From a place called Popayan in colombia i caught another bus inland to check out some age old rock statues inland hidden in the mountains.
I had allready heard the busride was hell but i thiugh it would at least be tollerable.How wrong i was,it took seven hours in a full old bus with no suspesion left to drive 150kms.That is one slow,bumpy and painfull trip.I now know how the ice-cream feels when it goes through the blender while been added to a MILKSHAKE.
It was a full day of pain and like a bad drug experience there was no escaping it once on that bus.Once at the town of arrival it was hostal time and lay down the old bones for some still-rest.
Not really thinking too much i agreed to join a group of three others for a full day of horseriding the next day to veiw the local scenery and of course the mytical statues.
I was allready sore in the morning from the shitty bed and was looking forward to the horses but not to how i would feel at the end of the day.
It started off all good and a bit of a novelty but after half an hour of riding i was allready hurting.
Some of the statues were astonishing,but unfortunately like all tourist hotspots,completely boring and wrecked from the amount of people around.It sux you know you go and visit a place with so much history and energy only to be surrounded by dicks with camera's and loud opinions on what should be done with such site's,this is why i stay away from tourist area's.
But apart from that they were still intruiging and amazing,also i saw some rock carvings atop a hill beside a gorge that reminded me of some aboriginal carvings i once saw in w.a.
There were also tombs that had been uncovered and more statues with paint still visible on them.
My favourite part of the day would have been just the discovering of the countryside.We were lucky enough to pass through a few private farms also and the veiws were truelly breathtaking,once again colombia is such a beautifull place.Its kind of similar to the rolling green hills of south gippsland in a green winter only here they are huge mountains with gushing rivers,deep ravines and valleys.Also the shrubbery is different with tropical typed scrub along with the odd coca and marijuana plantation.I got to eat coca leaves straight of the plant for the first time,nothing special.Also my first horse i was on was also called mirijuana because it was so slow,i was soon to swap with the guide though as i seemed to lag 100 metres behind everyone else.From atop of the mountains we winded our way down and through glorias country to the river.It was gushing really hard,way to hard to attemp swimming,plus it was really cold.But it was a cool spot and there we ate lunch and had a beer.
By that tinme my ass was sore as ind i put my hand down me dacks to check the damage only to feel a painfull burning sensation.Ohhh,i had lost a bit of skin on the top of my cheeks,it was hurting,weeping and i knew the return trip would suck.
Of course on the way back everyone decided they wanted to really race the horse's.Fun yes but no good for my cheeks and with all horses copying each other i had to grit my teeth and cop more bouncing,rubbing and hammering.I was glad to see town an hour later.
All in all it was such a great day,veiwing ancient art in its natural habitat and seeing the backroads of a wonderfull country,its just a pitty i chose to do it on horseback.
At least i found out that im really crap at riding horses,definately seek out a bike next time.
The next day i did the return hellish bump fest of a bus ride with tender cheeks,i cant tell you how much it hurt but it seemed to be a little better thatn the way there.
