Santa Rosa de Osos - Part 3

I thought my first day in Santa Rosa couldn't get any crazier but then Pablo told me we were going to take a drive out to a natural reserve. When we first got into Santa Rosa, we met up with Pablo's friend Jhonda. Jhonda and Pablo went to school together in Medellin, both studied environmental issues. Jhonda now works for the government of Santa Rosa. He was the brains behind setting up all the screenings. After the discussion with the school children, Jhonda showed up in a government truck (with a driver!!!) and Pablo and I hopped in. We drove for about 20 minutes outside of town then came to a crazy dirt road. We preceded to blast up some really really crazy terrain, stopping a few times along the way to look at some of the eco issues facing the area.

After about 30 minutes bouncing along the dirt road we ended up at "La Sierra Reserve." Pretty much it was a organic farm in the middle of the country side. A woman named Lilly lives there, grows crops, creates art and just lives off the land. There was also a British guy named Andy, who has been living in Colombia since the early 90s. Both were incredibly nice, feeding us and constantly handing us Tintos (or small black espresso like, but slightly weaker, coffees). Being a lover of all types of coffee, I really enjoyed the "tintos" in Santa Rosa.

By the time we got settled it was dark. We still went for an hour walk throughout the reserve. Luckily there was still pretty much a full moon. After the walk we returned to the house, drank more coffee, ate more food and hung out. The house was amazing and it was an art director's dream. Very visual everywhere you looked and with interesting "props" all over.

We hung out at La Sierra Reserve for a good few hours and then finally headed back into town. Between the school children and the natural reserve, the first day in Santa Rosa is up there with my favorite travel experiences so far. Right next to traveling with Obama and the 2006 Olympics.

Jhonda and driver.

Trying to shoot photos while driving on this road was tough. Trust me!

Overlooking a spot where deforestation could be seen.

Pablo and Jhonda discussing environmental issues.

En route to La Sierra Reserve.

The house at La Sierra Reserve. Very simple design, but very artistic.

Taking a walk with tintos in hand.

Andy, Pablo and Lilly.

Lilly showing us some of her work.

Everything in the house had some much texture and color. I loved it.

Jhonda, one of the nicest and funniest people in the world. I would like to return to Santa Rosa just to hang out with him again.

This is about 5 times bigger then my Moka pot.

Art and Coffee, I liked this place.

Some of the "props" around the place.

Jhonda putting on some good old classic rock.

Santa Rosa de Osos - Part 2

The first thing we did after getting to Santa Rosa was head to one of the local schools. Pablo wanted to give a short talk to the kids. I figured this was a prime opportunity to start shooting photos for my project. Pablo held a lively discussion with the kids, however the elephant in the room (which was me) couldn't be avoided. I ended up doing a short Q&A pretty much focusing on everything BUT the environment. The first question I was asked was if I have met Barack Obama. Now, the funny part is that I can say yes, but I tried to explain to the kids that most Americans have not. I was also asked if I have met 50 Cent and various other famous people.

All was going well, until at the end one of the kids asked me to sign an autograph. Before I knew it I was pinned against a chalkboard with 30 kids shoving pens and paper in my face. I think Pablo may have a few photos of this, hopefully I can get one to share. This definitely proved to be a very fun experience.

Santa Rosa de Osos - Part 1

After the overnight bus ride I met up with my friend Pablo. Pablo is the founder and curator of VOCES, the first environmental film festival of Colombia (the whole reason I came to Colombia). He grew up in Colombia and then studied in Canada. After finishing a degree in environmental engineering and another in environmental protection technologies, Pablo decided to come back to Colombia to put on the festival. We headed back to Pablo's family house where his parents made me breakfast and took care of me. After a short rest, Pablo and I headed back to the bus station to catch a bus to Santa Rosa De Osos, a small town 2 hours outside Medellin.

After another crazy bus ride we arrived in Santa Rosa. With help of his friend Jhando, who works for the local government, Pablo set up a series of screenings throughout Santa Rosa that would take place the next couple of days.

The biggest surprise of the trip came when we arrived in Santa Rosa. We were informed that we were guest of the town and that they had a room for us in the main hotel (which was actually pretty posh). Pablo and I were told to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in the hotel's restaurant and that the town would take care of the bill. Yup, thats right. Pablo and I were honored guest!!!

Santa Rosa is a fairly idealistic town. Its main agriculture is farming and milk production. The total population is around 40,000 with 18,000 living in the "urban" section and the rest living in little villages throughout the surrounding area. I really really enjoyed the town.

