Quito

Basilica

We had a great first day in Quito. We started off with breakfast, which consisted of eggs, toast, hot chocolate, and juice for only $1.50 each! We’re finally back in a cheap country and it’s great. After this we walked to the Basilica, a really large gothic church up the hill from our hostel. We were able to climb to the top, which gave amazing views of the city. Climbing to the top required us to walk up ridiculously steep stairs that seemed more like a ladder, definitely got my heart going and reminded me that I’m a little afraid of heights. The view was worth it though!

From here we walked through the city a little bit, we walked through a little market place selling all sorts of nick nacks, shoes, and second hand clothes. I bought this strange mystery fruit from a street vender that was pink with prickly spines coming out of it, which was surprisingly sweat and delicious.

Hats!

We walked through La Ronda, which is a cobble stone street built in the 1800s that is closed off to cars. It was an adorable street, with houses having little balconies with flower pots. Along the street they had traditional kid games set up, including hop scotch, throwing rings around a barrel, and something like jump rope accept it was originally played with llama intestines! Along this street are artesania shops. We stopped at a couple chocolate shops, where the ladies were grinding up chocolate and had all the ingredients out on display. We also went to a hat maker shop. The owner was a sweet old man and is one of the last to make hand made hats in Equador. His grandfather and his father were hat makers, and he is teaching his son the trade. Nate and I both ended up buying hats from the guy, in part for fashion and in part to support the hat making tradition. Lots of the locals here wear felt hats, especially the women, which is different than the other countries we have been in.

Parade

When walking back to our hotel, we stumbled upon a little parade going through the streets. There were only a handful of floats, each being followed by kids in different costumes doing little dances. Definitely a fun and serendipitous finding!

Our second day in Quito was also fun; we spent the day on a bus doing a city tour. We went to the botanical gardens and got lunch downtown. I definitely preferred the historic old town where we were staying to the downtown area. Our last stop on the tour was to the Virgin statue, which is at the top of the hill and visible from most places in town. It was nice to see the view from the city from up there. That night we went back to La Ronda, which was packed! Definitely a difference from the empty streets during the day, and most people seemed local. There were a couple street performers and people selling jewelry. I took a picture of Nate and a local lady, who was about half his size! The idiginous people of Ecuador are very short. The highlight for me was buying a stick of about five delicious chocolate dipped strawberries.

Nate and a tiny local lady

On our third day we went to La Campania church, a beautiful church with gold leaf everywhere. Then we hopped on a bus for ten hours to get to Cuenca. I am definitely tired of long bus trips!

At the top of the Basilica

Colombia to Ecuador

View from the bus

 We spent three nights in Medellin, not doing too much, before heading out to Ipiales in southern Colombia, which was a 22 hour bus ride away. I’ve never been on a bus for so long, and it’s definitely not the best, although we did stop twice. They blasted AC, but we planned ahead and brought a blanket. We passed the time trying to sleep, reading, and trying to understand the couple of Spanish movies they played. The one positive thing about the bus ride was the country side, it was absolutely beautiful. The whole trip was winding through lush green mountains.

In Ipiales, we took a quick taxi ride to a large cathedral in the area. Another beautiful sight and a way to break up the trip, although we had to lug our backpacks around. From here we took a taxi to the border, and then a 6 hour bus to Quito. We ended up getting to Quito at 10 pm, after traveling for 32 hours. Needless to say we were exhausted and starving, having not eaten since Colombia. We took a 30 minute cab ride to our hotel, but unfortunately when we got there all the restaurants were closed so we had to pass the night hungry. It was nice to sleep in a bed, but my body felt so stiff from sitting in buses for so long that it was hard to get comfortable.

