From the Caribbean to Glaciated Peaks

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is the tallest coastal mountain range in the world with 18,000+ ft summits just 30 miles inland from the Caribbean. This creates many unique ecosystems that range from beaches to tropical rainforest to alpine zones with glaciers and year-round snow. As a consequence of the diversity of climate zones and vegetation, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is one of the best places in the world for birding. I was especially excited about visiting this part of Colombia for the dramatic landscapes. Unfortunately, Tayrona National Park, one of the main attractions in the region, was closed when we went (it’s closed every February nowadays for conservation and the indigenous people), but we were still able to find plenty to do.

My parents and I left Barranquilla tired after Carnaval and ready to relax on the beach. We took a colectivo van to Santa Marta along a long spit that separates the Caribbean from a big marsh called Ciénega Grande. It was surprisingly a pretty arid climate in this area, which we later learned was due to it being the dry season. We saw small towns along the side of the road with vendors selling fish in the open air and even saw donkeys on the highway! Sadly, many of the towns appeared to be very dirty with lots of litter everywhere, beyond what I am used to seeing elsewhere in Latin America. However, the views of the ocean were beautiful. After traveling for about two hours, we arrived at a parking lot/gas station in a random part of Santa Marta. Our plan was to catch a bus toward where we were staying, which was about 1 hour east of Santa Marta, but we decided to get lunch quickly and then get a taxi all the way since it would have been a hassle to get to the main bus terminal. We started walking through the neighborhood to find a place to eat, but there were very few restaurants around. Everyone on the street was eyeing us as we were carrying out luggage, which made my parents uncomfortable. We finally found a place called Restaurante Medellín, which was owned by people from Medellín and had very well-prepared traditional Colombian food. The owner of the restaurant was super kind, seemed a bit concerned for us, and helped us find a good taxi to take us where we needed to go. The taxi ride took us along the coast and by the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Our driver explained to us that it was currently the dry season, which is why everything seemed arid. As we went a bit further east, it got a lusher and finally gave way to the iconic Caribbean landscape of palm trees and coconuts. The final stretch to our accommodation was along a potholed dirt road, which ended up being an adventure with the taxi.

We arrived to Playa Pikua Ecolodge and got settled in our cabin, which was open air. My parents were a bit skeptical in the beginning, but Playa Pikua ended up being an amazing place! Our cabin had a bit of an ocean view, a mini kitchenette, two beds, and a little patio with a table out front for eating our meals. There were also common areas on the beach and next to the beach with hammocks.  We would select breakfast every afternoon for the next morning and said what time we wanted it at, and a fantastic breakfast was then delivered to the table outside of our cabin. Playa Pikua also had a deal with a local restaurant that prepared meals and brought them to the patio area outside our cabin every evening. The food was typical Colombian seafood dishes, which were all delicious! We spent our time on the beach relaxing, walking around, and going in the water a bit. It was also enjoyable to observe the birds and the cute lizards that were around everywhere. The soothing sound of the ocean made the place very relaxing, so I slept well every night there! We ended up spending two nights and one full day there, but I think we all would have enjoyed a bit more time.

Typical fried fish of the region, which is delicious!

Our next stop was Sierra Alta Finca, a boutique hotel high up in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Just the trip there was epic, as we climbed above Minca, a little cloud forest town popular with backpackers. The road became very rough to the point where it was only passable with a 4WD vehicle. As we climbed, the views of the Caribbean became more spectacular, as did the vegetation. There was a point of road construction where we had to carry our luggage for ½ mile to a Jeep that took us the rest of the way up. We arrived to a place with amazing views and beautiful gardens. Pilar and Julio, our hosts, were very welcoming and made the experience amazing. Two of my favorite aspects of our stay there were hearing the sounds of the forest, including the low growl of the howler monkeys, and the amazing food. There was only one other family from Montreal staying there with us, Miles, Mouna, and their two young boys, who we ended up connecting with. They were fun and interesting people to chat with. Miles works as an engineer, while Mouna had her own café and jam business making Tunisian style jams for a while. It made me want to visit Montreal!

With our one full day at Sierra Alta Finca, we decided to do a tour of the area that brought us to a beautiful waterfall. Richard was our local tour guide and was excellent! He pointed out many unique birds along the way and explained to us how the agriculture works in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. We learned that coffee is the main crop grown there, but that the production is much more artisanal and on a smaller scale than in the Eje Cafetero. The indigenous people in the region really care about the environment, so they plant the coffee among the other native plants rather than clearing out all the other trees and vegetation. We were able to observe the small coffee plants among the native vegetation. It was inspiring seeing how agriculture and conservation can be done in unison. This combination of unique growing conditions and climate also gives the coffee a unique flavor. It turned out that Richard grows and prepares some of his own coffee. He invited us to his house, where his wife prepared us some of their coffee, which was excellent. We then took off on mules down a steep canyon with beautiful views of the surrounding countryside and the Caribbean. After the descent, we got off the mules and Richard tied them up by the side of the river. We then walked 15 minutes down a steep trail to a gorgeous waterfall. I dipped my feet in and enjoyed a little break before we took off up the hill again. The mule ride uphill was a bit easier and felt more stable than going down, but it was quite hot by this time. Richard then walked us back up along the road to our hotel from his house. We arrived to a bit of drama, because another dog bit one of Julio’s dogs. Fortunately, the injury was minor and easily addressed. The afternoon was spent relaxing and enjoying the view from the little patio area, which had a sofa and some hammocks. Our last evening was a very pleasant experience, as we enjoyed Pilar’s famous gin and tonics, while chatting with Pilar, Julio, Miles, and Mouna. The sunset from the front of the property was spectacular!

Sunset from Sierra Alta Finca

Coffee beans are processed here

Beautiful countryside!

