Poco a Poco

I was sitting in the vets office waiting for the doc to look at Deeter when I first read about the 4,000+meter pass near Merida. At a rough translation, that's 12,000 feet -- higher than I may have ever been. Certainly higher than I have ever pedaled. I have a real love for big mountains, and I would rather be above treeline and touching the clouds than in a forest canopy. But I also knew that climbing a pass to 12,000 feet would challenge me both physically and mentally.

The climb over Paso de Aquila and reaching Merida was the one thing that I knew I wanted to do on this trip before we left home. This was my personal challenge and came to be the thing that kept me awake some nights. The night before we began the final ascent, I felt just like the night before the SATs, the night before the big track meet, the night before I was to be on stage at Kane Hall. Pure performance anxiety.

Mountain passes have always had some kind of magic for me. I remember the very first one I pedaled over in Romania in 1996. I remember the one that wasn't on the map in Turkey in 2004. I remember Steven's Pass close to home. They all serve as symbols for some kind of achievement or goal that I'm not sure I am worthy of.

We headed out of Timotes early in the morning and were happily surprised to find traffic light and the road beautifully paved. The day before we pedaled with too many big trucks and stinking 70's model "taxis" racing past for comfort. But once the real climb began, only vehicles who respected the road seemed to be traveling. We got some thumbs up from eager passengers and toots from careful drivers -- always a welcome sign. Villagers and farmers smiled once their minds registered the two loaded bicycles passing them by. Kilometer after kilometer we slowly climbed passed cabbage patches, leeks and onions, garlic, artichokes, cauliflower and greens. Impossibly steep and rocky patches or earth were tilled and irrigated along our way.

Our maps didn't show how far to the top and road signs varied in their distance to Pico de Aguila, so we simply went as far as we felt that first day before we found a rare and perfect place to camp beside the river and near the onion field. It looked like the top was "just up there" as we watched the clouds roll in mid-afternoon and obscure the view. All my anticipation seemed so unnecessary as we settled in for the night, thinking that in a couple short kilometers our downhill would begin.

It was a perfect camp sight and a perfect night in our hamsters nest of a tent snuggling under a shared sleeping bag. In the morning, we cooked a hearty breakfast of leeks and garlic and eggs, made toast and coffee over the camp stove and lingered for the sun to take the chill off the morning air. The elderly lady who gave us permission to camp on her property had the face of a sweet apple doll and wished us well as we continued on our way.

So we hopped on our bikes and whooped it up as we came to a sign at the top that read 4,007 meters. The ribbon of road disappeared through small farms and villages in the valley below. The official top was supposed to have a National Park office and restaurant, so that must be just around the corner. Or maybe it's around that next corner ... or the next?

The road continued to climb and farmland quickly disappeared into dry and rugged scab land. Hearty heathers and lupins long past blooming covered the landscape. A few lonely cattlemen looked on with wonder as we slowly pedaled past. One friendly fellow called out to ask say we were only an hour away from Aguila. An hour? Wasn't it just around the next bend?

We stopped for hot chocolate and the chance to warm up once again in the sun at a restaurant on the lonely road. Was this the restaurant stop listed in the guide book? We went on ... and on.

There are no signs on these roads indicating how far or where you are. When we would point and ask, the answer always way that Aguila is "just up there". Somewhere past the hot chocolate stop, I stopped looking at my cyclometer, stopped looking at my watch, stopped thinking how far. The landscape now looked like the top of the world and could go on forever. By now, my legs felt more like a wet sponge being rung out to dry. We would stop long enough to breath, and eat a few nuts and feel the surge to go on once again. I recalled the climb to Alto do Letras in Colombia nearly 2 months ago and was pleased it wasn't a wild and frantic stretch for breath, but a slow and methodical labor for breath. Two months training had prepared me well, a life time of performance anxiety was turned into a simple need to keep moving forward. Poco a poco, I would tell myself -- Little by little.

We passed a road crew slicing a thin line in the road to lay internet cable, they cheered us on and said we would see the top soon. Indeed, around the next bend the statue of a Condor -- Paseo de Condor was visible against the still blue sky. Switchbacks continued to inch upwards one pedal-stroke at a time. I'm caught on camera by a family visiting from Caracus, the father in a bright blue suit smiling as he pointed his video camera at me. I am barely able to manage a smile and a wave is impossible. They seem to understand.

