Posted by: ubignut | July 10, 2008

Mud me down, liquor me up! – Final day in Colombia

No early morning to rise for me today, I slept a full on 9 hours! Woo hoo! Got up, had a nice long warm shower, had some breakfast, and then negotiated our ride back to Cartagena with a stop at the volcano. We had a private taxi picking us up in 1 hour, so decided to venture around the Marina area in Santa Marta just to see how things looked in the daytime vs all we saw last night. Pretty much the same, just brighter and less shady people. We walked into a little street faire and did some browsing and shopping. Everything was sooo expensive in the little touristy towns, I kept thinking about how I could get this crap cheaper on ebay. Met our taxi driver and headed outta town. Along the way he was telling us about all the smaller little towns we were passing through and the history and significance for each one. We stopped along the way for some fresh coconut & coconut juice. I’ve never been a fan of coconut but somehow on this trip in Colombia, I can’t seem to get enough of it!

We turned off the main road, headed down a bumpy path and came to an area with a few people hanging outside what looked like business establishments, but I think it was their homes. We asked for a place to change into our bathing suits and the lady led us to “the kitchen”. Glad we weren’t eating there as that didn’t seem pretty sanitary to me. Once we all had our suits on, we were led to the stairs and I gave my camera to one of the guys that were helping us. In went Kacey first, then me, then Luke. The mud was thick and warm! It was so hard to get thru it, I actually had to have one of the guys inside pull me through to the other side. One at a time we were massaged from head to toe. It was a natural exfoliate, and actually, it reminded me of the mud baths in Calistoga I used to do. Trying to get back up the ladder was a chore. The mud clung to you and at the top, I had to wipe my arms and legs off with my hand as the mud dropped back into the pit. We were escorted over to the river where women sat us down in the shallow area of the water and bathed us clean. They removed every piece of our clothing, washed our bodies and hair, then helped us back out. It was a crazy experience, but really fun and I’m glad we did it. I had mud in areas I didn’t think mud could get into!

Back at the car, everyone that helped out wanted their share of a tip – the massager, the photographer, the bather, and also the lady who let us change in her dang kitchen. No wonder the local people in the mud bath were just sitting there watching, and no wonder they didn’t let anyone bath them, but just watched is. They knew! Oh well, what was a lousy $10 more dollars between everyone, it was something you don’t get to do very often. We arrived in Cartagena 30min later at our last and final place to stay in Colombia. It was the same place Luke and Kacey stayed at when they met us a few days before and it was actually really nice! The owner was really friendly and served some of the best coffee I had had since my stay in Colombia. He even gave us the name of what he was using and offered his “secret recipe” – cool, as long as I would be able to make it when I got home and didn’t require me to smuggle anything through border patrol.

Team Stertz wanted to head over to the Bocagrande (little Miami) area and see what the Miguels and I had seen when we were there on our first day. I was craving a yummy crepe again so figured why not. We re-traced our steps but went to Playa Tortuga first for a sunset pina colada, then went over to Crepes and Waffles for dinner. I had an EXCELLENT jamon, queso, championones y espagus crepe – OMG, I ate the WHOLE thing! I don’t even recall breathing! Afterward I had to do the touristy shopping thing and headed over to Hard Rock Café to contribute to my glass collection as well as bought a few other unique items along the street market. I always love buying myself something I can wear that when I put it on, brings a smile to my face and all the wonderful memories of my trip come to mind.

We headed towards the center square for our last night of drinks, entertainment, and people watching. There was a large group of people with 2 to 3 tables next to us, just pounding the shots of aguardiente and have a great time singing with the local street singers. They must have been attending a convention in Cartagena, some of them had name badges around their necks still. What was funny was how several of the street singers would try to compete against each other at the different tables by seeing who could sing the loudest. I don’t think any of us cared really who was actually singing, it was the music and the laughter that made it all a good time. We ourselves had several drinks too and just watched and listened – I was thoroughly enjoying my last night in Colombia, my mind absorbing every scent, sound, and sight that was around me. A little past midnight, I hit the sack so I could try to get a decent sleep before a full day of traveling back home. And as I drifted off to sleep, I couldn’t believe all the things I had done in just 10 days. I ventured out of my comfort zone into an experience like no other. And along the way, I had friends to enjoy it with, moments of solitude to reflect on the things and people in my life, and periods of uncertainty that in one aspect frightened me but also helped me grow. The one main thing I was taking home with me though, was a sense my personal values that resurfaced and reminded me of what was important to me in my life… sometimes in life, the right things are the hardest things.

