Getting our buzz on in the Coffee Zone

4-25

We took a bus from Medellin to Peirera and then another bus onto Salento, a village in the heart of the Coffee Zone, which has a very famous hostel (called the Plantation House) run by an English/Colombian couple.  The bus ride through the mountainous coffee zone was gorgeous (and wild) and we arrived into Salento at sunset, but in time to get a fresh troute meal.

4-26

The couple who run the hostel, own a small organic farm called Finca Don Eduardo.  In the morning, we took a tour of the coffee farm which was both hilarious (as the English guy was a character) and informing.  We went through the whole process from seed to plant to fruit to preparing the bean to drying to roasting.  We learned about the different types of coffee and how it is sold worldwide and selected and such.  Of course at the end we tried a cup...Even straight from the organic farm using the best species of coffee plant, I will stick with hot chocolate!!

Today we were asked to be extras in a telonovela (soap opera) for a colombian tv channel that was to be filmed in Peirera.  They offered us free lunch, free transport, and 45 dollars in cash to do it.  It was very tempting and I thought it would be really cool; however, we are kind of short on time here so we had to choose between doing that or doing the coffee tour.  Since we came to this region in part bc of the coffee, we chose to do the tour instead, thus squelching my chance at spanish soap opera stardom..

In the evening we talked with the very helpful couple who ran the hostel.  We were invited to their home and had some questions as what to do next.  There were 3 things we wanted to do (climb the cotopaxi volcano in ecuador while visiting a cool lake up there, do a 3 day trek in Los Nevados NP near Salento, and visit the interesting giant statues in San Augustin.  We weren´t sure which one to give up nor which were feasible due to long journey times on slow roads.  In the end we gave up the Los Nevados trek bc we figured it was the least unique, in the same region as we are now (so not experiencing a new area) and we have and will see lots of mountains.  It was a tough decision, but we just didnt have the time.

In the evening we went out and played one of colombia´s favorite "sports"...Tejo.  It is somewhat similar to horseshoes.  You throw these metal, fairly heavy, roundish objects.  Not discs, not a ball, somewhere in between.  You throw them at a square box that is slanted and filled with clay.  If you get the object stuck in the clay, you get one point.  In the clay are also 4 small triangular envelopes of paper filled with gunpowder arranged in the center.  If you hit one of these, there is an explosion!!! and you get 3 points.  If you get the object stuck between all the papers, you get 6 points.  It´s quite exciting with the gunpowder and all.  If often makes the paper shoot up and flame.  As Elisha reckons, they would love it in Montana.  It´s free to play, you just are obligated to buy beers while you play.

Medellin, land of the friendly

4-23

Arrived early morning into Medellin which is the biggest city and heart of the Coffee Zone, home to the Paisas who are known for their friendliness.  Indeed, since we have been in the coffee zone, we have noticed that the people are extremely friendly and cheerful.  If you look lost on the street, they will come up and help you without you requesting help.  If you are looking lost trying to find which bus to take at a large bus station, they come right up and help you.  If you look in their store or restaurant, but decide not to get anything there, they tell you it was a pleasure to meet you and good luck.  You can just sense a very happy and friendly vibe from them.

After, we checked into our nice little hostel in the posh barrio of Poblano, we went out to explore the city, which is known for it´s wild parties on top of it´s friendly people.  It also supposedly has the most beautiful women in the world (according to colombia, guidebooks, and other travellers), which is why perhaps my dad should come for a visit!  First we checked out a small bit of the Milla de Oro (golden mile) which just has fancy upscale shopping.  We weren´t too interested, so we continued on.  We did stop at a mall bc I had misplaced my headlamp in our late night mosquito tactics in Tayrona, so I needed to buy a new one. 

From the mall, we climbed up a little hill which had a replica of a typical Paisa village on the top as well as really great 360 degree views of Medellin.  Medellin sits in a canyon/valley at the base of mountains, so it has a very scenic location and steep streets to go along with it.

