San Agustin Colombia

Currency Peso - $1.00US = $1930.000 Pesos

Bus Popayan to San Agustin (same for return trip) - $28.000 - 6 hours (1/2 hour lunch stop) There are buses from Bogota and the coffee region that go to San Agustin as well

Moto Taxi from Central San Agustin to Hostel (1.5km) $1300.000

Entrance Fee to Archeology Parks (2) - $15.000 each or both for $25.000

Entrance Fee to additional Museum/2 tombs (on the jeep tour) - $2,000.00

Jeep tour of area and statues/tombs - $30.000 - 9am-4pm with 1 hour for lunch (not included in price)

Horseback tour of area and statues/tombs - $40.000 - 9am-1pm 1/2 hour stop for drinks

I headed to San Agustin from Popayan, I caught the 10 am bus, there is a bus leaving about every 2 hours that goes to San Agustin. I had been warned that the road was very bad, after all it is only about 155km but takes 6 hours to get there, I had also heard that the scenery was incredible. They were right on both counts, although the road was not as bad as I thought it would be. It is gravel, the bus pulls over when the pavement runs out and they deflate the tires a bit. It is bumpy and it is narrow, when you meet up with another vehicle 1 of them has to pull over and let the other by, if it is a big truck, some tricky maneuvering is required by both drivers. The scenery was awesome, hills, valleys, rivers and a waterfall right beside the road. There is a 1/2 hour lunch stop along the way, good thing, bumpy road, no bathroom on the bus as it is a little shuttle bus; a much needed stop.

Some of the buses do not actually go into San Agustin as it is off on it's own road, instead they drop you off at the cross road but they do organize a taxi or van to pick you up (bus company pays for it) to take you the 5km into town. I was picked up by a taxi that included a guy that was a tour operator, the town's main source of income is tourists so the operators (and there are many of them) can be a little aggressive. The taxi dropped me and the tour operator off at his office where I got the spiel on things to do in San Agustin. I told him I already had a place booked and thanked him for his time, he offered me a ride to El Maco on his motor bike, at first it was $3,000.000 but I didn't have it so he took the $1,300.000 that I did have. So with my big pack on the bike in front of him and me on the back we were off. In Colombia only the driver has to wear a helmet, I am not sure of the logic behind the law but when in Rome. I don't like motor bikes, I have had some bad luck with them, 1 incident when I was a kid involved getting my foot sucked into the back spokes due to a shoe lace getting caught. On this day I am wearing runners with pretty long laces. Must have looked pretty stupid with my feet sticking out that far from the bike but I was taking no chances. I was very glad I took the risk when I saw the hill I would have had to go up to get to the place I was staying. If I had been thinking I would have left my big pack in storage in Popayan and just taken my small pack with me, I was only going to be there for 3 days and had to go back to Popayan to get a bus to the border.

I had reserved a bunk in a dorm at a place in San Agustin call Finca El Maco a small farm just outside of town. They have a dorm cabin as well as separate cabana's so the prices vary, cost for a bunk in the dorm was $12.000 a night. There is an on-site restaurant that servers tasty organic food, including yogurt that they make on the farm and they sell beer, pop and water. There is a tour guide named Pacho who seems to be their official tour guide, he showed up after I had been there a few hours so I booked a jeep tour for 1 day and a horseback riding tour for another day with him. Turns out there were 4 people from the hostel in Popayan staying in the dorm as well. 2 Swedes, a Canadian from Toronto and a German. The Swedes were leaving the next morning but the Canadian & German were also doing the jeep tour the next day.

San Agustin is a UNESCO world heritage site, it is surrounded by the remains of pre-Colombian/pre Inca civilizations/archeology sites (6th century B.C to 12th A.D). The current town was founded in 1790, the first to discover the ruins were the Spanish in their search for gold. Actual excavation of the sites started in the 1930"s. There are over 500 statutes and tombs in a 500 square kilometer area, they think there may be more undiscovered relics in the area. The town itself is pretty small and a lot of the locals still use the horse and buggy method of transportation. There are lots of people living on the outskirts of town and in the surrounding area and there are many towns and villages within a 15km area.

