Loooooong time not seen you here, sorry: we have been BUSY.
Cause a new travel idea came up whilst sunning at our swimmingpool.
Ohyes, we still are due with some info of our last 2 months in Colombia (May-June) before we fly back to where our Katamarano (hopefully) is still waiting.
Medellin with lots of attractions (and less crime than you might think, thank you ex President Uribe), the western coast (not so nice, but with the sun), again Cartagena (for renewal of our car papers AND Sail 2010 Cartagena), the northern coast (with nice wild beach and jungle in NP Tayrona), and downsouth again via a one man’s theaterplay El Libertador (featuring Simon Bolivar’s decline from fame after he managed around the 1800’s to kick out the occupying armies with a fistful of farmers), and on to Bogota with its SPLENDID Museo de Oro (also very nice ones in Cartagena and Santa Marta).
Add some near-colonial or other small nice villages enroute, a near-by Ciudad Perdida (not visited cause not so near: 5 days jungletrek), a near-shooting (very near indeed, 1 meter in front of the car) by 6 policemen on motorbikes capturing in full view 2 gangsters (sorry no picture available, it was so swiftly done, these guys are well trained indeed!), a near-confrontation with Ford (again!) for defective airco and ruined frontbrakes after 15.000 km, a cute monkey I would have engaged as near-copilote if it had not been so lazy, a near-drowning in the turbulent waves upnorth, and a near-perfect but splendid picture from the topfloor of a luxury flat of sailing clippers entering Cartagena’s SAIL event, and you’ll realize it was worthwhile and not so boringas readers might think of this trip we, poor worldtravellers undertake.
Luckily we had been spared from the lousy Flemish French Brussels political scene (it is all theater, isn’t it), and even when our campingcar got quite some attraction, Belgium and Brussels obviously is still off-the-map for many worldcitizens.
Also off-the-map is –to us, Europeans- the north and especially the east of the south, if you catch what I mean.
Take a good Atlas for the overview of South America. We start in the town of Colombia’s new President Santosto head northeast –via the mango-laden fruittrees into:
Venezuela -in spite of Hugo’s little war-game - offers cheap cheaper cheapest oil,lonely (except on Weekends) but apparently lovely lovelier loveliest national parksand busy (except on weekdays off-season) busier busiest beaches, the high higher highest Angel Falls (the highest of the world continuously plummeting +950m down), its ever and quickly growing crime scene and decreasing value-for-money, in short : 1 attraction.
Still in your Atlas? Move a bit south, point to Boa Vista. It seems there IS a road down to Manaus on the Amazone river, Brazil. However, we try to move off the +- decent roads into jungle-clad and Caribbean-styled Guyana, then move on to congratulate Suriname’s new President, and if luck is with us the next riverferry should ‘safely’ bring us from old Dutch territory … into …la douce France. We’ll try to visit Papillon’s prison, and assist this newly planned satellite launch in Kourou around 15.10. Another rivercrossing should bring us straight into Brazil, for a horror-road of 600km to again a ferrypromising a SUPERB trip to Belem ( 40 hours of no comfort, lots of mosquitos and worse, lousy food, but what a splendid trip on the Amazona’s nicest parts, surfing at 1 point a 7 m high wakewhere the Atlantic tries to win against the outflowing Amazone). In 1 word: Adventure with capital A for 1 of the very first campingcars to pass in that area, AND super Pictures guaranteed, long live Panasonic (both with capital P)!
If we survive this (dengue, malaria, not to mention yellow fever, green-orange poisonous snakes, unimaginable Caribbean fiestas, real French croissants,the one and only European satellitelaunch, and the attacking local Amerindians and piranhas), then we head straight to relax at the world’s most attractive beaches (so it seems, not only for the Brazilian girls of Sao Paolo)or to the old monks of Olinda (yes, ex-Netherlands) before heading inland to Brasilia and slowly move to Rio’s Cristo Redemtor.
By then our Portuguese should be up and running & the rainy season should start, so we head to some more fantastic falls of Iguacu, and Buenos Aires before 25.12 ( hopefully well after the noise, glitter& glamour of Paris-Dakar), to see and wait… for others to join us maybe.