After the hill visit we road the metro to near the end of the line and then continued up to the upper slum barrios of the city via gondola.  It was pretty interesting to be riding a gondola as part of public transportation in the city.  The gondola afforded great views of the whole city.  And it was interesting to have a bird´s eye view of the poorer barrios where houses are built right on top of each other.  We took the gondola all the way to the top where it continues on through forest, so that it is a bit of a canopy tour, all the way to a nature reserve.  On the way down, we stopped off at one of the barrio stops to explore this are of the city and get some food.

In the early evening, we took the metro do the downtown where we walked the main pedestrian mall, which was crowded with locals and vendors.

4-24

We took a bus to El Penol in the countryside outside of Medellin.  From there we took a little jeep to La Piedra (the rock).  La Piedra is a ginormous rock that sits atop one of the little rolling hills in the area.  They have incredulously somehow managed to build stairs (740 of them) to the top of this rock.  The 360 degree views from the top were amazing as they took in the surrounding countryside as well as a many-branched lake.

After hiking back down from the rock, we took a Tuk Tuk to the town of Guatape.  It was a cute and very colorful little down.  All the buildings were painted with vibrant colors and all had colorful bas relief carvings cut into the lower portion of the building, depicting local scenes.  In the evening, we took the bus back to Medillin

Picturesque Colonial Villages and Paragliding

4/19

We arrived into Bucaramanga in the morning from the overnight bus and caught a bus right away to San Gil.  It was a scenic bus ride as we entered the Andes mountain range and went over a nice pass.  San Gil is a bustling little colonial style town.  Our hostel is cute and in a colonial styled house.

After settling into the hostel, we took a short bus ride and then went on a short hike up to the very impressive Juan Curi waterfall.  It was made all the more impressive by heavy rains the night before.  The waterfall is 600 feet tall divided into several gushing tiers.

4/20

In the morning we took a bus to the little colonial gem of Barichara.  The bus ride there went through scenic land scattered with farms and red-roofed buildings that reminded us of Tuscany.  Barichara is a picture perfect small colonial styled town full of white-washed buildings with red roofs.  There are lots of pink and red flowers everywhere.  The streets are all cobbled and some are fairly steep.  The doors and windows were unique and made for nice photos.

We walked around and explored the streets, visited the 4 churches, had some icecream, and some hot drinks (Elisha of course had colombian coffee, while I had a hot fruit drink) in the main plaza, and mainly just chilled.

In the afternoon, we did the 6km hike on the Camino Real (Royal Road) to the little hamlet of Guane.  The Camino Real is a small path of made of cobbled stone that was built by the indigenous Guane people along time ago.  Guane itself is a very tiny colonial style town, but much more rustic than Barichara.  We bought an alcoholic drink that some old lady was selling on the road which we drank in the square.  It was called Barata and tasted like baileys.  We were told it was made from maize and oats.    We were able to explore the town a little bit before the bus ride back to San Gil

Back in San Gil, we hit the market and bought a whole ton of fruit.  Colombia has tasty, tasty fruit, but a lot we had never tried before, so we bought some of our favorites as well as the ones we didn't know.  Before our shopping was over, we had bought: Avocate (avacado), Mangosteena (Mangosteen), Pina (pineapple), Maracuya (passion fruit type 1), Granadilla (passion fruit type 2), Curuba (passion fruit type 3), Tomate de Arbol (sweet tree tomato), Guayaba (guava), Guanabana (sour sop), Lulo, and Manga (mango)

Our hostel has a blender, so we set to work slicing up fruits to make fruit juice.  We were extremely excited to start making the juice when a big lightning and rainstorm came in.  Some of the lightning strikes were very close and one knocked out power.  We were bummed bc we were very ready to start making the juice, but luckily, the power came back on shortly thereafter.  The lightning has stopped, but 6 hours later it's still raining pretty hard.  That's a little bit of a bummer bc we were hoping to do some abseiling (rapelling down waterfalls) tomorrow, but we were told that after it rains hard, the waterfalls are rushing too much that is becomes too dangerous.  Oh well, will just have to do some abseiling with the bro in the Southwest when I go back home.

4-21
Elisha was sick today with some stomach issues, so we mostly just hung around the hostel and walked a bit around the town.  I went to mass and enjoyed some beers and icecreams down in the plaza as this seemed to be what all the locals did on a Sunday.

