Walking in Cocuy – Last Day
Next day I had a good breakfast at the Herrera’s house. Scrambled eggs and hot chocolate started my last day of hiking in this beautiful place of Colombia.
This time Andres, one of our hiking partners convinced our guide to hire horses and save us around 2 hours of walking up to four thousand meters. We rode to a small, cozy refugee /hostel in the top of a small hill, just beside the most beautiful laguna I have ever seen – I regret I did not get a single picture of this multicolor beauty – the horse trail is so step and rocky that you have to firmly grab your seat – no time for holding a bulky camera.
Our horses took us through a step and rocky trail to a place called “el hotelito”, a known place for campers, in the middle of a narrow valley looking at the snow peaks. In this place the horses will rest and wait for us. We started to hike up over a extremely step hill covered with huge rocks during one hour to a granite plateau at 4500 meters.
Walking in this plateau was very easy, with stunning views of the “pulpito del diablo” and the “pan de azucar”. 45 minutes and we reached the ice border. In this place we put in our crampons and follow the guide walking over the ice field. First time I do this and it feels like walking on glass pieces. Global warming is quickly melting these beautiful ice fields – the place is full of deep cracks. There are painted marks in the rock signaling where the ice border was in 2006 – like 100 meters downhill! This makes walking in this place, plus the high temperatures very difficult and risky, moreover we were not tied together with as rope!
After one hour we reached the 5000 meters. Andres wanted to make the summit of the “pan de azucar”, I waited in a beautiful and flat place besides the “pulpito” along with Liliana, for 45 minutes. What a great place to take pictures and the perfect blue sky make it even better.
Descent was quick. Andres and Liliana had to catch a bus in the town at 6.30, so all the journey we did in about 6 hours we now had to undo it in less than 4 hours. Both ankles hurt as we rush to the town. They finally made it and we were ready for a good night sleep.
Next day we took it really easy, and we went to some “termales” nearby. I was so glad we could finish this trip in such a relaxing place with some beers.
Walking in Cocuy – Day 3
We started at 8AM, had breakfast, disassembled the tent, and arranged all the equipment for the long walk. We left our packs hidden in the bushes and started the walk with our day packs. Some later, Carlos will take them in horses to our next camp site.
The walk was difficult, but nothing serious, through a beautiful valley of fraylejones. We continued our hike climbing more and our over stone trails. That single day we hiked 1000 mtrs to up to 4500 mtrs. (a personal record!). Could you believe I forgot to bring something for lunch? I am such an amateur… 
Fortunately, Leo (our 2nd guide) kindly shared his soup/tuna with me. We had lunch besides a beautiful pond, full of fraylejones and crystal waters.
Finally we arrived to the camp site after 6 hours of walking. That was a significant test of my physical conditions. The site was basically a small plateau between the dust, and rocks.
There is no vegetation at this altitude. A short walk from here was the “Laguna Grande de la Sierra”, surrounded by the “Concavo”, “Toti” and “Pan de Azucar” peaks. We would try to climb the last one during the next day.
What a gorgeous, pristine, cold and isolated place! Fortunately, only another tent was there—two young park rangers (how could somebody work at this altitude and conditions?). Night there was simply miserable, strong chilly winds smashed my tent for hours. Head aches also prevented me from getting a good sleep. My thumbs started to crack because of the cold and dryness, making the disassembly of my tent the following day a painful operation. In addition, the strong winds did not helped much.
We started our descent at 9AM, leaving our still heavy packs to be picked up by horses later to “La Esperanza”. We arrived there after 4 hours of walking. I can feel that my body is responding better to altitude. We had a yummy trout for lunch, and a 4WD took us to the “Finca de los Herrera”— a beautiful finca conditioned for campers, like 20 mins from “La Esperanza”. We pitched our tents, then I had another chilly shower (call me masochist!), dinner and a good night sleep. This was our coldest night during the trip—anything liquid left outside was solid ice the next morning.
Amelia
A faily good portrait of a remarkable woman:
I would love to see more women like her, specially here in LatAm..
Un Libro
<Beware: Spanish Ahead! />
Es difícil encontrar un libro y especialmente en español, donde el tema central sea los viajes y no se centre solo en describir las maravillas de un sitio o un recorrido a través de espectaculares fotos. Es difícil encontrar uno que realmente se diferencie de una típica guía de viajes, donde el autor a través de su mente abierta describa y medite sus experiencias al salir de la seguridad de la conocido, a lo extraño, a conocerse, y a comprender a insuficiencia del hogar.
Y es que existe una radical diferencia entre el turista (como dice el autor, “dirigido a atracciones programadas y seguras”), y el viajero, y encontré recientemente un libro que logra explicarlo de una manera magistral y sobre todo poética. Lo encontré por pura casualidad en la librería de la BLAA. No tuve mucho tiempo para hojearlo, pero hubo química inmediata. Afortunadamente no me equivoqué. El libro se llama “Ese deseo de estar donde no estas” de el fotógrafo Argentino Angel Beccassino, quien tambien vivió un tiempo en Colombia.
