We woke early to catch our plane into Pereira, Colombia. The flight took less than an hour which was much better than an 8 hour bus ride from Medellin….and that is with the new “expressway”. We decided to rent a car to explore the Cocora Valley. It was Bill’s first time driving in Colombia so we hoped it would be a little less chaotic than Peru had been. Our first stop was the Ukumari Zoo. As far as zoos go, it was less than stellar. It had a grand entrance with huge dinosaur replicas everywhere and it looked like Animal Kingdom at Disney World. That was the only comparison for the day. The zoo was separated into two sections, Andino and African. Most of the African side was under renovation so we did not get to see many animals. Of course, as Bill pointed out, after seeing the animals on the Serengeti, any zoo would be disappointing. The Andino side of the zoo featured animals from the Andes region and was definitely a step up from the African side. The zoo only took us a couple of hours so we were on our way early out to the town of Salento where we would spend the night. Salento was the main hub for people going to the Cocora Valley so the entire place was full of hostels and backpackers. Our favorite stop in town was the bakery where we got a bag full of treats for under $3.00! Our “hotel” was on the outskirts of town so we made our way down a very twisty road. Along the way, we passed a putt-putt course! We could not find a putt-putt course in Ft. Lauderdale that was open but middle of nowhere Colombia was ready to serve. Bill tracked down the owner of the place and she came out and handed us two putters and a bucket of balls. I am pretty sure these were her only two putters. The course was unique in its setup because it had sticks and bumps blocking every inch of the green. In fact, there were only a couple of holes that we managed to shoot 2 or 3 which is saying something since Bill is a good golfer (he won as usual). I was looking forward to our “hotel” because I had booked us a cabin for the night. Online, it was surrounded by beautiful nature and it looked like a peaceful place to spend the night. Upon arrival, our host asked if we were okay with climbing stairs. I said we were so he began leading us to the cabin. Exactly 66 steps straight uphill led to our cabin. The cabin was very cute and had all the modern conveniences….except for glass windows or screens. The cabin was built in traditional style so the windows had wooden shutters on them that opened into nature. Nature in Colombia. South America has the largest number of bug species in the world….and here we were inviting each and every one of them to come in and share our cabin. Luckily, the night air was cool so we were able to close the windows and not suffocate in the cabin. Bill and I hiked back down 66 steps to go get our backpacks out of the car. We hiked back up 66 steps only to realize that the cabin door locked automatically behind us and we had left the key on the table. I took one for the team and hiked back down 66 steps to get the caretaker. Then, back up 66 steps to open the door. More than enough exercise for the day!
We awoke the next morning to rain. We have been very lucky on our travels and have had very few days of rain so we figured we could not complain. Well, maybe a little complaining because today was our trip to the Corcora Valley with no option for alternate indoor plans. As we drove the curvy road to the valley, I decided the misty clouds clinging to the mountain tops were going to make some sensational pictures. We entered the valley and were greeted by the tallest trees I have ever seen. The wax palms are what makes the valley famous and they did not disappoint. It would not surprise me if Dr. Seuss had based the Lorax valley on Cocora. It looked just like the Truffula trees winding through the hills and the valleys. The rain even cooperated long enough for me to get some pictures without needing the umbrella to protect the camera. Heading out of the valley, we made our way into the city of Armenia. Armenia had a gold museum that was on our list. Given the “gold” museums we had been to in the past, our expectations were not set very high. The Armenian museum was modern and surrounded by gardens. The exhibits were more in-depth than most we had seen and featured some interesting artifacts. During our drive into the old city portion of Armenia, we had a first. A police officer was directing traffic and gestured for us to pull over to the curb. As soon as Bill rolled down the window, I am sure the officer was regretting his decision. He spewed out some rapid Spanish to which Bill replied our usual answer in these situations, “poquito Espanol” which means “little bit”. The officer continued to try to explain why he had pulled us over but no matter how much he wanted us to learn fluent police vocabulary Spanish in two minutes, it wasn’t going to happen! He finally pulled out his phone and Google translate. He explained that our rental car tag was not the correct tag to be in the downtown area. Bill translated back that the rental car agency had not mentioned any restrictions and we were only a block from our hotel and we needed to find parking. We could see the officer arguing his options in his head and just how awful he wanted the rest of his day to be. He finally folded up his pad, put it in his pocket and waved us off to the hotel. Obviously, he missed the memo that we were the “Safety spokespeople” for the Colombian police department! The driving woes continued as we drew closer to our hotel….our hotel was on a pedestrian only street. Bill pulled over again and I ran to the hotel to find out where we could park the car. Once again, Google translate saved the day. The young lady working reception came with me to the car, hopped into the front seat and proceeded to direct us around the block (all one way streets of course!) to a small parking lot where Bill squeezed in among a dozen motorcycles. I doubt we would have gotten such personal service in the States! The pedestrian street in Armenia was a wonderful place to walk around and it was alight with Christmas decorations everywhere. Families were running about and music was playing. As we walked to get dinner, we began counting