4-22
Today we hung out in the morning in the square where we practiced some spanish with some people.  In the afternoon we went paragliding!!!  It was very very fun!  Nothing like feeling like you are flying!

In the evening we took a bus to Bucaramanga and then an overnight bus to Medellin

To the Wild Northern Reaches of South America

4/15

We decided to head out to the province of Guajira,which is the northernmost part of South America and a land that is very, very wild, undeveloped, and harsh...not to mention tough to get to.

We started by taking a bus from Taganga to Santa Marta.  Then a bus from Santa Marta to Riohacha.  From Riohacha we took a collectivo (shared taxi) to Uribia.  From Uribia we sat in the back of an old dodge  4x4 pickup (which they use as buses on the rough roads, or often roadless areas of the deep part of the province) for a bumpy and dusty ride to Cabo de la Vela.  The road was through dry desert scrubland and was often sandy or hardly existant.  Cabo de la Vela, is also in the desert, but it sits along a very long sandy beach afronted by the emerald green Caribbean.  We arrived at dusk and enjoyed a big fresh fish dinner, which of course is the standard food in this region since nothing can really grow or be farmed on the harsh land.  The room we were in was not particularly pleasant as it came complete with lots of cockroaches and a very active mouse!

4/16

In the morning, we were supposed to have a ride to Punta Gallinas, but they were trying to pack 12 people in a land cruiser meant for 8 or 9.  As we were the last to book and some of the people complained of lack of space (who wouldn't in that scenario), we got the boot, which meant we had the day to explor Cabo de La Vela.  First we walked along the long beach and then hiked up to El Faro (the lighthouse) for some nice views of the rugged coast.  From that high (and extremely windy) vantage point, we watched a successful rabbit hunt where 3 men down below, a lookout, and a dog, captured a rabbit.  From the Faro, we hiked down to a little beach called Ojos del Mar.  From there, we hiked overland across the coast, climbing up some ridges and little peaks before running into the main trail at Playa Azucar (sugar beach).  The walk along the coast was cool as the coast was very rugged and waves were loudly crashing into the rocks.  Luckily there was a stiff breeze or it would have been unbearably hot bc in this treeless land, there was no shade!  Playa Azucar was a pretty beach with rust colored sand and of course the typical emerald color of the Caribbean lapping up against the rusty sand.  We enjoyed some sweet mangos we had packed before ascending up Pilon de Azucar, a small hill complete with a statue of Mary (Our Lady of Fatima) providing nice views.

We walked back and made it just in time to grab some empanadas before watching the sunset.  We had a tasty fresh fish (red snapper) and yucca dinner.  Bc of the mice and cockroach roommates in the room the night before, we opted for sleeping suspended above ground outside in hammocks this night.

The long, all day hike, gave us a nice perspective on the area.  The Guijara is very dry with the vegetation being scrublike if it exists at all.  The landscape is also dotted with cacti.  It reminded us of how we picture southern Texas or Northern Mexico due to the landscape but also the lack of people and the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere.  Flying around the desert are these giant cricket things which the locals call Langosta (Langosta means lobster, but they call them this bc apparently they look similar).  And these aren't just large crickets, they are huge!  The look like birds when they fly.  This area is home to the Wayuu people who are supposedly fiercely independent.  They are one of the only South American peoples to never have been conquered by the Spanish.  They live in little thatched huts made out of the inside of cacti.  They are mainly fisher/lobstermen but do raise some goats in this very harsh land.

Although it's a harsh land, the place we were staying still had satellite TV.  We were watching the news (in spanish of course).  Most of it was dealing with the election, recounting, and riots associated with the election in Venezuela after Hugo Chavez died this past March (Colombia has currently closed its border with Venezuela bc of the problems), but it was here that we found out about the tragic bombing at the Boston Marathon.

