What is cuy…? You can Google it, or I will get back to it later, but it is the first and probably the last time I will eat it, mostly because there is just enough meat on a cuy. First you have to meet our rafting team, for a half day of rafting on Rio Magdalena. From the left first you have Esben and then Edwards sister Camila (Don’t get confused, her name is the same as mine, Camilla, her name is just spelled with one “L”). The first person from the left is Edward, our new Columbian friends, whom we were so lucky visited the San Agustin Archaeological Park on the same day, and send us a few pictures from there… because we lost ours. Thank you!
So how do the Columbians load the boats… off course they use the paddles, it is for rafting… right?
I would also like to present our TAXI driver – he got us safe back and forth, or was it the saints in his rearview mirror?
Ready to go rafting on Rio Magdalena with Camila and Edward… yes, we where wetsuit, the water was freezing! In the right picture we just headed out… that was before we felt the COLD water – still smiling.
Rio Magdalena has rapids in class 1-5, at this time of year when the water is low, this half day trip have class 1-2 rapids. A perfect trip for beginners and a great way to see the river and the beautiful surroundings. MERE INFO om Rio Magdalena.
Passing the other boat – by the way this is called a paddle boat!
Going into the rapids…
Getting wet…
Back on dry land the boys had to carry the boats, while the girls only had to carry the paddles…
The guide was great and we just had a funny trip rafting down Rio Magdalena with Camila and Edward. Back in San Agustin our two German friends from “Die Stahlratte” had arrived, and we had made a dinner reservation for “cuy”, also called “guinea pig” in English. It is a traditional dish here in Columbia, but how it is cooked depends of the Region. This is the biggest, but also the most expensive meal we have had in Columbia 70,000 pesos (24 USD) for the both of us.
The cuy dinner!
This is the cuy or guinea pig… yes, the feet is still on it. That is another first!
I will say it again, there is just not enough meat on a cuy! To be honest we were disappointed. The meal didn’t have any flavor, even the salsa was not spicy. In total the cuy was chewy, but tender. The best of the meal was our German company Angel and Tanja, after that the rice, avocado, salad and salsa. It was great to taste yucca, which are the yellow ones, right next to the potatoes. I will never buy cuy again, but now we have tried it.
We had the meal at a local familys house. Carlos was our host (in the left picture) and his mother had prepared the cuy and all the sides. Carlos told us more about the pre-Columbian age, and showed us some of the artifacts that he had found in the area. To be more precise they go out and locate graves, which are reported to the San Agustin Archaeological Park, but when they find smaller artifacts, they keep them for the purpose to sell them to the tourist to earn more money. The right picture is a close up pictures of the artifacts.
We really enjoyed San Agustin, that this time of the year there was not a lot of tourists and the town felt more relaxed and local. We experienced the local life in town, and will recommend that you visit the local market, where you can buy fresh food, or have lunch at one of the many stalls. We really liked the yucca bread with cheese. Again these pictures are lost – we haven’t been able to recover them anywhere.
Our next adventure is might gonna be a dangerous one, we are heading for the death road of Columbia “El trampolin de la muerte” from Mocoa to Laguna de la Cocha.
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