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Posted by: ubignut | July 9, 2008

A night in Santa Marta – Colombia Day 8

OK, what is it with the waking up early? I’m on vacation! Once again, another early morning but this time it was REALLY hot. One reason I wanted the top section of the room was because there was a fan there. However, apparently in the middle of the night, all the power in the camp went out. So everyone was waking up early, hot, and complaining. With nothing really to do and it being too hot to sleep, we figured we’d get an early start to the day and just go hang on the beach. Everyone met for breakfast. I had some money leftover still and made my decision wisely on what to spend it on. I had a huge plate of fruit, some very strong coffee, and arepas with lots of butter (of course). Soooo gooood! I seriously need to learn how to make those things!

Today we were going to venture farther up the coastline to “the Pascina” and then even further up to Cabo beach. Both we heard were much better for swimming and snorkeling. Luke, Kacey and I decided we would head back into town later that day and not spend another evening at Tayrona. We kinda had our hearts set on the volcanic mud bath going back towards Cartagena and so it was a matter of balancing out our travels so we could fit that in and still not feel rushed the day before we were to leave to go home. Besides, I was running low on cash so there wasn’t much left I could have done at the park, and at this point I think I was getting a little restless just not really doing anything and not having much money to do what was there.

We explored the two new beaches, laid out in the sun, swam and snorkeled, took lots more pictures and had a light lunch before trying to figure out how we were going to get back to Toganga. We had two options – boat or cab. Taking a cab would mean we’d have to backpack it all the way back down the coastline, through the donkey pooh again, and then negotiate a fair price for a cab to bring us back to town. Since that seemed like more of a hassle, we decided to check into the boat option which would leave right there from the beach. Luke did his Spanish magic and about 2 hours later, we were off. It was sad saying bye to the Dos Miguels. It seems my travels with Mike are always towards the end of his travel leg so at least I would be seeing him again in a few weeks. I had a great adventure with both of them and definitely would have many fond memories to last me a lifetime. We hugged, did a group photo, and then off we went to catch our boat.

The boat ride was a little longer than an hour, and the sea was very choppy. We we’re in a metal fishing boat with 8 other people feeling like fleeing immigrants trying to make it to the promise land. I’ve been reading “The Life of Pi” on this trip (funny because so was Luke and another guy I met – must be a good travel book to read), and all I could think about was how he survived at sea after his cruise ship had sunk. I have to admit, it was a little creepy. I tried looking for sharks and other threatening sea life in the event that we capsized over, but all I saw was a flying fish, which actually was pretty cool! Then it started raining, got even choppier, and I realized staying dry and safe was problem not going to be an option at this point. There was a girl on the boat too that was starting to get sick. Luckily I wasn’t getting sea sick or anything but just seeing someone else get sick wasn’t my idea of a fun ride. All this lasted about 20min, and we arrived in Taganga cold, wet, and very hungry.

So now we’re in Tagana – hungry, no money and no place to stay… as of yet. We went to Casa Blanca, got our bags, then found a place that accepted credit cards and ordered some food. We didn’t plan on staying there for the night but thought lets at least relax a little with something to eat and drink and then go into Santa Marta and look for a place to sleep. Luke and Kacey were stuck on getting a nice hotel, so that’s what we looked for. In our travel book came a few recommendations and we hit the first one. It was nice, had 5 beds, and was about $30 a person. But at least it was a REAL bed, a REAL shower, and had REAL air conditioning on the Marina and pretty cute outside. I would have paid more! It seems like all my adventure trips always end up at the end with a more luxurious hotel like place and I’m glad – it helps me adjust back into reality!

We decided to look for an ATM and ventured down some side street that were not what I would call, uh.. SAFE?! There appeared to be what looked like prostitutes, rowdy clubs, and quite a few drunken people. We found a bank and I was about to barricade myself in there. I wasn’t sure I wanted to walk back out there with lots of money in my pocket. We went back to the main street and found a place called Ricky’s which seemed to have anything and everything to choose from when it came to cuisine. When you’re hungry, I’d much rather have limited options to choose from instead of 900 options to choose from – everything looked good! Even the wine was good! But after a long day, I was anxious to get back to the hotel room and just crash. Santa Marta wasn’t much of a party kinda town, and I wanted to take advantage of air and bed as much as I could.

