Colombia

8/17/2016

The boys had two weeks off at the end of July and Marnie's nephew, Spencer, was visiting from Indiana so we decided to leave gray Lima and head north to Colombia, the first time we've been north of the equator in the last two years.
In spite of the negative press the country has gotten in the last decade, we found a beautiful country full of kind, friendly and gracious people with no signs of drug cartels or civil war. Marnie, as usual, laid out a trip with something for everyone and time to relax, too. The four blue stars on the map display our destinations and illustrate how we went from the mountains to the north coast.

Our first stop was at the finca of the gracious Penny Alvarez, the mother of one of Marnie's Bay Area colleagues, not far from the town of Villa de Leyva. The finca is located in a mountainous region a couple of hours northeast of Bogota. We are always happy to get a respite from cold, gray Lima in winter and the quiet, warm, sunny tranquility was appreciated by the whole family as was being treated to tasty meals on the outside patio. We had been warned that Colombian fare was generally bland and nondescript, but starting at the finca and throughout our travels we found the meals to be very good.

The area around Villa de Leyva has several sites on its perimeter that are of interest as is the colonial charm of the town itself. The geology/paleontology of the area make it one of those intriguing places currently lying at 7,000 feet above sea level and hundreds of miles from the coast where the soil is full of ammonites and other sea creatures. Turns out that during the cretaceous period the valley was slowly cut off from the ocean and turned into a shallow sea that eventually dried up leaving remains of many fossils. It's fascinating to walk into the monastery or even just walk through town and see where ammonites have been incorporated into walls and floors. The fossil in the picture to the right is of a kronosaur that was left in situ with the museum built over it. Other fossils of icthyosaurs can be seen at the museum, too.

In pre-columbian times the area was occupied by the Muisca. The photo on the left is of an astronomic observatory while the giant erection on the right, with smaller erections in the background, were meant to insure fertility in the area.

There is also an immaculately preserved Franciscan monastery, established to bring Catholicism to the Muisca, along with an informative museum.

Villa de Leyva is a quaint colonial town dating to 1572. It was home to a large contingent of Spanish troops whose parade ground was turned into the central square, the largest in Colombia.

Colombian parrilla (BBQ) isn't quite as good or the beer nearly as cold as in Argentina, but it was plenty good and plentiful which is what mattered most to Spencer.

Our next stop took us west from Bogota into the "coffee zone." The Andes is split into 3 fingers running north-south through Colombia. As the crow flies we didn't travel far but, due to some quirks of geography, crossing one of the mountain fingers means going from semi-arid to subtropical even though remaining at the same elevation and latitude. From our base in Cordoba we took hikes, rode horses, learned to taste coffee and relaxed.

The horseback ride was great--the best kept and trained horses we've been on, beautiful scenery and the dueno liked his horses to get exercise so the boys got to run the horses extensively, much to their delight.
The horses were as competitive as the boys so they didn't want to quit running. We also got to ride across a river a lot higher than ankle deep for the horses. Take a look at Finn and you will see the water was ankle deep for the rider.

The next stop was a coffee plantation with a tasting tour so well done that Finn and Sam enjoyed it even though it lasted a couple of hours. We visited the growing and processing areas before learning how to "taste" coffee. This process was interesting to adults and children as we used our tongues and noses to refine our sense of what we were tasting. Bottom line, every adult in our contingent preferred low quality coffee to premium. No wonder Juan Valdez despairs.

After learning how bad our taste buds are, we went on what I think is one of the top 5 hikes the Curry-Smiths have taken. The trail through the Cacora Valley wound its way up between two ridges that was cut by a roaring creek and included a nice waterfall, seven swinging bridges, lots of mud and ended in a hummingbird preserve. What more could you ask for? The opening photo of the slideshow doesn't do justice to the palms, but the effect they created was unlike anything I've seen elsewhere.

On to CARTAGENA

Cartagena was founded by Pedro de Heredia in 1533 and was to be a valuable link in the Spanish Empire. It was a storage and transfer point for gold and silver from Peru and New Granada as well as the only city besides Veracruz that was authorized by the crown to trade in slaves. Its fortunes went up and down over the next 200 years with various pirates and corsairs, including Francis Drake, looting the city. During the 1600s the crown undertook to fortify the city by building an 11 kilometer wall around it and siting a fortress on a hill across an arm of the bay. These features are still intact and helped Cartagena earn recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. Today visitors find a wonderfully maintained colonial city with lots of history.

My favorite new world Spanish fortress has always been San Juan Puerto Rico, but it no longer is. San Felipe de Barajas in Cartagena now ranks as number one. It is so big and was redesigned and added to so many times that it is difficult to make sense of the whole layout. Nevertheless, it was an interesting experience and is highly recommended.

As in San Francisco, there were beautiful vistas of different parts of the city everywhere we walked and sometimes even from where we swam.

Simon Bolivar park is a tranquil, shady place to rest on a hot, sunny day. And then on Sunday it becomes the center of a dance competition between groups vying for tips. The music coming from the relatively few musicians is enough to rock the house while the energy of the dancers is frenetic. A very enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.

We left Cartagena to spend our last days outside Palomino, a town on the Caribbean coast. On the way we stopped at Volcán de Lodo El Totumo - a mud bath. We're not sure what made it a volcano, but it we enjoyed floating buoyantly in the therapeutic muck.

PALOMINO

This part of the trip was mostly for the boys, especially for Sam who celebrated his 9th birthday during this stop. We swam in the pool and the Caribbean, collected shells on the beach, inner-tubed down a lazy river, hiked in Tayrona Park, and witnessed Tropical Storm Earl -- all of which proved a relaxing way to end of our vacation.

BOGOTA

Bogota was founded in 1538 on a high plateau (8600 feet) in central Colombia (originally New Granada). Its location was determined by the fact that the majority of the Muisca population was centered here. At first ample gold was found to justify further exploration, but precious metal discovery soon waned and the area became a backwater.
The city grew slowly until relatively recently. Like Lima, rural populations fleeing contending rebel factions and drug cartels have pushed rapid population growth. If you read the papers you know that the Colombian government is in negotiations with the FARC to end what may be the world's longest running insurrection which dates back to 1948. In spite of related problems, we found a charming city with friendly people.