Minca Finca
After a day of doing mostly nothing yesterday, I thought I better do at least one exciting thing today. Woke up super early (like always because nowhere has proper curtains and the light pours in from about 6am) but decided no to get up until an “appropriate” breakfast time so I could maximise the potential to make new friends over morning food.
There’s a non-included buffet breakfast on offer here for the equivalent of $5 (which I’ve decided is too expensive – lower price standards now) so I had the free coffee with the soy milk I bought yesterday…wasn’t too bad. While I was discussing what to do with the girl I met yesterday, 2 American girls came to ask if we wanted to go on the Minca coffee tour with them cos they needed at least 1 extra person for the tour to run. Worked out perfectly as that was just what I was considering doing and probably wouldn’t have worked it out until after the tour left.
Barichara
On the 18th of August I went to Barichara: a cute little town about 45 minutes away from San Gil. Made plans the day before to meet Casey and a girl from her hostel, Leslie, at the steps of the church at 7.30. At 7.20, knowing that it would take me about 10 mins to walk there, I decided to eat some fruit for breakfast – otherwise I’d be on time, aka Colombian ‘early’. And what do you know, we all got there at 7.40! Perfect timing! And once again, steps of the church is the fail-safe way to find someone.
Luckily Casey knew where to go to get the local buses; the entrance to the bus terminal was seriously just a small gap in a brick wall. I would not have even seen it had I not walked through it! No sign, nothing. Of course once you’re in there, there’s buses lined up one wall all with town names signed about where they parked.
Parapente & Tejo
Ok, I know it’s been a while since I posted anything but I think how much I do each day is inversely related to how much time/effort I put into blogging. San Gil is known as an adventure sports town and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing 🙂
This morning (August 16th) I only had my own company to keep, as Giulia isn’t staying here long. So didn’t do much in the morning, just bummed around the city centre and got myself orientated. The street my hostel is on is literally on a 45 degree angle up. Every time I walk back it’s a workout! And they have a system that you have to buzz to enter and the owners always answer. Each time they open the door they are greeted by me: huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf wanting to get let in!
Cerro de Monserrate
Yesterday, for the first time since arriving, I felt the effects of altitude sickness. It’s not fun.
Since learning that Bogota doesn’t have seasons because the weather is always the same, I expected that all days would have reasonable weather. But yesterday, I looked at the weather forecast and found that the next 7 days expected rain. Not ideal weather for climbing the local mountain, but I decided to go anyways – weekends are the safest as there are more people and less chance of being robbed.
The BOG
Learnings & Observations:
– Bogota does not have any seasons; the weather is pretty similar all year round.
– Normal sized people cannot fit on the city buses. 15cm is just not enough space to fit my legs into!
– Some Bogota nightclubs now have extended hours; they used to close at 3am, now they close at 5am. Because lets have more drunk people around.
Haven’t got much to say about my arrival day in Bogota except that I slept for about 16 hours after getting access to my room. Must have overslept because I still woke up tired the next day….nothing unusual there.
I realized 2 major things at breakfast the next morning: 1: the hostel serves CocoPops!! The fancy pants cereal. And 2: I forgot my tube of Vegemite. Devastated. Feeling un-Australian.
Trip planning
Yay! So finally I have my blog set up!
Some of you may think I’ve already gone seeing as I did tell everyone I was leaving on the 28th of July, but no, I’m actually still in Melbourne. Still packing.
If all goes according to my you-can-barely-call-it-a-plan plan, I’ll be on the Sydney to Santiago flight at midday on Wednesday the 6th of August. Only 2 days to go! From there, I may or may not spend a day in Santiago before catching another 6 hour flight up to my first official destination: Bogota, Colombia.
Recent Comments