MUNGO EATS Latin America

We are near a small town called Santa Rosa, north of Medelli’n.  Medilli’n is only about 650 km from Cartagena, but we have been driving for 2 days and we are still a couple of hours away.  Our average speed in Colombia is about 45 km/h.  Wow!!We got a later start than we wanted to yesterday.  We were hoping to be on the road at about 9, but when Kevin and I went to collect our van, we ran into another couple that is travelling across the Americas, except that they are going south to north.  We ended up talking to them for a good 45 minutes, so we did not start driving until about 10.  It took us almost an hour to get out  of town, but that was just because of traffic and such.  Once on the highway, we still moved pretty slow.  The roads are quite twisty, and in places they are a bit rough, not too bad though.  There are speed bumps every town, that you need to slow down for, and on the first day we also went through 5 or 6 police or military stops.  These ones are not so bad though.  Most of the time, we are greeted with a good morning or good afternoon and most of the officers shake our hands when they first stop us as well.  Usually they check our vehicle papers.  One guy checked our passports, and one guy actually asked to check in the vehicle and in the trailer.  No one has tried to come up with any lame excuses to get money out of us.  Actually, I am quite happy with the military presence along the highway, means there are less banditos.  Actually, Colombia’s roads (most of them) are quite safe these days, thanks to the military. 

Yesterday’s drive was incredibly hot.  I don’t know exactly how hot it was, but man, I was dying!!!  We were expecting the worst again today, at least for the morning, but thankfully the day was overcast.  After lunch, we started gaining altitude.  A lot of altitude.  We went from about 70m to 2870m in a few hours.  Tonight we are at about 2500m and wow is it great to be  cold again!!!  We were actually shivering at supper, and the beds in our hotel rooms have BLANKETS!!!  Amazing!  The last few weeks we have only had bottom sheets, not even top sheets because, you don’t need even a top sheet.  We will be fluctuating a bit in altitude over the next few weeks, but until we hit Peru, we won’t be going down much anymore.  I am delighted!!!  Now maybe I can wear clothes other than halter tops and shorts!! 

The scenery is different than we have seen in a while too.  For the first time since Mexico, we are seeing pine forests.  The hills remind me of Guatemala, but unlike Guatemala, not every inch is dedicated to corn.  In fact, we saw very little evidence of crops, a few potato plots and a few orchards, but little else.  There are a lot of dairy cows instead.  We also saw some of the shabbiest “houses” we have seen so far.  These are little shacks made of a wood frame and either wrapped with black poly, or pieces of cardboard.  I am a little shocked to see these “houses” here, not because I am surprised to see poverty, but it’s just that if I were a poor person and could only manage a home made of plastic or cardboard, I wouldn’t build my home high up on the hills, where it actually gets cold, I think I would build it down lower.  Maybe they have little choice.