Salento and the Six Month Mark

We've spent the past 5 days or so in a pretty little small town called "Salento." It attracts a lot of tourists for it's coffee farms and outdoors activities. Despite it's draw, it remains laid back during the week. Our highlight from Salento was hiking in the Valle de Cocora, a beautiful national park. Beautiful green mountains, and an environmental anomalie called the Wax Palm, gigantic palm trees that line the valley. One minute, you think you're in Switzerland, the next you're walking beneath palms.

We also hit a significant milestone while in Salento, we have been gone officially more than six months. At this point, we thought it would be fun to revise our list of "Tops" from after our first month. Enjoy!

Top 3 Places (this one is really hard and provides no justice!)
- San Blas Islands
- San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala
- Xela, Guatemala

Top 3 Activities so far...
- Hiking in the Sierra Norte, Mexico
- Rafting outside of La Ceiba, Honduras
- SCUBA Diving, Utila, Honduras

Top 3 Food Items/Meals!
- Belize BBQ Chicken from the street stands
- Fresh fish, lobster, octopus in San Blas
- Pan Dulce (sweet breads of all varieties, sold all over Latin America)
- Fresh fruit, particularly the incredible pineapple and mango (okay so we added a 4th, we love to eat)

Top 3 Fun Questions About Central America
- Why are beverages sold in bags?
- Why does every destination in the country necessitate a separate bus station within each city?
- Why does nobody have change for anything? Ever?

Top 3 Things We Miss From Home
- A proper burger
- Clean clothes
- Our own bed

Top 3 Things We´re Looking Forward To
- Tekking in the Andes
- Kendra's weaving classes and more spanish for Rich
- Patagonia (or bust!)

Holler kids.

Como Almorzar Como un Colombiano (How to Eat Lunch Like a Colombian)

Menu Ejecutivo, Menu Del Dia, Almuerzo, Comida Corriente... call it what you want, it's the "Set Lunch" and it's nearly everywhere in Latin America. Want to eat lunch like a Colombian? Here is, by far, the most popular way to do it.

Oh, and by the way, it'll set you back a whopping US$2.77.

The Rules
1. Be ludicrously hungry and short on cash.

2. Walk down almost any typical street and you'll see restaurants advertising "Comidas Corrientes." Find a crowded restaurant. When you find a crowded place, it's more likely the food is good and safe.

3. The menu is displayed outside, and the server will review it for you if you need, but you're expected to order the first time your server comes to the table. Know what you want when you sit down... that, or explain in Spanish that you need a few minutes to fully translate the menu for your linguistically-challenged significant other.

4. Take a long time to eat... noone wants to be heading back to work anytime soon. Two hours is sufficient. Pay at the front on your way out the door long after your stomache has settled.

The Food
The classic Almuerzos from Guatemala to Colombia are Carne Asada and Pollo a la Plancha (grilled steak and chicken respectively), you'll find those choices on every Menu del Dia you'll ever see.

Beyond that, it gets regional: local soups or fish, wild versions of fried chicken, pork or beef concoctions. All sorts of different things make the menu, but typically you'll have 3-5 choices: chicken, beef, fish, soup, and some sort of intestine if you're lucky.

The Experience
1. You're going to get soup. And not just a wimpy cup of broth, a ludicrously giant bowl of proper soup. Just in case the appetizer wasn't already too big, you're also going to get something with your soup. In Colombia it's an Arepa, a soft patty made of corn. Everywhere north of Panama, it's tortillas and more tortillas, surprises await as we head further south.

The soup itself varies, but might be a brothy chicken mix, cream of celery, or cream of frijoles (beans). Today, it's Sancocho, a specialty in Colombia that is a flavorful broth poured over steamed Yuca root:



2. Refresco anyone? Your $2 includes your drink. There is a huge range of drinks offered and they change in every region. You may get water infused with Canela (unrefined sugarcane) in Colombia, Atol in Guatemala, Horchata in Mexico, or Chicha in Nicaragua. Almost all are sweet and very refreshing. Today was adventurousness day, so it's the Mazamorra, a milk and corn mixture served with bits of raw canela to sweeten it up. Drop your canela in and eat with a spoon, or pop the canela right into your mouth and sip from the cup:



3. Now that you're full of soup and arepa, it's time to eat. Comidas Corrientes are unnecessarily gigantic by American standards, but keep in mind that lunch is the biggest and most socially important meal of the day for most in Latin America. On your plate will be your main dish. You'll always, always, always, have rice and beans and a small token salad. Further north you only see black beans and further south only kidney.

