Sept 28, Wednesday

Sept 28, Wednesday

So nice to sleep in a quiet environment !    Went to sleep at 11 pm, got woken up at 7 am by some kind of noise, but managed to get back to sleep until 9 am.   GREAT !    Went for breakfast at 9:30, got maps of Chiclayo in the front lobby, as well as directions to the nearest Lavanderia to get most of my clothes washed.   Dropped those off only one long block away from Hotel Costa del Sol, where I am staying. With the city map in hand, I took off to explore.   Down Avenida Balta to the main square.  Surprise; it was not called Plaza Bolivar !   La Iglesia Santa Maria Cathedral and Municipal building were here.   The cathedral was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and had beautiful stained glass windows. 

Publication bans, posted outside the church on a bulletin board, just like a wanted poster !

 I then visited the “Municipalidad” building. Originally build in 1920,  it partially burned down and had to be rebuilt. Beautiful restoration work by artisans for all of the wood and plaster decorations. There was also some art displayed in some of the rooms.  

Maquette for rebuilding

Finished product today

Kept walking on Balta Avenue until I reached Avenida Pedro Ruiz, but somehow missed the Mercado Herbolario, where the shamans have their herbal shops.  DARN.   Will have to try to find it either tomorrow or Friday night.  Walked back to the main plaza, then 90 degree turn to Avenida Luis Gonzales and south to Avenida ?? forget the name, it wasn’t on the map.    Another 90 degree turn to go west to see El Paseo de las Musas.   Never did see the Muses, only a shrine to the virgin Mary.   I felt kind of lost at this point because I could not find ANY street names anywhere (not on buildings, not on signs !).    But my sense of direction is pretty good, so I did another 90 degree turn towards the north and figured I would cross Avenida Bolognesi at some point with Avenida Pena as a cross street.    Could not find it although I knew I had to be close.   So I decided to take a cab back to the hotel.   Turns out I was EXACTLY where I thought I was,  only a few blocks away from my hotel.   It only cost me 3 Soles to get there (less than $2. J  )    Oh Well !    I was tired anyway, and needed to rest.   I surfed the net for the next part of my journey.

Oh !   I  forgot to add that during my LONG walk, I stopped at a tourist info wicket to book two trips:  Tomorrow I go to Huaca Rajada,  el Museo Tumas reales del Senor de Sipan (Royal tombs), and the Bruning Museum,  all to the north of Chiclayo.   

Friday I go to Sican Museo, los Bosques de Pomac, and Tucume Valle de las Piramides   all to the southwest of Chiclayo.    

Saturday,  I will check out of the hotel and take the bus (transporte) to Trujillo, in order to visit the archeological site of Chan Chan.   Check this one out on the Internet!   It should be quite an experience.

After my rest at the hotel I decided to go out again in search of a small grocery store to buy some water and juice for my trip tomorrow.   Ended up stopping for dinner:  Pollo de Limon  (Chicken in a lime sauce)  DELICIOUS !  with a salad and papas fritas (literally  ‘potatoes fried’ or our French fries)   I also treated myself to a small pitcher of Sangria.   Small but VERY potent !   No idea what type of liqueur they add, but it was VERY VERY good.   

I was sitting in front of the ‘Postre’ display  (that’s Dessert)  and decided to indulge my sweet tooth.   Chocolate Cake with a Café Latté.    Could not finish the cake it was so heavy and moist, but not too sweet; so it is sitting in my hotel mini-fridge for tomorrow night.

Other experiences earlier this morning:   Cold water & cold water shower !   Does not matter which tap I use, the temperature from both are the same !    OK.    And I also have acquired a swelling on my forehead from some type of bite from a “biche”.   (That’s BUG,  not BITCH !)    It is either from the hotel in Armenia, where there was a very tiny window in the bathroom, that did not have a glass pane or screen and where I remember hearing a mosquito flying around my head during the night,  or from the overnight stay in Los Balcones in Bogota where….    Never mind; you don’t want to know !

Tonight, after I found my disinfectant to treat the bite, I actually got some HOT water out of the tap !  EUREKA;  it does exist !

Well, that’s it for today.   May not be able to post to my blog tomorrow or the next day if I’m too tired, so don’t worry.

Sept 26, Monday & Sept 27, Tuesday = Travel days

Sept 26, Monday  &  Sept 27, Tuesday   =   Travel days

Got to sleep in somewhat (noise in the lobby)   on Monday morning since my flight from Armenia to Bogota wasn’t leaving until 3:15.    Repacked the luggage so that I would only need my carry-on luggage for these two days.   My big suitcase is just that  ….  BIG  &  HEAVY.   Sandra and Tim can attest to that!

