TOUR OF TURKEY AND GREECE

SEE MY NEW BLOG TURKEY AND GREECE 10/2008 AT http://rlgtravelclub.blogspot.com

I think this will close out Gringo's in Colombia-Summer, 2008 BLOG ! As the picture above illustrates, the 10 days R&R in Annapoima has worked "wonders" on the ribs & shoulder, plus the overall disposition. One of the first pictures I posted to the blog back when on May 15 when arriving in Colombia, was of my "drinking buddy" Paco!

Here on August 03, 2008 you can see we still share some time [and a Mohito] !

On Tuesday, August 05, it will be back to Atlanta "reality". The year 2008 marks the 15 year , that Nada and I have visited this wonderful country and it's people at least one time each year, often more! It's geography, climate and diverse culture and heritage continue to surprise us, along with the friendships that have been established with friends and relatives which we richly cherish here.

The "Blog" turned out to be fun for me, and a way of keeping in touch with family and friends. I hope that some of you were pleased with the postings, and at the same time, viewed some pictures that may have generated some interest to "create an adventure of your own".

Best wishes,
Bob Green

OK, I am determined to take it easy for the next two weeks and "healing all wounds", stay off the ATV's, might even drink a few Cervezas while contemplating the future.......Will catch the Delta flight back to Atlanta on August 05 !!! If anything exciting happens in Annapoima this time, I will be sure to let you know!!

OK, Lets get up-to-date!! Maybe this picture of me, is not the "best", but guess what? It is current as of two weeks ago! I am quickly recovering from a mishap suffered due to in-experience on a 4X4 ATV in the Colombian mountains! But survival is the "operative phrase", and yes that is insured at this point! I have been doing some re-hab back in Bogota, and think that I will be back to 100% in a few more weeeks. For those interested in the details, I'll be brief-I was returning from some excitement in the mountain terrain and river crossing riding the ATV late afternoon [three weeks ago, June 22nd] outside of Annapoima, Colombia. Although I was on flat terrain, it was an old gravel road, that was unerdgoing some repair, due to low light conditions, I failed to see some makeshift 5 Gallon paint cans that were used to warn one that the road was torn up and "dug out". You can probably picture the rest, see me "launched" from the point of impact to a rough landing in the construction area!

Annapoima has no emergency services, so Annapoima's Mayor with his pickup truck was the only vehicle with enough "size" to load my A__ in to get me off the street! With only a "First Aid Station" in Annapoima, I was transported to another small town nearby that reportedly had X-Ray equipment! Arriving there, it was determined that the images were not clear, and that probably the next decision too be made is how to best get back to Bogota? It was by now, about 10:00 pm and we made a call to Bogota to send us an ambulance. The trip from Bogota would take approximately 90 minutes to 2 hours, because of the 2 lane mountaineous roads! So, I finally made it to the emergency room in a privte Bogota hospital at 3:00 AM. After that, everything normalized and I will be back in shape soon.

During this period, I have done some arthimetic and verified that 2008 minus 1936, equals 72 years of age, probably too old to really get too interested in ATV'ing as a serious past-time! We are now scheduled to return to Atlanta on August 05.

These pictures represent the last you will ever see of "Yours Truly" on a 4 X4 ATV! I have decided that cross-country ATV'ing is not in my DNA and I have lost alot of my prior expertise on rough terrain manuveuring since my U.S.Marine Corps time on Mount Fugi! Afterall, somethings are bound to leave you after 52 years!

To make an extremely long story [and night] short, I will summarize the details. Let me give you the bottom line, I am alive[?] a survivor. I "flipped over" in an uncanny manner and suffered 4 broken ribs on left backside, a broken bone between shoulder socket and where it connects to neck bone structure. A few stiches in the scalp and a considerable bruising from left shoulder to below hip area!

This happened outside of Annapoima where Fernando has city/country property that you have seen before. I can't recall how many employees of the Annapoima City Rescue Squad it took to load me into the "rescue" vehicle [Mayor's personal pick-up truck], but I was told, that some of them had not prior oppportunity to deal "hands-on" with a Gringo of my proportions!

The emergency facilities in Annapoima were not ready to cope with my challenges. On a positive side, It was good this happened and this situation identified, as Nada and I have been visiting Annapoima for the last 15 years!

I was then moved to a town called La Mesa. It is about 15 K's closer to Bogota. It was the intent to take x-rays of the damage and then decide the next course of action. Unfortunately, the x-ray machine had seen it's better days and produced images that could not be analyzed.

