Mas Despacio, Por Favor

Gallery: Santiago

spencerhoneyman — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:45:00 GMT

Gallery: Solar de Uyuni

spencerhoneyman — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:30:00 GMT

Salt Flats and Desert in southern bolivia

Solo in the South

spencerhoneyman — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:45:00 GMT

I´m alive! and kickin baby.

So it has been a while since I last touched in here with the ol´ blog. I was just livin ya know? Sometimes you can´t live and write in your blog at the same time. They´re at odds. You enjoy life and be where you are or you walk around thinking about everything you could write and photograph to show to other people.

For example, I´m walking around La Paz and see this brilliant ear flap ornate mountain hat some guy has on. It is rad beyond belief. So I start thinking ¨Hey I bet I could write in my blog to all my friends about that hat, just look at it! Que maximo!...it is hand woven, no doubt...nice color combination, so unWestern, how quaint...I have my camera, maybe I could just get a picture of it so everyone could see how sweet it is...Wait, what the hell am I doing? I´m in La Paz standing in the middle of the street staring at this man but my mind is completely elsewhere! I´m here man, HERE! I´m right here in this sac of flesh and bones with this wind on bearded-face and mountain sun burning my gringo cheeks. Get a hold of yourself man!¨ Thus, I decided I needed a break from the blog for a bit, to get my priorities straight, like we all need every now and again. But man, that was a sweet hat. and hey! I´m back because I decided I had some things to share and I like my friends and family a whole lot.

In case you didn´t already know I´m here on my own for a few months. Holly is back in Idaho tending goats and climbing pine trees. She is also buying a bike, starting a garden, scheming about the world with her brother, enjoying family time, staring at the clouds, swimming in pools of water, and not having to bargain for everthing from a room for the night to a bag of pomellos at the market. She better be practicing Spanish for when she comes back down to meet me. We are both getting to the bottom of this life thing yet going about it our own way. Travelling on your own has its advantages and disadvantages but it is definitely a good thing for me right now.

Going solo abroad is a new experience for me and, I have found, quite liberating. You can think and do things you don´t normally do while hanging out with others, I like to test myself a lot. Like, going on night walks at 3am in small villages to walk under the stars and see if I can not spook myself then watching the sun rise from a good spot. Or sit down with my guitar in a park and sing for people passing by ( I make up words, they have no idea what I´m staying! that makes it easier). Or not shave for months and grow a giant beard. Or stay in the cheapest hostel I can find and make strange food for myself, not having to worry about offending anyones sense of interior design. Not to say I don´t appreciate a good atmosphere, I just don´t mind when its not nice (and very cheap, did I mention Bolivia is incredibly cheap?)

So where have I been in Bolivia? Let´s see: high in the andes (La Paz, Sorata), floating on an island in the middle of a giant lake (Isla del Sol, Lago Titicaca), and sweating in the bustling Amazon bursting at the seams with life (Rurrenabaque, scariest 27 hour bus ride of my life, 4 falt tires, 3 hours stuck in the mud, countless frightening precipices on a way overloaded old bolivian bus. Asi es.). I´ve been moving pretty slow, finding spots that suit me and staying there for a week or so at a time. It is cheaper that way and allows for me to meet locals and find the non-super-touristy things to do. I have been meditating and reading a lot and getting a feel for my post-college self. What have I found? There are several things that I have come to see as important tenets in my life: Nature, Music, Consiousness. Although I recognize their importance in terms of driving and inspiring me, right now they are all woven together in a giant ball of mystery that I can´t really comprehend. I am taking this time in life to unwrap said ball and get a feel for how I want to start weaving my own fabric.

Music is so powerful and beautiful and I feel is one of the few things that we as humans can produce that approaches the timeless beauty of Nature. Being outdoors and in the backcountry, away from people, calms my mind and makes me realize with elevated clarity how a part of this earth we are. It is so easy to forget when we are online and in our cars, but in Nature, the truth of our existence as forms of life that have evolved in cojunction with the world becomes so apparent. I feel drawn towards environmentalism for the reason that Nature is so calming and gives back in infinite ways, I want others to benefit from its protection.