the shoes stores on the street. There were 24 stores in a six-block span! When we ran into the shoeshine man, we decided he had chosen his career poorly because no one in Armenia was wearing shoes more than a few months old! Following our night in Armenia, we drove into the countryside to visit a coffee plantation. Along the way, we passed a huge structure that was an overlook to the coffee valley. Unfortunately, the structure was under massive renovation so we could not enter but the views from the grounds were lovely as well. Finding the coffee plantation involved a few uturns and a trip down a very bumpy, single lane dirt road. Once we arrived, the gates were locked so we were glad the scenic drive was worth the trip since no coffee was to be found that day. On the way out of the valley, we were entertained by multiple animal crossing signs including monkeys, anteaters, cows, birds and unidentified animals resembling a weasel/prairie dog/meercat/wombat/sloth. We were not clear on why they didn’t make one large “watch out for all creatures” sign which would have been more cost effective. All we could surmise was that the animals must know their specific area to cross safely. Arriving in Pereira on the last weekend before Christmas was an exciting venture. Bill creeped the car through hordes of shoppers until we reached our hotel which was located directly on the main square. Once again, he parked on the curb while I went to investigate the parking situation. The bellhop directed us to a small underground lot which was on the street just behind where we had parked on the curb. Since traffic was all one way and far too congested to throw the car in reverse, we did another tour through the hordes to the parking lot. We discovered many things about Pereira in our explorations. Pereira seems to be the place to go if you are looking for sin. There were no tell motels complete with private garages, casinos on every corner and as a last resort, billiard halls everywhere. You will notice there are no interior pictures of the main cathedral in Pereira. The cathedral ran continuous services from the time we arrived until we left two days later! We assumed they went home to sleep but I guess with all that sin, the priests figured they needed to stay open as much as possible! The main square was a constant hub of activity with Christmas lights, Santa Claus, Mickey Mouse bouncy houses, ice cream vendors and tons of street food. There was also a man renting child-sized cars and motorcycles for the four year olds to drive rampant though the crowded square. It was chaos! From the food vendors, we had meat on a stick, a hotdog, a cheese arepa and the most delicious little rings of fried-dough heaven- covered-in-sugar that I have ever tasted. Pereira also had a really nice cemetery so we enjoyed our usual walk among the silent folks. After a short flight, we landed back in Cartagena just in time to prepare for our next trip to southern Peru and Bolivia. The trip is going to be a long, intense journey full of planes and buses, limited internet and even scarcer central heating. So, there will not be another blog until we return at the end of January but I have a feeling the wonders of Lake Titicaca and Bolivia will be worth the wait! Have a wonderful and safe New Year! ****More pictures under Colombia 2023 on Pictures tab
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Our trip into the mountain region of Colombia began with a quick flight from Cartagena into Medellin. From the time we left the boat, taxied to the airport, went through security, boarded the flight and landed in Medellin, a total of 3 hours had passed. It is amazing how much time is saved without the TSA involved! Our first stop for the night was in a town call El Penol, Colombia. El Penol did not have much to offer but the history was fascinating. The original town of Penol had been located on a plot of land that the hydroelectric company deemed public domain in the 1970s. When the town was flooded to create Lake Guatape, the citizens of El Penol literally packed their belongings on their backs and walked over to the new town. Needless to say, there was a lot of angry artwork related to the displacement on display at the museum. Our inn for the night was located in the surrounding hills and we had an amazing view. Our room also had a jacuzzi on the deck which had bubbles in it. When the owner turned on the jacuzzi to warm it up, we stepped back inside the room to relax. When Bill glanced outside, he laughed loudly and stated that we would have no issue with not enough bubbles. The bubbles were like a 1950s horror movie and I had to wait for some bubbles to dissipate so I could get in without drowning in bubbles. The next morning, we headed over to the town of Guatape for our lake tour. The lake was beautiful and the power from the hydroelectric plant provided electricity to Colombia, Panama and Venezuela so I guess El Penol’s sacrifice was not unrewarded. The city of Medellin and the surrounding areas were the homebase of drug kingpin, Pablo Escobar in the 70s, 80s and 90s. When you hear about the US “war on drugs”, Escobar was the main target. As we jetted around the lake with our guide, he pointed out property after property that belonged to Escobar and his cohorts. Escobar had over 500 properties in the region. His main house on the lake was destroyed when the government blew it up with dynamite. However, due to poor planning or a well paid informant, Escobar was not at home that day so he was spared until he was killed in 1993 by Colombian police. When I asked our guide about whether Colombians liked or disliked Escobar, his response was, “It was about 50/50. Depended on which side you were on.” After our day on the lake, our guide dropped us in central Guatape and we enjoyed a walk along the waterfront to our hotel. That evening, we walked through town and found a restaurant on the square. The square was full of locals watching futbol (soccer) and we enjoyed watching them cheer for opposite teams. After dinner, the square lit up with hundreds of Christmas lights and just about as many delighted children. Bill and I voted Guatape to be one of our favorite places we have visited and we were sad to leave the next day.
