Last full day in Medellin

 We had set aside three full days here in Medellin however we were both ready to move on last night.

We started the day by walking a couple of kilometers to a mall.  We had decided to get a Colombian cell phone number for our spare phone as I think we will be needing it for important calls when in Santa Marta. We had been warned to get the chip installed by a certified location so that is why we ended up at a Tigo store in the mall. It took 45 minutes from attaching ourselves to the back of the waiting line until we walked out with a government registered phone number (they recorded my passport). We got three weeks of service and 20 Gigs of data. All for $C 11.50! Great deal.

Next we made it to a metro station and road it north, getting off at the botanical gardens.The place was peaceful and beautiful but not many flowers.

After the gardens we were walking back to the metro when spotted a palleteria.  Yummy!

These palletas were similar to Hagen-Das in taste and texture.

After a short metro ride heading north I realized we were going in the wrong direction so we transferred to the other side of the tracks, getting off near the down town. We had heard that the downtown was chaotic however it took only a block of packed sidewalks, LOUD music from each little store and constant heavy traffic noises for us to get the heck out.

Caro had spotted a church from the metro so we headed off towards that building. Turns out it may have been a church in a previous life but now it was a museum. We chose not to go in. By now we were getting pretty turned off with all the drug addicts in the area and the many men sleeping on the sidewalks and in the parks. YUCK!

We were back at the hotel by about 3:30 PM and decided to chill out in our room.

For supper we wandered the 10-15 minutes to the restaurant area. I had wanted to try Colombian Chinese food so after a bit of searching we sat done at one. The food was "OK" but that was about the best we can say about it. The good thing was for two plates of food, a beer and a bottled water the total price was $C 13.50.

It was another beautiful night and we enjoyed the walk back.

Look up,Look way way up!

 

Today we took a full day trip to El Guatape. This massive rock and the surrounding area is a tourist mecca.

We were picked up at a nearby park at 0700 and after doing another pick up in the west part of the city we headed the two hour drive to Guatape (Gwa te pay).

Our first stop was the giant rock in the photo above. The stairs disappear in this photo about 3/4 of the way up. It is a 700 foot climb with much of the Up stairs seemingly hanging out over nothing. A little nerve wracking at times but by taking our time to catch our breath we got to the top for some magnificent views.

The lake is actually man made as it is a reservoir from a hydro electric plant. It is really wonderful to look at. It has been made into a boating,sea-dooing paradise.

Upon leaving the rock we headed to the local town where we had a walking tour. The town is extremely colourful and their "thing" is to have these special artworks on the outside of their homes or businesses. The artwork is a type of plaster/concrete that is actually a bit 3D. The following is a plaster of an actual woman who lived on the street where the artwork was made.

The image is actually protruding from the wall and is not just a flat mural painting. 

The above photo emphasis the colourfulness of the area and to the left of the house door at street level is an example of an individuals house panels. This one appears to be a back pack of some sort on a blue background.

After a great lunch (included in our $C42 ticket price each) we went for a boat ride on the reservoir. It was "OK" but not special to us.

The rock in the background. There is a tower built on top (which we went to the top of, of course!)

We arrived back to our pick up point by 5ish and after taking a break in our room we walked to the restaurant area and just had a light snack ( starter size empanadas).

Another busy day. We are both quite tired.

Two main tourist sites seen today

 Our hotel supplied breakfast was wonderful (best breakfast so far on this trip)

Our first visit was to Arvi Park. We caught a cab to the nearest metro station (Poblano). From there our ticket took us all the way to the north part of the city and then we transferred (on the same ticket) to one of the numerous cable cars (sky tram) that the city has made for the many barrios located WAY up on the mountain sides all around the valley here.

When we were about 3/4 way up the mountain we had to transfer to another cable car which was separately priced (much higher too) because this car only went to the park at the top.

It is hard to believe people living that high up (and of course in these countries the higher up the mountain, the poorer the people are).

About twenty minutes or so of cable car riding brought us to the park. My cell phone app shows a difference in height from valley floor to top at 3000 feet.

We walked many of the trails, some of them through dense forest and many with a width of barely 1/2 metre.

After a couple of hours we headed back down. 

Our next stop after another metro ride was the station closest to commune 13 (incidently the metro is all above ground here and is usually elevated). This is a community at the top of a mountain on the west side of the city. Thirty years ago it was one of the most dangerous locations in the world because of Pablo Escobar's drug wars. Now it is a "must see" tourist site and goodness knows, today, being Sunday, it was packed (mostly Colombians).

We got off the metro at the last stop on that line and waiting outside were many tourist guides. We chose a fellow who spoke English and together with a couple from USA we took a city bus UP narrow winding streets (and they were busy as well).

