morning. During the week I had heard rumors that some bus stations were closed from Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon of Holy Week (Maundy Thursday to Good Friday) but kind of found that hard to believe since it was also touted as the most popular time to travel--how could they close the bus stations down during that time? In Los Santos I also saw a sign that announced the local buses would be running all day Thursday & Friday so I really thought the intra city buses would be too somehow. Ideally for me would be if I could check out Bucaramanga during the day on Thursday & take an overnight bus that night to Cartagena, arriving "home" on Friday morning.

Getting ready for Easter processions

However, all queries confirmed that there would be no bus back to Cartagena Thursday; the bus station would be closed from mid-day to mid-day Friday. Crazy that after a year and a half here, I was surprised by that. Ah well, just another something learned!! So I decided to explore Bucaramanga, "the city of parks", on Thursday. Well, turns out that because of Maundy Thursday, just about everything was closed in Bucaramanga, museums included. I was able to check out the parks as well as the churches, where everyone was getting their floats of Jesus, Mary, etc, ready for the evening processions--it is pretty incredible what they do. (See my post from Holy Week 2012.)

Girón's main square

The next day, needing to fill time until the first bus left later that evening, I headed to Girón, another picturesque colonial pueblo about 5 miles from Bucaramanga. Turns out a lot of people walk to Girón from Bucaramanga on Good Friday so I joined the crowd--and this crowd also meant that the picturesque little pueblo was jam packed. But it was cute!

Click here for complete photos of the week. 

Click here for a map showing you the different places mentioned in the trip.

Chocolate, flowers & kisses!

It's International Women's Day! Who knew? I never heard about it much I don't think before I lived in Colombia, but it's widely celebrated here. And it's today! I got chocolate, flowers & kisses (ok, one....on the cheek) from students. Not bad.

Here are some of Cartagena's celebrated women (many thanks to This is Cartagena for some of these photos):

La India Catalina: now a well-known symbol of Cartagena as well as Cartagena's International Film Festival, she was an indigenous woman kidnapped by the Spanish in the early 1500s from this area. Twenty years later she returned with the Spanish and served as an interpreter in helping to pacify the various tribes here. There is of course a bit of controversy surrounding her. Wasn't she really just a traitor? Did she really look like this statue--tall and slim--while all the other indigenous people were short an stocky?

La India Catalina stands right outside the old city walls, and just about all local city buses pass by here. Poor Catalina, she's normally looking out over some kind of urban transport chaos!

Gertrude, a sculpture by famed Colombian artist Fernando Botero, is more commonly known as "La Gordita", or "the fat woman." However, subjects painted and sculpted by Botero are not fat, but "voluminous." Gertrude is displayed in the Plaza Santo Domingo in the heart of the old city, a great place to have an evening drink at one of the many outdoor restaurants. In the maze that is the Old City, she's also handy to use as a place to meet (everyone can find her) or as a way to give directions: "If you're in the Plaza Santo Domingo, follow La Gordita's feet and go a block, then turn right."

"Noli Me Tangere" says this woman facing the location of Cartagena's old port. This is Cartagena roughly translates it to, "Back off, pirates! I've got this covered." :) Not bad, not bad. In colonial times, Cartagena stored a lot of the Spanish empire's riches and was often the site of enemy attack.

La Palenquera statue stands along the waterfront outside the old city, with the Bocagrande Peninsula in the background. As mentioned in previous posts, the women of Palenque, a pueblo outside of Cartagena originally founded by escaped slaves, have become a symbol of Cartagena. They wear brightly colored dresses and sell fruit and sweets carried in large bowls on their heads throughout the walled city.

Above is Maria, the aunt of one of my students, with my mother and me in January. Those bowls are *heavy* and the women normally carry them on their heads...I don't know how they do it!

Feliz Día--Happy Women's Day!

Food in a bag a la peruana!

Yes, I know, I haven't officially blogged in a couple of months and LOTS of things to catch you all up on...but in the meantime, I found another entry to my "Food in a bag" post (which generated 4, count 'em four, comments--my highest number to date! :).

I'm in Peru for a couple of weeks traveling and saw the--in my opinion--the oddest choice of food item to put in a bag: eggs! While I can think of a "con" for this kind of packaging I'm not sure what a "pro" would be. Anyone?

