Adventures to Ciudad Perdida- Part 2

I told you I was going to post another blog entry sooner than later…

So the quick responses I got from the millions of people that read my blog (???) were that I needed more details and of course pictures. In response to that… I am a whooping 29 years old now! Next February I will be turning the dreaded…we’ll you can count and I don’t want to say it. But one thing I have noticed is that my eye sight has gotten worse, someone found a grey hair on me the other day (still don’t believe them), and that my memory is about as sharp as the spoon I used to stir my coffee this morning. And so recalling a 6 day adventure in full detail seems a bit daunting to me but I am going to try!

Where did I leave off…another example of how sharp my mind is (I had to read my own blog to remember- yikes)! So after I woke up from my diabetic coma in the beautiful Caribbean city of Santa Marta, Colombia, I ventured out to find some “fried goodness” for breakfast! Knowing I was about to risk being kidnapped in the Colombian jungle, I wanted to make sure I took in a few amazing empanadas and papas relleno (stuffed potato) before this happened! We all know that food in captivity is not all that great!

An old SUV type truck/van pulls up in front of our hostel around 8 am. The excitement in the air is high as we meet our guide and his wife. With the help of a few others, we get our gear packed among the amazing amount of food they packed for us. Hope you didn’t think we were going to carry that…we got a mule to do that (hello- its Colombia)! Just before we’re about to pack in like sardines, I run to my new friend selling the fried goodness and purchase my 4th papas relleno of the morning which turns out to be a horrible decision. We pack into this 4 wheeled beast and I wonder, for almost 1.5 hrs, why I decided to eat about 3000 calories of pure fat before such a ride!

The truck stops along this road to get gas (someone with a bucket of fuel siphons it into your tank) and some of us run to a great fruit stand. Not sure why I was interested but I went and purchased 2 amazing sugar mangos (sorry everyone…they don’t sell them in the US). Maybe I felt bad about eating so horribly earlier that I wanted to balance it out with a fruit, but this also turned out to be a bad idea. As we take off again, within 2 minutes we take a hard right onto a road that does not look like a road but more like a gnarly mountain bike trail! This road traverses up, around, and over 3-4 mountains! You know when you’re driving and you run over those “rumble tracks” on the highway…it’s like that except multiply is by a 1000! Let me also remind you there are possibly 10 people in a 6 passenger vehicle. Needless to say my sugar mango was not that enjoyable. I’ll bet I may have got about 40% of it in my mouth, 20% on my friends, and the rest on my favorite Vanderbilt shirt (go Dores).

After what seemed like a year on that road, we come to a remote town! So weird that all of a sudden, in the middle of nowhere, you has paved roads, houses, and little stores! This quaint little town is where we will begin our trek to Cuidad Perdida, but not before we absolutely stuff ourselves with sub sandwiches and Coke! They know how to take care of Gringos! After eating enough food to make my Ironman Triathlon preparation seem sheepish, packing and repacking gear, lathering up in mosquito repellant, and double checking the Oreos are easily accessible, we officially begin the hike. I am feeling a bit like Indiana Jones and Clark Griswold!

I know the title says “Adventures of Ciudad Perdida” and I have not written about the actual hike yet…but let me remind you: THIS IS MY BLOG! Plus I am writing this in only my underwear, sweating profusely, in my non air-conditioned room, feeling the heat of which Weather.com said it “feels like 114 degrees” today! How about them apples?

Miss everyone! And a special shout out to my Uncle Dan who is seriously considering sending me frozen cheeseburgers via this new shippable box his company invented that keeps things frozen for a few weeks! He’s a genius engineer and I am a hungry boy! Gotta love family!

Adventure to Cuidad Perdida- Part I

For those who sent me emails because I have not posted a blog in almost a month and you may have thought I had been kidnapped by the FARC during my trek in the Colombian jungle, I appreciate the concern and am glad you care. For those who have not checked up on me, we’ll just see if you get informed I completed the coconut rice post for my blog…

Colombians love holidays and I love days off from work! The week before Easter is called “Semana Santa” which means “Holy Week” which means vacation (as well as the remembrance of the most glorious moment in Christianity)! Before I could really think about what to do, I got an email from some friends in Barranquilla who were interested in doing this awesome hike we had read about during orientation. After considering my other option of spending a week with my little piggy friends here in Santa Ana, I happily agreed to go!

Because the school I work at is a bit different (not always in a good way), I got a chance to leave the Dirt, Dogs, and Donkeys of my pueblo a bit early (okay almost a week early) to hop on a sweet air conditioned bus heading for Barranquilla. I have to admit I was looking uber “Gringo” with my full pack back but I made it there safely without anyone trying to steal the Oreo’s I stashed away for my trip!

In Barranquilla I got the opportunity to hang out with my friends who all teach at Shakira’s (my future wife) amazing school Piez Descalzos! During our orientation they described this school as a “very wealthy institution for poor children.” I think a few other countries need to adopt that idea! Another cool thing at their school was the fact they were celebrating “Dia de Dulces” which means Day of Sweets! Having worked in the realm of childhood obesity I would normally be appalled by such a celebration. But seeing like 5% of kids are overweight (compared to 60+% in the good old US), what’s wrong with a little azucar (sugar). Add in the fact that my new best friend is called Arequipe (Yum!) and they were selling him for all of 500 pesos (25 cents), it was a great day!

After I awoke from my diabetic coma the next morning it was time for us to pack up and begin this adventure. The next 24 hrs would include a trip to beautiful Santa Marta (3 hr bus ride), a meeting with our guide Jose and his wife, a nice dinner complete with hilarious stories from friends I haven’t seen since orientation, the purchase of additional Oreos (of course!), a pleasant stroll along the ocean, and a sketchy nights stay in a local Hostel. As we all settled down for the night, I had a nice feeling that this trip was going to be a lot of fun and that I was also going to smell really bad when it was done.

While I fall more in love with this country every day I am here, know that I miss everyone so much! There is not that goes by where I do not think about many of you and all the great memories we have made. Thanks for all your support and prayers! There has been a lot going on in terms of ministry and adventure so I hope to finish up the second half of this blog soon and dive into some of this stuff! Don’t worry though, I know where my only reader’s (I love you Mom!)heart lies and thus I will finish the Coconut Rice entry real soon!

I'll leave you with a cool verse to think about doing your day- Love you all!

"But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we may might recieve the full rights of sons (adopted by God). Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir." Galatians 4:4-7