Drenched in sweat and too cold to stop, Willie pushed on to capture the moment I rounded the top -- a milestone. A life highlight. A victory for the moderate amongst us who can achieve great heights one small life stroke at a time. The final pedal stroke at 13,894foot -- nearly the height of Mt Rainier. The downhill ... savored for 60 kilometers and 60 years to come.

Welcome to Venezuela!

Just as I had truly fallen into REM sleep, we were startled awake at 2AM by the bus driver who had pulled over and asked Willie to come to the driver's cabin with him. He was literally looking for a good place to drop us on the side of the road. A short while later, the doors opened and we were thrust into the warm night at a military checkpoint. The city of Barquisimeto, our starting point for cycling Venezuela, was somewhere "over there". We tipped our driver as he wished us well. "Good luck!" "Buen suerte!" coming from the other passengers of our luxury bus as we departed.

Before we left Seattle for our trip, many people cautioned us to take care, Colombia is a dangerous country. We found Colombians anything but threatening. When we told Colombians we were heading to Venezuela, many people cautioned us to take care, Venezuela is a dangerous country. As we boarded the bus, we hoped once again the warnings would be unnecessary.

When approaching any country, there's always a slew of unknowns and potential challenges. We heard there is more petty crime, people are unfriendly, drivers don't like bicycles on the roads, the police expect a bribe... in a word, it's unsafe. But when one is literally dropped along the highway at 2 in the morning and only barren concrete building nearby and city lights across some unseen divide, there's simply not much to do except have some faith it will all
work out.

The two military personnel watched us put bicycles back together and load our panniers by headlamp. They stopped the regular flow of trucks to allow us to cross the divided four lanes and we parked our bicycles under the watch tower. Welcome to Venezuela!

After 22 hours of mostly wakefulness, I easily agreed to pull out the thermorests and lay down in the open air and elements for a couple hours as we wait for sunrise. No time for moderation now! We snuggled under our fleece blanket while trucks ground their gears to a halt a few meters away, then carried on with the roar of their engines after a quick nod from the patrol. What price would we pay when we woke, I wondered.

Our plan was to get up at 5am, and pedal into the fifth largest city of Venezuela at daybreak. At 5:10 the coffee and arepa (corn cake, this time stuffed with tasty meat) cart arrived and we enjoyed that first cuppa joe in a new country. When we offered to buy the military guards breakfast, we were flatly refused ... so much for needing to bribe the military. Dawn actually came an hour and a half later because of the time change, but who could have slept through all that bustle anyway? As the sky turned pink, we pedaled towards the city center as 18-wheelers brushed past us inches away from us hovering on the white-painted line.

At the first off-ramp, we stopped to tighten some of our bicycle joints that we hastily put together in the middle of the night and discovered our bike tools were missing. Somewhere in our groggy haze we had either left tools or they had been lifted while we slept. Willie jetisonned all his bags and left them with me at the edge of town while he circled back to look. A half an hour ... 45 minutes ... we hadn't gone that far away ... what's wrong? Crazy thoughts creep in when you are abandoned on the side of the road in a foreign country. Crazy thoughts will lead me to do bold things like stop a passing cyclist ... wait, there's a cyclist in Venezuela!?... and communicate with him that my husband has gone to look for a tool for our bicycles but I think the tool is lost and so is my husband. I don't know what this guy can do to help, but I'm looking for any crumb I can get. Just as my new cyclist friend is ready to ride up the road looking for Willie, Willie comes running his bicycle down the offramp towards me.

No tools, but a flat tire to round out our morning. Willie had tried a shortcut which became a wrong way and he ended up running back to me knowing that by this time I would have imagined the worst. Tire fixed, it turns out my bike buddy had connections with a bicycle shop and he lead the way weaving through morning commute traffic to place of work--a print shop. Entering the business, we see trophy after trophy of bicycle races. The print shop owner was an old time racer and we were immediately pulled into the bicycling brotherhood. The old pro had a tool to tighten our frames. We were then escorted to the largest bicycle shop in the area where we sought information and help from locals.

