I was not well prepared – I didn’t know what we’d be doing, and so I didn’t arrange to have any camping gear.  Dane loaned me a hammock and I decided I could treat it like happy camper.  Wear lots of layers and deal with the chilliness at night.  We headed off with the plan of hiking down the Otehake gorge, completely traversing the mountains and the park.  The park ranger we spoke with (also the SAR lead) told us he thought this was the hardest trek in New Zealand and that there was an impassable landslide and that the river at the end of the trek might be impassable depending on the water level.  We weren’t discouraged.

We camped near the trailhead (a cold night with my gear, but manageable), and headed off the following morning.  We would be spending 3 night in the park, the first two at locations with backcountry huts and the final night would be camping.  There was usually no trail.  We spent the first day following the river, frequently crossing it to get to passable land or bushwhacking through the steep sides of the valley.  Unfortunately I hadn’t charged my camera, so this is where the photos end!  We arrived at the Edward’s Hut after 5 hours, and had a quick dip in the near-freezing water of the mountain stream that came nearby.  The hut was rustic but sturdy, and had a nice wood burning stove to dry our wet shoes and a radio for contacting the Department of Conservation.  Surprisingly, my friends Kevin and Katie from the ice were in the same park and joined us in the hut for the night on a different route.  We saw no one else hiking that day, nor was anyone else staying in the hut so it was a nice coincidence.

In the morning, we radioed in for a weather update and learned that rain was predicted for that evening, progressing to heavy rain the following day.  This would make it very likely that the river would be impassable, meaning our trip could almost double in length to get backtrack out of the park.  I decided that it wasn’t a good idea for me to try to continue on the original route, given the likelihood of rain and my dependence on all my clothes being dry for warmth at night so I joined Kevin and Katie on the alternate route while the others pressed on.

The following day was a challenge.  We started by crossing a massive boulder field from an old landslide, climbed a saddle over the mountains that was dangerously steep (almost like climbing a ladder of grass clumps, a few hundred meters above the valley), and then clambered down a steep ravine to the next hut.  We spent over 8 hours hiking that day with only a 30 minute lunch and covered maybe 7kms!  It was tough terrain.  The hut we ended up in is an easy hike from outside the park though, and was newly constructed after the old hut had burned.  It was very modern for a “backcountry” hut.

Finally, we did an easy 4 hour hike out of the park the next day, and hitchhiked back into town for a great dinner at the café.  In the end the rain never came and my friends were able to make it through the original route the following day, though they were bruised and bitten by sand flies while crossing some very rough ground.  The Department of Conservation told us that only 3 parties had tried that route this summer…two had turned back and the third made it to the river but had to be helicoptered back because it was impassable!  So this was a big achievement for them.

Arthur’s Pass has tons of short hikes and day hikes as well, and the scenery is beautiful.  So I would definitely recommend this park to anyone that visits New Zealand.

In the background, Castle Rock on the left and Mt Erebus on the right

Just over the hill from McMurdo, near Scott Base, is a long line of pressure ridges in the ice.  Some of the sea ice remains trapped near the permanent ice shelf rather than breaking up and floating out to sea.  When it’s cold the ice shrinks a bit, causing cracks which fill with water.  Then when it warms up and the ice expands it forces ridges of ice formations to appear.

In the background, Mt Discovery

I volunteered to be trained as a guide for recreation trips to the ridges so I’ve been able to go 3 times.  My last two trips were cancelled but I’m hoping to go at least once more to see how they’ve changed over the year.

Notice the two blue tags on his flippers

Another great thing about the pressure ridges is that Weddell Seals like to come up through the cracks and lie on the ice.  Seal mothers have been giving birth, so I’ve seen some baby seals up close.  The seals are completely passive and it’s not clear if they even notice we’re standing there!  It’s easy to notice the tags on their flippers that science groups are using to track them, but despite the experience of being tagged they don’t pay any attention to passing humans.

Awwww....

"I'm bored mom..."

My Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) Gear

My Parka Patch

Gear issue only took a morning, so I had the afternoon to have a look around Christchurch.  Of course the big news there lately was the earthquake that struck a couple of months ago.  The damage isn’t too obvious, but a lot of streets are closed due to unstable building facades so frequent detours kept it front and center in my mind.  There have been over a thousand aftershocks since the quake, including a 5.1 the night before we arrived.  I’ve never felt and earthquake so I was thinking this was my chance, but there weren’t any that I noticed during my short stay.

Gondolas in the Botanical Gardens

In Christchurch I mainly walked around town and spent some time in the botanical gardens.  I also stopped by the Canterbury Museum which had a special exhibition of photographs from the Scott and Shackleton Polar expeditions (both had photographers as part of their parties).  Shackleton was attempting to make a complete crossing of the continent but barely got started, his ship becoming stuck in the ice before reaching land.  He and his men were stranded on the ice shelf for over a year before some were able to sail in a makeshift raft to a nearby island and return to mount a rescue.

An old snowcat in the Canterbury Museum

Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition was an attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole.  He was beaten to the pole by Roald Amundsen of Norway, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a photo more amazing than their portrait at the pole – 5 men, exhausted and dejected, faces absolutely black with frostbite, completely defeated.  The party died of exhaustion, starvation, and cold on the return journey from the pole, just 11 miles from a supply depot, but their efforts have made them heroes of the UK and among all Antarctic programs.

Scott's party arrives at the pole, too late

The Scott Party's Burial Cairn

The next morning I got up at 4am to head to the Antarctic Terminal at the Christchurch Airport.  We checked our luggage, had our bags weighed, and went through security.  (We each even had to step on a scale with our carry on bag).  We watched a short orientation video, and after a short wait it was time to board our flight.  Most passengers and cargo are taken by C-17.  We were allowed to take liquids and gels, but still no sharp objects.  The crew did a pretty typical safety briefing, although the military plane had some differences – in case of a loss of cabin pressure you don’t use a mask, you put your head in a plastic bag that either hastens your death or maybe has a little oxygen bottle attached.

The C-17 was surprisingly comfortable.  I sat in a jumpseat that folded from the side of the plane, while most people sat in regular airline seats that slide into a track in the floor in groups of 20.  Although it was physically comfortable the flight is very noisy and earplugs are a must.  The flight was 5-hours long, and we were allowed to visit the cockpit and chat with the Air Force crew.  I was a bit surprised to find we were at an altitude and speed typical of any other big jet I’ve been on (450mph and 31,000 feet).

Cockpit Tour

Landing was a bit strange because I could tell we were descending but with no windows I had this strange sense of anticipation, as though every bump was touchdown.  Eventually we landed, and I emerged into a shockingly white world outside.  We were brought to McMurdo Station in Ivan the Terra Bus, a 56-passenger extreme weather bus with balloon tires about 5 feet high.

My First Steps on "the Ice"

Dried, washed coffee. Broken and defective beans are sorted out.

My first day trip was to visit the coffee finca Hacienda Venencia, which is much larger than the little farm owned by my hostel in Salento.  The tour here is 2 hours long and very detailed…it covers Arabica vs Robusta coffee, the growing process, harvesting, sorting and washing the coffee, coffee markets and exporting, and roasting.  The tour also visits the massive hacienda of the family that owns the business.  Not only is it large and beautiful, but it’s surrounded by amazing gardens and grounds, swimming pools, and the view of the valley from the porch is spectacular.  These people have peacocks roaming the grounds, to give you an idea how luxurious it is.

The B&B/Hostel

Hacienda Venencia also has a smaller picturesque little house with rooms for rent.  It would be a perfect place to relax in a hammock and hike through the coffee farms for a few days.  But it is a bit remote, there are only a few jeeps each day that go between the farm and town.  These jeeps are the same old Willys that I mentioned in my Salento post, and the local saying that there’s always room for one more was definitely true here – on the ride back we had 17 people in the jeep and there wasn’t even anyone on the roof yet!