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Posted by: ubignut | July 8, 2008

Tayrona National Park – Colombia Day 7

Another early morning to rise. This time I woke to the sounds of music, kids laughing, and engines or motors starting. Here I thought I’d slept in late until I looked over at my watch and saw Ii was 7:15AM! I popped my head up and looked out the window – it was breathtaking, simply beautiful! At this moment I realized I didn’t want to go home at all, and I would love to wake up to a view like this every day. The water was a bright blue, the fishing boats were resting and swaying in the harbor, the light sound of waves hitting the shoreline, and the laughter of kids splashing in the water. All I could do was smile, and just feel so relaxed. I just didn’t have any care in the world at that exact moment, and everything from the day before was erased from my mind. The only thing I wanted to do was get my bathing suit on and be a part of the beauty going on outside.

I walked along the small fishing town and took so many great pictures. I talked to a few locals as well, even in Spanish, although they kept trying to talk to me in English. I think we were all being a little forgiving for screwing up both languages during the conversation. I grabbed my daily morning fruit juice and walked back towards the hotel where I read my book on the patio until I saw the signs of life from others in my group. Since we were making our way to a national park for a few days and coming back, it was best to just pack a light bag for a few days and leave our suitcases with the hotel. Luke helped negotiate a taxi to take us all to the park so we could avoid the bus and double travel time. At the entry of the park, there was a group of armed guards that needed to search our bags and taxi to make sure we’re not bringing anything illegal in. We couldn’t even bring in alcohol, so our taxi driver helped us hide the aguardiente we had in the trunk. It was a little nerve wrecking, but we all cleared the inspection and got dropped off at the furthest east point of the beach – Canaveral. From there we walked about 45minutes through a jungle-like terrain, over the donkey poo, and through the hills to get to the beach area Arricefes. I was so hot and sweaty, even with hardly anything. As we reached Arrecifes, I just kept walking right towards the water, past the check-in area, removing some clothing and bags with every step, and walked right into the Caribbean Ocean.

Aaaaah, the cold water felt so good! And looking around me, it was so beautiful! The waves were big and the current was strong. Apparently this wasn’t a good area for swimming for that very reason, but it was good enough to cool off in and after a few minutes we all got out, grabbed our gear and went soaking wet over to the check-in area to inquire about lodging. Our options for that night were to rent a tent, rent a hammock, or rent a cabin which held only 3 people each. The hammock would have been cool but there were no mosquito nets. We opted for the cabins with bathrooms and fans although it was really small inside and we had a “visitor”…. Gorky and I took the top of the loft area with the two beds, Manning had the downstairs. There was gecko poo everywhere! You’d think I would be used to it after the experience in Thailand, but it was still gross. And looking around, we saw on the wall by Gorky’s bed was our gecko friend, looking at us. Yeay, our own little pet! We dropped off all our stuff and went to hang out at the beach for the afternoon and play in the water. We didn’t have to walk far to get to a non-current area. It was fun in the sun for a few hours, then back to the cabin to take a nap before dinner. As we were hanging out and relaxing with the fan upstairs, we noticed our gecko friend was still in the same spot on the wall. He looked a little pale too – could he be dead? Gorky decided to try and scare it, but it didn’t move. He touched it lightly, it still didn’t move. We had a dead gecko stuck to the wall. Well, at least he wouldn’t be pooing all over the room anymore!

I was running really low on money so I had a very light dinner. In fact, I didn’t really even eat at all because what I ordered turned out to be sooo fried that it didn’t really taste good in the heat, and it wasn’t agreeing with my stomach that hadn’t really eaten friend foods in weeks! So I was SOL on dinner again, but did get a taste of Mike’s fish – man it was good!! The rice was made of a coconut milk… I HAVE to find the recipe for that! Since we had the aguardiente we had snuck in through the guards, we decided to have some drinks by the beach. Except we needed something to do shots in. So Gorky kept his crab shell from dinner, rinsed it out really really good, and off to the beach we went with our aguardiente and crab shell shot glass. I guess you’ll do anything at any point right?

I was off to bed early… with barely any dinner and a few shots, I was feeling a little sleepy and thought it best to just go to sleep. Besides, I’m on vacation and part of that means getting some rest. Tomorrow was another day….

