The Dunchies in South-America: April 2013

HERE WE ARE! Bikes ready, bags stuffed aaaaand our stomachs well stuffed (as you know, Arthur and myself are both good eaters)!! Well, we performed very well and with a perfect style in Colombia!

But before talking about food - again!- let's share some words about the last busy weeks. Ow yes, busy, for we had some bikes to find and then customize to our trip! That was tough!!!

The 13th Street

No, we are not talking about the TV channel with Flashpoint, the Closer etc...

We talk about this street in Bogota, la calle 13, that we now know by heart, tienda by tienda, product by product. For to find the right accessories for our bikes - the right fenders, the right back racks, the strongest lights, the side stands, the bags... And all of this at a reasonable price - outch!! The last days, the sellers knew our names and story...!

Still, after all these efforts, we missed something... Two back racks. And with 5 bags each, this element is essential.Yep!
There comes Juan Pablo, his engineer brain and his friend Mauricio, an amazing mechanic who manipulates metals like James Bond talks to women. So just to say that he does a great job.

Juan Pablo is crazy about bikes and, as a pure engineer, he is also able to... conceive one! Therefore, within one evening, he drew the first draft of our front racks.

The plans ready, it was time for us to leave Bogota. Which also meant that we left sweet Patricia! Patricia welcomed us one week long and even with her very, very (VERY!!) busy weeks, we had a lot of fun together.

She didn't convinced Arthur to learn how to dance, though... But boy: she tried!!

Sibate, the family Ruiz, Juan-Pablo and Mauricio

We then biked all together to Sibate, the city where Juan-Pablo's parents live... and brought the bikes and the plans of the racks to Mauricio.

By the way, the dog you see in the center, insuring the well-being of the whole process: we almost took her with us. Unfortunately, this street dog is old and even for a young sportive dog, more than 30 km per day - and many months long - it's really tough!! We will miss you B..ch!! (I let Arthur tell the name he nicely gave to this sweet-sweet dog...) But hey, that's life...

So, yes, we are ready!

Here Mauricio dedicating out front racks!!

Juan-Pablo, Mauricio: millions of THANKS for your help and professionalism!

Top 1 of the best effect ever...

... of living in altitude when you are not used to it!

You are hungry all day so you eat, you eat, you eat... and you loose weight!!

Looks tasty, right? And a lot! We confirm it and must add that - even better - we lost weight!

WOW! Wanna know how?

Explicación del especialista

Well, apparently, this phenomenon comes from the lack of oxygen - and I'm not talking about pollution this time... To compensate this lack of oxygen, our heart rate increases... to increase the amount of oxygen distributed in our blood. Which implies a much bigger need of red cells in our blood, to transport this oxygen. And here you go! Our organism works his butt of since we arrived in Bogota so even when we eat like pigs, we loose weight!

Some also say that altitude decreases your appetite. I can tell you, this is not our case... :-)

And when you realize that from Bogota (2580 m.), we'll go to Quito in Ecuador (2850 m.) and then to La Paz, in Bolivia (3660 m.). WE"RE GONNA EAT SO MUCH!!!!!!!

1. Breathing!

First we thought “Wow! The altitude has a such a strong effect on us! Breathing is sooooo hard!!"

Well, think again little tourist and:

- Watch the yellowish color of the sky during the day

- Watch the ultra dark color of the exhaust gas of the cars, the trunks, the buses

- Feel the very specific pain in your throat
- Count the amount of time you coughed like a hard smoker...

Now you know, little tourist!

2. Becoming close to believers because we are still alive

“OK, let’s cross the round-about NOW - between the bancal bus driven by The Joker and the kind-of-car hidden by the exhaust gases of the trunck kind-of-driven by a kind-of-Shumacher fool.”

No. We won’t miss the so-called drivers of Bogota.

3. Enjoying the calm of the smallest ciudades and other pueblos, surrounded by nature.

Ow, about nature...

Out of Bogota, Colombia is very green. So beautiful!! What a blessing for the two happy bikers we are!!

Well... until you forget why the countryside is so green...!!

This may be the weather for tomorrow - ouhlala!! So we may bike 60 km under the rain... Yummy!!! Thankfully we go to lower altitude, which means warmer climate - and for those who followed, we should eat less. Mierda!

