My first theft in seven months of traveling proved to be a depressingly heart wrenching one – my bean poncho.
RIP poncho u was tasty
Yes, my esteemed “I’m a tribal-print touting tourist who is perhaps hiding drugs under this rug” poncho has been stolen.
It put a damper on quite the fantastic four days in Colombia, where I met up with my classmate Holly. We tromped through the beaaautiful Salento countryside. Salento is part of Colombia’s famous coffee triangle, where apparently the coffee is amazing, but as a non coffee addict I couldn’t tell the difference.
This was immediately after we (foolishly) followed a rather strange character on a backwoods-mountain hike. Didn’t get kidnapped. WOOHOO!
Holly is alarmed by this green bean.
She’s ridden horses for years. I managed to stay on, so not too shabby myself.
I love this picture because of the happiness, the flowers, and my likeliness to a thumb.
We visited a cafe with incredible brownies and left a little note on the wall.
Holly was really, really cool. Being with her in Colombia was a refreshing reminder that in a couple of months, I will be attending university with a group of endlessly interesting and inspiring individuals. At times, I forget what awaits in my distant future as I can barely focus on the immediate present (what with places to go and buses to catch!). And then, BAM. I remember that in September, I’ll be surrounded by aspiring astronomers and passionate spear fishers and professional ice skaters and all sorts of people who care about being alive!! People like Holly, who’s sailed across the Atlantic and all over the world. It’s thrilling. It’s motivating. And it’s a bit intimidating, of course. But as much as I love listening to these people tell their stories, I definitely have a few of my own to contribute as well…
…such as the loss of the bean poncho. Grrrr. For starters, I got it my first weekend in Ecuador while climbing Cotopaxi, and it’s been faithfully by my side ever since. On Thursday morning at 6 am I boarded a bus out of Salento. At the time I had no idea, but it would take another 40 hours of bus riding to reach Montanita, my destination. At around 2 am Friday morning I reached the border between Colombia and Ecaudor, where I promptly made some fun Colombian friends to avoid crossing the border alone (because you have to take taxis to both immigration offices, walk between the borders, taxi to the bus terminal, yada yada…. Not pleasant alone at night). We shared a taxi with a teen mom and her two children to cross the border, and the young daughter wouldn’t stop shivering so I gave her my poncho to wear. At immigration, my new friends (who had also offered up various blankets and jackets to keep the family warm) and I went through the paperwork, came back out of the building, and realized that mama bear and her cubs were… gone! They’d done the skedaddle! So, unfortunately, my poncho is lost to the world, but all that really matters is that it’s happy wherever it ends up. And you know what? I think it is.
space ranger 