The small plants are coffee plants that are grown in the shade of the native trees

I ended up getting one last adventure in before we left the next morning. My friend Chris told me that he went to a viewpoint called Cerro Kennedy that was his favorite place in Colombia. From Cerro Kennedy, it is possible to see the glaciated peaks of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Caribbean, a unique experience as this is the only place in the world where glaciers and the Caribbean can be seen from the same place. The only catch is that one must be there at sunrise, otherwise everything is enshrouded in clouds. This means hiking during the night (which I did on a later adventure in Panama) or riding on the back of a motorcycle. Pilar arranged for someone to take me up, leaving the hotel at 4:30 am since the trip takes about 1.5 hours. This was quite an adventure for me, since this was my first time riding on the back of a motorcycle, and we rode up one of the steepest, rockiest, bumpiest roads I have ever been on. There were points where we had to get off the motorcycle, and my driver had to walk it up the slope or give the motor a rest because it was so hot. While it was dark, I was able to see some of the nice vegetation and changes in scenery as we ascended. We arrived about 15 minutes before sunrise. My first view of the mountain range in the morning twilight was literally breathtaking! It is a very steep, rocky ridge with peaks on it. I had a clear view of the glaciers on Pico Cristobal Colon, Colombia’s highest peak at almost 19,000 feet. Cerro Kennedy itself sits at over 10,000 feet. There was a military base on one side, and the other side was the main viewpoint. I stood there and waited for the sunrise while chatting with some other backpackers, some of whom were camping near the summit. One was named George and traveling all around Latin America. He was from Chicago but had some family in Bogotá. What surprised me about the scenery was how lush and tropical it was there despite the high altitude. Places similar in altitude that I have visited in Ecuador and Peru were much more arid and grassier. I saw palm trees and bromeliads in the same place as the glaciated peaks and a tiny bit of the Caribbean through the clouds! The sunrise was incredible, and I would have loved to spend more time, but I had to get back down for breakfast and packing before my parents and I headed to Cartagena. The ride down was a bit easier since it was light and the motorcycle handled the steep, rocky terrain better on the way down. I saw a few interesting birds, too, including one that was fairly large with an indigo head and a black body. By the time I got back to the hotel, it was time for breakfast and then packing to leave. Our time in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta was amazing, but it was finally time to leave for Cartagena for our next adventure.

Looking down toward the Caribbean

Sunrise!

The top of the hill, where there is a military base

Colombian Day Trips: Zipaquirá and Guatape

Something great about Colombia is that there are many day trips that are possible from the major cities. I ended up taking one day trip out of Bogotá and one out of Medellín, both of which were great! My first day trip was to Zipaquirá, a town 1.5-2 hours outside of Bogotá. It is known primarily for its cathedral within a salt mine. I was thinking about skipping Zipaquirá since it is a long day trip from Bogotá, but it came highly recommended by my friend Luisa’s cousin Luis, so I decided to go. It was worth it!

The trip took me almost 2 hours each way from where I was staying in La Candelaria in Bogotá. I took the TransMileno, Bogota’s city bus system, to the Portal Norte bus station at the north end of the city. I passed through many of the higher-end neighborhoods in Bogotá, which looked quite nice. The bus ride to Zipaquirá was quite pretty as it passed through the region of the Colombian countryside known as La Sabana de Bogotá (Bogota Savanna). I was expecting a very small village or remote area with the salt mine and cathedral, but I arrived to a cute town/small city of 130,000. Upon arrival, I didn’t know exactly where to go to get to the salt cathedral, but there were many friendly local high school students with maps who helped give me directions. As I walked through town, I noticed many historic and colorfully painted buildings. This was my first taste of how beautiful and colorful Colombian towns are.

After walking through town, I finally arrived at the entrance to the salt cathedral. It turns out that there are a couple of museums on the site, in addition to the cathedral, so I bought the ticket that included those. The ticket also included an audio guide, which allowed me to learn a lot about the cathedral and the mines. The mine was excavated in three levels during different eras, going deeper each time. In the early days of the mine, it served as a major source of money to finance the independence wars against Spain, which I saw reference to in the Netflix series on Simon Bolivar. The first church in the mine was built in the early 1900s by the miners as a safe refuge, both physically and spiritually. Something that struck me is the faith of the miners and how important it was for them to build a church down there. Over time, as the miners excavated deeper and deeper, the structural integrity of the first church became questionable. In the 1990s, a new church was built by the miners that was specially designed and financed, rather than just incorporated into the mine. Now it is a major tourist site that is especially popular among Colombian tourists and increasingly among international tourists.

Upon entering, the path into the mine first went through an area with the Stations of the Cross carved out of stone and/or rock salt. Each cross was different and had a symbolic meaning to represent each station. Some were illuminated in unique ways, some were empty spaces carved out of the rock, and others were solid. There were also cavernous areas where one could stare into the abyss of the mine, often times right behind the crosses. After descending far into the mine, I encountered the main chapel and side chapels, which were spectacular! The main chapel houses a 200 ft tall cross carved out of rock salt. There were also beautifully decorated altars and fountains. I spent some time reveling in the beauty of the church before proceeding through a small museum on emeralds. Apparently, Colombia is one of the world’s primary producers of emeralds and they love to showcase that.

Afterwards, I went back to the surface and did the quick tour of the brine museum, where I learned about how the mining is done nowadays. Miners used to use explosives and haul out the rock salt, but these days, most of the salt is extracted by injecting water into bored holes, allowing it to turn into brine, extracting the brine, evaporating the water, and purifying the salt. Some of the salt is used for food uses, but most of the salt is used for industrial purposes. It was interesting learning about the miners and the salt mining while simultaneously being able to visit the cathedral. I ended up getting lunch before visiting the archeological museum. While the archeological museum was small, it had an amazing collection of ceramics from the various pre-Columbian cultures of the interior region of Colombia! The intricacy of the pottery was up there with the Peruvian pottery I saw, and some of the different items/designs were unique. I enjoyed the short time I had in the museum before I head to get going. My last stop in town was to get some baked goods that would serve as my dinner. I ended up buying a buñuelo (fried cheese bread), some sort of fritter stuffed with meat, and another cheesy bread. All ended up being delicious but quite greasy, as is typical with Colombian food. I would have enjoyed more time to explore the Zipaquirá and leisurely enjoy the museums but ultimately had to leave in a hurry to try to make it back to Bogotá before dark. Overall, I thought it was a great destination and a worthwhile day trip!