The next day I went to see Parque Nacional Los Nevados.  This park in the high mountains is supposed to have amazing views, but the day I went we basically spent the whole day driving around in clouds.  The scenery when you can see only a hundred yards is barren….just rocks, with no vegetation growing.  It also was amazingly cold once we got up to the higher altitudes!  I didn’t bring the right clothes for 32 degree weather.  Our last stop for the day on the tour was at 4800 meters altitude, where we hiked another 200 meters up the mountain.  For some reason on this day I had tons of energy, and while the group slowly plodded up the mountain I pretty much raced up, doing it in half the time of the others.  I was barely even breathing hard.

There were a number of national police doing this at the same time, for training purposes I guess.  As I zoomed past two officers, one asked me if I was a guide.  He was your typical officer….looking strong, with a buzz cut and a very grim look on his face.  These two guys were huffing and puffing, walking about 10 steps and then needing a few minutes to rest leaning on their rifles.  The climb was killing them, and I could tell he was really hoping I was used to climbing the mountain twice a day at the pace I was overtaking them.  I said no and he scowled a bit and started walking on, then he slipped and did a faceplant straight into the mud.  He had fallen on top of his rifle, which now had mud caked in the barrel and bolt, which is think is breaking the cardinal rule of soldiering (don’t wreck your weapon!).  Needless to say he was embarrassed and it didn’t help his mood at all, so I didn’t stay to watch and continued on quickly.

The tour was mostly a bust, but at least I got one good story out of it!

We stopped at some hot springs to warm up in this nice valley

I arrived on a Friday evening and found the restaurants lining the main plaza all had platforms set up with outdoor tables, many blasting salsa music from speakers the size of small cars.  The inner part of the plaza had lines of tents with a few picnic tables and grills, serving typical dinner specials: a choice of meat with rice, a fried plantain, beans or lentils, salad, soup, an arepa (flatbread), and sometimes a fried egg.  In Salento the specialty seemed to be plates with trout.  During the day there are a number of great cafes and coffee houses to relax in.  One place not in the guidebooks is Alegra’s, with great gourmet food and amazing cakes.

Our hostel's coffee finca

Coffee beans -- the red ones are ripe

My hostel was called The Plantation House, and was originally part of a coffee finca.  The place had a few dorms and lots of private rooms, and had a diverse group of guests including backpackers, older couples on vacation, and even a large Belgian family with lots of kids.  The hostel is owned by an English/Colombian couple, and they recently bought a nearby coffee finca as a side business, which they run informative tours of for just a couple of dollars.  The finca has lots of coffee, fruit trees, and a bamboo forest.  Beyond the tour it’s also possible to stay on the farm or volunteer to work a half day in exchange for lunch.

Inside the shell, a raw coffee bean

One of the most beautiful places in Colombia is the nearby Valle de Cocora.  It’s a lush green valley full of cow pastures, and is known for its wax palms, which tower 60 meters over the forest.  There’s a full day hike that’s possible to get great views of the valley, and it passes a humminbird sanctuary.  I went with a group and we decided to just relax and picnic by the river in one of the cow paddocks for the day.  Another cool part of visiting the valley is that transit is all done by oldschool steel jeep, mostly Willys but I saw a few Land Rovers and other makes as well.  Some of the jeeps are WW2 era, although most are from the 70s, and they would definitely be collectors items back home.  As the jeeps fill up people begin to ride on the roof, and on our return from the valley most of our group rode on the roof leaving the inside pretty much empty!

Trying to sneak up on the cows

Francesca tests a cow femur we found as a hair accessory

Salento was my favorite place just because it was relaxed, beautiful, and the small town was both active and had some nice quality places to eat and hang out due to all the visitors.

Butterflys mating in the Cali Zoo's Butterfly House

Cali is known for being the dancing capital of Colombia, and the area of the city I stayed in was really nice – packed with upscale restaurants, salsa clubs and boutiques.  Despite its reputation as a party city my hostel was pretty much empty, and a bit dull.  I have a feeling I had an unusual experience here, but maybe it was just because I was in town early in the week and not around the weekend.

Giant Anteaters

I really only did two activities while I was there, the first being to visit Cali’s famous zoo.  The zoo is nicely designed, reasonably small, and allows visitors to get very close to the animals.  I had good luck on my visit, with most of the animals being awake and active.  The lions even roared a little, although I suspect they were just clearing their throats after waking up from a nap.  It was still loud!