All of the various tours cover different areas so by doing them both plus one on your own walking you can see pretty much all of the sites around town. If you are not into horses or don't want to spend the money you can hike the same paths, it takes about 6 hours on foot. The jeep tour, or as it turns out if under 6 people the car tour... There were only the 3 of us from the Finca going, on long weekends and holidays the place is packed with tourists but mid-week not so much which is kind of nice. We got picked up at 9ish, it was raining pretty bad which made me glad I wasn't doing the horse tour that day, unfortunately a group of Germans (10 of them) on an organized tour of Colombia who had taken over the farm were. Our 1st stop on the tour was a sugar cane processing plant and I use the term plant loosly, it is a covered place with vats and a grinder. I have never seen how the sugar cane becomes the brown blocks that I buy in stores. I use it in my coffee here, it comes in solid blocks so it is way easier to keep in a pack and travel with, I just chip off a piece when I need it, no spillage no mess and it is cheaper than sugar. It is technically called dulce, the sugar cane is put through a press and then the juice is boiled for a while then scooped up and put into molds. Once it has harden it is taken out of the molds and it is ready to ship. The stuff I buy for my coffee is a very small block, about 1/2 the size of a large chocolate bar and 4x'd s thick for $500.00 Peso's. Can you tell I still have not found chocolate yet? It's pretty much all I can think about anymore, I think i am an addict.

After the plant it was off to see some tombs. There is a small museum with a couple of tombs that we stopped at, it was kind of cool because these ones we could go into. The tombs are dug into the ground, some are deeper than others, there is a primary tomb where they go when they first die. Once they have decomposed they are dug up put into an urn and buried again. There is a lot of similarity between these people and the Egyptians, urns, pottery & jewelry are buried with them, it also seems that they were pretty advanced in medical science. A guide told me that they found evidence that some of them had had pieces of their skulls removed and put back while they were alive showing evidence of brain surgery. It cost us $2,000.000 to climb around in the holes and check out the pottery in the museum. We also took a walk down to the river Magdalena, it is a very important river in Colombia and runs all the way from Cartagena down.

Next up was one of the main parks and a whole lot of statues and tombs after that another park, more tombe's and statues. The guide told us which ones had held important people and which were just ordinary folks, most of them had color when they were first discovered however the oxygen has made the colors almost disappear but you can still see a bit of color here and there. Then off for lunch and then to a water fall. The waterfall Salto de Bordone , the highest in Colombia at 400 meters and 2nd highest in South America. A group of school kids were down at the path to the falls and they proudly gave us the history in very rapid Spanish. Then more statues and tombe's, another waterfall and back to the farm. The scenery was incredible, jungle, farm land I never knew there was that many shades of green in the color spectrum. All in all well worth the money and a good choice on a drizzly rainy day. Our German horseback riders did not fair so well (1/2 of them dropped out but 5 still went), muddy, dirty and cold they were huddled in front of the fireplace when we got back. There were wet cloths and shoes on every piece of the fireplace that was emitting heat.

The Canadian and German were leaving the next day but while we were on out jeep tour an Italian had checked into the dorm. He lives in Popayan and is on a 6 month volunteer program working with the UN on climate change in the area. A really nice guy and very smart, he was booked for the horseback riding trip the next day as well. We did both tell the guide that if it was raining we would not be going, the last thing I need is to get sick for any length of time.

No rain so off we went horseback riding. it has been a while since I have done it but somewhat like riding a bike it all came back. We spent the day visiting various sites, sometimes there would only be 1 or 2 statues at a place but it was very nice, again great scenery and a little bit of hiking was involved to get to some of the statues so good exercise.