City Hall

Main plaza in Zipaquira

Main chapel

Side chapel

200 foot cross carved out of salt

Ceramics in the museum

The other day trip I took was out of Medellín to a rock with a view called El Peñol and then to the town of Guatape. Just the bus ride there was great, as I got to pass through the beautiful Colombian countryside. Upon arrive, I saw a huge rock that reminded me of Beacon Rock in the Columbia River Gorge with a path going up it. I got off the bus and was offered a ride in a little mototaxi but decided to walk to the base of the rock. Along the way, I got chatting with a group of Canadians and joined them. Two of them work in the financial industry in Toronto and another was from Vancouver and traveling solo but ended up joining with the other two. We hiked to the top together and arrived to a viewpoint complete with restaurants and gift shops. The view of the reservoir, created by a hydroelectric dam, the small islands with a backdrop of Colombian countryside was quite pleasant. After soaking in the view, I headed down to the town of Guatape with the Canadians and walked around. It was yet another beautiful, colorful Colombian small town. There were many shops and restaurants aimed at tourists, but it appeared that more of the tourists were Colombian rather than international. After taking a stroll, we had lunch, and I ordered a Bandeja Paisa, the typical meal of the region. It consists of fried pork, two types of sausage (chorizo and blood sausage), ground beef, rice, a fried egg, and beans. A delicious and filling meal! We then decided to head back to Medellín. Overall, I would say that Guatape was a pleasant excursion from Medellín.

Here’s the rock

Typical street in the town of Guatape

Bandeja Paisa

 

Odobate: another world

The house that houses 45 people (blue house on the right)

Milenio, our boat

Beautiful Mountain view’s from Chris’ house

The public school in Odobate

Some houses in the village

On the boat leaving the village, boat pushed with sticks since the river is low

Main street in Chiriquí Grande, the closest actual town to Odobate

My friend Chris is in the Peace Corps in Odobate, a rural indigenous village in northern Panama, and is working on building a water system for the village. I had not seen Chris in a year and a half and figured it would be a special experience to visit him. This ended up fitting together well with my interest in visiting Colombia, so I decided to visit Panama. Future blog entries will cover my other adventures in Panama and some in Colombia that I have not covered yet.

My trip to Odobate began by taking a 6 am bus from Boquete to David, a mid-sized Panamanian city that served as my bus transfer. Upon arrival at the bus terminal, I asked for the bus headed toward Chiriquí Grande. It was on the far end of the bus terminal, looked more like a van than a regular bus with a primarily indigenous clientele loading large sacks of what looked like food on the top. I could tell from this moment than I was headed to the poorest part of the province and entering into a completely different world. And I don’t say this lightly as someone who had done extensive travel through Latin America.

The bus ride was gorgeous! It went through a mountainous region with cloud forest and rainforest as we crossed from the Pacific to the Caribbean side of Panama. The change from the Pacific side to the Caribbean side was even demarcated by a change in music. We started out listening to Salsa music, typical on Latin American bus rides, but as soon as we crossed over the continental divide the music switched to a Reggae radio station, since there are a lot of people of Jamaican descent living in the Bocas del Toro province (see my upcoming entry on Bocas and Cahuita).

Per Chris’ instructions, I asked to be dropped off at “la bomba”, the gas station, which all bus drivers know what you’re talking about if you ask for that. I then crossed the street to wait for a taxi into the center of Chiriquí Grande. A pickup truck taxi came and had space for one extra person. I jumped into the front seat, which was open, and was instructed to sit on a cushion by the gear shifter but didn’t know what to do. Another guy came in and showed me how it is done so that two people can be crammed in the front seat. This became a common theme of my trip to Odobate—I had to relearn how to do everything that I do on a daily basis at home. A few minutes later, we arrived in Chiriquí Grande, a grubby and slightly seedy tropical oil port town of 3,000. I arrived with 1.5 hours to spare to ensure that I didn’t miss the noon boat, because if you do, you are SOL. I took a seat at the dock to kill a bit of time and noticed that there were no other foreigners in sight. As I began to apply sunscreen and mosquito repellent, I noticed that everyone started staring at me like “what strange thing is this guy doing.” My next task was to buy some groceries for Chris at one of the little stores, which was surprisingly run by Chinese Panamanians! I didn’t know how things worked there, so I needed to ask for help but ended up getting what I sought out, loaded it into bags and headed over to the boat.

Chris told me that the boat that day would be the Gabrielita, which I sought out. He told me if there were any issues to say that I am a friend of Chebe, his name in the local indigenous language. Everything went pretty smoothly. However, when I said I wanted to go to Odobate, I was directed into the Milenio, the boat next door to to the Gabrielita. We began our journey out of the port and into the ocean. After about 45 minutes we pulled up to a little stop at the mouth of the river for a lunch break (Chris told me about this). I bought lunch, which was rice, a little bit of chicken in a delicious sauce, and a boiled green plantain for $2. I knew I was taking a risk eating food at a place like that but there is no escaping this risk when traveling to this area. Miraculously I never got diarrhea from my visit to Odobate!

While eating lunch, I got to chatting with a few people. One was a high school student from the village studying in Panama City. Another was a man who owns a little store in the village and was traveling with his son from Panama City (all food not grown in the village is imported on these boats). I realized that the boat I was in had to leave and come back, which resulted in a 2 hr stop instead of the normal 30 min lunch stop. During this time, a man started buying me beers. He told me (in Spanish) “remember the Indians (as in indigenous people) when you go home to the United States.” He told me that he works as a police officer near Panama City. I also talked with his friend Erme, who I ended up talking with the most. He’s a local school teacher in the village. They kept buying me beer and bought some to drink on the boat. Both of them were obviously drunk. I ended up drinking about 6 beers through the duration of the lunch stop and second leg of the boat ride, but fortunately they were weak beers. During this time, the teacher ended up giving me the name Chiba in Ngobere, the local indigenous language. He told me it means “strong hunter.” We were having a great time chatting and laughing until the police man had his cell phone fall out of his pocket into the river and lost it. Needless to say he wasn’t happy. Not long after, we arrived to a point where the river was too dry to continue, so we all got off and started walking. We were close to the village, and Chris was there ready to meet up with me. It turned out that the guy who lost his cell phone went up to Chris and insulted him, Chris told him to shut up, and Chris was then punched in the face.

The walk to the village was through jungle along the riverbank and was quite muddy. I had sneakers, which was hardly proper footwear for the occasion. Somehow Chris had gotten very good at walking super fast on muddy, slippery, steep areas in poor footwear without slipping. I lagged behind him but eventually made it to the village. The houses there are made of wood with either palm leaf roofs or zinc roofs. There is no electricity and previously there was no running water but now they have a crude water system for skinks/faucets thanks to Chris. There was a latrine next to Chris’ house but he said that many families just take care of their business in the creek. Some families have tiny solar panels to charge small electric lights, cell phones and other small items, but that is the extent of electricity. There is one sidewalk that runs though the town but there are no roads with cars.