The next stars of Meerkat Manor?

My other activity was to head into the countryside to visit the sugar plantation El Paraíso with a large historic hacienda on the property.  The house was large, and built into the landscape nicely with lots of gardens and an irrigation system that is fed from the mountains surrounding the valley flowing through channels throughout the property.  This plantation was owned by a famous Latin writer named Jorge Isaacs, who wrote the book María.

Water flowing through a canal at El Paraíso

Over 3000 years ago the region around the small town of San Agustin (in the south of Colombia) was home to a society that carved hundreds of stone statues similar to the statues on Easter Island to mark sacred areas and catacombs.  Archeological sites are scattered through the hillsides, and I spent a couple of days exploring them.  A bit about the culture has been deduced from the artifacts at these sites, but they’re mostly a mystery and the culture doesn’t even seem to have name.

A rare statue in which the original painted colors have survived over 3000 years exposed to the elements

There are a lot of archaeological variations in the stones.  Almost all of them show the hands in front of the chest, but they may be holding objects or children, playing instruments, etc.  Some statues are male and others are female.  If you look carefully you can see that some of the females are pregnant.  Many statues show human/animal hybrids, since the cultures in this era tended to place a special significance on animals like jaguars.  And a few of the statues are of the animals themselves.

A bird carrying a worm

A statue inside a funerary pit keeps watch over a tomb

The town is a small one, with mainly dirt streets and lots of bars that play salsa music at a shocking volume but then close at about 10pm.  The main archaeological park can be visited by taking a short trip on a local bus.  I did that, as well as a couple of tours to more remote sites by car and on horseback.

Exhibit A, demonstrating why I don't wear hats

Bogotá had some interesting things to do, but in the end it was my least favorite place where I spent any significant time in Colombia.  The common place to stay is La Candelaria, an “old town” neighborhood that is still within walking distance of the main tourist sights and central business district.

By now I think I could use a special acronym for places like this.  Maybe JABC (Just Another Big City).  It had museums, it had big government buildings, there were restaurants.  Yawn.  But I will say that the two museums I visited were top notch.  First, I went to see the Colombian Central Bank’s Botero museum which has a huge collection of Colombia’s most famous artist’s (no, not Shakira!) works.  The museum is free and one of several world class art museums operated by the bank.

Botero's paintings and sculptures are known for being in this "plump" style

I also stopped by the Police museum, where English-speaking officers give tourists guided tours.  The tour took almost two hours and included everything from varieties of uniforms and weapons, as well as famous events in Colombia’s police history.  The tour starts and ends with the most gruesome stuff.  To start, we saw exhibits on the drug wars of the 90s including big photos of the bloody bodies of the drugs lords who were killed.  At the end is an exhibit on the many creative ways of executing people that have been devised throughout history, with detailed diagrams.  The Spanish really took pride in their executioner’s creativity during the Inquisition!

WANTED: Pablo Escobar

My favorite museum was the Museo del Oro (Gold Museum), also owned by the central bank.  They have an absolutely massive collection of Incan gold, with around 35,000 pieces of jewelry and other artifacts that somehow survived the best efforts of the Spanish Conquistadors to steal and melt it down to return to Spain.  I spent almost 4 hours here, everything is really well presented.

For a nice view of the city, a $2 cab from La Candelaria took me to the funicular to Monserrate.  This hilltop is covered in gardens, miradors, and has a catholic cathedral that is bland on the outside but nice inside.

One of the stranger sights in Colombia is located in the town of Zipaquirá, which I went to see as a day-trip from Bogotá.  Near the historic center of the town is a large salt mine, which has been converted into a salt cathedral.  A tour is included with admission (in Spanish), and you see 14 small chapels each commemorating an event during the crucifixion of Jesus.  At the bottom, 180 meters below ground, is a huge chamber that has a full set of church pews for mass.

A wall encrusted with salt, with a baptism fountain nearby

If it doesn’t sound bizarre to you, let me assure you that it is.  I half expected to walk around a corner and find some kind of cult of the dead carrying out a secret ritual.  It reminded me a bit of that scene in Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom where they’re trying to sacrifice the woman into the lava.  No lava here, but definitely a creepy Temple of Doom vibe (still interesting!).

