Diá quatro, Bogotá to Bucaramanga
¡Buenos dias! I'm up bright and early for my bus. I don't want to brag but I'm a bit of a bus pro after lots of them in Argentina and megabuses to Glasgow.
The bus is pretty nice, air con coach and comfy seats. This is where I was lulled or quite frankly conned into a false sense of security. This is how my journey roughly went...
7.30am Woohoo I'm leaving Bogotá.
8.30am Wow there's so many hills this is so pretty - Struggles trying to take photo on 70mph bus.
9am Yawn, I'll have a snooze - Gets out inflatable pillow, earplugs, eyemask (ahem bus pro)
10.15am Wakes up head smashing against the window. Cloth bag with picnic in (bus PRO) on the other side of the bus.
10.16am Lean over to get said bag, a sharp turn and comedically fall into the aisle and shout an expletive.
10.17am Woah the scenery is stunning but the roads are so windy and this bus is going fast.
10.18am Ugh I feel queasy, think I'll put my eye mask back on.
10.30am I'm gonna be sick. I'm gonna be sick. Don't be sick.
10.50am So. Many. Turns. May be sick any moment.
11.30am I AM GOING TO VOMIT EVERYWHERE.
11.30am - 5pm repeat above 3 entries.
By the time I got to my hostel I was a mess, luckily I didn't throw up though a girl near me did. What made it more annoying was I didn't want to go to Bucaramanga - I wanted to go to San Gil, but the receptionist at my last hostel told me I couldn't go straight there I had to go to Buca then back. A total lie as my bus stopped loads including San Gil, he'd probably drop me off in Rio if I'd asked. It was the equivalent of telling someone if they wanted to go from London to Manchester they needed to stop off in Edinburgh first. Ooft. My hostel was pretty empty and I had a 6 person dorm to myself so at least got some rest.
Diá cinco, Bucaramanga
So the only thing I wanted to do here was go to Chicamocha canyon and of course it's closed for maintenance. I'm beginning to think people are just winding me up, how can you close a canyon?! Most advice isn't to stop in Buca (what the cool kids call it) as nowt much there but I actually liked it after Bogotá, far nicer/safer/greener/hotter/smaller. But I didn't want to hang out in a city so the hostel lady said to go to La Careja, some little mountain walk... Slight sweat on as it's not in the Lonely Planet! Rebel innit. It took me forever to find the local bus as I'd be daft to think there was a bus stop. There's no stops, you just tell the driver when you want to get off. Hmm. The route was spectacular, so green and high, my ears popped lots. I missed my stop but luckily only by a few so just waited until it turned round. I was expecting lots of tourists. I came across nada. The route was paved and I started storming up it until I realised the altitude was pretty high and made me feel dizzy so I took it a bit slower, and took in the view. It was INSANE. The best way I can describe it was like that scene in Jurassic Park where they arrive in the helicopter in awe... Without the dinosaurs obvs. It was a sea of rolling hills and mountains for miles with odd houses scattered. For the first time on my trip I thought, I cannot believe I'm here.... and not in a terrified way!
As I waited on the road for the bus back, one came past, earlier than the guy had said but he stopped for me, "Para Bucaramanga?" "Si" So I jump on and then noticed the bus had 5 people on and the rest of the bus behind us (about 10 rows) was full to the ceiling of potatoes. For the next half an hour he we pick no one else up and it suddenly hits me. "Oh. Bollocks. Have I accidentally hitch hiked in a potato van?!" The way back he dropped off several huge bags of potatoes to some villages. When I got off with a few other teenagers I offered him 3000 pesos and he gave me back 1000, the way there was 4000 so I saved myself 2000 pesos and more importantly I RODE A POTATO BUS. Hell yeah. That's about 60p by the way, hey every penny counts and all that.
Back at the hostel I meet a few nice people but this place is way to hippy/cool for me. Y'know people wearing rags round their heads and those huge baggy trousers/skirts that aren't flattering anyone. One bloke had half a beard- one half of his face was clean shaven and the other a big bushy beard. Watch out Shoreditch, I've seen it here first!
