| Highlights of Colombia (October 2006) | ||||||||||||
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With Cocaine Cartels, Cartagenian Kidnappers and Civil Conflict lying in wait - our goal in Colombia was to make it through in one piece!
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Magnus and Cheryl Went To Sea In A Beautiful Pea Red Boat
With no safe road out of Panama, we chartered The Joshua - a steel-hulled sailing boat - to cross the Caribbean Sea to Cartagena. We sailed out on a 5 day adventure - into the eye of stormy seas... |
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Don't Rock My Boat
While captain and first mate dozed, Magnus took the wheel, watching for treacherous reefs and Colombian drug-runners while playful dolphins circled the boat. Diving in for a cooling dip afterwards was a mistake - he was almost left behind by the deceptive speed of the boat! |
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Can We Sail Past Your Islands? Of Course You Kuna!
The Kuna run tropical San Blas as a semi-independent state within Panama. The islanders subsist on fishing and charging tourists $1 to take a photo. |
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Land Ho!
After days of heart-pounding storms and gut-wrenching swells, we sailed gratefully into the harbour of gorgeous Cartagena. The solid ground of the Havana-esque old town felt amazing underfoot. |
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Dirty Backpackers Extraordinaire
Near Cartagena, a surreal twist to our obsession with all things volcano. This mud-volcano of liquid clay reaches 300 metres down from a bubbling crater pool - putting a new complexion on the traditional mudpack! |
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! Canyon Crash Course !
Extensive pre-flight checks did not catch that Cheryl's inexperienced parasail guide was barely out of diapers. Launching from a canyon cliff all seemed well until the teenage twit missed the landing zone, crashed into a rockpile and left Cheryl bruised, battered and generally unimpressed! |
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The Burger That Time Forgot
Squeezed out of Scotland years ago by McDonalds, Burger King and Greggs The Baker, Wimpy burger pink sauce seemed only a bitter-sweet memory from Magnus' past. However, in the Colombian capital of Bogota, one last outpost of half-pound happiness remains - munch!!! |
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Museum Of Gold
Bogota: home of the world's greatest gold museum, with countless treasures from the time of the mysterious Incas. |
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Now Where's The Tequila & Lime?!
Deep under the salt mines of Zapiquira is a gigantic cathedral carved from salt. Possibly the only lickable church in the world?! |
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Come Dancing! (a.k.a. Salsa Ain't Just An Enchilada Topping!)
In Cali - sultry salsa capital of the world - our salsa maestro filled us with the belief that we could take the dance world by storm. That night we hit the dancefloors and executed our 3 rudimentary moves both flawlessly and endlessly. |
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The First Roast Is The Freshest
After a long, dusty and somewhat scary ride into FARC guerilla territory, we stopped in San Agustin to be pampered by a local plantation owner. She baked pizza in her brick oven and served up coffee - fresh picked, dried, roasted and ground that very day. |
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Ancient Stones Of San Agustin
Incredible ancient stone figures and burial sites, dating back over 5000 years cover south east of Colombia. Because of the remoteness and security concerns, we had these hilltop mysteries all to ourselves. |
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Where The Wild Things Are
Our guide was a real character. According to him the pointy heads of the San Augustinian statues are indisputable evidence that they had developed advanced neurosurgery, allowing them to travel across space and time - much like in Star Trek!!! Of course, this was the same chap who thought a trip into guerilla-controlled cocaine factory was a capital idea. We passed, luckily avoiding the full-scale government assault on guerilla positions that started the following day... |
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Peace And Love (At The Point Of A Gun)
The army were everywhere in Colombia, tooled up with fearsome weaponry. We held our breath as we passed through checkpoints of the - often corrupt - military. Happily, soldiers we met were all friendly - once we had exhausted them with our weak conversational Spanish they didn't even seem to have the energy left to shake us down! |
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Real Dangers
Having dodged kidnappers and guerillas our worries seemed to be over. HOWEVER, less glamorous dangers lay in store: * First a rockslide came inches from sending an overnight bus ride careening off the edge of precipitous cliff * "Killer Showers" - bare wires attaching a heating element to the showerhead and the daily prospect of electrocution |
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Hasta Luego, Locombia!
The ornate Las Lajas Sanctuary, built into a cliffside near Ipiales in southern Colombia. A beautiful final station in our trip through Colombia; much safer than it's nickname Locombia - the crazy country - would suggest! |
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