El Cocuy National Park, Colombia

This was our trip to El Cocuy National Park, the park has many glacier covered peaks that are above 17,000 ft. and some amazing hiking. We got a little mixed up on our buses getting there but we made it in one piece (2 days later after 4 buses and 2 lecheros).

Here I am during our bus mix up trying to hitchhike from a small town to El Cocuy, we tried to catch a ride for over an hour without any luck. Eventually we ended up catching a bus.

Here Colleen is in the Lechero(milk truck) during our ride to the trail head from the town. This was the only public transportation out to the trail head. The truck would stop for the local farmers and buy their fresh milk. We ended up having to catch two Lecheros to make it to the trail. We loved the authentic cowboys in their hats and ponchos.

The view from the Lechero.

On the trail! We were litterally the only ones on the trail.

Not really sure what to think about this sign..... glad we didnt run into any pumas.

Passing a glacial lake on the trail. There were also these crazy cacti that looked like people in my peripheral vision, kinda trippy.

Our campsite in the Cueva De Los Hombres, you can see our tent on the left behind a small rock wall. This campsite was great protection from the wind, rain and snow in the valley. Plus it had amazing views!

This is Concavo Peak covered by clouds and an enormous glacier.

Colleen and I in front of Concavo Peak. We climbed up the plateau to the left of the glacier as high as we could go.

A chilly morning in the sleeping bags. We got these sleeping bags from a store called Exito, similar to target, so we were skeptical of the quality. As it turned out these sleeping bags saved our asses! So warm! 

Here I am looking at the view of Pulpito Del Daiblo.

Fuck ya El Cocuy!

A crazy plant that we found, looks very similar to some coral we have seen in the Caribbean. We named it high alpine coral.

Finally the clouds lifted and we got a clear view of the beautiful valley above us!!

Enjoying the view and the sunshine!!

We were lucky to catch this sunshine. Later on this evening the weather change and it snowed with lightning bursts. We woke up the next morning to a few inches of snow and were very happy to have our tent in a cave.

Colombia (Medillin, San Gil)

This is a view from the metro of a small part of the City Medellin. We spent a week in the city exploring the museums and walking around the city. One of our favorite things was a city tour, the tour giude gave us a run-down of the crazy history and brought us to many areas that we would not have seen otherwise.

Here we have Colleen fondeling a Botero sculpture in front of the Antioquia museum in downtown Medellin.

This is San Gil 10 hours northwest of Medellin. A small city that we enjoyed for over a week. While here we went paragliding, enjoyed our days lounging in the central park and driving through the surrounding towns with Mauricio(in the picture below).

Patrick helping Mauricio deliver toilet paper, cooking oil and broom sticks to a local bodega.

We met Mauricio hitchhiking back from a nearby town and we instiantly made friends. We ended up spending 3 days with him driving around the countryside delivering goods to the samll picturesque colonial towns. He would show us off to all of his friends who would feed us and give us treats from their trade. We got a fresh cigar from a tobacco farm, 2 kg panela, guyaca juice, fresh bread and lots more. Colombians are the most friendly people ever! 

A small town called Barichara outside of San Gil. Famed as being the most beautiful town in the area with 300 year old whitewashed buildings and stone streets.

This is one of the vegetable/fruit areas in the local market in San Gil. The was also a meat area and a whole floor above this one selling veggies and random contraband stuff. We came here everyday to get food for dinner.

Colleen taking flight with her paragliding instructor!

View from the paragliding. Patrick took this photo up in the air. Shortly after his guide missed the landing and they crash landed in to a tree! They both ended up being just fine minus a few cuts and bruises.