Día seis, Buca to San Gil
Time to go to San Gil where I wanted to go in the flipping first place. So I get on the 6.30am bus/coach. And how this happened I don't know (bear in mind it's part of the same vom-inducing route here) I got cosy and woke up at 9.30am and of course I've missed my stop. Gaghh. After I flapped about, the bus driver basically told me to chill and at the next bus station in Socorro (15 miles/20k away) he got off and spoke to a few people (lots of ah gringo aka this British lass is a moron) and before I know it I'm on a bus back to San Gil and I don't have to pay anymore. Brillo pad! So my stupidity resulted in some Colombian kindness. That was the plan all along btw.
San Gil is a nice little town where you can do lots of adventure sports and a few other things. After my hectic morning I decide to go and see a waterfall. I manage to get a local bus and, get this, get off at the right stop! The hike is pretty easy, a very pretty cobbled path and you guessed it beautiful scenery. There are also lots of weird and wonderful insects including some huge beetles here that apparently you can eat though I'll wait until I see them in a cafe before I start thinking I'm on "I'm a Celeb". The waterfall itself is nothing amazing but pretty and the water is so shallow you can walk through the river and I clambered around the rocks for some pictures.
At the hostel, I meet lots of people hurrah! Well I say people, it was a sausage fest, me and 10 boys. Most from English speaking countries- Oz, America, UK.. All a good laugh so we all stayed up drinking beers and chatting.
Día siete, San Gil/Curití
So I did want to go to Chicamocha canyon today but no one else was going there and the main thing to do was a cable car, well I can get on one of them in Saltburn ta (in north east England if that reference means nothing). So I figured I'd do the adrenaline junkie thing and gatecrashed plans of two lads in my room, Sam and Lucas.
I first went paragliding, it all happened so quickly that we got off the bus and next thing they're strapping me in and I'm up in air. I could see loads of tobacco and coffee fields and the Chicamocha canyon too as well as eagles flying about. The guy asked if I wanted to loop around, why not! Cue lots of screaming and laughing. The bloke got out his phone and checked his texts mid air (comforting) and took some selfies as you do. The lads said they could hear me scream lots and my face was sheer terror when we set off. What a shame there were no photos. We were all buzzing afterwards it was so much fun.
Next stop, caving. I've done this before in NZ but this was different. There was only us 3 and together we vaguely managed to decipher some of what he was saying. The caves were really cool, lots of bats and huge stalactites. We got very wet and dirty slathering around on our arms in the water and I may have bricked it when it was so low we had to go underwater. To be fair it was 3 seconds, I survived. I felt like Lara Croft! Except without the huge boobs and I looked like a drowned rat by the time it was over.
That night a bunch of us went to Gringo Mike's, if the name isn't a giveaway, it's a restaurant ran by a guy from Seattle, the food was delicious but epic portions, I couldn't even eat it all which is a rarity.
Día ocho, San Gil y Barichara
Today a group of the lads are off on some hardcore canyoning thing, the Aussies are chilling after their 48 hour bender (impressive I know) so I go to Barichara, a local colonial village which was beautiful but so quiet it was almost eery. The streets were all cobbled and so clean and the houses all orange. It was quite hilly which led to some good photo ops and at the top the views from the other side of the valleys were breathtaking. I was a sweaty mess though it was so hot.
At the hostel lots of us are leaving onto our next adventure, most notable is a lad Cory who is soon sailing on a boat with family friends from Hawaii to Fiji (25 days open water eek) and the Aussies who are off on a sailing adventure through the Caribbean, clearly they haven't seen Pirates of the Caribbean. A lot of chaos as just before our various busses there's a power cut and it chucks it down. Made it to my overnight bus though, and I'm off to the Caribbean coast, where the heat I'm told may kill me (I'm still white as a ghost btw). Wish me luck!
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