Parque Nacional Tayrona

After six hard days hiking to Ciudad Perdida, 8 of our group decided to head to the beach for a few days to relax. We picked up 2 more on the way and after a frantic morning buying snacks, water and a lot of rum, we headed a half hour of of Santa Marta to Parque Nacional Tayrona, which has heaps of great, tropical beaches on the Caribbean. We hiked for about an hour to the last camp site, rented some hammocks and got down to the serious business of doing absolutely nothing!

We spent the next five days checking out the different beaches, swimming, reading, drinking, playing Plümp and getting some serious tans. I don't think I've been this dark since I lived in Saudi Arabia, and there's still plenty more beach time to be had.

With heavy hearts and light wallets, we headed back to Santa Marta and Taganga, where 6 of us, Jenn (US), Charlotte (UK), Verena (Italia), Gabby (Switzerland), Nev (Au) and I (Au too), hired an awesome villa with a great balcony overlooking the bay. Today Gabby, and American guy we met in Tayrona and I signed up for an open water diving course, and Jenn for her advanced, so I have the feeling we'll become some of “those people” who stay here for weeks on end.

My plans have continued to change, and since I'm not going to Central America anymore, I'm going to check out Cartagena for a few days before heading down to Bogotá and eye salvation. If for some reason there's a problem with getting the operation, I can console myself in the fact that it only costs US$35 for an eye exam, frames and lenses here.

Ciudad Perdida

It turns out writing these things is a lot harder after the fact, so this will be a bit short.

The trek to Ciudad Perdida, The Lost City, started with a great surprise which was that the irrepressible Jenny Weiss, who I met on the 2nd day of my trip and who started hers on the same day, was going as well. She was the first of many great people in the group, many of whom I'm still with, but that's the next story.

The first and second days were spent marching towards the city up and down through the hills of Columbia in country controlled by the para-military who, along with the military, protect the 100 or so cocaine factories and a lot of coca and marijuana plantations in the area.

On the morning of the second day we visited one of the bigger cocaine factories, which was more or less a shack in the middle of the jungle, where an old man with a croaky voice who loves to pose for photos described the process to us. It takes 100 kilograms of coca leaves to produce just under 1 kilogram of pure cocaine and all of the process, except for the last step, is performed in the small jungle labs. The process involves lots of nasty household chemicals that, ironically, seem to get added in at the end as well, bicarb of soda, Ajax, along with petrol... lots of petrol, and acids. The last step is to neutralise the acid using acetone, but because acetone is highly explosive they do it in more secure locations. Secure because they're worried about guerrilla snipers firing at the acetone and blowing up the labs... yeah, life is a little different here. Another nice touch was that our cocaine factory tour guide is wanted by the police but was totally relaxed and calm. The para-military and the military work with the government and cartels to make sure everyone is happy, and rich, here.

We were supposed to visit an Indian village, descendants of the original inhabitants of Ciudad Perdida, but we got caught in a downpour that lasted a few hours, so we sped ahead to the camp. We arrived soaked and ready to jump into our hammocks, but managed to stay up a few hours entertained by a series of very intense chess matches between two Israeli guys who were far to good to play against.

We started early the next day, crossing chest high rivers, well one river eight times, with our packs on our shoulders and holding on to ropes for dear life, climbing across slick jungle rocks, drinking from waterfalls and generally having a great time. The best part was still to come though, and we had a quick jog up 2000 small, slippery stairs to the actual city. The city was built by the Cobi people to hide from the Spanish during their conquest and was “discovered” in the 70's by 2 guys who pillaged the city, taking nearly all of the gold and other valuables. They were smart though and cataloged everything, showed their photos to the government in Bogotá and were hired to excavate the site. Somewhere along the line one of them was killed and the other spent all his money on women and wine, but the city has been restored very nicely. None of the buildings remain, only their foundations, but you get a great feel for how the city was laid out. Hidden away in the mountains, my imagination was running wild with what life was like in the city during it's heyday.

We spend two nights in the city and I introduced the group to my favourite card game, Plümp. Several of the group became addicted as I am and we played a lot. In fact, we're still playing.

On the way back we visited the village that we skipped on the way up, meeting some of the villagers and giving them some supplies for the school. One more night in the hammocks greeted us at camp and the next day were returned to Santa Marta, planning our next trip... Parque Naciaonal Tayrona.