By 1 pm I had checked out for the 40 minute taxi drive to the airport just outside of Armenia.  Got to the airport to find out that the 3:15 flight had been cancelled and merged with the 5:15 flight.   No big deal,  just a lot of time to spend waiting in a small airport.   I’m finishing a book about Egypt, so I had at least that to keep me occupied.   Flight went well, got to see more of the Cordileras mountains this time from the air.    It was interesting to see all those mountain ranges I had crossed by bus, from the air.   Everything was so green.

Got to Bogota  at around 7 pm.  Got some info on a nearby hotel from the tourist desk at the airport and grabbed a taxi to get there.    Unfortunately, there appears to be two hotels with the name “Los Balcones”  and the driver did not look at the address which had been written down on a piece of paper for me.    We were driving towards the city centre and had been for about 10 minutes when I questioned where he was going.   I repeated that it was supposed to be a hotel near the airport.  So the driver stopped the car, in the side of the freeway (blocking traffic ! ! !) to look at the address.   He had to double back almost to the airport before veering off in a different direction.   Finally got to the hotel to catch a few hours sleep before my 5:15 am wake-up call.    Hotel was quite noisy but earplugs helped to dull the traffic noise from the street.     

I slept soundly for about 4 hours, then woke up every hour after that.   At 4:30 I finally gave up, and got up to get ready.    Grabbed a taxi at 5:30 and was at the airport by 6 am for my 8:30 departure (international flight to Lima).    Did not have a window seat to begin with, but the gentleman who sat beside me changed seats to be closer to his friend, so I got a window seat after all.    There were mountains almost all the way, but the green of Colombia gave way to the grey & brown mountains in Peru.    We are farther away from the equator here, and it is still early spring.   The closer we got to Lima however, the more green started to appear, first in the valleys and then on the mountain sides facing the Pacific.   It was amazing to see how the moisture from the clouds, trapped by the mountains, made a difference in the growing seasons.   One side of the mountain starting to show a beautiful light green while the other side was still brown.    Huge agricultural fields here as well, but in the early part of the season.   Got to the Lima Airport at about 11 am and went through the paces of the airport:  Go through Immigration, pick up luggage, go through Customs, make my way to the Departure area for my flight north to Chiclayo, had to change my boarding pass,  and got dinged for suitcase being over the weight limit !   First time since I left Ottawa, so I’ve been lucky.  

It was strange to be back at the Lima Airport.   When Yvette and I were here a few years ago (which year was that ?  2008?), we were met by Juana and Claude Gervais when we arrived, so I did not see much of the airport.   Even when we took our flight to Cusco, we just followed Juana and Claude and I did not pay much attention to my surroundings, which is strange for me.    It is only when Yvette and I, and the two other ladies (mother / daughter team) from Northern Ontario, came back to the airport for our departure flight, that I really got to see the airport.   Yvette:  the “Britt” shop is still here and I stopped to treat myself to a bag of chocolate covered passion fruit !   I have another long wait since my flight does not leave until 4:30,  so I’m updating the notes for my blog.   Tried to send this  from the Lima airport, but all wifi connections are “local only”.   Will have to try again when I reach Chiclayo.

Chiclayo is on the Pacific coast.  Hope it’s hot and sunny  because I plan on veg’ing for a few days.

Got to the very small airport in Chiclayo and there was a bus from my hotel waiting for me.   How nice is that !   The advance reservation sure paid off this time.   Had a quick check-in, unpacked (have to find a “lavanderia” to have all my clothes washed !) had a nice shower (well maybe not so nice since both the cold and the hot faucet produced the same cold water), but at least I was refreshed and smelled soapy ! Got all dressed up tonight (only clean clothes left in my suitcase) and went down to the hotel restaurant  for a nice dinner, complete with a before dinner drink (pisco sour), heart of palm salad, chicken stuffed with cheese and asparagus (with some kind of berry sauce trickled over it ) with garlic buttered rice and corn,  along with a nice glass of merlot.   There was absolutely no room for dessert !    I’ll have that tomorrow, instead of dinner.

I started chatting with the couple at the next table, because he was telling his wife (in English !) that pisco was the same as grappa.   They were from Calgary, but obviously not original Canadians because of their very thick accents.   Turns out he is originally from Romania and she is from Russia.  They met and married in Calgary.   This guy was a fount of information, whether I wanted to hear it or not.  He just would NOT shut up and he was so hard to understand.   I was very nice and tried to participate in the conversation, but it was obvious that he just loved to hear himself talk.  His wife tried to intervene a few times, but that did not work either.   They were a very nice couple but by the time I finished my meal I really was ready for some peace and quiet.  After spending the entire day in noisy airports and planes, I really was ready for some down time.   

So I’m back in my room, it’s 9:30 here (10:30 Ottawa time) and my eyes are closing from this extremely long day. 

