Day before takeoff

Well.... as I sit here typing this blog my bags remain unpacked... oops. I've got a pretty good idea of what I need to take with me but haven't yet made it to the point where I've got it packed; or even decided what luggage I'm taking. That should work itself out before I fly out of Charlotte tomorrow though.

Since starting to network with some people down in Curitiba Brazil I've come across a unique entrepreneurial plan... import American items and sell them in Brazil. It was suggested that I bring plenty of Adidas sports watched and Zippo lighters as they're easy to transport and produce 200% contribution margins... so I've got to somehow figure out how to get these watches and lighters I ordered from Amazon loaded inconspicuously into my luggage.

Well... the next post should be live from Brazil. Tchau!

Leticia, Colombia to Iquitos Peru

Upon stepping onto the tarmac in Leticia, Colombia it was very obvious that we were no longer in the cool, fresh highlands of Bogota.... the heat and humidity was oppressive. Leticia is in an area known as the Tres Fronteras -- Three Borders because it's sister city about a quarter mile down the road is Tabatinga, Brazil and across the Amazon is Santa Rosa, Peru. Brazil just happened to be playing North Korea the same afternoon that we arrived and it was amazing to be able to count the Brazilian goals by explosions of firecrackers whenever a goal was scored. The victory parade that ensued their 2-1 victory was simply phenomenal... I'm pretty sure that every moped, tuk-tuk taxi from both the Leticia and Tabatinga sides were decked out in full party regalia for the 45 minute parade of horns and hooting.

The next day we took a tour to Isla de Micos which means island of the little monkeys. It was about a 45 minute boat ride up the Amazon and the main focus of the tour was feeding bananas to the little creatures while they crawled all over you.

The only way to get to the Peruvian city of Iquitos from the Tres Fronteras area is by boat--- 3 days in a Cargo boat or 10 hours in a high speed boat. We opted for the $70 fast boat as we had booked our connecting flight to Lima out of Iquitos. My idea of a 10-12 hour trip up the Amazon involved cruising with a couple 200 hp outboard motors enjoying the views and breezes of racing up the river. Unfortunately when we showed up at the dock at 3 am the next morning, we were looking at the equivalent of a greyhound bus but floating. All of the South Americans were intent on keeping the shades drawn and the windows closed even though there was no A/C. It turned out to be a LONG, miserable trip up the river which was prolonged even more when about an hour out of our destination our boat broke down which was explained to us as "running out of diesel" but the explanation seemed questionable after we kept hearing wrenches at work in the engine room and then miraculously the boat started and ran long enough (about 15 minutes) for us to go up the river to buy some more fuel. The entire breakdown on the Amazon set us back about 2 hours and I couldn't do much more than just laugh as I knew that neither AAA nor Sea Tow would probably respond and help us on the river.

Once we finally got to the steamy jungle town of Iquitos we were pleasantly surprised to see a proper Sports Bar with TV's everywhere -- although the owner is a huge Univ of Texas fan and the place is completely decked out in UT colors. It was a great place to keep up with the World Cup though.

During our tour the next day we went to visit two different Indigenous tribal communities and had the "opportunity" to have our faces painted and participate in some tribal dances. One of the tribes' dance involved stamping your foot in rhythm and that was too much for me to keep up with as was the running in circles with the other tribe. We ended our Amazon tour by visiting a Butterfly Sanctuary which also had a bunch of orphaned Amazonian animals... the most impressive a Jaguar that had been for sale at the market but was donated once the poacher couldn't find a buyer.

Bogotá

Bogotá is a HUGE city... around 9 million inhabitants and they're a LOT of fun and extremely friendly. Bogotá has a pretty perfect climate since it's way up high in a mountain valley. It gets nice and cool at night (around 50 degrees)and warms up to around 75 every day. On Friday I met my friend Seth at the airport and he's now my traveling buddy for the remainder of the trip.

Bogotá residents seem to have a great affinity for gathering in the streets and having parties so every Friday night they close down their main downtown street and the street fills up with all sorts of vendors selling about anything you can imagine like meat on a stick and corn on the cob to watches and sunglasses. They also have artists of all shapes and forms... literally!! I saw a singing dwarf, a small child singing worship songs for her pentecostal church (completely awful sounding) and punk kids rapping in Spanish. There were also artist making every type of art imaginable. Everybody was having a great time wandering around gocking at the array of things going on.

We also checked out the very posh Zona Rosa and watched the US play England to a draw in the first game of the world cup. The restaurant Andre's Carne de Res (www.andrescarnederes.com) was an over the top steak house with some of the best food I've ever tasted in my life. The menu was HUGE... think Cheese Cake Factory on steroids and the entire place exuded fun. A few Colombian girls dressed up as cheerleaders even came downstairs and started chanting "USA! USA! USA!" Made me feel extremely happy.

Today Seth and I decided to explore Bógota by bicycle as they have the largest route system in Latin America and in addition to that they close down their main road every Sunday from 7 am to 2 pm for bike and pedestrian traffic in an effort to promote fitness. While looking over the rental bikes at the store near my hostel, I quickly realized that these weren't the best quality bikes in the world, but I figured that it'd be fine for our cruise around the city. We started out and went about 6 miles north of the old city to the Zona Rosa where we stopped at a patio restaurant to eat and watch some Australia vs. Germany soccer. Then we headed over to check out the massive Simón Bolívar park... Bogotás take on central park. The Park was completely filled with Colombian families out paddling around on the lake, with tents and was a very carnival like environment. Then my bike problems began... The bolt holding the rear spring to the frame came out and the frame collapsed on itself. We came up with the solution by using the paddle lock for locking up the bike to secure the frame. I thought all was good until as I stood up to power my way up a hill the peddle broke off from the crankshaft. This absolutely couldn't be fixed!! Unfortunately we were about 5 miles from the bike shop and needed to get back. After a bit of practice I somehow managed to use the side of my sandles to apply torque to the crank and somehow ride one peddled back. I only suffered a few minor scrapes to my foot and all worked out well. The only other collateral damage suffered in the bike ride was that a mangy street poodle was meandering down the sidewalk where I was stuggling to bike and I assumed that South American dogs would be as intelligent as their North American cousins and move out of the way... Unfortunately that wasn't the case and with my bad brakes on the bike I ran right over him... right over his rib cage!! I kept going as I didn't want to run the risk of being liable for vet bills but could hear the poor mongrel squeeling for the next 3 blocks!

