Colombia Part 1

I ended up going to Colombia for three weeks after leaving Missouri.  It might seem like an odd choice to some, but it was amazing.  I went because Bri knows a man named Enrique from work who is from Colombia.  I have no idea when they first had  a conversation about me going to Colombia, but I think it was sometime while I was still in Iraq, trying to figure out what I would do afterwards.  I know it sounds a little vague, but the point is, I flew to Bogota, took another flight to Cali, where I was greeted by Pedro, Enrique's nephew.  I was shown a great deal of kindness by Enrique's family and don't really know what I would have done without them.  I had an amazing 3 weeks and got to see so much of the country.  I really was lucky to see so much and I have a TON of pictures, I will give you the highlights.

Gorgona-I spent a few days on the island of Gorgona in the Pacific Ocean.  For those of you who have seen LOST, it was sort of like that.  I wanted to go because it was time for the whales to get laid as Pedro informed me, so they would be visible.  He then told me about all of the snakes, and I wanted to go a little less.  In the end, my desire to see whales prevailed.  I flew to the tiny town of Guapi and took a boat on a very bouncy ride to the island.  As soon as we were on dry land someone told us to turn around and there was the first of many whales I got to see on the trip.  It was an incredibly beautiful place.  I got to go on a nature hike in the rain where I kind of wanted to see a boa constrictor...until a pelican flew so close to my head while I was swimming that I nearly had a heart attack-I decided I probably didn't really want to see a snake.  Sorry, no pictures of whales, I was unbelievably slow with the camera.

The Beach

The old prison

On the rainy nature/jungle hike

Drinking from a coconut

Monkey

The Coffee Triangle-Now I am sure that the first thing you all thought of when I said "Colombia" was coffee and rightly so.  The coffee is pretty great there.  I also spent 3 days in what is called the Coffee Triangle.  I got to go to a National Park featuring the Wax Palm, Hot Springs(amazing), and the coffee park.  The coffee park is actually like the Juan Valdez version of Disney Land...sort of.  There were a lot of rides there, but there was also a lot of information about the history of coffee, how it came to Colombia, and how it gets from the plant to your cup.  It was interesting.  The best thing is that the entire area was unbelievably beautiful.  I saw the most amazing clouds.

Wax Palms

Yes, the entire area was this spectacular

Hot Springs

After the Springs

With a "Willy" which is still used to transport people up the mountain

All I need is a donkey

In front of a model of a "typical" house

Me overlooking the Coffee Triangle

Santa Marta-After the coffee triangle, I went to Santa Marta for a couple of days to stay with Tia Lucila(Aunt Lucila for all of you non spanish speakers, another of Enrique's sisters).  She was great.  She was probably the most patient person I encountered as far as my Spanish is concerned.  What you should know is that I don't speak a lot of Spanish.  I thought it improved in Peru, but when I got to Colombia, it was different.  Lucila spent a lot of time speaking incredibly slowly and when I still didn't understand, she would think for a minute and explain again a different way.  Most of the time, I figured out what she was getting at.

People making a bridge...and a buck during a rainstorm

Taganga Fishing Village from above

Fishing Village