Traveling-with-TLC

February 5-8, 2025

Our trip to and time in Dona Dora’s was the most “adventurous” yet. We hired an Uber to take us the 45 miles up from Cali into the mountain region. Our driver, Caesar, was very nice and so we expected a smooth trip. Unfortunately, Uber chose a route to get to Dona Dora’s which took us up the main road and then cut over the top of the mountain on a dirt road. Needless to say, Caesar wasn’t willing to four wheel on a dirt road in his fancy car. We walked over to the fruit stand across from the turn off and learned that the dirt road was a “security zone”. The area was not safe for tourists. Then, it started to rain. Our cell phones were running out of battery and we had no service. We were a little worried about being left up in the mountains with all of our bags at such a place. Fortunately Caesar came through and agreed figure out how to get us where we actually wanted to go. We ended up contacting one of our future hosts (Arucana Lodge) for directions as we couldn’t reach our hosts. We got part of the directions and headed back the way we came. After getting to a town with cell service we got directions on safe, paved roads to Dona Dora’s. It only took us 3 hours to travel 45 miles!

Dona Dora’s is a premier birding spot. The family works incredibly hard. They are nice people. However, it was a little rustic…The Picture on the right is taken down the road a bit looking back at house as it clings to the side of the hill.

We spent quite a lot of time at the feeders, enjoying the birds that dropped by to eat the fruit and visiting with other guests. Folks from China, India (but living in Cleveland Ohio), Canada, England (but living in New York City), Tennesee (they lost their home in the Hurricane flooding this year), and pretty much all over visit for a day or spend the night.

As I said the birds are marvelous!:

We booked Dona Dora’s after watching an episode of the Birder’s Show on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQhM_SNaxPM The hosts of the TV show gifted a pair of binoculars to Junior who aspired to becoming a birding guide and has a talent for drawing. On our first day at Dora’s, Ted met Junior in person and made arrangements for us to go birding with him! We saw some great birds although at first we found ourselves taking shelter from the rain in the “old car” shelter. After returning to the hotel, I asked Junior if he still draws and if he has a gallery where he displays his work. He asked me my favorite bird and said he would draw it for me and we could pick it up the next day! Now that’s a treasure!!

Okay. It’s time to talk about plumbing in Colombia. It is not like back home. In the first place, hot water is a treasured commodity. In most places, only the shower is attached to the on-demand heater. Face washing and dishwashing seem to be done with cold water pretty much exclusively. At the AirBnb’s, I heated a pan of water for dishes. Feels a little like camping. “Hot” water in the shower can also be a matter of opinion. Usually you can get it somewhere above lukewarm. When hot and sweaty from hanging out in the tropical forest, lukewarm water is sufficient. However it does make for some quick showers! We have had some very nice hot showers in about half of the places we have stayed.

Toilets. Digestive elimination is different in Colombia. One does not flush toilet paper. One puts toilet paper in the little trash receptacle next to the toilet and hopes the trashcan is emptied frequently. Most public bathrooms, especially in rural areas, do not have toilet seats. In some areas, you pay to pee. In many, you must request toilet paper. Almost always the sink is outside and shared by men and women (at least girls don’t have to share the bathrooms with the boys like they do in California). Until Dona Dora’s, all private bathrooms had toilet seats. We paid for an upgrade at Dora’s to have a private bathroom only to find there was no toilet seat. The first night there, I spent several hours not sleeping but coming up with ways to “make” a toilet seat. In the morning we discovered the public restroom had seats and our seatless toilet was usable. Such a fuss about what was actually trivial! At one of the places in Jardin, there was a sign posted: Don’t litter on our toilets. That one cracked me up!