Los viajes descritos a través de sus increíble fotos son a lugares interesantes como Nepal, Mali, India, Camboya, o Bolivia, solo para nombrar algunos pocos, como verdadero viajero, fuera de la zona de confort de Europa o EU. Hojearlo es una tortura para los que nos sentimos encerrados, en el ciclo interminable de lo predecible.
Intro to Vagabonding or “Taking Back your Life”
Have you ever watched a National Geographic documentary or read a book about some gringo-loco spending months in the middle of a lost tribe in Africa, or simply walking from Turkey to Tibet? Did you ever wonder how this people do that? Are they millionaires?, do they simply receive a juicy paycheck every month with no need to work, and plenty of time for planning the next cool adventure? While the rest of humanity, at least the ones lucky enough to have a decent job, are trapped in a cubicle, in an endless 9-to-5 loop of complete frustration and boredom, counting the days for the next paycheck, and saving every penny to “escape” during a 15-days break to some crowded and overpriced beach resort…well, only if the boss is kind enough to approve the leave…
I must confess that I love to spend hours in front of my laptop in the office and I am very fortunate to love my job, but I do not want to become another corporate drone. I do not want to climb the corporate ladder, because I have not seen anyone on the top truly enjoying his life, without being a slave of his ego, power, bonus and always watching his back. In the other hand, I am not planning to giving up everything, growing dreadlocks, becoming vegetarian, and visiting 100 countries during years, with no destinations or schedule. No, that’s not my plan, at least not in this life,.. The idea is to be able to take an extended break of some months from work, and dedicate this time on whatever I want, in search of true happiness (travelling, family, volunteering, self-studying, etc.), without ruining my finances, career or family. This is not an extended vacation period, after this time, in some way you are a different person, either because you spend part of this time volunteering, or because you have new skills to bring back to your workplace or because simply you have a different perspective of the world as result of a trip. In Generation X, Douglas Coupland illustrates how some people do this on a regular basis, calling this kind of work as an “anti-sabbatical”—a job approached “with the only purpose of staying for a limited period of time (often a year)… to raise enough funds to partake in another, more personally meaningful activity”
The message is very clear: “Do not wait for your retirement, plan for the future but enjoy your life now!” This is not about being irresponsible, this is about taking back your life and defining its path based on your own decisions, not your boss’ or your bank’s.
By Travelling around the world you start to meet people who took this path with different motivations and backgrounds. In most of the cases they are coming from first world countries, in Latin America for example, people do not have this option on their minds. You could argue economic reasons, but I am tempted to think that this is not the only one, there are some other causes like: fear, cultural aspects, and insecurity. Newer generations constitute a big part of the work force in these countries; They got trained in the “race-rat” way of living by their parents, who taught them to work-hard for 30 or 40 years so they can retire and start “enjoying life” , and by a society who defines success by the amount of material goods you own. For this herd of people, having the first car or apartment are well defined milestones on their careers. As they start to climb in the ladder, get better salaries and bonuses, they simply start to spend more – “the more to earn the more you spend”, so the only way to cope with your expenses and credit card bills is simply getting a higher position in the organization (basically: “you want a bigger cheese, don’t you? then start moving faster that wheel”), working harder and adding more frustration. It is very clear that this situation is not sustainable. As I already stated, I love working hard, but you need a clear reason for doing it, and working for your bank is not a very smart one let me tell you.
Is it possible to get out of this non-sense race? Yes, it is possible. I know, because I did it.
The following tips are based on my personal experience. Books like Rolf Potts’ Vagabonding and Tim Ferris’ The 4-Hour Work Week helped me a lot on structuring it in my case:
1. Declare your independence: This is the most difficult part and where unfortunately only a few brave ones succeed. Paralysis by analysis is a common disease in this phase. The question of how and when to start this process is not really a question at all. Vagabonding starts now. Even if the practical reality of travel is still months or years away, vagabonding begins the moment you stop making excuses, start saving money, and begin looking at maps with the narcotic tingle of possibility.
2. Define an escape plan: The second thing to do is make an assessment of your financial situation. How much is your total debt? How much money do you really have? If you decide to take this path you will be working every day for your liberation, you will make work serve your interests. Forget about that new faster car, cool phone or exclusive apartment. Reduce your expenses to the minimum and define from now a serious savings plan. How long do you want to take off? 6-months, a year? Your escape budget will be defined according to this. Include in that budget all the money you need to clear your debt.
3. Independence Day has come: The day you are finally debt free – that day you will walk in your office feeling more important than the CEO. From that day, you don’t give a shit about anything. From that same day, all your fears disappear. You are a free man.