I like to think that we traded in a few tools and got amazing help and kindness in exchange.

Willie spent much of the day working on exchanging dollars on the black market. A tricky business of needing to find a secure source at a good rate. I spent the day hunting down maps since our one map of Venezuela seemed highly inadequate. We had success on both accounts.

It doesn't take long for some place foreign to feel familiar. The trepidation of entering town was long gone by the time we pedaled out the main road heading towards the Andes. We easily reached Guarico and looked up Jose Luis, a cyclist we met in Barquisimeto, who had sketched out a route to Merida for us. He had suggested we call him when we got to his town, and to his surprise, that's just what we did.


A place to stay was another problem though. We had left the coast of Colombia in part because of the busy Semana Santa-Holy Week, but quickly discovered that we would face the same room shortages and closed business challenges no matter where we were. Searching for a room in town, we assembled a full entourage of young cyclists eager to escort us. When not a room was to be had, a cell phone call away confirmed that the kids would show us the way to a finca on top of the hill where we could pitch our tent.

The hill turned out to be a ridiculous incline not fit for these cyclists legs, and I eagerly traded my loaded bike with one young lad who graciously pushed it up the grade. At the top, we found paradise and rewarded our young guides and sherpas with cookies.

Our misfortune of the lost tools had now lead us to a beautiful farm with a view that took our breath away. There in the distance were the mountains we were about to climb. As the sun set, our host, Jorge, arrived and greeted us in perfect English. Jorge had lived in the United States for several years and was a welcome source of information, friendship and insight into Venezuela. We also quickly learned that the next day was a bicycle race that would come through town and end a few kilometers up the mountain road. We were invited to join the support crew at a water stop in the morning and celebrate at the finish line.

Suddenly this country that didn't respect bicyclists was FULL of bicycles. Around 200 racers (2 of them women) climbed the same road we had come the day before. We knew their pain as they panted towards the finish line -- faces tight with concentration, muscles glistening with sweat mixed with mid-morning rain. At the top it was a celebration of bicycles and we were quickly introduced to the gathered crowd and interviewed for television.

Jorge and his family invited us to stay on another night and enjoy a Venezuelan fiesta complete with roasted pig -- slow cooked all day Cuban-style by his brother-in-law. Friends and family gathered, food was shared, along with laughter and music. In just two short days, Venezuela was no longer a country to be cautious of, but one that will live in our memories forever.

Welcome to Venezuela! Adventure in another country begins...
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Note, this blog entry was started about a half a life time ago, but the Net went down, we cycled on, and are at long last connected. It's nice to know we were missed these last couple of weeks. There are many stories yet to tell.
Love to you all,
Kat & Willie

A Few of Our Favorite Things

With two days ride to go, and one day to do it in, Willie and I opted to take bus into Cartagena. This goes against Mr Extreme's nature, but he knew that after 10 days of serious riding without a full rest day, my parts were wearing out. Hands, wrists, feet, knees ... and it could go without saying, butt... were sorely in need of some time off the bike. We enjoyed some seaside stops and dips in the Caribbean, but we had also been offered the opportunity to stay in a flat while in Cartagena -- an offer we couldn't resist.

So now after a resting and reflecting, I'd like to offer you a list of some of our favorite things. No thread or story or intended priority of importance; merely snippets of life, experience, sightings and tastes that shape our impressions and love for this country. Willie also offers a few of his favorite photos snapped in the last couple of weeks.



To know me is to know I love food. Love thinking about it, preparing it, sampling new things and collecting ideas of food I'll make when we return home. Cycling offers the opportunity to eat as much as we like while still managing to loose weight, what could be better than that?