Quick update

Ok, just a quick one.

The hike to Ciudad Perdida was great! The city itself is amazing with an almost unreal atmosphere. It would have been amazing to see this city, perched in the mountains in it's glory days. The guide, Rodrigo, was really cool and the group was great too. There were 14 of us in total and 7 of us are leaving today to spend a few days on some tropical beaches in nearby Parque Nacional Tyrona.

I've realised that my stress about not having enough time can b e partially solved by cutting Central America out, so I'm going to give it a miss this time around, since 2 months for all of Central America certainly isn't enough time, and spend the time in Columbia. There are some interesting opportunities here in Columbia that I'll scribble about when I know more, but it could be pretty fun.

I'll do a full write up of the hike, the city, the cocaine factory that we visited plus the hard days sitting in the sun on the beach when we get back.

Tours By William

William, the guy I stayed with in Maracaibo and all-round great guy, who is studying tourism at the moment, is getting a tourism company started, running tours to different places around Maracaibo. If you want to see some of the most incredible scenery in Venezuela and experience life with locals, I highly recommend getting in contact with him.

His email is williamra76@hotmail.com, just fire him and email and he'll let you know about the different places he can take you.

You can ping me as well for hearty recommendations.

¡Hasta Luego Venezuela, Hola Colombia!

Venezuela is an interesting place. It's a country where petrol costs 5 cents per litre, where they actively try to stick it to the US and travelers avoid like the plague due to it's reputation as the most dangerous country in South America. It's president, Hugo Chavez, has a weekly talk back show and seems driven by Simon Bolivar's dream of a united Americas. Something that would be far less interesting if Venezuela didn't have one of the World's largest oil reserves. This is the first place I've been where all of the graffiti is pro-government, with “Viva Chavez” plastered everywhere. There are huge problems though, with high levels of unemployment and an increasingly dissatisfied middle class. That said, with the shift to the left here and in the rest of South America, it will be very interesting to see what happens in this part of the World over the next 20 years.

One thing that I love about Venezuela is the food, especially their huge savory bananas called Plantas, which they have with just about every meal. My favourite way of eating these is in Patacone, which is like a hamburger, but instead of a bun you have plantas that have been squashed together and deep fried. Served around shredded pork, avocado and cheese, they are the perfect lunch or dinner. The cheese is great as well. It's white and a bit salty like halumi... and it makes a very satisfying squeak when you eat it.

The other thing I love is the people, which I think I've said that 1000 times now. I was incredibly lucky with everyone I met there, particularly the guys from Maracaibo. My last days were spent drinking huge amounts, taking heaps of photos and spending time with some of the best people I've ever met. Being with them I had one of my first moments of homesickness when, after watching a movie, Lisbette, Gabby, Dixie and Alberto were bagging out William with all of us laughing. Seeing a movie and giving someone a hard time, was such a normal night, like one I would have in Sydney that I realised it was the first time I'd been with a group of good friends since I left home and probably the only time I will be until I go home. I'm having the time of my life, have met and traveled with some great people, but the “Hi, where you From? Where you been? Where you going?” backpack chitchat gets old pretty quick. In fact, I had such a good time in Maracaibo that I'm thinking about going back after Central America, though I'm not sure if I'll be able to fit it in. One year really isn't enough time for a trip like this and there's still the west coast of South America and Argentina to see.

Sunday was Mother's Day here as well as in Australia and I was lucky enough to spend it with William's family. I had a great day drinking, chatting, dancing and being interrogated by his nieces. The music was salsa for the most part, but there were some fine reggaeton moments. Despite my best efforts, I was shown up by William's cousin Nelson, who dropped it lower than any man has dropped it before - truly amazing.

Sad as I am to leave Maracaibo, I think I spent the perfect amount of time there and am ready for my next round of misadventures. Yesterday I arrived in Columbia and so far it seems great. I'm staying near Santa Marta in a little town called Taganga, which is on a bay on the Carribean. When I arrived I bumped into Tamir, one of the Israeli guys I traveled with in the Amazon and we are now checked into a great posada on a hill overlooking the bay and town.

Unlike Venezuela, Santa Marta is full of tourists and it's a real shock to see so many of them. I'm going to try my best to get where there aren't many tourists, but I'm not sure how easy that will be.