We had a pit stop for a drink at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. The Canadian guy had told me about a juice called Lulu that was really good and if I got the chance I had to try it. Turns out this place served it so I gave it a go. It was awesome, the actual fruit you can't eat it is too acidic, it looks like a little orange, but squish it and add some sugar and it is a tasty refreshing beverage.

Our guide took us to the main park by town and dropped us off, the horse part of the tour was done, we were free to roam about the park on our own (this park is not part of either tour). At this point the rain began so we sat at the restaurant and had a latte and waited it out, 20 minutes late we were on our way through the park at lightening speed in case the rain started again. 2 hours and countless statues and tombs and we were done.

There is a shuttle bus that you can catch back to town if you don't want to walk (it goes right be the farm) for $1,000.000, I wanted to go into town to wander and use the internet (there is a computer at the farm but the connection is pretty slow) and Italian dude wanted to get some pictures of the town so we parted ways and did our own thing. I ended up purchasing a Colombian bag (mochila), all of the locals have them it is a pouch bag with longish strap, very handy if you only need to carry a few things, it cost me $15.000, a pretty good deal. The lady who owns the shop told me that the Canadian Ambassador had come through town a few weeks ago and was very impressed by both the town and the archeological sites. So perhaps more Canadians will find their way here, although there was 2 of us during my stay, the park posts the number of tourists and their nationality's that have come through the park and Canada was way down the list at 81 visitors for the previous month. Considering there are about 1/2 a million of us in South America, and I am not exaggerating we are like locus down here we are everywhere, a pretty poor showing in this region. The place is a bit of a pain to get to but it is well worth the effort and completely safe. All over Colombia there is a very visible military and police presents, road checks are common and you will see heavily armed soldiers in groups on the sides of the roads. It looks scarier than it is, they are there to ensure that nothing happens to their citizens as well as the tourists and to deter anyone who may want to cause problems from doing so. I have never felt uneasy or unsafe while I have been in Colombia and no one I have met on the backpacker trail has either.

I did have a bit of a disappointment, after horseback riding I wanted to book a massage, so did Italian dude. Our guide called both masseuses (there are 2 in town) and no luck they were both unavailable. Really too bad the cost for an hour massage was only $25.000 and I was really looking forward to getting my butt rubbed after 4 hours of bouncing in a saddle.. Oh well, if it's something you may want to do book it a day before you want it to make sure 1 of them is available.

The next morning I headed to the bus depot to catch the 10am bus back to Popayan. I met a nice Aussie at the bus stop and we shared the back of a pickup truck for the 5km ride up to the junction were the bus stops and had a nice trip back to Popayan swapping stories about our travels so far. She ended up coming with me to Hostel Trail where she ran into 3 people she knew including the one form the Panama boat that I knew, they met in the coffee region. She had gone to the coffee region and then straight to San Agustin, she recommended the coffee region as well as the hostel she stayed at in San Agustin, La Casa De Francois. Funny how all the hostels and fincas in town are owned by foreigners, el Maco is owned by a Swill guy and according to our guide many of the others are expat owned as well.

So a stop in Popayan and off to Ecuador, my time in Colombia is done. It is an incredible county and I totally enjoyed my time here. I regret that it wasn't long enough and there is so much stuff that I didn't see. The people here are incredibly, they have survived so much turmoil and uncertainty and yet they are some of the happiest and most optimistic people I have ever met. They live in the moment and enjoy everything that life has to offer, we can all learn a great deal from them.

Popayan Colombia

Currency Peso - $1.00US = $1930.000 Pesos

Taxi to bus depot from downtown San Gil - $3,000.000
Bus San Gil to Bogota - $40.000 (7 hours)
Bus Bogota to Popayan - $68.000 (15 hours)
Hostel Popayan - $16.000 a night - dorm room 3 beds

I knew I was in for a long haul on this leg of the trip, it is a very long way from San Gil to Popayan. If you want to break it up you can stop in the coffee region, some fellow backpackers told me it is really nice there.