We are of the world, yet... somehow different. We are aware of our existence, we have this things called conciousness, this awareness of our actions, behavior, thoughts. We can plan for the future and mull over the past. Well, who knows elephants and chimps might be able to do that kind of thinking too...Humans make amazing art and films and architecture and poems and writing. I think that makes us different, also we can go beyond thought, we can stop worrying about survival (when we have basic needs met that is) and be purely here, not worrying about anything. Not that we don´t ever want to think because thinking is necessary in some cases, but that we can do away with a lot of unecessary stressful thinking and chill out when its time to chill.

Our minds are so sneaky! Always scheming and calculating. However, there is this wonderful function of our mind that is above all that, a part of us that realizes you are being a little schemer and just Observes. It doesn´t even say anything, it is just at peace with exactly the way everything is, will be, and has been. Slowly but surely, the more you recogize the useless commentary, the false you fades away and there is only this sense of presence and aliveness in the body.

Being in South America has been really good but really sad in seeing seeing the effects of the modern western world has hit a lot of these communities. The Mind is already so vulnerable and all this modern bullshit just plays on that so hardcore. I find a lot of small indigenous communities where there are western brand names everywhere, american 80´s music bumping from cafes, really material violent hollywood movies on buses and shops, super unhealthy packaged junk food from the US...and ads depicting all of it as ´´just what you need!´´ It seems at such odds with the laidback agricultural mountain life of so many of these places. Of course you cant blame them, it does seem super new and exciting from the outside, until you realize theres so many more depressed and unsatisfied people living in the West. I feel like society down here (exported from up there) is building up these walls to trap people into feeling like they need to consume a lot of shit (and then throw it out the bus window) just to fit in and be successful. Very sad. But the small communities that have not been touched are so noticeable where the kids are all smiling and laughing and the air is clean and life is good.

I suppose that is enough rambling, and not very much about travelling. I´ve realized that I´m travelling to see a new way of life and a new continent yet also figure out what is important to me in life. I miss you all and appreciate you so much more that I am without you now! I also miss dark choclate, red wine, and the mountains and ocean of California. And bikes, and music festivals. and mexican food. However, I think it is a good thing that I am on my own wandering without these comforts because it will make it all the more glorious coming back to them when the time comes.

Con muchisimo amor,

Spence

Gallery: Isla del Sol

spencerhoneyman — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:28:00 GMT

Lago Titicaca

Gallery: The Mouth of the Beast

spencerhoneyman — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:26:00 GMT

Bolivian Amazon

Gallery: Arrequipa/Colca Canyon

spencerhoneyman — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Gallery: The Peace

spencerhoneyman — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:53:00 GMT

La Paz is very high

Gallery: a little taste of peru

spencerhoneyman — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:54:00 GMT

Gallery: Macchu Picchu

spencerhoneyman — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:24:00 GMT

Gallery: Huanchaco-Huaraz

spencerhoneyman — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 08:44:00 GMT

Waves to Peaks

Survival of the Most Enthusiastic

spencerhoneyman — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:21:00 GMT

So the biggest news first - as always, there is some terrible music playing in this internet cafe, some sappy spanish love song laid over 80´s electronic melodies and the occasional discordant honking-beeping noise... however, this time... wait for it... I recognized a CONJUGATED verb!!! Fantastico! Mission accomplished, headed home. Well, not quite, I guess we are only about halfway down the continent and several months ahead of the scheduled departure date. Well then, bring on more verbs!

The spanish studies kinda took a nosedive in Huanchaco, perhaps due to the utter laid-back-ed-ness that results from a sun drenched, surf and food inundated lifestyle... but its back up and running in our most recent home - Huaraz-of-the-mountains. We really had no idea what to expect, and as usual, had a bit of an unexpected delay in getting here... stayed in Trujillo for a night (goes on the list of really pointless places to be) and a day, which luckily ended the supreme fashion that the nomadic lifestyle sometimes provides... we found ourselves knocking on a dark wooden door, inset into the wall of buildings on a side street, bordered by a little golden plaque inscribed with the single word ¨stradavarius¨. After the third knock, a man appeared at our elbow, and happily produced the key... let us in and proceeded to open up the whole bar, put on some seriously needed jazz music, and deliver a couple of delightful cocktails. Oh, and Trujillo also had a three room Museo Del Jugete - Museum of Toys, which was totally unexpected and to anyone who knows me and my 10 year obsession with building minutely perfect dollhouses, quite obviously a great find.