Medellin

Statues downtown

Medellin was a beautiful city, and where we were staying felt extremely safe. We were staying in the Poblado neighborhood, which is the wealthiest and safest neighborhood in the city. We passed one morning going down town to look at all the fat statues. A lot of the statues were nude, and you could see where people were touching because it changed the statue to a yellow color. We were planning on eating breakfast downtown, but unfortunately every restaurant only had fried chicken or fried bread, not much variety. Fried chicken has been a staple across central and south America, even for breakfast. Not one of my favorites. Downtown wasn’t as safe feeling as el Poblado; there were some destitute people around and prostitutes, so we didn’t stay for very long. Among the statues were lots of tourists and police officers, but other than that there wasn’t much to see. 

We ended up riding the gandala up the mountain into Arvi, a nature reserve. Medellin has mountains on either side with all brick houses built all over them, it was amazing how expansive the city was and it was really beautiful to see it al from the gandala, the pictures don’t do it justice. We got off the gandala to walk through the town a little bit, which was filled with kids playing, vendors selling food, and each restaurant blasting a different song. This area was much safer than down town, even though it’s a poor neighborhood, and it was fun to walk through it.

Even in a foreign country Nate was able to surprise me with flowers!

Mud Bath at Volcan Totumo

Volcan del Totumo

Getting into the mud!

Mud people!

On our last day in Cartagena, we decided to take a day trip to the Volcan del Totumo, which stands at a staggering 15 m high! We had no idea what to expect when we decided to sign up for this trip to the mud baths, we were just looking for something different to try. We ended up standing at the end of a line on the tiny anthill of a volcano, in the smoldering sun. When we reached the top, we were able to see the fenced in top portion of mud that was filled with people. It seemed a little strange, and we were feeling a little unsure of what we had signed up for and stood in line for. When it was our turn to climb down the ladder into the mud pit, it turned out to be more fun than anticipated! When climbing in, you just have to lean back and a guide helps you in and covers you with mud. You can't feel the bottom at all, and you're unable to swim, the guides end up just pushing you around. We each got a little massage from the guides, which was really relaxing. I enjoyed being able to lay on my back while the guide pressed up on my back for a massage, a bit different from having to lie on your stomach. Being in the mud was super strange and messed with my equilibrium a bit. To move to a different side of the pit, Nate had to push me until I reached the wall where I could grab on and then pull him over. Coordination just wasn't possible. Even just sitting in the mud you would start to tilt over and would struggle to right yourself again. It was very strange to not feel the bottom either. We naturally "floated" around chest level, but if you grabbed onto the side you could try to push yourself under to around neck level, which took some muscle and you still couldn't reach the bottom.

Monkey tied to a tree

After lounging in the mud for a bit we walked down to the lake to wash off. Here some local women came to help us. They grabbed our hands and pulled us into the lake, trying to make some money (it was only $1 for their help and what the hell, it's more money to them than it is to us). The lady sat me down and took a bowl to scoop water over my face and vigorously scrub me everywhere. I felt like a little kid in a bath. The water was shoulder deep and you couldn't see through it, but it was still a little startling when she took me top off to scrub it clean! Throughout the lake other people were getting the same experience, it was definitely unique and entertaining. After this we got on the bus and went to a small little fishing town nearby for lunch, where Nate and I walked through town. We found a tree with some one's pet donkey tied to it, and also their pet monkey! I have never seen a monkey in a harness, but this little guy was harnessed up to a line.

Colonial Cartagena

The rest of our time in Cartagena was spent walking through the streets and exploring the old town, which is surrounded by thick walls that were built in the 16th century, and the little tourist filled area where we were staying. The streets were packed with tourists and locals, and the streets were filled with taxis that were constantly honking at each other. It was definitely a nosy town to stay in. We only stayed here a few days before heading down to Medellin, which was a grueling 13 hour bus ride away! We didn't realize how large Colombia was before we got here.

