By this Author: tltisme

Crossed the Equator three times!

Felt up some furry walls at market in Otavalo and was given a furry bed at a horsefarm for two nights...

We happened upon an indigenous feria in the middle of northern highlands indigenous teams championship... I asked if T.L. might be able to practice with some of the players, they threw him a jersey and let him play... in front of a few thousand people...(T.L.'s the one without the long black braid)

We played the 7 dwarves all week with 2 Canadians, 2 Belgians and our Maestro (Doc), at the Tungurahua Tea Room, our WWOOFing site in Banos.

We flew... across a gorge and waterfall outside of Banos

Flying!

Stayed at an Ashram with the Hare Krishnas in Tumbaco, outside of Quito.
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Supported Deportivo Quito vs. Quito Liga at Estadio Olympico Atahualpa, Quito

Surfed these couches...

Played with monkeys...rather, the monkeys played with us, and stole our things.

Otter

Had and defeated parasites...

3 pills+$2.80+2 days=0 parasites

Climbed in, down, up and around a crater lake in Quilotoa.

2 miles wide, 820 feet deep

formed during an enormous eruption 800 years ago in which lava flows reached the Pacific

The trail around the crater rim, Ecuador's version of the knife edge

Got jacked up on IV fluid after dehydration set in from a nasty intestinal bacterial infection...

Went to the beach and learned to surf... at least T.L. did!
"tres por un dolar!" the kids chanted

Ate many deliciously cheap meals...

large, delicious pork lunch=$2

Markets, markets, more markets...

Climbed the clocktowers of Quito's awesome Basilica!

We're currently both in good health and couchsurfing with a Peace Corps volunteer in the campo outside of San Isidro, and still have a few weeks in Ecuador to go!

Due to Amy's impressive frugalness and my economic training we are keeping an accurate record of expenses. Overall Colombia was more expensive than we expected and we were a little discouraged at times about how fast our money was flying out of our pockets. This was partly due to the majority of our time being spent in cities, general high cost of long-distance bus travel, and figuring out how best to travel on a budget and spend smartly. The repeated balancing act we have to play with our money is how much to splurge for activities/foods/cervezas in the present and how much to deprive ourselves of entertainments/experiences/pleasures now in order to see more of the continent down the road. In one sense you want to spend what is necessary to enjoy your time in a place and try new things but on the other hand you must remember that most of your trip money must be spent on cheap food, budget lodging, and transportation in order to continue the journey. This can be a very difficult task individually and even more so when trying to coordinate the desires, preferences, and needs of two companions. Amy and I have certainly had some disagreements in this regard but we are getting better at it as we go. In Colombia we divided expense into five catagories but have since added a sixth called Necessities which includes bathroom fees, internet costs, toiletries, and other expenses we deem necessary while Other now encompasses all unnecessary expenditures.

As you can see transportation and shelter were the majority of our costs over our thirty one days in Colombia. Our two longest bus rides from Bogota to Medellin and then from Medellin to Neiva were a little over thirty dollars each. All the shorter rides and more local bus and metro rides added up (we took a few taxis with others in Bogota and Medellin but only once by ourselves to find our couchsurfing destination in Medellin). Much of our lodging cost is the payment of our first WWOOFing experience outside of Bogota at Organizmo which charged $165 per person for two weeks. This cost did include three meals a day (which were delicious, the consistently best and by far the healthiest we have had) and was certainly worth the experience. Unfortunately we had some difficulties resolving payment in Colombian pesos and how the decreased value of the dollar factored into that payment. WWOOFing can be a tricky process when both parties (host and volunteer) have different expectations. As a volunteer I always try to fulfill work requirements and be ready to help with anything. I think this works best when there is no payment involved and you have the general goal of earning your keep and working for your food and shelter. No matter what the circumstances there is always the chance of a volunteer feeling taken advantage of or a host or often even both at the same time. CouchSurfing dynamics are simpler but can be difficult as well. I have found myself wondering why these people are taking us in for free and then feeling like I must provide something, whether it be interesting conversation, food preparation, dish washing, information, anything to make up for the fact that we are strangers being treated kindly as guests. I am trying to change my way of thinking and not see these interactions as exchanges but instead try to focus on the simple, unquantifiable, social sharing and learning between humans that is at the heart of them all. We have volunteered at three WWOOF hosts (an educational center, family farm, and garden/orchard) and stayed with three different CouchSurfers and all have been astoundingly different and positive. In general these experiences have cost the least and been the most rewarding of the trip. Most of our money has gone to getting from place to place and feeding ourselves (which probably come in second and third in terms of rewarding aspects of the trip).