Y despues... a nightbus (Peru´s buses are like airplanes... they have leather seats and meals, and never, ever speed. I love them) to Huaraz. We landed in early morning, which turns out to be the best time to get a full 360 degree view of the Himalayan-like peaks that surround this bustling metropolis in a valley. Really, there is no way to describe the magnificence of this place. We read that the peaks are anywhere from 5k to 6.5k meters... or a little over 16 - 22 thousand feet high. You can see creeping glaciers, the size of entire mountain faces, covered with what looks like whipped cream (and according to Touching the Void are actually called merengues and cream puffs) and sheer jagged peaks that are blindingly white in the sun that shines for the first half of every day. On one side of the valley is the Cordillera Negra, y al otro lado es la Cordillera Blanca. Although we were immediately inspired to strap on our silly sneakers and book laden packs and start hiking, good sense prevailed and a fantastic little cafe with REAL CHAI distracted us. The next day we just couldn´t wait, and set off, well-equipped (in Spencer´s opinion) and woefully unprepared (in mine) for the 6 hour hike that followed, through a pretty field in the foothills, over a happy, sunny ridge, and then up a screamingly steep, waterfall drenched, white knuckle rock face that at one point (though the memories have been supressed in an effort at self preservation) found me bawling, hanging onto Spencer´s ankle for dear life, and cursing my own stubborn inability to turn around when the going gets tough, i.e. vertical. Turns out it was worth it (since we lived)... the turquoise blue lake with totally clear water and deep green underwater grasses at the foot of a snowy incline and a glacial valley was quite the sight. If there is a god, that is my church.

Por supuesto, it took two days of wandering around Huaraz, and debating the voices in my head, to get me back out on the trail. The choices were either 1. pay $42/day for a guide, a cook, 3 fancy meals, a table and chairs, dining tent, sleeping tent, donkeys to carry our gear, and all the free hot chocolate we could intake, or 2. rent gear, obtain a hand drawn map, and ask a series of 8 people around town just where the overcrowded collectivo took off from to get us first to a spot on the side of the road, and then in another taxi (think a station wagon with 10 people in it) to the most out of the way, picturesque little village about an hour up into the mountains - aptly named Honkopampa, and boastign ruins that I thought were cooler than any we´ve seen before. There were all these big arched doorways that clearly led to alternate dimensions in space and time, but to my deepest shame, I just couldn´t quite step through them... even after a childhood spent devouring the fantasy novels in the young adults section of Latah County Public Library. Man...

The backpacking trip was just what we needed to remind us exactly of our place in this world, as nature often does. We were immediately lost, practically crawling on hands and knees through the Akilpo forest, full of red paper bark Polylepsis trees, rushing waterfalls, unidentifiable large animal droppings, and very small frogs. After battling the vegetation for a few hours, (ruefully concluding that the main character in the terrible romance novel I just read, Elizabeth Bonner, (a English lady recently arrived in the New World and wed to a dashing and brave Native American) had made it sound overly easy to immediately become a wilderness adept, weaving soundlessly and trace-less-ly through the woods... As I yelped and heaved against the millionth thorn tree I had caught my head on) we found a great big boulder right next to a huge waterfall on which to pitch the tent. We even attempted to go a little bit further up the valley, towards the fabled Lago Akilpo, but when Spencer saw the Big Black Thing in the Cave with the Eyes Shining Out, and made the mistake of TELLING me, I was charging back to the tent to zip myself in for the day and night, fruitlessly convincing myself that the rain that started about an hour later would keep all bad things away, because as everyone knows, animals with teeth, malevolent Inca spirts, and serial killers all hate to go out in the rain, right?

It was a great trip, overall... woke up to the sun rising over the entire mountain range, found the actual path for the hike out, and also, incidentally invented Tent Yoga (which we will soon make into an instructional video and sell in infomercials on the shopping channel). Another day spent yesterday just enjoying the views from the 5th floor balcony in our hostel - and talking to a UC Boulder grad student that we found by the fireplace - discussing everything under the sun in the realm of Peruvian municipal governments and their forestry and agricultural policies. I pretty much wanted to put this man in my backpack and take him out whenever I crave political and economic discussion and Spencer is performing that incredible feat of tuning out absolutely every other noise but that one Malian chord that he will practice over and over and over and over and then look up to ask you ¨Have you ever heard anything more beautiful??¨ It´s a good thing we have similar souls, because our topics of discussion can be totally divergent!

