Guadalupe, Colombia
Finally I found a small town before Lonely Planet!!! (Or at least my 10 year old Lonely Planet Guidebook)
Guadalupe is a small town of maybe 1,000 population. No heavy traffic, plenty of restaurants and hostels and great hiking. Here you may see equine Horses, Motocycle Hondas or occasional Hyandi vehicles but many people walking about town and from their Finca to town.
A 40 minute ride in the back of a four wheel drive truck (Seats installed) with a soft serve cart on the tailgate (too heavy to put on top with that gasoline engine powering the air conditioner) takes us from the Main highway )Obija to Guadalupe.
School must start at 7AM, out at 12:30 for the day. On one of our walks (about 10 miles a day) I spotted my idea house. Here´s a picture.
Looking at mountains, big porch surrounding the house etc. Wonder if they have Internet? And a little more scenery.
This day´s hike took us to a waterfall.
A couple wrong terms but we eventually found it with the help of a local gentleman who was driving two cattle toward town. As we walked back to town he was returning home (on foot) and asked if we found the Cascade etc.
Later that day we went to another local site at a small river (ok, stream) with interesting hollows worn into the hard rock base. Clear water is constantly flowing over the rocks into the holes for a refreshing dunk. During the day the rocks heat up the water to a reasonable temp.
But Bill, you didn´t talk about cost! Well, Here in Guadalupe the hotel overcharged us a few dollars but two meals, snack (In which I demonstrated how to make a Coke Float to the surprised hostess) cost a total of $30.34 for the two of us. Most days from these last few posts cost an average of about $25.00 each or $50.00 a day total. ATM machines are plentiful and the internet cafe I used to make these last three posts will charge about fifty cents. WIFI is free in the city park but I can´t use it to load pictures.
As I walk down the street I can see all eyes turning to try to figure out what this alien is doing in their small town. True, it is getting some tourist...but not white haired...wearing shorts...and mis-using such simple Spanish words as "Buenos Tardes" vs "Buenos Noches." Feels kind of like Captain Kirk after landing on some new planet to determine if the natives really honor the material "plastic". Still, it is all good!
Guadalupe is a small town of maybe 1,000 population. No heavy traffic, plenty of restaurants and hostels and great hiking. Here you may see equine Horses, Motocycle Hondas or occasional Hyandi vehicles but many people walking about town and from their Finca to town.
A 40 minute ride in the back of a four wheel drive truck (Seats installed) with a soft serve cart on the tailgate (too heavy to put on top with that gasoline engine powering the air conditioner) takes us from the Main highway )Obija to Guadalupe.
School must start at 7AM, out at 12:30 for the day. On one of our walks (about 10 miles a day) I spotted my idea house. Here´s a picture.
Looking at mountains, big porch surrounding the house etc. Wonder if they have Internet? And a little more scenery.
This day´s hike took us to a waterfall.
A couple wrong terms but we eventually found it with the help of a local gentleman who was driving two cattle toward town. As we walked back to town he was returning home (on foot) and asked if we found the Cascade etc.
Later that day we went to another local site at a small river (ok, stream) with interesting hollows worn into the hard rock base. Clear water is constantly flowing over the rocks into the holes for a refreshing dunk. During the day the rocks heat up the water to a reasonable temp.
But Bill, you didn´t talk about cost! Well, Here in Guadalupe the hotel overcharged us a few dollars but two meals, snack (In which I demonstrated how to make a Coke Float to the surprised hostess) cost a total of $30.34 for the two of us. Most days from these last few posts cost an average of about $25.00 each or $50.00 a day total. ATM machines are plentiful and the internet cafe I used to make these last three posts will charge about fifty cents. WIFI is free in the city park but I can´t use it to load pictures.
As I walk down the street I can see all eyes turning to try to figure out what this alien is doing in their small town. True, it is getting some tourist...but not white haired...wearing shorts...and mis-using such simple Spanish words as "Buenos Tardes" vs "Buenos Noches." Feels kind of like Captain Kirk after landing on some new planet to determine if the natives really honor the material "plastic". Still, it is all good!
Comments
I like your idea house. Indeed, it looks like an ideal house for generating ideas! ;)
It amazes the heck outta me that small towns have free wifi in the city parks. I noticed that traveling through Chile, too. It's seems so backwards to me that the wealthy United States doesn't offer the same.
As for the butchered Spanish, hopefully the sentiment is appreciated.
Keep enjoying! And keep writing, too! :)