Part 10 Southern Colombia, late May 17

Part 10

Day 59 Pereira

We headed out the garage door from the hostel in Medellin during morning rush hour but it wasn’t a problem because we were leaving town. The going was slow but things moved continuously. The motos felt good, refreshed after their servicing. Everything that had been  needed was done to them and all for a good price at Ruta 40 BMW.

South of Medellin the roads became curvy and the trucks were slow. The speed limits were also very low. Only about 10 km of our route today was posted above 60 km/hr. There were construction zones with flag stations and blocked lanes every few kilometers, largely for landslide repairs after a difficult rainy season. We arrived at the hostel in Pereira at about 4:30 pm. 215 kilometers had taken us a little over five riding hours. Lunch and other stops added two more hours. Throughout the day the scenery had been gorgeous.

Stopped at a construction site - photo taken through my mirror

And that’s what it is about. The day we crossed the border from Mexico into Guatemala was the start of 100 km taking 2 ½ hours to cover. Once we accepted the idea that road travel is and will always be slow here things become easier. We have learned to enjoy the scenery and all the conversations during hourly breaks and in the halted wasp nests at the construction sites while waiting for the go signal.

Colombians are fantastically friendly and inquisitive. They stick their heads out the car window or steer their motorbike beside ours at every stop-light or construction zone and start to ask questions. They are thrilled we are visiting the place they love so much. They want to know our story and always suggest things we must do and see. Most common questions in Colombia: how did you come from Panama and how fast will it go?

Coming in from the north we looked down on the city of Pereira from about 200m above. The city sits at about 1300m altitude so the climate is very much like the eternal spring of Medellin. The hostel has its lobby/office in what was the garage of a house. The administrator opened the big garage door and I helped him move the furniture back. Then I rode both of our motos into the remaining space, occupying all of it. It required three of us to lift and slide the back wheel of the 1200 closer to the wall. They will be safe there tonight.

Bringing the bikes in from the street

Day 60 Pereira

Breakfast at the hostel was simple but did the trick, especially with Colombian coffee in the mix. Our private room and two breakfasts cost $25. The low-key rooftop terrace has a bar and some tables and chairs. It was a nice place to spend yesterday evening as the inside rooms cooled for the night. We stuck around the hostel in the morning because our coffee tour wasn’t until the afternoon, then we went out for lunch.

We found a little 5-table restaurante called “Café Mariscal Pereira” that served a set menu almuerzo for $4.50. It began with a generous bowl of pork and beans, then came the main dish of sausage, fried plantain, white rice and a tortilla. Desert was Jello and a drink of lemon and sugar cane juices with cinnamon. Everything was delicious. He also fixed me a great “café negro”. The owner and his wife had real pride in their food. He checked a few times with us regarding the quality of the food. He described each dish well and made sure we left with a business card for his restaurant.

Mauricio Ibanez

Mauricio Ibanez picked us up from the hostel at 3 pm and brought us to his coffee finca (farm). He is a small producer like all the others in this area and every step of the process of coffee production at his farm is done by hand. The best coffee here grows on steep hillsides to create partial exposure to the sun. This makes for a tough job clambering around on those hills and using only traditional hand tools to tend the small trees. A hand scythe is used to keep the grass and weeds down between the coffee trees. Mauricio hires local workers at picking time and to do the heavy work. He has at least one full time employee who is very knowledgeable about farming and local plants.

Some of Mauricio's coffee trees

We asked Mauricio about the “bad times” after he mentioned that phrase. I asked, “when were they?”. He answered, “Well we had 60 years of bad times but in my lifetime, it was in the 90’s”. He said that they lost many people, that it was a lawless time. Corruption was everywhere and many people thought that they could become rich through the drug trade and they quit their regular jobs. This led to the disintegration of productivity and the whole system slowly fell apart. The cities and more specifically the walled and barred homes within them became the only relatively safe places. The police were too few to protect those who lived in the countryside from the bandits so most farms were abandoned. Many farms fell to ruin.

Touring the farm - up and down...

Mauricio told the story of his father’s death. His father was murdered only 6 blocks from the nearest police station by bandits. He said the police were, “too afraid to go so they waited until the next day to recover the body. Then a new president was elected and he started a war with the criminals. People began to see the advantage of working to make a living and safety came back to the countryside.”

