Colombia
Highlights
Late Night Salsa at Quiebra-Canto, Cartagena
Dancing to Afro-Caribbean Tunes
Meandering Through the Walled City of Cartagena
Riding a Dirt Bike Through Minca
Coffee Tour in Minca (warning: go heavy on the bug spray)
Reading a Book at Cafe Duni, Minca
Night Walks in the Amazon
Food Tour in Cartagena
Cervezas and Piranha fishing
Amazon Wildlife Viewing
Getting to Know the Indigenous Community of San Martin
Traveling with Yoi Ecotours
Savor Tropical Fruits: Guanabana, Lulo, Maracuya, Coco
Eating Yuca - Yuca Balls, Yuca Chicken Soup, Yuca
In a word
Born to salsa
Best Time to Travel
January - March (dry season)
Recommended Length of Time
15 - 20 Days
Diary
The heat, the constant sweating, and the jungle start to take over, and you settle in. One quickly adapts to an environment that does not favor dry clothes. It is day two of five, and clean underwear is not an option, you are comfortable wearing the same moist clothes, and a rain jacket seems far from necessary. No longer is an “Albert” (a giant, seven-inch flying grasshopper that occupied our room) frightening or a threat. The rain is soothing and the sounds at night are comforting.
Today, we traveled in the pouring rain (rainforest, duh.) to see a variety of monkeys up close at the Maikuchiga sanctuary. This place is succeeding at rehabilitating monkeys captured from the illegal wildlife trade, with the local indigenous community operating the center. It was a joy to learn from the caretakers and watch monkeys be monkeys (Capuchin’s, woolly monkeys, owl monkeys). As the monkeys were climbing all over us and pulling at our locks, all I could think of - with this massive grin on my face -was what the travel doctor told my brother before he left:
Doctor: “Whatever you do, please just don’t fuck with monkeys. All they care about is food and sex, that’s it.”
Anthony, day two, plays with monkeys.