Food in Colombia is tasty and filling, but not particularly varied. Mostly we have the plate of the day for lunch which consists of rice and red beans, a fried plantain and some sort of meat grilled or in a sauce. Often there is a small salad of a few tomato and onion slices and not much more. So the day we pedaled past a place up in the mountains that was brimming with people and plates and smells that made our heads turn, we turned our bicycles around as well and settled into our most favorite meal of the trip. The cook was a large women with an easy smile who patiently explained our choices. Other diners offered their suggestions and we settled on a plate with chorizo and a mixed fruit salad. We rarely eat chorizo which can be extra greasy and not well seasoned, but this one was different. This one was worth writing home about. The fruit salad was so different than any other salad we've encountered -- an exquisite blend of melon, tomate de arbol (that's tree tomato), apple, pineapple and others I can't name. The sweet and tangy flavors combined perfectly with the salty spice of the sausage creating the perfect bite.

The varied and brilliant bird life in Colombia more than makes up for the general monotony of the food. We need to look up the names of the common birds we see along our route. The yellows, reds, oranges and blues darting in and out of the trees entertain us each day. In a particularly scenic stretch along the grasslands of the coast plains we stopped for a photo op with some white herons when a large flash of brilliant yellow and blue caught my eye. Then it flashed again and again. Not knowing what I was seeing, I pointed it out to Willie who in an instant knew we spotted our first Macaws. Eleven brilliant Macaws were enjoying a coffee clatch at the top of a large tree. We gaped and giggled to see such a site as these endangered species so close. Thankful again for stopping along the road less traveled.

As stopping goes, our spontaneous stop at the cabana along the dusty road on the way into Necocli wins our hearts for favorite beach visit. We also stayed at a magnificent stretch of light sand resorts in Caverñas, but the quiet seclusion of our little hammock and balcony at Rancho Alejo overlooking the cove is more to our liking. It was cozy and intimate without the blaring music of bars and rows of sun bathers. The small family-run getaway also came with the second best meal of fresh fish in coconut sauce. We spent the evening sitting around the table with the family who owned the place making us feel more like friends than paying guests.

On any trip, it's the people we meet who make the strongest impressions. Sometimes we get to spend days with them, like our wonderful stay with Oscar and Mary Anne. Sometimes the encounters are brief but memorable to last a life time. I wrote a little about this earlier, but the spontaneous invitation from Mancho to park our bikes and visit his finca was one such memory. We followed him down the mountain trail to check the cows and deliver lunch to the workers picking coffee. Followed him back up to the bare shack along the road and were treated to a meal of great proportions. The lasting moment to top them all was when Mancho went to the next room, sat on the bed covered with tatored blankets and indicated it was now time to take a siesta.

It's been our great fortune to encounter cloudy days and afternoon showers as we pedaled along the coast. Coming from Seattle where the rain is always cold, I have to say it's pure joy to cycle in warm rain. Getting soaked means cooling off. We've managed to get to roadside bus stops, juice stands, machinery yard overhangs and other protective devices when the skies really pour. Heavy downpours last minutes, while we hope misty rains would last for hours.

Colombia has a great cycling culture and is one of the reasons we were eager to travel this country. We've met plenty of cyclists along the way, pedaled with them as they get in their exercise on shiny sport bikes or commute to work on rusty clunkers. Most dear to our hearts though, is the evening spent in Guaybal (formerly Armero which was destroyed by a volcano mud-slide in the 1980s). Guaybal is in the low river valley between the Oriente and Central range of the Andes, so it was a hot and steaming evening. As the sun went down we strolled main street and then parked ourselves at cafe table sipping something cool. Bikes paraded by in the evening light. School girls cruising with friends, laughing and gossiping. Boys doing stunts and showing off. Elders out for a leisurely coast down the road to say hello to friends. All makes and models cruised past -- more like kids in cars cruise in American towns. To see community life on the streets, out of their cars and on two wheels warmed our hearts.

While not necessarily in the category of favorite things, we have discovered a few surprises along the way.

Billiards (and not pool) appears to be the favorite past time. Nearly every town, villiage or simply where two roads meet sports a billiard hall.

The most common thing for sale in every town, village or casa along the road is minutes. Cell phone minutes. In large cities it's common to see vendors with several phones, sometimes chained to their vest, while callers each on a phone like tentacles on octopus.

We've encountered plenty of military posts along the way, and to a person they have been friendly, courteous, helpful and often interested in knowing what the heck we're doing. It's great fun to list some stops along our route and watch their eyes light up in disbelief and respect. The military posts have secured the roads for all Colombians to travel now. Years prior, traveling between towns was perilous due to FARC activities, so the military is a welcome sight and their friendliness a bonus.

