Bienvenido Colombia

We left Portland on Tuesday afternoon and got to Miami around midnight. Ethan, Rachel and I got pushed back a day on our fight to Pasto due to flight cancellations. So we ended up getting picked up by this great guy Ganesha that Rachel and Ethan met at Kundalini Summer Solstice. He welcomed us into his house, took us to his friends amazing urban farm called The Earth and Us for Sadhna, if anyone is interested in WOOFing in Miami you should definantly check them out. Then we spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach. It was a total blessing to get unexpected day in Miami.

The next day we woke up at 4 in the morning made our way to airport and headed to Colombia. It was pretty interesting Ethan, Rachel and I getting into Bogota; a bunch of colorful hippy gringos who dont speak very much Spanish trying to navigate our way throught the Bogota airport. We spent a few hours layover then got to Pasto that afternoon and met up with Heath and Niko.

Pasto was pretty crazy. It was a lot bigger city than I expected, there were people everywhere, narrow roadway and sidewalks with speeding taxis and motorcycalist zooming past me. I was totally overwelmed. We got to the hotel and it was pretty sweet only 8 dollars a night! Heath and Niko arranged a great room on the top floor with four big beds overlooking the street with an amazing view. We spent the night and morning adventuring Pasto and going to the supermarket Exito for supplies to bring to Sibundoy. The supermarket was a pretty interesting adventure everyone was staring at us and it was a total circus trying to get all 5 of us and 1 translator to get us through the line to check out. It has been a challenge getting used to the new currency; 1700 pesos to the dollar.

We took the bus on a two hour rocky, car sickening ride to Sibundoy to meet Juan. Once we got into town and got dropped off at his bead shop we were sent on a taxi to his house. When we got here we were welcomed with open arms. Juan and his wife Carmen have been amazingly hospitable since the minute we stepped out the taxi. It has been a lot of fun growing with them. You should have seen the look on his face when we arrived with a Rotto Tiller and a John Deer hat as a welcoming present! He was beside himself.

We have been here for a week now and the hospitality hasnt changed. We have been having a blast spending time with his family and adventuring in the town of Sibundoy. We are leaving today to travel with Juan to Medellin north of Bogota for a 20 hour adventure on a bus to spend an extended weekend with him and adventuring in the city.