A balcony overlooking the main cathedral chamber

Zipaquirá has a nice outdoor market in their central park on Fridays and Saturdays.  Most street fairs in South America seem to have lots of booths, with most of them selling the exact same crap.  Here the booths all had different things from candy to clothes to souvenirs, as well as tons of food stands and some live bands playing on stage.  A weekend trip is best so you can enjoy the fair as well.  It takes almost 3 hours to get to Zipaquirá on public transit so leave early and plan for a long day.

Even though I did a lot of interesting things, the main reason Bogotá was down on my list of cities in Colombia was just a matter of feeling,  It was a bit dingy, and it seemed a bit unsafe.  Some people in our hostel were mugged the night before I arrived, and my first night in the city the FARC set off a carbomb outside a radio station, doing a lot of damage to the station and nearby buildings.  Having mentioned that I guess this is a good time to talk about safety in Colombia since many people back home have been surprised to hear how much I liked it here and asked if it was dangerous.

My opinion, after 5 weeks, is that Colombia was probably the safest place I visited, and I felt completely comfortable there outside of Bogotá (and even there, it was no big deal).  You may be thinking “Wow, in that case there must have been terrorist attacks by the dozen in Chile!” Ok, I admit that a car bombing doesn’t sound good for Colombia but you have to look at safety as a tourist in a nuanced way.  Many places, including Buenos Aires, are known for crime targeted at tourists.  Mostly things like bag snatching or stealing cameras, but many Argentines won’t even use their phones in public.  I didn’t feel like I needed to worry about this much in Colombia.  In terms of the violence, Pablo Escobar was killed in 1993 and since then drug violence has decreased a lot.  Over the past decade several guerilla groups have declined and died out.  A lot of the problems that still exist are in the jungle areas of the Amazon.  There have been moves towards starting peace talks between the FARC and the government (hardline elements opposed to peace are suspected of the bombing, the last bombing was over 10 years earlier.  Not more common than terrorist attacks in the USA).  You could also compare it to the situation in Ireland not too long ago, and people have always been willing to go there.

I look at it like this.  If you think about visiting LA, or Washington DC, or Baltimore you probably would have no issues with that at all.  But viewed at the right angle or without really understanding the area you could think it’s crazy.  I’ve seen The Wire, no way I’m going to Baltimore!  LA is full of gangs and rogue SWAT units and rioting and homicidal football players.  Washington DC was the murder capital the USA a couple years ago, who would want to go there?  Well, there can be lots of murders in Washington DC and it’s still safe to go see The Mall.  I guarantee you’ll love a trip to Colombia and you’ll both feel and be safe during your visit.

I'm in the front in the black t-shirt

San Gil is best known for its river rafting, with a class IV/V river a short drive from town.  It had been raining quite a bit that week and I was happy to hear that the river had just reopened the day of my arrival after being closed due to dangerous conditions (the more dangerous the better, if you ask me).  So I dropped my bags and jumped in a taxi, and an hour later I had my helmet and lifejacket on and was heading down a river with 3 meter waves nearly swallowing the raft whole.  The plus side of all the extra water from the rain is that with the water level higher it’s harder to hit rocks and boulders, and therefore harder to capsize.  So there was plenty of excitement and our biggest problem was one dropped paddle that a safety kayaker was able to quickly fetch.

The next day I decided to try Hydrospeed with the same company.  Hydrospeed is basically white water rafting, without the raft.  You go in the river and your torso floats on a foam body board with special handles to make it easy to hang on to for a long time.  Then you just swim into the rapids (with duckfeet flippers) and let the river do the rest.  Obviously we went on a more tame river than the day before, but there were still about a half-dozen rapids.  It was fun but I didn’t like my guide very much for this trip – he was way ahead of the group, and after kicking for 5 minutes to try to catch up he’d take off while I was still 50 meters away and tired from swimming too!  Eventually a bunch of us gave up on the guide, and ignored the safety kayaker trying to shoo us ahead.  It’s much more fun to just enjoy a lazy float down the river between rapids.  Hyrdrospeed is a bit intense…imagine swimming head first into the rapids, and I did bounce off a few rocks below the surface while trying to kick.  But I would definitely do it again.

