Medellin & Salento (E)

A quick update on the blog design: Blogspot does not seem to be able to provide proper updates, making it impossible for me to place picture where I want them to be... let's hope they come up with a solution soon...

I met Cyrill & Regula in Medellin after a good night’s sleep in a comfortable bus, only interrupted by two passport checks at army checkpoints. We spent four days together exploring the city and went to two parades of the flower festival.

The first of the parades was a horse parade and consisted of thousands of horses and their riders showing themselves as well as their riding skills to the spectators. We were beginning to understand why Medellin is known as the silicone centre of Colombia…

The other parade we visited was called “Chivas & Flores”. Chivas are old buses used as public transport in rural areas of Colombia. About 80 of these buses have been decorated for the festival and were driving around the city filled with party people.

 

As Colombia is one of the biggest coffee producers in the world, I made my way back south to Salento to visit the Zona Cafetera where most of the country’s coffee is produced. The plantations are nestled between picture perfect green hills and together with other people from my hostel we went to visit one of the smaller plantations where we were shown around and tried the delicious brew.

Another day we took pick-up trucks to the Valle de Coroca, famous for the up to 50 meter high wax palm trees which only exist in this small area of the country. We explored the area for four hours on horseback and took a break at a little sanctuary where dozens of hummingbirds flew around, feeding on the sugar water the owners provided.

Some thoughts on security in Colombia:
The overall security situation in Colombia has improved considerably in recent years, making it much more appealing for travellers to explore this beautiful country. With the exception of the Caribbean coast, where package tourism exists, many parts of the country are visited by backpackers only but I’m sure this will change within the next few years.

The national tourism board came up with the nice slogan “Colombia - The only risk is wanting to stay” and so far it totally reflects my opinion. The Risk of muggings or robberies does certainly exist but I don’t think it’s worse than in other South American countries.
Most travellers coming from Ecuador seem to stick to a route going north to the Caribbean coast through the centre of the country via mayor cities like Bogota and Medellin, thus avoiding potentially unsafe regions where guerrilla groups operate. The main highways and most central streets within cities are heavily controlled by police and army to ensure safety. It takes some time to get comfortable with seeing armed forces at every corner but police officers are usually extremely friendly and helpful.

Sadly there was a car bomb attack in Bogota whilst I was travelling in the north of the country – most probably it was intended to weaken the newly elected president. It’s to hope that these incidents won’t happen more often as it certainly doesn’t help changing people’s preconceptions towards this lovely country.

Popayan & Silvia (G)

Der Grenzübertritt funktionierte auf der Ecuadorianischen Seite problemlos und ich überquerte die Brücke in Richtung Kolumbien. Dort wollte man es mir allerdings nicht so leicht machen und mir wurde mitgeteilt, dass ich ohne ein spezielles Formular nicht einreisen dürfe. Sogleich boten sich drei “Touristen-Intermediäre“ an mir zu helfen und nach langer Diskussion mit dem Zöllner kamen sie mit komplizierten Erklärungen zurück, ich habe USD 50 zu zahlen um nach Kolumbien einreisen zu dürfen.

Mein lauthalser Protest und Rücksprache mit anderen Kolumbianischen Touristen bewog den Zöllner dann dazu, mich nochmals zu ihm zu rufen und plötzlich waren alle Probleme verschwunden, der Stempel für 60 Tage Aufenthalt in meinem Pass. Auch die anderen drei Gauner konnte ich abschütteln und machte mich auf den Weg zur Grenzstadt Ipiales, um mir die berühmte Kirche Las Lajas anzuschauen. Die im gotischen Stil erbaute Kirche befindet sich in einer tiefen Schlucht und ist teilweise in den Felsen gehauen, eine Brücke verbindet sie mit der gegenüberliegenden Seite.

Nach diesem kurzen Abstecher machte ich mich auf den Weg nach Pasto, wo ich eine Nacht verbrachte und am nächsten Morgen gleich nach Popayan weiter reiste, wo ich nach all der Reiserei mal wieder einige Tage bleiben wollte. Popayan ist als “weisse Stadt“ bekannt und gefiel mir auf Anhieb recht gut. Das Zentrum mit seinen alten weissen Kolonialbauten ist ein Wenig verschlafen, bietet aber einige gute Restaurants und Cafes – genau was ich brauchte. Im Hostel lernte ich auf Anhieb viele andere Reisende kennen und so zogen wir meist in kleinen Gruppen durch die Stadt, kochten Abends im Hostel oder gingen aus.

 

Dienstag ist Markttag im nahe gelegenen Silvia und so zogen wir zu siebt los, um uns diesen grosen lokalen Markt anzuschauen. Die Indios der Region bringen jeweils am Dienstag ihre Waren in das Dörfchen und füllen damit fast das ganze Zentrum. Wir deckten uns mit Früchten für die nächsten Tage ein, schlenderten durch die Marktstände und bestaunten die bunt gekleideten Einheimischen, bevor wir zurück in Popayan den letzten gemeinsamen Abend feierten. Am nächsten Tag reisten alle in andere Richtungen Kolumbiens weiter - ich hatte mich entschieden mit einem Nachtbus nach Medellin zu reisen, um dort Cyrill & Regula (siehe Quito-Eintrag) wieder zu treffen und mir mit ihnen das Blumenfestival anzuschauen. Doch mehr dazu im nächsten Beitrag...