Ok, it's still not too late to go to Bogota! About 65 K's on very mountaineous highway. First thing....call Bogota for an Ambulance! They responded and arrived in LaMesa 11:30 PM. Back to Bogota and the Emergency Room at hospital at 02:00AM. Things went well from this point forward.

My prior visit the week before, for some blood pressure issues, put me in a good relationship with some of the same staff. Not the Americiano Gringo again? Although different Doctors, I had already set a precedent for my health care expectations from the earlier visit. You may have seen my heart Cardio Doctors brother on TV recently, if you have been watching the sucessful freeing of the hostages by the Colombian government from the insurgent FARC. Colombian Defense Minister Santos is the brother of my Cardio Doctor. In addition, I have Fernando's business partner Jorge to thank for introducing me to his B-in-Law Dr Santos.

This hostage recovery story has kept all in this country pre-occupied and justifies the fact that they have and continue to support their democratic form of government and fight the elements that support the drug trade, despite what our Congressional leaders have to say about these issues. I don't support George Bush on too many things these days, but he is absolutely right on the mark, relative to the FTA outstanding and yet to be acted upon, and the fact that Colombia is argueably the only "friend" that the USA can count on in the Southern Hemisphere!~

It has been a while since last posting, many events to report, so will get started. Fortunately, not many pictures, and those that were taken, I do not want to post, so that such events become a "historical fact".

Just to get back in the groove on how this site works, I pulled up the above picture. I thought it was good for the following reasons:

1] This is a "Internet Shop" in Annaipoima next to Fernando's "resort" in Annaipoima.
2] Kids on a Saturday morning playing video games!
3] The TV's were ordinary 19 inch older models, hooked up to a couple computers.
4] Can you imagine our US kids this age playing on this type equipment?

HAPPY FATHERS DAY! I HOPE THAT YOUR DAY WAS AS HAPPY AS MINE.
INTERESTING PHOTO OF BOGOTA CHURCH. VERY NICE STAINED GLASS WINDOWS.

Guatavita, Colombia

This is a "beautiful Village" with a historical past outside of Bogota. Nada and I have visited before with Fernando and Lorelle. The entire village residences are painted white, the "square" or city center pictured here is red brick and some stone in places !

Homes at 3300 Meters above Sea level

Time for science and geography lesson for those who need it? These photos were taken by me at an altitude [according to Toyota Land Rover altitude gauge] at 3,300 meters above sea level. Convert that to feet! At my calculation of 3.3 [roughly] feet to the meter, that is 10,890 feet above sea level!!

Most people are not noticably affected at altitudes up to 2,400 meters or about 8,000 feet.
12,000 feet altitude is "generally defined as very high" That is 3 ,658 meters!

Ever consider "goat farming" for a living?

No question about who is "the boss" here. That's alot of "kids" to be responsible for!

Not a bad job of landscaping! This scene is outside of Bogota [city] in mountains.

This is the Main Street in Annapoima, Colombia. Fernando and Lorelle's week-end retreat is on the immediate left behind the Palm trees. The wall in the second photo is Fernando's wall on the front of his property. The watering hole" next door is handy. Fernando has a construction project underway just inside his entrance gate. The building being demolished was the home for the folks that live on the property and maintain it, doing the gardening and household duties. A new house for their residence was recently completed.

I used to be alot better at this 35 years ago! Nada was a little concerned that at my age I may have lost a bit of co-ordination and reflex? She was right, as I was sucessful in running into a deep ditch, fortunately surviving. I only look like I know what I am doing!

Life has not been too stressful this trip! Last night when we retrurned to Bogota, there was rain and the temperature was 30 F lower than in Annapoima. It was 87F in Annapoima, and 57 F in Bogota!

This is what the Doctor ordered for triple by pass recovery! Just following advice!

You may remember Lorenza from prior blog pictures. I thought you might enjoy seeing this beautiful bird that Fernando and Lorelle have in Annapoima.












Tico is a new addition. He is currently not all that sociable as he is a young Tucan, and not accustomed to much human contact. He has been known however, to drop from a mango tree to the roof of a house adjacent to a high wall that surrounds the property, climb to the top of the wall, and drop to the street below and walk to a Pandera [local bread baker] for handouts! The baker calls for someone to recover him as he is not good for the business, as he "threatens customers" to enter the shop.

One last "shot"! The truck below had blown it's transmission on this curve and steep "super highway" we were travelling on! The second picture is a means of transportation [Mules]that has been in use in these mountains for years, that was not more than 25 yards away from where the truck had faltered! There is excitement and adventure at every turn in the road in Colombia.