The guide (Fercho) then took us walking to the many murals painted on the retaining walls in the area. These murals are the reason for this area being famous,

It was difficult at times to walk in the very busy narrow streets (that seem to hang on to the edge of the mountain). There were even people riding motor bikes and really this is their home and everyone is walking on these narrow streets, not sidewalks; there aren't any of those!

Some beautiful views of the city.

Upon returning to our area we went back to the restaurant we visited yesterday for more Colombian food. This time we split an order and we were still full!

Tonight I am watching the football game.

Colombia

We were up early and after another great hotel supplied breakfast we were ready to go.

"Our guy" Eduardo picked us up at 8:15 and took us the 30 minute drive to the airport. We arrived with three hours to spare (for the international flight). The COPA airlines people asked if we had the electronic entry form for Colombia which we didn't because the website kept going in a loop for me when I was trying to do things while still in Canada. I had given up on it.

The COPA lady was wonderful, even using her own phone, to help us get the $@*## forms completed. Even she had trouble.

So frustrating!

The flight was good and I think we had upgraded seats as we had lots of leg room.

There are farms at the tops of these mountains. Flying into Medellin we  went over this huge city before looping south and landing on the east side in the next valley over (I think).

Immigration was a disaster taking over an hour. Apparently this is a well known problem. One person in the line told us that in the past he has waited two hours to clear.

We had to get some Colombian pesos for the taxi so I went to the foreign exchange and royally raped by the exchange rate (8.5% loss in exchange-good thing I only wanted $40 USD worth of pesos)

The road going into the city goes through an eight kilometre long tunnel before exiting to a breathtaking view of the city. WOW. Unfortunately we didn't have our cell phones ready. Too bad!

Our hotel is nice and after getting settled in we asked the hotel people for some good Colombian style restaurants within walking distance (the hotel restaurant is Italian).

Before getting to the restaurant we stopped at a grocery store cash machine where I was able to get Colombian pesos from my ATB chequing account. Big relief on my part as I was getting worried that things might go wrong and we would be in trouble cash-wise

We are about 10 minutes walk from a huge restaurant and bar area and we went to the place recommneded to us. We ate a massive amount of food and couldn't finish it. We have decided that,while here, we will order one plate of food and order more if necessary.

Our friend Mary had said Colombia was inexpensive and so far it is. Tonights meal (including one beer and a sangria) was $C33. I can live with that!

We booked our flights to Santa Marta for Wednesday afternoon ($79 USD each).

We are going to stay in the city tomorrow instead of as full day tour to a place outside of the city as our stomachs are still not right yet.

Final Day in Panama City

 After our hotel breakfast we headed out to the metro, this time heading south to the original site of Panama City. After getting off the subway we grabbed a cab heading to the ruins ($6 USD). The original city of Panama was established in the early 1500's but was destroyed by the privateer Henry Morgan in 1671. Not much left of it now. The museum was nice (full of information) but the ruins are sparse. We were there about an hour I think.

We took another cab to a metro station not far away from the first one but strangely the fare was only $3 USD LOL  Ripped off earlier by a cabbie!

We took the metro all the way north to Albrook mall where we took another taxi to the Metropolitan Natural Park; a beautiful nature preserve with a few hiking paths in the jungle (located on a small mountain). We saw turtles, agoutis, a sloth, some monkeys and a coati.

According to Caro's watch we climbed the equivalent of over 70 floors in our day (most of those floors on those hiking trails!

We got another cabbie at the park with the idea that we would go back to Albrook mall and get the metro back here but the fellow was very persuasive and strongly suggested we go out to the  Amador causeway. I am glad we did. It was a beautiful drive out and the views of the city are stunning. We had a wonderful late afternoon meal and the driver waited for us as we were using him to return to our hotel and tomorrow morning's trip to the airport.

Tonight Caro used the jacuzzi while I stayed in the room.

The Miraflores Locks

 Another restful night. This hotel is great!

After our breakfast (included in price) we walked the ten minutes to the metro station (Iglesia del Carmen) and went to Albrook mall which is at the end of the line, The mall is huge and is connected to both the metro and a busy bus station.

From there we got a cab to Miraflores canal locks.

We should checked out the best time to see ships going through as when we arrived the east bound ships had come through already and the west bound ships weren't due for 4 hours. Sigh, oh well! We watched a 45 minute Imax show in the theatre there and because the museum was closed (darn!) we had to kill almost 3 hours of time.

Shortly befor 2 P.M. the first west bound ships arrived. 

The next grouping was a trimaran sailboat with 2 other monohauls strapped to it for passage purposes. Behind those sailboats was a Winstar Cruises Tall ship.

We watched another big cargo ship go through and left. 

Our cab ride earlier was only $6 USD so I was thinking we would grab a cab back to the mall (and the metro) however the local bus service happened to pull up just then so for 25 cents each we took the bus!

