Harking back a few weeks now to distant memories of communing with all the insects up in "La Sierra" as the Locals call it. The last week of which was staying on a Finca a days walk from the (very nice) little town of Palominas up the coast from Santa Marta. Its strange there because they only have water every 4 days, so most of the time we used water from big oil drums that are filled up each time the pipe is connected. The plumbing up in the mountains is a little better as the pipes from the streams uphill aren`t shared with other villages... well they are, but indigenous villages with a dozen families living in thatched houses with mud and straw walls, so not quite such a strain on the resource. I met the chief of one village, who is also the medicine man and chief chewer of Coca leaves Mamon Selio is his name. He just sits and watches, quietly chewing away. It really was a great experience being up there and living to some extent off the land, and trading things like need...
