The owner of La Cabaña quickly became a new friend. I left Ibague and headed for Salento and a small milk farm just on the outskirts of the village. Hector and his wife have a nice spread along the Quindio river. He gave me a nice room in the second house along the river. Very comfortable for $25 a night, with breakfast. He told me there were torrent ducks on the river. In the morning I found them. Such fascinating and beautiful ducks. Hector was very pleased. I taught him how to use eBird and I put his hotel as a hotspot on the eBird map. There was a German family staying there as well and one night we all went down to the bar to watch a futbol match, which Colombia lost. Hector ordered a bottle of aguardiente. We drank it all. The next morning I nearly fell out of bed but still was in shape for Hector to drop me off at the Corcora Valley trail to the hummingbird house. It was a 6 hour round-trip hike. I was in awe of myself for having made it. I am beginning to get winded easily, especially at high altitude. But I carry on. Hector took me to the bus for my trip to Manizales, where he has a house. I checked into a very nice one bedroom apartment for two nights near the center of the best neighborhood. Nice restaurants with bad food but great drinks. I made arrangements to go to Rio Blanco, which is one of the most popular birding locations in Colombia. I was told I had to have a 'permit'. A car would pick me up at 6 am. It is only a 25 minute drive from town. I arrived at 6:20 am and met Ben King who owns his own famous bird tour company for Asia. Our guide was slow to get moving and did not speak English so I translated for Ben. Carlos carried a bucket of worms to feed the four species of antpitta present. It began to rain. It was wet and cold. I did add 5 new species but it was a washout. Carlos didn't know his birds that well. Ben was a little irritated too. They just don't understand tourism here. It was a pain in the ass to visit Rio Blanco and they charged me way too much for transport and guide. Ben told me about Cerro Montezuma and said I should visit there. The next day I went to Marsella and stayed at a finca up the the hills. There were nice trails to bird. I inquired about getting to Montezuma and soon received an email saying they were booked until December. Shit. Back to Manizales and a nice cheap hostal near the stadium. Hector was in town so we met for drinks. I inquired how to get to Jardin and received as many different answers. It would have been a 3 hour trip but became 7 hours because I had to change buses three times.
Jardin is at almost 6,000ft and has a great climate. I think this is my favorite pueblo so far. I feel safe and the people are very warm and welcoming. I hired a 3-wheel moto to take me up the the yellow-eared parrot reserve but we soon ran into a landslide which blocked passage. Only two-wheel motos could go over the mud. I told the driver to come back in 4 hours and i went walking up the road. I did see some of the parrots and some great birds but I was not able to get to the higher elevation where the birds I wanted fly about. I intend to stay here for a week so maybe they will fix the road soon. There are Colombian cowboys here who are very proud of their horses. They ride in a prance where the horses hooves hit the ground 40 times for every ten feet forward. Paso Doble? They are very fine horses. Not so much the cowboys. Each night around 6 pm they come to ride around the plaza. I love watching and listening to them. They tie the horses to the bar tables. I actually saw a horse tied through the window of a bar in Marsella. Reminded me of Lee Marvin and his horse in Cat Ballou. I rarely meet people who speak English here so when a young 'Merican couple walked by I invited then to sit. After a few beers I saw and older lady pushing a stroller our direction. I said to the the dummies " here comes that lady selling babies again". They got quiet. When I saw the baby had blond hair I exclaimed that she was pushing blond ones tonight. "Really? That's terrible. Someone should tell the police."
I have to make a decision within the next few days. My flight home is on December 8th. I don't want to come back to the land of the dummies but I know my cancer is progressing quickly. If I come home I would like to stay in Tallahassee or Apalachicola. If anyone has something I could rent for a couple months. I might change my ticket to a date in late January. I have one week to make up my mind and extend my Visa another 90 days. What to do......
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