Coastal Columbia

Dive in Taganga: Old Fishing Village Equals SCUBA! (Days 1-3)

After 24 hrs en route and a dubious taxi ride solo, I reunite with Sharlene at our hotel in yet another country, Colombia!

Taganga!
Ex-fishing village turned laid back beach town

First meal: grilled fish, coconut rice, plantains and fresh Lulo juice (no clue what our equivalent would be, but it was tropical and delicious!)

Arepa man! You know I love my street food.

Happy 2015 on a Colombian Beach! Not a shabby beginning

SCUBA: the world down under

The main goal of these travel is to get SCUBA certified. After careful research, we went with Poseidon for PADI certification. I studied all Christmas break through PADI e-learning. Go figure on my first week out of the fall semester, I'm madly doing grades and taking an online course. After 5 units, quizzes and a final exam, I'm pleased to say I passed! I was a bad student just looking for answers and I think I skipped all the videos. Oops. The important thing is I'm alive and certified. We went with Poseidon Dive Center which was professional, though our instructor wasn't the best.

Three day SCUBA plan:

Day 1: learn about equipment, practice exercises in pool

Day 2: review quiz (whew, also passed with a 24/25!), out to the open waters! 2 dives at 12 meters

Day 3: 2 more open water dives at 18 meters

(All were half day plans so we had plenty of time to siesta and explore Taganga)  

SCUBA buddies

 I need to work on my buddy skills (sorry for losing you Sharlene!)

Thank goodness for some land time between open water dives

Everything about this open water course was intense. In fact, my friend joked that PADI is Pay And Dive Immediately. Yes, that's what we want! On the last day our goal was to not vomit. It was barely accomplished. We pressed on. The waters were crazy rough so it was hard to even do buddy checks at the surface. Oh, to not have salt water in my mouth, nose, ears and everywhere.  I need to work on my buddy and my neutral buoyancy skills. It's hard to stay neutral. SCUBA cert wasn't the most fun vacation activity, but also not the worst. It was no Nepal monsoon trek. Totally worth but nonetheless we were glad to be done. now I'm excited to put SCUBA on the table for future travels! Who's in?

Typical street and homes in Taganga

Tayrona National Park: where Colombians vacation (days 4-5)

We spent two days and one night in a hammock here. It's a gorgeous coastal section with beaches and jungle in the background. We hiked an hour into the park then another hour beach hopping. It was traffic time in the coast so there were lots of stops for passing people and horses.

Cabo San Juan Beach: the picturesque place on the cover of lonely planet

Sunset at our Beach: Arrecifes

It was a fitful night of sleep in my hammock #18 out of 24. I tried to readjust and not fall out. The howling wind, and maybe animals (?) didn't help either. I was willing for the sun to rise. We were on the trail at 6:30 AM. No one else was up. Score. Beat the morning rush hour traffic. No hoards of Colombian families.

To Pueblito

Hiking in a jungle to Pueblito

We did this fun, challenging uphill hike scrambling up, over and under boulders. One of the best things was we had the trail practically to ourselves. After making it to the top, we chilled with a lukewarm Gatorade for 15 min, noticed we were way too early for the activities which were probably crafts. No thanks, I'll pass. Though the trails were fairly clearly marked I managed to loop ourselves in a circle and head back up the mountain. Oops. Note, this is why I should never lead a hike or go solo, which I may have done before (shhhh!).

Climbing boulders. I know it doesn't look like it, but we really did need this rope to go over the edge

Pueblito with traditional houses and people

Tayrona park accomplished! We hiked ourselves two hours out of the park, getting only a little lost again. Then hopped on a shuttle to the local bus to Santa Marta. There, we accidentally walked towards the suburbs. Rerouting we finally made it to our posh hotel, the nicest of the trip. That was our prize for roughing it in the jungle 1.5 days. Man, am I getting soft?

Dichotomy:Hammock hostel in the jungle one night.
Posh hotel in the city of Santa Marta the next night.
Because that's how we roll.

Santa Marta 

Santa Marta is South America's oldest surviving city. Overall, we didn't explore Santa Marta too much as we were only there in the evening. We chilled, treated ourselves to a nice dinner on Plaza Nuevo, but no Ouzo that we planned because almost everyone takes Sunday off. Darn Sabbath interfering with our plans. Guess we can't get too upset. 

Catedral: supposedly Colombia's oldest church

Cartegena: Jewel of the Carribean Coast (Day 6-7)

After waking up at 6 am for no reason, we. had a nice chill breakfast and then chilled with our smartphones. Yes, I just might have become one of those peoples on this trip. Sigh, but hopefully that means you'll get pics faster.

It was a smooth transfer and only about 5 hours in total. Walking towards the hotel (not in circles or the wrong direction), my 6th bakery sense kicked in and I walked right into the panaderia to pick up scrumptious napolean buns for a snack. I knew I would like this town already.

Sharlene walking the wall at sunset, our first activity.

Snuck in on a model shot.

Iglesia de San Pedro Claver in its plaza. One of the many plazas in town.