So, its one more massive pot of chai from the California Cafe, in this oddly Nepali town in Peru, and then off on a nightbus to Lima, where we hope to catch Dan´s friend for dinner and then get our booties down to that Sacred ol´valley for some BradKira quality time and some vibing with the spirits of Macchu Picchu. Love to you all, and check out the new photos.

hollolly

Amigos + Peru = Sweet

spencerhoneyman — Sun, 1 Mar 2009 08:42:00 GMT

Hola amigos, ¿que mas? that mneans whats up for all you gringos out there. Thats right we speakin da slang now, chicos y chicas. el slang loco. Not really, we get lost in everday conversation but ever since Holly started reading the Chronicles of Narnia is Spanish things are going a lot more smoothly. Suave, as they say.

So everyone likes to whistle a lot in south america, I have discovered. Its something us Norte Americanos never really get down with. Oh, and honking. Whistle and honk. Just a little sonal nudge, not like get out of my way, usually the opposite like 'honk honk' hey you want a ride? 'honk' whats up, your cute.´honk honk honk´ that one means get the hell out of the way. whistles are everywhere though and I still dont really understand them. I have a theory that beacause there are so many birds down here at the equator that everyone just picks up aviary communication skills from a young age. plausible really. Whistles aren´t rude either, its just like a ´Hey!´ waiter, the bill please. or ´Hold on bus driver my child has not yet boarded!´ Plus, most of the sounds are not your average ´woo woooo´ kind of whistles but sounds that you´ve never heard and look around and go ´what was that?´

Cultural difference number 2)

People bring the goods to you. I might have an idea in my head that I want a really good hat. In the US, for example, if you wanted a hat you might go to a hat store and look at hat selection. Maybe, youd walk through some shopping center grazing for a hat demanding service from the staff to display their goods. Here, theres no need to demand. The goods come to you. Why? because people keep all their secret desires inside their head waiting for the right pusher to push said item into their collection. There are countless vendors in every city that try to convince you that these sunglasses or TV remote controls are exactly the one you have been waiting for. Really, take them. Theyre very cheap. Try them on. Buy them, trust me theyre great, i just pulled them out of th plastic wrapper and I could tell these were quality. Theres no need to go to the store! Es tranquilo aqui, the goods come to you when they come.

Where have we been the last week? Did you guys get sick and lost and stranded somewhere incredibly dangerous? Nah, weve been chillin in Peru on the Pacific coast surfin some sweet rollers in Huanchaco. We met up with our college pals Brad and Kira and rented a little apartment on the top floor, complete with bed, kitchen (step up from a camping stove), and living room (matress on the floor, second sleeping quarters). 5 bucks a night per person, not too shabby. Plus the downstairs is a sweet little mercado where we can buy yogurt, chesse, and milk and then put it in the fridge instead of a plastic bag under our seat on the bus where we play ´lets see how much of this we can eat before it goes rotten´. We all trade off cooking, cleaning, and passing the guitar around (good thing we found that bus in quito!). We rented boards for 3 days, so basically we get up, make awesome breakfast like omlettes and veggies (veggies are surpringly hard to find around these parts, most meals are white rice and meat based and fried, but also like 1 dollar. its a trade off really, like most things), go surf for a hour or two (after checking from the balcony what the conditions are like), come back and make lunch (we found wheat bread! likewise, white sugary bread is the standard), go surf again, read, watch the sunset, come back and make huge dinner (pasta, burritos), buy some dark beer (the one place in peru that has a dark beer! as kira says it tastes like a mixture of coffee, coca cola, and beer, surprisingly good), and then crash hard and do it over again. Basically, we walk everywhere, surf, and eat well here in Huanchaco.

Tbis has been a wonderful, rejuvenating, and much needed break from the fastpaced travellin we were doing in Ecuador. Mañana, we head out to check out some nearby Pre Inca ruins (Chan Chan) and then back on the road towards the stunning peaks of the Cordillera Blanca and Huaraz. Over and out amigos, headed for Arrequipa and Cuzco. We'd love to hear how our friends across the land are doing, let us know what the word is and how life is, its hot here. ciao for now.