You'll rarely, very rarely, see a vegetable; what you will see in addition to your rice and beans are a rotating variety of sides... french fries, fried plantains and cream, lentils (further south). In fact, they'll often rotate the sides during the same lunch session in a particular restaurant, so Rich might get a plantain while Kendra gets the fried Yuca, so cross your fingers and hope for the fries! On one occasion we saw beets and almost hit the floor from shock. No such healthy shenanigans today, it's Carne Asada, delicious hand cut fries, rice and beans, salad, and a fried plantain (and homemade salsa to boot):



Buen Provecho!

Tale of Two Cities

After spending six days at sea, we were both excited to get our land legs back and start exploring Colombia. As you know, Colombia has had a bad reputation in the past for violence and drug cartels. We had heard from many travelers coming from the south into Central America that Colombia was amazing and one of their favorite places; we were excited to see if we felt the same way. We have been surprised during our time here to see how many travelers are actually visiting Colombia. There are new hostels everywhere, many of them packed every evening. News is out that Colombia is no longer a super dangerous country, off limits to foreigners. This is good for all those at home who were worried about us, and bad for our budget as their tourist industry has adjusted nicely to the influx of dollars and euros.

We first arrived in Cartagena and then after almost a week we moved to Medellin. We enjoyed both of these cities even though they are completely different. Cartagena was a Spanish controlled port city, with the old city completely surrounded by a stone wall. The original architecture is still intact in the old city, and is now even more beautiful as almost every building is painted in a different color. Owners go the extra mile by planting flowering vines to hang from the balcony. During our time here we wandered these beautiful streets and eventually made it over to see a large fort. We filled the rest of our time tasting the wide variety of deep fried street food, cheap set lunches in restaurants, and sweet sliced fruit.

As traditionally lovely as Cartagena was, we found Medellin to be a proper, modern, and clean city. The relatively new metro system puts Chicago to shame with their quiet, spacious train cars; additionally, they have free transfers to their cable cars, giving great views of the city from the hillside barrios. The center of the city is filled with parks, fountains, and sculptures and connected by bustling walking streets. Between the public sculptures and art museum, we saw a large collection of Fernando Botero's work. Kendra dragged Rich to a free tango performance, and in retaliation, he dragged her to a local soccer match. We also partook of a Pablo Escobar tour, learning more about the city's turbulent past.
So far we have enjoyed the Columbian cities, but are looking forward to getting into some more rural areas in the next week as we head into coffee country. (And yes, Rich is very very happy about the prospect of good coffee).

Sailing San Blas: Why We Quit Our Jobs and You Should TOO

Ever see a postcard with a perfect white sand beach lined with coconut palms? We found the islands where they take those pictures. They are called San Blas and they are just as the postcards promise.

After a week in Panama City hanging out in cafes and eating good food, we prepared to cross into Colombia and conquer a new continent. Unfortunately, you can't take a bus from Panama to Colombia, because not only is the Darien Gap (a region spanning the border between the two countries) some of the densest jungle in the world, it's also controlled in some areas by Guerilla Narco-Militias which isn't nearly as cool as it sounds.

You can fly to Columbia, but that's just not our style; we chose to sail. Numerous captains make the trip between Portobelo, Panama and Cartagena, Colombia, and we chose to go with Fabian and his 40 foot Catamaran the "African Queen," a beautiful boat.

The trip was absolutely mindblowing. It's a 6 day journey that takes you through the San Blas Islands on the way to Colombia. San Blas is a group of over 360 small, picture perfect islands. Some islands are nothing more than a patch of white sand and a single palm tree. Most of the islands, however, are inhabited by the Kuna Indians, a traditional people group who successfully lobbied the Panamanian government to maintain their own control over their territory. Since San Blas is an autonomous region controlled independently by the Kuna, they have been able to maintain their traditional way of life and restrict outsiders from buying up the islands.

While the Kuna have avoided cruise ships and mass tourism, they generously share their islands with groups like ours. We spent 4 glorious days skipping around San Blas. We hung out on perfect white sand beaches, snorkeled, and swam in the crystal clear water. Rich did backflips off the front of our boat and Kendra soaked up the sun. We both turned a reddish-brown color that offset our typical pasty-ness.