Chris’ house had an open air deck area, a kitchen area and two bedrooms but the whole size of the house was very small. We prepared some chicken and rice that I bought in Chriquí Grande and chatted a bit with Chris’ friend who was visiting. Afterwards, I was very tired and just relaxed. Chris had me sleep in another small room in his house where he had a pad for a sleeping bag that didn’t hold air, so I was essentially sleeping on a wooden board without a pad or pillow. My sleep was not the greatest for the 4 nights I stayed in the village, but the experience was worth it!

The next morning, I woke up at around 6:30 am, as is typical for me in Latin America, due to the light, the noise of the animals, and, in this case, the additional noise of many babies crying. Tons of people were using the latrine and bathing, so I asked Chris if this was a sort of public restroom for the village. He said that it is just him and his neighbors that use it, and that there are many users because there are a lot of people in the neighboring house. His response to my question about how many people live next door blew my mind—there are 45 people in one house! This is because the patriarch of the house has two wives and many daughters who all have babies and live in the house. Apparently polygamy was common in the past but hardy anyone practices it today. Also, Odobate doesn’t just have a high teen pregnancy rate, the rate is practically 100%!

Chris and I prepared French toast for breakfast, and three of the neighbor boys between 4-7 years old showed up. To them, this was a very special luxury food item. Chris told me that to the poorest people in the village, the standard working class Latin American fare of rice with beans/lentils and eggs is a luxury. Their diet consists of boiled green plantains with a bit of salt. I would have felt bad about eating a whole bowl of French toast in front of these boys, so I ended up sharing half of my breakfast with them. They were so cute and curious!

After breakfast, we went to the area where Chris’ host family (he lived with a host family for the first 4 months) grows their crops. They grow plantains, taro root and a few other crops. We harvested a taro root and some fiddlehead ferns, one of the few green vegetables around. We then went fishing in the creek with surprisingly well built fishing poles. Since the creek is overfished we didn’t catch anything, but it was a fun experience regardless.

Lunch consisted of some rice with a bit of chicken, the fiddlehead ferns, some other veggies, and hot sauce, and it was delicious! We also fried up the taro root, which was tasty. After lunch, Chris and I hiked to a village called Paraíso that is about an hour walk up the hill. The walk was challenging due to the humidity, which made my sweat like a pig. However, as we walked along, we ran into many of Chris’ friends who were all super kind and friendly. We stopped and sat on a rock at a spot where Chris said there was cell signal so he could check his messages. A man who works on the water project with Chris walked by, and we got to chatting a bit. Afterward, Chris and I made it up to the village and visited a family that makes woven bags with pretty designs out of a plasticky material. These bags are typically used to carry food, laundry or to rock babies to sleep (which I witnessed!). I ended up buying one of the bags for $10 from a teen mother named Tati who appeared to be blind in one eye and makes these bags. We chatted with the family, all of whom were very curious about me. The grandma didn’t speak any Spanish, so the family members would translate into Ngobere for her. Sometimes everyone was speaking in Ngobere and probably talking about me, but I didn’t mind because everyone was super sweet. They offered me food and a beverage. I accepted the food, which was boiled plantain with salt, but didn’t accept the beverage out of concern of getting sick. Chris taught me the indigenous word for diarrhea and told me to mention that I have a weak stomach to explain why I can’t drink the beverages. He told me if I used the indigenous word, everyone would laugh and like me. This is precisely what happened.

We visited another family in Paraíso that Chris is very close to. They were especially friendly. They also provided food and good conversation. Some of them knew a few words of English that they practiced with me. Then came the drill that became super common, where people would ask if I am married and upon a negative response immediately ask which one, if any, of the women in the house I found attractive, or if I found the indigenous women attractive.  In this case, I stayed silent.

After our visits, we went to the school where many people were playing volleyball. Chris joined the game, while I got to chatting with the English teacher. His name is Wilber and he is originally from David, Panama. While attending a public university in Panama, he did a 2 month program in the Kentucky to learn English. It was fun chatting with him about his experience abroad and my experience abroad in Ecuador. We talked in a mixture of Spanish and English. Wilber was intelligent and a great guy, and it was nice to see someone like that teaching in Odobate. It gave me hope that the public school teachers could make a difference in the lives of the children there.

Chris finished the volleyball game, and we went to his host family’s home to cook dinner. I met his host parents Milton and Soyla who were both great people to talk to. Milton is a teacher at the school, so he has a good salary. Therefore, they have one of the nicer houses in the village with a big solar panel, big batteries, and even satellite TV. After dinner, we went over to play dominos, an activity that a group of young men does almost every night. I was so tired that I watched a bit but ended up leaving early with Chris for his house. Right as we were about to get ready for bed, two of the young ladies from the neighboring house with 45 people stopped by. They asked the typical questions about me and then one of them began flirting with Chris and me hard core. The indigenous people I met in Ecuador were very sweet but quite shy, so this was new and unexpected. The one doing most of the talking was named Ceneida and her sister’s name was Genia. I learned that Ceneida was 28 and Genia 23, and they both have multiple kids, but it sounded like they were single. Ceneida was making some very forward and suggestive jokes with Chris. I was then asked the famous question about whether I have a woman, to which I responded no. The immediate follow up question was whether I found the indigenous women attractive and, if so, which one of them I liked. This time, potentially against my better judgement, I said that the local women are attractive and that Genia, the quieter, more shy younger sister was cute. Chris said in English “careful, Alden!” Genia lit up, said “I’m about to cry,” “you’re very handsome, Chiba (me), more than Chebe (Chris),” and “you’re a prince.” In retrospect, she was probably thrilled to be recognized since she is the shy sister and it sounded like she is the responsible one who takes care of many of the chores around the house. The conversation continued a bit longer before everyone went to bed for the night, but the story was to be continued…

Chris and I woke up the next morning to prepare breakfast, which I again ended up sharing with the neighbor boys who came over. After breakfast, it was laundry time. It had been almost a week since I last did laundry in the Cartagena AirBNB with my parents, and it was that time again after exploring cities, climbing a volcano and running through the mud. We brought all of our laundry down to the river, and Chris showed me how it’s done. The locals take their laundry, dip it in the river, rub soap on it and beat it against rocks. It took a while for me to get the hang of it. In my first attempt, I completely missed the rock. Three little boys were spectators and laughed hysterically the whole time. Eventually I got my laundry done and went back to Chris’ house to hang it up to dry before preparing lunch.