Our bus ride back to Medellin was uneventful and took only a couple of hours. When we arrived at the bus station in Medellin, we grabbed a taxi to go to our hotel. We were surprised how few people spoke English in the area so we definitely got to practice our Spanglish. As our taxi driver spoke to us, I was sure I was mis-hearing him until I found out Bill had come to the same conclusion. Our driver asked us if we were from the United States and then he proceeded to talk about how we could take cocaine back and forth to the States from Colombia. When we exited the taxi, I said, “Was that guy trying to recruit us to be his drug mule?” and Bill said, “That’s what I got from it!” Welcome to Medellin! Our hotel in Medellin was located on a very busy street in the tourist area. Once we had checked into our hotel, we decided to go exploring to find out where the Christmas lights would be that night. Medellin had been voted one of the top ten destinations in the world for Christmas lights so our entire trip was based on this information. As we walked, we kept running into freeways that crossed over each other and around in circles blocking our way. Evidently, Escobar’s drug money built a lot of roads! As we cut back through a park to return to the hotel, we came upon what must have been the main homeless camp in Medellin. Tents were everywhere. Needless to say, I was not thrilled with Medellin at this point. Bill managed to get us back to the hotel and the hotel manager told us we needed to take a taxi to the Christmas lights because they were across the river. As evening set in, we hopped in the taxi and crossed the river into a fairyland of lights. The lightshow for 2023 was sponsored by the electric company and Disney. We walked along the path toward the river and when we rounded the corner, we came across table after table filled with grilled meats and delights. Bill was devastated that we ate dinner before arriving because the food looked amazing. All the Christmas lights ran along the river. Our first encounter was a huge Dumbo flying over the river. As I stepped to the rail to take pictures, I heard a raucous behind me. I turned and saw Bill surrounded by police officers. Not a good sign! As I approached, I heard one of the men speaking English and holding a camera. He asked us if we would be willing to answer a few questions and give a statement on safety in Colombia. We agreed and then he asked us to “chat” with the police officers so he could video everyone having a “friendly” time. Given that our Spanish is limited and the police officers had no English, our “friendly” time consisted of us all pretending to talk to each other. The officer I was talking to pointed to Dumbo and said, “Dumbo!” to which I responded, “Si, Dumbo. Dumbo es Americano.” We all had a good laugh and Bill and I decided we had no more worries in Medellin…no way they were going to let the spokespersons of safety get mugged! We spent the rest of the evening enjoying the amazing lights and watching the local children be thrilled with Disney. We also enjoyed the Santa that was taking pictures with the kids….he was in white face….that was a spin! The next morning, we awakened to 250 children ranging in age from 5 years to teenagers in the hotel. Evidently there was an event that sponsored junior futbol teams from all over South America to come to Medellin for the big soccer tournament. We shuffled through the masses and made our way into the dining room for our advertised “American” breakfast. Not even close. We had eggs, arepas, rolls, fruit, rice, egg drop soup, potatoes and fruit loops. I lived on eggs, rolls and fruit for the next few mornings. To escape the chaos of the hotel, we jumped in a cab and headed to the botanical gardens. Our taxi driver spoke English and he entertained us by telling us about the area the expats lived in Medellin. Expats are US citizens who move to Medellin (usually to retire). He and the other cab drivers called the area “Gringolandia” which we found hilarious. So much for blending in with the culture! The botanical gardens were very nice and it felt good to get away from the bustle of the city. As we were walking, we saw a tree full of macaws and parrots. I was taking pictures as Bill pointed out the best shots. Suddenly, we had a gathering of eight school children around us asking to see my camera. I am guessing they had never seen one since everyone uses a phone for pictures these days. A few of them said some simple sentences in English. The smallest girl piped up and pointed to herself and proudly said, “What’s happening?!” Not sure what tv show she had been watching but she learned the phrase well! We ended the day with a trip on the cable car up a mountain to a national park. The views of the city were sprawling and Medellin looked much nicer from several hundred feet in the air. We were entertained by one of the warning signs on the cable car which translated to “Do not prance or bustle.” That about ruined our day because all I wanted to do was prance and bustle! Our last day in Medellin, we visited a castle that was built in the early 1900s. Our tour was in Spanish so we basically got the facts that it was built, a family lived there, the