That afternoon I went to explore one of the many caves nearby.  My hostel recommended a smaller cave that isn’t in the guidebook, and myself and another guy in my hostel paid about $12 for an hour-and-a-half tour of the cave.  It was interesting and had a few really tight passages plus some big chambers inside.  The beginning of the cave was probably the trickiest part.  We had to crawl under a shelf of rock with the water level standing about 2 inches below, which meant doing a sort-of crab walk or limbo so that my mouth could just make it into the gap of air to breathe.

Me and my guide, flying

The next day, it was time to try paragliding.  I went with Kadin, also staying in my hostel, and we drove with our two guides up to the top of a hill overlooking a nice valley.  Our guides didn’t speak English but I thought they would still give some kind of safety briefing in Spanish.  Instead they just clipped us to them and we zoomed into the air.  Actually, Kadin had the misfortune of going first and the guide realized the wind was so strong they would need to attach extra weight to us.  They tried to land but mostly just crashed, and Kadin scraped quite a bit of skin off his shoulder.  It was a lot of fun, and I was surprised both at how fast they could swoop around above the tree canopy but also how much control they had.  They were able to ascend, descend, move side-to-side, swing back and forth, and pretty much fly wherever they wanted.  The hill we took off from was surrounded by lush forests and tobacco fincas, so we had a great view too.

Kadin

I finally decided to keep myself at ground level and on dry land.  First I went to check out Parque Gallineral, located by the river in the city.  The park has a series of trails crossing creeks, massive old-growth trees, flowers, tropical birds, and a spring fed swimming pool for visitors to enjoy.  Next, I went to the main square in San Gil which is action packed, especially at night where it becomes the place to socialize for the town.  And I also went to check out the nearby Parque Nacional del Chicamoca.  The park includes a huge canyon with the option to take a cable car from one side to the other (a lengthy trip of at least a half hour).  The valley was nice, but overall I think this park is easily skippable.  The main park area is more of a theme park for families, with zip lines and concession stands all over the place.  The cable car is impressive but quite expensive at 36,000 pesos including park entrance (about $19-20), and roundtrip transit is another 15,000 pesos.

A Huge Tree in Parque Gallineral

Finally, I took a bus to the picturesque colonial town of Barichara and hiked the Camino Real (a historic stone path for horse travel) to the nearby town of Guane.  The Camino heads through some nice valleys and makes a great day hike.  I even came across some baby goats munching on fruit that had fallen on the trail, and they entertained me by leaping up and down off the nearby stone walls that line the trail.  They’re impressively agile, and can jump higher than I would have expected! In Guane, which must have just a few hundreds people, a telenovela was being filmed and there were packs of people in the square wearing 1800s era soldier uniforms, women in fancy victorian dresses, etc.  I watched for about a hour and to be honest acting looks like the most boring job imaginable.  You pretty much stand around all the time and for a few minutes a day, you do something on camera.

Camino Real

San Gil has plenty of other options too – multi day hikes, rock climbing, rappelling down waterfalls, or just hiking to see the waterfalls.  I think anyone could enjoy a few days here without any trouble.

Katrin at an unnamed beach

The park is gorgeous, one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen.  It’s a combination of the perfect sand, the turquoise color of the water, and the jungle and hills that you have to hike through to get to it.  From the park entrance it takes about an hour to hike to the first beach, Arrecifes.  This beach is too dangerous to swim at, but has a big area for camping and hammock rental along with a few small restaurants.  From there a number of other beaches and camp areas are available by walking up the coast.  We stopped at a small unnamed cove with great water and plenty of local vendors selling food, fruit, and drinks, then continued to La Piscina (the pool), the second of three well known beaches.  La Piscina is protected by a barrier reef, so the waves are very small there.

With another day in the park we could have hiked up the ruins of Pueblito, which is supposed to be similar to the Lost City but much smaller.  Katrin was on a schedule to make a flight to Argentina so we skipped this, and just spend one night in hammocks and a day at the beaches.