San Augustin

I've been in Colombia for almost three weeks now and so far so good. Infact i'd go further than that to say its been GREAT.

The border crossing was very smooth and remarkably relaxed. I'd expected a strong military presence at the border but found almost none. It would have been quite easy to wander through into Colombia without completing the border/visa stamp formalities - although probably not advisable. Anyway with a 60 day visa stamped in the passport I continued on into the Guerrilla heartland :-)

I didn't particularly want to travel on the bus after dark as bus hold-ups and robberies have been known - although much less frequent these days. So, I made it as far as the town of Pasto before settling for the night. Actually, I quite liked Pasto. Nothing of particular note for the tourist, but the place had a nice feel and so I stayed for three nights before heading on to Popayan (where I am currently.)

From Popayan I spent a week traveling around a large loop to San Augustin and Tierra Dentro. Taking in some of the finest archaeological sites that Colombia has to offer and generally enjoying the beautiful countryside. On the way to San Augustin we were stopped by several very young military personnel. Not a checkpoint as such, we were just flagged down in the middle of nowhere. I'm still not sure which 'side' stopped us - The Guerrillas or The Army? Still, things didn´t go too badly and after a rather half hearted bag search we were on our way again.

So now I find myself back in Popayan and i´m Hostel Sitting for a week. When I arrived in Popayan I had a recommendation for a good hostel and so went to check it out. What I hadn't realised at the time was that the hostel belonged to a Scottish couple that i'd met just over a year and a half ago in Venezuela. It is indeed 1smallworld.

For anyone heading through this way you should definitely check out the new hostel in Popayan - easily the best in town and the Hostel Trail website is great for anyone travelling in this part of the world.

Anyway, they asked if Chika and I would like to help out for a week while they went off to Ecuador to renew their visas. So, for almost the last week we've been settled here in Popayan... 'working' ;-)

It has at least given me plenty of opportunity to catch up on the website and post up all those missing photo galleries. I'm very pleased to say that this posting finally brings me totally up to date.

I realise its a bit of a photo marathon but here are the galleries from:

COMPLETE 'USA: BIKE TRIP' PHOTO GALLERY (74 Photos)

COMPLETE 'USA: WEST COAST' PHOTO GALLERY (48 Photos)

COMPLETE 'USA: LAS VEGAS/GRAND CANYON' PHOTO GALLERY (21 Photos)

COMPLETE 'USA: MIDWEST' PHOTO GALLERY (10 Photos)

COMPLETE 'ECUADOR: RAFTING' PHOTO GALLERY (11 Photos)

I've just enabled 'comments' for all my photo galleries, so if you've something to say about any of my photos please send me a comment and i'll publish it.

Just as a quick technical note. You might find that the layout of the photo pages is a bit mis-aligned if you are using Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) which is a bit odd as they work just fine under IE6 and the new beta release of IE8. Basically IE7 seems to do some strange, non standard things. Don´t you just love Microsoft! Better still just use Firefox :-)

Posted by Russ Jones at 12:44 AM | Permalink

Gadgets Galore!

After a pretty chilled-out week Hostel sitting in Popayan, it was time to move on again. I was heading to Cali, generally considered to be the Salsa capital of the country as well as the major hub of Cocaine distribution, Drug Barons and money laundering. Sounds like something of a party town! Although, of all the available options, I thought I’d better stick with the Salsa.

I tried two days of Salsa lesson whilst in Cali, day one was a little better than day two as it was only hampered by heavy walking boots and a lack of natural rhythm whereas the second day of lessons had all of the above and a nasty hangover. I didn’t make it to a third day!

From Cali I was heading north via Salento in the Colombian coffee region to the Northern city of Medellin. It turned out to be an eventful bus journey as only a couple of hours outside of Cali – in the town of Buga I had my daypack stolen! Seemed to be a very apt town name as ‘Buga!’ is very similar to the words that passed my lips once I discovered the theft :-)

Typically, I don’t travel with much in the way of valuables. HOWEVER, the recent trip to Japan (irresistible technology wonderland) and the buying power of the Pound against the Dollar in the States meant that I had amassed something of a ‘Gadget’ collection: Laptop, Nikon SLR Camera, Canon Camera, 160GB Ipod, JVC Noise Cancelling Headphones, numerous memory cards and battery chargers. All tucked in one easy to carry (or grab, as the case may be!) bag.

The bus was never crowded, in fact for the first hour or so of the journey there was only Chika and I on the bus. Our main packs and day packs all had to go inside the bus and were carefully stashed directly in front of us, less than one meter away . Chika’s main pack was sandwiched behind the driver’s seat, supported on one side by the drivers seat and on the other by a waist high plastic partition. My day pack was next to her main pack, so on one side it had the back of the drivers seat, on the other the same plastic divide, Chika’s pack on the third side and my leg blocking the last side. Blocked on four sides - quite safe, I felt!

Scene Of The Crime.

A few other people had joined the bus by now, but it was the four Colombian men that got on near Buga that were going to be the real problem. A very professional act as I found out later - a distraction man, a blocker, a grabber and a fourth to finally walk away with the goods once the bus moved on. Studied under Fagin and graduated under David Copperfield I’d suggest as the disappearance of my daypack was nothing short of Magic!

The whole episode unraveled in a space of about 15 seconds and I was only ever aware of one man – the distracter. As the bus slowed ready to stop on the outskirts of Buga, the old man sitting directly behind us began to stand. He pulled himself up using the headrest on the back of our seats and as he did so he ‘accidentally’ dropped his medicine. A few tablets dropped onto our seat and I turned to help him pick them up! It only took about 5 seconds, but that was enough. I watched him walk slowly from the bus and cross the road in front of us. The bus was just about to pull away as I looked down to where my leg was and my pack had been. The empty space staring back at me created a heart sinking and adrenalin rising effect all at the same time! I leapt up and calmly asked the driver to please wait and quickly explained that my pack had been stolen. Without further consideration I jumped from the bus and scanned the scene for someone to chase after. There are those who might say that it’s not the best idea to chase after robbers in Colombia! As one of the passengers later said to me, 'it’s lucky you weren’t shot!'

However, of all the people walking away from the bus, nobody was carrying my pack. My heart sank again. Everything had been going so well.

I noticed a couple of well dressed men standing at the bus stop, on the pavement just behind the bus. I wandered over to ask if they saw anything and as I rounded the bus, there, sitting in the road, directly behind the bus was my daypack. The two men at the bus stop told me that the robber ran off and pointed towards a small market. I grabbed my pack and thanked them. What I didn’t realize is that they were part of ‘the team’. Their job was to carry off the pack once the bus had gone. I can’t believe I even THANKED them! :-)

Still, it turned out ok in the end. I got back on the bus and chained the pack to the seat! We were carrying on to the ‘Coffee Region’ of Colombia – not sure about coffee but I certainly felt like I could do with a beer!

Posted by Russ Jones at 7:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I'm just off the boat after 5 days at sea, crossing from the Colombian coastal city of Cartagena to Panama in Central America. Things just haven't stopped swaying since I set foot back on dry land!

Colombia was great - I made it out alive AND with all my belongings still belonging to me (but only just!) Anyway, I have found some time to post the photo gallery for Colombia which you can find here:

COMPLETE COLOMBIA PHOTO GALLERY (81 Photos)

I've also spent a little time creating a new look for the Travel Gallery Archive page. I think it looks a bit smarter.

There's still a few Blog entries to add to the Colombia section and bring the South America part of this trip to a close, but for now its onwards and upwards into Central America.

Posted by Russ Jones at 3:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)