Adventures with Julia

Saturday, November 15, 2025

At 9am we met our host for the day, Gustavo. We drove through the city to the marina where we walked to our yacht, Sea Devil, and headed out into the bay.

The wind was at our back and the skipper managed 13 knots all the way to our destination, the Rosary Islands, where we went swimming and snorkeling. The water was pleasant, but the coral was in very poor shape and the fish were few. Anyway, we enjoyed being in the Caribbean Sea.

Then we motored to nearby Sakai Island for a swim in the fresh water pool near the beach side restaurant. That was super as the water was clear and refreshingly cool. Then we had a delicious lunch of ceviche and French fries.

When we got back on the yacht, there was engine troubles and we bobbed around while the crew sourced the problem and, thankfully, got the engine going again. The wind was in our face all the way back to Cartagena and we were completely covered in sticky salt. But the wind kept the air cool. We could barely wait for showers when we returned to the hotel at 5:15.

Cleaned up and in fresh clothes, we walked the half mile to our dinner restaurant, Carmen. We arrived right at 7pm and were, as usual, the first people to walk in the door. By the time we left, however, the place was full of diners. We remembered to take photos this time and for you foodies, here is what we ate.

For starters we had Chorizo Del Mar—shrimp and fish sausage, sweet corn and local Costeno cheese cake, Caribbean crème fraiche, and coastal palm berry foam.

Mark’s entry was; Pez Palma—artisanal Colombian fish, coconut rice, fresh Amazonian heart of palm with peach, palm sweet and Sauer sauce.

Julia had; Cordero—Andean lamb collar and ribs cooked on the embers, hummus, cucumber, Caribbean sesame seeds.

It was all quite tasty, except the lamb collar, which was not as interesting as I had hopped.

The streets were packed with revealers enjoying the last night of the Independence Festival. Caribbean music was in the air everywhere.

I would have loved to see some salsa dancing, but there was no place nearby and we were both tired. Our air conditioned room and bed were a bigger draw.

Sunday, November 16, 2025

Departure day. We enjoyed a relaxed morning as pick up for the airport was not until noon. I took a walk into Santo Domingo Square, half a block from our hotel, found a place to sit and watched the scene. There were no tourists at first, but slowly more people came through the square.

In the square is a sculpture of Botero’s Gorde Gertrudi’s, where people pause to take photos, especially with three local ladies, wearing Caribbean costumes with fruit filled hats and looking for photo donations.

From looking at a photo of the church, I noticed that the church tower was crooked. A sign in the square confirmed it. Eventually, the Church of Saint Domingo’s doors were opened and I went in to find a very pretty church, with many burial stones covering the floor and an interesting statue of Saint Claver with the slave he converted as well as a striking statue of Jesus on the cross. Finally, it was time to head for the airport.

The concourse was full. People waiting for delayed flights plus on time flights. Even the lounge was full and taking no more people. We found single separate seats in the public waiting area and waited. It was 12:50 and our flight was scheduled for 2:20pm. Eventually some lounge space opened up and we moved.

Although it’s time to come home, I am ambivalent. It has been a wonderful experience and a happy time for the two of us as a couple. We agree that we will do more traveling, but with longer stays at each stop. We are already working on our next trip back to Uganda in March with time in southern Africa before or after Uganda.

Mark wants me to speak about my observations and feelings about our travels. Every trip, I observe that people are friendly, welcoming and generally happy being alive, wherever they have been planted. Even the poorest people smile and laugh and ask about us when language permits. The saddest part about traveling for me is the inability to communicate. Clearly there is a mutual desire to connect, but language differences inhibit both of us. I am grateful for the many English speaking guides we have had on this long adventure. We connected well with most of them, especially the ones with whom we spent several days. Without them and their knowledge and English skills, our adventures would have been much less rich and rewarding. Everywhere we go, we are asked which is our favorite country or place and we always give the same answer. Our favorite place is the one we are currently in. We have not found a country we did not like, although there are some, like Uganda, we will continue to visit. It is mostly about the people, and we have friends and now even family, our goddaughter Julianah, in Uganda.