4/17

This time we were all able to fit into the Land Cruiser.   Again there were 12 of us tourists; however, this was a bigger landcruiser, so we all squeezed in.  The road was of course rough and at times wild enroute to Punta Gallinas.  Along the way we stopped at Taroa dunes and Taroa beach.  Here there are these large and tall  (about 100 ft) dunes that tumble right into the ocean as well as a strip of beach.  You can basically slide down the dunes and land in the ocean.  Elisha and I spent some time playing and sliding down the dunes and then caught some waves in the ocean.  We continued on by 4x4 into the harsh landscape before arriving at a nice viewpoint looking down on the emerald waters of the Caribbean and Bahia (Bay) Hondia.  Shorly thereafter we arrived at Punta Gallinas where just a very few Wayuu families live.  We relaxed in hammocks until lunch, staring out at the sea.  For lunch, Elisha and I had two fresh and very tasty and large fish.  In the evening we headed out to a beach to watch the sunset.  That night we had freshly caught lobsters.  2 complete lobsters plus fried bananas, rice, and a salad for $15.  Very tasty!  That night the gang slept in Chinchurros (deluxe, supercomfortable hammocks made by the Wayuu) overlooking Hondia Bay.

4/18

In the morning as the sun was rising, we walked out to the lighthouse on Punta Gallinas which is the most northern point of South America (at about 12 degrees N.)  After breakfast, we loaded back up in the landcruiser for the 5 hour journey on rouch desert roads back to Uribia.  The ride was entertaining bc of this guy (Dan) from Atlanta who was pretty hilarious.

Elisha had left a stuff sack (full of socks and underwear) that she was using as a pillow in the hammocks back in Cabo de la Vela.  Luckily, one of the people in the car was heading back there, so a motorbike was coming to pick this girl up.  Thus, at this tiny little store in the middle of nowhere, a guy on a motorbike rooled up carrying Elisha's bag of underwear on his bike handlebars.  Pretty crazy.

From Uribia, we took a collectivo to Riohacha.  From there we took a bus to Santa Marta and then an overnight bus to Bucaramanga.

Beach Bumming it at Tayrona National Park...ATTACKED in Colombia....by mosquitos...

4/13

After the Lost City Trek, Elisha and I were dropped off at the entrance to Tayrona National Park.  Once in the park, we hiked through the jungle to get to the beach area.  Once we hit the beach we walked partly along beach and partly through jungle until reaching the beach of Arrecifes where we would be sleeping.  After getting set up, we went for a walk along the beach and then made some dinner before retiring to our hammocks.  Our hammocks were inside a screen enclosed space; however, the screen had lots of holes, and soon we realized that there were mosquitoes everywhere and that it would not be a fun night.  In the next camp over, we had noticed that those hammocks had individual nets over them.  We figured that this would be better, so we snuck over to those hammocks.  Unfortunately, these didn't work much better bc the hammock mosquito nets would touch our body in certain areas and the mosquitos could bite through the net!  So it was a rough night, and I definitely got quite a lot of bites.

4/14

We woke up early (due to the mosquitoes waking us up, not the pounding surf that our hammocks looked out across) and walked west along the coast.  First we walked along our large stretch of beach and then back into the jungle in order to get to several more beaches.  Our final destination for the day were the gorgeous beachs along Cabo San Juan.  These white sand beaches were framed with giant granite boulders on either side, green jungle hills behind, and emerald Caribbean water in the front.  Tayrona is beautiful an unique because its beaches and jungle are filled with these massive boulders.  It makes the area, especially the beaches very picturesque.  It is also beautiful because the jungle clad mountains come right down to the beach and the water is a gorgeous color especially when the sun shines on it.

We swam, walked, and relaxed along the beaches.  There were coconut trees all around, so we found a coconut and opened it up (sans tools).  We also enjoyed fresh mangos on the beach that we had packed in.  (Lucas buddy, wish you had been there, for some reason the mangos aren't quite as sweet without you and Sari Berry there!)

In the afternoon, we walked back along the beaches and into the jungle to get back to the entrance.  From there we took a bus back to Taganga where we had some street food and a fresh fish meal.