While Zeb hasn't been mentioned much in this blog, he has his own moment of glory he wants to share. Alejo the parrot came to visit us on our balcony by the sea, walking on our arms, carrying on a vibrant conversation, we thought to capture a photo of Zeb with the boisterous bird. Much to our surprise and Zeb's glee, the parrot was scared -- no terrified -- of little Zeb. I had placed Zeb on the railing of the balcony for the photo op, but Alejo would have none of it. Zeb is usually thought as cute and adorable, mostly by young girls, so he felt particularly macho frightening a parrot 3 times his size.

There so much more to love and share about Colombia, but I hope this paints in a few details of our travels here. We've decided to call Bogota to Cartagena one leg of our journey and now bus to an inland city in Venezuela. The road we would need to pedal would be too hot and trafficed by trucks. This weekend also begins Semanta Santa, or Holy Week, when locals hit their favorite vacation spots by the coast.

We watched the relationship between Colombia with great interest over the last couple of weeks, and are relieved that the conflict over the murder of Raul Reyes, a kingpin of FARC, calmed down quickly. The border was closed for a few days and we feared we would need to alter our plans ... and petition for a visa extension.

The Zen of the Road

Thanks to an errant road sign, we arrived at our destination today 12 km before anticipated, making this an 80 km day with 30 of them unpaved and in the process of "improvement". Improvement meant loosely packed fresh gravel that enjoys sucking bicycle tires while enormous dump trucks pass spewing dust in their wake. I believe all drivers must be paid by the delivery and have a zealous need to drive as fast as they can. Two hours of eating dust before breakfast was a perfect time to practice the zen of the road.

This is my sixth bicycle adventure with Mr. Extreme and he was well versed in road zen long before I arrived on the scene. Being a goal driven person, I've spent every trip struggling to find the zen--to let things unfold in their time, to enjoy the moment without anticipation of what is to come, to loose ones self in thought, or better yet, no thought. Perhaps because I'm more motivated by the destination, it is my tendency to fight against the bad roads rather than loose myself in them. Today was different. I knew within minutes of starting the ride at 6:30am that todays goal was a shower at the end of a very dirty day, but rather than spend the day eating grit and swearing at drivers, Zeb reminded me that I didn't need to go fast, I simply needed to go. So I did, lost in thought, and eventually loosing Willie far behind while legs pumped and spirit soared.

Getting to zen has indeed been a long road. We left Medellin and pointed our noses towards the coast. Not the straight down the PanAmerican highway coast, but the long ride across the third range of the Andes and towards the Gulf of Uraba -- the closest paved road to the Darian Gap and Panama. Something in our readiness for a change of pace made us forget that even though the Occidente Range is the smallest of the mountain ranges, it's still means mountains to climb.

Our lovely decent from Medellin to Sante Fe de Antioquia and the warm river valley that seperates the middle and west ranges started with a surprising climb that turned the other direction only after we hitched a ride with a family in a pickup truck who could take us through the 5km-long tunnel. Bicycles, tractors and horses are not allowed, so the military patroling the entry encouraged the first empty truck to take us through.

After enjoying the historic pueblo we once again thought our way would be a long leisurely decent to the sea. We didn't pack much food since every few miles we've passed snack bars and restaurants, and once again we were met with a climb. This one was far different than before. Suddenly we were climbing grasslands dotted with brittle shrubs and dry river drainages that get used only in flash floods from infrequent hard rains. The saving grace was that it got cooler every foot we pedaled upwards. We pedaled past lunch time, and were offered no coffee. The only house we saw was on a point far from the road where we stopped to finish the last of our power bars offered so long ago in Bogota by Cristian.

By late-afternoon we came to the only town on our map and turned-in in search of food. A bronzed and confident woman offered to make us lunch when we asked about comida at her little tienda. While she cooked, the ever-present military offered their advice that we continue only another 14 km to a place with a hotel and restaurant. "Plano." he said. Flat. "OK." we said and were off even though our legs wanted only to rest.

