La magia de Zona Cafetera...

Yikes, again an entire month somehow passes in what feels like a week! Almost 5 months into my travels and all concept of time has seriously gone out the window. Warp speed, I tell ya...

After Cartagena I hopped on a 15 hour bus ride to Medellin. Yeah, I could have taken a flight for basically the same amount but I absolutely LOVE taking buses. When I return to the US don't be surprised if I start haphazardly hoping on Greyhound buses all over the country to keep the dream alive! On most all the buses I have taken in Colombia I have been the only gringa, which I am also loving. I feel completely comfortable and safe in this country, not that I have really felt at all unsafe this whole trip but people here are remarkably helpful, upbeat, so eager to chat, and clearly just so thankful that traveling in their country is possible again.

So, Medellin. It has an impressive, brand new metro system and it is set in a pretty valley but I didn’t linger too long. Yep, it used to be the land of Pablo Escobar and his violent regime of drugs and Mafioso ways, but times have definitely changed. The northern, fancier area where most of the hostels are could be somewhere in the US. The city center wasn’t too interesting but I know there are tons of parks and attractions I could have gotten myself to, just wasn’t feeling like being in a city at the time. Ankle was getting me down and I was feeling really frustrated about being in Colombia and not able to really dive into it like I want, missing out on salsa dancing and sightseeing - BUT, I am happy to report that in the past week it is noticeably more comfortable to walk, and even a little salsa and bachata in the plaza with the locals! Chevere! (todo chevere aca en Colombia)

I headed out of Medellin in search of a small town and a calm place for continued healing and thankfully I found exactly what I was looking for. Beautiful coffee region, (Zona Cafetera) you are magical. I arrived in Manizales, a mid-sized city, where I stayed for 2 nights and used as a base to visit one of my new favorite places ever - Hacienda Venecia. It is a coffee farm/guesthouse that has been in the same family for many generations and recently they have started offering full day tours. The day that I planned to be picked up from my hostel and check the place out I was the only one interested, so private tour for me! Juan Pablo the manager showed up in his jeep and I spent the day with him and his cousin, a really sweet girl from Bogota. Wow, not only did I learn a ton about the history, cultivation, and process of producing the coffee being consumed in a Starbucks near you, I had the most relaxing day I have had in a really long time. It is absolutely stunning landscape in coffee growing land and after touring the expansive grounds in the jeep and an amazing lunch I lazed the rest of the day away in a hammock by the pool at their guesthouse on the farm… so peaceful, just me, some chickens, dogs, and some amazing Colombians who welcomed me as part of their family for the day.





Next, I headed a few hours south to a town called Salento where I stayed a week, and again, it was exactly the place I needed to find right now. One of my absolute favorites of my 5 months on the road. I lucked out and somehow landed a double bed (say whaaat!?) in the best room with a serious view at a place called the Plantation House- a hostel on a coffee plantation where every morning I awoke in total awe of my surroundings. The town itself is tiny, colorful, well-preserved, and dear to my heart after just a week. It is so small that I think I met every local there at some point or another. Loved it. When I arrived it was a 3-day holiday weekend for a festival de cabalgatas - basically everyone in Salento and beyond was trotting around the town on their horse. It was quite the fiesta and when the crowds left, sleepy little Salento went back to life as usual...









The main attraction for travelers coming to Salento is the Valle de Cocora, a natural wonderland of wax palms in a cloud forest. No hiking for me yet but instead I spent 5 hours touring the area on horseback. Again, a private tour for me. It was a really fun day with my guide Mauricio and my ankle was fine with it too. The scenery is like another planet, a storybook tale, or something of the like. Uniquely beautiful, but 5 hours on horse is a little much...ouch.





Hard to believe that my trip is rapidly winding down, my dear blog followers. BUT! Still one month left in the the adventure... I knew I wanted to end with a month in one place, doing a volunteer project and intensive spanish solidification before heading home, but I was having trouble deciding upon the destination for the last hurrah of Cuentos Del Sur. However, the choice was quite obvious when it came down to it and next week I head back to Santiago, Chile! I am excited to reunite with friends I made when I was there in March/April, work with Chilean kiddies, enjoy the city with friend from home Emily Roellke who is currently studying there, gritar por Chile contra Espana en La Copa Mundial, y hablar muuuuucho espanol... The Santiago chapter will commence on Wednesday and I am incredibly excited!

Hasta pronto y les mando muchos besos desde Bogota:)

Peru, Colombia, and the road to healing...

Sad, abandoned blog. I can't believe a month has flown by since my last post, or that it is June and that I am in Colombia!!! Currently I am in Cartagena on the Carribean coast, absolutely loving the people, food, and vibe, but first gotta try to recap what I have been up to since last time, starting with Peru. Sit back and enjoy, this is gonna be a long one!

When I arrived in Cusco I was immediately impressed by the city. So clean, beautiful plazas, and well, a little like Disneyland. Cusco being the starting point for everyone in the world coming to do Machu Picchu, it is set up to be an international tourist playground of sorts. My friend from Buenos Aires, Suzie, had been living there for a month already so she took me under her wing and showed me the ins and outs of Cusco, which was great. It was really fun to catch up on where the past months have taken us after parting ways in March.