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Posted by: ubignut | July 7, 2008

Don’t mess with the emotional PMS chick – Colombia Day 6

Woke up pretty early this morning, not sure why though. Maybe it was the eagerness to finishing seeing Cartagena before heading out to Toganga. Today we were going to explore the Castillo de San Felipe, then go do some shopping, and lastly, help Manning with a makeover since he was getting a bit shaggy. The castle was pretty cool and fun to explore. There wasn’t a whole lot to it actually, but there were tunnels that you could walk down into and the view of Cartagena from the top of the castle was just so beautiful! We found one tunnel that took us deep down inside the castle and we were unsure if it would lead us out to anything. I felt like Indiana Jones on an adventure, and just waiting for bugs to start filling up the tunnel. Manning and I walked slowly behind, and it was getting darker and wetter in the tunnel. Luke and Gorky flashed their cameras to see what was ahead and I guess they didn’t like what they saw as they started yelling and quickly ran back towards us. We all started screaming, turned around, and ran as fast as we could back to where we entered from. Once we were out, we couldn’t stop laughing. It was like those horror movies where the typical white people have to explore and see what’s going on… well that was us! But overall we still had fun exploring everything.

With all the excitement, we now needed food. Of course, we went to the plaza area again since we could eat there, shop there, and get Mike a manicure too. But for some reason today seemed so much hotter & more humid (and it was only 11am!), and we seemed to be less decisive on what we wanted, and we walked around and around trying to find something to eat. The streets were twice as busy as they had been days before – it almost seemed like I was in a different city! There were double the street vendors with food and goods to sell. I was starving but more so now I wanted to shop instead of eat, but I was starving. As much as I was ready to settle on eating the local yummy street food, we finally found a cute little restaurant to dine at. What we thought was a simple order of juices and ceviche all around turned into a nightmare lunch. I was already feeling crabby from the heat and hunger, and I just wanted something refreshing. Lunches in Colombia are really big and fulfilling, and the lunch specials all reflect that. So we ordered off the regular menu just to get something small and quick. Negative. What we thought was simple took over 40min to arrive. The drinks alone took 25-30 min! Now I was even more irritated because the seats were getting uncomfortable, I was thirsty and people who sat and ordered way after we did were served and almost done with their meals – that’s because they ordered the lunch special! Then when the ceviche finally came, it was not edible. There was this nasty sauce that the shrimp were smothered in, and at this point I didn’t even want it. I just wanted out of the restaurant. We left and was about to go shopping when it started to rain. This would have been good for bargaining, but bad for browsing. I bought a few things but was now ready to get the heck out of dodge and start fresh in a new place. Over to Exito (Colombia’s version of a Wal-mart) we stocked up on some travel goodies and snacks, headed over to the hotel, and then relaxed in a minivan for the next 3 hours as we made our way to Toganga.

Toganga is a very very cute little fishing village that seemed very popular with backpackers. I can see why though, it was so chill and just relaxing. We didn’t have any reservations, but there weren’t that many places to stay at so we chanced it and cabbed it to the first place we had recommended to us from others back in cartagena. They had enough beds to accommodate us all, except one didn’t have a mosquito net, and since I had just seen a moth the size of my foot, I was a little leery on what else we might encounter there too. A few in our group went to explore the other sleeping areas and report back to us on what they found, this way we were dragging everything with us everywhere. Not to mention, the quicker we could find a place, the faster we could grab some food since we hadn’t eaten since the awful lunch back in Cartagena. An hour later and a big confusion with beds and locations, etc, we separated and ended up back all together at a place called Casa Blanca literally right on the beach. I had my own room that overlooked the water and marina, and the others shared a room upstairs.

We were lucky to find a place still open since it was past 10pm now. But we ordered some drinks and food and just sat back and relaxed with some music in the background, trying to unwind from the long crazy day we had. It seemed like such an emotional day, could have been the PMS.  I think I just had an emotional breakdown trying to do what everyone wanted to do and make sure everyone was happy and content. I was happy to just have the day behind us and ready to eat some dinner. Everyone’s food was coming out and it looked really good! But… mine never came. And my refreshing drink I was waiting for didn’t come either. We had to remind the guy a few times, and I think they just wanted us to leave so they could go home – I didn’t blame them! Finally a fruit drink came my way, I took a few bites of some leftovers on a few plates and then just called it a night. With the day I had, it was probably a good thing I had my own room to tuck and hide away into. I knew today was just a bad day… tomorrow would be better.