A lady making delicious fruit salad who posed for a picture

San Blas islands

Beautiful scenery + chocolate + coke = heavenly

Sailing the San Blas islands was a truly amazing experience, it was exactly how I always pictured paradise. The first day did not convince me of this, however. We sailed for a couple hours, then took a break to fuel up and swim, and after this we had an 8 hour stretch of sailing. I ended up clinging to a bucket feeling sick, and worrying about what I had gotten myself into. We traveled with three Australian guys who loved to party, a young Swedish guy who just spent the last two months boxing in Cuba and surviving on just beans and rice. There were two Japanese guys, one guy my age and the other quite older, both speaking very little English. The next day we picked up a nice girl from Finland, and a negative German guy who had only one leg, having lost the other ten years ago after stepping on a land mine.The crew consisted of two really nice, hospitable French guys, Luic and Franc.

Boys catching dinner

We arrived at the first island, Portovenir at night, so it wasn't until the next day we caught the first glimpses of the beautiful setting we found ourselves in. The San Blas islands consist of over 300 small islands, with only a fe being inhabited. They're flat, palm tree filled, and belong to the native Kuna people.
From here we sailed for a few hours to our next destination, another small island that had a little ship wreck just off of it, which was fun to snorkel around and filled with lots of fish. This island was filled with tents and tourists, both from abroad and from Panama. On the way to this island the Australian guys caught a big fish, which was very exciting, bloody, and provided us with a delicious meal later in the evening.
The next day we sailed to some other islands. They're so beautiful to look at because there's nothing on them, maybe a few huts at most. We snorkeled around the boat and swam to one of the islands with the Finish girl. We ended up picking coconuts which we later took back to the boat and used a machete to chop open. On the island we met a native Kuna family and bought some bracelets from them. They live on the island 6 months out of the year and then on the mainland the rest of the time, apparently the Kuna chief is in charge of deciding who lives on which islands. There were currently three families living there, and they later canoed out to our boat to sell us some freshly caught lobsters. The family, a couple with three children, was really nice, and for the most part we could understand each others Spanish.

Sailing through the San Blas islands was an amazing experience. We were able to walk all the way around one of the small islands, which was just filled with shells, palm trees, tons and tons of different types of crabs, and huge starfish right off the shore. Also while sailing we saw dolphins a bunch of times, they'd come right next to the boat and swim with us for a little while.
After enjoying the islands for a couple days, we embarked on a 36 hour sailing trip to Cartagena, Colombia. This was the first time I had been on a boat and been completely surrounded by water, with no land in sight. This time I was more prepared and took some seasickness meds, and I think my body adjusted to being on the boat because it wasn't as bad as the first day. We didn't get much sleep though because of being rocked about so much, and then ocean water splashing through the windows. Our sheet was drenched pretty much from the beginning. We finally made it to Cartagena at night, a beautiful city with tall skyscrapers right on the ocean. We spent one last night on the boat, trying to stay warm with wet sheets, and then ventured to land the next day. We immediately found a hotel room with AC and television. It was nice to finally be able to take a long shower and relax! Unfortunately, and surprisingly, my body adjusted so much to being on the boat that I actually felt land sick. I woke up in the middle of the night and it felt like the whole room was wavering back and forth! Luckily this sensation didn't last to long and we were able to explore Cartagena over the next few days.

Panama

Our last day in Costa Rica we spent hiking through the Monte Verde Cloud forest; it was absolutely beautiful. It was surprising how a short 30 minute bus drive took us to a location that was so completely different than the town we were staying in.

Cloud Forest

Panama City

From here we ventured into Panama, through another painful 2 hour border crossing. We spent a few days in Boquete where Nate’s friend owns a restaurant, Mike’s global grill. It was a cute, quiet town filled with old American retirees. We took a cab to some waterfalls we read about, which turned out being just a waterfall on the side of the road, and then we hiked back an hour to town. We found a dead snake on the side of the road, luckily it was dead because it was a really poisonous coral snake, which apparently are all over Panama. We stayed a little longer in Boquete in order to watch the Superbowl, and then we ventured to Panama city. We went to the impressive canal, strolled through old town, and went to the mall. Panama city is huge and under lots of construction, making it a little difficult to navigate. From here we took a bus to Porto Lindo, a tiny Caribbean town with nothing in it, but this is where we were going to meet up with our boat, the Amande, to sail the San Blas islands to Columbia!