So, 4 days to chill and get to know the place and then Erin arrived for her week visit. It was so good to see her and wow, what an adventure was had. We had a rough idea of what we were getting ourselves into by doing the 5 day Salkantay Trail, an alternative to the heavily traveled Inca Trail, and looking back we both were pleased that the scenery and whole experience had an element of surprise. On the trek was Erin and myself, another Erin from Seattle, Sandra from New York, and Franziska from Germany. Then of course our knowledgeable and trusty guide, Jimmy, the cook Richard who prepared us some ridiculously impressive food at our campsites and lunch breaks everyday, and 2 amazing porters. This was my first real multiple day backpacking/camping/hiking experience, and I loved it. Intense, full days of hiking through some incredible and unexpected landscapes- we traversed a dramatic glacier peak, down through pastoral alpine meadows with roaming cows and sheep, and finally into subtropical forest and lush jungle rivers. THEN, arrived at Machu Picchu for sunrise on the fifth day and it was just as amazing as I have always imagined. Yes, there are a lot of other people there, but I felt so small and very much at peace. And then, the incident. As we set off with our guide down to the ruins for our day of exploring I was coming off the last stone down a flight of steps and misjudged how far down it really was, rolled onto my right ankle, felt a painful pop, and fell down to the ground. I have never sprained or broken a bone in my life, so the feeling was really unfamiliar and clearly not so fun. Guides rushed over and wrapped my ankle up immediately and then I think I was in shock for the rest of the day. I sat propped up on a rock while the rest of the group explored, but despite the obvious disappointment of being at Machu Picchu of all places in the world and not being able to walk, I felt surprisingly tranquilo. Soaking up the Pachamama energy. Just having finally reached MP was such an unforgettable feeling and the pilgrimage to get there was so spectacular that I was able to remain on the up and up about the whole spraining of the ankle business. And like I keep saying, I will be back to MP again someday! For the full photo reel, check out my Facebook album of this epic 5 days: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/album.php?aid=178557&id=515581939

Upon return to Cusco, my whole right foot and ankle was looking heinously swollen and bruised, and I still couldn't feel if I even had a foot down there or not. Erin acted as my patient porter for the rest of her week in Peru, and by the time she was preparing for her departure back to life, back to reality, I was also becoming lucid to my own reality... backpacker down. A sprained ankle definitely doesn't fit into the equation of "A girl, a backpack, a one-way ticket", and as a result I finally hit my breaking point with with all of it. Luckily I had friends in Cusco that I had met on various points of my trip who were incredibly supportive. This support included helping me move to another hostel, getting me to a clinic, searching Cusco for a compress, serving as my human crutches, and most importantly putting me on lock-down... my stubborn self was having a hard time sticking to their orders, wanting to be up and about on my feet and not relegated to a bed with my leg in the air. Thank you, thank you, thank you again, my dear Erin, Suzie, Amy, Phil and Frankie:)

I had plans for onward travel with Suzie, both of us needing to be in Lima for flights - mine onward to Cartagena to meet Marcelle, but due to my ankle we had to adapt things a bit, cutting out a lot of what we wanted to see in Peru. We opted to take a flight directly to Lima and then do a 2 day trip to Paracas, a small fishing town on the Pacific coast about 3 hours outside of Lima. Here we took a tour of the National Reserve (beautiful desert landscape) and a boat tour around the Ballestas Islands - referred to as the "Poor Man's Gallapagos." Never have I ever seen so many birds in one place in my life, it was crazy! Humboldt penguins, sea lions, Cormorants and Peruvian seagulls galore! It was a nice last week with Suzie before she had to head home to Holland, and I managed to see sights without walking around too much. AND we got to eat the best seafood and vegetables I have had in a veeeeery long time. YUM. Lima itself was quite a bit nicer than I had anticipated. We stayed in an area by the water called Miraflores that could easily be a Miami or similar city, and the historic center of Lima is impressive. Like the Spanish left yesterday... so clean and preserved. As I wrote to my family, all the colonial architecture in SA is so beautiful and fascinating for me to see, but also always thinking about what would have happened with these indigenous cultures and what this continent would be/look like if the Spanish hadn't conquered and catholicized these lands and people that were so connected to nature, believing in "Pachamama" - mother earth, and the power of interconnectedness and energy...










And now, COLOMBIA! Marcelle just left on her flight back to SF after our fabulous week of Cartagena touring, beach/pool relaxing, crazy boat rides to Tayrona, sunset dinners by the water, consuming roughly 2000 mangos, papayas, watermelon, pineapples, avocados, and having a great time catching up. Cartagena is a beautiful city and the people here en el mar Caribe are so friendly and welcoming, as I had been told. The second we stepped onto the streets for exploration we were given some welcome to Colombia watermelon in a cup from a man selling on the street. Love it. Our pictures do not convey the beauty of bright colors, flowers, people, and beautifully preserved Spanish architecture, but just know that it is probably the most aesthetically pleasing city I have ever roamed. I feel like I am in Cuba a bit, or what I imagine Cuba to be like. The flavor, the heat, the people, and I'm diggin' it all. A lot.























Not exactly sure what my next onward move entails, but I will keep you posted. The ankle is slooooowly returning to its normal size, which I know takes time. It really liked being at the beach in the sun, covered in hot sand, not walking, so hopefully these current tropical storms will let up and let me return to the beautiful beaches we visited in Tayrona!

Off I go, lots of love to all of you:)