After lunch, we got ready to walk to a swimming hole and take a dip in the river. Chris invited a bunch of the school teachers in the village to join us. In typical Chris fashion, this ended up being much more of an adventure than planned. We walked along the river bank until we reached a point where we crossed the river, climbed up a hill and passed through another small village before ending up in a swamp. Small logs were used to create a path in the middle of the thick mud. The logs were thin, slippery and often covered with a bit of water or mud, making walking a challenge. We finally made it to the area where the swimming hole was, but all of the teachers were exhausted by that point since they weren’t in good physical condition. We got some cold drinks at the little village store there, and I chatted with the teachers while Chris chatted with a family that lived there. Everyone else wanted to walk back to Odobate and find the spot with cell reception along the way, so we didn’t end up taking a dip in the river. As we were leaving, someone had just killed a Fer de Lance snake, the most venomous snake in Central America, and showed it to us. The snake was right along the riverbank near where kids were playing!

The walk back also proved to be eventful. We got to the spot with supposed cell reception, but there was none. Many of the teachers were unhappy and took off while Chris and I were chatting. Chris had to stay at the back to help one of the teachers who was struggling to keep up, and I decided to forge ahead. When I got back to the swamp area, I was being careful on the logs but slipped at one point. One of my boots filled with the disgusting, smelly tropical swamp mud. My knee jerk reaction ultimately resulted in both boots filled with mud. The rest of the walk back was long! I eventually reached the village that was along the way and got to chatting with a man there for a bit before continuing on. I asked how long ago the other group passed, to which he replied 25 minutes. At that point, I realized that I couldn’t catch up, but I pressed forward. The scenery began to look different from what I remembered, so I decided that the smart decision was to turn back and wait for Chris at the house where I was chatting with the man. It turned out that Chris just passed by, but the man directed me in the direction that Chris went, which was via a bamboo ladder over a barbed wire fence. Just around the corner, I saw Chris and the teacher he was with sitting down. The teacher had unfortunately cut her leg on the barbed wire. Chris said I could go forward to get cell reception at a spot that I ultimately didn’t find, so I just went straight to the village to get there before dark. Chris ended up staying behind to help her. Fortunately her injury was minor.

When I got back to Odobate, I got to talking with the neighbors from the 45 person house while waiting for Chris. The kids were all outside hanging out while burning termite nests. They explained to me that they burn termite nests and drink chocolate late at night to cast away demons. Their religion is an earth/nature based religion, similar to most indigenous religions. When I showed the kids some pictures from my travels on my phone, they all swarmed me. Soon after that, Chris got back and I prepped dinner, which consisted of rice and lentils with some veggies and spices. A few of Chris’ local friends and Wilber came over. We had a great time chatting over dinner. The same young ladies from the neighboring house came by again later in the evening, and I gave them some food. I figured it might be fun to try dancing some bachata with them since I have been wanting to practice what I have been learning back at home. Heck, why not have a fun memory and show them a good time. Genia was very shy about it since she didn’t know how but agreed to trying it the next day. After they left, Chris and I went to bed again. Unfortunately, Chris’ dog kept barking all night, so I didn’t get too much sleep.

Chris ended up sleeping in more than I did the next morning, so I decided to take a walk through the village. I ended up having multiple conversations with people along the way. I talked with two boys who were 8-12 years old and curious about learning a few English words from me. One man waved me to come over and ended up giving me food. I chatted with him and his wife a bit. It turns out that he is one of the school teachers who is actually from the village. The food he gave me was what appeared to be a root vegetable with a black pit inside of it that tasted a bit like corn. My final conversation was with a family of mainly women near Chris’ place. They were also very friendly, and I could tell that many of them were checking me out. I then returned to Chris’ house for breakfast.

After breakfast, we headed to the river to take a dip. Spending time in the water was quite refreshing in the tropical climate! Three of the cute, curious neighbor boys joined us, which was wonderful. While sitting on a rock and looking up at the sky, Chris noticed a huge flock of hawks. He told me that many birds are highly concentrated in Panama because they pass through during migration between North and South America, which makes for interesting phenomena, like seeing large groups of generally solitary birds. After the peaceful and relaxing time in the river, we went back to Chris’ place to clean up. Chris somehow convinced me to get a typical haircut from a local guy in the village. The haircut was done completely by hand without any kind of electric trimmer. The hairdresser started with scissors and then used a straight razor to trim the hair short on the sides. This haircut took over an hour! I fortunately ended up liking it okay, as this was the first time I have tried something this different with my hair.

After the haircut, I walked over to catch the end of the volleyball game and chat a bit with people. Chris and I then went back to his place for dinner before heading over to the neighboring house with 45 people. The plan was to bring Genia over to dance at Chris’ place so that the whole family didn’t have to watch in case she was self conscious. When I arrived, Genia was putting her baby to sleep and Ceneida was hanging out. Then, the family swarmed me. They first asked me about my opinion on coronavirus and on a health issue that one of the babies was having, “since you are a scientist.” I next learned just how quickly people go from joking around to taking relationships seriously, which gave me a taste for how relationships work in these parts. They started asking me questions like “is your mom racist, would she mind if you brought home an indigenous girl from Panama,” “what’s life like in the US,” etc. They asked me how much money I make, and I gave them an answer after prefacing with exactly how expensive it is to live in the Bay Area. Then they asked me hold Genia’s baby and told me “hold your stepdaughter.” This whole scene continued as they then started asking me how to say phrases like “beautiful woman” and “will you marry me” in English and then trying to get me to say them to Genia. Needless to say, it was pretty awkward for the two of us. Genia understandably didn’t want to dance so they suggested me singing karaoke style. Everyone loved that and even ended up shooting a video of it. As it got late, they prepared a chocolate beverage that I ended up not drinking due to the diarrhea risk. Before the evening ended with goodbyes, they asked if I could buy some food to send back for them on the boat, ended up getting my phone number for Genia and asked if I could buy some mobile phone minutes… It turned out that Chris also needed me to buy him some groceries to send back because he got a message from the Peace Corps that he may not be able to leave his village for a while due to the coronavirus.