This is the start of much well-meaning encouragement that included the word "plano" and we quickly realized that plano meant something different to someone riding a motorized vehicle. When your legs say no, and the military says go, and the road swoops and climbs; this is a good time to practice the zen of the road. It's a time to not go fast, but simply go. To not think of aching hands or where we'll sleep.

We rounded what truly was the last mountain pass a day later and glided into Uramita. At last we're ready to blissfully glide downhill to the sea. Plano, they say even as the road crosses the rolling foot-hills along the river. We climb and dip with it, this time on the wet side of the mountains lush with the tapestry of green. Weeping walls covered in ferns and vines and many of our common houseplants. Forests dense and dripping with humidity. I stop to duck into a drainage for a bit of roadside relief and stop in my tracks, jaw dropped and wiggling frantically for Willie to come look and see. A Tucan sitting 10 feet away in a tree! The thrill of it almost makes me forget that the road is climbing again and I am climbing with it. Vines are thick and ropey tying the trees to the earth or they would slide down the mountain.

We find ourselves again exhausted and my legs are ready to quite, but Mutata is still beyond our reach. Military posts dot the roads as we enter canyons and we get the thumbs up and encouragement to continue. It's late enough in the day that birds have come out for their evening feeding and I want nothing more than to pitch our tent at the make-shift military post. "It's only 8km more," they say, "and plano ... expect the one climb and one descent."

They don't know we've been pedaling since 8am and I've told Willie I'm done. He does his best to convince them, but they only say for us to go on and they will call ahead to their chief and let him know we're coming. We need to be off the road by dark, they say. I need to be off the road now.

We're in a bind and the only thing there is to do is continue. Bajando, down we go. Subido, up we go. The sky takes on the thick air of nightfall as the sun gets near the horizon. Canyons now are dank and cool. Past the 8km mark. Simply go. Don't think. Past the 10 ... did we miss the town? There's the cell phone billboard that is outside of every village. But where's the village? Another kilometer, folks say. But they're wrong. It's another 5km and sun has set by the time we enter Mutata city limits.

Willie checks in with the police to let them know we arrived while I enjoy the cool shower and crisp white sheets of two-month old hotel in town. We're their first foreigners and they're eager to have us join them sitting outside in red plastic chairs by the light of the street lamps while kids dart by on their bicycles and dogs circle sniffing for snacks.

The police promise that the road to the coast is now flat. Planed like a plank of wood for a table, flat. So we set out at the crack of dawn, as we do most days now to avoid the heat and wind, in search of flat.

We find the flat of banana plantations or cattle grazing, and we find a new reason to practice the zen of the road. Theirs a different kind of saddle sore that comes on the flats. The same motion, the same cadence, the same bones hanging on the edge of the seat. The flats are where your mind most needs to wonder in a different direction. In the mountains, there's mystery in what's around the next curve. The wide-open flats call for day-dreaming with legs pumping. Our 26km days of the mountains are now 80-plus kilometer days and we're making good time towards the coast.

Consensus along the route is that Necocli, a pueblo on the spit of land at the entrance to the Gulf of Uraba is the vacation place. Playa bonita, the locals say and encourage us to pass by the larger town of Turbo. A rest day by the seaside is inorder and our hearts are set on arriving early, so we depart at daybreak and share the road with regular bicycle commuters and even some sport cyclists, the likes of which we haven't seen since leaving Medellin a week ago. It's blissful on the road as the world wakes us. The air is fresh and traffic is light and the road is flat. We pass through Turbo as the workday begins and most other traffic stays in the city. Our anticipation of spotting water and relaxing by the sea grows as friendly cyclists and scooter-drivers chat along the way. Something cerrado in 6km, I tell Willie after such a chat. Or was that 6km of rough road? I don't know enough Spanish to get the finer points.

Soon enough we get the answer when we come to roadwork ahead signs. Our blissful ride to the sea has been interupted to bring improvement to this road. In the meantime, we can enjoy bone-jarring rocks lining what will someday be smooth, black asphalt all the way to Necocli.

This is the perfect place to practice the zen of the road. Don't think of that beer in the hammock or first dip into the waters of the Caribbean. Don't think of falling asleep with a book in your hands, or waking to the sound of surf out your balcony. Don't need to go fast. Just go.