Ceviche Peruvian Style at La Cevicheria

The last time I had this was in Puno, Peru. We ordered raw fish by accident at an unvetted restaurant but it was sooo good we couldn't stop eating.  This time I could enjoy with a peace of mind. No worries of food in Colombia, or at least none that we are aware of.

Plaza de la Aduana. Night time here is amazing. Lights galore from Christmas decorations.

 Our main goal of the next morning was to go to Mercado Barzuto. Lonely planet described it as "for adventurous souls only" and "an assault on all your senses." Sold. Must go there. Here's the convo I had with our hotel concierge.Me: where do you take the bus to Mercado Barzuto?
Man: Why do you want to go there? There are many people and only food.
Me: Because it is interesting.
Man: Be careful with your phone and camera.

He was definitely thinking "These crazy girls." Oh well, off we went! It actually wasn't that crazy and the fish made it smell like Chinatown. But we had success in that all our money and phones stayed on us.

Food at Mercado Barzuto

Fort: Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas

We hopped off the public bus at this fort to explore the underground tunnels. They were all right, and the fort was just OK. We zoomed through it pretty quickly.

Pastries! Bread and cheese. Yum! Note also the traditional water in a bag and postobon. All for under $2.

Grilled corn lady magically appears at night only. Thank goodness we found her again!

Picturesque street in Cartegena

Cartegena is a lovely, walkable town. We enjoyed exploring and eating. We had traditional food at La Muleta which we highly recommend. Good siesta times. Two days and one night was sufficient. Now we are off on a plane to Bogota!

Palacio de Inquisicion. Cartegena: cut!

Colombia and SCUBA at Last!

Colombia .... the country, not the University. It is often a point of confusion when it comes to me. In fact, when I took my first job out of grad school at Columbia University, my friend thought I meant Colombia the country because that seemed more probable than staying in NYC.

Why Colombia? For the past 3 years it has always made the top 3 list of places to go but never made the cut. Now I have a friend, Sofia, in Bogota that I met in Tibet. She showed me awesome pics and stories of her home country AND that Colombia is a great place to learn SCUBA. Done and done! Scuba is a big hole in my travels that I've been meaning to fill. It wasn't hard to convince Sharlene of this plan. So we both studied hard for our PADI certification over break and are off from our respective sides of the states to convene in Colombia tomorrow

Pics and stories to come. And I broke my rule of posting my last trip before I take off on the next one. Sorry, Tibet and Nepal pics are not finished. Life is crazy and I seem to travel more often now. Not a bad thing.

Eating through the Motherland in One Day

(Note Tibet and Nepal trek still to come!)

Guangzhou, my hometown

When I found out I had a 16 hour layover in Guangzhou (aka Canton) en route from Nepal to LAX, I thought, great! I'm going to town to eat! Now when people ask where my family is from in China, I usually give a generic "Village near Canton" because we are Cantonese. But when asked,  I realize that this response wouldn't fly here in actual Canton. Oops.

Ok, so after a 5:30 am arrival, there was much confusion at customs (of course), and I had to wait while they checked and double checked to see if I can be let in the country. Finally I am told that since my layover was more than 9 hrs, they'll give me a hotel room and I can get the free 1 day transit visa. Score. I check to make sure the hotel is metro accessible since I don't plan on spending my only day in Guangzhou in a hotel room. They assure me yes.  When I get to the hotel, I shower and want to leave. But I realize it's in the middle of nowhere suburbia! I didn't want to pay the $15 or whatever it was for a cab to the metro so after crossing many highways I finally find a public bus to the metro. Schlepping my small backpack with me I'm ready to eat!

So, I had no guide book for this city and only saved a few screen shots of neighborhoods and restaurants. I thought no worries, I'll have data on my phone at last. Except I forgot that Google or any standard search engine for that matter is blocked in China. So with no map, no direction, and no Chinese speaking ability, I failed for the first hour to navigate. But finally, determined I found bakeries and a local food neighborhood.

Noodle goodness for 7 yuan ($1)

I just went to the most popular stand with the locals and pointed to what they were eating. It didn't fail. By far the best thing I had here.

Meandering the side streets at lunch watching the locals. I think it was the fabric quarters.

More meandering. A rather calm city by China standards.

I managed to find a government hosted travelsite for Guangzhou which led me to...

Shopping district

With done extra time and yuan to spare, I gave a go at shopping. I scored at uniqlo of all places. Also bought a size large dress, because that's my size in Asia.

One day well spent in passing. I got tons of delicious baked goods (almond cookies, custard on-tots, Chinese rice crispies, sweet beef jerkey) two good meal, boba and dragonfruit smoothie. Overall, a great city to people watch and experience. Not touristy at all.

Up and Down and Up and Down and Back Up

Trekking in Nepal

I was back in Nepal for a week. My main goal: to trek. There were many routes but my non-negotiables were easy level and no 8 hours of driving to and from the trail and 5 days max. I met with Peter's son's nanny's "brother", Ram, who is a trek guide. Turns out they aren't really related. It's Nepal after all. He was vouched for so I felt safe going into the mountains alone with him.

