Intro ja outro

kummalliset kalat liukuvat syvyydessä,

tuntemattomat kukat loistavat rannalla;

olen nähnyt punaista ja keltaista

ja kaikki toiset värit -

mutta ihana meri on vaarallisin nähdä,

se herättää tulevien seikkailujen janon:

mitä on tapahtunut sadussa,

on tapahtuva minullekin.

Edith Södergran: Ihmeellinen meri

Kiitos matkaseurasta tarinoitani lukeneille, ja tervetuloa tutustumaan lattarihengailuuni myös jälkeenpäin.

(Ja inspiroitukaa ja haaveilkaa ja lähtekää itse. Tai ainakin haaveilkaa.)

Seikkailunmielisiä haaveunia ja arkisen ihania reissuja kaikille muille ihanan meren sokaisemille.

- Pilvi

p.s. Tähän perään on ensin 9 varsinaisen reissun jälkeen koottua extraa, jotka koostuvat jälkimietteistä, valokuvista ym. Lukeminen kannattaa kenties aloittaa jostain muualta, jollei sitten juuri himoitse nähdä kuvia.

Extra 9: Kunnialla loppuun - Ecuador

Ecuador - we are nice people

Promises are to keep, so I try to finish this blog someday. Here are the few Ecuador pics of the 4 short days I spent there, quickly getting to know Otavalo and Quito!

Otavalo was all about traditions meeting modernity. You could see indiginous people everywhere and hear their languages everywhere. They sell great crafts on the market square and so the region has gained more wealth than other indigenous regions. On arriving I was actually very suprised of how nice the town looked, after seeing a few grey and ugly places. I also liked the relaxed feeling of the town and was working hard on understanding that I actually was in Ecuador - everything seemed totally similar to Southern Colombia.

crafts. a good place to spend all your money... even though I spent it mainly on jewellery.

Then I moved on to Quito, by a shared taxi with some lovely local grandmas who told me stories and gave me candy (and the other one had even been to Sweden! imagine that) and was getting scared, as everyone had told me these "oh Quito is so dangerous, you'll get robbed for sure"-stories. Then I got there and nothing seemed dangerous. The bus system was eventually easy to follow, I walked aaaaa lot,visited some boring malls (the worst shopping options I had seen in LatAm), went to a crafts market, ate good food and drank a lof of juices (my last chance!!), visited museums, got to know the old town..

which indeed was beatiful, with many churches, plazas, lovely buildings.

I did a daytrip to the Ecuador line, which is a small village-world build for tourist with statues, museums etc. As while in Chile I also visited the Tropic of Capricorn, I'm only lacking the Tropic of Cancer. As it would mean anything actually.

The gringo corners of the rich barrios where all the hostels and gringo hangouts were; not something I that much would support, but it was quite gozy.

As you see, it wasn't much that I got to see of Ecuador. Maybe I'll get an other chance someday. Ojalá.

Extra 8: Colombia Jan-Feb 2010

So, here's Colombia. Even though these are not even from the whole time - (the first 2 weeks got published before, check the !!! previous photo post !!! that has pics from Bogotá - Villa del Leyva - Nemocón) - these are many, many photos. I know. I just couldn't leave any of these out.

Colombia was the country I spent the longest time travelling in, about five weeks. Looking at these photos I feel like going back. I surely liked Colombia, but was maybe even expecting more of it, as all the travellers are really hyping it these days. It is also really difficult to sum up the feelings and thoughs on one country like Colombia, as almost any south american country, it is big and has totally different realities inside of it. The people, the climate, the cities, everything, differs from zone to zone. I might be more enthusiastic about México, but what was good about Colombia is that there were less tourists. And thanks to my friend Laura and her family and friends in Bogotá, I learned a lot about the country.

One thing I won't forget about Colombia is the mountains. They are everywhere, and not distant and snowy like in Chile, but just everywhere and close and wonderful. Bus travel takes ages 'cause there is always a mountain range to cross and the views everywhere are expectacular.

the first pages of my colombian slang dictionary, made by Juan Camilo.

this one still from Bogotá. (:

then I arrived at Santa Marta, a hot, lively and dirty costal town. Here you understand why people in Bogotá talk about the people of the coast the way they do.

This is Taganga, a relaxed fishermen village with a lot of diving companies and unpaved roads.

Taganga

Tayrona national park, one of its many beaches - but as on most of them, swimming is forbidden because of the currents

the lovely hammocs were we slept in

I loved the beaches, the tropical forest.. all.

Cartagena. More turistic than any place in Colombia, still lovely and beatiful. Here it is hot if somewhere in Colombia, and the local men tend to be reeeeaaally annoying, more than anywhere else.

Cartagena

Cartagena

Cartagena and some Botero art

the lovely fruit selling ladies

Medellin, the city of a never ending spring. Good nightlife, lovely mountains around, and they even got metro and some cool cable-cars as part of the public transport. Here I felt like staying, even though as a city there is not that much to see or do.

views from the cablecar - you start to understand why they had them built..

up there, in a lovely working class neighbourhood. the local kids where superb and so interested in us.

and the other side of Medellin, here easier and safer to explore than normally, thanks to the metro

El Peñol, at a two-hours bus ride from Medellin.

and up there I climbed

and yes, "valió la pena".

Guatapé village close to the huge rock

The journey is safe 'cause the armed forces are patrolling the highways.. right on

a view to Medellin from the air...

yes, I did paragliding! and yes, it was awesome.

Then I moved on to the loovely coffee region. This is from a coffee farm near to Manizales; quite much all that you see here are coffee plans.

Generally, the scenery around Manizales was always amazing, a wayyyy more better than this, but from a bouncing bus it's not easy to get photos so I just decided to enjoy watching them.

coffee beans
beautiful Salento village

Valle de Cocorá just next to Salento. Such an amazing place, I'm forever thankful that my norwegian friends I came across to in Medellin forced me to go there.

after visiting Bogotá quickly again, I travelled to the south, to San Agustín. The historical statues
there are quite amazing, and the environment too.



some of the maaany statues of the actual archeological park


some are around the village; the one above had this spectacular setting

actually, at times we were more amazed of the environment than the statues.

after a one more painful and long busride, I was in Popayan, another white, colonial city

the mountain sceneries in the south were amazing, like everywhere, but in a different way.

close to Ipiales, beatiful sanctuary Las Lajas in a very perfect setting. And with a lot of rainfall.

the nearby walls were full of prayers and thankful messages to the virgin of Las Lajas.

the surroundings the of Ipiales. it was cold and rainy and everyone had a poncho except me.

and last but not least, some lovely traditional chiva busses. (: