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.
First things first: fix up yesterday’s lack of food issue. Found the fresh produce market and went about buying a bunch of fruit, pastries and empanadas. I’m really loving the meat empanadas, chicken pastries and white dragon fruit! Also found something that looks like a custard apple, but isn’t. About a day later, while trying to buy ice cream, I found out that the fruit that looks like custard apple is actually Guanabana (the smoothie I had back in Bogota). And to say it properly, think of it in the banana boat sunscreen song. So from now on, if a freak storm hits and I can’t get anywhere, I will no longer be sad and food-less, I will be able to pig out while the storm passes.
Actually that wasn’t first: before heading out I asked the reception if I could go white water rafting today. I knew that the guys from yesterday were doing a tour at 10.30 so I was hoping to go on their tour. But in typical Colombian style, I was told she couldn’t confirm until later, maybe in 30 mins. That was at 9.30. So fine, I did a quick trip to the market.
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!
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