Peek-a-boo

Mauricio also told us stories about the road that we had ridden the day before from Medellin to Pereira. One of them was even a ghost story that featured the sudden appearance of a second passenger that was behind and pushing on his sleeping wife, on the back of his motorcycle late one night! The other stories revolved around the physical dangers on the road like falling rocks, full landslides and included people’s warnings not to drive on that road at night.

Coffee Trees

We have heard, read or seen YouTube videos of some crash and over the side plunge stories in the Andes at night. We avoid any travel at night by motorcycle. Add stray animals, potholes, unfamiliar territory, drunk drivers and the personal warnings of countless local truck drivers to Mauricio’s stories and the risks of night driving cannot be justified for us.

Coffee beans ripen at different times

It is abundantly evident that Mauricio loves the business of farming. Our private tour through the hills, deep valleys and across the streams of his farm was punctuated by Mauricio picking a wild plant, immediately smelling it then passing it to us. Next, he would go into an explanation of the medicinal or cooking uses of the plant. He continues to study plant uses from an indigenous teacher in the region.

Sun drying is the preferred method

Mauricio showed us the husking and cleaning machines and the fermentation vats. The fermentation time for coffee in this region is 14 hrs. Next came the sun drying racks outside. He has a propane powered small drier if he needs to process a batch quickly but the sun adds flavour to the beans and is the preferred method of drying. His coke fueled drying oven is not used any more as it is very bad for the health of the workers. He uses the inactive cavity for storage of tools.

Cooling after roasting

He roasted a small amount of already dried beans to show us how. Timing is everything with seconds and degrees C combinations being strictly adhered to. A light roast is preferred to preserve the aroma and correct acidity. It makes the best filtered coffee. Dark roast, accomplished by leaving the beans in the machine for not much longer, reduces the caffeine and aromas. It is best used in espresso machines.

Into the grinder

Then came the tasting. Mauricio’s wife Jimena served a tasting at the table in the house. It was delicious. Coffee is at its best when it is ground just before brewing and lightly roasted no more than 6 days before brewing. Jimena drove us home and we had a great chance to practice Spanish with her in the car.

Washing up after the tour

We got to the hostel at about 7 pm and walked down the street a couple of blocks. We ate some street food then bought some pastries from the panaderia (bakery) across the street. We enjoyed them with tea on the roof-top patio back at the hostel. It was another fun day in Colombia.

Mauricio's garden

Geese lifting off

Pastoral beauty

Day 61 Cali

Getting out of Pereira was relatively easy this morning and we enjoyed 220 kilometers of great roads and few obstructions. We even got the motos up to 100 kph for a couple of kilometers before the speed limit dropped again. Drivers mostly adhere to the speed limits in Colombia. The small moto riders, however and within their power limitations, do pretty much what they like.

We ride/drive as if our bikes are cars because we are so big. The spaces need to be quite large if we are going to dare to filter through traffic like wasps. We usually just try it on the highways near borders, tolls and construction sites when the traffic is stopped. City traffic is already incredibly intimidating, there is no need to add to that stress!

Today’s ride mostly took us through a long wide valley. It was at least 20 km wide at the narrow points and was well over 100 km long. It was huge, and it was full of sugar cane. We passed by a few four and even five-trailer rigs called “tren de caneros” (cane train) that resemble an Australian “road train” in the outback.

"Tren de Caneros"

We arrived through the big front door, literally, of the Kilele Hostel in a hip area of Cali at about 2 pm and parked the motos in the lobby.  It’s a former urban mansion, the back opening onto a steep hill overlooking the city. It is complete with servants’ quarters and a swimming pool three levels below the main one. A football championship game featuring the favorites, Real Madrid was just about to begin. A large crowd of young people had gathered and the beer was flowing, possibly because the first one was free. It was a ton of fun to watch the game with passionate fans. “Futbol” is an obsession with many in South America. Madrid won, thank goodness!

Preferred parking

After the game and a gigantic hamburger at the hostel we went for a walk around the area with the clubs and bars looking for a café with dessert choices. We had to look a while to find a simple café. Most establishments were themed restaurants or disco bars where people dance salsa all night. Cali is the place for that, we are told. I can hear the mixed beats and DJ’s through the open window as I write this. It’s Saturday night and we are in the middle of the party zone. Things are continuing, albeit on a smaller scale, here at the hostel too. It’s fun to be here tonight. Yes, we’re old and will go to bed early as usual, but it is still fun. We are especially buoyed by the news today that our daughter Gabi booked her flights and will join us to ride for a few weeks in Peru. We are overjoyed!