More in the near future on Colombian destinations (Ciudad Perdida, Popayan, Putumayo...) and Peru (Lake Titicaca, Ollantaytambo, Machu Picchu, Nazca, the Amazon...). I'm heading back to teach in Cartagena for 2013 also; my 6 week visit has turned into over a year!

Bocachica Revisited

Our group led by our fearless guide on the left!

Last weekend was a holiday weekend (Dia de la Raza, aka Columbus Day in the U.S., was celebrated on the Monday) and the occasion to return to nearby places I'd already been to but wanted to get to know better. San Basilio de Palenque was one place; Bocachica and the Island of Tierrabomba was another.

I really wanted to go for a long hike on the island but at the tourist office was told that wasn't possible. But then I learned that the parents of one of my students was from Bocachica; I told her that I wanted to go on a  l o n g  hike, like from one end of the island to another, and asked her if it could be done. She said of course and arranged for someone to lead us.

Bocachica Foto by Norell

So, 8 of us (3 Colombians, a Colombian-American, 2 Yanks, a Mexican-American, & a German; love the international groups!) met up on Monday morning at 8:30. Of course the trip to Bocachica was only 20 minutes by boat, but for a variety of reasons, we didn't get there til 10:30. This is Colombia! 

Fort San Angel Rafael

We met our guide, German, at his home. He is a native of Bocachica & is involved with an organization that's working to preserve the old Spanish forts & ruins on the island. He was really informative & a very nice guy. There are 1600 people who live on the island in 4 small communities, all very poor. What is happening though of course is that the wealthy (individuals and companies) are buying up some parts of the island & during the course of our day we all of a sudden came across an area where there were luxury homes & hotel like places right on the water. What a contrast. In addition, the Colombian government owns some of the land there & a naval base, currently located on some prime real estate in Cartagena's Bocagrande area, will be moved to the island in the near future.

BATS!! Foto by Norell

German started out by taking us through the town of Bocachica, up a hill to a fort called San Angel Rafael. The fort had a really nice view all around, had been restored about 12 years ago, & had an escape tunnel that led down to the beach! We didn't escape. We entered just the opening of the tunnel and encountered BATS which was kind of creepy, although three of the local girls who followed us in to the fort had no qualms about going through all of the tunnels that we had been a bit nervous about. After enjoying the history & the view, we wandered down to the other fort that I'd already seen during my last trip. I was starting to worry that I wasn't going to see new parts of the island or get my long hike in, despite the fact that German had said a few times "get ready to WALK!" I didn't need to fear...

Blowhole!

Once we left that other fort, we started to really hike. We went all along a black coral bedded coast and passed some other old Spanish defense battery ruins, a blowhole where water at times shoots up to 10 meters high, as well as luxury homes. It did seem a little disconcerting how the luxury homes contrasted with the houses in the villages; it was apparent, too, that the fences built around these homes that reached nearly to the water had blocked off paths that previously had been used by the locals. But the coast was gorgeous....

After lunch & a quick dip for some, we started heading inland and up. This is the rainy season on the Caribbean coast, which means that (normally) brief but heavy rainstorms are fairly frequent. We connected with the one road (dirt) that went across the island, which of course was very muddy due to the rains. A few people on motorcycles were coming at us from the other direction and were having a hard time getting through; the smart guy on the burro had no trouble at all though!

We're going to get muddy!

Our goal was another small village on the "Cartagena" side of the island, from which we'd see a view of the city and be able to get a boat back home. We made it there at about 5 pm, 7 hours after we started. One of my fellow hikers from Cartagena said that it was the best hike he'd ever done. We were muddy and sore, but it was really good, beautiful, and interesting. 

From where we had arrived, we had a great view of the Cartagena skyline. In the foreground, just below where we were standing on Tierrabomba Island, you could see the very humble homes that people live in, then came the bay, then the luxury high rises of Cartagena. The discrepancy is always shocking. Wikipedia cites a World Bank study saying that Colombia is "among the most unequal Latin American countries in terms of wealth distribution" and a recent article in the local paper said that the GINI index (which measures wealth inequality) had risen by 10% in Cartagena in the past 16 years. That inequality was glaringly obvious to me this weekend.

Compare: homes in the foreground with those in the background

I got my hike in, but got a lot more too.

For more photos of Bocachica and Tierrabomba Island, click here.