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Nuestra Familia Colombiana

June 8, 2009 in Colombia by tom | 9 comments

Driving from the coffee district to Cali we finally figured out what the immense fields of tall reeds surrounding the highway were… a question that had been playing at the back of our minds since Guatemala. It was sugar cane, and it’s what Cali was founded on. Cali is renown also for its salsa clubs and, more contentiously, claims to have the most beautiful women in the country.

A good friend of ours has family in Cali so we were to stay with them while we were in the city. We met at a well known department store (three brothers had built up the chain from nothing, a local rags to riches story). Mariela works for the cosmetic giant Yanbal and immediately reminded us of Kelsey’s  go getter Aunt Nettie who works in a similar industry. Tacho,  Andres’ father, introduced me to the subtle art of ventando (which translates to window-ing), this requires a quiet spot, a window sill at bar height and a meditative mind. They were fantastic hosts, it was here that we tried pan de bono … yet another delicious Colombian carbohydrate along with avena, a cold, creamy oatmeal drink in a tetra pack that I detest and Kelsey has come to adore. According to her, it is a
“tasty oatmeal milkshake!”

After a good look around the Cauca valley and the surrounding area we left to spend some more family time in Popayán about six hours south. Popayán is a cool little town that was pretty much leveled by an earthquake in 1983 and now nearly completely restored. After the heat and humidity of Cali the cooler climes of Popayán were a welcome relief, but the best thing about Popayán was the people. Again we were met with amazing hospitality, our tired Spanish complimented and our intrusion into the lives and homes of our hosts seemed little more than an excuse for a party.

Aguardiente is a local fire water made from sugar cane, we first encountered it in Guatemala but every  region in Colombia boasts its own special brew. Our favourite comes from Medellin and is called Aguardiente Antioqueña, which is infused with aniseed and tastes a little like white zambucca or ouzo, but of course we had to try the local drink – our new found friends called this ‘Aguardientation’.

We left for the Ecaudorian border taking an Aunty with us – our first passenger. Marta quite liked the Aguardiente too, and together we polished off another bottle on our seven hour drive to Ipiales the Colombian border town with Ecuador.

Hello South America!

May 12, 2009 in Colombia by tom | 6 comments

So I have to say that although I loved the sailing I was pretty happy to be on dry land again after a fairly rough couple of days in the open water – some of the bigger waves going right over the top of the boat… not really my cup of tea, kind of dashed my romantic notions of sailing round the world.

Old City Cartagena

We spent some time hanging out in Cartagena waiting for the car to arrive. Founded in 1533 Cartagena became the main Spanish port on the Caribbean coast, treasure plundered from the indigenous peoples was held there until the galleons could ship it back to Spain. In response to numerous pirate attacks the Spanish constructed a massive wall that encircled the town and helped the port withstand many sieges.

Best Juice Ever

I think the old part of town has to be the most beautiful city we’ve seen so far, apparently it is one of the finest surviving examples of 16th and 17th century Spanish architecture and it remains relatively untouched since it’s construction. Narrow cobbled streets and stone arches with funny wooden balconies perched above. Rambling bougainvillea and palms and hidden courtyards and spontaneous dancing in the streets. The people are very friendly and Kelsey is in fruit heaven – her latest infatuation is the maracuya (passion fruit) juice… she had three in one day!

Dancing in the Streets from Kels M on Vimeo.

Time & Beer

April 21, 2009 in Panama by tom | 7 comments

cervezas

We had some time to kill while we were waiting to sail the Carribean … the national beers were cheap and colourful, so we decided to have a sampling.

Panama has two big breweries each offering two products. The largest, holding most of the market share is Cerveceria Nacional which is actually owned by a Colombian company Grupo Bavaria which is a subsidiary of international beer giant SABMiller. SABMiller almost had the smaller brewery Cervacerias Baru too but the deal was blocked when they couldn’t show that the cost savings made from the transaction would be transferred on to the consumer, Cervacerias Baru has since been taken over by Heineken International.

To keep things fair and to remain impervious to whatever branding we had been exposed to we decided to have a blind tasting. Our only consensus was that the bottled beer tasted better.

atlas

ATLAS - from Cervaceria National
Ringing in at 3.8 % this lighter, flowery larger mainly drew comments concerning its lack of flavour. Atlas has a slightly sweeter taste that doesn’t last long, good fizz levels, not bad on a hot day after cutting the grass.

BEST COMMENT: Tastes a little like makeup.





balboa

BALBOA - from Cervaceria National
A fairly solid 4.8 % Balboa is the darkest of a light lot, not much scent but a little more depth. Pours well and pretty easy to drink – an all round contender but not very distinguished, good for a laugh.

BEST COMMENT: Fat bottomed beers you make the rocking world go round





panama

PANAMA – from Cervacerias Baru
Surprisingly tasty and at 4.8 % not a complete lightweight but a little brackish on the backend. Makes up for its lack of depth with an evasive effervescence. Panama is that British friend who’s loyal but a bit of a prat.

BEST COMMENT: Skanky





soberana
SOBERANA - from Cervacerias Baru
A yeasty 3.8 % Soberana wasn’t our favourite. A pale, weak brew that needs a little more time mature.

BEST COMMENT: Ragwater and yeast burps







All said, the Panamanian beers leave a little to be desired but at around 40 cents each who´s complaining?

The Darien Gap

April 15, 2009 in Panama, border crossing by tom | 5 comments

joydrive-darien-gap

The missing link in The Pan American Highway is called The Darien Gap , the road terminates in Panama at Yaviza, ending in dense, mountainous jungle populated by poachers, gun runners and guerrillas – needless to say we won’t be driving through. We’ve spent the better part of a week figuring out how to ship our car to South America. Initially we had planned on shipping from Panama to Ecuador, but after talking to the people in the know we decided to ship by container to Cartagena, Colombia.

So after a mountain of paperwork we packed up wee Marlin, stuffed him into a forty foot container and left our little car on the port in Colon. We took the Panama Canal Railway back to Panama City which follows the Canal route and offers some spectacular views of both the Canal and the area that was flooded to create it.

Now we have a five day sail through the San Blas Islands to South America.


Camping and coconut rice

April 5, 2009 in Panama, Tasty treats, surfing by tom | No comments

We caught the ferry from Bocas to meet up with our travel buddies Chris and Kristin in a little town called Santa Catalina on the Pacific coast—which is also home to a really good surfing break (named after the town) and it’s touted as having the most consistent surf in Central America. A long walk out over volcanic rock and then it’s a fair paddle to a beautiful but shallow reef break offering fast lefts and rights, when we arrived the waves were about shoulder high. We camped in a nice spot called Oasis right on the beach with plenty of shade and fresh coconuts falling scarily close to our tents, like manna from the sky. Try boiling a cup and a half of rice in the juice drained from two freshly fallen coconuts in a thin camp pot … best eaten under undiluted galaxies.

shady-camping

A few tranquilo days later we headed inland to camp with a rasta yogi, known locally as ‘Swami‘ and his rainbow gathering crew, the cheapest accommodation we could find in a town that’s centered in the crater of an extinct volcano, called El Valle, about two hours outside of Panama city. When the Panama Canal was owned and operated by the States a few Panamanian officials were getting fairly good kickbacks and we were told that this is where their kids bought up large chunks of fertile land, building grandiose houses with rambling manicured lawns set amongst awesome tropical landscaping. We had read that the town hosts an interesting arts and crafts market and were a little disappointed to find it much of the same and our only real discovery worth reporting was the Maracuya (passionfruit) juice served in a small out-of-the-way cafe.

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