Que les vaya bien amigos, May you be well my friends

Espencer

The Fabulous Tales of Lost and Loster

spencerhoneyman — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:45:00 GMT

It´s been awhile. Welcome back to the every-so-often fireside chats hosted by your two and only favorite latin american travel-bumblers. The past ten days or so have been a whirl of mistakes, uncontrollable facts of nature, and lucky breaks. Nothing has gone as planned, and that feels, well... just about right for Spencer and Holly. We may have invented the phrase flying by the seat of your pants. Though I´m not quite sure what it means, literally.

So... last you heard we were in Salento, which settled firmly in my mind as a combination of just the right elements: hiking, meeting friends, amazing hot chocolate, and a town so friendly that the only thing that might worry you at night is getting overly excited about so many fireflies (or at least this is a problem for me). But change is the nature of our travels, so we packed up and headed out... taking the easy way down through the rest of colombia (i.e. only 7 hours at a time in any one bus). Stopped in Popayan, a surprisingly beautiful colonial city with plazas, whitewashed churches, and one of the best examples of globalization I´ve seen... we sat down in a ¨tex-mex¨restaurant, noticing as we did the menu in Spanish and English - almost a first on our trip through Colombia... turns out the owner is a Mexican who moved to New York, met his Colombian wife while working in a restaurant, and came back to Popayan with her to open this sweet little restaurant. They are hoping it works out... I have high hopes.

Next day on to Ipiales. Some Incan gods were playing with our minds, to go from Popayan to this place... all I´ll say is avoid if at all possible, and if you must go there, lock your door and stay inside. Even if you are hungry the food is not worth eating. However, we took a neat little side trip with our new friend Carlos to a crazy gothic church built on a beautiful bridge deep in a jungly green canyon. See the photos... it was neat.

Border crossing was totally smooth, other than my losing my passport again... (HA! MOM! KIDDING!). Hopped on the bus down to Otovalo, pretty tired and overwhelmed by this point, which wasn´t helped by the bus ¨enforcer¨ ( the guy that sits next to the driver and extorts money and or favors from passengers, and invariably refuses to speak more slowly) all of a sudden waving frantically and practically shoving us off the bus on the side of the road. Turns out we were somewhat near Otovalo, which is where we were hoping to go. Took another bus into the center, and realized... oh damn, Spencer´s new guitar was on the first bus, which was headed to Quito, and then south to Guayaquil. Had a couple moments soul searching - whether to just let it go, as we do with most posessions, and take the endless jokes from friends and family about yet another belonging that we absentmindedly left on a bench somewhere, or to take our destiny in our own hands and FIGHT! Chose the latter option and sprang into action- flagged down another bus going into Quito, and figuring that we were half an hour behind our original, started planning every last detail of our chase. The book was ever so helpful¨, saying ¨Quito´s Terminal Terrestre is unsafe at all hours, worst at night. Taxis are highly recommended, traveling with lugguage is asking for a shanking¨ well, I added the shanking part. But as night fell, and we chased, the oddly victorian-style tasseled decorations in the bus shook along with our knees. The moment we pulled in, I uncharacteristically had all of my stuff together, and we literally ran through 3 flights of stairs, 6 salidas (exits to departing buses) and several VERY armed guards, until one dear machine gun toting fellow took pity on our sweaty wild eyed selves and led us right up to the bus that amazingly, still had Spencer´s new guitar. WHEW! That was exciting. I think by keeping up a continually running pace we avoided getting stabbed. Hm.

After that, the supposedly crime ridden streets of Quito were nothin´. We wandered until Matt got back from Cuenca, and then just happily situated ourselves in his capable hands for 24 hours, hitting up a rain-drenched, crazed fan football match between Quito and Manta, and found the best whole wheat bread we´ve had all trip in his delightful neighboorhood. That and a YOGA studio! I´m so excited - yoga exists in South America, and not only that, the teacher there knew Gil, a teacher of ours in Boulder. Man it´s a small, flexible, lion-faced world.