Cali from our room in the hostel

Day 62 Hato, outside Popayan

Getting out of Cali was lengthy and traffic filled even on a Sunday morning. The rest of today’s ride was on good roads that wound through river valleys again. We were waved though military check points. When things got hillier we saw numerous pairs of soldiers posted at the side of the road. We also saw a few sandbagged firing points that were manned by more soldiers. Some bridges are well manned and have sandbagged or concrete hard points at either end. These sightings grew fewer and stopped altogether as we moved more toward Popayan. The last hour and a half was a gentle climb.

We are at a house in the country outside Popayan owned by Elizabeth. Riding on the rough dirt road in from the main one was worth the effort. The tranquility of this beautiful place is reflected in our host, Elizabeth. She is kind and serene. The farms in this area are small and very close together. People work the land by hand and grow enough for themselves and perhaps a little more to sell. Coffee grows here too. We saw no farm machinery. There were a few small trucks on the road but mostly people and goods are moved around on small motos. We saw a few signs on the country road for cheese. Our stay tonight cost $17.

Elizabeth is a retired pharmacist

Elizabeth and I talked while fixing dinner in the kitchen upstairs. Isabelle’s knee was giving her grief again so she stayed downstairs in our spacious and hospital clean room. Elizabeth gave Isabelle some herbal remedies to put on her knee. Elizabeth said she wants to learn English. She is taking lessons from someone in the village. She would like to study in the city, Popayan but she said it is very expensive and then there is the problem of getting there each day.

We disturbed one of Elizabeth's neighbors, can you see the raised eyebrow?

Isabelle and I walked through the village of Hato earlier, probably making her knee worse. We noticed how immediately open and quick with a greeting people we met on the street were. Also, there is a distinct lack of walls and fences and locked gates. I told Elizabeth some of Mauricio’s stories about the dangerous times in the 90’s and how his father had been murdered by bandits just outside Pereira. I asked her if things were ever dangerous here. She said in the days of Pablo Escobar that all the trouble was farther away, nearer Cali. She said that this place is different from Cali. People just went about their everyday lives here.

The atmosphere in this region of small family farms is charming. Today marks the second time, the first time being in Panama, we have ventured off the beaten path and been rewarded with pastoral tranquility. The elevation is 1900m. The night air is fresh. The hypnotic sound of rain gently falling outside the open window is all we hear tonight. This place really is a world away from Cali.

Day 63 Pasto

The city of Pasto sits at 2700m and the climate is wonderfully cool. The ride from Popayan to Pasto is mountainous. Isabelle is getting much better at sharp turns and is putting some actual wear on the sides of her tires now! We saw a few different ecosystems along the way. Some of the differences in ecosystems are caused by local rainfall or the lack of it. Rain seems to fall mostly on one side of the mountains. Crossing from one side of a mountain to the other can bring you from desert cacti in 38 degrees to lush cultivated land a few degrees cooler. Pasto is a city with about 800,000 people nestled in a shallow valley.

View from Elizabeth's back porch

News of landslides, flooding and the terrible loss of life in Peru and southern Colombia this past and difficult rainy season reached us at home on the TV news. Our trip planning puts us in the mountains during dry season. Tomorrow we will cross the frontier into Ecuador.  Up until now it has felt like a mad dash that started with the first clear roads at home (04 Apr) and will end tomorrow with our arrival in the high Andes at the beginning of dry season.

Breaktime in southern Colombia

We have made our two deadlines: the pre-booked sailing to Cartagena and Ecuador at the beginning of dry season. Things can slow down now as we spend the next four months in the three countries of the high Andes, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. 

Part 9 Northern Colombia, May 17

Part 9: Northern Colombia

Cartegena, the old city

Day 53 Near Sincelejo

This morning I had a long conversation with a woman while packing the bikes. She had stayed at the hotel with her two teenagers on a run to town to by supplies. The sacks, grocery bags and bales of wire were loaded into the farm’s pick-up truck that was parked beside our motos. She said her family raised buffalo. The conversation was helped along by her clear and simplified Spanish designed to accommodate the linguistic fumbler before her.