Chris and I woke up at 5 am the next day to get ready and walk down to where the boat leaves. I ended up having to cross the creek, which resulted in my shoes getting wet and muddy. With the coronavirus situation, school was cancelled in all of Panama, so all of the school teachers were leaving that day, resulting in two boats leaving town. The river was pretty dry, so the captain had to use a couple of large sticks to push the boat through the shallow regions for quite some time before he could turn on the motor. The boat ride back was full of beautiful scenery, and I even saw some toucans flying overhead. Once we got some breakfast to go from the stop at the mouth of the river (fried fish and fried dough), we took out on the last stage of the ride in the ocean. The water was pretty choppy this time, so much so that they had to turn off the motor for a second and stabilize the boat with the sticks. I think this was because the tide was coming in at the mouth of the river. Fortunately, the water became calmer as we continued on. Once I made it back to Chriquí Grande, my first order of business was to buy the groceries for Chris and for the family. I went back to the same store run by the Chinese Panamanians and bought the items on Chris’ list. For the family, I bought 25 lbs of rice, 12 lbs of lentils, 10 cans of tuna, and the mobile phone cards (possibly against my better judgement again…) The same nice man at the store who helped me last time brought the huge sacks out on a hand truck to the boat, where I loaded them on. I then paid the boat captain $2 for the cargo, wished him well and got a taxi to La Bomba to catch a bus and continue my adventures to the beach islands of Bocas del Toro (see a future post).

For me, the trip to Odobate was an amazing and life-changing experience! It gave me perspective on how differently people live in a way that no other travel experience has given me. This is because I really lived the life of the people in the community with Chris and interacted with people on a much more human level than most tourists have the opportunity to do. It was also far more remote and poorer than the other indigenous communities that I have visited. During my time in Odobate, I was continually greeted with incredible kindness and hospitality by everyone. I think we could learn something about how to better live in community from the people there. My $12 seafood dinner the next day also felt different than before. Ultimately, I wish the best for everyone in Odobate and may visit again someday.

Note: I don’t have too many pictures, so most of my description is below. The pictures I do have can give a bit of a feel for the village.

Additional news: Sadly, Chris was evacuated back home by the Peace Corps due to coronavirus. Hopefully he will be able to return someday and help them finish up what they started.

Impressions of Medellín

Medellín is Colombia’s second largest city with a population of about 3 million. While Bogotá has a great deal of history from the colonial and pre-colonial periods, Medellín is more modern and forward thinking. There was a time in the 1990s when it was the most violent city on Earth. Since then, things have drastically changed through many local government programs. Through the creation of good public transit and art, the city has been transformed. The people are now very proud of their city. This shows in how friendly everyone is! I had many great conversations with locals during my time in this region of Colombia. 

I ended up using the metro for most of my transportation since it goes almost everywhere I wanted to go, is cheap and safe. What I noticed is that the metro is much cleaner than BART in the Bay Area, and people are very proud of it. It does get very crowded during rush hour, and somehow I kept taking it at rush hour, but it was very efficient and went everywhere in the city that I wanted to go. Best of all, each ride costs about $0.60. 

With my limited time in the city, I decided to focus on the city center, Comuna 13 (see my dedicated post), Laureles (where I was staying) and El Poblado. My first full day in Medellín consisted of exploring the center of town and taking a free walking tour. I ended up spending the day with the other solo traveler in my hostel, a middle-aged Argentinian widow named Silvina, who was a very fun and interesting person. She’s an accountant who has grown children who are older than me, and she enjoys traveling on her own now. We ended up missing the morning walking tour due to some issues with Apple maps leading us to the wrong place, so we began exploring on our own. The center of town is a very lively place bustling with many vendors. At the heart is the Plaza Botero, which houses many sculptures donated by the Colombian artist Fernando   Botero. It also houses the Palacio de la Cultura and the Museo de Antioquia. The Palacio de la Cultura houses a mixture of government offices and exhibits. It was designed by a Belgian architect but a financial crisis and various political forces prevented its completion as planned, so some other architects finished it years later. The part that was designed by the Belgian architect is clearly distinguishable from the other part. The Museo de Antioquia houses a large collection of art by Fernando Botero, some colonial period art, and other art that relates to the history and culture of the Antioquia province. I really enjoyed this museum, more so than the Museo Botero in Bogotá, and would highly recommend it. 

On the walking tour, we learned more about the history of the region, the various groups that fought each other over the last 50 years, and how the city was transformed into what it is today. It was basically an all-out war between the left wing guerrilla groups, the right wing paramilitaries, the government and the drug cartels. Our tour guide, Monsa, used code words or abbreviations at certain points because the locals don’t like hearing tour guides mention names like Pablo Escobar. The use of strategic city planning is what transformed Medellín. A series of progressive mayors implemented public transit, good parks, and education to make it a livable city. We saw many of these parks and plazas during the tour. While the city is much improved these days, the vestiges of its past are still prevalent in the drug and sex tourism that sadly occurs in Medellín. There are lots of prostitutes, and it is common to see old men with young women. The level of these issues is much higher than in other parts of Latin America that I have visited. However, the city is now a beautiful and safe place to visit!

During the tour, we listened to some live traditional music in one of the plazas. Silvina volunteered me to dance in the center of a circle with other dancers. I ended up dancing with a woman who appeared to be of a lower socioeconomic status, and when the musicians and I chose her, she lit up. It must have made her day, and that was the best part of it.

The two higher-end neighborhoods that most tourists stay in are Poblado and Laureles. I chose to stay in Laureles because I had heard that the majority of the tourists stay in Poblado. Laureles turned out to be a great choice! It is very close to the main soccer stadium in town, which means that there are many restaurants, shops, and street vendors. It is also a neighborhood that I felt safe walking in after dark. Poblado is the wealthiest neighborhood in Medellín and is well-known for its nightlife. The nightlife is especially centered around a park called Parque Lleras. I had the chance to check it out with my friend Luisa’s cousin Luis and his friend Juan Pablo. We had a large piece of pork chicharrón and then went to a bar with some delicious Colombian craft beer. It was fun chatting with them about our respective countries! We then went to check out clubs, since I wanted to see the scene in the city where Reggaetón originates. It ended up being a challenge to find a place that has people in it. The power went out in one of the places, so we had to switch. We eventually found a place, danced and had some aguardiente, Colombia’s anise flavored liquor. I had a good time but I think it would have been more fun with more people and under slightly different circumstances due to all of the complications that night. Something to try again if I return to Medellín!