"What about checking out one of these cabana places we pass along the way to Necocli?" the zen-master Willie asks? "Sure. Let's give it a try." I say as we turn our bikes left down a lane lined with palm trees. We don't need to get to Necocli today if we can find enlightenment right here.

Rancho Aleja was our reward. A cabana by the sea all to ourselves except the parrot that come to visit. The beer, the hammock, the fresh fish in coconut sauce, the lull of the waves, the reward for our escape from the road.


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Thanks to all for your comments and emails encouraging me to write more, or more often.

Most internet cafe don't allow me to spell-check, so I apologize for my bad spelling and typos!

Medellin

Ah, Medellin... city of eternal spring, home to world-class architecture, public sculpture you can touch, a metro-line that moves people efficiently, a cable-line that carts buckets of citizens from the slums high on the hills to the valley below to work each day, amazing art, botanical gardens ... and home to the most notorious narcotrafficer of all. Medellin, was made famous around the world by Pablo Escobar. We almost went to see the movie about him at the mall, but opted to see "Sweeny Todd" instead.

Medellin was our destination for so long, and fortunately the city didn´t disappoint. Unfortunately, the "back-packer" tourists we did meet were another story. We spent a month in Colombia before laying eyes on another traveler and we were eager to find out what they had to say. What had they discovered that we should try? What places have they been? What have we missed? What have they found with the FARC and paramilitary situation? In a word, Nada.

Sadly, for many "back-packers", Medellin is still the narco-capital and many have come to party. Displaced frat boys buy their bags of coke, hang-out in trashed hostels, and spend their days recovering from the night before. We were hoping to meet kindred spirits and, but instead we only found the party crowd. Back-packers rarely go beyond the four main destinations of Bogota, Cartegena, Santa Marta and Medellin ... and above all, they don´t go anywhere the Lonely Planet guide book said was unsafe 4 years ago when it was poorly researched and badly written. What they've missed!

The guide book warns that the slums can be dangerous, but we rode the spectacular Metro-Cable to the top and actually got out and walked to the new Biblioteca de Espana. There we talked with school children practicing English, got a guided tour of the library which reminded us of our own Seattle Central library, and savored a perfect home-made coconut paleta (popsicle) before descending the cable to ride the metro across town. It was better than an E-ticket at Disneyland, and the tough guy travelers who pride themselves on not having been robbed yet, were afraid to get out of the tram. I chided them over beers around the pool that night, and then encouraged them again to get out and meet the real Colombia.

What saddens me, is that the people of Medellin, and Colombians in general, consider themselves very friendly and helpful, but the world doesn´t know it. The media would have us all believe that coke is still king, people are sill kidnapped every day, and roads are unsafe to travel. Friendliness is in their national identity though, and it's true to form for ALL people we have met.

Simply arriving in a city of 2.5 million people and trying to find a particular traveler's hostel is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. We relied on incomplete maps and kind directions from locals until a father and daughter team in a small toyota stopped us in our tracks and asked where did we want to go. We handed over the address and phone number and they quickly whipped out their cell phone, got directions, and drove their pilot car and we followed on bikes. THAT's friendliness! When we ventured to the metro, people again and again came to help, point the direction, and explained the system. When we told our hostel-mate Mike about it, he said that would never happen in NYC where he´s from.

Throughout our time in Colombia, many strangers have come to our aid. Others have simply thanked us for coming to visit their country. There's a general feeling that they want us to tell the rest of Americans ... the rest of the world, that Colombia is a good place. It's not all about drugs and terror. I feel for the national psyche as Colombia struggles to right the wrongs of narcotrafficers who terrorized this country. I see faces swell with pride when we tell inquisitive Colombians that we have only met kindness in our journey.

I see the back-packers traveling in some sort of parallel universe finding only the worst of Colombia and perpetuating a time most locals would rather forget. They do have stories of being robbed ... at 2am ... while trying to find their way home drunk, but that could be true in any city in the world. They've missed the coyboys riding into the town square, missed hot chocolate and panela, missed the helping had of someone showing them where a good hotel is. I think they've missed the heart of Colombia.