Deep Inside Colombia - Crossing The Andes With A Surfboard
I'll never forget the look on the face of that Colombian campesino man. My wife just explained to him in Spanish that what I am holding under my arm is indeed a surfboard, despite the fact that we were standing in a Colombian village check out, City Breaks in Prague with cheap Hotels and Flights , Sihanoukville Cambodia, a Great Place to Visit that was located also related, Travel Saftey - Using Intuition , Southern California, Museums & More Next To UCLA In Westwood, California somewhere in the middle of the Andes Mountains, You may also consider, France at 200 kph - of Grandmothers, Lyon and Rain , Travel Saftey - Using Intuition hundreds of miles away from any ocean. check out, Where to stay in Whistler , British Columbia - A Circle Tour of Mountains and Vineyards After hearing this news the man made a joke about us getting bad directions. He then flashed a smile that revealed a mouth full of rotten teeth. Soon after that he shook his head, tucked his hands into the front pockets of his hand-woven Inca style poncho, turned, and moved on down the only street See, A Safari in Summertime , Seven Money-Saving Vacation Ideas for Budget Travelers in his town. check out, South African Whale-Watching Hotspot , Deep Inside an Ancient Oregon Coast Aquarium When the man reached the center of town goto, Travel Consolidators - Things To Know , Sihanoukville Cambodia, a Great Place to Visit a gust of wind You may also consider, The Top 5 Reasons to choose a Bed and Breakfast , Diving in Some of the World's Best Spots swept down the street check out, Honeymoon Cabins in Gatlinburg , Volcano Tours In Baos Ecuador and blew the black fedora hat off his head. As I was watching him chase after it through a cloud of dust, I thought to myself; "I gotta' get to the ocean. See, Koeberg Nature Reserve, Cape Town , France at 200 kph - of Grandmothers, Lyon and Rain "
I was beginning to feel like a fish out of water. You may also consider, India Travel Agents , What Should You Know About Hiking Boots? Surfers cannot stay away from the ocean view, Buying A Backpack For Your 'Round The World Trip' , Miami, here we come for too long, or they start to "dry out". As I was standing on that dirt street See, 6 Key Factors Successful Vacation Rental Owners Always Use , Volcano Tours In Baos Ecuador in that dusty little town, also related, Above & Beyond - The Aerie Luxury Resort , Why Florida? Here's Why I realized that I had not seen the ocean goto, The Devil Winds or the Santa Ana Winds, part of Southern California's Unique Landscape , Where to stay in Whistler in over a month. More importantly, I had not surfed in it. Halfway through a two month excursion across the country check out, Where to stay in Whistler , City Breaks in Prague with cheap Hotels and Flights of Colombia, in South America, You may also consider, Deep Inside an Ancient Oregon Coast Aquarium , Hostels For Cheap And Interesting Travel we were on our way to a small Caribbean beach You may also consider, Diving in Some of the World's Best Spots , Do's And Don'ts To Keep You Safe If You Travel To Brazil resort on the northeastern edge of the country view, Free and Cheap Lodging in Hawaii? , Black History in Baltimore for a much needed break from the madness we had experienced so far on that trip. also related, 5 Tips on Enjoying Your Day Spa Visit , Flying kites in Beijing We had spent the holidays See, Why Florida? Here's Why , Asia Cruises: A Journey in the Exotic World traveling from Bogotá to Medellín, and then back to Bogotá again to meet and visit also related, Flying kites in Beijing , 10 Things To Do While In Ireland with various different members of my wife's family. There had been some mishaps along the way involving pick-pockets and miscreants. Up to that point it was not fun, and we will leave it at that.