And so this adventure ends. I hope you have enjoyed reading about our journey and adventures and will join us again wherever the next trip leads us.

Blessings to you all, weather you travel in body or only in spirit.

With Love,

Julia and Mark

Saturday evening, November 8,2025

During our last meal at the hacienda, we listened to 2 excellent guitarists and I wanted to include them and their music.

Sunday, November 9, 2025

We have left the coffee region and transited through Bogota en route to Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast. The process took 10 hours. It was dark by the time we passed through Santa Marta and arrived at the village of Don Diego, where we were supposed to catch a short boat ride to the ecolodge Tewimake, but instead we road in a 4×4 UTV over a narrow dirt track for 10 minutes and arrived at Tewimake wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. Without going to our bungalow, we went directly to dinner in an outdoor dining area. I had a delicious beef stir fry dish that came 15 minutes ahead of Mark’s meal, which was accompanied by a bottle of wine, from which the server had been unable to completely remove the cork and tried to serve us with bits of cork in the glass. Apparently the manager heard about the situation and came running with another bottle of wine and took charge of properly opening and serving us. We laughed a bit about the situation, finished our meal and walked up a rocky hillside to check out our room. It was a nice space, and we were soon in bed.

Monday, November 10, 2025

We woke up to find ourselves in an elevated room surrounded by a dense palm forest. Immediately out one side was a large dipping pool.

Out another side was an outdoor shower and an empty hot tub. We dressed and went to breakfast at the bottom of the rocky path. We could see the Don Diego River from the dining room along with very noisy Macaws scavenging from the empty tables.

At 9am, our guide, Emilio, met us in the dining room and escorted us to the river, stopping at ancient indiginous sites along the way. We had signed up to take a kayak down stream, but very shortly after getting into the kayak, we were sorry we were not in inner tubes like other people we saw. Emilio was very accommodating and before long we switched from our kayak to inner tubes.

Much more pleasant experience in delightfully cool water that combats the heat and humidity of the air.

The tubing ended when we reached the Caribbean Ocean and got out on the beach.

Emilio surprised us by escorting us to a shady gazebo with a prepared lunch waiting for us. This lunch was a charming surprise and just the right amount of food, including coconuts with straws to drink the contents. We were thoroughly enjoying ourselves when a woman on the beach walked over and interrupted us to ask if we were a king and queen and we should be thrilled to have such a wonderful experience. We assured her we were happy for the experience. She started telling us her story and somehow we managed to communicate that we would appreciate her departure. Her comments did remind us to be grateful for our many blessings.

With lunch behind us, Emilio signaled time to go so we got into a boat and motored back up river to Tewimake ecolodge and our bungalow, named Tima.

We spent the afternoon chilling in our Air Conditioned space and looking into the forest. In the evening we were entertained by intense lightening and thunder and then rain that lasted until about 8pm. We beat the rain both coming and going to dinner. The same thing happened the night we arrived and we were told it is a daily occurrence.

November 11, 2025

The Tayrona Region we were in is approximately a 4.5 hour drive NE of Cartagena nestled between sandy Caribbean beaches and the foothills of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, with lush tropical jungles lining pristine beaches and 7 rivers that descend from the snow-capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada. The region’s name comes from the ancient Tayrona tribe who inhabited the region for more than a thousand years before colonialization in the 17th century and continue to live on through four indigenous tribes, including the Kogis, who have preserved the culture, language, traditions and beliefs over centuries.

This was the day we were scheduled to visit the Kogi people in their local village, called Tumguieka. It is home to about 890 people who wear all white cotton clothing. The men wear two woven bags with straps, one for things and the second is filled with coca leaves that have been dried. As a form of greeting, the men don’t shake hands but drop a handful of coca leaves into the other gentleman’s bag. The women just wear a necklace. The men also carry a poporo, a cup-like gourd into which they put seashells that have been cooked until they turn to powder. They use a stick to stir the contents in the gourd. They chew coca leaves and mix the leaves with the crushed seashells in their mouth. Because he is chewing calcium, his people believe their teeth stay strong. I don’t know about that. I just know his mouth looked awful. Anyway, the women do not chew coca leaves. Supposedly, the reason the men rub the stick on the side of the gourd is to transmit their thoughts, a form of meditation they call “Mumbar”. The people consider themselves the “older brothers” as they have been around for many more generations than we have. We are the “younger brothers”.