She became quite interested in our story and asked many questions. She wanted to know what gear we were carrying, which cases held the camping gear, the kitchen, and so on. Isabelle happened along and joined in the conversation. The lady, she was only a little younger than us and I didn’t get her name, seemed emotional in some way. She was a bit difficult to read. Her manner was reserved and refined but her body language gave off hints of sadness or regret. She wished us a happy journey (feliz viaje) then went to her car, her children having already gone inside. We continued the packing of the bikes but she returned a minute later with her hands full of home made dried goods and snacks in zip-lock bags. She hugged Isabelle after giving her the food and again wished us both a happy and safe journey. This time she drove off.

The first part of the morning’s ride wound its way through the wide, swampy valley of a flooding river. The water was thick like soup and coloured with a creamy brown silt. There was a unique and noticeable aroma to it. The humid air quickly warmed past 35 degrees by 9 am.

The valley narrowed after a while and eventually the high, lushly covered hills that enclosed it blocked out any breeze that might cool the people who lived there. Artesian wells were numerous and squirted water in all directions. We avoided a small one spraying up out of the asphalt.  Local people have learned to pipe or hose many of these water spouts from the hills to the roadside where they run truck washing businesses. They advertise by decorating the roadside in a series of liquid arches that reach impressive heights. This likely helps to cool people. We had the wind from riding to cool us, except when putting along in a wasps’ nest or behind a line of trucks.

The intenseness of the colour green was striking, many different shades and all of them with such intensity! The smells were all new for us and equally intense. The Darien Gap is said to exist, in part, to maintain ecosystem separation between the Americas. Each unique aroma in this new America touched our noses as we passed through or near its source. Road workers cutting back bushes and trees released different scents from different species. Other scents revealed themselves when we were passing a crop in a field, a fresh manure application or when trailing a livestock truck. The sources of aroma were familiar and predictable but the aroma characteristics and strengths were a complete surprise.

Beginning the climb

After the valley ride came the foothills. We were excited by the beginning of the climb knowing that today’s ride would bring us relief from weeks of humidity and heat. Most of it was done in second gear because of the steepness and the tightness of the turns. Long lines of trucks going at sub-first gear speeds required clutch slipping by us that could cause excessive wear if we got too close to the truck in front. Very slow speeds also cause balance problems for motos. You dared not put a foot down to let the truck in front get ahead a bit because the gigantic rig behind you would complain loudly or would pass you, not wanting to lose precious momentum.

Lunch stop in the foothills

Through the rest of the day we developed a way of getting past them. Oncoming traffic came in bumper to bumper lines led by that pack’s slowest truck. These were followed by equally long clear patches. The trouble for safe passing was seeing ahead in the constantly swirling track of the thickly forested highway. The small motos would sometimes, reluctantly attempt to filter past on the inside track of a right hander but this was dangerous too. The trucks’ rear wheels trailed deeply into to the tight 1^st gear turns, threatening the vulnerable biker. The trucks were too long and the climb too steep for the small motos to gain an advantage on a left-hand corner. Their riders simply didn’t have the power needed to jump ahead quickly, even when given the largest of opportunities.

Rest break, getting higher!

But I did. Our bikes perform wonderfully in the mountains, even fully loaded. I would see an opportunity up and around a left-hand corner and easily shoot forward past the truck. The bike would bark a bit but still have plenty of power in reserve. I would then be “eyes ahead” for Isabelle, giving her a running commentary through the headset like, “clear to pass, oodles of room, nothing in sight…” or, “green truck then clear to pass”. This gave her the confidence to make the blind pass, and to do it safely. We used this method so much that some of the small bike riders, seeing its success, tagged along behind Isabelle on each pass!

Hard to believe, these are still the foothills.

The climb lasted about 4 hours. It had countless ups and down and reached 2800m at its highest. Isabelle’s confidence and skill levels are improving rapidly. I’m really proud of her. There were lots of fun twists and turns, many affording stunning views. I was able to stop a few times for photos but the road was too busy and dangerous for more. We arrived at Hotel Santa Rosa de Osos at 4pm and 2600m. The sun is shining and the temperature is 20 degrees Celcius! Our hotel has blankets and hot water. What does that say?