Traveling on a tight budget You may also consider, Koeberg Nature Reserve, Cape Town , Travel Saftey - Using Intuition in a foreign country Try also, What Makes One Book Outsell Another? , Chicago - The Windy City is the best way to experience You may also consider, Do's And Don'ts To Keep You Safe If You Travel To Brazil , What Makes One Book Outsell Another? the true culture goto, Currency Conversion Tips for Travelers , Do's And Don'ts To Keep You Safe If You Travel To Brazil of that country, goto, The Top 5 Reasons to choose a Bed and Breakfast , France at 200 kph - of Grandmothers, Lyon and Rain but it can be quite taxing on your soul. We could not afford plane See, Merc 2005: Tradition and diversity at the Mediterranean bay , Buying A Backpack For Your 'Round The World Trip' tickets to fly all over the country, You may also consider, A Safari in Summertime , Merc 2005: Tradition and diversity at the Mediterranean bay so we had to take busses and taxis instead. Some of those bus rides took over two days to reach our destination. You may also consider, The Devil Winds or the Santa Ana Winds, part of Southern California's Unique Landscape , More of everything thats leisure We traveled through some of the most remote areas Try also, 6 Cheeky Ways To Get An Upgrade On Your Air Ticket , How To Choose The Hotel That's Right For You of Colombia, changing busses and hailing taxis the whole way. Along the way we saw some of the most beautiful scenery on earth, and experienced some very interesting, intense, and strange things. Black magic and evil curses are practiced in many areas Try also, British Columbia - A Circle Tour of Mountains and Vineyards , India Travel Agents of Colombia, and I cannot say any more on that subject, for fear that you would think of me as crazy. There are things that cannot be explained in this world, You may also consider, City Breaks in Prague with cheap Hotels and Flights , Do's And Don'ts To Keep You Safe If You Travel To Brazil and a lot of them happen in Colombia.
There were other things that happened to us that were even more terrifying than black magic. Let's just say it's never a good thing to have your bus stopped in the middle of the night by rough looking men with machine guns on a winding, dark, mountainous road. That is whole other story for another time.
Back to our main story; we were about four hours North of Bucaramanga, and waiting to board goto, Cheap Things To Do in Chicago , Cheap Things To Do in Chicago yet another one of those colorful busses. All I could think about at that moment was surfing and relaxing at this place See, 6 Cheeky Ways To Get An Upgrade On Your Air Ticket , Merc 2005: Tradition and diversity at the Mediterranean bay called Tayrona. I was told you can sit in your own thatched-hut "choza" and watch the waves from your front porch. For those who are not familiar with the sport of surfing, that sounds about as good as it gets for a surfer.
It had not been easy carrying that surfboard all over Colombia. We landed in Bogotá in the middle of the country also related, Deep Inside an Ancient Oregon Coast Aquarium , Planning the Kilimanjaro Climb a month before, and I had been schlepping it around with our other luggage also related, India Travel Agents , Miami, here we come from one bus or taxi to the other ever since. It was like I was living my own little version of the movie Fitzcaraldo, and my surfboard was the ship See, Merc 2005: Tradition and diversity at the Mediterranean bay , Sihanoukville Cambodia, a Great Place to Visit that was being carried for many miles across dry land. I was determined to make the effort pay off.
While we were waiting for our bus in that little mountain village You may also consider, 10 Things To Do While In Ireland , Miami, here we come we were inundated by the usual local Try also, More of everything thats leisure , Where to stay in Whistler people trying to sell us stuff. My wife, being a Colombian native did most of the talking for those negotiations. These little villages also related, Flying kites in Beijing , Above & Beyond - The Aerie Luxury Resort along the main roads of Colombia survive on money You may also consider, Seven -Saving Vacation Ideas for Budget Travelers , Visit Delray Beach Florida from people who are just passing through, or waiting for a bus. The local goto, Touring the "Mother Church" of Country Music: The Ryman Auditorium , Visiting Denver on the Cheap indigenous people sell everything from bags You may also consider, Volcano Tours In Baos Ecuador , Are You Interested In The South Pacific? of purified water, See, What Makes One Book Outsell Another? , Cheap Things To Do in Chicago to homemade "empanadas" (a meat and potato filled turnover made with corn-meal dough). My wife and I had been surviving on food and water See, A Whirlwind Tour of Rome , Sihanoukville Cambodia, a Great Place to Visit provided by those people for most of our trip. You may also consider, Black History in Baltimore , A Whirlwind Tour of Rome Amazingly, neither of us had been sick yet. Albeit, most of this food had been delicious, you have to wonder about the cooking and cleaning practices in a town view, The Top 5 Reasons to choose a Bed and Breakfast , Black History in Baltimore that has no running water. You may also consider, 6 Key Factors Successful Vacation Rental Owners Always Use , France at 200 kph - of Grandmothers, Lyon and Rain Something tells me that if the cook had a choice between using their last bucket of water also related, Buying A Backpack For Your 'Round The World Trip' , Miami, here we come to wash their hands before cooking, or having water Try also, 5 Tips on Enjoying Your Day Spa Visit , Chicago - The Windy City to drink the next day, they'd forego the cleanliness. I tried not to think about stuff like that on that trip. You may also consider, More of everything thats leisure , Visiting Denver on the Cheap I only thought about how much flavor those homemade items had with their homegrown ingredients.