family donated it to be a museum. From the museum, we caught a taxi to Botero square. Our cabbie proceeded to tell us (in Spanish) that the Botero square was the most dangerous place in Medellin and he was not happy about taking us there. Since Botero square was on every Youtube video we had watched, we found it hard to believe it was rampant with crime. When we arrived, our friends the policia had the square surrounded with fence and guards so we felt very safe walking about the square. Botero was a local Colombian who became a famous artist known for his statues of fatness. Fat people, fat cows, fat cats, fat everything. We enjoyed our walk through the museum and felt quite thin when we left! The next leg of our trip finds us in the heart of the Colombian mountains. Join us next week as we prance and bustle our way to the Cocora Valley…home of the famous wax palms. ****More Pics on Pictures tab Colombia 2023 High excitement in South America these days. Venezuela has decided, that after 175 years, it needs to have control of a region that belongs to Guyana. I am sure this decision has absolutely nothing to do with the oil that was discovered in Guyana in 2015. For those of you not familiar with Guyana, it became the center of attention with Jim Jones and the Kool-aid massacre back in 1978. Other than that event, Guyana is a small country with a population just over 815,000 people compared to Venezuela’s population of just under 29 million people (7 million people have fled Venezuela in the last decade following President Madura’s rise to power). So, Madura has taken Venezuela from one of the most prosperous countries in the world to one with starving citizens in less than ten years. Therefore, the logical next step for a dictator is to invade your defenseless neighbors. Evidently, the easiest way for Venezuela to invade Guyana is to cross the border into Brazil. Needless to say, Brazil is not very open to that proposal. So, let the games begin.
Bill and I decided that Colombia could protect Guyana with some of the de-commissioned United States warships that are parked in the bay next to our marina. We have counted at least 15 warships since we have been here. We arrived in July and we have never seen one of the ships move. We are not even sure if they could. What we do know is that the two helicopters owned by the Colombian military are primed and ready to go! Each and every day, the two helicopters take off, fly in a circle over the city and then buzz us loudly as they pass over the marina to land across the bay. They must do this exercise at least twice an hour all day long. So, we figure, since the Venezuelans are going to be too poor to feed their soldiers and Brazil is not going to tolerate anyone crossing their border, the helicopters could single-handedly tilt the odds in favor of Guyana. At the very least, they could drive everyone on the ground insane flying in circles for 8 hours. Aside from the usual Latin America crisis, we have been busy this week doing small projects before we leave to visit Medellin and the Cocora Valley. Medellin is most famous for Pablo Escobar but they have shunned the old days of the drug kingpin and now have one of the top 10 Christmas light displays in the world. Quite the re-branding job! The Cocora Valley is famous for coffee plantations and is supposed to be one of the most beautiful valleys in South America so we are looking forward to exploring. Due to our time away, there will be no blog next week but look forward to some lovely pictures when we return! We had a very busy couple of weeks on our whirlwind Thanksgiving tour this year. We landed at Ft. Lauderdale airport in the middle of a monsoon. The monsoon was bad enough but the customs and immigration procedures at FLL airport were atrocious. First, we stood in a holding room for 30 minutes. Then, we picked up our suitcases that were soaking wet. The next step was to drag our drenched luggage through the Disney-like ropes which took us over 2 hours to get to the Immigration officer. Finally cleared, we headed to the hotel shuttle pickup area which was a sidewalk covered with an awning. The rain was blowing sideways at this point so when we reached the hotel….5 hours after landing….I had to hang all of our clothes from the suitcases around the hotel room to dry. We will never fly into FLL again if at all possible to avoid! After a quick drive across the state, we enjoyed meeting Bill’s newest grandson and seeing how much the other two have grown. Bill’s oldest grandson is a teenager now and we learned quickly to get seconds at the dinner table before he made his third run for the buffet. Both of Bill’s girls are doing well and it was wonderful to spend some time with them. Thanksgiving at the Miller household was a quiet affair this year due to many of the kids’ work schedules and other family obligations. Everett flew in from Vegas so it was great to see him again. After lunch, we headed to Bill’s sister’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. This dinner was not a quiet affair as 24 family members and friends gathered around the table! Bill and I swore we would not eat again after lunch but the dinner was too good to pass! We’ll diet in 2024….
