Chicken bits soup for lunch and on to Cali

On the way up to Cali we made a detour to a market town called Sylvia to have a look and for some lunch. We travelled there with our new Dutch friends, Fred and Martin. The locals were out and about in their traditional dress but there really wasn't much happening as we arrived the day before market day. We stopped in at a little restaurant and Melinda and I said we'd have chicken and the Dutchies had beef.

Lunch with Martin and Fred in Sylvia

Chicken bits soup?

The first thing out was a chicken soup in which the stock was made from many parts of the chicken that weren't required for eating. With running commentary from Martin and Fred like 'oh look there's a foot, there's a neck, are you guys enjoying this?' we soon both lost our appetite! When they brought out the main course of chicken, I had no desire to eat any more!! A bloke hanging around the table where we were sitting watched me for a while and asked if I was going to eat it. I happily handed him the food!

Locals in Sylvia

So after lunch we got the next bus to Cali. On the way, we had our first military check of our passports. An army guy came on the bus and got our passports...and then walked away!! Fred and I jumped off the bus and followed him but all he did was take it to his boss who looked long and hard at them and then gave them back.

Passports please!!!

I hope they give them back Fred!

We got to Cali and had to go to a couple of different places but finally we found a room (a four bed shared dorm room). We were just near a big strip of Salsa bars but it was all a bit dead being a Monday night. The next day we had a lazy morning and much discussion about what we should do next. We decided just after lunch that we should head to Solento in the 'zona cafeteria', an area to the North with lots of coffee plantations.

Drinks service on the bus