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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 25, 2022 19:16:00 GMT
The leafy lane picture is lovely!
That wooly creature hates you.
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Post by tod2 on Feb 27, 2022 9:33:05 GMT
What a lovely walk that must have been along a leafy "tunnel"! We certainly have some photos to look forward to.
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Post by onlyMark on Feb 28, 2022 14:46:12 GMT
Just got back to Sarajevo. Snowing. Bugger.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 28, 2022 14:59:46 GMT
Sorry about the snow, but it must be good to get home. Isn't this @ a full year since you arrived in Sarajevo?
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Post by onlyMark on Feb 28, 2022 16:28:35 GMT
Arrived Jan 3rd(?) last year. Yes, good to sleep in my own bed for a few days. Off to Germany, where I also have a bed, next weekend. The six hour time difference between Colombia and here will take a day or two to get used to.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 2, 2022 6:38:35 GMT
The trip to Colombia wasn’t particularly spontaneous but for some reason, maybe because we were and had been quite busy, we didn’t plan as much as we’d normally do for where to go and what to see. We only had a rough idea. One idea was to visit a couple of places on one of its most famous rivers, the Rio Magdalena. In previous times this river served as part of the main route from the Caribbean coast to the capital, Bogota. After the arrivals flights we had a night in the capital and then set off. Our first view of the river - We were going here - On the way into town we stopped off for a break and a bite to eat. Nothing much to the cafe but a nice wall - Honda is called "the City of Bridges" with more than 40 of them on the rivers Magdalena, Gualí, Guarinó, and Quebrada Seca. The town, founded in 1539, wasn’t up to much until around 1850 when it became the transport hub, via the river, from the Caribbean coast to the capital. A railway was forced through from Bogota and met the river traffic at the town. Unfortunately, as you can see in the latter photos of the river, the river suffered a lot from silt/sand and had to be continually dredged. This led to its demise as the main way to transfer goods. Finally in about 1910 they gave up and sought alternative road routes. We went out for a walk to see a bridge. Some shots on the way - Can just catch a view of it as we approach - Pass underneath - Not much really as to being a major site of interest but nevertheless, worth a walk to - Up the side and to it - Coming back down we skirted the river to head back into town to continue wandering - There were quite a few bridges we found and would pop back and forth across them to get different views - Of course, there had to be a market. I’m sure in previous times it was all hustle and bustle. Now though, quite a sleepy and much smaller affair. This is the inside from the previous external shots - Probably the most famous street in the town, Calle de Las Trampas (street of the traps). The story is it could have been built straight, but as it would have been the most direct route for invaders to conquer the town, it was built with no clear line of sight from one end to the other and thus ambushes could be set. Nice story though - We called past the last train that ran from here to the capital and it was outside the old head offices of the railway company - Honda has supposed to have a reputation as one of the warmest towns in the country. When we were there it wasn’t, but still warm and humid enough that we slipped back to the hotel for a dip in the pool - Had another walk round to stretch our legs, find out where we’d go for dinner and take some last shots - This was actually the landing spot for the boats. Hardly seems big enough, plus the “port” building - Moving around further - The river is still used for transport, but not as you would expect for anything much but commuters and some tourists - We moved on the next day.
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Post by bjd on Mar 2, 2022 7:31:23 GMT
Just looking at the buildings, I imagine how hot and humid it must be.I had wanted to go to the Magdalena River area but we didn't have time. What are those red fruits piled up in the last set of pictures?
I find it interesting too that while Colombia in the 1990s was in the midst of a lot of narco and political violence, people in Honda were renovating buildings and trains.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 2, 2022 9:45:15 GMT
Your photos give us a good look at the town. The open market seemed a disappointment to me. Almost as if displaying ones goods is a lost cause. The renovated train was the biggest surprise for me. What a splendid job. At Hilton village up the road from me they can give them another 4 or five lying around waiting for someone to rescue them.
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Post by mickthecactus on Mar 2, 2022 9:53:29 GMT
I hope they do rescue them. They are works of art to me.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 2, 2022 10:20:24 GMT
bjd, the red things - "Lulo. This is, without a doubt, Colombia's signature fruit. You'll find its acidic, citrus-like flavour in sauces, desserts, and drinks at every level of eatery all over the country. When juiced, lulos produce a characteristic white foam, and when sliced, they reveal a unique tomato-like pattern." aka the tree tomato (tamarillo?). Makes a lovely juice.
mick/tod, I like trains. Living beasts.
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Post by mickthecactus on Mar 2, 2022 11:21:04 GMT
You’re thinking of the song “ is this the way to Tamarillo?”
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Post by bjd on Mar 2, 2022 11:43:31 GMT
I thought lulos were more orange in colour. Yes, I agree they make delicious juice. We ate them raw as well.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 2, 2022 12:44:39 GMT
Great set of photos, and you have now shown me more of Colombia than I have ever seen before. If I had my druthers (but this is not a complaint), I would have preferred if you had split this addition into two or three differents posts, because it is hard to comment on pictures when they are in a very long series.
