Reunited with a Best Friend

I landed in Havana, Cuba, in the early afternoon, and headed straight to the AirBnB that Lucy had organised for us. (Couch Surfing is illegal in Cuba because residents cannot have foreign tourists in their house without paying for and registering their stay with the state.) I was dozing on the bed in our room when Lucy, who's plane from London had landed a few hours after mine from Miami, opened to door. A healthy amount of squealing and squeezing ensued. After over a year and half apart, I was ecstatic to see a best friend again!

Our room was on the 10th floor and had a little balcony. We spent the next few hours there: talking and laughing, peering down at the movement of people and cars in the city below, watching the sky change as the sun set: until Lucy could no longer fight the jet lag, and Havana had become a sea of twinkling lights.

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Sunset over Havana

Climbing in Suesca

I spent a few days staying in Suesca, the town said to be responsible for bringing rock climbing to Colombia. Following the rail road track is a long wall of sandstone that provides perfect conditions for a fantastic variety of climbing. I stayed with a Couch Surfer and his wife and son in their very rural home on a grassy slope, surrounded by eucalyptus trees, cows and barking dogs. I was taken out to the rocks to learn how to tactfully heave my body, in its inseparable entirety, up a vertical surface. Multiple times. Using my four limbs and all sorts of gear I'd never even seen before, I managed to scramble skywards and thoroughly enjoy myself. 

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Helping Tend the Fields for a Bag of Spuds

I was hitching north of Bogotá when I was picked up by an elderly man in his pick-up truck. Alejandro offered to drive me all the way to my destination, but first had to visit his plot of land. We arrived at the end of a dirt track to meet his friend who tended the field and greenhouse. We spent about an hour digging up potatoes, collecting broad beans and picking cherry tomatoes. It was fun to get my hands dirty and I was gifted a big bag of our bounty to take on the road!

Afterwards, my new friend drove me all the way to Suesca and was kind enough to take me for lunch. A classic Colombian feast of soup, rice, beans, plantain and a hefty lump of barbecued beef. Plus a side of spaghetti in a creamy tomato sauce... Because you can apparently never have enough beige on a latino dinner plate.

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Collecting Broad Beans 

House and Techno in Latin America

My brother and I, along with two friends from England who were also travelling Colombia, were excited to fork out for some festival tickets at a venue north of Bogotá. On the first day, we arrived keen and early, headed straight to the empty dance floor, threw ourselves around and watched as the crowd gathered. Almost 12 hours later, by the time the music stopped, the warehouse was heaving, and we were incapable of moving our legs and arms any more. We collapsed into bed, and welcomed the opportunity to recover before the music began again. Eat, sleep, rave, repeat... 

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Some Catty Graffiti 

Adventures in the Wilderness with a Trusty Shower Curtain

Whilst gathering supplies for a few days in Los Nevados National Park, Chris and I decided that the most sensible (or only available) solution to my non-waterproof tent conundrum was a giant £5 shower curtain. There weren't that many shops in Salento that sell anything other than pretty artisan accessories. 

We set off from El Valle de Cocora, hiking through lush green farmlands and the tallest palm trees in the world. I had a spring in my step! Albeit temporarily stifled by a pounding electric shock. It thumped through me when I clutched a metal fence in an attempt to manoeuvre past a large muddy puddle. I initially thought that Chris had whacked me in the back in some insane spout of sibling aggression, with a hand that had somehow made it through my huge rucksack and rib cage, to my heart chambers. That current certainly rattled me!

The day was a difficult slog uphill, through the jungle. The mud and altitude made our advancement slow and so we ended up camping in a small clearing where we soon realised, hundreds of midges called home. It became a race to construct our shelter without getting everything soaked or our hands and faces bitten raw. It was a challenge of patience, creativity and resourcefulness. The finished masterpiece consisted of the shower curtain strung up between the trees, some scraps of elastic and poorly improvised knots securing the four corners. The tent was slightly to large for the clearing and so we had to sleep twisted around a huge tree root that stuck up through the ground beneath. One wall of the tent was covered in a giant silver emergency blanket that I had been carrying around forever, and another was covered by an open bin liner. The set up was rather hilarious, but somehow kept us relatively dry... ish. 

In a bid to escape the midges, who were evil enough to find their cunning way into the tent, we hunkered down into our sleeping bags. It was 3.30 pm.

The following day was another haul upwards through the jungle until we reached the páramo. This high up, the vegetation is totally different: short, grassy, mossy and plenty of these small trees that look like something between a cactus and a palm tree.

After a lunch of peanut butter and raisin wraps (of which we devoured many), we had a short flat march to El Refugio de La Playa. Here we could sleep in bunk beds inside a wooden cabin attached the farm, escape the rain and enjoy hot hearty meals. 

The following day our pace picked up significantly as the trail was relatively flat. With fingers and toes numb from the wet and cold, we were ecstatic to reach some hot springs! Submerged in the hot water, we watched the white clouds drift over the landscape, between the peaks and dips of the mountains.

The rest of our time in the park was wonderful, if a bit cold and wet. We even managed to escape the nerve-wracking advances of twenty bulls who's field we had to cross. They tailed us until we hopped over a small river which, thankfully, they couldn't be bothered to cross.