Don’t have the energy to add pictures from my day in the Parque Nacional de Café, so you will just have to wait until I’ve got my batteries re-energized.   MY batteries, not the computer’s and not my camera’s!

Buenos noches John Boy !

Sept 25, Sunday

Sept 25, Sunday

Well the hotel I am staying at in Armenia advertised WIFI  access, however they only provide “local” connectivity, so I won’t be able to publish my next blog until I get to the Bogota airport, where they hopefully provide free WIFI access to passengers who are waiting for flights.   They did at the Caracas airport.  If not, it will have to wait until I reach the Lima airport (5 hour wait between flights), and if they don’t provide WIFI access, it will have to wait until I reach my hotel in Chiclayo late Tuesday night.

Today was a great day however.    The hotel has marble floors throughout, so sound carries everywhere.  Yvette, remember the hotel in Puna that had a window giving out onto the hallway?  This one has the same thing in all their rooms, except that my window looks out into the hallway, so I hear absolutely everything that’s going on.   I was therefore up and dressed fairly early.  I went to talk to the receptionist and explained that I could not connect to the Internet.  I guess they don’t have many guests who bring their own computers; this isn’t a Ritzy hotel and I’m not located in the city Centre.   She did not realize that unless we use their computer, we can’t connect !    I explained that I needed to book a flight on-line with Avianca for Monday afternoon from Armenia to Bogota.   She offered to do it for me on their work computer.  Took about 10 minutes to get it done, so I’m glad I didn’t try to do it myself.  They ask for some kind of two digit code linked to the credit card being used.  Must be something unique about South America because they needed the same thing when I booked the flight from Bogota to Lima, but the travel agent did the transaction, and I did not see which code he inputted.   If I can find someone who speaks English, I’ll get them to explain what this code is all about (01 to 20 something).  Anyway, my flight is booked, I received my electronic ticket almost immediately, and the front desk clerk printed it out for me.

It was time for breakfast by then and two other people had just ordered, so I did the same.   You actually order at the front desk and they bring you your breakfast either to your room, or to the tiny dining room on the ground floor.   The front desk receptionist doubles as the short order cook, server, and cleaner upper !    I told her I was quite impressed with her multi-tasking.   She laughed.   My Spanish will definitely be improving during the South American portion of my trip !   I have to use it every day since most people only speak Spanish, or very few English phrases.

After breakfast I was ready to make my way to the Parque Nacional de Café.   Took a taxi from the hotel to the bus station, but when I told the taxi driver where I was going today, he said he had a cheaper way for me to get there.   He dropped me off at a local bus site, where mini busses go to the park every Sunday.   I guess they must have multiple buses lined up to go there, because I got out of the taxi, onto a bus, and away we went.   Got to the park within less than ½ an hour.  There were lines and lines of buses parked along the road, and I wondered how I would be able to decipher which one to take to return to Armenia.   Oh well, I’ll worry about it at the end of the day when it’s time to go back.

The entrance fee to the park was only 18,000 Colombian Pesos, about $10 for a full day at the park with access to the telesilla/chair-lift (go down the mountain and return) the teleférico/cable car (go and return) and the mini-train circuit.   It also included access to the Museo de Café,  Show de Café (dancing and singing but sorry NO PHOTOS allowed !), a presentation on the secrets of nature,  and finally el Sentero de Café (the coffee route).   The park includes a section with kiddy and adult rides, but that’s not what I had come to see, so although I saw these areas during the train ride and my walk through, I did not go on any of these rides.

I took the chair lift down so I could see the Folkloric Coffee Show.  I just missed the 11:15 show, so had to wait in line for the 12:00 show.  It was well worth the wait; similar in some ways to the Mexican Folkloric shows I’ve seen, but this one followed the history of coffee production mixed with Colombian music and dancing.   The last show was modern Caribbean sounds with Carnival type costumes.   I was quite impressed with the talent.   This last one also included some acrobats using silk ropes hanging from the rafters, depicting iguanas, birds and butterflies.

From there, I made my way down the rest of the mountain onto the hanging bridge and to the main square where I caught the mini-train to the small archeological museum and to grab a bite to eat.   I walked back to take the cable car back up the mountain in order to walk back down on the coffee route.   This was really spectacular, not just the views, but the entire set up of a traditional coffee plantation all along the serpentine path down the mountain, past a recreation of an Indian cemetery,  muleteer bridge,  a coffee farmhouse, with hens, roosters and chicks running everywhere, but also some in enclosures if the chicks were too small to be let out.   Spotted a few birds up in the trees; some I was able to film, others were more difficult due to their fast flight, or skittishness.    I came to a reproduction of a coffee plantation house where a guide said he could provide me the tour either in Spanish, English or French.   I said that it did not matter to me which he used, so he said he would practice his English with me.   Very broken English, even if they were lines he had memorized, but such a nice gentleman.   After I finished touring the house, he insisted on dressing me as “Juana Valdez”  and took a picture of me in front of the hacienda.

