Getting Cultural in Kuna Yala 29th December 2019

Today we had one of the most amazing days. Over Christmas we got to know Yessica and Romiliano as they spent Christmas “camping” on an island near to where we were anchored. We haven’t actually bought any molas or anything from Yessica ,who is a stunning mola maker. We have however provided them with drinking water, kept their phone charged, and shared a few snacks. So yesterday when Romiliano called by Askari, anchored in another spot, to invite us to a ‘Chicha’ ritual on his island how could we resist??

The fabulous, just slightly over-crowded, Maquina Island

Yesterday we headed to an anchorage called Gun Boat island (don’t ask) nearby Isla Maquina but it was untenable in the weather and had to retreat to a more secure spot. No worries as Romiliano came to find us and suggested a better place that would be safe and secure.

A hut near our secure anchorage at Gaigar

This morning we made our way to the protected anchorage near to Isla Maquina Island, however we had to take the dinghy across open water for a mile to get there. On landing the dinghy we were met by suspicious fishermen in t-shirts and caps who tied us up to the little dock. When we asked for Romiliano and Yessica we were quickly led through a maze of narrow tracks, between the bamboo and palm thatched shacks that are home to the 40 families that live on Isla Maquina. At every door way kids peered out at us with dark eyes, some girls with makeup and many with dark lines and patterns painted on their noses, inside the women glanced at us and some smiled widely from under their brightly coloured headscarfs that clash perfectly with the rest of their traditional dress.

Romiliano and Yessica live in one of only two concrete double story houses on the island. It was built by Romalianos father and on arrival we were warmly welcomed, given a plastic chair each to sit on as Kunas sit in hammocks normally and presented with a warm beer (yes I guess they know what yachties like) and having exposure to yachties was definitely paying off for these guys. They had a bank of 5 solar panels, an actual bed (most kuna’s also sleep in hammocks) and a knackered Bluetooth speaker, that Romiliano was super proud of. From their balcony you could see just how close all the other houses are and how much larger their home was.  You could see the ocean all around and the island itself is less than 1 metre above sea level. The “streets” flood when there are storms so having a two-story house is ultimate luxury, however Romiliano’s mother still sat there and stitched a gorgeous brightly coloured mola.

A sneaky picture from the balcony

Andrew enjoys a beer on Romiliano's top deck - complete with xmas tree

It’s not permitted to take photographs and especially not at a culturally sensitive ritual such as Chicha. So I wanted to do my best to describe the day in words. We went with the family to the large hut that is the Chicha hut. Andrew sat on a wooden plank with the men on one side of the sand floored hut and I sat with Yessica and her sister in-law, all huddled in around me and Yessica were about 100 Kuna women, all beautifully dressed in mola covered blouses, vivid sarongs and beads along their legs and arms. Many had painted noses, red cheeks and gold rings through their noses.

Picture from pinterest showing traditional dress

The ceremony all started very seriously with two of the six chiefs perched on stools in the centre with blowing smoke at each other from a rolled up cigar like thing, after every few blows they would take it in turn to go and take a small bowl and share a drink then spit it on the floor. After a few rounds of that some of the women got involved and took a lantern and led a procession out of the hut, men and women, returning a few minutes later with bowls of chicha.

The men then started a kind of stomping dance where they jeered at those facing them and the women did a similar movement on their side of the hut. It started seriously but then they all started giggling and having fun with one another, some women talking or chanting at the liquid. The next stage involved the Chica being brought around to each of us, the bowl of brown looking liquid was handed to me, I glanced at Yessica who told me to drink the whole thing while standing. I can’t say the first one was very nice but managed a second, which had a really nice coffee flavour to it. Over the other side of the hut, I could see Andrew standing more than a foot taller than his Kuna companions doing the same; how bizarre was this….. Kuna’s do not like being filmed as they a fiercely protective of their cultural heritage, therefore when you see a photograph of them they are not smiling, so seeing them party, jest with each other was such a surprise and a treat– they are really kind, beautiful, fun loving, small people.

After the first two rounds it all started getting a bit more haphazard as the effects of this intoxicating drink made from sugar cane took hold, the laughter and jokes among the women was infectious and then smoking took over as pipes, cigarettes and handfuls of sweets were handed around. Tiny Kuna women with gold rings through their noses dressed in traditional outfits smoking pipes are quite a sight. Andrew and Romiliano decided to head to the little dock for a beer while I stayed on a little with the girls. The chief who had started the ceremony came to me and shock my hand and said his island was now my home too. Meanwhile, Andrew paid a $5 fee for our anchorage for 1 month; which meant we were under their protection, and our dinghy was guarded while we were on the island.