I caught the 1pm bus out of San Gil to Bogota. It is a 7 hour ride, the scenery is very pretty, mountains for most of the way, bus was a deluxe one with a bathroom, always good. I have gotten pretty good at using those while the bus does 90km down a twisty road. Not much room in there to fall over but you can get slammed into the wall pretty good.

We got into Bogota, the capital of Colombia at 8:30pm, I had decided not to stay there, I wasn't in a big city kind of mood but I hear if you like to party it's the place to go. The Bogota bus terminal is huge, more like an airport, lots of restaurants if you need to kill time before your bus leaves. The terminal is divided into sections 1, 2, 3, etc., Each section has buses that go to different parts of the country. Module 1 is for buses heading south; Cali, Popayan, San Agustin and the coffee region. It can be a little confusing but just ask at one of the ticket counters, the bus folks will point you in the right direction.

I had not had much to eat so my plan was to get my ticket and then hit one of the restaurants for some food. This was not to be, my bus was leaving asap so once I had my ticket one of the bus employees escorted me down to the bus and I was off, not even time to grab a water and a bag of chips. This part of the journey is 15 hours, the bus goes through Cali.

Just before the bus departed a representative for the bus company came on with a camcorder and filmed us all. Never had this happen and was kind of weirded out by the whole thing. As a result the film they got of me was me looking up from my pack with a "what the F*ck" look on my face. After wards I'm thinking that if anything happens to me the last pictures my family and friends will see of me is with a confused deer in headlights look. Kind of appropriate I guess but luckily no need to broadcast that footage on the evening news. I found out later that they do it because most times when buses get hijacked a passenger is usually involved. They find that the bus companies that film passengers have fewer hijackings as the culprits can be identified. All in the name of safety so good but freaky.

Yeah I have learned to sleep on buses, not much of a choice but I have a bed sheet I brought with me in case I had to sleep outside so I rolled it up, wrapped it around my neck and no crick.

The bus makes one stop during the night at a cafe/store thing so got some nutritious chips and water, could have used some real food but they had a buffet thing and I'm a little leary of eating food at 3am that has probably been sitting there a good 12 hours so decided to hold off on a meal until I reached Popayan.

I got into Popayan at 11:30am, I had reserved a hostel in Popayan, Hostel Trail. The directions on the web site said it was a 10 minute walk from the bus station, after sitting for so long I figured I could use the exercise and would give the walk a try. I actually found it first try, usually I get lost but the directions were pretty much idiot proof. The hostel is only a couple of blocks from the main square of the town so a great location. I have been using a website called hosteltrail.com to find hostels in South America, pretty much all of the ones I have stayed at I found on that web site including this one. Turns out the nice Scottish couple that own this hostel are also the creators of the web site. I recommend it if you are traveling in South America, the layout is great, the information on the listings include pretty much everything you would need to know and every listing has directions on how to reach the hostels, if you want to book online there is a link to gomio.com which does not charge booking fees. I have booked a couple on line and had no problems, the hostels received the bookings and no weird things happened with my credit card. The hostel is great, free WIFI full kitchen, a TV room and the folks that run it and work there are awesome. Ally the dog is amazing, but be warned if you toss the ball for her you are her bitch for the rest of your stay.

Popayan is a great town full of happy busy people, it is a College, University town and it is really old. The Spanish conquered it in 1537, before that there was an indigenous tribe living there. It is known as the white city because of the buildings in the town. In 1983 an earthquake destroyed a lot of the city including all but 1 church, it took them 10 years to rebuild it. There are a ton of churches and monasteries and you can't go down a street without seeing a nun. They kind of creep me out, somewhat like cops; even if I haven't done anything I feel guilty around them. Popayan is a very religious city with lots of history and culture. Strangely it is also famous for producing the most Colombian presidents, 17 of them have come from this town. Popayan is listed as a Colombia heritage site. My favorite thing about the city, there is a coffee shop on every corner including the Juan Valdez coffee house, seems there really is a Juan (aka Carlos Sanchez) and his donkey.