   
Even spotted some parakeets in the trees ... because I could hear them TALKING.   Took me a while to find where they were sitting since they blended in so well into the trees.

The last of the trail showed how they picked the beans, washed and sorted them, dried them and packed them up to send to processing plants.

I took the chair lift back up the mountain to the coffee museum, where they explained how the beans were again sorted in order to grade them, roast them, grind them when required, package them and ship them around the world.    And of course they made a point of saying the “Juan Valdez Colombian Coffee” is the best in the world. 

It had started to rain while I was in the museum, so the last part of the day had to be a rest stop to savour a great cup of coffee of course !    It was 4:30 by then and I was quite tired.   Although the park is open until 6 pm, I decided to call it a day and skip the climb up to the Torre Mirador (Look-out Tower).  It was quite a climb to get to the top and it was still spitting rain so I made my way out of the park and out to the street to try to locate the right bus.

First bus I spot as I walk out the gate is one from the “Armenia” line, and it has a sign in the window indicating that it’s going to Armenia !    Now isn’t that just grand.    Crossed the street, hopped on the bus, and within two minutes we were off.   Got off at the main terminal and hopped into a taxi for the ride back to the hotel.

Did I mention that everywhere I go, people keep asking me for directions!    I don’t know what it is about the way I look, or the way I walk as if I know where I’m going, but it’s really funny to see their reaction when I answer “Dispensame, mi Espanol es esta muy limitado, pero si hablas lentamento tratare de ayudarle.”   (Excuse me, my Spanish is very limited, but if you speak slowly I will try to help you.) And then I laugh, and they laugh,  but they usually do ask me for directions anyway.   What a hoot !

Everyone I’ve met with or spoken to through my travels in Colombia have been extremely nice.  I have never felt in danger in any way.   The USA and Canada really need to update their warnings about travelling in Colombia.   Unless you really go into dangerous isolated areas where drug growers and dealers are known to be, there is absolutely no danger.   And the big cities are like any other big cities around the world;  pick-pockets will be there if you aren’t careful.   No scarier in Colombia or Venezuela than anywhere else.

Viva Colombia y sus habitantes !

Sept 24, Saturday

Sept 24, Saturday

Had an early breakfast;  well for me it was early =  8:30.   By 9 am I was heading back up the mountain on the chair-lift so that I could finish the tour that got cut short by the rain yesterday.   On the way up the mountain, I spotted a blue butterfly like the ones in Costa Rica.  Unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough with my camcorder to get it on film.   Today my guide was Erika and she was extremely knowledgeable on all her topics.   I was added to a group who were admiring the hummingbirds,  a Colombian family consisting of the grandfather,   daughter, son and his wife and their daughter.  Very nice people and I was even able to participate in their joking.   We finished with the bonsai section and returned to the butterfly house.  Since it was now warm and sunny, the butterflies were flying everywhere; compared to yesterday when their wings were closed and they weren’t moving.  They get their energy from the sun, so they were going wild in there; so many varieties, so many colors.   One species had transparent wings.   Beautiful.  

From there, we headed down a different path down the mountain, past a rain forest growth to reach the orchid collection.   There weren’t as many as I had thought I would see, but the ones that were there were very interesting,  all shapes and sizes from 3 inch wide to less than ½ and inch wide.

By 11:30 the tour ended near the hotel, so I left the group to go shower, change, pack and check-out.  By 12:00 I was in a taxi heading to the bus station.   Their bus stations run differently from ours.   There must be at least 20 different bus companies, some sharing routes, some specializing in other regional  destinations.    When I left Bogota, they had “departure” and “arrival” boards like we have in airports.  Unfortunately the Manizales station did not have these.  So here I am in front of a semi-circle of about 20 bus companies trying to decide which one would be the best to get an Express service to Armenia.

What do I see ?   A company called Armenia, with only two destinations:    Pereira and Armenia.   Easy choice !   I get to the ticket office and ask about an Express bus to Armenia:  there is one leaving in 10 minutes.   YES !    Just had enough time to buy my ticket, get to the bus, get my luggage aboard, and we were taking off.   Only 47 kilometres to Pereira and a little less than that to Armenia.  The roads were also in excellent condition and were 4 lanes wide in a divided boulevard style.    We stopped for about 20 minutes in Pereira to drop off and pick-up passengers.  The bus could only contain 16 passengers, so it didn’t take a lot of time.   Got to the bus station in Armenia at about 3:15,  got a taxi by 3:30, and was at the hotel I had selected by 4:00.     Small quaint hotel in the Quindio section of the city.  