We had just the best day and returned to Askari before dark, bought two tuna for $5 from a local fisherman and are safely tucked up in the nearby mangroves. What a total treat that has made our visit to this remote community of indigenous people who keep their traditions alive, even more special.

nearby island as we sailed out

Colourful Colombia

View of the flooded area of Guatape from Piedra

We had a good trip from Curacao to Santa Marta Colombia, mostly down wind with light swell, we had to motor sail a little bit and dropped sails for a while to try and motor away from a huge storm cell that was centred right on us. The storm lasted a few hours and was actually pretty scary as the thunder and lightening was the worse I have seen and so close. We secured all hand held electronics in the oven and monitored from inside as winds reached over 40 knots and the rain pelted Askari. We had been prepared for these sort of conditions and bigger seas; the mountains on this part of the coast of Colombia are the highest in the world directly next to the ocean so it is not uncommon for some really yucky conditions to appear from nowhere. After the storm, the wind steadied on our beam and we had a great sail directly into Santa Marta, with dawn breaking and our first glimpses of the Sierra Nevada – sadly the visibility wasn’t clear enough to see the snow that we had read about.

We were called by port control as we approached and we provided our vessel information before they instructed us to proceed to the marina. The marina tender came out to meet us, with big waves, smiles and photographs they directed us into a great marina slip, close to the marina office. Inside the marina it was flat calm; always a relief when you’ve been sailing in 20 knots of wind just outside, so Andrew docked us perfectly alongside Kailani who we had met in Bonaire.

Pan of our spot in Santa Marta Marina

It was quite a shock at first to be in a city and see tall buildings, however the marina staff were so friendly and efficient that we instantly took a liking to Colombia. We signed a couple of documents, left our passports and went off for breakfast – they took care of everything bringing documents to sign every now and again. You have to temporarily import your boat into Colombia if you want to stay more than a few days and it’s quite a process.

We spent a couple of days adjusting to being in Santa Marta and then set about making plans for some land excursions.

Parque de Novios, Santa Marta - great restaurants in this area

Cathedral in Santa Marta

Traveling around in Colombia

Friends recommended a local taxi driver who was super reliable and charged us fixed reasonable rates – we used Gocsan whenever we needed a lift in and around Santa Marta – during our time here we became good friends, despite not being able to speak English we always managed to have a good chat with him and his smiley face made my day every time we met him.

Gocsan - super driver friend

We took buses, mostly private buses and found that the bus terminals were like airports, with left luggage places, boarding gates and competing ticket offices. Our favourite was the small mini buses that only take about 10 people, as they have comfy seats and good air-conditioning and tend not to stop so much. Planes were also reasonably priced as long as you book ahead. We missed a connection in Bogata and had to buy a last minute flight with Avianca and that wasn’t cheap in the slightest….. We also took private transfers, tuk-tuks and taxis when out and about and everyone couldn’t have been more helpful, despite the fact that very few Colombian’s speak English and our Spanish is pretty limited.

We found it easy to get laundry done, so leaving with a small bag was fine. However, it is difficult to pack for all the different climates, and nearly every trip we took we changed plans along the way and ended up not having the right stuff – in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Santa Marta at night I sat in the bar in my waterproof jacket, in the desert we got stuck in the mud in flip-flops, we had to buy hats and gloves for our hike to a glacier, I had to buy shoes in Medellin, etc (ah that was just and excuse as they were fab).

The Land Trips

We made three different trips whilst exploring Colombia by land: Firstly to Minca, just 45 minutes from Santa Marta but on the edge of the Sierra Nevada – we stayed at the most wonderful hostel with views back to the city, yoga every morning, lovely walks and a really great young backpacker crowd for sharing travel stories, music and games at night. We hiked to two waterfalls, saw amazing birdlike, including a Toucan, explored the coffee farm and ate really great Colombian food. I highly recommend Casa Viejas in Minca.

Walking in Minca with giant bamboo trees

At Victoria Coffee Farm

How we loved the view at breakfast from Casas Viejas

The method of getting coffee beans to the farm - water pipes!

Santa Marta from Minca

Minca walking

You can't go to Minca without checking out the giant hammocks with views to Santa Marta usually

After a few days back at Askari to change bags we took a flight to Medellin – famous for being the most dangerous city in the world in the 80s due to Pablo Escobar and his drug cartel, the city now works very hard to shake this reputation and focus on all things positive rather than glorify that time. It is a big city (3 million people live there) that sits in a basin with mountains all around – it is known as the city of eternal spring for it’s perfect climate. It has a fantastic metro system that includes cable cars; you just pay when you walk into the system a flat fee to travel anywhere in the system – it’s immaculate with not one mark of graffiti despite being over 10 years old now. We decided to first visit nearby Guatape – as Medellin Airport actually sits outside the city in the direction of the town on Guatape, a resort town on a manmade reservoir, complete with colourful buildings and the famous Piedra del Penol giant granite rock.

