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