Playing Indiana Jones: Trek to the Lost City

4/9

We left Taganga in the morning in a Land Cruiser to reach the trailhead to the lost city.  After a 4 hour drive, part of it 4x4, we arrived at the little village of Machete (so named bc many a bar fight here has turned into a machete fight).  Our trekking group included our guide Sixto, a translator (for the brits) Ellie, 3 brit friends (Josh, Robin, James), a Californian (Paul), an Israeli (Gal), and 2 other brits (Paul and Alex)

Day 1:  We hiked in the jungle along the river, having to cross it several times, but as it was dry season, they were easy crossings.  As it was quite hot, we made sure to jump in the river when we could and tried to make it places we could do some cliff jumping off rocks.  After our first river jumping, we continued up a steep ridge with good views, passed a millitary checkpoint, and enjoyed fresh watermelon at the top of the ridge.  Those interested also gulped down some Colombian coffee.  After the ridge, we hiked back down into a canyon where we slept in hammocks alongside the river being serenaded to sleep by toads and frogs.  Our camp was a little Eden of flowers along the river.  We walked downstream a tiny bit to arrive a gorgeous natural pool with a waterfall cascading into it and jungle vines and butterflies all around.  The only way to enter into the pool was by cliff jumping into it (a rickety ladder combined with rock climbing) was used to get out of it.

4/10  Day 2

We were up at sunrise to continue the hike.  Steep ups and downs as well as various river crossings and of course swims in the river to cool down.  Along the way was beautiful jungle scenery with giant trees, ferns, bananas and colorful birds and butterflies.  Along the way we walked by several villages of different indigenous tribes.  They live in circular thatched huts and are very much not modernised.  They wear an all-white robe outfit and some of the groups wear interesting hats.  They carry machetes as well as these gourd objects that the men are always working on which symbolize family and fertility.  They are very shy and defintely not very open towards gringos.

We reached our camp (paraiso) after a final river crossing (waistish deep) and passing some waterfalls.  The camp is beautiful sitting right next to a waterfall and on the river.  It came complete with friendly cats and mattresses under mosquito nets

4/11

Day 3

We got up early to hike to Ciudad Perdida (the lost city).  We first crossed a river and then climbed up about 1200 stone steps to the remains of the city which are surrounded by jungle.  The city was rediscovered in 1976 by grave robbers and cocaine farmers and the government took control of it a couple years later after some blood was shed as people fought over it.  The stone ruins and terraces were quite interesting and reminded us a bit of a fancy golf course, the way the terraces were set up.  It was a perfectly clear day, so we had nice views of the surrounding mountains.  We walked around the large complex with the guide as he explained to us all about the Tayuna culture (the tayunas had built the lost city in the 7th century) and how it was rediscovered.

After enjoying the city and posing for funny photographs with the millitary guys stationed at the top of the ruins, we hiked back down the stone stairs and continued on to where we would sleep for the 3rd night.  We of course stopped to swim in several places including under a waterfall.  Back at the main river, we did some pretty big cliff jumps into the river

You may have heard about the lost city because in 2003, 9 tourists were taken as hostages by the FARC and held there for 101 days.  May of you may be thinking now, why would you visit colombia?  Isn't it so dangerous?  The truth is that it is now very safe.  The FARC has been booted out to the very remote areas of the country where tourists don't go.  Now there is a huge millitary presence by the current stable government and thus, it is actually safer than the surrounding South American countries.  The night bus hijackings and cocaine warlord murders have all been put to a stop.  I did have to laugh when I was home for the summer last year at Colombia's TV advertisements they were using to promote tourism from Americans again now that it is a safe place.  They showed the beautiful sights and culture and also wanted to highglight how safe it is now.  There slogan at the end; however, has the right idea, but I think there was a little bit of a translational error, so it probably didn't come out in English exactly as they would have liked.  "Come visit Colombia, the only risk is that you won't leave"  They kind of missed pointing out that you wouldn't be leaving bc of being kidnapped by the FARC, but bc you love it so much


4/12

Day 4

We hiked back to our first camp.  We got there very early, so we had lots of time to read and siesta in the hammocks and enjoy the natural pool with the waterfall that made us think of a little Eden.  At the camp, they made us some absolutely amazing fresh squeezed orange/guava juice.  We again slept in hammocks for the night

4/13

Day 5

We hiked back down to the starting point of the trek (Machete) and then took the 4WD road back down to the main road.  From here, Elisha and I loaded up on some groceries and then were dropped off at the entrance to Tayrona National Park.