Local buses are so colourful 

Guatape

Piedra del Penol

Guatape - so pretty

Traditional Colombian Food - hmmm interesting!

  

We arrived in Guatape on a holiday weekend and the traffic getting there was just crazy – it was such a relief to stay just outside of the town a short walk over the bridge. We took a tuk-tuk early in the morning to hike the rock – it really was very touristy but we were early enough to miss the crowds. It was hilarious how unfit most young Colombians were that were trying to climb the rock – made us oldies feel quite good! We like the town and enjoyed walking through the narrow cobbled streets but the highlight was definitely meeting Oscar, who ran a Colombian Cuban restaurant from his home – we had one of the best fun evenings with him.

The streets of Guatape such fun to explore

Fun with Oscar at Cafe Cuba

Taking CAT bus to a new level - you can bring your cat on the bus in Colombia

We took the bus directly to the north terminal in Medellin and had an entertaining ride for a couple of hours with buskers that join the bus, street vendors and a pet cat across the aisle. Our first impression of Medellin was not great as it is just such a big overwhelming city. We stayed in the upmarket area of Poblado, but it actually is a much bigger area than you’d imagine from reading the guides – the main tourist area is around Lleras Park. We choose a business hotel in a quiet area and that worked out well as some of the hostels and hotels close to the Lleras park would be seriously noisy. We really liked the area near purple monkey hostel/stinky’s laundry but did venture out to the area near Lleras one night – had a really expensive, terrible cocktail at the Envy bar in the Charlee hotel which was supposed to be glamorous but I didn’t like it. However, we did enjoy a great meal at Bonhomia while the local football finals were on and the waiters were a lot of fun. By day we explored Bottero plaza, the street art of Commune 13, took the cable car to San Domingo and walk around the city centre. We really liked Medellin and the people were nice but we were keen to get out of the city – not really our thing.

View from Commune 13 - red roofed escalators carry people around this once so dangerous neighbourhood

Commune 13

 

Amazing and confronting artwork in Communa 13

Remembering the many victims of drug violence - many never found

Bottero  Plaza one of the statues was blown up but left as a reminder not to allow that time to return to Colombia

Bottero Plaza

Cable cars to San Domingo all part of the metro

San Domingo artwork

San Domingo

Medellin with mountains all around

We had planned to head to the coffee region and had the town of Jerico as our next stop, however terrible mudslides occurred in the village and we decided it was sensible to postpone, instead we hopped on a plane to Manizales. We just had a loose plan to visit Los Nevados National Park. In Medellin there is also a small airport right in the city – very handy for Poblado. Our journey to Manizales was interesting, as the small plane circled three times to gain enough height to make it out of the basin of Medellin and then throughout the journey we flew with mountains alongside the plane.

Drinks at the envy bar

Shopping in Poblado - leafy with cute boutiques - I could have been in Sydney

Only in Colombia - memorial to the only famous person killed in a plane crash at this airport

Flying out of Medellin

Manizales is a university town that sits on a long ridge, at a height of over 2,000m. It is the capital of the Caldas department of Colombia, in the Andean region. It is the heart of the coffee producing area and has not one but 7 universities, we found they were not used to having foreign tourists there but many more people had some English, which made things a little easier. It actually ended up being a great experience and we ate some of the best Italian food cooked by a Colombian New Yorker and ended the evening with some of the most imaginative cocktails (or arte) at Alquimia Speakeasy with our new friend Manuel.

Manuel mixing up a storm - a special cocktail made up for us 

Stunning Hacienda Venezia Coffee farm - this looked like a great place to stay - we just had lunch and it was great.

We went off to find information about hiking in the Los Nevados National Park – which is within the Colombian Andes and includes three volcanoes – Nevado del Ruiz (5,321m), Nevado del Tolima (5,276m) and Nevado de Santa Isabel (4,950m). Sadly the Ruiz was closed due to volcanic activity however we had learned it was possible to hike in the area around Santa Isabel. We found a company in the city that ran tours and Paulo was so helpful, even sending Andrew maps and recommending a finca (farm) that would put us in a great spot. We immediately booked the finca and had a couple of days to kill so ended up staying with a family in a lovely area near another coffee farm – they honestly couldn’t do enough for us, however they really didn’t understand our desire to go for a walk more than half an hour and stuffed us so full of arepas; I don’t think I will ever eat another one.  It is hard to go for a walk in Colombia because people assume you are either lost or need help.  We must have been stopped one hundred times and offered lifts or directions. When you think about it why would you want to go for a walk- Colombians walk for groceries or to work or for water but not for pleasure. They thought we were mad….

