Caño Cristales: Part Two

On the second night of our tour in La Macarena, Alejandro took us to a show where we ate hunks of beef, potatoes and yucca with our hands.  Can I just say how hard it is to act like a lady when I'm using my incisors to rip off pieces of poor, well-done Betsie?  While I worried about something being in my teeth, we were entertained with singing, cowboy poetry and dancing.  Below is a clip of some of the dancing.  It was amazing how quickly their feet moved.

The next morning, we took an early morning hike to el Mirador (Lookout).  Although the trail was only a half-hour jaunt, it had a decent ascent and went through a bit of forest.  Of course, with the humidity, we were drenched, but I loved it.  

We could see three different ecological regions from where we stood and the Guayabero River stretching out for miles.

Thankfully, we had time to shower and relax a bit while Alejandro took our bags and IDs to the airport to get us all checked in.  (It's obviously very official there.)

This was my lunch, which was delicious....and huge.  The steak was cooked perfectly and full of flavor. Unfortunately, I had to eat quickly because we knew the plane would be taking off soon.  I was disappointed when Alejandro told us we had to leave since I hadn't finished every morsel on my plate yet.  (I really do have an eating issue.)  It ended up being a blessing in disguise.

The candle kept the flies away....an amazing invention!

Arriving at the airport, we bid adieu to Alejandro and naively followed the rest of the passengers aboard this gigantic silver plane.  We should've known something was up when a lady had to pull us onto the plane from the stairs since there was no handrail....anywhere.  

Imagine our surprise when we saw all the luggage right there in the back of the plane and bench seats on the side. This was a cargo plane! I had never ridden a cargo plane before and was excited to experience something different.  There was no flight attendant telling us what to do in case of an emergency.  Of course, that's probably because there were no lighted aisles, life jackets, inflatable slides, oxygen masks, or parachutes.  I was impressed we even had seat belts.  The lack of air conditioning and bathrooms told us we were in a plane not designed for passengers.

By the time the plane took off, we were dripping with sweat again.  We felt every air pocket, and I was beginning to think that maybe eating lunch right before departure wasn't such a good idea.  Thankfully, as we gained altitude, the cold air came through the mighty cracks around the door and who knows where else.  There was even a triangular hole in the ceiling that was dripping condensation from the clouds.  Lovely.  

Alas, the pilots decided to fly lower after only about fifteen minutes with our natural air conditioning.  The heat mixed with the turbulence and full stomach did not bode well for me, and it was all I could do to keep the freshly digested food in place.  Although there were no barf bags on the plane (the biggest oversight of all), I held tight to a plastic bag I had just in case.  It's only a forty-five minute flight, right?  No, that's for passenger planes.  Lo and behold, the cargo plane took over an hour to land....an hour that dragged on like no other.  I would have kissed the ground when we landed but was nervous of what reaction any sudden movement would have had on my barely-holding-it-in body.

Wanting to capture our final moments before takeoff. Do you see the excitement and a little fear in our eyes?

Arriving at our hostel a while later, I checked with a lady there on what there was to do in Villavicencio since we still had most of the afternoon left.  The options: a hike or rounding up the cattle at a nearby finca.  Elizabeth wasn't game for either one (she has only ridden a horse once and was nervous to try again), so I made a reservation with Finca Marsella and headed off to the outskirts of town.

 Not only was I given a slow horse, but there was a sign posted on the corral that stated no running was allowed.  Bummer.  That's what I had really wanted to do.  There were a couple families in the group, and I was pretty much ignored for the first thirty minutes.  It had begun to seem like a waste of time. 

 Luckily, as we crested a hill, my lazy horse fell behind, and one of the guides, Carlos, started up a conversation.  When the others heard us talking, they joined in.  Well, the two men and kids did. The women barely looked at me.  Thanks to Carlos, I was now a part of the group. 

The most social guy was Juan Camilo from Cali but living in Bogota, there with his two sons and sister's family.  (His wife had to work.)  When the ride was over, he offered me a lift to where they were staying, which was closer to town.  During the fifteen-minute ride, we listened to Cat Steven's "Father and Son" a few times, with the seven-year-old son singing along.  It was rather sweet.  When Juan Camilo dropped me off, he flagged down a taxi and made sure I was safely inside before driving on.  It made the trip worthwhile to have that friendliness shown.  Although the views on the finca with the sunset were beautiful, the people were the ones who made the difference.