On the Monday morning after the five days of festival in Cali we got woken up by our new French friends leaving the hostel for the Pacific coast of Colombia. This trip wasn't in our plans, but well sometimes you have to improvise. Half an hour after we had our bags ready and sorted out a solution to leave our gliders in Cali. The next hour we were in a bus driving west towards Buenaventura.
As we were a bit too late to catch a boat in Buenaventura to get to the coastal village of Juanchaco we decided to stop in San Cipriano.
San Cipriano is a little town lost in the Jungle inland. One of the main attraction of the place is the transport to get there. The only way to get to the village other than by foot (which would take a few hours) is to use the railway system originally constructed to carry the sugar cane from the Cauca Valley to the Buenaventura's harbour. As there are not many trains passing there the locals developped ingenious vehicles called "brujitas" (small witch) sorts of motorbiked propelled benches racing full blast througfh the jungle. The ride with our crazy pilot called "El Diablo" was thrilling!
The ride
Brujita
A part of the team
The town itself was no more than one main street. We quickly found an accomodation and headed to the river. It was a delight to swim in fresh waters in the middle of the tropical forest. It got even more exciting when a big storm with moonsoon rain rolled in.
At night we wanted to have a quiet one, but on the west coast of Colombia Monday night like every other night is a night of music and dance. So of course we ended up in one of the casa dancing like crazies with some amazing black womens amused by our weird moves.
The next day was the time for our first encounter with the Pacific ocean. We arrived in Buenventura in the morning and sorted out a few things before embarking in one of the small boats towards the coastal villages. Buenaventura doesn't have a great feel for the tourists has it has the reputation of being very dangerous. It is the main port of Colombia in the Pacific ocean and is home to many traffics starting with cocaine.
After a few hours waiting on the peer we finally set off in a small speed boat. Another time it was a crazy experience. The driver couldn't see anything in front due to the angle of the boat so he was assisted by a guy standing at the front pointing in the water to the massive logs floating so the pilot could do a sharp turn to evite them. Really I was happy when we arrived!
Getting the boat ready
First view of the coast
Fishing Village
Being with some Colombians was fantastic. They got us a really good deal for accomodation and food in a small village a bit further on the coast.
We stayed in the house of Señora Donia Oralia in "La Barra" for 4 days. She took care of our group of 14 as her own family.
Home
During our stay we had some amazing time. We went to swim in fresh water in the mangroves, where we nearly got stuck with a broken engine and the night coming :) . Took the same boat and engine to go see the whales breeding off the coast. And swam at night with some lightning plancton!
Here are a few photos:
Setting off to the mangrove
The team in the mangrove
Que rico El Pacifico!
The beaches were amazing with black sand and imposing surrounding forest. However it was surprising to see the amount of junk lying on the coast. It seems that most of the Colombians living in these places still don't have any environmental awareness.
We really enjoyed this time, it was great to be part of such a good group it such a special place, but soon it was time again to hit the road. We had itchy feet and more so itchy gliders. We really wanted to go get another dose of air time.
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