Day 4 and 5 - San Gil

8 hours have passed and there we will still on the bus. Our bus started off in Bogotá at the terminal. Minutes after leaving towards San Gil we our bus stops for nearly an hour and a half. Waiting and waiting patiently as we have no clue what was going on.

We had no clue of where we were going to stay as 2 places have not quite gotten back to us. Just then there was a phone call, I say hello, it was the australian accent that threw me off. The owner of Macondo is an Australian who has his place open for tourists. To our luck we now had a room. We were still running late to San Gil though. It was fine though.

Late that night we get in and Check in and roam the streets of the very safe and very rustic town of San Gil. I like the Spanish architecture around as well the nice quiet laid-back atmosphere. We also enjoy some vegetarian pizza and make our way to bed as the next day we head off to caving.

Next morning we get up and find our way to the market. We decided to try some fruit, get some new clothing for caving.

The fruit we had was rather interesting. We cut it in half and noticed it is somewhat hollow. There we look to find that there is a lot seeds inside, NICE and SLIMEY seeds. Very uninviting to eat at first, but it was time to jump in. The slime slides down and time to bite. The sides are rather sour and sweet. This is rather good. Just a wierd texture.

Off to the caves we go. When we get there we head on out. As we enter the cave I lose my working contact lens (using one since the spare I was using before dont fit right). Down the caves we go. Under water exploring the dark pitch black tunnel. I still can not see anyways. I take one step and… well it was the wrong step. I fall. The fall is a good one. I tear up my left hand it was nice.

After exiting the cave, the caving place would not let me leave w/o taking me to the doctors. I insist on going back to town to do so, so that I can take advantage of my insurance.

The Clinic is San Gil was am adventure as well. As I was trying to communicate with my broken Spanish the nurses had a fun time as we tried to translate each other. Ironically one of the nurses was the english teacher in town. The other nurse I think had fun torturing me the whole time. The man next me laughing too.

I get back and decided to rest and call my insurance then leave to the wonder world of San Gil. We decided to look for vegetarian place to eat that was not so far from our place, which took us 30 minutes to find. We take our time and the owner noticed my camera and asked to take some photos. We eat our meal and afterwards take some photos of the family. We got to learn about the family a bit more. Some lived in California and some are from Colombia. It was nice to actually know about a Colombian family and how they work together and see them in their own environment.

Who knows what else may happen tonight.

Erick Redcloud

A partially blind Graphic Designer, Freelance Travel Photographer, Artist, Buddhist and Vegetarian who loves to travel. Erick loves traveling by being with the locals and going off the beaten path. He is the founder and owner of Pathlesstravels and loves inspiring others to follow their dreams, whether it is to travel or something completely different. He started Pathlesstravels to hone is photography skills and to meet amazing people, and to help a friend break into journalism. Check out his photography at his link.