This morning I woke just before my alarm. Lisa soon after got up, and went down to reception to try and find out what was happening with her bag. In the meantime, both Donna and I had gotten up and gotten ready for roll out.
We headed to the dining room for breakfast, and this is where we actually had a chance to sit down and have a proper introduction and chat to Lisa.
We soon realised that we didn't have the luxury of time, when the receptionist came up to the dining room to let Andres know that our van was out the front waiting for us.
So we scattered back to our rooms, where we collected our bags and made our way down to reception. Most people handed their keys back to reception, however a couple of us had the additional task of checking our bags that we were leaving behind into secure storage. I kissed my bag goodbye, as we headed out the door. Our Colombian adventure is now set to begin.
We took our bags to the van, and the driver casually piled them all up on top of each other. He quickly ran out of room, so started throwing some of the bags in to the back seat. Essentially what that did, was assured that there wasn't enough seats in the van for everyone. This was not going to deter us though, instead we all just folded ourselves into the van. Myself and Lisa scored, as we were shot gun to the front seat. I sat right next to the driver, Lisa next to me.
Once everyone was in, I called out vamos, the Spanish word for let's go, pointed out the front windscreen and with a nod and a smile from the driver we were off!!
We rode around Bogota for around 20mins, the driver battling with traffic and rogue motorbikes. We arrive at the bus terminal all safe and sound, and everyone piled out of the van.
We all grabbed our bags from the driver as he unstacked them from the pile. Saying goodbye and thanks to our driver, we then slowly made our way into the bus terminal, all following Andres like 8 ducklings following their mother!!!
The bus terminal actually reminded me of a small airport. Food vendors lined each of the terminal walls, and many people walked around with their luggage piled high up on trolleys.
Andres went and sorted out our bus tickets, whilst we all stood around and chatted. Again, we stood out like dog balls, as people walked past they stared at us with astonishment.
Andres soon returned with our tickets and we made our way straight through the doors to the bus embarkment area.
We passed our bags to the driver, who added another tag to it, and then stacked it under the bus. We received the corresponding ticket, with a firm warning 'DO NOT LOSE IT'.
We jumped on the bus, and tried to find our seats. Donna and I managed to wrangle some seats together which was good. As we sat down, a nice guy across from me pointed out the remote control down the side of my chair. I then looked up to see the bus entertainment screen in the back of the head rest in front of me. Brilliant!!! This 8hr bus trip just became manageable!!!
We were just a little confused when one of the guys from the bus company walked up and down the aisles with a video recorder recording us. He was mumbling a whole heap of stuff in Spanish. Hmmmm, is this a ransom video that we are making???? If it is, I'm sure that we should be holding our passports up in front of us as well!!! Just a little word of advice. Once he finished regurgitating his script, he stood up the front, and recorded everyone saying si, well those of the passengers who knew what he was saying anyway. The rest of us just sat there looking at each other puzzled. We were all left asking ourselves what was all that about??
Without a minute to spare, I started up my entertainment unit. As advertisement after advertisement played across my screen, the bus sprung into action and started to drive off.
We drove through Bogota, and found ourselves being thrown around our seats by bumpy roads and constant hard braking. The traffic was pretty crazy, but I don't think it helped that our driver was tailgating cars. Every now and again, we could hear the air horn of the bus ringing out, warning cars that he was changing lanes. Really it was a warning to say either let him in, or he will drive over the top of you!! These bus drivers don't mess around.
We made our way out of the city, and started driving through some stunning green mountains. The cloud cover was quite low, which made it feel like we were driving our way through a thick fog. However it soon cleared, revealing just how stunning the landscape was.
We started to drive around some windy steep roads, and again the bus horn could be continually heard as he careered down the hills at warp speed nearly collecting any vehicle that was travelling slower than the bus.
You could just feel (and hear) the bus drivers frustration as we came to a stand still in heavy traffic. Bringing back memories from Machu picchu's bus trip, we sat in the same position for approximately 1 hr. We did not move an inch during that time. No one could see what the hold up was, but we sure as hell heard the bus horn being continually pressed by the driver. However without success. We too just sat there, like every single other car and truck stuck in the traffic. Eventually, it opened up and again we were on our way!
By the 6hr mark of the journey, I had already watched 2 movies (Hitchcock and Meet the Millers), both in Spanish of course, and then found myself watching re-runs of ER. You could tell that we had well and truly left Bogota, with the landscape filled with nothing but trees and mountains. It was also nice to be reunited with the sun and blue skies.... even if it is through a bus window. Occasionally we found ourselves being driven through or past towns, built up on hill sides. All of us eagerly wondering if this will be the town that we will stop at for a toilet break and some lunch.
Even though there is a toilet on the bus, I know how hard these toilets can be to manage whilst on a moving bus. The bus toilet always demonstrates just how much trouble people have when faced with the moving target of the toilet. Let's just say, it's a close shoe and roll up the legs of you pants type of job. So if I can avoid the bus toilet I always will!!
So at about hour 7, we eventually stopped at a food shed for lunch. First stop toilet! Second stop, food. So this place was literally a huge shed, with people cooking food. There were so many people there getting food, and it was pretty much just a take the chance and eat something here, and hopefully your stomach is ok with that!! With our next stop at least 4 hours away, there is really no choice other than to take a chance!!
We ordered our food, and seemed to take forever to come out. We still hadn't received our food by the time the bus started reboarding. Andres, didn't seem too perturbed by this, and he said that he would talk to the driver and make sure that they don't leave without us. Yeah right... as if that going to happen. On all my bus trips through Central America there is no way a bus driver would have waited for someone. If your not there, your not getting there. However, much to our surprise, Andres comes back with the news that the bus will wait.