Got all the info I needed to get to the “Parque Nacional de Café” tomorrow.    Went out to find a restaurant and had pizza for a change.   No bank in site to get some more cash, but I should have enough until I get back to Bogota for my flight to Peru.

That’s it for now.    My computer is acting up so I’ll close fast and not worry about adding pictures.

Sept 23, Friday

Sept 23, Friday

Had a late breakfast, research on  internet, check out at noon and moved to  “El Recinto del Pensamiento”.     By 2 pm I was taking a tour of the ecological park with a very nice young guide named Laura  (pronunciation in Spanish =  La o ra).    We started with the medicinal garden, then took the chair-lift up the mountain to view different plants, birds, butterflies etc.   By the time we got to the butterflies it started to rain, so we made a run back to the bird house.  Before  we got there it was pouring, by the time we reached the house there was pouring rain and thunder claps.   It even hailed for about 5 minutes, the size of the nails on my pinkie finger.  To them this was very unusual.  

There was a group of young students (10 to 12 year olds) stuck in the house with us.  Laura explained that they came from poor families and were given free access to the park that day.   They had never met a foreigner and were very excited to talk to me and ask me questions about where I was from, if I was married, what was it like to fly in a plane,  how big is Niagara Falls,  and on, and on, and on.   There were at least 32 of them crowding around me for about 20 minutes.   I showed them some of the pictures I had on my camera of Nevado del Ruiz, but were quite disappointed that I did not have photos of Canada, or of the plane !   It was so cute.   I really was bombarded by them and the three guides at the house had to try to control them.    Forget it; these kids had endless questions.    I had to try to get them to ask questions one at a time so that I could hear the question and answer it, but they were all talking, and screaming at the same time.   I guess I was saying  “Ah, si !”  often, because they started repeating it to me.  I was laughing so much I had a hard time.   One kid said I must be rich to be able to travel and have two nice cameras.   I explained that I wasn’t rich, but that I had worked for 38 years and this trip was a present to myself.   One boy, the tallest in the group, offered to marry me !   That brought on even more laughter from the group.   I took a picture of the group, but that took at least 5 minutes to try to quiet them down.  They all wanted to see the picture I had taken of them.  Two of the little girls were especially friendly and not shy at all.   They even spoke the few words of English they had learned in school.   The rain finally stopped and they left the bird house.   Finally some quiet, and all the hummingbirds came back to the sugar water feeders.   Well,  try to take a picture, or film a close up of these tiny little flyers.   They move so fast I didn’t think I’d be able to get any good pics, but I did.  Even a long tailed hummingbird.  There are over 80 varieties and one of the three guides is a professional photographer and ornithologist and he showed me a gorgeous book that featured some of his photos.   If any of you are interested you can Google   “Hector Julian Sanchez Ospina”  or  check out this link  on flikr    

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/56319193@N08/random/

There was no question of using the chair-lift to get back down, so the three guides asked if I would wait until 4 pm and they would walk down the trail with me.   Sounded good to me, more time to enjoy all those hummingbirds which were constantly bombarding each other and using the 10 feeders that surrounded us.    The trail was all on cement tiles, at times quite steeply sloped instead of being placed as a staircase, and I was worried I would slip and fall, but we made it down safely, even crossing the raging creek (after all that rain, it had doubled in size from when I saw it from the chair-lift).  

        View from my room !

I went back to my room to get out of my wet clothes and relax before dinner.    By 6 pm I was starving since I had not eaten anything since breakfast.  I was the only person in the dining room, they dine much later.  The lady in the dining room offered me a magazine to read.   My Spanish reading is really improving because there weren’t many words I did not understand.   Article on J.K. Rowling and another on Prince William & Kate Middleton  (Principe Guillermo ! ? ! )

By 7 pm I was back in my room.   What a great day.   The setting here is very nice, however it was the kids that made the day special.  I will cherish it for a long time.

Sept 22, Thursday

Sept 22, Thursday

Well, I was up, had a quick breakfast and was in the hotel lobby at 6:30 as requested, waiting for my tour to show up.  They showed up at 6:50, and I was the third stop on a 9 stop run.  A few of the people were late so that delayed us as well.  We ended up leaving Manizales about 45 minutes late, but that doesn’t appear to be a big problem for Latin people.   They pretty much go with the flow.   We stopped at least 6 times on the way up the mountain since we were going from an elevation of 2150 meters in Manizales, going up and down a few times, but to a final elevation of around 4800  meters on Nevado del Ruiz (highest elevation 5389).   They told us the various stops would help us adjust gradually to the higher elevation.   But some of the stops were quite interesting and our guide was very information.   We were a very diverse group:  three females from Germany, one guy from Belgium, one guy from France, me from Canada, and all others were Colombians.  16 people in a mini bus.  Once we got off the main highway, the road got worse and worse, but the vistas were out of this world.   By the time we left the tree line, it looked like we were on the moon.   There are two volcanoes in the area, one is dormant, but looks like it recently erupted, and the other one, Nevado del Ruiz last erupted in 1985, created a lot of damage, but the Arenas Crater was hidden behind the snowy peaks.   As of October last year, local volcanologists' seismographs have detected activity, so people are no longer allowed onto the glacier to see the crater.   Also, since 1985 to today, there is only 19% of the glacier left.   A huge part melted when the volcano erupted, but the rest is disappearing due to global warming.   It was a spectacular site to see the serpentine road going up through the lamar.  The road up the mountain had to be rebuilt after the eruption.   Some formations looked like elongated pyramids, others looked like sand dunes, but the majority looked like a giant pile of sand had slid down the mountain.  I took tons of pictures and filmed part of our drive up so that I can remember the wild ride, and then back down that mountain.   The weather seemed to change every 10 minutes:  clouds blocking all the view, rain, sleet, sunshine so it made for interesting photos.  

The people on the tour were all very nice.  I was the oldest one and the guy from France was in his early 50s;  everyone else was in their 20s, many of them students.   These two girls (Laura and Andrea) who are studying accounting at a university in Bogota and on a one-week school break in Manizales, went out of their way to assist me throughout the day. 

I’m having a hard time understanding their Spanish because of the different vocabulary they use (different from Mexico and Spain),  so we had a fun time trying to communicate, mixing my Spanish and their limited English.   Laura gave me a suggestion for a hotel when I get to Armenia; I'll have to check it out on the internet.   After we came back down the mountain we stopped for lunch, and then went to a hot springs spa for 1 ½ hours.   It was so relaxing to float in that water, even if it was just a regular pool fed by thermal flows.

Tomorrow I switch hotels, so will be down in the valley, just outside Manizales, staying at “El Recinto del Pensamiento” which includes a hotel, a garden/park, coffee cultivation, ecological pathways, butterflies, etc.   Should be an interesting time.

Sept 21, Wednesday

Sept 21, Wednesday

Slept like a baby for 8 hours !   AH…. That feels so good.    Breakfast included with the price of the room. I picked up some tourist maps and brochures at the front desk and came back to my room to plan my day.  By 10 am I hit the pavement. 

The hotel is located in the historical area of Manizales so that’s where I started, just a few blocks down to the main plaza, named after guess who?   Bolivar !  Started with the Catedral-Basilica.  (There is always a cathedral or a church in the main plaza, have you noticed?) I  then visited the Governor’s Palace.  This building was spectacular, decorated like a wedding cake !   Great statue in the plaza, I’ll have to get the story on this because it appears to be part man, part eagle.   Kept going down the street to another square (with a market) and another church:  Imaculada Conception.  This one looked fairly ordinary from the outside, but the inside was completely built in red cedar.  It is  110 years old, but the baptismal font is over 150 years old, carved out of stone by the local Indians who were here at the time.  With my limited Spanish, I did not quite get where it was located before it came to this church.   The “Road of the cross” Chemin de la croix, is all carved out of wood in 3-D images.   Checked out the shopping Plaza across the street:  5 or 6 levels in all.   Lee-Anne, you would go GAGA with their shoe stores, beautiful leather and designs that are completely out of this world.  

From there I went up a couple of streets to the cable cars.   These were built about 3 or 5 years ago depending on who you ask.  They start from the historical district, which is almost at the top of the mountain, and  goes down to a middle section, then all the way down to the bus station.   Haven’t found information on how high it is from top to bottom but for only $1,400 pesos (same price as the city bus) it’s a lot faster and the views are spectacular.  TOOK LOTS OF PICTURES !   If you don’t get off when you reach the bus station, and just ride back up, you only pay once !   They are really good to the tourists.

Once I got back up to the historical district, I took a city bus to a different part of the city (middle section, business district)  ironically called Cable, but it is for the old chair lift system that used to exist here.    I got off  at Cable Plaza and decided that it was time for lunch since it was past 1 o’clock and my breakfast was long gone.   I had another Colombian style meal that consisted of beef, brown beans, platanos, rice and a slice of avocado.   It was quite good, but I know I’ll regret eating those beans !

After lunch I crossed the street to the Torre de Herveo, and underneath it found the Tienda de Juan Valdez.  YES, the coffee guy !   So although I had just eaten, I could not resist stopping for a ‘café con leche & un postre’.   Postre means dessert.   I had banana bread, which they call ‘banano’.  Good thing I’ve been doing a lot of walking.   Don’t want to regain the inches I’ve lost.  