Day 54 Beautiful Medellin

Everyone from Medellin that we have ever encountered has told us how beautiful their home city is. The ride from Santa Rosa de Osos, 82 km to Medellin took us through some of the most stunning scenery we have ever witnessed. The photos we took are disappointing. They don’t portray half of the region’s beauty. It’s no wonder the people of this region seem to be among the healthiest and happiest looking we have seen. The crops and even the livestock we see are healthier looking than that of Central America.

Walking through the neighborhood

The closer we got to the city the more difficult traffic became. The phrenetic buzzing of thick clouds of wasps, other traffic and navigating took all of our attention during the ride into the city so we haven’t really seen anything of the actual city. We plan to spend a week in Medellin. I stripped down the bikes after getting settled into our hostel. Tomorrow we will ride them to the dealership where they will be stored until being serviced a few days from now. Today is the Friday before a long weekend. We will be pedestrians for a while.

Looking north up the Medellin Valley

We walked to an area that was recommended by one of our housemates and had a nice dinner. It has been a wonderful day filled with great scenery, fun riding and numerous encounters with warm people.

Looking south down the Medellin Valley

Day 55 Medellin

We rode the bikes to Ruta 40 BMW for servicing. The 700 needs new rear brake pads, a new rear tire and the upper crash bar mount repaired. The 1200 needs a new headlight bulb and the engine bash plate repaired after an encounter leaping down from a hotel sidewalk to squishy grass. The young man, Luis, who served us was friendly and he spoke English well. He spent some time with us describing things to see and do and restaurants to try. He took Isa’s Whatsapp info and sent her restaurant names and promised to answer any questions she might have about Medellin this week.

A small part of North Medellin from the cable car.

We took the Metro north to the end of the line. It is all above ground or raised up even higher so you get a good view of the city and surrounding mountains. We passed the cable car line and decided to come back to it. We got on the first train back and found that the cable car line is part of the Metro and our ticket was still good. We rode it to the top above the barrios (neighborhoods). These barrios cover the steep slopes that surround both sides of the Medellin valley. Richard, one of our house-mates, tells us that the lower socio-economic groups are at the top and the higher ones are at the bottom of the valley. We saw the slow changes in the neighborhoods as we passed over them.

Further up the mountainside

At the top of the city the Metro part ends. You can continue for several kilometers over the top and across the highland plains nature preserve, ARVI, for another small fee. We continued and were rewarded with a fun visit to the park. There was a small market with very clean street food stalls, where we had lunch. We also had an excellent espresso. There were displays that explained the surface geology of the region, some of the history of local indigenous people as well as the flora and fauna. We were unprepared to hike one of the many trails. They looked too tough from the cable car ride for our street shoes. Perhaps we’ll come back.

The slow descent of the 3000ft slope in the cable car delivered striking views of the city of 11 million people. We took the metro further into the centre of town to Plaza Botero and saw the famous sculptures by Fernando Botero. His sculptures in the park number around twenty and are fun depictions of people and animals in everyday life. He seems to have been fascinated with rounded forms and joyful moods. The final Metro ride to our neighborhood was followed by a quick trip to the grocery store before heading home. That rounded out a really fun day.

Day 56 Medellin

The day began with a great breakfast comprised of local fresh fruit and yogurt. The yogurt here comes in bottles and has the texture of table cream. We topped the parfait with some artisan granola and completed things with bodum filtered Colombian coffee. It was delicious. By 11 o’clock we were walking towards the Metro.

The first place we went was a neighborhood called El Poblado. We had been told that this was the hip region with all the really popular bars, clubs and cafes. We began our visit with the Sunday morning farmers’ market. It is situated on the edge of a linear nature park that follows one of the many tributaries that run down from the mountains and into the Medellin. Couples of all ages, many with children were enjoying their free day.

In the club zone in El Poblado

The linear park ended and we began our tour of El Poblado. There were great looking cafes and restaurants that were punctuated by hip looking hostels every couple of blocks. We could only imagine what the place looks like at night. The area was huge and covered many blocks in each direction. We were looking for a restaurant recommended by Lius, our contact at Ruta 40 BMW, called “Mondongos”. They serve traditional Colombian food in a modern atmosphere. The place is large and popular but we got lucky and were given a table on the street side right away.