My time in Popayan was spent visiting coffee houses, hanging out in the town square people watching, wandering the streets, buying and eating fruit from the street vendors and studying Spanish. Still not much better at speaking it but I'm understanding a lot more. I also got the blog about San Gil done so not entirely wasted time. I did notice that the town loves a parade, I spent 2 nights there and there was a parade every night. I had arrived after Semana Santa so I wasn't sure what it was about, it was all kids as well. Turns out it was the kids Semana Santa, these folks just don't want the party to end. They were really cute all dressed up, there were kid bands and marchers in uniforms. It gave me the opportunity to have some great street food, street meat on a stick, empanadas (deep fried dough with various stuffing's) and arepa's con queso (dough stuffed with cheese and fried) all things that will kill you slowly. There are lots of things to do out of Popayan, hiking trips as well as a market in the nearby town of Silvia (1 1/2 hours away) that happens every Tuesday. I was being lazy and I arrived on a Tuesday and left before the next one so couldn't do the market.

I decided to head out of Popayan to a small town up the road called San Agustin, however I did return to Popayan for a night on my way to Ecuador as the buses from there ran more frequently to the border. On my 2nd stay there I ran into a fellow backpacker who was a dorm mate in Panama City, she had headed out on a boat to Colombia a few days before I did. The backpacker trail strikes again, we all run into each other again eventually. She was heading to San Agustin when I left for Ecuador but headed down this way in a week or so, I am sure our paths will cross again.

On that note, time for another plug for my web site Lost Trekkers a free people search web site. Looking for someone you met traveling? Someone you have lost contact with? Place a free ad to find them.

San Gil Colombia - Semana Santa

Currency Peso - $1.00US = $1930.000 Pesos

Taxi (hostel) Calle 10 Carrer 1C to Bus Depot - $4,000.00

Bus Santa Marta to Bucaramanga (over nighter) - $45.000 (advertised on the web site for $75. You can re-negotiate long distance bus ticket prices) - 8ish hours

Shuttle bus Bucaramanga to San Gil - $15,00.00 - 1 1/2 hours

Hostel San Gil - $14.000 a night

Check out time at my hostel in Santa Marta was 2pm but my bus didn't leave until 8:30pm. I used the time to hang out in the hostel kitchen and use their WIFI to finish my last blog posting.

I walked down to the beach road a block away and grabbed a cab to the bus depot at 6pm to make sure I got there in time to get a ticket. With Semana Santa (Easter) coming up I was not sure how busy the buses would be.

A fellow traveler had let me know that in Colombia long distance bus tickets are negotiable and that the people at the bus stations are bad at it. I don't normally like to dicker but I decided what the heck try something new so I checked the price online and it was $75.000 ($38.00 US). I figured I would try for $50.000 and see what happened. Turns out I didn't have to negotiate, when I got to the main door for the bus terminal there were representatives for the bus company's waiting. They ask where you are going and the bidding war begins between them, One guy offered it to me for $50.000 then the other company said $45.000 and it was the one that everyone recommended so score for me. Turns out the bus ended up being full so good thing I got there early before they knew and the price went up.
It is a 7/8 hour ride to Bucaramanga where I needed to make a transfer to a bus to San Gil. Night buses in Colombia are excellent, they show movies, there is a bathroom, the seats fully recline with the leg rest thing. The only draw back is they crank the air conditioner so it is very cold, as in the widows were sweating. I knew about this so I had my jeans and sweater on along with a bed sheet. What I really need is a pillow which if I happen to stumble across I will pick up, there has to be some way it will fit in/on the pack. The neck crick keeps waking me up and I have a few more long night rides ahead of me on this trip.