So I will not really comment on individual photos, but I will say that I had never seen those red/orange fruit either. At first glance they could have been anything from onions to apples.
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Post by htmb on Mar 2, 2022 14:22:48 GMT
Really interesting photos, Mark. Each one seems to tell a different story. I’m enjoying your trip very much.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 2, 2022 15:06:19 GMT
K2, Yep, you're right. I am going to do that as there are some days with many photos. A few short ones though in the mix. I was being lazy and wanted a day's worth up there in one go to tell myself at least I've started, as I do have quite a lot to do before going to Germany and won't have time to sort out another tranche for a couple of days if that. I didn't want to leave a half finished post hanging just in case I couldn't get back to it until next week when I will have time.
Mick, I now have that song in my head. Thank you very much. Not.
Bjd, these are very ripe I think. You can see some already rotting.
htmb, muchas gracias.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 2, 2022 17:03:02 GMT
I'm tempted to say you saved the best for last. Of course that's not true, as this thread is full of jewels. But this most recent segment brought to life all my imagining of tropical Colombia -- a place I've never been but which was firmly created in my mind by 100 Years of Solitude. It really hit me when I looked at your first close-up picture of the river: "the bank of a river of clear water that ran along a bed of polished stones, which were white and enormous, like prehistoric eggs." And the whole story of the railroad parallels that of the coming of the railroad to García Márquez's imaginary village.
I love all the shots you got from above. The market pictures remind me of Havana, had the markets there been clean, in good repair, and full of nice produce.
The colorful, very tropical-Latin-America buildings are beautiful, along with those cobbled streets. The elegant, but slight eccentric buildings are also striking.
Just a great report. I guess you all are glad you went!
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 2, 2022 18:23:42 GMT
Bixa, I have to defer to Mrs M (in many things but especially...) regarding 100 years book as I have read it but I didn't relate to being in Colombia because I'd not yet gone. I asked her if the village was based on Honda (you probably know it isn't but I didn't), she mentions that the imaginary village is based on where his grandfather lived and I can see there are similarities with Honda, as you point out. Though I expect it's a story that could fit to a few places. The river quote is apt. Cuba/Havana is on my list. Very glad we went but I'm a bit done with it now for a few years. I hope to get back to India or even, another South American country.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 3, 2022 17:03:10 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 3, 2022 18:07:05 GMT
I have always loved the way that simple places don't mind mixing bright colours in their paint jobs, although I suspect that it has more to do with which buckets of paints were on hand and not an actual decision by a stylist. In any case, the end result is always interesting.
The cruise on the reservoir looks superb for a relaxing moment. The boat driver does not strike me as a Colombian pre-colonial prince but more of a Dolce & Gabbana model from the 21st century.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 3, 2022 18:11:43 GMT
Maybe he has a part time job doing that then.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 4, 2022 6:00:00 GMT
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Post by mickthecactus on Mar 4, 2022 8:03:30 GMT
I like the fact that you can get a cup of coffee and run up a pair of trousers at the same time.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 4, 2022 8:56:06 GMT
Being able to multi-task is always a good thing. Though I usually end up just half finishing two things rather than completing one thing.
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Post by casimira on Mar 4, 2022 15:51:48 GMT
Just because they don't need soil doesn't mean that they would necessarily reject it... A bromeliad in soil not good. The soil when wet would cause the roots more prone to rot. They don't like "wet feet". Fantastic photos Mark. Thank you Mark for sharing your adventure with us once again. As an aside, many of the jungle and river pics remind me so much of shots from "At Play in the Fields of the Lord", a film made from the novel by Peter Matthiessen
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 4, 2022 16:03:15 GMT
Wow ~ lots of jungly magnificence and a gorgeous day out!
I'm struck by how desirable as a destination this last part is, especially in contrast to someplace like Costa Rica, which seems equally tropic, yet overly discovered. How did you all get there -- rental car? public transport?
Love the small, plain eateries there to serve the hungry without marring the beauty of the natural setting. The cable car in aid of construction might indicate bigger and "better" things in the future, though.
In #107 there is a picture of a narrow channel of water rushing down into the dam. Is the fact that it looks like a tube an effect of the picture being taken from afar, or is it in fact a tube?
The boat driver is indeed nobly handsome. Very nice for you all that he knew all about the area you were seeing.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 4, 2022 16:27:18 GMT
Thinking of Ingrid Betancourt being a hostage in the Colombian jungle from 2002 to 2008... Obviously, she was not the only hostage but probably the one that got the most media coverage. The jungle looks quite nice, but I'm not sure I would want to live in it for 6 years being moved to a different place every few days. Of course it would make a great photo report until the battery ran out on the 2nd or 3rd day.
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Post by mickthecactus on Mar 4, 2022 17:43:11 GMT
Just because they don't need soil doesn't mean that they would necessarily reject it... A bromeliad in soil not good. The soil when wet would cause the roots more prone to rot. They don't like "wet feet". Fantastic photos Mark. Thank you Mark for sharing your adventure with us once again. As an aside, many of the jungle and river pics remind me so much of shots from "At Play in the Fields of the Lord", a film made from the novel by Peter Matthiessen You grow terrestrial Bromeliads as if they were cacti.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 4, 2022 19:33:23 GMT
Casi, never heard of that. I'll look it up.
