C A L I, C O L O M B I A: A trip to the middle of no where....

A jet, a 30 passenger plane, a four seater Cessna, a canoe ride, a 4x4 ride, a hike and we were there. There in the middle of no where to see one of the worlds most beautiful rivers.

We saw rivers, waterfalls, green plains, cock fights, rodeos, birds, fish but, not ONE toilet seat. But who's counting?

It is called Recesso, a week off from school to promote tourism in Colombia. We traveled to the far east region of Colombia called Los Llanos; we went with a friend from Switzerland. We had heard about this place from it's famous pictures of the river of five colors.

The name of the place is called Caño Cristales or the river of five colors. It is known for it's unique algae bloom. It is a national park that has only recently opened to tourists. The remote location is more known for it's Guerrilla activity with the Farc than it's tourist attraction but it is growing safer and safer for tourists to visit. Just a few weeks ago one of the Guerrillas top leaders was killed outside of this town. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129617539
But although we were way out there in a land recently involved with the Guerrilla it felt remarkably safe; the place is loaded with military, marines and police.

There are two ways to travel to this area. The first, you can buy a plan from the two small business there, that includes the small plane ride, meals, guide and hotel. The second is you show up with out a plan. Any guess which we opted for. Yes, no plan is the best plan. The cost was half of what you pay in the package. We paid five dollars a night for the hotel and around 1.50-2.00 per meal. And since we were three we split the guide and the transportation. I imagine as this place becomes more secure the prices will inevitably rise.

We will share the rest of the trip by photos and captions....

Modes of Transportation

Twin Prop plane

Four seater Cessna, one hour drive to the small town of La Macarena

Canyo Cristales

Waterfalls & Cliff Jumping

La Macarena

Cock Fighting

When you live in small towns in Latin America and you don't have much to do I guess this is what you do. You get your rooster and bring it down to the bar/rooster ring to fight other roosters. Evil I know but this is culture, this is why we travel to get sneak peaks into other people's lives. And a cultural experience it was. We walked into a opened air bar with nothing more than plastic chairs and cowboys to find people huddled around two small tables. We managed our way over to the table to find an old duffer and his rooster; he was stretching out it's feet and attaching sharp metal spikes to his legs. All the while people where collecting bets and sharperning more metal spikes, that were held in a special case just for cock fighting spikes.

Severino placed our bet and we mingled, we kind of all went our own way. Aaron towards the kids; his limited Spanish and magic tricks make them a perfect match. Severino stayed close to watch since he was the one with the money on the game and I made my way up to the rickety pieces of wood that posed as the stands. We were enamared by what was happening around us but the locals were just as amazed by us....foreginers. Not too many make it to the Gallera and they were enthusiastic to interact with us.

The cock fight went quite fast and it was more tame than I imagined. Severinos cock won and made 10 bucks. He was instantly famous- OH! The Gringo won. Once the fight was through the old men went back to playing tejo (kind of a horse shoe like game) and the kids gathered around Aaron begging for more tricks. We made our way out of the door just as a herd of soldiers made their way into the door to do a search. Jonathan, our new constant companion told us it was a normal routine to come in and check for weapons and peoples documents to make sure there are no guerrillas in town. He assured us that the people didn't mind and that they are actually grateful for the added security in their town.

The only other thing to do in this town besides watch roosters fight is to drink and play pool; all of which are for men. I guess the women are with the children that come from the only other thing to do in this town....make babies.

Villa viciencia

After our time at the river and in Macarena we headed back to the bigger town via the Cessna. When we arrived at the small airport our pilot told us he didn't mind dropping us in the center. On the way he mentioned his friend owned a hotel (even better since we had no reservations or plans and there was a HUGE festival in the town) When we showed up at the simple hotel we were fine with it but said thanks we were going to check out some other hotels. Somehow before we even knew it he paid for half our hotel and said just stay here I paid for half and don't ask why. OKAY? Then he mentioned that his wife was coming into town and he would love for us to meet her and their son. I know this all may sound strange but it is common for people outside of touristy areas to very enthusiastic about meeting foreigners and showing them all their their home has to offer.

While we were waiting for the rest of the family to arrive Carlos decides to give us a tour of the town. And where does he take us? The mall yes THE MALL. We have often wondered why Colombians are SO very proud of their malls and the conclusion we have come up with is that they want us not to see the dirty busseling centers rather they want us to see the shiny big malls full of western goods. We walked just a tiny bit before we mentioned that perhaps we should get a coffee. He seemed confused and asked, "But don't you want to know all the floors of the shopping center?" Now If I were along with Aaron I would have said oh sure of course but we were not alone. We were accompanied by our Swiss-German yoga teaching, direct and somewhat confrentational friend who is slowly teaching me to do and say what I want and not what other people want. So we mentioned that we too have malls in Cali and that we don't need to see more of the mall...that ended the akward mall walk. And it validated to me why it is good to be honest not just a pleaser. I think I would have walked all three floors of the mall despite the fact that I HATE shopping and that none of us were going to buy anything.

It starting becoming apparent that we would be spending our day with this family. Luckily the wife and the son were adorable and great conversationalist....the rest of the day is as follows through the photos...

Mamona, the region famous beef, roasted over open coals, Delicious.

A plate of beef, nothing green to be found.

An amazing amount of beef for one person! A nice place and yes we were treated by our new adopted family.

El Coleo

Just by chance we ended up in this town for one of its biggest events a Colombian style rodeo called Coleo. (meaning tail) It is simple but apparently very entertaining to some, a cow runs, a cowboy chases cow on horseback, cowboy grabs cow's tail and then gets infront of it while trying to pull it to the ground. There was some point system that remains a mystery to me but I believe it was depending where in the course the cow fell down and how many times the cow rolled over. A cultural experience? Yes. Entertaining? A bit but more for people watching. Horribly sad for the cows? Yes.

For some reason it felt like we were in 1950, the half time show was complete with a Colombian like Frank Sinatra saranating the audience while he road on his horse and all the cowgirls screamed and sang along.

The cowboy chasing the cow's tail as the crowd hoots and hollers in the 100 degree sun

Most fascinating to me were the woman competitors...in their pink saddles, braids and cute shirts....all the while running through mud that is drenched in cow pee and horse shit to catch a cow by it's tail and knock him down.