We up up bright and early to catch the 6 am bus to San Augustine. The San Augustine culture was at its height from the 6th-14th centuries CE and they built huge stone statues, ranging in size from 20 centimeters to 7 meters, to cover their tombs. The tombs were discovered starting in the 18th century by peasant farmers (campesinos) who were searching for the gold that was buried in the tombs covered by the huge statues.
Anyway, by the time that we got back from the market there was another guest, Sagiv, who Linnea and I ended up traveling with for the next 3+ weeks through Ecuador. So we didnt have any food that one would actually have at Thanksgiving but the spirit was still the same- we had an amazing time exchanging stories, getting travel suggestions, and laughing at the absurdities of traveling and living in Latin America.
Our trip to San Augustine however started out a little bumpy- literally. Within 15 minutes of getting on the bus, it had broken down. So then they sent out another bus and we got on that one to continue...but within a few miles of being on the new bus, it got a flat tire. We didnt have a spare so we had to stop every mile to repump the tire until we got to a place where they could repair it. And repair it they did!! They took it compeletely apart and patched the hole in the tubing- this took about 45 minutes but luckily we were able to get some tinto (black coffee- but only in Colombia, tinto is also red wine) in the interim. Then we continued on possibly the worst road ever- I mean they should really be carrying a spare tire on this road, I'm not sure how its possible to travel 8 hours on this road without a flat tire! Alissa and Lucas, the American couple we were traveling with and who have been busing around South American for the past 6 months, said that it was physically the worst bus ride they had been on. Regularly we stopped to check the tire but it managed to make it through. We continued on for about 4 or 5 hours without event when the bus broke down again- this time it was the under-carage of the bus. We had gone into a pot hole that was so deep it had cracked the under-carrage. We think it was broken before too because after they fixed it the ride was a little smoother. We did finally make it to San Augustine though. We tried to get into one hostel but it was full so we took the taxi driver's suggestion and went to a place called Itaca. The taxi drivers in some cities work with certain hostels so they can be pretty pushy about their suggestions.
Itaca however was really nice, the owner Mario gave us an outrageously energetic tour of it so it was hard to resist accepting to stay there. Once we got there it was too late in the afternoon to start any of the tours so we just arranged the tours for the next two days- by extensive group bargining of course and then went to the market to get food for our late "Thanksgiving dinner." At the hostel we met an Australian, Robert, who was traveling around Colombia for 2 months on winter break from school. He had also taken a year off earlier in college to live in Paraguay so he is quite the South American traveler.
Actually, he was flying out of Bogota yesterday and we took him out on the town the night before- so it was really exciting to see him again!
Anyway, by the time that we got back from the market there was another guest, Sagiv, who Linnea and I ended up traveling with for the next 3+ weeks through Ecuador. So we didnt have any food that one would actually have at Thanksgiving but the spirit was still the same- we had an amazing time exchanging stories, getting travel suggestions, and laughing at the absurdities of traveling and living in Latin America. 
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