We made it into Bucaramanga at about 6:00am. I headed for the coffee shop and then to find a bus to San Gil. There is a regular bus but I found a shuttle bus (Van) and it was the same price as the bus so I grabbed it. It left at 8:00am. The road to San Gil is through the mountains so it is very twisty and only 1 lane each way. This did not stop our driver and the other drivers from passing on blind curves with cliffs on either side and doing mach 40. A wonderful roller coaster ride, 3 people behind me got car sick and spent the trip throwing up into bags. Have you every had to listen to 3 people heaving at once? Combined with the smell? Not a good thing
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Got into San Gil at about 10ish, San Gil is an old colonial town, lots of really old buildings which I like, cobbled streets and really big hills. It is know as the adventure capital of Colombia. White water rafting, bungy jumping, caving, pick a stupid human trick and odds are good you can do it here. It also would seem that they have a pretty large Semana Santa festival with people coming in from all over the place, largely other parts of Colombia. All good things.

I booked the hostel online, due to Semana Santa accommodations were going fast so when I booked they only had 1 bed left. I had directions to the hostel so off I went. San Gil has a lot of hills and they are very steep. The directions said up the hill from the bus stop 3 blocks. The hill went straight up, so I haul my sleep deprived ass along with my 40+ pounds of packs up the hill. Can't find the hostel, asked a few people and no one knew it and the last thing I want to do is go down the hill in case I had to go back up. Did I mention it is also smoking hot out and there is no shade on that street. Found a cafe and sat and had a water and some food and gave it another go. Found the hostel.

Hostel Casa Monkora is located a couple of blocks from the town square so it is very central. It is family owned and operated and they live on-site. Free WIFI, full kitchen dorms, private rooms and camping. I was very pleased with my choice, very nice family and they make sure you feel comfortable and the hostel is very clean. The people that were suppose to check out had gone out so the hostel stored my bags for me in an unoccupied private room and I went for a walk around my new hood. Found the super market (1 big one 3 smaller ones), the street market (produce) and the ATM of which there are 6 or 7 of in a 5 block radius. Since I was going to be here for 5 nights I could actually pick up food, most times it is not worth it since I can't take much with me when I go, I usually only have coffee and sugar with me, I am a caffeine junky. As previously mentioned I am the worlds worst cook but I do like eggs and those I can kind of cook and I'm okay with pasta. So food and beer in hand I head back to the hostel where my bed is ready just in time for a siesta. Grand total of grocery bill $28.000 and $8,000.000 of that was beer so about $10.00US for 5 days worth of food. Sadly cannot say that was the total for beer for the 5 days.

Last year when I was in Guatemala I took 2 weeks of Spanish, 1 on 1 instruction 4 hours a day 5 days a week. I also picked some up while on the road but not much and not using it for a year has made me more than a little rusty. I can function in situations like buying a bus ticket, ordering in restaurants asking for directions but conversational Spanish is way out of my league unless it is the where are you from? what is your name? And even then if I am tired it all goes missing from my little brain. Everyone at the hostel speaks Spanish (including a couple of foreign tourists) which makes me more than a little ashamed of how little I know. Most of them also know some English but as I am the only 1 who doesn't speak Spanish asking people to talk to me in English just seems self centered and rude so I avoided using English. In a way it kind of sucks because they are an amazing bunch of people and I know I was missing out on some really good jokes. But on the other hand I found that just listening to them I was able to pick up more and more of what they were saying, I usually couldn't get the entire thing but I could figure out the topic. They were also great at trying to teach me, using simpler words so I could understand or finding a different way to explain things. The owners and the group of people staying at the hostel went out of their way to include me in whatever they did including asking me to join them for outings. Latinos are the nicest people. It also made me study harder, I brought along my school books from Guatemala and my goal was to learn 10 new verbs a day which I did. Now if only I could form a sentence with them..Even now if i know the word I need something like blind panic hits if I have to say it out loud, in my head it sounds fine. Something to work on during the upcoming 17 hour bus trip.