For indeed, ….
we launched a new idea
Should you feel enthused, why not close now your Atlas and start dreaming… the real thing live, with us! When you have some time, some good campingcar, and some longwaiting longing for USHUAIA, this is your chance. Not afraid to follow our mobilhome with yours?
You might still catch the monthly Grimaldi ferry from Antwerp to Buenos Aires and join us, we’ll make it our pleasure to be your company.
JOIN US from 1.1.11 in Buenos Aires for any of the following parts in our southamerican trip.
-from BA onto Ushuaia &the BLUE GLACIERS of S-Chile in 3 months till 15.3.11
Theaustralsummer will see us in Patagonia/ Terre du Feu & USHUAIA, then we climb up west & north to Bariloche via the worldfamous blue glaciers (( from here you can ship home via Buenos Aires else continue, or if you only arrive then, JOIN US!!)
- from N-Argentina/Chile to Potosi (silvermines via thedesert &salar) to famous Machu Pichu in 3 monthstill 15 a 30.6.11 (maybe via the (salt)deserts of the ATACAMA & SALAR and why not the PANTANAL (the last wild jaguars) !!!( from here you can ship home via Buenos Aires, else JOIN USfrom September on!!)
- to Ecuador/ Colombia in 3 months ,from15.9.11 till 15 a 25.12.11 ((here you can easily ship to Panama & the USA, else JOIN us!!) (NO drivingjuly/august)
=from Ecuador/ Colombiain 3 months to Paraguay, from10.1.12 till end .4.12
A gainwe move, now SOUTH into Bolivia via Machu Pichu, then the saltdeserts of theSALAR , and late MAY in time (off rainy season) for the last real wild JAGUARS of the PANTANAL, then return to Europe!!! Unless you’d care tofollow us and ship to Oceania!!
Still nosing in that Atlas for what kind of mighty adventures will wait there, also for …you???
Surf to Grimaldi and book that ferry than, now!
Ciao from Belgium, soon South America (where they also say ciao, but write CHAU)
NB just for the record:
-In 2009-2010 we have seen a number of Presidents go, and new ones installed in several countries enroute (USA, Costa Rica & Colombia)
-Equally 2010 will be the year of big festivities in some countries celebrating 200 year of Independence (Mexico, Brazil, Colombia to name a few)
-In 2009-2010 we drove +60.000km, for + 250gig of not too bad pictures.
North /South of the Equator: more of the same but different Volcanos and Playas, Colon and Pizzaro, Mayas and Incas
From Central into South Americas is but a few km, but very expensive ones (see previous blog), and here a few things change (considerably) while others remain. One eager cruel conquistador replaces the other harsh discoverer, one playa gives even more “bounty”-feeling than the other, one great ancient culture is integrated/overpowered by the other to be destroyed by los Conquistadores ( around 1550’s give or take a few years): from 26 million in 1520 till 1 million in just under 80 years ( in the Andes alone from 3,5 to 0,6 million in 103 years) in exchange for a mere 185.000kg of gold and16 million kg of silver – and that is only counting the shipments from 1 port to Spain over some 150 years- .Of course in easily manageable bars instead of the artistic jewels of Incas and mayas (20% of which to the Spanish Crown to pay for its expansionist wars, an estimated 10% lost to the pirates, maybe 1/50th saved for future generations in 1 of the many splendid Museo de Oro).
Whereas Colombia is richer (monthly minimum 150$ so especially in cities all members of the family have several “jobs”, but quite a few manage to earn+3000$ enabling them to drive newest cars, buy houses/flats at European prices in the capital, in Cartagena or in Medellin else Cali, and can afford to send the children to very expensive private colegios and universities), also Ecuador is rich: in people’s charm, smiles and traditions, where the presidential guard wears its traditional uniform, where entire villages closely cooperate at the daily fishcatch, where cows are used –not buffalos- to plough in the rich volcano’s stratum, where ponchos are more than useful to cope with rain and cold, where bananaleaves still serve as umbrellas to the indigenas. Imagine on top some cascades, green nature, ancient culture (pre-Inca sites, great Gold Museum + Antropology with real shrunken heads from amazonas-indias in Cuenca). The friendliness of the colorful indigenas with flatter rounder panama hats (yes, the panama-hat originates here)… and much cheaper living make me recommending anyone keen to go to Costa Rica to think not 2x but 100x, and opt for beautiful Ecuador to visit Quito (1 of the highest capitals, colonial and cosy, surrounded by mountains, and laid-in with gold in its many colonial churches), 6.260 m high Chimboroza volcano with an all-year round snowcap and at the same time the one farthest away from the centre of the earth (we drove around scoring our hit of 4.407m of altitude), the Equator-signs (as in Tanzania, we were again at L 0.00), plus some small pre-Inca/ inca sites. Food is very inexpensive, even in a top restaurant we were agreeably surprised, and the maracuya-jugos are fabulously rico.