On my last day in Medellín, I went to Parque Arví, the big park above the city. I took a cable car there and didn’t realize just how large the park was or how far it was by cable car. I arrived to a lush tropical paradise with many interesting plants and birds. I wish I had done my research before I went because I would have then know the schedule for the guided hikes. The park rangers recommended against hiking without a guide because the trails are not well-marked, so I walked along the road and found someone offering bike tours. The hike tour went through the park and a bit into the countryside. After the bike ride, I enjoyed a large lunch and chatted with a very friendly older couple. They told me that I am welcomed to visit them if I am out in a semi-rural suburb of Medellín. After lunch, I returned back to my hostel and took it easy in preparation for carnaval. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Medellín and would have enjoyed spending another couple of days there. Hopefully I will be back someday to more thoroughly get to know the city and have some of the experiences that I didn’t get to have, such as attending a reggaetón concert. 

Plaza Botero

Palacio de la Cultura

Satiric Botero painting on corruption

A gun turned into a musical instrument to represent the transformation of Medellín

Dancing in the plaza

Colombian buses: the good, the bad and the ugly

As in all Latin American countries I have visited, bus travel is the most common way to get around the country. Public transit within the cities of Bogotá and Medellín is quite good. This post will focus more on my experiences on the long distance, interprovincial buses than on the  public transit within the major cities. 

Each major city in Colombia typically has two bus terminals, one in the south of town and one in the north of town. The terminal one goes to depends on whether they are traveling to the north or south. Like the major bus stations in Ecuador, the major bus stations in Colombia were clean, orderly, safe and felt a bit like airports. 

I ended up taking two long distance bus trips in Colombia. The first was an overnight bus from Bogotá to Armenia, a mid-sized city in the coffee growing region of Colombia. I went with Expreso Boliviariano, which is known as one of the best bus companies. The boarding was smooth and the seats were reasonably comfortable. However, the trip ended up being a wild ride! The first part of the trip was on a good highway, but later we ended up on the curviest highway/major road I have ever been on. The bus driver was driving fast and passing as many as 4 semi trucks in a row in blind curves. At one point there was also dense fog. To top things off, the driver had loud music playing and some people brought carrying cases with cats that meowed every so often. Needless to say, I didn’t get any sleep. The ride was supposed to take 7 hours and arrive in Armenia at 5-6 am, but we arrived much earlier than expected at 3:30 am. After waiting for 2 hours, I was finally able to catch the bus to Salento. 

My other major bus trip was from Pereira, the largest city in Colombia’s coffee growing region, to Medellín. The bus station in Pereira was also nice and orderly. I boarded my bus and we departed without any issues. This bus ride was gorgeous! We passed by coffee farms and saw beautiful, lush tropical land. Later on, we ended up on a road next to a river. What I didn’t realize is how much we descended in altitude from Pereira before climbing again to get to Medellín. As we descended, it started getting hot. The bus driver announced that the air conditioner was not functioning and got out when the bus was stopped at a road construction site to attempt a repair, which was to no avail. Half an hour later we arrived at the scheduled lunch stop in the middle of nowhere. The stop that normally takes 45 minutes ended up taking over 2 hours as they fixed the air condition. However, I had the chance to chat a bit with a Dutch guy named Steven who was traveling alone and speaks hardly any Spanish. He was surprisingly managing with Google Translate. There was a Colombian man from Medellín who was also very friendly. 

I also chatted with a young Colombian woman named Cristina who I initially thought was 20-22 years old but turned out to only be 15! She had a bunch of tattoos, dressed and carried herself like an adult and was traveling on her own. She said that she was traveling to her home town for a doctor appointment from Medellín where her family is currently living. Cristina is currently working in her family’s bakery in Comuna 13. It was interesting to talk to someone who is only 15 but working full time and essentially being an adult. It got me to thinking about how people much grow up much faster in the inner city neighborhoods of the major Colombian cities. 

After the long stop, we got going again and arrived in Medellín at 9 pm. The trip normally takes 5 hours, the estimated time for the trip was 7 hours, and it took close to 9 hours due to the air conditioner problem. Ultimately, I think getting to meet interesting people and see the countryside made this a great experience despite the long journey!

Bogotá: a city with a rich history and great museums

Plaza Bolívar, the central plaza of Bogota

Complete set of gold jewelry from Museo del Oro

I observed many artifacts like this one where there were bird heads combined with the heads of the chief. This symbolizes the power from above on the chiefs.

Garden at my hostel that was full of flowers and birds…an urban oasis

Skyscrapers of Bogotá from the tram up to Monserrate

Bogotá is massive!

Lush green mountains around Bogotá

Church at Monserrate

Dining room at Quinta de Bolivar

Simón Bolívar’s bedroom

Bogotá, Colombia is the capital of the second most populous Spanish-speaking country. It is a city of contrasts, where skyscrapers are close to the historic center (called La Candelaria) and poor neighborhoods. Many people say to skip Bogotá when visiting Colombia, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Bogotá and would recommend at least spending a couple of days there. I will break this post up into a few categories below for you to get a feel for Bogotá.

General info: Bogotá’s population is about 8 million which makes it a comparable size to New York City. It is located at over 8,500 feet altitude and surrounded by mountains. The mountains around the city are rocky, green and very beautiful! I learned on a bike tour that Colombia had the most fresh water per capita of any country, hence the green mountains. Being high in the mountains in South America and having a large historic district, it felt similar to Quito in many ways, except much bigger, a bit livelier and a bit grittier. I think the best part of Bogotá is its interesting history since it was a major capital city under both the Spanish and the new republic that formed right after independence. 

Museums: Being the capital of Colombia, Bogotá houses some of the best museums and cultural activities in the country. The first museum I visited was the Museo del Oro (gold museum). While Peru is known for its stone work and pottery, Colombia has the most incredible gold work I have seen. The indigenous peoples in many regions of the country had advanced techniques of pounding gold against wax molds to create intricate designs in their jewelry. A common theme was the use of birds to represent the heavens, serpents to represent the underworld, and other animals to represent the earth. My recommendation for anyone visiting is to visit the third floor of the museum to get context on the symbolism of everything before seeing the collections from all over the country. The museum is huge, contains absolutely spectacular artifacts and is super cheap and easy to visit! I also visited the Museo Botero, which contains the work of the Colombian artist Fernando Botero who liked to pain disproportioned (i.e. obese) people. Some of his art wasn’t my favorite but some of his art was good and/or quite humorous. The Museo Botero was also attached to the Casa de la Moneda, the old mint. It had really interesting exhibits on how coins were made, how they are currently made, the history, and the equipment used. The final museum that I visited was the Quinta de Bolivar, where Simón Bolívar lived while he was the President of Colombia. It was amazing to see what his house looked like and the gardens, especially after watching the series Bolívar on Netflix. Definitely an interesting stop for history buffs. 