Küken-Verkäufer in Silvia

 

Päärchen in Silvia

Quilotoa Loop (E)

I continued my trip north by heading out of Baños on a two hour bus journey to Latacunga, starting point for what is known as the “Quilotoa Loop”. Quilotoa is the name of one of the many volcanoes in this area and travelling around the mountain by public transport is a good way to spend a few days off the main tourist routes, seeing stunning landscape and indigenous communities.

Whilst riding a local bus from Latacunga to Chugchilán, my first destination of the loop, the scenery was breathtaking. We were climbing to approx 3,900 meters, seeing the rugged Andean mountains, snow capped volcanoes and deep valleys in the distance. I found a very cozy hostel in the small settlement of Chugchilán, my base for the next day’s hike from the Quilotoa crater. Luckily I met an English couple who wanted to do the same trek so we could team up and split the cost.



We set off on a pick-up truck after a good breakfast. The one hour ride brought us to the rim of the volcano where our driver found us a guide to accompany us for the five hour hike. After gazing at the emerald green crater lake we made our way down the volcano into lush green valleys and through a deep canyon before ascending back into Chugchilán.



The next morning I started the long journey to Colombia. The only possibility to leave Chugchilán (other than the 3am or 4am bus) was jumping on the milk truck to Sigchos. The truck stops at many houses along the way -buying and selling milk from/to local farmers. The milk is stored in simple plastic containers together with dirt & dust from the road. The tour turned out to be really good fun and we were able to experience a part of the local way of living.

I continued my journey by bus through Quito to Ibarra, where I spent the night and arrived at the border town of Tulcán the next morning.


Pick-up ride up to the volcano


Fancy more volcanoes? Here is Cotopaxi

Baños (G)

Nächste Station war das ca. 7 Stunden weiter nördlich gelegene Baños. Das bei Einheimischen sowie ausländischen Touristen beliebte Städtchen liegt auf 1‘820 Meter über Meer, eingekesselt zwischen steilen Felswänden und zu Fusse des mächtigen Tungurahua Vulkans. Der Vulkan ist derzeit ziemlich aktiv und hat in den vergangenen Monaten die Bevölkerung auf Trab gehalten mit Sperrung des Luftraumes und Evakuationsübungen in Baños und den umliegenden Dörfern.



Ich habe mich über die Vulkanischen Aktivitäten im Vorfeld schlau gemacht und bin trotz Abraten Auswärtiger Ämter nach Baños gereist. Insgesammt drei Tage habe ich dort verbracht und die umliegenden Täler und Berge bewandert. Das Wetter hatte es gut mit mir gemeint und so konnte ich die Regenausrüstung getrost im Hostel zurücklassen und die kurzen Hosen auspacken.

Zum Schluss spielte dann auch der Vulkan mit und verschabschiedete sich mit einem Asche-“husten“.



Eine kulinarische Spezialität sei hier auch noch erwähnt: Was bei uns in so manchem Kinderzimmer rum rennt, wird hier gerne zu Reis oder Pommes serviert – Das “Cuy“, oder zu Deutsch Meerschweinchen, schmeckt nicht besonders (der Geschmack ist ähnlich dem eines Kaninchens) und Fleisch ist auch nicht viel an den Knochen. Nachdem ich es vor ein paar Jahren schon mal in Peru degustieren durfte, hab ich’s mal wieder probiert und werde es in Zukunft wohl sein lassen.

Quito, Otavalo & Cuenca (E)

After arriving in Quito I took a taxi to the hotel where I was supposed to meet Cyrill (a friend from Basel) and his girlfriend Regula. Unfortunately Cyrill had missed his flight from the United States and would not arrive for another two days. Regula & I decided not to wait in Quito but to make good use of these two days and travel to Otavalo for the famous saturday market (one of the biggest markets in all of South America).

A short bus ride brought us to Otavalo where Regula had worked for the last four month as a volunteer. We met some of the other volunteers and had a look around town. On Saturday we set off to explore the huge market which occupies a fair bit of the town centre - vendors sell fruits, vegetables, tourist souvenirs, animals and much more. In the evening we took the bus back to Quito airport where we finally met Cyrill.



We spent the next few days together exploring Quito, cooking in the hostel and planning our next steps. I did not have an exact idea where to go in South America so I needed a while to read into this huge continent and to decide where to start. I finally booked a cheap short flight the Cuenca in the south of Ecuador and said good-bye to Cyrill & Regula who were leaving for the Galapagos Islands the same day.

I decided to start in southern Ecuador and make my way up through the country and into Colombia. Cuenca is Ecuador’s third-largest city and due to the large amount of old colonial buildings a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city and region is also famous for the production of the Panama hat, a traditional brimmed hat that has its origin here and doesn’t have much to do with Panama. I instantly liked the city with its relaxed atmosphere and chose it to be my “home” for the next ten days while I was taking Spanish lessons (four hours a day) to improve my quasi non-existent Spanish. I found an excellent cheap hostel with amazing food and enjoyed my free time at the city’s museums, markets & cafes.

Otavalo Market




Panama Hat Showroom