$1,165.83 is a lot of money but we did a whole lot with it in Colombia and were able to stay under twenty dollars per person per day. This was the general guidline I had found for budget travel in Colombia. Ecuador is proving to be cheaper and we should be closer to 10-15 dollars a day during our time in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Hopefully we will have some money left after that to brave the near European prices of Argentina and Chile. Who knows if we will have the funds after that to cough up the $100+ visa fee for entering Brazil. Only time (and money) will tell.

We joined a throng of well-dressed people (faded and pre-wrinkled designer jeans, sporty shoes, colorful tops, gelled hair, headphones, and stylish bags) leaving the metro station and entering the busy Medellin bus station at 8 PM on a Saturday night. The metro took us right to the Terminal del Norte where we had come in from Bogota and where our bus south left from. We were well provisioned for this ride after our last extra long bus trip. All our containers full of water and granola, sandwiches, and fruit packed (much of it bought from the all-inclusive, Wal-Mart like Carrefour of Colombia). After some tense waiting and confusion trying to board the correct bus, our main bags were safely stowed below and our essentials kept with us aboard as we tried to relax. This Bolivariano bus played Cowboys vs. Aliens in dubbed Spanish throughout the bus for all passengers viewing pleasure. I tried to follow along and maybe learn some espanol from Daniel Craig's and Harrison Ford's spanish personas but eventually drifted off to sleep as the plot became more ridiculous and my eyes grew tired of focusing on the small TV.

We, well Amy, had asked the driver how long the trip to Neiva would take, mas o menos (more or less, I have found it is often a decent answer when you are not sure what is being said). We were told about nine hours and arrived groggily in Neiva about twelve hours later, not so bad considering our first long distance bus experience. As we entered the Neiva bus station we were besieged by competing bus employees shouting out every likely destination we could have in mind and attempting to usher us along to their bus (this occurs at every terminal when an apparent foreign traveler arrives though to varying degrees of aggressiveness). We decided to hit the bathroom first (about 15 cents which is a common charge in public restrooms) and check out all the bus options before giving our money to anyone. In the end, we returned to one of the first guys who had approached us but got our ticket for 20,000 pesos (a little more than ten dollars) instead of us his original price of 30,000 for the four hour trip to San Agustin. We were escorted outside and took the last two seats in the back of the small bus as it cranked up and pulled out of the station. We always ask when a bus is leaving but the problem is that drivers almost always say now or soon when in fact it usually takes the bus or van to be close to full before they leave. This has never taken very long and large buses often do run on more or less set schedules as I discovered in Quito when I ran to the bathroom and assumed I had plenty of time since only a few seats were taken but had to run to catch the bus as it pulled out.

This smaller bus seemed to be half filled with passengers going to Pitalito (the larger town on the main road before going up into the hills around San Agustin) and the other half hopping off along the way and being replaced by other passengers picked up from the roadside. This is characteristic of all transportation we have seen so far, even personal cars and trucks will usually stop to pick up passengers if they have the room. I have to keep reminding myself of the fact that essentially whatever road we are on it is only a matter of time before a taxi, bus, or other vehicle will come along that we can hold up our arm for a ride if we so desire. From an economic perspective this makes automobile transportation much more efficient: most vehicles traveling on the road are full (often overflowing with lashed on cargo and dangling passengers from all possible holds). This practice allows individuals who can afford an automobile to maximize its utility on each trip while providing pedestrians with ample transportation options even on the most remote mountain roads (providing some positive externalities to go along with all the negative ones caused by motor-vehicle use). Though roads are winding, often in poor condition, and driven aggressively there seem to be fewer accidents than you would imagine. I believe this is due in large part to the specialization in driving that occurs due to greater economic and social barriers to owning and operating a motor-vehicle. Professional bus and taxi drivers know their routes extremely well and are more than comfortable passing on downhill curves if the opportunity presents itself. Most people walk and take public transportation everywhere they need to go and may own a motorbike but few own automobiles. Those that do drive are quite competent and I have been impressed with the many uses of honking here, rarely in frustration but often as a warning when approaching a blind switch-back turn or to stop a pedestrian or car from pulling out ahead. Though I have traversed the most insane roads of my life already on this trip I have surprised myself with my calmness and at this point relative comfort on rough and precipitous mountain drives. There are too many breathtaking landscapes and intriguing sights to look at out the window to be worried about the driver anyway. I am sure there are some less than satisfactory motor-vehicle operators on the roads down here but none seem to be lacking in confidence and practice which goes a long way.