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Crossing the creek in the lower lying jungle

Beer and Gunpowder: a Colombian National Sport

From Manizales, Chris and I hitched to Salento, a very beautiful and brightly coloured colonial town in the mountains. Hitching with a guy has sometimes proven slower than hitching as a woman alone, but Chris and I had great luck and waited very little between each ride. 

That evening we followed a friend's suggestion and ended up at a bar called Los Amigos. Here, while knocking back Poker, one of the many Colombian beers available, you can engage in a rather unique sport played all over the country, both socially and professionally. 

A board, covered in a thick layer of clay, is laid against the wall at an angle. On it's face, a metal ring is pressed into the centre and five white triangular packets of gunpowder are placed evenly spread on top. The competitors take it in turn to throw a heavy metal disc at the board. They score according to who lands closest to the centre and who causes an explosion! Needless to say, this bizarre game is great fun and efficiently regresses a room full of adults into mere excitable children, desperate for BANGS and KABOOMS. 

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Steps up to the Mirador of Salento

Reunited with my Twin Bro

I was surprised to discover that I actually really enjoyed the small mountain city of Manizales. After three long days of hitchhiking up from the beaches of Ecuador, I was relieved to find a kind couch surfer with an adorable hillside home just outside of the city. Perched on comfy red plastic chairs, mint and lemongrass tea picked fresh from the garden clasped between hands, surrounded by coffee plants and banana trees, myself and my new host nattered well past sunset. 

I was fortunate enough to be able to spend the following day with a friend I had made in Guatemala over a year ago. We tasted a lot of different food, and wandered through the streets that charmingly transformed from urban apartment complexes to small and rickety wooden and corrugated iron dwellings surrounded by tomato plants. 

After a super-humanly fast and freezing cold shower and a night of blissful sleep in the peace and quiet of this rural abode, I sprang out of bed and headed to the airport to meet Chris. He was destined to spend two weeks with me here in Colombia and I was so excited for our coming adventure!

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The view from Nicolas´ little house just outside Manizales.

Lucy Reappears

I had just crossed the border back into Colombia and was thumbing at the side of the road when a smiley and rosy cheeked lady called Lucy beckoned me over. She gestured to the car parked beside her and told me her brother was driving a long way, towards Bogotá, and she'd ask if he could take me. The brother appeared, apparently from nowhere, and said he'd gladly take me but couldn't leave for 'I'm not sure how long.' 

I decided I'd be better off getting a move on and it took about five minutes to score a ride in a Jeep, then a motorbike, a car, a lorry, a pick-up, a car, another motorbike, and another car. I was waiting in a small village where every man and boy seemed to hang out in front of one particular shop. I'm not sure where the women and girls hung out. I had been waiting for a while: long enough for me to need to sing and dance to keep myself occupied but not so long that I was wailing 'por favor' at passing vehicles.

Eventually a small maroon Chevrolet skidded to a stop and I was surprised to see Lucy's brother leap out of the drivers door and flail his arms in excitement. And there was Lucy in the front passengers seat! 

With my final ride of the day to Cali, a chicken delivery man, I saw an incredible sunset. Huge pink pillowy clouds rested on the mountain tops, low enough to allow their points to peak out above. 

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Hills in the South of Colombia

A Night at the Fire Station

Today, for the first time in South America, I got to ride in the back of a pick-up truck! I travelled like this all of the time in Central America and I love it, but it's illegal here in Ecuador and Colombia. 

With my final ride of the day, a delightful fella from Quito visiting a girlfriend, I arrived here in Tulcán. He took me to see the cemetery, which boats an interesting fusion of Christian headstones amongst huge hedgerows carved into figures from indigenous culture. 

I ambled through the city, asking various people if I could put my tent up on various patches of ground, when I came across the fire station. The fire men were happy to have me! I was shown into their little gym room which was to become my home for the night. I even had access to a hot (not so common in Latin America) shower and my own bathroom. It was positively luxurious! 

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Pedernales Beach at Sunset

A Couch Surfing Coincidence

I arrived in Esmeraldas in the late afternoon. I sat in the central plaza, under the shade of a gazebo, and tucked in to two sweet and juicy mangos. My face, hands and flip knife were a real state by the end of my fruity feast. With only a tiny piece of tissue I tried to make myself look less like a disturbingly overgrown toddler. It sort of worked.

My mess, my huge rucksack or my pink face, or probably all of the above, attracted the attention of a small boy who came to stand beside me and stare. Apparently I am a bizarre spectacle to behold. 

His mother, chuckling at his blatant and motionless gawking, struck up a conversation. She said she was always curious to see folks travelling around with huge backpacks but thought she could never do it. 'You're very brave.' 

She managed to coax the boy out his his open mouthed trance to hand him a 'pan de yuka'. He shuffled towards me and held out the hot cheesy dough ball, eyes wide and unblinking. I took it and thanked them both, and smirked at my bewildered admirer.

As darkness fell, I wandered into a Internet cafe so that I could try and contact a friend of a friend who might be able to put me up. The owner asked me immediately if I had heard of Couch Surfing. 

'Yes! I use it all the time.' 

He did too, and offered me a place to stay. What a convenient coincidence!

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The Pacific Ocean