Enjoy nature including playas (maybe a bit less attractive but then still unspoiled), whitewater rafting, canopying , thermals, cascades etc. ( maybe a bit less tucans or other colorful (humming)birds), butalso the first lama and vicuna’s, and our first corrida with the son of famous El Cordobes and 8 torros resulting for 4 of the best torreadores in 1 ear 3x, and 1x the exceptional tail awarded by a very enthusiastic crowd and serious President of the Jury, accompanied by his own small band to announce all the hits. To compensate for this cruel ‘art’ we also visited the AMAZOONICO wildlife refuge ( with some woolly’s, capybara, jaguarundi and more exotic tapirs), in , of course, the real Amazonas (with lots of rain floods over/under/aside from the “roads”). All of this resulting in 2500 pictures, and even after a thorough selection still leaving us with 777 nice) shots. Not bad for 2 weeks.
But also Colombia is nice, though a 40% less inexpensive, and with tollroads everywhere ( 1$/10km, also for the Panamericana). In the mountain around the fertile volcanos we met quite a few of the last indigenas with typical clothing and hats in all colors and sizes, including the typical tiroler hat (green, yes, and with a plume) or the flat bowlerhat in white, with 1 or 2 dangling “pompons”. Many many fruits unknown in cold Europe (maracuya, curuba, borrogo, zapote), ricefields (and yet this is not Bali?Java, Vietnam nor India), sugarcane idem as in Cuba, a lot of coffeeplants and cacao (and apparently still tons of coca despite Uriben’s tough military-style control and countermeasures (Colombia IS safe now to tourists!). And still some very original indigenas i.a. in Silvia: with their kind of bowler hat, scotishlike (but unicoloured azul) kneehigh skirts the men can pose as stand-ins for Chaply, whereas also the women wear similar hats, similar colors, and similar Charly-like smiling faces. They arrive to their vegetable-market in Pakistan-colored bus/freighters of the 50’s.
From there it is but 120 km to the other main North-South valley descending into Bogota DC, but it takes us 4 hours (apparently buses count 7 hours for the same “off”road) to get to the 5000 year old tombs and monoliths in San Agustin. And we ain’t seen it all yet: on the nice road to the one-and-only Desierto de Tatacoa we should have to wait ½ day cause of … floods!
Almost 900 km upnorth, after negotiating Bogota D.C. we meet el Libertador, the father of the revoluciones de los Sur Americas, where el Senor Simon Bolivar succeeded in 1819 to once and for all defeat the Spanish army, thus liberating Venezuela, Peru, Colombia (then still containing Panama), Bolivia and Ecuador.
Time to relax in white-painted and rain-washed Villa de Leyva, touristy cause weekend, before visiting Tunja’s churches and palacios, the first to be built by the colonials, and still actively proud (with a bit of help from Senor Nestor, the very communicative director of Boyaca Tourism), and 150 km west in Zipaquira, for the 2nd Catedral de Sal (blackgreyish saltblocks hewn in the mine, with colorful lights to create that special atmosphere).
A few hours later we meet our friends in Bogota: 8 (now 9) year old Manuelita, and her parents Ana Karina and Mauricio who were so bewildered by the Katamarano in their Cartagena Eastern weekend, that they invited us over and helped us clear the path for the same Katamarano to be OK-ed by the Aduana to exceptionally overstay in Colombia, awaiting our return for the big tour Venezuela-Brasil-Argentina-Uruguay-Paraguay-Chile-Peru-Bolivia later on this year.