Matt, however, had serious work to do reforming the Ecuadorian public health system, and we headed out to Mindo, a recommenation from MJ, with cloud forests, hiking, and butterfly gardens. Being us, we fell asleep on the bus, (or were too entranced by Lonesome Dove and Dune to notice) and overshot the town by about 2 hours. Didn´t help that the bus stopped for an hour in the dark, and then slowly, tippily, made its way though a LANDSLIDE. Lightning graced the scene every couple minutes, and I just used deep breathing to keep images of our bus crashing down the side of an Andean slope to stay calm. Got dropped off (sound familiar yet?) on the side of the road´, in a town. Didn´t know what town, but a town. Found a hotel, didn´t know what hotel, but a hotel, and passed out. This, mind you, was Valentines Day... Holly and Spencer style. The cockroaches in the bathroom really added a special note to the day! Next morning we managed to locate a bus back to Mindo, after first locating ourselves, and headed back for attempt #2. SO glad we did. Mindo is just a fantastic little mountain spot... and its a good thing we liked it... the power went out, the torrential rains hit, and out went all roads out. Spent a couple days just wandering around the town looking for people to talk to and tea (both of which we found!) and then finally got a bus out... intending to take the long route back to cotopaxi and the Quilotoa circuit, which was about 8 hours away.

BUT... life just ain´t simple. Long story short, at the mercy of the Ecuadorian bus system and our own conversational limitations, we ended up in the even-more-dangerous Ecuadorian Ipiales... only this place isn´t even on our guidebook map... Never. Never. Never go to Quevedo. Everyone we met asked us to please not go outside (in the middle of the day) because, and they mentioned this casually... we would be mugged. Or killed. Lovely. I pulled a trick out of my bag, and found a cab to take us to the ¨nicest hotel in town¨which turned out to be a hilariously run down wanna-be hilton, with an OLYMPIC sized swimming pool AND slides! We, and about 300 Quevedo kids, had a blast... as the sun was setting i was doing backstroke in the middle of StabTown, Ecuador.

And after a couple more buses through the night, we flopped down on the bed at some hostel here in Cuenca... all that mattered was that it had a bed. This morning, as we set off for a happy day of Cuenca sightseeing, I suggested to Spencer... ¨Hey, what do you think of coming up with a sort of plan for the next couple days, you know, just til we meet up with Brad and Kira?¨ He said...¨Yeah, we could try that...¨

Love, the HAPPY Bumblers.

Gallery: Quito- Mindo- Cuenca

spencerhoneyman — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:53:00 GMT

Gallery: Salento

spencerhoneyman — Mon, 9 Feb 2009 11:11:00 GMT

Gallery: Mongui

spencerhoneyman — Mon, 9 Feb 2009 11:07:00 GMT

Gallery: Cartagena

spencerhoneyman — Mon, 9 Feb 2009 10:42:00 GMT

Zoom ZOOM!

spencerhoneyman — Sun, 8 Feb 2009 09:59:00 GMT

Yoyoyoyo were in it. In the thicket, the briar bush, breathin in the spanish breathing out something that is almost starting to sound like real spanish. accordians and bus rides, epanadas and jungle swinging. Last post was in Taganga, we have since zipped outta the relative tranquility and are on the move. Found our way to the walled, afrikan-spanish-latino-flavored city of Cartagena. Bouganvilla Balconies, kick-ass door knockers, windy streets. Feels a lot like New Orleans really, new world port city. Cartagena was the fattest port in the New World back in its heydey. Now people rip you off at fruit stands and try to sell you drugs and hookers. I mean wow, if Holly and I didnt werent so into books and tea we could have a much different trip from what the local boys were trying to sell me (they tend to focus their sale efforts on the male). but overall, the old town is super beautiful and we spent most of the time wandering the streets and eating locals goodies. We survived the blazing heat (yes, its hot down here! no snow!) by sippin lemonade and taking dips into teal blue seas. slipped out to an island for a day trip. sooo, where are all the americans down here? we meet plenty of euros and israelis but us is so much closer and aint nobody here. too bad because, its beautiful and you actually dont get shot at everytime you leave the house like most people think (only between 3 and 4 am, but hey same goes in LA and NY). Random question, why in the hell is the caribbean so freaking salty?? ill give you a 2,000 pesos if you find out (thats a dollar).

From Cartagena we took the high-speed magnetic super train (otherwise known as little commuter bus playing incredibly violent and poorly made american thriller, action movies, such as Death Train the story of kung-fu gregorian monks strapped with uzis and rocket launchers who overcome the evil villains trying to destroy the world. great spanish practice) down to Medellin. Big-bootied Botero scultptures abound in Medellin. Crashed with Teresa, our super awesome long distance connection (dont ask how shes related) who put us up and gave us a first taste of decent wine since weve landed (p.s. we are totally spoiled by Boulder, CO and its delicious selection of local breweries, there is absolutely no good beer or wine here!). Medellin is a large, modern town complete with overland light-rail metro and public art.