From here I'll do Ciudad Perdida, then get down to Bogotá to get my eyes done before heading up to Cartagena and Central America. A friend from Maracaibo's dad is from Bogotá and I'm going to stay with his grandma which will be great.

The internet here is far to slow to upload pictures from Maracaibo, so I'll probably have to wait until Bogotá to do it.

Today I organised my trip to Ciudad Perdida, and leave tomorrow for a week so... hasta luego.

Maracaibo, Mountains and Merry Making

Townsfolk
Originally uploaded by Phil Chan.

I’m still having a great time here in Maracaibo hanging out with people here, doing some hiking and speaking Spanish, but my time here is drawing to an end and I’ve been getting ready to head into Columbia.

Over the weekend William and I headed north, near the border with Columbia for three days hiking in the mountains of Parque Nacional Pedija, visiting two indigenous towns up there. We headed off on Saturday afternoon, travelling a few hours by car, bus and on the roof of a jeep to the park. We were planning to hike for a 7 hours that night to the first town, but we decided to camp for the night when we could hear a river we had to cross, which is normally only a foot deep, 20 minutes up the mountain.

It turned out we made the right decision and when we arrived at the river the next morning it was still running strong. William got in to see how strong it really was, but it was above his waist and, even with a rope tying him to the shore, to strong to chance. We waited awhile for a local to help us across, but eventually decided to head back to Maracaibo. Defeated by the river, we drowned our sorrows (we weren’t really that sad) with some very drunk locals who were great fun to chat with, even though one of them kept bugging me about being American and asking why I wasn’t a Chavista (pro-Chaves). Somewhere between the 8th beer and explaining that I did like Chaves they were calling me by my Chinese name and inviting us back to stay with them. We gave them some food and old clothes and they gave us some necklaces, handmade hats and avocados, which in addition to coffee is their major crop, and we headed home, spending a couple of hours sleeping on the floor of a crammed bus.

I’ve pretty much only been speaking Spanish since I got here, and I think I’ve improved a lot, though there is still a long way to go. In fact, after a few beers I’ve been forgetting how to speak English, which wouldn’t be so bad if I could speak Spanish, but everyone here is being very patient with me :)

I’m thinking about coming back to Maracaibo after I go to Central America, but I’ll have to see how things go. I definitely feel time slipping away and will have to drop some things off the list to do. Unfortunately waking up on Monday morning for the 4:30AM bus to Santa Marta isn’t one of them.

Hot as Hell and Rich with Oil...

On Isla de Zapara
Originally uploaded by Phil Chan.

“I’m in a car that keeps breaking down, driving through the countryside in Venezuela, I barely speak the language, I don’t know where I’m staying tonight… and I’m having the time of my life.”

That was what I thought as the car I took from Mérida to Maracaibo broke down for the 4th time during our 8 hour trip. I have ended up staying with William, a Venezuelan guy I went camping with in Mérida, and have been having a great time in Maracaibo. Lonely Planet describes Maracaibo as “Hot as Hell and rich in oil”, before blasting the city as boring and to be avoided. They’re definitely right about the first part, but for me, Maracaibo has been a great city and I’m having an awesome time here.

The first night here we checked out a nice little club called Rasta Bar, oddly enough a Reggae bar, where we met up with Lisbette, Gabby and Dixie, who I also met in Mérida, then headed to another of their friends birthday party, complete with live Salsa and Meringue band.

Over the weekend about 30 of us went camping on Isla de Zapara, which is a small fishing community near Maracaibo. The island is on Lake Maracaibo, which is the largest in South America, containing nearly all of the oil in Venezuela. We drank, swam, ate, drank more… then a bit more and had a great time on the Island. It was the first time I’d gone in the surf since Itacaré, and it felt great. I’m not a massive beach person, but there’s something about being carried by the surf and tasting the salt water that makes me smile.

We headed back to Maracaibo on Monday and are going camping again this weekend in some mountains north of Venezuela near the Columbian border. This week I’ve been looking around the city and getting ready to go to Columbia next week.

Venezuela is an amazing country that I’ve only scratched the surface of, and I’m sad to be leaving, but it will be great to get into Columbia, hit some beaches and do more trekking. My first stop is a town called Santa Marta where I’ll do a 6 day hike to Ciudad Perdida, the Lost City… though personally I find it strange that it’s called the “Lost City” when it clearly isn’t.