Got back on a returning bus to “el Centro” but stayed on and rode all the way to the ‘Chipre’ area to visit ‘Torre al Cielo’  (The sky tower) which was closed !   and another church ‘Templo de Nuestra Senora del Rosario’  which also was closed !    Oh well.   From there it was downhill to get back to my hotel, so I decided to walk off that lunch.  Walked past the “Bellas Artes” which I thought was a museum, but turns out it was a university, so no visit, but two great pics.  

On my walk back down the hill, I spotted a huge church which was a bit out of the way, but it looked interesting so off I went.   ‘El Templo Sagrado Corazon de Jesus’ was in rough shape, but had spectacular coloured glass windows.   It was only 3 o’clock, but I was really tired, hot (it’s 28 degrees today even though we are in the mountains) and I decided to call it a day.

Tomorrow morning, at 6:30 ! ! !   (yes, you guys as the office,  I’m getting up at 6 am tomorrow) because I’ve booked a tour to Nevada del Ruiz,  which is a volcanic mountain covered in snow.   The last time it erupted, in 1985, it destroyed 4 towns.   I’m going to be layering my clothing and bringing my leather gloves and ear muffs (Did not think I would need those until I got to Nepal & Tibet !)   It is an all day excursion, with breakfast and lunch included, and after we’ve done the mountain, we go to the thermal hot springs for a dip !    From winter clothing to a swim suit;  should be interesting !

I’ve spent two hours now downloading the pictures from my camera to my laptop, adding comments to each, then did my back-up.   I’ve spent about 20 minutes writing this blog.   I’m ready for bed and an early start tomorrow.

That’s it for today.    Hope you are all having a normal life…. I’m not !

Sept 20, Tuesday

Sept 20, Tuesday

Only got about 5 hours sleep, and not restful, despite the fact that I had put in a wake-up call.   Hasn’t happened too often though.   Checked out of the hotel at 8:20 and got to the bus terminal by 9 am.  Unfortunately, the 10 am “Express” bus to Manizales was full, but there was a “Super Express” at 10:30.  After being misdirected 3 times to the correct gate, I finally found the one I needed.  Note to self,  10:30 is not the departure time, it is the time when you let you through the gate to get on the bus.  We did not leave the terminal until 11:50.    It took almost one hour to drive out of the city in the traffic.  Although the road on the map appears to be a “highway” it was only a  two lane road all the way, via Madrid, Facatativa, Alban, Villeta, Aqua Dulce, Guaduas, Honda, and a series of small villages and towns where no names were posted all the way to Manizales.   Just outside Bogota is an agricultural area with plenty of rich soil and huge fields.  Within another half hour we were in the mountains.   This is where the term “Super Express” becomes questionable.   The bus was not Super and the Express was as fast as the trucks on the mountainous roads.   The serpentine roads were treacherous, and our drivers (they always have two on long hauls) have nerves of steel.  They were passing these trucks even though they could not see oncoming traffic;  definitely a white knuckle adventure.   It reminded me of the mini bus ride in Costa Rica from San Juan to Jaco, where the driver took the back roads to avoid the traffic on the main roads.  Apart for a half hour stretch outside of Honda where we were in a valley, the entire ride felt like I was riding a roller coaster,  ON A BUS !

Observations along the route:  school kids all wear uniforms.  Flowers growing wild along the road where the same kind I had seen at the Botanical Gardens.  There are small gage railroad tracks at times, but are completely in disuse.   Just outside Guaduas, from the top of a mountain, we could see a huge brown river  at the bottom of the valley.   By the time we got to Honda, the river ran beside the road. (I have to check my map to see what its name is).  Some of the hills are terraced, but nothing like in Peru;  they look more like mogels on a ski run.  I realized later on during the trip that these were created by cows, horses and goats which are let out on the hills to graze.   No idea how many mountain ranges we crossed but each had it’s own type of growth:  ferns, bamboo (30 to 40 feet high), pines, brush, grass, rain forest type of growth.  It was quite amazing.

  This one foot butress is the only thing keeping cars from careening down the cliff.   This would do absolutely nothing to keep a bus from falling over ! ! !

We stopped for lunch….  at 4:30…. for about half an hour, but possibly less.  Just had a bowl of soup; I know it had potatoes and mashed corn, but the rest of the ingredients were unidentifiable, although quite good.

Back in the mountains, now quite high.  There are clouds below us and at times we are driving through clouds.   It is quite impressive.  The very last range seemed endlessly high, we could see some snow on the mountain tops.    At 5:45 it was starting to get dark and we were still in the mountains, still climbing.  The windows started fogging up.   The road conditions were good most of the time, but there were often places where the run off had eroded the road side.  They were working to repair these, there were no buttresses to stop cars from going over the edge of the cliffs.  The best they could do was put in that yellow police tape, to show that the edge of the road was bad.   Now, picture this driving in the dark, on steep serpentine roads, with tons of trucks coming and going.  