We ate fresh fish almost every single day, and when we say fresh, we mean eating within an hour of them being pulled out of the water. The Kuna ride around in hollowed-out-tree-trunk canoes selling fish they just caught to sailors. We also ate our fill of ludicrously cheap and fresh lobster and octopus. Several times we had the opportunity to eat in the homes of Kuna families, which are little more than stick walls and thatch roofs covering sandy floors.

As part of our sailing voyage, we met a great group of people from all over the world. Our motley crew of passengers were from the US, England, Scotland, Germany and South Africa. Our Colombian Captain, Fabian, was an amazing sailor (ever sailed solo across the Atlantic? Fabian has!)and his wife was an outstanding cook. We were surprised at each meal how she was able to outdo the last. Even the last evening's dinner of ribs did not disappoint. How many people have eaten ribs out in the middle of the Caribbean?

After being completely spoiled by our time in San Blas, we spent the final 40 hours sailing to Cartagena, a beautiful sail at open sea where we enjoyed sunsets and groups of 20+ dolphin leading the boat. The largest obstacles to overcome during our six days included mild cases of sunburn, being slightly salty, being too full from our lobster lunch to eat our fish dinner, and running low on rum rations. Not a bad life.

The sailing trip was by far the highlight of our five months, not only for all we have written above, but also for one other reason.....

And in case there weren't enough great moments...

As many of you may already know, our time on the San Blas Islands was made all the more perfect by our engagement. On an empty, powdery white sand beach, in two inches of clear warm water, Rich dropped to one knee and asked Kendra to marry him. To this, she replied, "Are you serious?" Once reassured that he indeed was very serious, she said yes to the proposal. The "yes" is about all Rich recalls of the event, as he was too nervous to record much more at the time. All in all it was a perfect proposal.

We want to thank both our families for the open arms into which we have been received, as well as our friends for joining us in our excitement.



If you're curious, pictures #85-#90 in the "San Blas" folder are immediately after the proposal. Pictures of ring are in the Cartagena, Colombia folder.

Notes from an epic bus journey...

It's a long trip from Granada, Nicaragua to Panama City, Panama. Since we usually only show you the fun stuff, we thought we would share our notes from the 27 hour trip for your entertainment and for our own amusement... enjoy...

8.26.10 - 1:25 PM - Bus is 25 minutes late. Not a good start. Our seats are in the row with the TV, Rich says they're relatively roomy compared to Chicken Buses. Rich successfully negotiates the window seat for the first leg of the journey. The movie is "City of Torment," 3rd time we've seen it down here, not sure why.

4:34pm - First border crossing complete, now in Costa Rica. Mental state still positive. Air conditioning inadequate. Movie needs subtitles but the female action hero fight scenes are easy enough to understand. Cookies and trailmix consumed.

7:00pm - Dinner of peanut butter, honey, and bananna sandwiches. Mental state has declined to neutral and somewhat bored. Seat spring in Rich's ass. Movie is a bad version of "Bring it On" which means it's really bad.

10:10pm - Arrived in the San Jose bus terminal. One hour layover. Last movie on the bus was a CIA action film shut off at the very moment where the triple agent is revealed. Anger ensues. Kendra is positive, but Rich is tired, bored, and terrified we're only 1/3 of the way there...

8.27.10 - 2:05am - Air conditioning is now working but now at an ironically colder-than-hell level. Three blankets and a wrap and still shivering. Doritos and Oreos provide some respite, some sleep but mostly uncertainty lies ahead... mental states deteriorating.

8:20am - Two hours into our Panamanian border crossing and still waiting for a bag inspection... not going well. Anger over being forced by border officials to buy a return bus ticket has impacted our attitudes for the worst. Trying to maintain good spirits but not succeeding.


9:27am - Back on the bus after a 2.5 hour border crossing. Breakfast is a wonderfully healthy deep fried plantains served with hotdogs and mystery sauce, but happy to be on the bus and moving. Food and coffee lifts our spirits.

1:00pm - Stewed chicken with rice, beans, and plantains. Nearing the home stretch. In strangely positive mood, perhaps delirious from monotony.

4:42pm - Finally arrived in Panama City bus terminal which resembles an American airport giving us a strange feeling of nostalgia. Hair disheveled, bodies stenchful. Processing normal thought proving difficult.

7:30pm - One city bus, two taxis, three hostels, and one rainy season soaking later we've arrived at our hostel. Glorious pizza consumed. Early to bed.