Pre-trek warm-up

Peter, Sonya, Matteo, Sorin, Sofia and I went on a 4 hour hike to the top of a nature reserve. It was pretty intense.

Spectacular views of Kathmandu at the cost of two hours straight uphill hiking and leeches.

Day 1: Up into the mountains of Helambu

We decided on the Helambu trek which is suppose to be easy. If this is easy, I hate to see what medium or even difficult would be!

Near the trailhead, women dressed for a festival

Passing two small towns. A cell phone bodega was here. No more towns after.

Gorgeous views that came at a cost. Day 1: straight uphill.

Our first night was at a teahouse, basically a home with extra rooms. They cooked us a great meal in their kitchen with TV on in the background.

Day 2: Up and Down and Up and Down

I asked if today would be flat. Ram laughed and said "Nepal is with a "N". The N has no flat, it is just up and down and back up again." This was unfortunately so true.

Up

Random stupa

Lantang Park

I had to get a park pass for ~$20 USD and of course provide several of those precious passport sized photos.

River crossing, the tame one. Oh Monsoon season.

I vowed to never trek in monsoon season again. Inconveniences:

1. Crazy water crossings

2. Mudslides washing out trails and roads

3. Leeches galore!

The rivers got larger and the "bridges" only slightly sturdier. We took off shoes to get a better grip with our socks. Good thing I have balance from gymnastics and am not afraid of heights.

Roads and trails were washed out so Ram kept asking every house (which appeared every 30 minutes to an hour) the conditions. At around 6 pm, a family said we better stay with them as part of the trail ahead washed away. They can show us the alternate route when they leave in the morning. I told Ram I wanted to get to know the locals. So what better way than crashing with a family.

First homestay: the locals welcomed us into their one bedroom home.

We slept by 8 pm and woke up at 5 am, naturally with the sun. Amazing.

Traditional breakfast

I saw many similarities to Tibetan culture as we were up north near the border. There were the shrines and food.

Cost for homestay: $3 USD.

Day 3: Onward and upward

The locals set off, showing us the way.

Beautiful scenery with prayer flags

Kids walking to school in their sandals.

They can walk over an hour to school. Meanwhile I'm slipping and sliding everywhere in my hiking boots.

Impromptu waterfalls abound

Ram cruising with his umbrella.

Often I fell way behind, losing sight of Ram and getting lost. I think he underestimated my Nepal-trekking-in-monsoon skills. He kept himself entertained catching up on the phone with friend and family while strolling.

A legit bridge, thankfully! Good use of park fees.

To lunch. I asked where is our next stop. Ram would point straight ahead. Then I would look down and see a huge valley between us and there. I pulled out two energy bars. It's going to be awhile.

We always made it to lunch. Deliciously warm dahl baht and tea.

Entertaining the kid with my water bottle.

 

One of the few pics of me on the trek. Only smiling because I'm resting and fed.

While at lunch we heard loud noises like gunshots. No, Ram said that they are landslides, then proceeded to point out big chunks of the mountain fallen out. Lovely.

The afternoon trek up was rough. I ended up thigh high in mud and Ram was no where to be found. We kept going up then hitting dead-ends. Finally, Ram asked if I wanted to continue up (to a shower and stupa temple) or find another local home. Local home please. Best decision ever.

Our homestay farm.

The 15 year old girl who helped host.

We hit it off right away. She showed me her favorite youtube video and we practiced English. She is serious about her education.

Me, daughter and mom: They were super friendly!

Cost: $2 USD. I think I gave them $20 and told them to put it towards the girl's education.

Day 4: Back to civilization.

Mudslide about 4 cars wide. There goes the road.

Even though we were on the main "road" it was no easy walk. Two memorable things:

1. Crossing rushing water thigh-high deep. One slip and over the mountainside you go.

2. Leech on my face. How it got there I don't even know. My hood was on and we were nowhere near trees yet the leech weaseled it's way inside still. The sad thing was that leeches were the least of my concerns by day 4.

Timbu: a town!

One restaurant, one guesthouse, one store, one school, one post office and importantly a bus back to Kathmandu!

We had to crash one night here for fear of taking a late bus that would get stuck and us spending a night in a bus.

All my goods I carried in my backpack.

Day 5: To Kathmandu! 

6 hr bus drive.

Passing through a town.

Enjoying the water much better being dry inside an automobile.

Total cost of 5 day trek less than $150. Ram charged $20/day. It turns out he is supporting his two sons through college. Tuition is about $70/year and total costs including living expenses in the city less than $700 per year. I gave him a $30 tip which covers a semester of college tuition. Crazy, but great how I could directly help the locals with education.

Last few days in Kathmandu hanging with the family. It was so special to be invited into their home and so welcomed. Such a blessing when traveling solo. I had such a wonderful time with all of them.

Local farmers market followed by a picnic in the gardens. We could almost not be in Kathmandu.

Peter's younger brother, Ben, just arrived so Peter had fun showing us around.

Back to Patan for a festival. 

I thought this picture characterizes the richness of Nepali culture.

With that said, I had an absolutely amazing time here. Thanks so much to Peter, Sonya and the family and all the people here that made my stay unique and incredible.