So in Colombia you really dont have go in any stores to buy what you need. Everything from blow up swimming pools to batteries to used books are sold on the street in little carts around town. its crazy! you can bargain for most things. you go to a big city and the wealthy have imported eurpoean cars and then you see some guy on cart pulled by a horse selling his belts, hats, and coloring books (wtf?). huge income gap. construction is overflowing in every city- roads, infrastructure, high rises, you name it. Colombia is blowin up.

We reatreated from the big city on our way south to la Zona Cafetera. Coffe country. Big billowing skies and green rolling campesino hills. We find ourselves now in Salento at a kickass little rural hostel with a tiny kitten. (im pretty convinced holly is going to bust out said kitten about an hour into our bus ride away from here, look what i took along for the ride!) we hiked today up through a jungle to a hut serving hot chocolate and a block of cheese with humming bird feeders everywhere. so many different kinds! i guess humming birds love the cloud forest. from there we went up up away through a elvish pine forest and then descended in the land of giant palm trees (dont worry, i thought they only grew on the coast too) that jut out above the forest. so basically sick sick hike. but i must also ask, what kind of place is this? thats just too many things to be in one hike.

Although I am not a coffee drinker, I am in coffee country so I will drink some badass coffee for all of you tomorrow and let my thoughts bounce of the walls and Holly for a few hours. Watch out Salento.

We are picking up speed in hopes of meeting our homies Brad and Kira and Matty G down in Ecuador where we will power-up and combine forces of good and evil. More to come my friends, more to come indeed.

Farewell all,

Spence, el gringito

Gallery: Villa de Leiva

spencerhoneyman — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 13:47:00 GMT

Hammocks, Crocs, and Cocks

spencerhoneyman — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:51:00 GMT

Sorry if I offend anyone but I just couldn´t resist this title. Check the pics to find out why. ´Hammocks, Crocs, and Phallic Statues of Pre-Colonial Peoples´ just didn´t have the same ring to it!

Alright y´all, we are out of the nest. The hive. The mothership of Bogota. Shot into the nebulous country side of Colombia like a nitty girtty city motobike commuter. There are no bus stops here, just general places that buses troll the street side. Wow, we sure did pick the wrong seats to sit in on our ride North. I now conclude that it is much mo´ better to not sit directly behind the bus driver in Colombia. However, I must admit it is pretty entertaining watching the bus driver´s thoughts and every move ....´Yes, ok we´re sitting behind a big truck full of coal or potatoes, uh huh, ok 4 more cars ahead of that one...got it, long line of cars I see...coming up to a blind turn..no wait blind turn over a hill, hmm....should we pass!? Let me swerve a little and check... yep, looks good to me! yes, wait, maybe, honk honk, ok, OK, lets do this! we´re going GO lets go GO GO! here comes a puppy! screw it! we´re passing! YEA BUDDDY!! Woo WOOO!´ But hey, we made it. That is just how it goes down here in the big Colo.

We arrived a day or two ago in Villa de Leiva where the time passes slow, mostly because it take a long time to get anywhere on streets made out of big uneven stones. It´s an old colonial town with the standard church and plaza in the center and beautiful little casitas and alleys all around. After we said confession we headed out to our our Hostel, a little backpacking haven tucked up a kilometer or so outside town. Full of hammocks and and fellow travelers with entertaining stories galore.

Today, what Holly described as ´a very guy day´, was extremely awesome. The awesomeness commenced with a hike to the top of a waterfall through jungle, morphed into renting mountain bikes (horrible seat, hard to now sit in chair) and riding for 8 kilometers or so outside town to a site where some campesinos found giant, crocodile dinosaur fossils, then rode further to some Muisca ruins (pre-conquistadore peoples, i.e. the spanish called them names and killed them off) which had a hard-to-figure-out-how-it-worked but intriguing solar calendar of rock pillars as well as giant phali structures, then cruised backcountry style through farm fields and burning sun and lost turns, returning to the town center to EAT FOOD and chill. We are both very tired now. But as I said it was awesome. Great day. Hasta la heugo amigos,

Spence