Whilst most of us scoffed our food down, concerned about making the others on the bus wait for us to finish our lunch. Andres on the other hand couldn't take his lunch eating any slower. He was having a great old time talking and eating. Eventually he finished!!
With a feed of chicken and rice in my belly, the next question that needed answering was, 'do dogs eat boiled eggs'?? There was a stray dog wanting food, and I had a boiled egg that I wasn't going to eat. So after Donna fed the dog her left over chicken, I threw my boiled on the ground. The answer is...... Yes, dogs do eat boiled eggs!!
With that question answered, we were free to continue on our journey, and we all piled back in the bus, and continued on our way through the Colombian countryside and hills!!
We started to ascend the Colombian mountains, and this bus ride started to feel more like I was riding the mad mouse roller coaster. You know the ride where the front of your roller coaster cart goes half way off the edge of the rails? Well that's what our bus was doing, except the drop was about 120m down a cliff on to a whole heap of trees and forest. Needless to say Donna had me hugging her for some of this trip, the remainder of it I was biting my nails. The Colombian couple next to me spent half of the bus trip laughing at me, and the other half the man was pointing out every single one of the countless number of bridges that were under construction. Trust me there were heaps of them!!
The view was spectacular, and the best part was watching the stunning sun set behind those brilliantly green rolling hills.
After 10 hours of riding in this bus, we eventually made it to Armenia, which is a fairly big town. However this didn't end our travels for the day. No, we still had another smaller bus trip to make, this time in a small mini bus, called a collectivo.
We made our way through the bus terminal, until we found our way out the other side. Here our bus to the town of Salento was just leaving. Andres managed to stop the driver before he hightailed it out of the carpark, and we all climbed aboard with our luggage. The next problem we faced was where do we put our luggage. As I got on with my big bag, the driver looked at it and said to leave it up the front next to him. Some of us piled our bags up near the driver, whilst others found room for theirs down the back. Once we were all on the bus, the driver took off like a bat out of hell. However, the driver soon became obsessed with these bags. He stopped the bus, and went down the back of the bus to grab the bags that had been left down there. He then took the bags up to the front with the others. So essentially what he did was clear the rear view, only to obstruct his side view, as he had piled the bags up so high next to him on the passenger seat. We took off again, however he proceeded to whack and squash the bags continuously.... He spent more time concentrating on these bags rather than on the road in front of him, resulting in a few close calls. We were getting as equally frustrated by his total disregard for the road, nor our bags contents. He made a couple more stops to pick up more passengers, rearranging the bags each time. After rearranging the bags for the 3rd time, he eventually stopped fussing about the bags and applied the rocket boost to this van. He floored it around the curves and bends, carving his way around the mountains, until we eventually arrived at our final destination, Salento.
Here we all jumped out of the van, and started to walk towards our hotel. We walked up road, after road, and came across quite a lot of road works.... which made me wheeling my bag not the easiest task in the world. But my trusty case came through, and we made it to the hotel. Mental note, on the walk back to the bus, mount my case to my back.
The hotel looked beautiful. We all received our room keys, and again we were in a triple room. Donna, Lisa and I were all going to be roomies again. At least we knew about it this time. We were led to our room, and surprised at how big the room actually was!!!
We dumped off all of our stuff, and then went back to the foyer, where we were meeting the gang for our orientation walk. We headed out, and as Andres lead us up the road, we soon began to realise that the houses in this town were so beautifully painted, in such bright and cheerful colours.
As we climbed up the steep road that led from our hotel, we were surprised to turn a corner and see the Main Street filled with tons and tons of people. It was like a huge street party was going on. Andres advised us that tomorrow is actually a public holiday in Colombia, and therefore everyone was out having a great time tonight to celebrate.
As we walked down the colourful rainbow street, the shops, restaurants and cafés were open, street vendors were selling their handy crafts and food, and the buskers were singing their joyful folk songs for the many people who were passing by.
We neared the main plaza, which like most of Latin America, was bordered by a church and Government buildings. However in the centre, many tents had been erected, with food and hand crafts being sold from each of these as well. People were everywhere, and they all seemed to be enjoying their night out.
We finished up our orientation walk at the plaza, and Andres soon led us to a restaurant also located on one side of the plaza. The sign said that they specialised in pizza, however I was up for something local. So instead I ordered a plantain dish. I was so surprised to see the large platter of flattened and cooked plantain, topped with meat and cheese placed in front of me. I happily ate my plantain dish.... it was delish!!
It was during dinner that Andres suggested that he take us to play a local game called Cancha de toja, which the majority of us were up for.
So we finished dinner, and walked back to the hotel, where we dropped a couple of people off, and the rest of us grabbed some jackets, as the temperature had started to drop. We then walked a block and a half to the Cancha de toja alley.
We didn't have to pay for the alley we used, the only thing we had to pay for was the beers that we drank.
So with a round of beers in hand, we all set about trying to learn the rules of this game. Although by the end, I still don't think we knew how to play properly.
So essentially the game involves each of us getting this heavy weight, about the size of an ice hockey puck. The aim of the game is to throw your weight underarm, a couple of metres at a target. This target had a wooden square frame, filled with mud. The mud then had a circle drawn in the middle of it, and then paper packets containing gun powder folded into triangles, and arranged around the circle. If you were lucky enough to throw your weight and it come down and hit the paper triangles, the massive bang would scare the living crap out of everyone and would catch fire. Probably not the safest game for kids, I mean really anything that involves alcohol, gunpowder, throwing heavy weights and explosions doesn't lend itself to kids party type activities. However, we had a great night playing. I did manage to create an explosion which was brilliant.
Andres finally won the game, that did eventually start to feel like we had been playing for ever, and we walked home making our way into our very very comfy beds!!