People sure know how to cook in Colombia. Wow! The food in that country You may also consider, A Safari in Summertime , The Devil Winds or the Santa Ana Winds, part of Southern California's Unique Landscape just seemed to have a lot more flavor than the food I was used to in the United States. Try also, Visit Delray Beach Florida , Dining Etiquette In Japan We really experienced the authentic food of Colombia; "buñuelos, "pandebonos", "arepas", you name it and we tried it along the way. We were on a budget, goto, Visit Delray Beach Florida , A Safari in Summertime yet eating very good food. The people who made this food were as poor as one could be, but they could make food like no-one else on earth. The freshness, lack of pesticides, and the nutrient-rich soils also have a lot to do with why the food tastes so good in Colombia.
After we ate our share of "empanadas" that we purchased from a little old village Try also, City Breaks in Prague with cheap Hotels and Flights , Deep Inside an Ancient Oregon Coast Aquarium woman carrying a hand-woven basket, we were ready for a freshly blended fruit smoothie. There were always several of these little smoothie stands in every town also related, Flying kites in Beijing , Sihanoukville Cambodia, a Great Place to Visit that we stopped at along the way, and we always made sure that we sampled at least one. No matter how small of a stand, the vender always had electricity to run their blender, ice box, and boom-box. I immediately ordered a couple of "tomate de árbol "smoothies at a nearby stand, and then we sat down on an old wooden bench provided by the smoothie vendor. check out, Flying kites in Beijing , Planning the Kilimanjaro Climb
We were told by the driver of the last bus that our next bus should be along in "no time at all". It had been my experience check out, South African Whale-Watching Hotspot , Why Florida? Here's Why up to that point that this bus driver may, or may not be right. Sometimes the bus came right away and the transfer went smoothly. Other times we ended up waiting long periods of time between transfers. Those ones did not go so smoothly.
The mountain view, Travel Saftey - Using Intuition , Travel Consolidators - Things To Know roads and leftist guerilla laden areas check out, How To Choose The Hotel That's Right For You , Southern California, Museums & More Next To UCLA In Westwood, California that these busses travel check out, A Whirlwind Tour of Rome , Asia Cruises: A Journey in the Exotic World through can cause long delays, to say the least. Hanging out in that small town See, South African Whale-Watching Hotspot , City Breaks in Prague with cheap Hotels and Flights in the middle of nowhere in the foothills of the Andes Mountains goto, 10 Things To Do While In Ireland , Miami, here we come waiting for a bus was quite nerve-racking. The local check out, Historic Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey , India Travel Agents people of those types of towns Try also, Adventure Travel On Horseback , Seven Money-Saving Vacation Ideas for Budget Travelers were always very suspicious of anyone that stayed behind after a bus came through. Most people just passed right through. They were especially suspicious of a Gringo with a surfboard and a Colombian wife. There was a war going on in that country. You may also consider, 6 Key Factors Successful Vacation Rental Owners Always Use , Adventure Travel On Horseback Everywhere we went everyone wanted to know whose side we were on. As we were sitting in that dusty, one-horse town Try also, City Breaks in Prague with cheap Hotels and Flights , Seven Money-Saving Vacation Ideas for Budget Travelers in a remote area Try also, Asia Cruises: A Journey in the Exotic World , Dining Etiquette In Japan of Colombia, I knew we were in for a long, harrowing wait.
Michael P. Connelly is an author and filmmaker who has traveled to some very unique places view, The Top 5 Reasons to choose a Bed and Breakfast , Travel Saftey - Using Intuition around the world view, Chicago - The Windy City , 10 Things To Do While In Ireland in search of adventures also related, The Devil Winds or the Santa Ana Winds, part of Southern California's Unique Landscape , Do's And Don'ts To Keep You Safe If You Travel To Brazil that make great stories.
For photos or more information contact Michael P. Connelly at:
(818) 887-9108
measeburl@aol.com
http://www.makealowbudgetmovie.com
<< Previous Deep Inside an Ancient Oregon Coast Aquarium | Back to Travel Information | Next >> Deep Inside Colombia- Crossing The Andes with a Surfboard