At Albrook mall we decided to have an early supper at one of their two huge food courts. We chose caribbean food and again (like last night) the portions were huge (only this time we were paid $15 USD instead of $50 USD last night). We left food behind but it didn't hurt so bad!

A 35 cent (each) subway ride back near the hotel and we were soon in our air conditioned room (after visitng a couple outlet mall stores nearby).

Our four night hotel  stay in Medellin has been booked and we will be there starting Saturday night

Panama City

 After an awesome night of sleep we went down to our free breakfast. I have to be careful when eating because my guts are not right!

Later- and they still aren't///Darn it;   however we took the opportunity to go on the metro to go to the old part of town. It was a bit of a walk but I am glad we did it as I wanted to see the area in our short time here (we also got familiar with the metro).

Photo taken from the old part of town looking southward. There are some amazing buildings here

In the distance is the bridge of the Americas over the Panama canal.

It is 31 degrees today with 100% humidity (MUGGY). Because I am not well I seemed to have a harder time then normal.

By 2:30 PM we were back at our air conditioned hotel room and my cell phone shows over 10,000 steps.

Today we booked an air bnb in Santa Marta Colombia, arriving on Feb 1 and leaving Feb 14th. After that, a couple days in Bogota and then back home.

Later-We walked down the street aways and found a wonderful restaurant. We ordered a regular meal each (Cod for Caro and chicken Milanese for me. The food was incredible but was WAY too much. We each couldn't eat our meal and it was a shame to waste it but we didn't want to overeat. 

I seem to be doing much better so if all is well tomorrow we are going to the Miraflores canal locks.

   

Panama City

Thanks everyone for the birthday greetings!!! 

We spent a couple of hours just vegging around the hotel and walking in the downtown area.

One thing I wanted to show was our bedroom door 

This has no glass in it and there are a couple of lockable shutters on the inside of these doors. The reason for no glass is because the room has no windows so the only way to get air circulation is to open the shutter doors and air flows into the room through the outside door.

Caro saw the palace changing of the guard at noon.

"Our Guy" Jaime took us to the airport quite early and we had 4 hours until our flight to Panama City.

We arrived at 8:30 PM and it took an hour to get immigration etc. completed.

Our hotel is nice so far (and the airconditioning works (31 degrees today)

Last full day in Quito

 After three full days of 12 hour tours we decided today was a day to recoup our energy.

We were on-line this morning getting hotel rooms for Panama City booked starting tomorrow night (for four nights).

While on-line I attempted to find out how high the zipline was above the river (for yesterday). The best I could come up with was about 500 feet. Caro mentioned tonight that she felt bad for laughing at my predicament yesterday (you know, close to dying, terrifying, praying the zipline doesn't snap etc- my goodness but she is an evil woman LOL).

We walked the streets of the historical part of the city (our area) for a while.

After a quick chat with the hotel desk clerk for ideas on where to go we grabbed a taxi to another part of the city to a famous bakery/restaurant. Caro had a wonderful empanada while I had an Ecuadorian pizza (MEHH!)

With plenty of time still we took a short cab ride to Carolina Park which is a large mid city spot containing botanical gardens and numerous places for sports or just lazing around. The most interesting part there was the wonderful buildings located along the east side of the park.

About 5:30 we headed out to a recommended restaurant nearby called Casa Los Geranios and there we celebrated my 65th birthday (one day early). We ordered Argentinian Malbec wine  followed by traditional Ecuadorian food. An Excellent meal. 

 All in all it was a wonderful last day in Quito- a city that upon arrival we were feeling disappointed but now we are extremely happy with our time here.

Nerves of Steel Part 2

 Well I almost made it back but I didn't. I slowed down again and as I couldn't lift my head up (really not sure why) I didn't see them throwing a rope for me to catch.

Well I stopped short then started sliding backwards towards the middle and there I floated 10,000 FEET ABOVE THE RIVER. I didn't panic (I couldn't do anything anyway) so I looked at the river and the valley until I was pulled back up by my rescuer. I had no idea how they rescued me or anything until I saw the video. The fellow never said a word to me and I couldn't look up to see. I really don't know if I was there for five minutes or ten.

The rescuer is heading out to me. I am the far left orange "blob"

Here the rescuer is almost to me

This  is my first attempt to come in before I slipped backwards

This photo indicates more happiness than I felt LOL.

I am really not too sure of future zipline adventures!

Next we went to the Devils Face Falls. We had to walk down to the river and then up the other side to the base of the falls. It was a long way down.

By the time we got to the base of the falls we were wearing our rain ponchos (much needed by then as this part of Ecuador is the beginning of the Amazon Rain Forest.

Getting behind these falls required our superior spelunking skills (going into caves) which of course we have none! For a short while we were on our hands and knees (in our ponchos) occasionally bashing our heads against the roof as we navigated the relatively short passageway. 