So think about us tomorrow! And be ready for the next post - we will talk more about this amazing family who welcomed us one full week in Sibate: Maria and Marcus Ruiz Lara! Ow, the father is a baker by the way, so it will be about food anyway ;-P

Cheers to you all and hope to read you soon!

The Duntchies team

Our last days in Maryland have flown by. After spending a wonderful and great time at the Dixon's house (Tom, Kathy, Lynne and Daegen), it was time to say goodbye. We have had so much fun and it was a good feeling to be a part of their family. They are so generous, friendly, open and welcoming! Ah well, enough flattering, it was just a very good experience ;-)

So, let's leave the Tacobell and the awesome crabs, pancakes, burgers, beers, cheesecakes and our Dixon family behind. We got dropped of by Tom, Kathy and Daegen at the airport of Washington and off we went to Orlando... Where we almost stayed!

Lynne's delicious cheese cake - THANKS AGAIN!!!!!

When Arthur decided to go to the counter to verify if everything with the tickets was alright, we got a little surprise. Apparantly, we needed to have some kind of proof that we would leave Colombia within three months. A bus ticket, a flight ticket, anything, it didn't matter, just something. Since we didn't had 'something' and our flight was leaving in one hour, we had to take quick action. The friendly gay guy from JetBlue airlines, suggested us to buy a single retour ticket to the US. If we would ask for the 100% refundable ticket and we would cancel it within 24 hours, everything would be okay. So, we rushed to the JetBlue counter and bought two ticket back to the States for a price of 1400 euro. We were allowed to continue to board the airplane and so we did. At the airport in Colombia, there was no check what so ever, and it became quickly clear to us that we bought the tickets for no reason. But no problem... the tickets were 100% refundable, right? Well.... almost :-)

Everything got refunded, except the booking costs. Okay, it was only 50 euro's, however for nothing! All the rushing, getting nervous and effort to book, pay, cancel, call, email, the tickets was for a waste of time, money and effort. Thanks JetBlue, NOT!

STEP 1 : COLOMBIA, BOGOTA!!

WOW! Two weeks already!!! And so much to share: images, sun and warmth, nice stories... About el hostel Sue in La Candelaria, about el menu del dia, the amount of homeless people popping out from everywhere at sunset, the kind of Schumacher way of driving of Colombian people, our improvement in Spanish - ole! - and about all the amazing people we already met... within 2 weeks!!

Right now, we realize how ignorant we are: of how the human being can be, live, enjoy life and fight for it. The gap between rich and poor people is huge here. At least as far as we can feel it within 2 weeks...

However, rich or poor, people look happier, are nicer, open and always ready to help you. At least during the day. During the next they help you to get rid of your belongings. :-)

"Buscamos una lavandaria"

Let's take an example of Colombian friendliness: Myriam.

Yesterday, walking with a big bag full of dirty clothes, we started our quest for a cheap laundry service. "4000 pesos per pieza????" No way! We wouldn't spend 2 euros for each sock, each underwear and Arthur's favorite red string (ed: it is a yellow string). Courageously, we decided to wash our clothes a las manos. This was without reckoning the kindness of Myriam.

Myriam was chatting with a clerk of the shop, where we were looking for chicken and chorizo. Curious about those two gringos messing up their mother tongue, this person full of energy started to explain us with a huge smile what were the different products in the shop. Then, when she understood that we couldn't find a place to wash our clothes, she spontaneously offered us to use her washing machine...! The two pure products of Europe that Arthur and I are, suddenly freezed in a perfect goldfish look. Welcoming and all happy to meet two strangers, Myriam defrosted our brain and arranged the meeting: a la manana, nueve!

Therefore, there we were yesterday morning!

So for now, we are like two young dogs, all happy to measure the gap between the mindsets we know and the one we discover in Colombia.

Everything started in the Hostel Sue...

The Hostel Sue... Aaahhhh... What a nice and peaceful place! It's a charming hostel for travelers, cheap, clean, colorful and own by very nice, welcoming and helpful people.

Over there, we met a bunch of people from everywhere: Germany, Switzerland, Argentina, Israel, United States, Sweden... and shared with them nice moments on the terrassa, around snacks and drinks, or in the living room, still around snacks and drinks :-)

The great thing there was to share fresh experiences of Bogota, Colombia and even Latin America. We met some people on their last couple of days before they'd come back home after a long trip ; some other were in vacation, like Sabrina, a sweet and energetic girl from Argentina; and we met one specimen, Jascha, who landed there for his studies by accident. And who felt homesick when he went back to the US :-)

Jascha, come back in Colombia, we miss you!!