4. Be free but not Stupid: you need to define how you are going to leave the cubicle. Unless you are changing positions you would need to come back in the future. Ask your HR department about the company’s sabbatical or unpaid leave policy. If that policy does not exist (as in most companies in Latin America!), the HR lady does not have a clue, or simply you do not want to come back, you can make strategic use of a personal-freedom technique, popularly known as “quitting”. Yes, quit, but do it as a gentleman, this is a small world and you never know.. But, even leaving your job in a more permanent manner need not to be a negative act. You should be even proud of that “hole” in your resume. Enthusiastically include all your positive experiences acquired during this mini-retirement period. Your next employer will be interested and impressed (and a little bit envious). In my case I have so much time to sit down and learn about many software development technologies, methodologies, and I even got an important certification on my industry. If you are going to quit, I-Resign is a valuable resource with advices and templates for diplomatically doing it.
5. Ready, set, go!: ok, today is your last day in the office, from now on you are the only responsible for defining your career path, not your boss, you know exactly where do you want to go, and only you will define your daily agenda. Get your last paycheck, say goodbye, leave the building and do not look back.
6. I am free, now what? from my personal experience I got to tell you that having a clear plan from the beginning of your time-off is very important. Without that, you will be simply loosing your time and savings, going back latter to the marketplace with no extra value and new debts. Define a plan and focus your efforts: a common mistake is getting involved in dozens of different activities because you have plenty of time.
My personal experience: in October 2008 I decided along with my wife to take a break after the upcoming born of Martin, our 1st child. In May 2009, in the middle of the worldwide economic crisis I quitted from my successful position as senior consultant for one of the biggest corporations in the World, to leave the middle-east and come back to my country for a while. Either too brave or very stupid. Fortunately, destiny did not let us down, I have enjoyed so much my time with my wife, home, our baby, and in the mean time I have learned so many things, traveled for weeks, read many books and I got ready to go back in the corporate train with new ideas and more energy. I am happy and I do not regret what I did for a nanosecond.
Have you ever planned to take a break? How was it? Please leave your comments, experiences, advices and other rants.
Hiking in Chingaza
One of the goals during my mini-retirement in Colombia has been to rediscover as most natural parks as possible, get-up from this machine and do some exercise, take lost of pictures and enjoy nature. In June, some friends took me for a day hike to Chingaza National Park. That was love at first sight. It is amazing how such a beautiful place could be so close to Bogota, and the best part is that there was no one there. Either most of the people is lazy enough to ignore this place or they simply do not know how to get there. The less I want is to see crowds of noisy basterds spoiling this place (as happened to Neusa), but if you love and respect nature keep reading..
The páramo of Chingaza, located on the Eastern branch of the Andes, only an hour away by land from Bogotá, between the Departments of Cundinamarca and Meta, is a veritable water factory. Chingaza park has an extension of 53.000 hectares, the high plateau climate predominates. The Altitude ranges between 800 and 4020 meters above the sea level, and temperatures between 4 and 21 centigrade.
This park is huge and the hiking paths I have explored so far will take you to the stunning Siecha Lagunas:
These small lakes (lagunas) were considered sacred by pre-Hispanic indigenous tribes (Muiscas), who celebrated offerings in there gelid waters. In 1856 a smaller version of the famous golden Muisca Raft was discovered in their waters. One of the big museums in the world fought for a long time to include it as the most memorable object of the American continent; but when the Siecha raft travelled, legally at the time, to Germany, it was lost for the world in a big fire when the ship carrying it caught fire in the port of Bremen.
Flora associated to this type of land are big “frailejones”, “siete cueros” and much more, an endangered specie of plant located in this park is the “polilepis”; plant with many colors.
At the same time the following kinds of animals are seen; “anteojos” bear, puma, white deers, different sort of birds and a big variety of amphibious. In this place is very easy to spot Condors and Paramo Eagles.
How to Get There
The Chingaza park is open to the tourist, They are different access points, most of them in the calera way. It is possible to take walks using a variety of routes, all of them with a beautiful view of the nature, some of them still undiscovered.
Take a look at the following GPS track to know how to the Siecha Lagunas from Bogota (by Car):
Driving from Bogota to Siecha at EveryTrail
Map created by EveryTrail: GPS Community
Log in EveryTrail.com to download the GPS track.
Once you leave the car (do not worry, fortunately there is no theft at this altitude…yet), start to walk following this:
Siecha Hike (Chingaza) at EveryTrail
Map created by EveryTrail: Travel Community
Recommendations
- It is recommended to use suitable clothes for this climate. Paramo weather is totally unpredictable and changes quickly (it is windy, foggy and rainy most of the times). Bring good hiking boots, a good rain-jacket (just in case) and a wind shell.
- Stick to the trails
- Do not litter
More Information:
http://www.parquesnacionales.gov.co/PNN/portel/libreria/php/decide.php?patron=01.020212