After looking over the itinerary for the rest of our trip we decided to revamp our route entirely and fly down to Leticia Colombia which is on the Amazon bordering Brazil and take a boat up the river to the Peruvian city of Iquitos from where we'll fly on to Lima. This little Amazonian Jungle trip will start on Tuesday.

Pablo Escobar

Although the tours don't officially exist as nobody wants to honor Pablo Escobar, the tour of all places related to the man/myth/legend are easily available to tourists for about $15 and are very popular with foreigners. We learned about his entire history from when he started stealing cars and motorcycles as a teenager to sell them for parts until he controlled what would easily be one of the largest Fortune 100 companies in the world if legal -- the Medellín Cartel. Many of the poor considered hime to be a Robin Hood of sorts as he built many hospitals, sports complexes and other community places. This didn't make up for the fact that he also created one of the most violent countries in the world with his paramilitaries and once the rivalry with the Calí Cartel took full hold there was blood in the streets throughout the country. He was a completely cold blooded killer who took out 5 presidential candidates who didn't share his enthusiasm for cocaine crime and continually bombed the government and rival assets. Many here suspect that the CIA may have been involved in his final death but credit was officially given to the elite military force that had been assigned to track him down. Other theories suggest he actually escaped and had reconstructive surgery but nobody gives real credence to that.

Fun with the Paisas (Medellín People)

Medellín has turned out to be one of the friendliest places that I've encountered yet... this amazing city used to be run by the drug cartels and was one of the bloodiest places in the world to be but not so any more! The city leaders have built a beautiful subway system that spans the city and incorporates several cable car links that connect the poorest neighborhoods to the city and the poor people of the barrio have responded by cleaning up their neighborhoods and putting a stop to the crime that previously plagued them. I spent the day wandering the Barrios and met some of the friedliest people who were all extremely concerned that I had a good impression of their city and country. They insisted on treating me to a local juice and then some local street kids gave me a tour--- in ENGLISH... I was quite impressed.

On the way back to towards my hostel I decided that it might be fun to go wander around the local university to see if there was anything exciting going on there and WOW... what a treat I got! Turns out that Colombian students love riots and protests and it turned out that they were celebrating El Dia del Estudiante Caído which is the day of the fallen student in honor of a student who died at the hands of the police 5 years ago. After that there was an agreement put in place that the police won't go onto university campuses... they use private security which is similar to the university police force in the US. Anyhow... on to the riot! When we got to the main gate there were armoured police vehicles and riot police everywhere so I was trying to be extremely cautious until some of the police notice me (not sure why i'd stand out) and started joking with me in English and asked if I wanted a picture with them. They explained that although they were shooting tear gas and shock grenades at the students and the students were lobbing massive rocks back it was mainly a reenactment for dramatic purposes... the students like rioting and so they let it happen as a form of expression. The police would fire there water cannons at the students and push them back into the interior of the campus and then after about 15 minutes they'd pull back and let the students get back out to the fence and repeat. Although bizarre, what a fun concept...

Venezuela to Medellín

Well I managed to survive Venezuela and wasn't locked up for espionage or anything. Yesterday was a marathon day of travel in which I got up at 4:30 am in Los Llanos, Venezuela and managed to get to the border with the $7 that I had left in local currency. It was a major challenge because the last thing that I wanted to do was get money out of an ATM machine there and get their 4:1 exchange rate when the going black market rate is 7-8:1. I used the cheapest local buses and skipped all meals and managed to walk across the border to Colombia by 4 pm. Although completely exhausted I didn't want to stay in the border area of Cúcuta as contraband seems to be the main trade there so I went straight to the airport and managed to catch a $60 flight to Medellín, home of the infamous (now dead) Pablo Escobar. Today I managed to catch up on some sleep and wander around the city. The climate here is amazing as its set in the mountains so it feels like spring all the time. The local people are among the most friendly I've ever met... and they're extremely welcoming to Americans.

Rafting and Safari

I had an amazing time rafting down a mountain stream outside of Barinas, Venezuela. Since its the rainy season, the river was very full and the elevation change is pretty extreme which adds up to phenominal rafting conditions. One of the more amazing things about going on the rafting and Safari expeditions was watching the guides fill up the massive Toyota LandCruisers. The 30 gallon tanks cost about $.80 to fill (with 95 octane no less!) yep... some of the cheapest gasoline in the world thanks to their massive petroleum reserves.

During the Safari in Los Llanos we got to see two large Anacondas that our guides were kind enough to search out of the swamps for us. We also saw many alligators, an anteater, tons of birds and even the real life R.O.U.S.'s -- known as Capybaras. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capybara) We also got to go piranha fishing and caught about 10 but they were a bit too small to eat so we ended up feeding them to some farm animals. The last day of our trip we witnessed the death of a cow so that we could have a large pit BBQ that evening... made us all VERY happy.