A few years back, while buying Lonely Planet´s Trekking in the Patagonian Andes, a buddy at Teton Mountaineering gifted me an old Lonely Planet Columbia Guidebook... and I thought to myself...
WHY THE HELL WOULD I EVER GO TO COLUMBIA?
Well, now I´m there and, FYI, the guidebook hasn´t done a lick of good... regarding the Pacific Coast, only one city, one island, and one small town are even mentioned...
So Tu Laki, Maestra, and I have been navigating based off a napkin drawing from Sarana and the advice of locals we´ve encountered... so far so good.
Leaving Panama took longer than expected because...
...we encountered the second worst storm I´ve met on the ocean... Tu Laki was very frowny.
...indecision about battling currents and winds and guerillas had me second guessing.
...the dog apparently has to poop EVERYDAY now.
...and we stumbled across a bonadied PARAISO en route.
PARAISO? PARADISE. Truly, too. I know... been looking for 10 months now.
Have you ever had 25 curious natives watch you boil pasta over a driftwood campfire?
I have. Turns out the last gringos to stop through came over a year ago. Everyone was ridiculously welcoming... heartachingly so... makes ya wonder why most folks have to be such dicks.
We´ve been cooking on the beach because we ran out of special Mexican latas de butano about two weeks ago and are never gonna find fuel compatible with the stoves we´ve currently got.
A trip to the local welder´s shop is in order. Fortunately Ramen doesn´t really need to be cooked... just soaked in the sun... same with coffee.
Regarding first impressions of Columbia, folks are better organized and things are generally tidier than I´ve encountered in most small towns since leaving the Ooosa. I´m excited for a trip to the hardware store.
The dog is doing great.
I wish I had a camera.
Pretend I´ve been kidnapped by Guerillas and donate ransom money... then we can spice up these posts a bit with some pics.
It feels good to be in South America... as the frigate soars closer to Puerto Montt and the pristine fjords of Chile than to Portland, Oregon and that massive toxic drainage ditch called, coincidentally, El Rio COLUMBIA.
He must have been one hell of a pirate.
Ciao,
MAX
ps I am in Bahia Solano, I think the town is called Mutis. We´ll be here for a few and are then setting sail in search of surf... the next internet connection should be 320 miles (about 10 days) South in Tumaco... a daysail from ECUADOR.