On the left, our palace, that we shared with 2 friends from the US, Laura and Mike, who had a tight casual but enjoyed Bogota a lot, including a huge rain-shower in the middle of their 5 (or more??) hours of hiking...!

El maté

Ah, and about drinks: we tasted the maté, a typical kind of tea from Argentina, that Sabrina prepared meticulously everyday and shared with us. And it was so good!

To prepare and share maté, there is a ritual. And a master of maté.

The 'master' of the maté (Sabrina here) is the only one who pours water in the container. She stirs the maté and gives the container to one person. The drinker can't touch the straw. Only the master. When the drinker is done drinking, he gives back the maté to the 'master', who pours new water in the container and gives the mate to the next drinker. When a drinker is done drinking maté, he tanks the 'master' when it's his turn to drink. It will be his last sips.

A snowball from Maryland to Bogota

Since we arrived in Bogota, we spent about one week at the Hostel Sue, then one week at Erika and Alvaro's place and we live now with Patricia. Thanks to whom? Thanks to Mayer!

Mayer is an over-energetic Columbian girl, who lives in Maryland and works as a waitress in a Mexican restaurant in Maryland. That's were we met her.

When she heard that we would spend some time in Bogota, she insisted to bring us in touch with her brother and some friends of her, including Patricia.

Thanks to her, we had a great week with Alvaro, Erika and her son, Juan Daniel and their dog Shadow.

And we spent 3 magic days in Santa Marta at Alvaro's father place. Ahhhh the Caribbean atmosphere!!

Firsts shots from Colombia

We tried to select the right pictures to share what we discover of Colombia but outch, what a challenge!! We took plenty of views of the streets to show how alive and colorful they are. And from there, it's hard to chose! Everything is so different here. Starting with the weather, of course, which impacts strongly the way of living.

The best we could see during a rain-shower

For four days, we visited the north of Colombia, during La Semana Santa. In other words, during eastern holidays.

We spent 18 hours in the car to go from Bogota to Santa Martha - ow yeah - and 13 hours on our way back.

Originally, this trip was planned for 12 hours - which is already super long!! Well, add a couple of rain-showers to the trip in a very dark night (Arthur, shall I say rain baths?) and you'll deduce how much we had to reduce our pace...

Shadow looking for fresh air
It's about 2' at night - about 25 degrees C.

A pause at night during our trip

A couple of hours left - it's about 6' in the morning.
Arthur, Juan Daniel and a fruit just before massacre :-)

Still, we enjoyed many parts of this long road trip. First because we are in a discover mode. Secondly because we were diving in the warmth of the tropical life.

During this trip, we passed many villages and small cities. And saw how much people can work and eat outside, night and day.

I guess because of La Semana Santa, we could find some place to drink and eat all night long during our travel by car from Bogota to Santa Martha.

Between Bogota and Santa Marta

And now we let you enjoy some shots of those 2 weeks!

Between Bogota and Santa Marta

Fresh meet in Santa Marta - Hola!! :-)))

Between Bogota and Santa Marta

On our way from Bogota to Santa Marta

Testing the strength of the tree and the chair.

Santa Marta

Hard labor in Santa Marta

Between Bogota and Santa Marta

Beautifull street graffity in Bogota

A park in Bogota. On the left trees. On the right trees.

Palm Sunday in a crowded church in Bogota

The Dutch street artistm, in a random street walk in Bogota, with Sabrina

On our way to the lake Juanita, close to Bogota.
Selling fresh fish from the back of the truck.

Plaza del Torro, Bogota. No more bull fighting in Colombia, so this plaza is used for music concerts, etc.

Above Alvaro (the brother of Mayer and hosting us) and Arthur. During our groceries we met some of his collegues and, altough it was late, we decided to grab a beer anyway.

Mind your step :)

The famous electrocution shower's we have seen in several houses!

Just a regular street in Bogota

Our sweet, sweet, hostes and friend of Mayer, Patricia! She working her bud off, while we are relaxing and enjoying life in Bogota. Patricia, many, many, thanks for your hospitality, friendliness, and patience while teaching us Spanish.

One of the thousands mini-fruitmarkets. Fruit is ridiculously cheap and very tasty. Of course we try the many unknown fruits with suprisingly good and bad tastes (read: trashcan).