San Gil defiantly knows how to throw a party. There were a ton of free concerts down at the town square featuring the music of Colombia. Lots of vendors selling everything from ice cream, meat on a stick to jewelry and sun glasses. The atmosphere was great and everyone seemed to be having a great time. I am so going to miss being able to buy beer off a street vendor and carry it around with you when I go home. There were a ton of people, I think the population of the town quadrupled for 5 days, the streets were packed with people and cars from 11am until well after midnight. If you get a chance to spend Semana Santa there you won't regret it.

Here at the hostel there was also much partying, lots of people as it was fully booked including 8 campers in tents. We had a bonfire one night and everyone at the hostel attended. They went out to the disco afterwords (midnightish), I however declined, Okay I didn't really decline I snuck off to bed when no one was looking, anyone who has camped with me knows this trick :-). I had reached my 4 beer limit so no mas cervezas para mi. They were all moving pretty slowly the next morning and there was much laying about in the hammocks. We were all going to go bungy jumping the next day so probably a good thing that it rained and we could not go. I think there may have been a lot of barfing bungy jumpers.

There is a little town called Barichara, it just outside of San Gil about an hour 1/2 bus ride away that the guide books say is worth checking out. Very old world and quaint. I tried to go one day but I could not find the bus, waited at where it was suppose to come, nada, asked someone and they said due to the new bridge it had moved so tried that spot, still nada, then tried one more. After 2 hours I gave up, I've seen nice towns and this was too much like work. I think due to Semana Santa they may have moved the stop but I'm not sure. The reviews on it are great so if you get a chance and spot a bus hop on and check it out.

After my failed attempt I decided instead to go check out the local swimming hole Poza Azul. The nice lady at the hostel told me which bus to get and sure enough it arrived. The sign in the hostel said the bus should be $800.00 Pesos, I got charge $900.00 no big deal, tourist tax. The driver let me know when we where there so that was good. The swimming hole was a nice way to relax and keep cool on a hot day. Lots of people down there, there are a couple of restaurants and some street vendors. You can take beer with you or buy it there. Lots of families having a great time and a very pretty place. The bus back cost me $1,000.000, apparently double tourist tax.

I was going to try stupid human trick #5 on the list, rappelling down a water fall, however due to the rain the only day I could do it was the day before I left and it was a long bus ride out to the waterfall and I had a 22 hour bus ride in store for me the next day so I just couldn't do it. I have done rafting and bungy jumping before, the only reason I would have done bungy again is because there would have been other kids to laugh at who hadn't done it, if you have never tried them I definitely recommend that you do give it a try if you find yourself in San Gil.

Semana Santa was over that day so I decided to wander the streets, they were pretty much empty. A lot of stores closed including the grocery store, all partied out it would seem. The hostel emptied out as everyone had to be back at work on Monday, it was sad to see everyone go but kind of nice to have less people in town.

I did have 1 disturbing incident at a restaurant, as previously mentioned I am pretty used to getting crappy service, but this was outright bitchy racism I wrote an email to the head office requesting an apology and that the waitress be disciplined, they did respond to my email and apologized and said that they were shocked that someone working for them would behave this way. They have promised to look into the matter and take appropriate action. Thank you to the folks at the head office of Zirus Pizza in Bucaramanga for your fast response and concern. I would like to add that this is not typical of the people of Colombia or the people of San Gil, it was 1 person. I do encourage anyone who encounters this to contact the appropriate people to deal with the issue rather than not saying anything. Companies do not want their employees behaving this way and they need to know if there is an issue so they can correct it.

I ended up going to the Chinese restaurant instead and for $6,000.00 got way more rice and chicken than I could eat. The next morning it is off to the bus station for another marathon ride.

Again a big thank you to the folks at the hostel and every one who stayed there. Although it may not sound like it when I talk the Spanish immersion was great for me, I can understand a lot more. Your kindness and patience is appreciated.

Una vez más un gran agradecimiento a la gente en el albergue y cada uno que se quedaron allí. Aunque no puede sonar como que cuando hablo de la inmersión en español fue para mí, puedo entender mucho más. Su amabilidad y la paciencia es apreciada.
(Sí, engañados y utilizados traductor de google)