The climb out took all of my remaining energy and I was definitely the slow donkey on that hike.

We stopped in town and purchased some local taffy-like candy. It reminded me of the small red and black wrapped candies we used to get (as kids) on Halloween.

We also stopped at a special town where Jaime treated us to a famous fruit flavoured ice cream (think fudge sickles but a hundred time better)

It rained on the way home and we arrived at 730 PM

Nerves of Steel. Body of old man!

 This is the second attempt at this blog post. This is part 1

Jaime picked us up at 0700 and we were on our way to Banos (Ban yos). We treavelled the same road as yesterday for about 90 minutes before heading east up into the mountains.

We travelled through some indigenious towns. The women wear beautiful traditional clothes.

The fruits and flowers that could be purchased at roadside locations were fantastic and Caro purchased a few kinds of fruit. Incidently 24 roses could be purchased for one dollar.

We saw huge amounts of sugar cane and later in the day we were able to watch some being crushed and then we purchased some. It tastes wonderful.

The scenery in these mountains is spectacular (the same as yesterday.

First major stop of the day was a cable car across the river valley. After a bit of nerves we enjoyed the ride back and forth.

The photos are slightly out of order but I can't figure out how to rearrange them tonight.AARRGGHH

Immediately after finishing on the cable car we drove down the road a very short way to one of the numerous ziplines here (this town is very well known as an adventure style vacation location).

For $10USD each we decided (with "some" trepidation) to "go for it"

Suiting up in all the safety gear went smoothly.Cameras and anything else that could fall off a person were placed in zippered pockets. Eye glasses had string attached to hold them on. We were instructed on what to do and then (starting with Jaime,then Caro,then me) we were loaded like a flying Superman for our individual trips (both directions).

Soon it was my turn (gulp).Off I went ,sort of enjoying the view at (maybe) 10,000 FEET ABOVE THE RIVER. OK only a few hundred meters ( I am not sure and couldn't find out from the internet tonight)

I was slowing down too soon at the far end and they had to throw a rope for me to catch and then I was pulled in.

Going back I was again the final one. Now I am a pro at this and it should be good.Right??

Go to part 2 of todays blog.

Quilotoa volcano

 Today we went on a 12 hour excursion (0730 to 1930 hrs) with a small group tour company. 

Pick up went  smoothly and soon we were driving the long length of Quito before entering the countryside southbound on the Pan American highway. We were fortunate to see Cotopaxi volcano in the distance and it is continuing an eruption that began four months ago. We couldn't get a decent photo from the bus however tomorrow we are going past it again. Fingers crossed.

Once we got off the main highway we switch-backed UPPP into the mountains,eventually arriving at a very high plateau. 

I am not exaggerating when I say this drive through the highlands is one of the best drives we have ever been on. Simply breathtaking! Every corner we went around had amazing scenery. We were about 14000 feet and there were villages along the way and fields that stretched all the way up some of the mountains. So many photographic locations.

When we were getting close to the volcano the driver stopped at a very small tourist store ("Come on in and buy some souvenirs"). The guide brought out small samples of a local moonshine product called "Canelazo". It was pretty good.

We were in a double decker bus and this time the guide told us that whoever wanted to ride up top could do so so I quickly added a layer of clothing and up Caro and I went (with just about all 14 tour guests coming up as well).

It took me 10 seconds of driving to realize I was greatly underdressed!   BRRRR

Ten minutes later we were at another stop so I layered up more and put my tuque on.

It is a bit hard to tell in this photo but in the middle is a gorge cut through the lava and pyroclastic flow from the volcano's last eruption 1800 years ago.

The lake in the caldera of this volcano is stunning. The photo don't do it justice at all.

It is five kilometers wide and has a trail down to the bottom. Unfortunately there are also horses to bring people back because at this altitude (12,746 feet down to the lake at 11542 feet) some people cant get back  on their own (and the cost for the horse ride is $10 so it isn't a big problem for tourists).

We walked down a little ways before turning back because there was getting to be more horse poop. Of course there was a photo op with an alpaca, Too beautiful to pass up that!

Upon returning to the top Caro bought some street food which she had wanted too before so she didn't pass up the opportunity this time.

This is a white corn roasted over charcoal and smothered in cheese and mayo.

I had a taste and enjoyed it too.

Later we ate at the restaurant the guide took us to and we each had Ecuadorian food  and fruit juice.

We had to wait a long time as part of the trip includes sufficient time for those who wish to walk to the lake snd back (2 1/2 hours).

The fog came over the lake about 2 P.M. but that didn't impact us. Our three hour drive back was foggy and rainy pretty much all the way.

Another wonderful day

Below are three close up photos of some flowers I liked. They are not that big (an inch or or so),