They live in mud houses similar to the Batwa people in Uganda. A few houses are built with woven palm leaves rather than mud.

These houses are used for special meetings of the men only. Most of the people are farmers. The few men in the village were either coca chewing thinkers or spiritual leaders having a meeting. Men marry at 15 or 16 to girls who are younger. They are monogamous relationships.

I managed a few photos of women and children. The guide told us there were older people who were 115 years old who live up in the mountains. We were surprised by that remark, until we learned they use a different Calendar. For them the moon is the cycle of time. There are 24 moon cycles for our 12 cycles.

It was an interesting meeting. Hard to imagine the different worlds we live in. Then we drove back to the river along the Caribbean coast and boated up river to our lodge. We had a quick lunch and were in our pool as soon as possible. After cooling off, we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon listening to the premature rain outside. I wondered how that experience would be if we were living in a mud house. I am grateful we are “younger brothers”.

Tomorrow morning we are up and away by 8am, as we are driving 4-5 hours to Cartegena, our last stop before returning home.

Monday, November 3, 2025

After a one hour flight from Bogota to Medellin, we arrived a little after three and met our new guide, Daniel. He wasted no time talking about Medellin, whose population is 4.5 million in a country of 51-52 million. Finally, at a very comfortable 7,500-4,200 feet in elevation, we were driving toward mountains and through tunnels, which separate the airport from the city. As we enter the first tunnel, he tells us it is 5.2 miles long and is the 2nd longest tunnel in South America. It delivers us to Medellin and, as we exit the tunnel, we are looking down on a city in a narrow valley surrounded by mountains. It is a lovely setting that immediately attracts our attention.

Daniel believes it is also the most successful city in Columbia because it has been very innovative in recovering from the violence of the late 80’s and early 90’s after Pablo Escobar. The city was founded in 1675 and has been growing slowly ever since. A major innovation is the transportation system developed in 1995. There are trains, busses and, especially, cable cars to move people around the city in addition to cars. There is no room for more roads and traffic is a nightmare for sure.

At our hotel, Elcielo, we chill the rest of the afternoon and take a 15 minute ride to dinner at a place called Alambique. The traffic was intense and driving was perilous. The restaurant was pretty funky in its decor, but the food was good. With no waste of time, we were back at the hotel and in bed.

Tuesday, November 4, 2025

We meet Daniel at 9am for a tour of the Museum of Antioquia that houses the work of Fernando Botero (1932-2023), a famous painter and sculptor from Columbia, who organized the art in the museum himself. Unfortunately, photos of his work in the museum are not allowed. Mark managed to find copies of 2 paintings and we were able to photograph his sculptures in the town square, where there are 28 pieces. An expert museum guide, Jose, gave us a 2 hour private tour that was superb. If only I could remember more of his comments. Botero was interested in volume, size and monumentality, political criticism and humor, not in making fat people. In his work you find normal sized elements as well at outsized ones. Each one of his paintings tells a story with wit, irony, insight and critical acumen. He started with oil, then moved to water color and then into sculpture in the late 70’s. He lived in Italy in the late 70’s and studied renaissance art and the passion.

What was interesting for me was the face of Bertero’s mother poking out of the doorway. She had wanted to visit France one more time, but died before the trip. Botero has her forever looking in on the French king. The Colombian flag puts her in place. Luis’s eyes, mouth, nose, hand and feet are normal in size and the colors are brilliant.

In the town square we photographed some of Botero’s sculptures.

Botero created thousands of works of art in his 91 years. It is said that he painted or sculpted every day right to the end. He had 3 wives and 4 children.

