Last time I checked in, I was in Cartagena. While Cartagena is a vibrant, beautiful city, it is also too touristy for me. It also feels like it has a shady underside to it, which is probably true of most bigger beach cities. Spent the hot day wandering within the walled city, enjoying the brightly painted shops and looking (to no avail) for the post office to mail off these postcards. Joined a bunch of street vendors who sell their goods on a shaded block with a nice ocean breeze. Practiced my limited Spanish, as I sat on the curb with them and joined them for tinto (small coffee usually sold in a little plastic cup from a thermos). A guy that spoke English walked by after a while, and he and I started chatting. He and I ended up walking around, and eventually heading out to the beach area of Bocagrande. Turns out he had a very interesting story, as a Colombian who was adopted as a child into the States, ran into trouble with the law, and was recently deported back to Colombia (knowing no Spanish and not having lived there since he was about 7). Also met another of his friends who was a Korean War vet and ex-lawyer who was now taking money to use the restroom at a little beach stand so he could write several books on world politics. They treated me to a lovely manzana aromatica (apple tea) and then we all had a dinner of empanadas and other fried treats at their local hang out.
The next morning, I headed by bus to a smaller coastal city called Santa Marta. While there was not much to do (the beach was pretty dirty and the ocean was too rough to go out SCUBA diving), I did find plenty of decent food to eat (yummy coconut rice, fresh fruit juices, and seafood), enjoyed some much needed hammock time, and found a great bunch of people to hang out with. And I FINALLY found a place to mail the postcards! There was a memorable night spent walking the city with a guy from the Manizales area in Colombia and his friends, goofing off and trying to learn to salsa dance under the street lamps in Simon Bolivar park.
Parque Tayrona was a short bus ride from Santa Marta. And it was the perfect way to end my trip. Monkeys greeted me on my hike in to the park. I found a cheap hammock to stay in Arrecifes with what appeared to be a bunch of local guides and workers for the park. Hiking in the jungle or time on the beach during the days, total relaxation amongst the toads and bats at night, and waking to the braying mule and crowing roosters in the morning were just what I needed. Oh, and I got to see a sea turtle munching on sea grass when I was suppose to be in a swimming race with some dude from Australia (I made him give me a huge head start and use my mask and snorkel, but then he still beat me since I veered way off course to follow the turtle around). When I reluctantly had to head back to Santa Marta, I heard a noise on my hike back to the main road to catch the bus. Looking up, I saw a flash of a monkey scurry away. On closer inspection, I saw all these adorable monkey faces peeking out of the tree leaves at me. It was like they were saying goodbye! I flew from Santa Marta back to Bogota, stayed with a sweet girl from Couchsurfing and her mother for the night, and headed back to the States the next day.Now, back to the grind. My trip photos are up or you can view them as a slideshow.
Things I Learned:
- Less English is spoken in Colombia than any other place I have visited.
- When someone can't speak the native language, be patient with them. There is nothing they can do about learning the language right at that moment and it is probably ten times more frustrating for them than it is for you.
- My Spanish speaking is much like my pool playing ability. You think you are better at it when you have had more to drink, but it is most likely not true.
- While you may have your own opinions about the police in the U.S., it is nice to know that generally if you really need it, you can turn to them for help and they won't be a) drunk or b) making lewd gestures and trying to kiss you or c) asking for extra dinero. Or, all three for the hat trick!
- For some reason, no matter how many hours were spent playing in the waters of Cano Cristales, my fingertips never, ever wrinkled. I still do not know why.
- Postcards... every souvenir store will sell them to you, but no one anywhere seems to know where or how to mail them. If you gave me your address before I left, you can expect your postcard in a few months-- maybe.
- Arcteryx backpacks are amazingly comfortable and rugged.
- In a very related learning experience to the above, no matter how crowded the bus seems, on a sharp turn at 70km/hr, your backpack can somehow manage to roll off the unripened bag of plantains next to the driver's seat, roll through a crowded aisle, and out the opened bus door.
- Colombia is a very special, relatively safe place full of friendly, generous, wonderful people and beautiful scenery and sites.
- If visiting during the right time, no matter what the cost or how much of a hassle it is to get to, Cano Cristales is worth the trip.
- Hostal Solar in Villa de Leyva has the sweetest owner ever and the dorm is quite comfortable and affordable.
- Hostal El Casona in Cartagena is cute, clean, and in a convenient location to the sites (although the dorm leaves a bit to be desired, it is fairly cheap)
- Hotel Familiar in Santa Marta is also clean and cheap for a small single room. The fans are strong, the people are great, there is a lovely community deck to relax in hammocks, and there is a good value restaurant right across the street.
- Bring lots of money or your own food to Parque Tayrona. It is expensive and there is nowhere else to get cash and few places to get food (and it helps to make friends with the cook, as he will slip you extra treats)
Love,
Betsy
Hello from Cartagena. I have finished busing around in the Colonial towns of the Andes Oriental and arrived in Cartagena yesterday afternoon. It is lovely here, but very expensive. After walking around town, I settled on the Getsemani area, which is the old town. There are several hostels here and cheap hotels where they wanted too much money for a room with no windows next to the shared bathroom (which, not surprisingly, smelled like a urinal). I finally found a cheap dorm in a cute, clean, safe hotel. I made friends with the hotel pet, a toucan. Well, we were friends until he just stole my papaya breakfast and spilled my coffee. Walking around yesterday afternoon, the neighborhood was full of kids playing, barbers cutting hair in the middle of the street, and people sitting on their front steps chatting with the neighbors. While this area is the most touristy out of all the places I have visited, still very few speak English (except for the occasional guys who seem to have only learned how to say "I love you"). I met a guy from Bogota staying in the hotel for business, and he and I drank a few beers and walked the entire city. He speaks no English, but we were still kind of able to communicate, so my Spanish (or my hand gestures and goofy drawings) must be getting a little better. We walked the cathedrals and newer city areas and along the old fort wall. I wanted to walk the waterfront, and my great idea of sitting on a jetty got us soaked by a wave. So we ended up walking the entire length of the beach for three hours. Lots of fun. Later we met my dorm mates, who are from Russia. The conversations between the two Russians who spoke little English and no Spanish, the Colombian who spoke no English, and myself left us all a little confused, but laughing.
The route from Bogota to Bucaramanga was beautiful. So many small towns to play in. Went through Tunja and stopped in Villa de Leyva which was super crowded and colder and raining, but I wandered the cobblestone streets and enjoyed the sights. The town cleared out after Colombus Day, and I spent most of the time just hanging out with people who lived there. I walked the 6km to El Fosil, the world´s most complete marine prehistoric fossil. Nice walk, but the short tour was all in Spanish, so I didn´t get a whole lot out of it. On my way back, a family and some people from a little town outside Villa de Leyva waved me over to the roadside stand they were hanging out at. I hung out for an afternoon, talking and having an afternoon cerveza. Later that evening, I hung out with Marta (the woman who owned the hostel) and her friend Connie while they made a pear meringue torte. Connie surprised me the night before I left with a slice, and it was delicious! Then I hopped a bus through Chiquinquira, a strange religious town. Not much of interest there for me, so I headed to San Gil. That bus ride included a little girl who threw up the whole trip, so I was glad to exit the bus. 
Trying to find the right words to talk to people in Spanish is sometimes tiring and frustrating, so I wanted to pick a gringo hotel. Chose a real backpacker hostel, where my dorm room was full of a dozen people from Australian, New Zealand, the UK, and Brazil. The night I got there, we all went and played tejo, a Colombian game that is like a cross between horseshoes and darts that involves a clay pit, metal discs, and paper packets full of gun powder. Lots of fun was had. After one night, I had had my fill of backpacker hostel folks, and set off on my own again. Went to a park full of moss covered trees, ate a meal with hormigas culonas (deep fried "big assed ants"), and visited Barichara, another colorful Colonial town full of cobblestone streets to wander. It was pretty empty, and the towns were starting to all look alike. So I hopped a bus to Bucharamanga. The bus went through am amazing national park called Chicamocha. But it was raining again, so didn´t get out and play. The river was huge from all the rain, but there were still cactus. The adventure seekers from San Gil all come to this park to white water raft, absail or rappel down waterfalls, or paraglide.
Arriving in Bucaramanga was a welcome change-- a city, but less hectic and smaller than Bogota. Found a hotel right in the middle of the city on a street lined with people yelling about their clothes, shoes, aloe, some kind of vegetable peeler, bootleg videos and CDs, etc. for sale. It was like a real live infomercial. At night, they all pack up and go home and the street is cleaned. I was nervous about my room after seeing several cockroaches climbing walls and scurrying into sewer grates nearby (and the homeless folks sleeping across the way), but it turned out to be very clean and safe. Did some much needed "sink laundry", walked the city, chatted with a sweet police security guard (who had to be about 19 years old and fidgeted with his gun in a nervous way that made me hope he never had to use it), and met a guy from Barichara that was a musician specializing in an instrument called a tiple, which had a wonderful sound. He, his son, and another 21 year old and I chatted over aguardiente (the local drink here). He also spent some time chatting with a local street kid, and gently lectured him about drugs and not giving up. Finally had to turn in (they drink and stay up til all hours here). In the morning, a stranger treated me to a coffee and pastry for breakfast and I headed to the airport to fly to Cartagena. That is just how I have found most all Colombians... kind, respectful, hospitable, and generous. It amazes me that this place could have been so violent. On a side note, everyone keeps asking me where I am from. When I say the US, they say.. "No, where are you from? Japan, China?" When I say Vietnam, several have said..."Ah, very violent". Uh... what? Something about a pot, kettle, and the color black.
Anyhoo, off on my last attempt to mail out postcards for all that gave me their address before I left. Finding post offices has proven to be nearly impossible with no Spanish, and I am afraid if I find one, buying stamps and mailing things will be just as bad, if not worse. Then, off to wander the town finding seafood and coconut rice to munch on. This will be my last email before you see me again. Probably heading to Santa Marta or Taganga tomorrow morning for some diving and then off to Tayrona National Park for some hiking and snorkeling. Back in Bogota by next Friday for my flight home in exactly one week.
Checking in after week 1 in Colombia. Still alive and unkidnapped! Just arrived in Villa de Leyva, a small colonial town in the east Andes. I finally figured out how to get to the bus terminal in Bogota and with much hand signals and writing stuff down on pieces of paper, I got a bus. We stopped in lots of small towns to pick people up and drop people off. The town is packed today but should empty out by tomorrow. Apparently, lots of people in Bogota travel away from the city on weekends, and it is a holiday weekend since they celebrate Colombus Day. Walked all over with my backpack trying to find a place to stay. A guy that had no single rooms helped me find a cute little hostel around the corner that had one open bed in a four bed dorm for $15,000 Colombian Pesos (about $7.50 US dollars). The owner seems very sweet and she keeps calling me "my love" and kissing me on the forehead. Haven't met the guys in the room yet, but hopefully they are okay. Otherwise, I should be able to find a single tomorrow. The town supposedly has lots of day hikes and a few waterfalls to explore.
Bogota was crazy-- in an organized chaos type of way! It is a HUGE city... I think the biggest one I have ever been in. It is gritty and colorful with lots of graffiti and some brightly painted places. I stayed with Carlos and his girlfriend Paula, who I met in a bar in Seattle a few months ago. They were wonderful hosts. They made me one of the specialty soup of Colombia, arepa for breakfast, and even took me to a very nice lunch on the last day. They both work in a university (Carlos has an engineering degree and a PhD in physics and teaches and specializes in some kind of solar cells). They, much like most Colombians are very hard workers, sometimes leaving for work around 8 am and returning at 10:30 or 11 pm. Traffic is horrendous, but I have learned to use the very packed TransMilenio rapid transit. Spend the days in museums, sipping coffee, exploring the city, and eating everything new I can get my hands on. So much fresh fruits, soups, roast pork, etc. Oh, and my favorite... jackfruit ice cream popsicles! Carlos says I have lots of favorites, because all the food is delicious (except the soup with cow stomach... not a huge fan). Found a woman names Nancy who teaches English and takes her students on tours to Cano Cristales. Although not a student, she was taking an Italian guy who had been working as a lawyer with an NGO to get better child rights in Colombia. It was way more affordable than the tours I had seen, and was only about $100 US dollars more than trying to hitchhike on a cargo plane (which I decided was worth it for my safety and not having to deal with the trouble of using my very limited Spanish to try to attempt it). She also let me stay at her house the day before and the day after the trip. We were to leave early on Thursday morning.
And now for my now funny, at the time terrifying, Bogota experience. I read in my guidebook that on Wednesdays, you could watch the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace. I heard it was really nice to watch, so after meeting Carlos and Paula for lunch, I headed to check it out. When I tried to get to the area to watch, the guard said no. We went back and forth with my translation dictionary, and I got out of him that it wasn't going to happen that day, due to some student thing. Okay, that would explain the extra military out and about, but there was always so many police and military people everywhere that it was hard to tell something was up. The guard suggested I take a longer way back to the TransMilenio station to avoid the growing number of students. I took his advice, but could tell I needed to move fast. As I rounded the corner for the station, I saw them slam the gates down, and all the shop owners around me did the same. I could hear loud bangs heading my way. Tried to ask people what was going on and what to do, but apparently, the Lonely Planet translation guide doesn't include a "riot" section. Finally, one guy just points in a direction and says "GO!" I turn around, see hundreds of students running towards me followed by tanks and police, and take off running. I try to head towards another TransMilineo station, but get caught up in the protest again. And that is when I got tear gassed. There were tanks spraying water on one side so I took off away from that, but ran into another bunch of students who were followed by tanks dropping gas bombs. Don't know which came first, tears from the tear gas or tears from the frustration of wanting to get out of the situation and not being able to, but thankfully a sweet woman grabbed me and another scared pregnant girl and whisked us around the corner, where she convinced the shop owners of a bakery to open the gates and let us in. We all hunkered down until it passed (yes, I was scared, but did consider that if I had to be stuck somewhere, a bakery was a pretty brilliant place to be). Anyway, got out okay. Took three hours to get home. And now, if ever I play the game "I Never" and someone says "Get gassed by the Colombian Police", I will have to take a drink.
I couldn't have been more glad to leave Bogota in the morning. Nancy, Mario, and I took the bus to Villavicencio and then a small 5 person Cessna to La Macarena. I was told by several people not to say too much when visiting Cano Cristales, as it was technically guerrilla area. Luckily, I can't understand anyone or communicate with them, so that was not a problem! It was was really strange to a Wanted poster in the airport with rewards for certain people. And La Macarena seems to have more military than civilians (and they pop out of nowhere). At one point while enjoying my fruit juice, I was surrounded by nine military guys with big guns. Despite this, La Macarena is beautiful. It is part of the Llanos savannah plains but also the entrance of the Amazonas. So it is full of ranchers with a few hills and lots of green. After about an hour, I wanted to live there. Stayed at a beautiful campsite under a full moon right by the river and played Tejo for the first time (a game kind of like horseshoes, involving little packets of gun powder and metal discs, and often copious amounts of cervezas). I had my butt whooped by a 5 year old (he wasn't drinking) who then talked to me in Spanish for 45 minutes, even after everyone explained that I didn't understand him. 
The next day was maybe the best day ever. Woke up early (okay, was woken up early by a pig and roosters) around 4:30am. Couldn't get back to sleep, so walked the town and watched the sun rise from the top of the military hill. The horses roam around all night, so the ranchers all come out with a rope and look for their horse, which is often down the road in a neighbor's yard. Then we met up with our guides and got in the motorized dugout canoe to head to Cano Cristales. River to a jeep and then an hour walk brought us to the military checkpoint. And then I saw the red river. Seriously, words can't describe it. I have lots of pictures, but I don't think they capture how amazing the place is. We spent all day hiking the river, swimming in pools, playing in waterfalls, and jumping off rock ledges into the water. I am sunburned, but it was incredible. I kept begging for just a few more minutes, but finally it was time to go. Went back to town, had a lovely dinner, and then the guides came back later to take me and another solo traveler to a bar for Friday night music and dancing. Days like this are the reason I travel. Oh, and I want to retire in La Macarena.
Took a bus to Riobamba where all the tourists get on a train, but decided to just goof off in town and sit in the park to practice my non-existent Spanish with the locals. Met a nice family and helped them translate paperwork that was in English and they tried (to no avail) to teach me Spanish. Hung out with them for a few days as they bribed me with helado (ICE CREAM!). They have already sent me a few emails, all addressed to Patty since no one seems to be able to pronounce my name when I tell them it is Betsy... others called me Pepsi. The emails are a bit hard to read since they are in Spanish, but I have tried to respond, thanks to internet translation pages. Took the bus to Quito and stayed for the night before heading to Coca, an oil town in the Amazon rainforest.
Took a two hour motor boat ride and then switched to a dugout canoe for another two hours to get out to a beautiful lodge in the middle of the rainforest. Spent several days getting woken up at 4:30 AM to hike (after staying up until one or two in the morning drinking rum and some kind of moonshine-esque sugar cane alcohol out of a jug with the tour guides and the crew at the lodge). Saw tons of monkeys, parrots, parakeets, toucans, caymins and bugs. But NO GIANT RIVER OTTERS OR PINK DOLPHINS (Joe...now I am back to being a non-believer)! Headed back to Quito for a few days, which is where my last email left off.
So I spent three days in the old city of Quito. I went to some of the churches and climbed a bagazillion ladder stairs to the top of the Bascillica, high enough up to make me shaky. But the views were spectacular and it was well worth the two dollars. Found an artist named Guayasamin that I had seen a few paintings of in Riobamba, and found out that he was a local from Quito and died in 1999. His family ran a beautiful museum in Quito with his a bunch of his work that I went to visit. It was amazing! They also had an exhibit with photography of the effects of the oil industry on the local rainforest tribes that actually made me cry. Pictures with children that swam in the polluted waters with skin peeling off their bodies, rivers that ran full of sludge, and patients dying of cancer caused by contamination. Before leaving, I bought a signed seriograph of Guayasimin's work as a treat to myself (more info on the artist at http://www.ecuador-travel-guide.org/art&culture/Guayasamin.htm).
The Galapagos were incredible. The boat was small with 15 people and the food was wonderful. It was as close to clean as a boat with a kitchen could be. There were several roaches in my small cabin and the cabin was loud below deck. Also, there were no locks on the door and I kept finding the crew milling about it my room asking me about husbands/boyfriends and such (like after I got out of the shower). They seemed pretty harmless, but I ended up sleeping on the deck with my sleep sack on the lawn chairs every night. There were two guys from Belgium and a guy from Switzerland that saw that the crew was making me a bit uncomfortable and they helped me out by having one of the slept on the deck each night to keep me company. It was actually really nice to fall asleep under the incredible southern hemisphere stars every night. Oh... and no diving, since apparently two days before I got there, a new law was passed that no diving could be made outside of full dive boats that did not make land hikes. But I did get to snorkel once or twice a day. After our guide miscounted the number of people and actually left someone's husband stranded after snorkeling, I guess it was probably for the best.
I feel very lucky to have been able to experience something that I think in the years to come will not be as accessible. It is so unfortunate that the people that want to visit such a place (me included) are really contributing to the ruin of the islands. Tourism has lead many illegals to come live there to find work and they bring animals and things that end up changing and harming the environment. I saw huge cruise ships pulling up to the small islands, tourists touching the giant tortoises, people walking around with their video cameras through the bird breeding areas and accidentally stepping on nests, and other hugely idiotic things.
Then back to Quito where I knew I had a cash shortage and no ATM card. I decided to leave the city and find somewhere cheaper since I calculated out that I had about $8/day in order to buy a few souvenirs and pay the departure tax. I looked at a map and randomly chose either Nanagelito or Mindo since they had fun names and sounded somewhat non-touristy, close and relatively cheap to get to, so I headed off to the bus station. After much confusion, they got me on a bus that I was told would get me to there. Two and a half hours later, the bus driver tells me "Mindo" and unloads my backpack on the side of a highway. It is now dark and there is no town in sight. 
The bus pulls off, leaving me and my backpack alone on the highway in the pitch dark. A guy in an unmarked, beat up car with no windows pulls up and says "taxi?". He tells me it is 8 km down a dark windy road to the actual town of Mindo. So I get to make the decision of whether or not to walk alone in the dark for 8 km or trust that this guy really a taxi driver and will get me there safely. I decide that either way is slightly risky, but at least trusting the guy does not involve lugging my heavy backpack around before getting kidnapped :) Turns out he was super nice and found me a great hotel that I was the only guest and I talked them into a $5 a night room. Several relaxing days in the small town of Mindo where the people were super friendly, spent hiking and visiting waterfalls, watching birds and butterflies, and taking the hotel owners' son (who I think had Down Syndrome) to town for ice cream. Perfect end to my trip. I never got to take my dancing lessons and I didn't get to visit everywhere I planned, but all the places I visited were beautiful.
