In a few more hours, we will be getting on the plane and heading east to Atlanta, GA, then south to Panama City, Panama and then east again to Bucaramanga, Colombia to begin our journey. (If you click on this link, you can see some fabulous pictures of Chicamonga Canyon, Colombia's "grand" canyon.) Hard to believe that only a couple of weeks ago we were at the tip of the Baja and now we're about to head even further south.
When we first started researching the country, I was surprised to learn that, first of all, it is in the Eastern Time Zone. And, joy of joys, they do NOT honor Daylight Savings Time. In fact, the country is so close to the Equator that the difference between summer light and winter light is about 20 minutes. Our "campo" director was telling us that when it gets dark, it gets very dark as there is little ambient light contamination from the surrounding area, and they simply pack it up and go to bed, because morning light starts about 5ish... when the birds in the region wake them up.
CURRENT MOON PHASE
| past and future moon phases |
I am looking forward to seeing the night sky down there... we hear you can see millions of stars, something I used to see a little of when I lived in Arizona and traveled up to the mountains and before that, when cruising in the Bahamas we could truly navigate by the stars. I will try and get some pictures to show here.
It's been exhausting to try and pack suitcases, get last-minute jobs completed, spend time with Jey-hu's family (His father's birthday and his fell within a few days of each other and it was decided to make it a joint event - sorry: no picture of Jey-hu blowing out the 'recycled' candles from his father's cake.) see a few friends - and to John and Tiffany: thanks for the dinner invitation which Jey-hu discovered a couple of days ago when he finally got around to listening to his messages. Please, please do not take it personally that we never responded!! Enjoy Elksnout and plan to come and see us in S.A.!!
Perceptions of Colombia tend to be based on the drug cartel activities of years ago. Things have been cleaned up considerably, and where we will be is not a hotbed of illicit activities in any event. Still, we are smart enough to be cautious and to follow guidelines to avoid risky situations.
Cannot believe how fast you move along, all this travelling is making me feel very old indeed but how exciting it all is! I like the sound of finishing your days early and much like here in this fairly rural area there are no lights at all in the village, so on a clear night the skies are amazing and in winter months it starts to get really dark about 5pm. We get used to torches to visit each other and to venture to the Pub. Take great care won't you and all very best wishes to you. BTW my book is to be sold via my website from Monday next. I am thrilled with it.
ReplyDeleteYour speed in generating a book leaves me in awe, Susie, and I am excited to get to see it! I am typing this message from 30,000 feet up in the air halfway across the U.S. as our flight offers WiFi - a first, I am told. Makes the time in the air seem more productive. Thankfully the weather is pretty good though a little jumbly up here. We'll be in Panama tonight and due to sleep challenges to get us on this flight, I'll probably not write until tomorrow. Thanks for following!
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