After the holiday, Bill and I headed down to Florida to prepare for our visit to the Miami passport office. On the way, we stopped at the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg and the Ringling Brothers Circus Museum in Sarasota. The Dali Museum was very interesting and we learned a lot about the history of the Surrealism movement. That group certainly enjoyed their share of drugs back in the day! The special exhibit at the museum was Impressionists and I have decided to give Impressionism a try with my painting since I am way too logical for Surrealism….and I don’t do drugs. The Ringling Museum has been high on our list so we were glad we could fit it in this year. The highlight of the museum was the miniature replica of the circus done by Howard Tibbals. Howard and his wife worked on the replica for over 50 years and it was amazing! His wife told her mother that she was lucky to find a man who liked to play with dolls as much as she did. The replica had its own dedicated building. The details were incredible. Howard often put in details such as money and tickets in the registers even though no one would ever see them. When asked why he added those details that no one would ever see, he responded, “I’ll know they are there. That’s all that matters!” When walking around the display, the lights would dim and then the circus would light up at ‘night’. We saw the stables, the dressing areas, the mess tent, the practice rings, the midway and of course, the big top. The big top had trapeze artists that swung around and horses that moved about the ring. Of all the things I have seen in the world, I must say this display was one of my favorites. I could have walked around there for hours. I just kept thinking how Howard would have felt seeing me do a jig of happiness when the big top trapezes started swinging under all the lights! The rest of the museum was interesting as well and Bill and I enjoyed recalling the acts we had seen as children. The Ringling house sat right on the bay and was an unusual Venetian style that was lovely. They also had an art museum but we both felt we had enough culture from the Dali Museum to last us a bit so we headed on our way. Our passport appointment awaited! Why were we going to the passport office? A few months ago, I noticed that our passport Visa pages which the countries stamp upon entry were almost full. What a wonderful problem to have! Unfortunately, sticking new pages in the existing passport was not an option and we could not get a new passport issued outside of the United States without sending our passports via mail for 12 weeks. Needless to say, that plan was not going to work for us given that we need our passport daily in Colombia. If we go to a hotel, we need a passport. If we buy something at the Home Center, we need a passport. We carry them with us everywhere. Plus, we have tons of trips planned for 2024 and have no time to waste waiting on the mail! So, when we landed in the States, I called the passport hotline to make an emergency appointment. Once we had the appointment, we had to gather our old passports, proof of immediate travel abroad and of course, a government form and a pocket full of money. Luckily, the Miami office had an appointment the day before we were leaving out of the Ft. Lauderdale airport. The scary part of the situation was that if everything was not exactly right or if we were late, the office would turn us away without a new passport. Our hotel in Miami was 11 miles from the passport office and our appointment was at 9:30am. We left our hotel at 8:00am and due to horrible traffic, we squeaked into the passport parking lot at 9:22am! Then came the stress of waiting in line for the paperwork approval to enter the official passport office. I watched as the woman turned several people away but when we handed her our packet, we were escorted through security into the inner sanctum! We were greeted by Rivera who had to have been working at the office for at least 40 years. Unlike most government employees I have encountered through the years, Rivera was hilarious! He made fun of Bill’s passport photo and called him “exotic” because his shirt was low on one shoulder. From that moment on, anytime he saw us, he would make some sort of teasing comment. We were then greeted by a lovely woman at the window who looked over our paperwork, took our payment and told us to come back at 1pm for our passports. After the hectic morning in traffic, we did not venture very far and arrived back at 12:30pm. As we waited for our name to be called, the overhead speaker would call out names one by one. We began to see a pattern. “Maria Lopez. Juan Lopez. Maria Rodriguez. Juan Rodriguez. Maria Carlos. Juan Carlos.” Every once in a while, a “Jose Lopez” would sneak into the mix. When it came time for our names, we heard, “Sally Miller. William Thornton.” “Who didn’t know that was going to happen!” laughed Bill as we made our way to the window. Once again, a delightful woman was there to assist us and handed us our brand new passports with lots of shiny, blank pages just waiting to be filled with stamps! As we headed out the door holding hands and giddy with our success of the day, we heard Rivera laugh and say, “Oh, how sweet is he?”….. When arriving back in Colombia, we were glad to find Galt waiting for us and we are looking forward to a few days of quiet followed by a few boat projects that are on our short list. Have a wonderful week and be sure to make your travel plans to visit the Ringling Circus Museum in 2024! You do not even need a passport! |
AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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