After we left the museum and headed for a cable car, Dan gave us a bit of information about Pablo Escobar, the cartels and cocaine. There was the Medellin Cartel, which Escobar headed, the Cali Cartel and the government. The latter two worked together to try to eliminate Escobar. In the 80’s and 90’s, Colombia was the world’s largest producer of cocaine. In the late 80’s, one lb of Cocaine was $100 in Colombia, $2000 wholesale in the US and $100,000 street value in the US. The US was the main market with Europe and Asia following. Escobar was making so much money that he even bought 4 hippos and kept them in his private zoo along with other animals. He helped poor people with one hand and killed other people with the other. In the end no one mourned his death, except his mother.

By this time, Dan had us riding 3 stops of the yellow line of the cable car system. It is amazing how much traffic is off the streets and riding the cable cars.

When we got off the car, we were met by another expert guide Dan had enlisted, Stephen, to show us through District 13, which had been an impoverished and drug infested neighborhood in the 80’s and 90’s and is now the in place to be with a focus on art and music. Stephen knew everyone in the hood and introduced us as we walked up and down connecting staircases. We stopped for tasty empinadas, visited art shops, bot a shirt for Mark, chatted with folk who spoke English and generally had a good time. Here are some pix from the walk and the impressive art.

The culture of District 13 or Comuna, as it is called is; Number 1–the DJ; Number 2–Breakdancers; Number 3–Rappers; Number 4–graffiti and murals.

The cable car system has helped the communities in more ways than transportation. It provides overpasses from one area to another, stops have been converted to libraries where people can read and study and companies and the govt have stepped up to buy food for the very poor.

That evening, we ate dinner at a place called Ocio. We had an interesting time getting there as our Uber driver had a difficult time finding the place. We did get good local, if a bit heavy, meals. I had pork shank and Mark had short ribs. After the long day we were ready to quit when we got back to the hotel.

Wednesday, November 5, 2025

Today was our day to drive out of the city and see some of the countryside. We drove up to 7,300 feet and what is known as the second floor, Medellin being the first floor. The 2nd floor is similar to the first in that it is a long and narrow valley. Many people including our guide, live in the 2nd floor as there is currently more room to spread out.

Dan told us there are six levels of wealth throughout each neighborhood or area of the country. If you live in a level 6 area, you are considered very rich and taxed a lot to help the lowest levels. Level 5 neighborhoods are also quite wealthy. It’s not only a property tax but a sliding scale for utilities. Levels 3 and 4 areas are about in the middle and pay only a little more than what they use. Levels 1 and 2 pay no tax at all and are helped by the upper levels. Apparently this is the way taxes work in all of Colombia. I rather like it. There is 8.7% unemployment currently, the lowest in recent history.

Finally we arrived at our destination for the day, the Alma del Bosque, “Soul of the Forest”, or home of the Piedrahita Family. The place is in the central Andies at 7340 feet and accommodates a stable of French saddle horses, 30 acres of hydrangeas and a couple of acres of orchids. It is quite an interesting place and we got a full tour of the flowers, but not of the horses.

They grow only white hydrangeas, which they then color as needed for clients. We saw all the stages of the production from, growing in the fields to being sorted, colored, bound, boxed and shipped. Hydrangias need cool moist air and lots of rain. Fortunately it rains 11 0f the 12 months of the year. A crop takes 8 months to grow. There are 50 employees working full time in the hydrangeas.

Then we were treated to a very nice lunch of tilapia and veggies outdoors near the gardens.

Finally it was time to see the orchids. We had been seeing the orchid building from a distance and were anxious to get inside.

It is quite a facility and we saw a handful of people tending to each orchid individually. We learned there are 35,000 species of orchid. Columbia has 42% of the species and 12% are here in this facility. The 6000 square foot roof lets in 33% of the natural light. The air is 60-95% humid and 1/3rd of the building is cold, 1/3rd is cool and 1/3rd is warm to accommodate the wide variety of orchids housed. All orchids have 3 sepals, 2 petals, one lip and one stamin.