The whole purpose of the trip for me was to shoot a photo project about the festival and also present some work, which meant it was time to get serious. I ended up shooting a TON of photos in Santa Rosa. To start things off with, here are some photos of the town and its citizens.

The ride from Medellin to Santa Rosa was beautiful.

Passing a semi. There is pretty much a straight drop on the other side of the road. Scary.

The main square in Santa Rosa de Osos.

Land Cruiser galore.

No this is not a party bus. These buses are still used to transport milk and people from the villages to the main square.

Another view.

Santa Rosa had the classic afternoon rain showers everyday.

Which resulted in cool shots...

... and nice "mood" shots.

Santa Rosa's bike shop.

Santa Rosa seemed very safe to me, but there was still a fair amount of army patrolling the town.

Local "cowboys" hanging outside a bar/coffee shop.

This look (style wise) was very common of the men in Santa Rosa.

Interesting choice of lighting.

Very pretty sunset after a sudden down pour.

Bogotá to Medellín by Bus.

This post is simply to help out any other travelers considering a trip to Colombia. Like i said earlier I really wanted to see Bogotá but in the end I had to end up in Medellín. I started to research different ways to get from BOG to MDE. I asked a few of my friends in Colombia and they all told me the buses where safe, even at night. I was still a little bit nervous about taking a 9+ hour bus ride overnight through Colombia. My other option was to take it during the day. While this option would let you see all the scenery, it also meant an entire day sitting on a bus. The third option was to fly, which in my opinion sounded like the worst of the 3. As long as buses and trains take, I seem to get enjoyment out of it.

I was pretty dead set on taking the bus, I just wasn't sure if i wanted to take it at night or during the day (for safety). Luckily I had some really great people in Bogota to show me around and tell me everything I needed to know. Both Manuel and Carlos said the buses at night were fine. Since I trusted both of them, I decided on the night bus.

After spending Thursday - Sunday in Bogotá I packed up my bags and headed to the bus station around 9pm at night. I took a cab from Manuel’s place. It was probably a 30 minute cab ride and cost about 7 bucks. Manuel suggested the bus company Bolivariano. They had buses leaving every 15 minutes for Medellín. In very broken Spanish I managed to get a ticket and make sure I had a window seat. The ticket cost 60mil, which at the time was about 24 dollars.

When i was in Mexico I took a few buses and was blown away at how nice they were. I had high expectations for the buses in Colombia. Unfortunately they did not live up to the expectation. The bus was still nice (just your average coach bus) but nowhere as nice as Mexican buses. For those of you from the east coast, the bus was about the same as a Chinatown bus.

I got a ticket for a 10:15pm bus. Boarding the bus was simple. They checked your bags and gave you a claim slip (make sure to hang onto it). The bus ride itself was interesting. It happened to be a full moon so I could at least see the outline of the mountains. The one thing i under estimated was how hard it would be to sleep on a bus that was constantly flying around tight turns. I finally fell asleep but then awoke to the bus passing a Semi on a blind corner. This was the first of many scary driving maneuvers the bus driver pulled, but there was giant Mary and Jesus decals on the bus, so I figured I was safe (no joke).

The bus was direct to Medellín. There was one rest stop (at least that i remember) other then that the bus did not stop moving. I read before leaving the bus typically takes 8 to 10 hours depending on traffic. By the time we boarded the bus and left Bogotá it was probably 10:30pm. We pulled up to the Medellín bus station at exactly 7am.

Overall the bus trip was fine. I have had worst experiences on GreyHound and honestly it wasn’t nearly as sketchy as some overnight trains I have taken in Europe. If you plan to take this route, I would recommend having an Ipod or something to drain out the bad movies they play. I would also make sure you have a jacket (or blanket) handy. The buses do get cold (this was something else i read ahead of time but didn’t give much consideration too).

Taking the bus from Bogotá to Medellín was the one part of the trip i was worried about, but it went as smooth as possible. Once I made it to Medellín I found someone renting their cell phone and called up my friend Pablo and soon we were off on another trip.

Bus Company - Bolivariano

Just outside Medellin. I didnt take many photos for 2 reasons. First off, it was dark for most of the trip. Second, I didnt want to draw attention to the fact i was carry a few grand worth of camera gear.

The Cab driver noticed me taking this picture. As i put the camera down he smiled and give me the peace sign. Welcome to paisas land!

We entered Medellin from the North, which totally throw off my sense of direction off (Bogota is south of Medellin).