Hiking near Manizales

Our wonderful hosts near Manizales

Our first glimpse of Hostel Laguna

Probably our favourite experience in Colombia was at Hostel La Laguna. We had arranged to meet Ruben at the bus station as to get to the hostel you either take a 4wd or twice a week there’s a milk truck that heads up to collect the milk from the farms. Ruben is Spanish but totally in love with rural Colombia, especially the animals and during the hour and a half journey stopped several times to show us plants, birds, views, waterfalls, and to introduce us to water buffalo, underneath a barbed wire fence. The journey there was definitely part of the adventure, but when we stopped for the last time and the hostel came into view at the top of the waterfall, my heart skipped a beat – it was one of the most idyllic settings I have ever seen. This was then topped by the warm welcome we got, at La Laguna guests really become family and it is a wonderful mixture of working farm, day trip destination for horse riding and bike riding from Manizales, locals from surrounding farms and all sorts of animals, oh plus they have their own Trout nursery. The farm has been in Alexandra’s family for over 100 years and she is passionate to make it a success as a hostel too. They have all sorts of special accommodation from the beautifully designed cabins to creatively decorated farm lodgings.

I met Water Buffalo on the way to Laguna

Courtyard at Laguna - always a great fun place 

Ruben and Alexandra's mini piggies

 

Los Molinos Waterfall

No sooner had we dumped our bags and ordered a trout for lunch, Ruben whisked us off to meet a calf born a few hours before and their pet mini pigs. That afternoon we got soaked hiking to the fabulous 65m drop Los Molinos waterfall on the farm property – not a problem as when we got back Alexandra scooped up our wet gear and dried it all for us.  

La Laguna calves

 

The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn for our hike to the glacier at Santa Isabel – this was the highest hike Andrew and I have ever done at 4,720 metres which to give a sense is higher than anywhere in Europe or the continental USA (15,485 feet). The altitude definitely made it quite a challenge but the delight at finding fresh snow at the glacier was just incredible. A Colombian group just ahead of us had never seen snow before, so I showed them how to do a snow angel and we had a snowball fight – totally crazy! Most of the hike is across the paramo with stunning plants that store water and weird birds the like of which I have never seen.

Plants of the Paramo

Selfie when we got a phone signal at 14,000 feet

Who'd have thought we would see snow in Colombia?

 

Hostel Laguna - such a wonderful spot with the best people

Cabin at Laguna with our wonderful host Alexandra

The trip back to Askari was easy as Alexandra drove us to the bus station in Manizales where we boarded a “collectivo” mini bus with comfy seats and air conditioning directly to Pereira where we dumped our bags at ‘left luggage’ and went to explore one of the most affluent cities in Colombia. We ended up rocking up at the best restaurant we ate at the whole time we were there – everyone else was in business suits and heels while we had come straight from the farm, that didn’t phase them although we did sit in the far corner….  Then just a short flight directly to Santa Marta and we were back home.

Fine Dinning in Pereira

Our final land trip was for our wedding anniversary and we had planned to take in the Tatacoa desert, Bogata and Cartagena. The desert was incredible and we stayed in the most quirky, beautiful, tacky hotel in a Bio–Egg’ – I will let the pictures speak to that….We went out to an astronomy evening and saw perfect stars, jupiter and saturn including her rings. Whilst there we heard that the protests in the cities had become somewhat disruptive so we decided to stay an extra day, that and the need to sort some issues at home meant we decided to cut short our trip and get back to Askari.

Getting to the Tatacoa Desert

Arriving at the Bethel - where are we??

Bethel back packer pool - the cabanas are 'Bed-Ping' units for two

A wedding anniversary we won't forget

Accommodation at the Bethel hotel - glamping

Our BioEgg at the Bethel Eco-Luxury Hotel

Grey Desert

Like being on the moon

Bethel main pool - just such an amazing view

Red Desert

Our tuck-tuk to the red desert

 Back to Santa Marta......

Final dinner with Breezer's in Santa Marta

Memorable Sunsets in Santa Marta

However, we made it back in time to celebrate the wedding of our friends Michelle and Tony on board Tryst. It was a beautiful evening for a beautiful couple complete with bubbles and cake.

Askari even got in on the wedding of these beautiful people

Santa Marta - Tjaart from Zouterik getting dinghy chaps made on the beach!

A quick provision and we set sail for Panama.