Bixa, rented a car for this bit. Mrs M drove. I was a pain in the arse. I make a poor passenger and had to apologise most of the day for opening my mouth, often wrongly. Photo #107 - trust you to spot that because it was something I didn't understand and didn't get chance to ask when I realised. It's supposed to be the run off channel for......... don't know, maybe the hydropower station but thought that would be lower, or another higher reservoir. But I vaguely remember someone saying there was a river up there and it had been channelled where you see it.
K2, I couldn't imagine living in the jungle for that length of time. Every piece of clothing rots off etc etc. Too many insects, creepy crawlies and so on. Too humid. as we know, I'm a desert person. Did you have a digital battery operated camera in 2002?
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 4, 2022 22:04:58 GMT
I just want to post a couple more things tonight and tomorrow, nothing too long, but Sunday is a travelling day and I'm not sure what I'll be up to on Monday and next week. I hope to find time to continue though.
Let’s divert for a moment and consider the food we were eating. Any photos I took of the food never turned out well enough to do it justice, so I’m going to cheat and pinch them from the internet. You will still see some in the posts but generally they are not too representative. If I put it succinctly, it can usually be filling and heavy, especially considering the portions. If we had a breakfast it was rare we’d have lunch as well other than something off the street. If we missed out on breakfast we’d grab a small thing a bit later and have a soup for lunch. A few times we stuck it out until lunch and had something substantial but then at night, a snack or two.
Some dishes do double or even triple duty and can be available any time of day. Things like juices often not so available after lunch as all the fresh fruit had been used up until the next day. But you could still get some if you hunted for it a little. Whereas in Spain in many areas where lunch and dinners were late (after 9pm), normal times, like 8.00am, 1pm, 7pm were the done thing, though as mentioned, if you wanted a breakfast dish at night, it was usually still on the menu and could be served, no problem at all.
A lot of this will be familiar to those who know South America, some may be new, but a lot may be known by name but not by picture to those, who were like me for many years, thought all food from that region of the world was tacos and quesadillas. I admit it, I had no idea. I’ll highlight quite a few things, but it is by no means exhaustive and due to a lot being regional, well, we didn’t go to that region this time so I’d probably be missing it out. Much though is country wide.
Just a mention of coffee - yes, Colombian coffee can be really good, yet at least half of what we drank wasn’t - unless it was cafe con leche (coffee with milk) in a morning. The rest of the day it varied a lot and I ended up not bothering with it. I was told on a few occasions that as expected, the good stuff was exported. I think not so much nowadays as there is a growing domestic market, but nevertheless, it isn’t greatly to my taste. Tea was only to be had rarely, usually one or two types in a restaurant but not cafes. I’d have a juice and coffee with breakfast, a juice at lunch and a coke zero at night.
By the way, bread. It may be bread, but not as we know it Jim. Poor quality and usually too sweet. The German/Slovenian part of our team of two craved good stuff always when she is there, but knows it’s like rocking horse crap. Never found. The toast was rubbish and sliced about the size of a postage stamp. One of the days when I had a soup the menu said it came with garlic bread. Jeez, it turned out to be two miniature slices of that packaged ‘toast’ bread, like Melba toast.
Part of going to a country is the food, I doubt many of us enjoy any length of time anywhere if the food isn’t up to snuff. Ethiopia was the worst for me though I know many enjoy injeera. Smells of sick to me. At the end we were looking forward to getting back to bread, vegetables (though available but rarely form a good part of a meal except some soups) and salads (though a poor imitation of Caesar salad can be found it better restaurants and some tourist areas). I’m droning on, let’s make a start.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 4, 2022 22:07:14 GMT
For breakfast, eggs could always be had in their varied forms, though soft boiled or ‘sunny side up soft’ not. Much of what you could have, as said, was available most of the day and served as a snack at other times. Some dishes tended to be just for lunch and/or dinner though. Lunch is often the biggest meal of the day and dinner not so much so but can range from a snack to a full meal. Here’s run down of the traditional/usual food to be had. Then juices and after are the street snacks available all day. Ajiaco - chicken potato stew - Arepa paisa - soaked corn that is shaped and eaten it with salt, butter and cheese - Bandeja paisa - red beans cooked with pork, white rice, carne molida (ground meat), chicharrón (fried pork belly or fried pork rind), fried egg, plantain, chorizo, arepa, hogao (tomato and onion) sauce, black pudding often but not always, avocado - Caldo de costilla - a beef soup made by boiling beef ribs with potato slices, onion, garlic and cilantro leaves - Calentado - last night's leftovers that are reheated. Can include and combination of rice, beans, plantains, steak, fried eggs, arepas and everything else under the sun you just so happened to have leftover - Changua - broth made from milk and poached eggs, cilantro and chopped green onions - Colombian fritanga - fried meat platter - More later.....
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