Honeymoon in Colombia

Well, we spent almost 3 weeks in Colombia and we survived on a limited knowledge of Spanish because of the great people there. We traveled to many differing areas in the country and found that we enjoyed all of it. Colombia is viewed as a dangerous country to visit by many people. But, 10 years ago the president got serious by implementing a huge police and military presence in every nook and cranny of Colombia. Brutal checkpoints that quickly exterminated those undesirable people on the list were the norm. These checkpoints still exist and are a little intimidating but as the saying goes, "if you aint done nothing wrong then you don't have anything to worry about; right?". We were in constant proximity of many young men with big guns but it mostly seemed a matter of procedure not an intimidating shake down.
We spent our days figuring out where to go, stay, what to eat, and how to communicate to those people that were providing these necessities. Amanda and I have a very limited vocabulary and unfortunately Colombians often use other terms to communicate that we don't understand.
The most exciting part of Colombia had to be the bus drivers that must be training for Nascar or Formula 1 racing. I have never experienced such impressive and scary driving in such a large vehicle. I quickly found that the pedestrian rules that are heavily enforced here in Bend, OR do not apply in Colombia. In fact, it is quite the opposite. After the first few days of watching out the front window and viewing near misses with other vehicles, pedestrians, cows, and yes school children I decided a rear seat might be a little less stressful. Apparently the double lines are meant to simply identify the middle of the road not as a warning of not to pass say a semi on a twisting mountainous road. I am not sure why they mark out the school zones either as more often than not the bus drivers accelerated through these areas honking at anyone in the road to clear out.
Second scariest moment was when 13 people, including ourselves, climbed into a small jeep. I was hanging off the back with 3 others and was able to secure one foot on the makeshift platform that had been welded on to the ol' girl and the other on the spare tire mounted on the passenger side. I only got slapped in the face twice by low hanging branches and the ol' girl only broke down once in the 40 minute ride back to town. We challenged other travelers to top this when heading out to the destination that is only accessible by jeep and one couple reported a 13 and a half total.(One of the passengers was holding a baby). Speaking of baby carriers, apparently cradling your baby in your arms while sitting on the back of a motorcycle is legal. Also, cradling a 3 year old in your arms while half of your body hangs out a jeep at 55 mph is also legal. Oh yeah, a 3-year old apparently can sit in front of you and hang on to the bars as you drive a motorcycle. And I do not believe there is a limit to how many people are aloud to ride on a motorcycle at one time.
After a week or more in noisy type places that were connected with insane bus rides we found a beach escape. A deserted beach that had 3 rooms in a small building right on the beach. Talk about relaxing. Get up, swim in the Caribbean, rinse off, order breakfast, lay in hammock, eat, read a book in hammock, walk on deserted beach, watch the local fisherman in hand dugout canoes net for fish, repeat. I tried my hand at coconut cutting with a borrowed machete. It was very zen like, I retained all of my fingers, and the coconut milk was awesome anytime of the day.
The most heartfelt moment had to be when 3 Colombian boy-scouts and their scout master draped Amanda in jewelry bought from a gift stand in the Valle de Pecora and sang her happy birthday. It was quite a touching moment that was a very generous sentiment in a magical landscape. Their is a pic of those guys in the many I have posted.
I have posted the 100+ photos online at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/2chickenlegs/HoneyMoon2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCKemgePnxLu77AE#
ENJOY