Colonial City of Cartagena

4-6

After the sun came up in Cartagena we disembarked from the boat and our captains took care of our immigration.  Elisha and I checked into our hostel, took a much needed shower and then set off to explore the city and sample the streetfood before meeting up with the boat crew for goodbye drinks in the evening.

Cartagena is a beautiful colonial city.  It's full of bright colors and flowers (especially bouganvillias...my parents would love it here) and balconies overlooking narrow streets.  It teems with street vendors, guys pushing carts, narrow streets, and gorgeous towering churches.  There is cool festive music emanating from little houses and shops while locals nap in the heat and shaded plazas.  The neighborhood where our hostel is, named Getsamani, is quiet, full of locals going about their daily business in front of colorful and flowered buildings.  Our neighborhood is perhaps one of my favorite places in the city.

4-7
We had a very successful internet sesh in the borning.  I booked my ticket home with airline miles.  I will be arriving into Seattle so that I can see the Jovial Bison who is one of the important people I missed on my tour of friends in the northwest before I left, so I am stoked for that.  Also cancelled my completely refundable ticket that I had booked in order to be able to even leave the states.  You must have a return ticket booked to leave the US, but Elisha's miles had come through yet, so we couldnt buy our return tickets them, so we figured out a loophole of buying a completely refundable return ticket so that we could leave.

I then took Elisha on a walking tour of the city (using my guidebook).  We toured churches, monasteries, convents, an inquisition palace, a slave market (now ironically used as a market for sweets), plazas, old boats, and saw the big spanish fort and walls of the ancient city.  We also stopped by quite a few icecream shops as we walked in the tropical heat.  Our puchase of the day: 6 liters of water in a bag for 2000COP equals $1.

That night we went to church in one of the big cathedrals and made sure to plop ourselves down by one of the pews with fans.  At night there are horse-drawn carriages with lanterns everywhere.  We went and got some tasty, tasty streetfood at a plaza in our neighborhood where all te locals were having a zumba dance party.

On our way home from an ATM, we were stopped by two Policia.  We were strip searched as they searched for drugs on us.  They tried to be intimidating, but we weren't too worried considering we obviously had no drugs.  Elisha carries this natural sugar substitute stuff called Stevia around.  It's a little white powder.  Everyone in Antarctica called it her drugs, the way she would measure it out with this tiny spoon device.  I joked that we were lucky she wasn't carrying that or we would maybe have found out what the inside of a Colombian jail looks like!

4-8

We took a bus to Tatagana further east along the Caribbean coast.  It's a cute little fishing village on a bay with a beach.  We scoped out the town today and booked a tour to Ciudad Perdida...the lost city.  After that we walked down by the beach for sunset and had some tasty street food from a very happy go lucky family.  I asked them where I might be able to find a barber shop as my hair is too hot and long for the sweaty jungle.  The guy was so nice that he had me hop on his motorbike and he drove me to some gal's house who was a friend of his.  She let me into her house and sat me down on the chair.  Her husband showed up and he was super friendly.  He brought out a fan just for me and gave me two beers to drink while I got my hairs cut.  He turned on some nice music and then chatted with me.  After a little while, the street vendor brought Elisha up so she could witness the spectacle.  She was of course received with a beer and a big smile.

My haircut is pretty nice.  I somehow managed to ask for a feaux hawk which is popular here and similar to the haircut (though not as short) as the character Puck on Glee.

Tomorrow we leave for the lost city  jungle trek which will take 5 days.  From there we may do a 2 day trek into Tayrona NP, so it may not be until then that you hear from us.  Pray that the mosquitoes aren't too bad!!

Ay Calypso...Sailing the Caribbean from Panama to Colombia

4-1  Left Panama city bright and early in a 4x4 for a drive on a crazy winding road to the coast.  We boarded a skiff that took us to the millitary outpost island of Porvenir in the San Blas Island chain where we arrived at the sailboat we would be taking to Colombia...the Delfin Solo.  The San Blas Islands are home to the Kuna people who are quite independent and the islands are actually a semi autonomous region run by the Kuna Yala.

