Bryan and I hit the airport around 11:30. As I was entering the security line, I heard my name called. I was quite shocked as I did not think anyone who knew me would be traveling through these parts. I turned to see my friend who rented me the apartment. As mentioned in an earlier post, I told him I would need a ride to airport 2 hours after I was actually headed to the airport to avoid getting nickel and dimed a bit more. So close..He was not happy and said I owed him more money. I laughed and just kept walking. Slowly I realized that I did not know this country and was concerned he could get me pulled out of line and then I would pretty much be in his hands. I listened to the amount he wanted and cut it in half. It was a little funny watching as he pleaded with my brother, explaining why I owed more money, which was joke, because my brother does not really care, and it is not like he was gunna turn to me and say, “Darren, is this man telling the truth, do you owe him more money for using the air conditioning?”
We boarded the 1 hour flight for Bogotá and headed to the train station to reserve a ticket west to the town of Armenia. Our bus was scheduled to leave at 11:00pm which gave us around 7 hours to explore the capital city. We headed for the main square, Plaza de Bolivar and took a few pictures.
The next step was to hike up a mountain to Monserrati, a church on a hill with a great view of the city. After getting close to the mountain, realizing that we were carrying 40lb packs with an incline angle of 70 degrees, we opted for the tram. On the way to the tram we ran into this old guy. He was divorced. He sold his property and was spending his days backpacking around the world. I thought it was great, but I also felt sad for him. I often regret not traveling in my 20s, but am happy I decided to do it while I am still young and somewhat fit to be able to entertain more of the adventurous activities. He is seeing the world, but unable to do much climbing or serious hiking. Also by his age I hope to be settled down and sharing my less extreme travels with a partner. Working in the hospital, I know how tough it is to grow old alone.
Behind the guy is an empanada stand. It is fried corn patties stuffed with anything from pork, beef, chicken or cheese. We pretty much lived on these as we grabbed food between bus stops.
After coming down from the tram, we had come to the conclusion that there really wasn’t that much else to see in the city outside of kids pissing in the parks. We had about 5 hours to kill, so that meant we were gunna be drinking and eating slowly.
We made it back to the bus station and boarded a 9 hr ride to Armenia. I forgot to mention that the old traveler we met earlier asked if we had heard about the bus accident. We had not. He proceeded to tell us that, due to high rains and flooding, a bus headed towards our destination tumbled off a cliff overnight and everyone died.
Just to be safe I doubled up on sleeping pills to ensure I would sleep through the long fall. The bus stations are like dirty shopping malls. They have stores, casinos and even bathrooms you have to pay for. Bryan scrounged together the 50 cents required to use the toilet but forgot to spend 25 cents to buy toilet paper. Let’s just say he went into the bathroom with socks on and came out in flip-flops.
Until Tomorrow
Darren
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