From the garden we drove toward Medellin stopping in a colonial village for a coffee and a walk about. Saw a statue of Simon Bolivar, who led Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru Panama and Bolivia to independence from the Spanish empire in the early 1800’s.

Visited the church. Then home and dinner at a place called Colosus. The view was very nice looking over the city, but the food was just ok. Home to bed.

Sunday, October 26, 2025

As we begin to depart Brazil, we are struck with a few thoughts. Most of the places we visited were most interesting and enjoyable. However, the northern areas near Manaus and in Cristalino have been too hot and humid for us, in spite of being in the dry season. We will try to avoid such places in the future. We are spoiled with our California weather. We also realize how much we miss the wildlife in Africa. We saw a few new animals and birds in the forests and jungles of Brazil, but they do not compare with the wildlife we have experienced in the African savannah. We are ready to move on.

The effort to get to São Paulo and onward took most of the day. We boated out of the jungle, motored through the soybean fields and flew from Alta Floresta through overcast skies to Sao Paulo where we arrived in the dark at 7:30pm.

Our driver told us it would take 1 and a half hours to get to our hotel so I learned a few things from him, while we suffered through very heavy Sunday evening traffic. São Paulo has 11 million people in the city, 22 million in the metropolitan area and 45 million in Sao Paulo state. It is the most populated state in the country of 220 million. The ride reminded me of driving to the Bay Area after a long winter ski weekend. He was a pleasant looking man who admitted he had been married and divorced 4 times as was determined to stay single from now on. He loves to drive and has been chauffeuring clients like us around São Paulo for 30 years. Finally, we arrived at the Pullman Hotel. Spent a night there and flew out the next morning for Santa Cruz, Bolivia through solid overcast skies.

Monday, October 27, 2025

Our Santa Cruz guide, Marta, met us after we had spent an hour securing visas, an unpleasant and expensive ($160 each) process only for Americans visiting Bolivia. We had no problem getting visas for Brazil and won’t need them in Colombia.

As we drove through the countryside and the city of Santa Cruz to our hotel, she caught us up on the political and financial situation in the country. A new president was just elected. He is a center right politician named Rodrigo Paz, who is replacing a very corrupt socialist, Luis Arce, who had run the government for 5 years after Evo Morales presidency, both from a party called MAS which bankrupted the entire country. This period lasted 20 years. Bolivia is in a an economic crisis at the moment due to a lack of dollars and fuel, especially diesel. We saw hundreds of trucks lined up along the roadside waiting for diesel. Our driver, who uses gasoline, waited 4 hours yesterday to fill his car to drive us. The country produces natural gas, but its reserves are being depleted and will be gone in 2028. The country will have to buy fuel at that point. Sad to see this third world country not improve due to corruption. Annual inflation is currently at 23.32%. The local currency is called a Bolivian Boliviano, or a Bob.

Bolivia’s population is 12.4 -12.7 million. Santa Cruz is the largest city in the country with about 2.5 million. followed by El Alto and La Paz in third at roughly 812,000.

After arriving at Santa Cruz in the late morning, driving into town, checking into the hotel, and grabbing a bite of pasta for lunch, we went on an afternoon walk around the old city with Marta.

In spite of the gentle rain we encountered most of the day, we visited the old colonial streets with buildings made with wood columns and red tile roofs. La Recova Market, a narrow pedestrian street, retains its original arched corridors and keeps the colonial charm alive. The narrow street of vendors selling jewelry, leather goods, crafts and textiles was inviting, as was the town square and the Catholic cathedral. According to Marta, it and all churches in the city, are packed every Sunday.

Soon we found ourselves at the Museo Artecampo, a space dedicated to preserving the art of Bolivia’s lowland indigenous communities. We were treated to a private tour of the weaving workshop that represents the best work of 7 different indigenous community’s and were introduced to the experience of weaving.

