Columbian Countdown

Hello again! We finally made it to Villa de Leyva after a 17 hour bus journey via Bogota. The journey was relatively uneventful – the typical speed frenzy and left side/right side of the road confusion on the part of our Shumacher wannabee driver. Oli is considering getting some travel sickness tablets before the next journey! There is very little to report about the journey – we ate cheese and mortadella sandwiches for 17 hours, managed not to fall over in the bus toilet, and slept a very little bit. When we got to Bogota at 4.30 am we had to change busses, and decided to hang around for the direct bus that left at 7 am. We boarded the bus, and were the only passengers leaving the terminal. The bus was duly sealed with its little security check piece of sticky paper over the door, and off we went. Or so we thought. Around the corner from the bus station, the driver pulled up abruptly, a man whipped the security seal off the door, and stuck it back on so that the door could be opened at any moment without ripping the seal, so that it would be intact at our destination. At this moment, the co-driver leapt into action, jumping out of his seat and hanging out the door shouting all possible destinations at anyone who happened to be standing by the side of the road. When there were no more people to shout at, he settled down for a few more minutes in his seat, the door was duly closed, until another person happened to be standing by the side of the road, and the process was repeated. Fab and Oli fell asleep to the dulcit tones of the co-driver, and awoke a couple of hours later to a completely full bus. Bribes were quickly exchanged at the other end, paperwork was ignored or refilled quickly for a few extra pesos here and there, and our drivers went home considerably richer than they would have been had the bus actually remained sealed. The trick is to get the seal off before the glue sets, it seems. We were happy that the bus was used for more than just us, as it was considerably more eco friendly, but it still was a bit of a surprise!
Since then, we have been in a very quiet little hotel in Villa de Leyva, and have been out fossil hunting (with some success!) and hiking a bit. We’ve also been enjoying the fact that the food here tastes like it should (they don’t put cooked lettuce on their pizzas here! Bliss…) Apart from that we’ve been trying to sit and chat about future plans, what on earth we are going to do with ourselves when the money runs out, and generally setting the world to rights with the aid of spider diagrammes, lists, internet searches and a wee bit of the inevitable bashing of head against the wall technique. The latter hasn’t done much apart from scaring a few woodlice in our room half to death (or worse, on occasion). Anyway, its a very complicated business, future planning. The world may be our oyster, but at the end of the day, what do you do with an oyster? All suggestions on a postcard please…

We’re off to Quito in 7 days, on the 30th of May. This is the day of the first round of elections for the new Columbian president, so Bogota could be interesting (!). We’re planning on not spending any time there, just getting to the airport as early as possible and getting out.

In other news… we have finally managed to upload some more pictures. Hope you enjoy them!

Love,

Faboli xxx

P.s. The anti-mosquito shirt works like a dream: Oli has no bites on the area it covers, but about 1 zillion on all the parts it doesn’t. So it is clear proof that it works! Pics included in order to gain some sympathy for both Fab and Oli. They itch. A lot.