At one point from the top of the mountain, we could see the lights of Manizales at the bottom of the valley.   It took almost one hour to get down.   Arrived at the bus station sometime after 7:15,  hopped in a taxi and gave directions to a hotel I had found on line.    Well, I had written 3 different hotels and addresses on this paper, and ended up giving the driver the wrong one, so I’ve ended up in the most expensive one !   Hotel Estelar Las Colinas.   Too bad, I’m staying put !   I’ve taken a shower, I’m having a beer  (Club Colombia, quite good actually, and I’m not a beer drinker).   Early to bed tonight.

Sept 18, Sunday & Sept 19 Monday

Sept 19, Monday

Busy day today.   Researched the Internet for a side trip to Manizales, the coffee growing region of Colombia.  There are daily buses that go there, so tomorrow morning, if all goes according to plan, I’m boarding a bus at 10:30 for the eight hour drive.   I could have flown, but I would not get to see much of rural Colombia, so I’ve opted for the bus trip.    If I find that it’s too long, I can always fly back.   One of the ladies who worked at the Emerald Museum told me all about Manizales and Armenia, and confirmed that travelling by bus is very secure.  It’s an express “deluxe” bus with a company called Bolivariano.   Tonight, I still need to research to find a hotel in Manizales, but that should not be a problem.   From that city I can do at least two tours:  one to a coffee plantation and one to Nevado del Ruiz.  I’m planning on staying at least 3 nights but may stay longer.   Ideally, I return to Bogota on Saturday so that I can take the train to “La Catedral de Sal”  a cathedral built of salt within an old salt mine, on Sunday.  This is an all day excursion, leaving at 8:30 in the morning and returning at 6 pm, even though it’s only about 45 miles outside the city limits.   Are you mixed up yet ?   Wait til you get to the end of this message and read about Peru !

By noon today, I was ready to visit El Jardin Botanico.   It was almost one o’clock by the time I got a taxi.   This is noon hour and a busy time since many people go back home for their lunch, and then come back to work for the afternoon,  at least that’s what the hotel security guy told me.    I’ve seen people eating their lunches in the Parque de la Independencia, as well as others having lunch in restaurants, but had not realized that many go back home.  Not sure if their lunch is one hour or two ?   The traffic was horrendous.  It took at least 20 minutes for the taxi to just  circle the block !    Once we got on the main road however things moved along quite rapidly.  Should I say Speedily !    Yvette, they drive like the taxi drivers in Lima !  And the same way in Puerto Rico.  It does not matter if there are three lanes or four, if there is room for five of them side by side, they will do it.   And they cut each other off going 100km or more per hour !   No police cars anywhere that I saw, but plenty of police and security personnel walking the streets or guarding restaurants, shops, banks, etc. The botanical garden was quite nice, even though it is early spring here.   It was a partially sunny day, which was nice.  The elevation is high but I am told that it is pretty much the same temperature all year round.   I spent about 2 hours walking around the gardens and then took a taxi back to the hotel.  

There is a shopping plaza across the street, and I had seen a travel agency in there earlier last week, so I returned to get information on a flight to Peru for next week.    There is only one International Airport in Peru and it is in Lima;  so unfortunately, I will have to fly south west to Lima, then fly back north to Chiclayo in order to visit:  Sipan & Sican, Trujillo, Chan Chan.   Then I probably have to fly back to Lima before I can do the rest of my Peruvian travels.   Anyway, the guys at the travel agency were great and my flight from Bogota to Lima to Chiclayo is booked for Tuesday Sept 27 and they have also booked me in a hotel there for three days.

So don’t worry if you don’t hear from me for a few days, I’ll be in-transit.

Sept  18, Sunday

Slow day, still a bit chilled.   Was woken up by a marching band going by the hotel and when I got up to look out my window I saw a parade of pink !  (Breast cancer)   It took them a good 10 minutes to walk passed the hotel, so there were hundreds of people taking part in the walk.   

Since I had missed breakfast, I decided to have lunch at the hotel restaurant and I noticed that two lanes of the boulevard (Carreta 7) was closed off for bikers and pedestrians,  just like they do on the parkway in Ottawa on Sundays.   Hundreds of people went by while I was eating, so I decided to go out and join them.  This time I went in the opposite direction from my past treks.

Not sure that I’ve told you that this main boulevard is under reconstruction.  Some work being done by machines, to excavate the roads, but most of the finishing work is done by hand.   There is also a lot of graffiti everywhere;  years of it built up over time.   I’ve seen a lot of splashes made by paint gun bullets all over some buildings.  

There was approximately ½ hour of sunshine today and I was able to enjoy it during my walk.  As soon as I came back to my hotel room however, the skies had darkened again.