After the weaving tour and trying our hand at weaving with the help of an expert indigenous weaver, we cleaned up and went to dinner at an asian restaurant on the 28th floor of the Green Tower, a new office building near our “unique” Boutique hotel. The hotel was rather funky, with photos of old movie stars and concrete floors everywhere and a 2 story apartment we stayed in until our departure at 4:30am. Glad it was only one night.

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

We landed in La Paz at 7am for a 1 hour layover to our flight to Uyuni. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed 2 additional hours. La Paz is at 13,327 feet asl and we were affected as soon as the cabin was open and unpressurized. We hoped we were adjusting as we sat in the airport waiting for our next flight.

Uyuni (Uyu =meeting; ni =place) has a population of only 33,000 and seems to be in the middle of nowhere. The main occupations are silver, zinc and borax mining, quinoa farming and tourism. However, the elevation is also high and our hotel, on a hill above the salt flats is at 12,194 feet asl. We arrived mid day, had some lunch and spent the rest of the day trying not to be miserable. Mark skipped dinner and I ate very little. He slept through the night, while I did not.

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Explora Lodge is minuscule in the landscape.

We were up and on the road by 9am, in spite of our low energy. Our driver spent an hour and a half traveling over rough roads to a short hike up to a view point of the Tunupa Volcano (17,457 ftasl). I made it with Mark’s help.

Feeling slightly better, we were out again at 9am for a drive though the salt flats to a village called Cqueya to walk with the Llamas. There were many and the field next to the salt flat looked like a lawn. We saw many llama sporting red ribbons tied to their ears as decoration. Along with them we found two different kinds of flamingos feeding in the flats near the llama as well as the succulent plants they eat

Driving up the rough roads to a from the lodge, we encountered many rock pile fences as well as outlined farming areas and small round sleeping shelters built, according to our guide, around 900 BC. The most common crop was quinoa.

Then we found flamingoes feeding at the edge of the salt and learned from Elsa, our guide, that the ones with black tails were Andean Flamingos and the ones with no black tail were James Flamingos. They were both different from flamingos we have seen in Africa.

There were several people in the lodge, so we had dinner with 2 Brazilians, and 4 Frenchmen. Everyone spoke English, thankfully.

After lunch we had a bit of time to relax and then headed out for a cave an hour and a half across the salt flats and over an extension of the volcano. The Cueva Chiquini cave was interesting because the structures inside were mostly paper thin and very delicate.

Nearby was a man-made shelter for storing the heads of 15 ancestors. They looked like they were smiling.

On the way back to the lodge we stopped on the salt for a sundowner in time to watch the sunset.

It was a super view, but very windy and cold. I drank my hot tea in the vehicle. Even Mark opted for hot tea.

Mark and Elsa went outdoors into the night to look at the stars. I was too tired, still suffering from the altitude, and went directly to bed.

Thursday, October 30, 2025

Feeling slightly better, we were out at 9am for a drive through the salt flats to a village called Cqueya to walk through the llama fields on Baccharis grass at the edge of the volcano and next to the salt.

Along the way we saw succulent plants the llama like to eat. Most of the area looked like lawn. At one point we sat down to enjoy the warmth of the day. The place was very quiet. No people or cars. We could actually hear the small, nearby stream gurgle. Some of the plants we saw were green succulents called Sarcocornia.

Walking on the edge of the pan were some flamingos. There were two different kinds, some with black tails, Andean, and some without, James Flamingos. Quite a pretty sight with the salt flats behind them.

Nearby was another village called Chantani that had a museum by the same name. We stopped to visit and saw artifacts from the Aymara culture, particularly a manakin dressed in narrative clothing.

Outdoors was a stone and cactus garden. The cactus are just starting to bloom, both white and red varieties. Also in the garden was a small cave-like structure with 2 mummies inside. They were buried in the common local crouched position. Usually they were buried in large crockery vases. They were not big people when alive. Similar to the Batwa in Uganda.

Then we continued on the salt flats to our special lunch sight in view of Fish Island. Our photos tell the story.

Lunch SA’s a grand affair. More later.