Markets/Food: On my first day, I tried an obleta, a typical Colombian snack/dessert that consists of two wafers with dulce de leche, blackberry jam, cream and a bit of shredded mild white cheese spread in the middle. It was delicious! I also tried arepas with chorizo, think a corn tortilla but a bit thicker with a slightly different flavor. I had one of the set lunches at s local restaurants that was a bit bland but fine and super cheap…less than $2. Bogotá had far less street food than I expected, but I took a trip to Paloquemao market, the largest food market, to see all of the Colombian fruit in its splendor. After having a lunch of chorizo cooked in a tomato and onion sauce that was delicious and reminded me of New Orleans Cajun cuisine, I went to buy some fruit. The fruit vendor was super friendly! We chatted about where I was from, and he said he loves rock music and had heard a lot about San Francisco. Most of the fruit was similar to what I have seen in Ecuador but there were a couple of fruits I had not seen before. I tried mangosteen, which was a bit like lychee. My favorite was a small green fruit called feijoa. It looked like a super tiny avocado and tasted a bit like guava, a bit bubbly gummy, and had its own unique flavor! I ended up buying a mango, some feijoa and a granadilla, a fruit similar to passion fruit that I remembered from Ecuador. 

Other: Bogotá is one of the cities with the most street art in the world. I observed beautiful colorful art all over the city. Animal murals and murals with political statements seemed to be the most common. However, the flip side of the street art is that there is also a lot of graffiti that isn’t as nice looking. One thing I have really appreciated is that the people have been so kind and helpful despite being such a large city. It was a great first impression of Colombian people. Another great point about Bogotá is that it is dirt cheap. Museums are generally free or super cheap, lodging at my hostel cost ~$8 per night, and a set lunch at a local restaurant costs ~$2. 

Taking the tram up to Monserrate is a must! The view is the city is incredible, as is the view is the lush green mountains surrounding the city. There is also a beautiful church that people flock to on Sundays. I attended Mass there. 

Safety: There are a lot of poor and less safe neighborhoods close to the center of town and the city does have a certain gritty edge, more so than in the other major Latin American capital cities I have visited. On the bike tour, we went through the red light district, which is in walking distance from where I was staying. Walking around at night is generally not advised, but Bogotá is safe to visit as long as you stick to the main areas and don’t walk around with valuables, such as your phone, exposed on crowded streets. I certainly felt safe and enjoyed myself!

Carnaval de Barranquilla

While planning my trip to Colombia, I learned that the second largest carnaval celebration in the world after Rio is in Barranquilla, Colombia and would take place during my trip. I knew I had to go as this would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I arrived in Barranquilla on an early morning flight from Medellín and immediately saw billboards about carnaval. There was a mixup about my accommodations, which sounds pretty typical during carnaval, but fortunately it got worked out. First impression: Barranquilla is a very modern city with many high rise buildings and indoor shopping malls, yet very few outdoor vendors, making it very different from every other Latin American city I have visited. It is generally not considered a tourist destination except during carnaval, as it is more of an industrial city. However, it is where Shakira is from and where the Nobel Laureate Colombian author Gabriel García Marquez lived for many years. 

I began my day by attending Mass at the cathedral and eating a quick lunch at the mall food court. I then met up with my friend Anne, who I met through a language learning app called Tandem. It was great having a local friend to attend carnaval with! We headed over to Baila La Calle, which was the block party to end all block parties. It consisted of 5 city blocks with 6 different music stations in total. Some of the stations had live music, while others had DJs. The primary genre of music was cumbia, but there was also salsa, reggaetón and other music genres. Everyone was dancing and having a good time. Anne showed me how to dance to the different music styles, many of which were quite different than the little bit of Salsa and Bachata that I have learned. As the evening went on, the scene got crazier as people started whipping out cans of foam and spraying each other, and certain areas were completely packed with people. It was quite the experience! Anne and I managed to navigate around to experience the different types of music, and get some of abundant street food and beer from the vendors. As expected, this was a place where pickpockets were operating. Anne and I both almost got pickpocketed—in fact, I saw my phone coming out of my front pocket and shoved it back in before the thief could take it. I think many people started leaving for after parties at around midnight, since things started clearing out a bit. Anne wanted to continue dancing, and I was having a good time but was exhausted due to my early morning flight, so we decided to leave at 1 am. 

Despite getting to bed on the late side, I woke up fairly early and got going. Anne invited me over to her place where she lives with her mom and sister for breakfast. After a leisurely breakfast of arepas with chicharrón (thick corn cake a bit like a tortilla filled with pork), we headed for the parade. People generally purchase seats in bleachers that are called palcos. We were able to get tickets from a reseller on the street for a reasonable price and settle down before the parade. The parade was full of colorful costumes and floats of all types. There appeared to be many different dance troops from different neighborhoods of Barranquilla and nearby towns. Some of the dancers were very high level, including some of the children! Anne and I left after watching 3 hours of the 5+ hour parade because I wanted to meet up with my parents and help them get settled.

On the final morning, my parents and I went to the Museo del Caribe, the best museum in Barranquilla, but it was unfortunately closed until mid March despite saying it was open online. Things being randomly closed and/or disorganized seemed to be a common theme for Barranquilla (and Caribbean coast of Colombia in general, more so than other places in Latin America). However, we ended up meeting a middle-aged Australian man named Keith who was traveling alone and got lunch with him at a Cuban inspired seafood restaurant called Varadero. The restaurant ended up having an amazing live Cuban band! We then headed over to the last parade of Carnaval. Again, it was an explosion of color and dance. There were humorous acts, too, including a float with a man dressed up as Donald Trump with a Make America Great Again bumper sticker and three people with vests that said “FBI,” “CIA” and “DEA.” We ultimately decided to leave a bit early and get a taxi to the hotel before traffic got crazy. 

All-in-all, Carnaval was a fun and highly memorable experience! I especially enjoyed being able to explore with a local and truly experience all of the music and dance. I included my photos, which were taken pretty far back from the action, but hopefully you can get a feeling for the costumes and dances.