Buses with videocamaras scare me just a bit.

Leaving Bogota wasn't so difficult. We hung around on Saturday until 6pm, when we grabbed a taxi for the bus terminal and hopped on the next bus. This was an easy 11 hour bus ride, especially when compared to the 26 hr bus from Cartegena. The strange thing about the ride was that three separate times, the bus company sent people with videocamaras onto the bus. They went to each individual, getting a close up of the face. We were trying to figure out exactly why this was, but it was difficult not to think of the worst. Last known image of the kidnapped Americans. But after talking with some people, it's for robbery on the bus, not kidnapping, which is a partial relief. We didn't have any problems, but the pair behind us had their camaras, ipods and cash taken from their bag while they were sleeping. Luckily, the thieves were nice enough to leave their passports and credit cards. So arriving around 7am or so into San Agustin, we decided we needed a coffee before we attempted anything. We asked for two coffees, please, no milk, no sugar. What was delivered was a sugary milk concotion that had a faint flavor of coffee. Oh well.

We arrived at the Finca El Maco after what was described as a 1 km hike. 1 km it was not. I would venture at least 2, maybe 2 1/2. Maybe it was the gigantic hill that it's situated on combined with the 50lbs we each were carrying, but we made it by 8:30 or so, checked in and grabbed some decent coffee and breakfast up here at the farm. The day was spent getting things organized for Monday.

We decided that a Jeep ride would be a great way to see some of the countryside, so that's exactly what we did yesterday. We cooked ourselves a hearty breakfast of pearled barley and hopped on the jeep at 9am sharp. We saw a couple of archeological parks which were pretty cool. I sadly don't even know what people made these carvings, but I'm not too upset because I don't think the archeologists actually know who it was. It's certainly possible that they mentioned it and I forgot, but I don't think they really know. Oh well. We did manage to have some fun taking pictures with the stone statues that, as Erin put it, were culturally insensitive.

Maybe. But after spending more than a few hours on a bumpy jeep ride through unpaved back roads, you go a little cookoo. It's true.

We returned from the trip and ate a delicious reheated meal from the night before including lentils, onions, carrots, and potatoes. Oh yes, let's not forget the beets. They managed to turn everything to a puppychow red that was just wonderfully appetizing. But it did the trick and filled us up with enough energy to stay into the late night with all the other guests at the farm.

Today was spent on a few things, all of which were very productive. First, we did our laundry. Since we're in the cold mountain weather now, we're using socks up very quickly and they need to be washed pretty regularly considering the heavy use they get. Second, we went to the main archaeological park and spent a good amount of time wondering at more stone statues and wondering if our laundry was going to get wet in the rain. The park was fabulous, the clothes stayed dry, everything worked out wonderfully.

From the park, we walked the 4 km back into town and ran to the ATM, grabbed some veggies at the market, some pasta at the store, and figured out our bus time tomorrow for the trip to Popoyan. What's for dinner tonight, you may be asking yourself. Well, we have 2lbs of onions, 2 bell peppers, some pasta shells, a stick of butter, and a whole head of garlic. Throw it all in a pan and call it good. Vampires will not be attacking us tonight, rest assured.

Tomorrow we're off, continuing south to Equador. We expect to be there by Friday night. We'll see if that actually works out or not.