Weak wifi tonight so no pictures again.
We got up early to another lovely rooftop breakfast and then packed our bags for our trip to Minca. Filipe outdid himself with a history lesson, commentary for the towns and landscapes we were travelling through and a cumbia soundtrack. We passed through fields of brown grass as apparently El Nina had extended their dry season. This was followed by lots of mangroves where Wendy identified white egrets and finally mountains that almost sprung out of nowhere, turning the road into a series of switchbacks as we headed up to our mountain hotel where the environment was rainforest.
We went through the largest coastal city in Columbia, Barranquila, where the national football team played matches and many towns with cinderblock and steel roofed buildings for living and the roadside markets that reminded us of the Philippines.
Our hotel had a balcony overlooking the forest with hummingbird feeders clustered with dozens of the little critters. In Canada we only have the ruby-throated one but these were all different colours and constantly flittering about.
We took a walk through the town which was more touristy than I expected. Many non-Columbians were about and bars and restaurants were plentiful. The motorbike is the main mode of transport here, which meant that pedestrians had to be even more vigilant than usual.
Most of the group signed up to take a yoga class and so we followed our instructor, Alex, on a walk into the jungle to his studio. He was tall, Russian and looked like a yoga teacher with his beard, height and ponytail. One of our group referred to him as the "Rasputin of yoga" which made us laugh because it was so true. His studio was an open stage facing a mountain view and it was awesome being there and hearing jungle noises and seeing the sun set. I should not have gone, however, as I had forgotten about my double-pinched nerve and many poses would aggrivate it. Several times Alex encouraged me to bend more and assume positions and I just had to tell him "No!", as I did not want a recurrence of the blinding pain I experienced when the injury was fresh. At least my incompetence made the others feel better about their performance.
After yoga we headed to a bar with local beer and decent food. There was a dog hanging around our table who ended up having half a burger and a decent amount of quesadilla for his troubles.
After dinner we walked back, unfurled our mosquito net, got some reading done and went to sleep.
We got up early to another lovely rooftop breakfast and then packed our bags for our trip to Minca. Filipe outdid himself with a history lesson, commentary for the towns and landscapes we were travelling through and a cumbia soundtrack. We passed through fields of brown grass as apparently El Nina had extended their dry season. This was followed by lots of mangroves where Wendy identified white egrets and finally mountains that almost sprung out of nowhere, turning the road into a series of switchbacks as we headed up to our mountain hotel where the environment was rainforest.
We went through the largest coastal city in Columbia, Barranquila, where the national football team played matches and many towns with cinderblock and steel roofed buildings for living and the roadside markets that reminded us of the Philippines.
Our hotel had a balcony overlooking the forest with hummingbird feeders clustered with dozens of the little critters. In Canada we only have the ruby-throated one but these were all different colours and constantly flittering about.
We took a walk through the town which was more touristy than I expected. Many non-Columbians were about and bars and restaurants were plentiful. The motorbike is the main mode of transport here, which meant that pedestrians had to be even more vigilant than usual.
Most of the group signed up to take a yoga class and so we followed our instructor, Alex, on a walk into the jungle to his studio. He was tall, Russian and looked like a yoga teacher with his beard, height and ponytail. One of our group referred to him as the "Rasputin of yoga" which made us laugh because it was so true. His studio was an open stage facing a mountain view and it was awesome being there and hearing jungle noises and seeing the sun set. I should not have gone, however, as I had forgotten about my double-pinched nerve and many poses would aggrivate it. Several times Alex encouraged me to bend more and assume positions and I just had to tell him "No!", as I did not want a recurrence of the blinding pain I experienced when the injury was fresh. At least my incompetence made the others feel better about their performance.
After yoga we headed to a bar with local beer and decent food. There was a dog hanging around our table who ended up having half a burger and a decent amount of quesadilla for his troubles.
After dinner we walked back, unfurled our mosquito net, got some reading done and went to sleep.
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