We boarded the Delfin Solo which is a 42 foot sailboat.  We were welcomed by the Captains, Rengue (Turkish American) and Tashin a turkish guy.  The other passengers on the boat were 4 brits (Holly, Giseppe, Natasha, and Lucy) and one German (Sophie), which ended up being a really good group!  While we waited for the captains to deal with checking us out of Panama on the tiny little island, Elisha and I swam to it from the boat and explored around it a bit.  It wasnt much bigger than 3 or 4 football fields.

After we were officially checked out of Panama, we started sailing to another island.  Along the way, we passed by a couple of dolphins swimming around.  We anchored at this next island and we all swam to it.  We walked around the island and then met the captains at a small bar on the beach where they shared rum and cokes with us on the palm studded island.  The more rum the captains had, the more their crazy sailing and Turkey stories began to flow.  Elisha and my bunks were in the very front of the  bow of the boat.  Each bed was angled funny being that they were in the very narrow part of the bow.  Rengue and Tashin shared a bed in the center of the boat.  Sophia slept on a bed next to theirs and the brits were all in the stern, but it was a hot night, so most of us ended up sleeping on the deck of the boat, falling asleep as we watched the stores and listened to the waves lap up against the boat.

4-2

We had breakfast on the boat and then set sail (really sailing sans motor) to another Kuna island where we walked around a bit and then had a fresh fish lunch and also bought some supplies for our upcoming ocean crossing.    We then boarded the boat again and set sail for another island.  We dove off the boat and swam to this island to relax before coming back to the boat for another night under the stars.

4-3
We took the little dinghy out to a teeny tiny island that was a bit far out.  This island was half the size of a football field, but covered with palm trees.  After hanging out on this picturesque island, Elisha and I swam back to the boat.  From there, we put the sails back up and sailed to a group of 6 islands.  These islands were surrounded by surreal water.  Idyllic.  Picture perfect postcart island with gorgeous water and leaning palms and sugar white sands.

Right before we had left the previous island, a couple local fishermen in their dugout canoes paddled up to sell us some shellfish.  The captains bought 3 huge crabs and 17 lobsters for a grand total of 45 US dollars! wow!  So after exploring and walking around the entirety of this gorgeous island we feasted on this lobster and crab dinner that the one family of Kunas on the island cooked for us.  It was DELICIOUS!  And basically as many lobsters as you could eat.  Incredible!  Truly incredible!  As much lobster as I could eat!

After the feast while everyone else sunbathed, Elisha and I swam out to 3 of the other tiny islands.  On one of the islands, we knocked down a coconut and broke it up to eat the meat without using any man-made tools.  We were quite proud of ourselves for this  As the sun was beginning to set, Elisha and I set out for a short snorkel trip around the reef where we some saw reef fishes and a lonesome stingray.

This night we were supposed to leave for the open ocean, but there wasnt much wind, so we postponed until the next morning.

4-4

We left bright and early for the open ocean. I was lucky and had not seasickness, but almost everyone else did, even though the seas were calm.  I think Elisha threw up over the boat 3 times.  But so did Lucy.  Sophie never left her bed!

Just open water and waves all day.  I rather enjoyed it bc it was silent, save for the waves and wind in the sails.  I did a lot of napping and moving around to avoid the sun.  After the sun set, the wind really picked up and the boat was cruising.  The bow of the ship was rising and falling dramatically, which of course where Elisha and my bunks were located.  So it was a wild sleep!  Doing anything inside the boats (i.e. peeing, getting food, etc) was very difficult.

4-5
Woke up to calmer seas and low wind, so it was slow, slow going.  I wasnt fearing sea sickness today, so I did a lot of reading in addition to sleeping on the deck and listening to music.  At one point, a huge pod of dolphins (definitely not a delfin solo!) followed us for a bit, playing around.  I stood up by the bow of the boat so that I was directly above them and could see them darting back and forth as they checked out the ship.  During this time, John Denver's song Calypso was running through my head.

4-6  We arrived in to Cartagena, Colombia after 48 hours.  Their record was 27 hours as the shortest and 56 hours as the longest.  Ours was a bit longer than normal.  It was very early, 5am, so the lights on the colonial city from the water were gorgeous.