We get weekends off on the farm so each Friday after lunch I've shipped out with a few of the other volunteers to some of the places in the surrounding area.
Guatepe: Guatepe is most famous for this monster rock:
It's about a 2 hour bus ride from Medellin so we decided to spend Friday night in the city before grabbing the bus early Saturday morning. We heard rumors of secret waterfalls so we devoted Saturday to searching for them. It took an hour and a half of jumping over fences, scaling the sides of riverbanks, and making a path where none existed but we finally made it.
We hiked the rock right after breakfast Sunday morning to miss the crowds. I'm not sure if I can agree with its self-proclaimed slogan as "the best view in the world," but it is certainly up there. The 734 steps to the top were well, well worth it.
Rio Claro: Rio Claro is a cool jungle reserve about 3 hours north of Medellin. The jungle still sits about 2000 feet above sea level so it wasn't too sweltering, especially with some serious tropical downpour. We camped there Friday and Saturday nights and fell asleep both nights to the soothing whisper of rain drops on canvas.
The highlight by far was a 3 hour-cave tour. We hiked about 45 minutes through the jungle to the mouth of a cave, turned the flashlights on, and started our nocturnal-aquatic adventure. Inside we followed the river down a series of small jumps and slides - sort of like canyoning except in the dark. The entire time we were bombarded by the howls of guacharos, these cave-birds that I first met in the jungles of Bolivia. The sound is terrifying, like a Tolkien creature mixed with a velociraptor, and the absence of sight only adds to the fear. Needless to say, that was an awesome 3 hours.
Bogota: The farm was closed for a week for Semana Santa and Paola's birthday so I took the opportunity to finally visit the capital. Sebastian from the tejo team Arlen/Sebastian lives in Bogota and he invited me to stay at his top-floor apartment. The view wasn't too bad.
This was actually one of my best Spanish experiences in Colombia. I went out with Sebastian and his university friends a few of the nights and got the full immersion of fast-paced conversation and slang. Bogota was also excellent for its medical services - my lifetime of fingernail biting finally caught up to me and one of my thumbs became infected. I found a nice clinic nearby, made an appointment for later that day, and had my antibiotics by early afternoon. With no insurance, total cost of the doctor's visit with antibiotics set me back a cool $35... that's probably what it would have cost in the states too, right?
Guatepe: Guatepe is most famous for this monster rock:
It's about a 2 hour bus ride from Medellin so we decided to spend Friday night in the city before grabbing the bus early Saturday morning. We heard rumors of secret waterfalls so we devoted Saturday to searching for them. It took an hour and a half of jumping over fences, scaling the sides of riverbanks, and making a path where none existed but we finally made it.
We hiked the rock right after breakfast Sunday morning to miss the crowds. I'm not sure if I can agree with its self-proclaimed slogan as "the best view in the world," but it is certainly up there. The 734 steps to the top were well, well worth it.
Rio Claro: Rio Claro is a cool jungle reserve about 3 hours north of Medellin. The jungle still sits about 2000 feet above sea level so it wasn't too sweltering, especially with some serious tropical downpour. We camped there Friday and Saturday nights and fell asleep both nights to the soothing whisper of rain drops on canvas.
The highlight by far was a 3 hour-cave tour. We hiked about 45 minutes through the jungle to the mouth of a cave, turned the flashlights on, and started our nocturnal-aquatic adventure. Inside we followed the river down a series of small jumps and slides - sort of like canyoning except in the dark. The entire time we were bombarded by the howls of guacharos, these cave-birds that I first met in the jungles of Bolivia. The sound is terrifying, like a Tolkien creature mixed with a velociraptor, and the absence of sight only adds to the fear. Needless to say, that was an awesome 3 hours.
Bogota: The farm was closed for a week for Semana Santa and Paola's birthday so I took the opportunity to finally visit the capital. Sebastian from the tejo team Arlen/Sebastian lives in Bogota and he invited me to stay at his top-floor apartment. The view wasn't too bad.
This was actually one of my best Spanish experiences in Colombia. I went out with Sebastian and his university friends a few of the nights and got the full immersion of fast-paced conversation and slang. Bogota was also excellent for its medical services - my lifetime of fingernail biting finally caught up to me and one of my thumbs became infected. I found a nice clinic nearby, made an appointment for later that day, and had my antibiotics by early afternoon. With no insurance, total cost of the doctor's visit with antibiotics set me back a cool $35... that's probably what it would have cost in the states too, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment