From Puerto Obaldia to Capurgana, the small port in Colombia we arrived pretty early. Not early enough to catch the last our boat in this intercontinental water maze odyssey.

Kėlimasis jūra į Kolumbijos miestą Turbo. | A boat to Columbia, Turbo.

Capurgana is a very touristy place, and it almost seems you need to stay there for a reason so the town would have business. It’s small and cozy, but most people are in transit so they would not allow themselves to stay there. But there are budget options for sure – we actually spent 2$ each for a hammock in El Descanso hospedaje – a bargain for a clean lovely place with a view to the sea.

In the morning already there was a good crowd of people impatiently waiting to get into one boat. The first and the last in the morning. There is a light noise among the people – the overweight will be charged. ‘What’s the maximum allowed?’ 10 kg. Ouch. its like half of our backpacks’ weight. Ryanair (cheap flight company in Europe) taught us how to reorganize yourself when the same situation occurs. You have to quickly hide some things in the pockets – so in the end you look like a princess with a wide hips, maybe put some extra clothes on yourself, and wear the heavy boots despite you are sweating like in hell. All in all, we are lucky to pay for us both 8$, I guess it’s pretty good knowing the fact that others with far smaller bags paid the overweight too.

The horror districts

Plytų sunkvežimyje kratantis dulkėtais keliais. | In the back of a brick truck.

Colombia has already been having nearly a half century melting boiling pot of drug lord feasts, left-wing FARC guerrilla fighting pro-Colombia poor people as they call it, then UAC – self defense armed groups, often funded by drug lords. Both are infamous for terrorism and drug trafficking acts. Then there are still caravans of coca products traveling through Central America to states, still top leading in cocaine consumption. So all this I guess gives the idea of being quite unsafe place to travel. As people say. But then Lithuanian travelers’ account even some years ago gave quite a different impression. But let’s try ourselves. People say that situation improved significantly since the last ten years, and that coincided with the president Alvar Uribe arrival, apparently heavily fighting against the drug mafia with the USA support.

Dulkėti dulkėti keliai. | Dusty dusty roads.

But the hitchhiking was far more difficult than let’s say Central America. It’s not true they do not know what is all about it. Iran doesn’t but still helps every foreigner with the free lifts. Colombians (the same as Venezuela) have even the word for it – kola. It’s a key word to explain your travel mode.

So the road besides the Caribbean coast is bumpy and awful at times, also proves to be quite neglected (hence catching a lift might be a challenge) but also according to the drivers, it’s a hot spot for all sorts of crimes. Our truck driver in the first hours of hitching doesn’t help to stop worrying either.

Naujas rekordas! 7 val. laukimo.. nieks nestojo.. o taip baisiai karšta.. | New record! 7h of waiting.. in a boiling sun :/

‘You see these farms on the left and on the right. You think they are in order, but that’s only on the outskirts. They are massive, like 10 000 acres, so far away in the mountains the owners grow money plants – coca. And the products transport easily along the Caribbean sea up and down the shore. Things happen here. My brother was killed, and the next time you are coming, I’m sure I won’t be here anymore. You see that bridge over the stream? There was a man with the cut intestines thrown over. And if there are 5 people killed in your country, the police obviously do something about it. But here – they don’t interfere much. And if you try to tell them what’s the situation like, you are likely to be eliminated soon. You see the house, I’ll let you off here. It used to belong to a gringo (white person referring to USA citizen). Nobody knows where did he disappear. But be careful, don’t stay in this village, it’s a dangerous place. Try to get away from here. If someone tries to take a picture or talks on the phone while looking at you, be careful. You might be in trouble. Good luck!’
Nice one. Good luck. With a shiver or two on the back we walk through the village. We stop to buy some buns, and carefully look around. Do people stare? But of course they stare! Like everywhere else! The foreigner in such a place – a truly rare occasion. We eat the buns while walking though until we get an offered ride by a moto driver until he drives us away and says ‘now it’s safe’. So I guess we will be continuously wondering about the safety stuff here in Colombia.

The sleep: hell and paradise

Kolumbijos maistas kiek priminė lietuvišką, mėsos, sriubos... | Food in Columbia remainded us of Lithuanian cuisine a bit.

In some other places when we a see a decent place we pitch a tent and lay our heads down. But here we constantly passing fenced haziendas. Maybe to climb over? Just that mad idea of an angry farmer (coca farmer, too) standing right beside you with a gun or so, doesn’t allow to relax. We asked few people around whether we could pitch in their gardens – no chance. They look either terrified.

But we are dog-tired and we desperately need to lay down. It’s dark, and we see a shelter with a heap of rotten banana skins. Let’s just pitch it here.
The heat is unsupportable, the last drops of fresh air disappear quickly in our tent, and the sweat washes our sleeping mats. And add some stomach issues on top, you will get a non-sleep night with a few chances to breath. Waking up (was any sleep there at all?) with a massive head. No, no need anyone now to talk to…

Papūga! | Parrot!

But of course, in the morning whilst sorting our things, the farmer comes to see who are those unwelcomed visitors on his land, doesn’t matter that close to the road. ‘Oh yeah, it’s fine fine. It’s my farm, but that’s no problem you have stayed here’. A deep sigh. ‘Maybe I could help’, so he brings the water. A guess then that he is one of the good ones. Or maybe the situation is not that so terrifying anymore. Or maybe stepping over yourself and being nice to the landlord might fix the situation despite that still big fat head after a sleepless night.

The fuel station for a sleep it’s not an option anymore. ‘Will you make a bonfire?’ the worker asks. Well, such an idea didn’t cross the mind, but obviously we didn’t sound very much convincing so our further sleep place hunting reaches the road building site. Another refusal – guards don’t think the fields are good option. But maybe somewhere there, in the park.

The park it is then. But the only possible couple squares meters to pitch a tent is exactly beside the massive electrified fence of a very rich guy we guess. That night every ‘turn on the other side’ move causes a good portion of dog barking. We should rather breath more shallow then too.

Chuako

The hitching progress is slow. The well neglected roads prove to be more successful than the busy multi-option highways. Maybe people feel obliged to help in the countryside, and the shared responsibility ‘oh the other will take them’ makes us wait for seven hours – our record break. Maybe to make it more attractive? Let’s pick a random town on our route, maybe people will be tempted to pick us up after recognizing their town. Bingo!

After seven hours, Quaco and his friend stopped us. The paradise begins. He invites us to stay in his finca and holiday house.

Quaco has got couple fincas (farms) and a lovely house at the front of Caribbean. But not this that impressed us most. It’s the philosophical approach he has about life. ‘Even if you didn’t have all the cows, the cars and the property, will you still be happy?’. The most important thing in my life, he says, my family and books. Take away everything else, I will still be happy. And just in the morning near the water pool we have been sitting wondering what exactly do you need to be happy. So far our backpacks with the necessities were ok to make us happy. Or maybe not them, but not having many things and lots of space to talk, think, meet people and enjoy life were actually the real happy factors.

But the rest at his summer house near the sea was a true paradise. We had a good rest, met his sister’s family and they took a full care of us and provided with tons of positive emotions.

The stroll through the old cities

Kartagena | Cartagena

We do not aim for cities. Tourist destinations are not on our travel list too. But sometimes we stop by and have a look particularly if the travelers we trust recommend the sight. Cartagena was told to be the most beautiful city in the South America. European style old town, that is what attracts everyone. The renovated blissful town is a nice stroll. You look at those walls and think that lots of things pass through it. And finally, not only silver and gold port it was, but the only official (together with Veracruz in Mexico) for slave trade too.

Šiuo metu visur vyksta karnavalai, tad visos siuvėjos ir parduotuvėlės pluša. | At this moment there are carnavals everywhere, so everyone is busy making the costumes and other atributes.

Santa Marta a much older town too, a gateway for conquistadors. The sugarwhite church is attractive, but that’s about it. The majority go straight to Tayrona park, part of Siera Nevada, which is so proud of the having the title of the highest mountains close to the sea.

But in Santa Marta accidentally we make another acquaintance. Pascal is a blind American, who has achieved in his live so much, that anyone who is complaining lack of confidence or opportunities I guess would be left at shame. He lost his sight when he was still 19 years old, but his career was only going up. He is a psychology professor, having worked at USA defense in Siberia too. His hobbies – skiing and water skiing almost feel like an impossible thing, but he says that feeling his body he doesn’t need the sight. In fact, many other having clear vision are not able to control their bodies very well. It was quite an inspiration for us.

We are en-route to Venezuela. And when we expected this ‘it’s dangerous, be careful’ to end, we in fact are only in the mid of it. Venezuela – a country well known for kidnapping – is awaiting.