Guayaquil was indeed awful. My flight was an hour and a half delayed in Houston so we got in really late. It is extremely easy to get from the touristy, safe areas to the bad areas. The flight attendant for the airline was all worried about me and made me take off my ring and my earrings. He said he has seen several people have their earrings ripped right out of their ears. So that freaked me out enough to get out of there the next morning. Took the bus to Cuenca which was a beautiful town with Colonial architecture and tons of churches. The buses here are actually nice (although sometimes crowded). They use real luxury buses instead of old school buses. I am getting the hang of how to get a ticket and how to get on without knowing Spanish, but the first couple of times were a bit confusing. The people on the bus to Cuenca were all very friendly and even played music in English for me. Too bad they seem to like the worst music (Rick Springfield, soundtrack to Grease, Michael Jackson, etc.)
From Cuenca, I went on some great hikes in Cajas National Park. The park is extremely pretty... lots of mountains, cool plants, lakes, and funky tree forests to look at. Also a couple rockslides! My guide seemed to not really like Americans, and he scolded me for using the term American, since he is also American (just South American). I guess he is right, but I don´t know of another term to replace it with. Oh well... after my hike I went and ate guinea pig. It was huge and pretty tasty. They roast it on a spit over fire.
From there I took off on the bus and headed to Riobamba. I was going to just stay the night and then catch the bus to Banos, but I liked the laid back vibe of the town and decided to skip Banos and just hang out. They had lots of parks and I just sat around, ate good street food, went to the local market, took pictures and had Span-glish conversations with townspeople. Eventually, I ran into a man who owned a store who sent me over to a cool, local art museum while I was on siesta. He told me to come back after, so I did. He spoke about as much Spanish as I speak English. Met his wife and kids and hung out with them for the afternoon. Turns out he wanted my help with some kind of issue with his Grandfather, who has since passed. Money he thought the EximBank had records of have disappeared and he had a huge book of correspondence dating back to 1946 that he wanted me to help him sort through. I figured, what the heck, I had nothing else to do. So I hung out there the next day, sorting through the paper trail. Turns out he didn't actually qualify for a loan and ended up getting scammed along with another company (they wanted to build a cement factory, which eventually they did, after losing the 2,000 to the scam artist). Since he couldn't understand what I was trying to tell him, we called his son-in-law and I told him what the papers said and then he translated to his father-in law. Anyhoo, then the wife tried to teach me Spanish using the kids' school books. They bought me ice cream (I do seem to know the word for ice cream for every country I visit) and then gave me a pair of huge plastic earrings with a crown on them from their store. Very sweet, but I doubt you will see me wearing them around Seattle. Hmm... they might make a lovely Christmas present for one of you ;). The family took me to the bus and I headed to Quito.
Just stayed in Quito for a few hours before catching my flight off to the Amazon rainforest. The lodge was beautiful (and very expensive), but there were tons of monkeys and a bagazillion birds. Unfortunately, my guide was very into birds and I kind of got tired of looking at birds and wanted to see more bugs and stuff. But seeing toucans, parrots, parakeets in the wild was kind of cool. The monkeys move too fast for most pictures, but I got some. Red howlers, capuchins, spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, PYGMY MARMOSETS and several I still have to look up when I get home. Even though they were on the river, I didn't see giant river otters or the pink dolphins because it rained pretty hard in the afternoons. Mom, you would love all the bird-watching and orchids, and the lodge is as clean as can be in the wilderness. It was a bit foofy for me, but the wildlife was worth it. The only hard part was getting up at 4:30 AM to leave on our treks (I suppose it didn't help that I was drinking in the bar with the tour guides since they brought all kinds of local and Cuban rums along with them).
Got back from the rainforest yesterday and had a hotel mix-up where the girls who were in my room were suppose to check out and by 4:30 hadn't returned. Also, the ATM machines here don´t take Star... only Cirrus, so my ATM card doesn't work. Had to figure out my code to get money off my credit card, which I have never used for cash. But after a small panic and 14 dollars to my name, I got more cash and headed for the old city and grabbed a 7 hotel room which was pretty bad. This morning I switched since I couldn't figure out how the electric shower worked. Stopped and had an unidentifiable breakfast (rice, egg, potatoes, avocado...and some kind of boiled thing....could have been some kind of stomach lining based on the texture?) They really wanted me to like it, so I ate as much as I could. Now I am off to see the basillicas and things around the old town for today and tomorrow and then off to dive in the Galapagos. After that, I have a few days to goof off and then back home. So this will be my only email until I get home! But no worries...I am doing muy bueno (or something like that).