The Song of the Sea

Many people often find Cali on a map and comment that I'm "pretty close to the Pacific."  This is both true and misleading.  Cali is close to the Pacific as the crow flies and relatively close - about three hours - by mini-bus.  However, if its a beach you're looking for, you'll be hard-pressed to find the white sands and sun-soaked umbrella-filled beaches of your southern-California dreams.  The entire western coast of Colombia is largely virginal tropical forest, dotted with a few small predominantly Afro-Colombian fishing communities.  The beaches are mostly black sand and it is almost guaranteed to rain at least part of every day, if not the majority.  The western coast of Colombia is one of the wettest places on Earth.

I've traveled here before, during my first year's Thanksgiving break I got to explore the port city of Buenaventura and take a boat north to the towns of Juanchaco and Ladrilleros but I haven't been back since.  This last weekend a few of us decided to explore the northern part of the Pacific coast, a region famous for its pristine beauty and secluded nature, called Chocó.  From Medellín we hoped on a small 18-seater prop-plane for an hour flight to the coast.  (You know its a small plane when the pilot hands you earplugs as you climb the steps.)  Watching the terrain change and the towns and roads below disappear as we approached the coast was exciting.


We landed outside the town of Bahía Solano and were met by a man who would drive us the rest of the way to the (unicorporated) village of El Valle.  (Good luck finding it labeled on a map.)  The road was terrible at beat and if not for the primitive power and experience of the "wooden" vehicle we were jammed into, along with crates of eggs and bags of fish, I'm not sure how we ever got trough the pot-holed muddy road.  Once in El Valle we were taken to our cabaña which was within sight and sound of the crashing waves.

For the next few days we enjoyed the warm climate, relaxed culture, warm and friendly people, and delicious Pacifico cuisine.  I, however, enjoyed the inside of my mosquito-netted bed after developing what was later diagnosed as a tonsil infection which caused me to throw up everything I ate for two days.  It's never fun being sick while on vacation but at least I had the sound of the waves crashing on the shore and the rain on the roof to lull me to sleep.

One of my colleagues, Tara, had a friend visiting from California.  He brought along his fancy water-proof, bulldozer-proof camera and made this video of our trip.  It pretty much sums up all the sights and sounds of the typical coastal community in Chocó.  Note my conspicuous absence from most of the "field trips":



The music is by a Colombian group called Chocquibtown, taking their name from both the department (state) of Chocó and the department's capital Quibdo.  The lead song is called "Somos Pacifico" ("We Are From the Pacific Region") and celebrates being from Chocó.  In the chorus are the words "...la pinta, la raza, y el don del sabor!"  Translated, this phrase is singing the praises that the colors and race of Chocó are what give it its flavor.  This could easily be the anthem of this unique region.

That's Sick!

It starts after four days with a fever which turns into a splitting headache, both of which don't really ever go away. Once the muscle pain, intermittent nausea, and sporadic vomiting set in, one has to think for a second to see if, yes, the pounding in head is still there and, yes, so is the fever. This goes on for almost a week. Welcome to your bed.

This is Dengue fever, a viral disease, transmitted by a mosquito (the Aedes aegypti to be specific), that I had the unfortunate pleasure of experiencing all last week. (This blog is a chronicle of my life in Colombia, good, bad, and ill but I'll spare the play-by-play details of the later!) Unfortunately, at present there is no vaccine or drug regime for Dengue, meaning one must wait the whole ordeal out in nauseous agony until it passes.

After three days in bed, not eating much more than orange juice, Sprite, a banana or two, and crackers, I made a Sunday morning trip to the nearest hospital's emergency room. I was pleased to see that the medical facilities and efficiency were on par if not better than most North American hospitals and my friend, Nira, who helped me through the ordeal since I could barely walk without feeling like I had been put on a tilt-o-whirl, told me the particular hospital we were at was one of the best in Colombia. Three I.V. bags of saline and about five hours later I walked out hydrated and with a prescription for two different pain-killers and some pills to help keep my platelets up.

The next few days were again spent in bed, but with the pain medications and passing of time, I found I could walk a little further each day. At the beginning simply descending the stairs to unlock the front door earned me a rest on the couch, but a couple days after the visit to the hospital I had enough stamina to make it a few blocks to my local bakery.

The tricky thing about the transmission of Dengue, which attacks the blood's platelets is that it is most often found in urban areas, unlike other mosquito-borne diseases like Yellow Fever or Malaria. The Aedes mosquito is also most active in the late afternoon and early evening hours, but obviously not all Aedes mosquitoes carry the virus. I do not wish this on anyone and hope that one day a vaccine is available, much like the one for Yellow Fever or cholera, that one can take before entering an endemic area.

After about a week since the virus passed through my system, I am finally feeling back to my old self. My weight is climbing back to normal and I feel strong enough to return to the track for my running work outs. I can not remember ever being knocked that flat from an illness before and I hope I never have anything that can compare in the future!