Street art along the edge of the linear park

Isabelle had a type of chicken soup with potatoes and onion in a large bowl. I had an “almuezo typica” (set menu regional lunch) that began with a bowl of pork and beans. Then came a plate with three sections; finely ground beef, then white rice with an egg on top, and finally a long roasted plantain half with a long square piece of deep fried back bacon beside it. Everything was great but expensive. My lunch closely resembled one we had in the mountains a few days earlier that cost about 1/4^th the price. The location and hip, modern atmosphere of course made the difference and that’s OK.

Almuerzo

A short ride on the Metro took us to Pueblito Paisa, a reconstructed village atop a steep hill that is typical of the early settlements along the Medellin River. We hiked up the stairs and path huffing and puffing our way through the forest. The valley floor is elevated to about 5,000ft elevation. It wasn’t bad, it just took a few more breaths than expected. Our bodies will adjust slowly to the altitude as we ride higher in the coming days. We will spend the next 4 months at altitudes that are quite high.

Pueblito Paisa

The summit affords revealing 360 degree views from near the city centre that are stunning. We hiked down the other side and back to the Metro. We finished our walking day with another visit to the store to buy fresh fruit for the morning. It was another fun day off the bikes.

Day 57 Medellin (Comuna 13)

Economic polarity still exists

We rode the Metro and walked about 30 minutes to the area known as Comuna 13. This place had the reputation of being the most violent area in Medellin. The last ten years have seen great efforts at improving the community including the installation of a hillside escalator series designed to make it easier for people to get to work in the city centre. Street art is encouraged and protected in Comuna 13 as part of the rehabilitation project, to help give a sense of ownership and responsibility to the people who live there.

One of the escalators in Comuna 13

Below is just a sampling of the tremendous street art we saw in Comuna 13

Day 58

It was a slow morning. Isabelle went to have a mani/pedicure and I stayed in to work on the blog. We went back to El Poblado for lunch and saw the hip area on a business day with all the bars and restaurants open. There weren’t many people around though and we had no trouble getting a table overlooking the park plaza. We had excellent coffee and desert at a café around the corner before a slow walk through the liner park back to the Metro.

Tomorrow afternoon we will pick up the motos and ride them out to our hostel. We’ll leave the city the next morning. We have really enjoyed our time in Medellin. It has been a refreshing and renewing break. We’ve spent some time seeing and getting to know the city. We’ve had the chance to learn general travel tips as well as things specific to Medellin from other English-speaking travelers at the hostel.  We’ve met and interacted with people who live here and have formed some of our own interpretations of the place.

Medellin has put a great deal of effort into its rehabilitation. Let’s begin with the police. They are ubiquitous, almost always in pairs. They are armed of course but only with a holstered pistol and a night stick. Gone are the shotguns and assault rifles of Central America. Officers make eye contact, give a smile and greet you at every opportunity. They are quick to help if you ask a question. They have permanent posts in every Metro station and city park and they can be seen on foot, on a bicycle or on a motorbike (DR650’s) on pretty much every block. They clearly have a mandate to connect with people in a positive way.

Looking at Comuna 13 as a microcosm of the impoverished barrios one can see the positive effects that have come about. Hillside escalators, at a cost of 5.6 million dollars (cheaper than a new street) allow easier mobility up and down steep slopes to jobs and shopping and have been decorated extensively with street art that draws in tourists. Community beautification, facilities and organized sports, youth centres along with a heightened but positive police presence add to the security of the residents. The garbage gets picked up. Businesses flourish, people have meaningful jobs and are able to get to them more easily. Everyone pays taxes that help the whole system work.

Community and sports/recreational infrastructure

There still exists a wide polarity between the rich and the poor but there is clear evidence of a healthy and growing middle class. Our hostel is in one of many flourishing middle class zones in the city. This past long weekend saw the streets here filled with people at all times. Couples with and without children, young people and old and people of many different colours enjoyed the sunshine and closed off streets. They cycled and strolled and went to cafes and bars and family events.

The streets are clean and the Metro system is immaculate, in the poorer zones too. Violent crime has dropped off dramatically. Petty crimes such as pick-pocketing still exist so zippered pockets are a good idea. Medellin is hip, modern, clean (you can drink the water from the tap) and much safer feeling that some of the places we have been in recent weeks. Medellin has shown positive change after experiencing extreme despair. We will miss this city.