Today was a day I will remember for the rest of my life. What an incredible experience. Experiences, multiple, really, all thrown into one day.

We had breakfast here at Tribe, and Gonzalo and his co-guide, Jhanier, picked us up shortly after. We stopped a couple of places, the grocery to buy candy and cookies for the kids, arepas and chorizo from a stand for our lunch later, a soda from the other corner market… Again with the way-fun moto ride, this time on pavement for awhile before turning off road in the town of Rio Ancho.

Up, up, up… Some of the road was paved in concrete, some of it pretty rough dirt and rocks. One stream crossing… I didn’t think to lift my feet up. Good thing I was wearing sandals, because my feet got SOAKED. Oops. I figured it out on the way out and kept my feet dry. Ha.

It took just over an hour to get up to the indigenous Kogi village. Our guide asked permission from the elders to enter, then continue onward to the river. I guess you can more or less go anywhere, you just have to ask permission.

The kids started coming out of the woodwork right away. I guess they knew that we had come bearing inordinate amounts of treats. So. Damn. Cute. I took SO MANY pictures. Can’t wait to get home and download those!

The village itself was cool. It was just a bunch of round, thatch-roofed huts made out of what looked like mud. Dirt floors and everything. We got to look inside the school house – it was interesting to see somewhat modern desks inside a mud building. The guys were allowed to go into the temple. As a female, I was not. According to Matt, I didn’t miss much, just a few long benches. I guess sometimes the tribe will let outsiders watch their ceremonies if they’re happening at the time of the visit.

Then on to the river. It was about a ten minute hike across a field and through some jungle. The Rio Ancho is BEAUTIFUL. It’s wide, as its name suggests, and fairly fast flowing, with all these rocks everywhere to jump in from or lay on. The water is clear and surprisingly cold. I guess snowmelt is snowmelt, anywhere in the world.

We played in the water for a while. I jumped in for a second, just long enough to check another item off my list. I think Matt was in for a solid two hours. I had a great conversation with the younger of the two guides, Jhanier, while sitting on a nice warm rock next to the flowing water. He was picking my brain about how to say this and that in various situations, as he’s studied English and wanted some pointers.

When we were good and tired (and bug bitten, for that matter), we hiked back to the motos and came back to town.

We were TIRED. We hung out by the pool all afternoon, swam a bit, took a shower, grabbed some dinner…

Then back and sleep… Sleep is good.