Ok, back to the bus trip:

After one military stop on the road where all male passengers were taken off the bus and patted down for weapons we reached Pitalito. We had wondered if this small bus would indeed take us to San Agustin as we had been told and our suspicions were confirmed when we were rushed off the bus at Pitalito and into the back of pick-up truck outfitted with benches and bed cover (known as a camioneta), while our backpacks were unceremoniously tossed on the rugged roof-rack. We were a little annoyed with our downgrade in transportation comfort but we had the truck bed to ourselves and were excited to be nearing our destination. Our bus driver had said he had paid this truck driver for our transport which we hoped was the case and we kept our eyes pealed on the scenery passing behind us and to spot our bags if they tumbled from the roof.

We arrived in the the cute, cobbled streets of San Agustin in a slight rain around 2 o'clock on a Sunday afternoon outside the small tourist information center. After encouraging us to stay at a certain hostal a man who looked to be an employee of the centro touristico led us down to the market to find a ride to Finca Campo Bello. We had been told drivers would know where it was but the first few were perplexed and we started to get a little worried as the rain fell a little harder and our packs felt a little heavier. At last the helpful guy found a driver who was going that way and we hoisted our bags onto the roof rack of his camioneta. Amy went to buy a mango to slurp on (50 cents) in the market nearby while I watched the driver and others load more and more sacks of corn, racks of eggs, and other goods on top and into the back of the truck.

As Amy returned other passengers began piling in until there were seven of us sitting in the back and five men standing on the tailgate as the driver cranked up and pulled out of town. Fourty five minutes of bumping, jostling, and straining to hold on as we crept along a mountain trail we were told to get out. We stood next to a large green house wondering if this was the coffee and pig farm we had signed up to work on for the week. A smiling teenager with glasses emerged from the adjacent house and welcomed us while helping us move our bags inside. We entered and saw a faded Finco Campo Bello logo on the wall and breathed a sigh of relief as we let our bags fall to the floor and took a seat in the offered plastic chairs.

Medellin is an extremely nice city. At just under 5000 feet and less than 500 m from the equator it boasts a perfect climate, basically between 75 and 85 year round (short and t-shirt weather for a Maine boy day and night). The city has an exceptionally clean, modern, straightforward, and popular metro system, the best in Latin America, (allegedly possible through the wealth accumulated here by narcotraficantes) which includes three different metrocable (gondola) lines running up the mountainsides that the city has expanded into in all directions. Over the course of our five days there we rode all but three stops worth of the metro system and made sure to ride all the metrocable segments which were great (and cheap) entertainment. As the six person hanging capsules were whisked along you were given stunning views of the city as a whole while simultaneously allowing flyby perspectives into individual homes and neighborhoods perched on the hillsides. We visited some great parks, cheap restaurants (3 course set dinner for around $4), relaxing gardens, popular bars (my favorite boasted the best michelada, beer mixed with límon and salt, and served endless complimentary popcorn), interesting museums, modern malls (one with a huge aerobic dance class taking place at night that I have a great video of), and markets full of intriguing food, fruit, produce, and crafts. I was constantly impressed by the helpful and friendly people and often surprised by the apparent affluence and modernity.






We CouchSurfed for the first time and it struck me daily how amazing and easy it was. CouchSurfing is an online network of people both offering and seeking lodging and/or social interaction with strangers. Amy and I had made an account this summer offering the cottage on Islesboro but did not receive any requests while we were available. There were many options in Medellin and we ended up staying with a Laura Fernandez (a recent graduate of Florida State University who is back in her home country with her father, applying for masters programs worldwide). Laura's father was head of the environmental and social consciousness division that he had created at EPM, one of the largest energy providers/utility companies in the world. Oscar Fernandez's coffee table and bookshelves were packed full of books by environmentalists, economists, and scientists about climate change and sustainable living and he and Laura had both attended the United Nations Climate Change summit in Durban, South Africa last year. I had recognized an elephant patterned fabric in the apartment as South African made and was intrigued to hear about the summit in Durban (which I had visited briefly in 2005 to meet the senior class trip from Islesboro). Amy and I were given the office/library room with a pallet on the floor for our five days there and allowed to come and go as we pleased. We ate our first dinner there with Laura and her father but mostly we had the place and kitchen to ourselves and considered the free lodging a sweet deal (not to mention the pool access we took advantage of one afternoon). CouchSurfing is larger than I thought and we have found many people listed in towns such as Otavalo, Ecuador. We are encouraged by our experiences with the network so far and will certainly look to continue finding hosts and people to meet along our trip.

The internet and media uploading has been frustrating. I have gotten some of the most recent photos on the blog but the videos are proving more difficult. I wish I had used the time with internet to relate some of our current travels but I need to get some sleep now, we are hopping on a bus to Quito and onward to Banos in the morning. Ecuador has been awesome so far, we have had amazing lodgings, good cheap food, and moral is very high. I think we may be getting the hang of this travelling thing.