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Posted by: ubignut | July 6, 2008

The islands and the oceanrio – Colombia Day 5

Not sure taking a boat ride was a good idea after a late late night of dancing and drinking. In from the night before at 3:30am, we headed out at 7:30am over to the marina area to catch our boat that would take us for a tour along the outer islands of Cartagena. The ride to Isla del Rosario was 3 hours, and not a fun ride. We were all tired, hungry and hungover, and the weather was getting hot. There were lots of people on the boat, families and newlyweds and singles, and I was just not really being tolerable of crowds at the moment. Finally we landed and our first stop was the oceanario for an hour. It was their version of an aquarium but everything was outside, sectioned off in the ocean. There was a small dolphin show, a shark feeding show, and then explanations of other fish and turtles that were there too. We boarded back onto the boat again and sailed over to Playa Blanca on Isla de Baru for some beach rest and fun. We laid out in our chairs, ate and drank coconut, and enjoyed the sun while fending off beach vendors every 30 seconds. I’m ok with eating varieties of food, but I can’t deal with food that still has heads attached. So when it came time for lunch I had to skip most of it as I couldn’t eat fish with a fish head and tail still attached. The Miguels went and did a little snorkeling after lunch and I just wanted some quiet solitary time to enjoy the island. The boat ride home seemed shorter than the ride in the morning, I think it was only 2 hours this time. Once back at the mainland, we went back to the hotel and rested for an hour with showers, emails to friends and family, etc.

Dinner again was back over at Plaza de Santo Domingo – it was THE area for dinner, drinks, and people watching! I was mellow with pizza and pina coladas – it was our last night in Cartagena so we made the best of it even with everyone being tired from the night before and the long day we just had. We did however call it an early night that night – well somewhat. Tomorrow we had a little more time in Cartagena for sightseeing and shopping before heading over to Santa Marta & Toganga.

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Posted by: ubignut | July 5, 2008

Exploring Cartagena – Colombia Day 4

In the cab, driving from the bus station to our next dwelling, you wouldn’t have known Cartagena was a popular romantic destination with beautiful scenery, warm beaches and great food. The neighborhoods in which we had to drive through were pretty shady and run down. At one point, the cab driver had to scream at guys who were behind the cab and possibly trying to get at our bags in the trunk. But as we headed more towards the beach and inner wall area, it was definitely all that Cartagena had come to be known for.

We settled into the Casa Vienna which would be our home for the next couple of days.   It’s in the Getsemani area and located close to almost everything. This time I had my own room and bathroom, and the Dos Miguels shared a room with a few others. After the long trip, I needed to freshen up and just settle in, so after unpacking and taking a nice long cold shower, we set on foot to adventure the walled city around us. The older part of Cartagena is the main attraction area which is pretty much the “inner wall” part of town. Here we found lots of churches, shops and restaurants all in a huge plaza area with many streets leading to the outer wall. The wall, also known as “Las Murales” was established back in the 16th century to protect the town from enemies. There is so much detail in the architecture, so much color in the buildings and churches, and lots of street life and beauty around every corner that you turn. I would say it’s a cross between Spain and New Orleans.

Cartagena was where we were to meet Luke and Kacey so until they arrived, we walked all around the Plaza de la Aduana and saw many things: The statue of Christopher Columbus, La Iglesia de San Pedro Clever, Plaza de Bolivar, Plaza de Santa Domingo (which would turn out to be the evening hangout each night), and a Hard Rock Café. These historical attractions were along the cobblestone streets lined with many restaurants and shops, from Prada to touristy souvenir shops, which at one time the touristy shops used to be the 23 dungeons built into the city wall. The streets were like a maze within the wall. Every corner you turned had something new to offer and take you deeper into the walled city. We made our way outside towards the beach and waded in the water for a bit. It was a beautiful view looking up and down along the beach and water. Along the south end of the beach you could see many high rise hotels. We named it “Miami” since it looked exactly like it! It of course intrigued us too and we hopped on the bus towards that area to explore more. We had no idea where we wanted to get off at, but we saw a Crepes and Waffles place and thought “let’s enjoy a nice little snack while we figure it out”. So yummy!!!! We headed towards the beach and found a cute little bar where we could have a drink, put our feet in the sand, and watch the sunset. The beach was still crowded with people and vendors, but everything was so quiet and still. And for a few minutes, It’s like there was a moment of silence for the sun to say goodbye. I took a deep breath and just had to pinch myself a little to realize that I was actually in Colombia on the beach.

We headed back to the hotel and ran into Luke and Kacey who’d just shown up. They had to stay at another place down the street, but we planned to rest for a bit, let them settle in and then all meet up for dinner. About an hour later, all dressed up and ready to go out, we started out with dinner in the walled area at a place called El Burladod de Seville. OMG was it good!!! Aye Rico! The sangria was perfect, the food delicious, and the music in the background just set the right atmosphere. I truly felt like I was in South America. And with full bellies we set out in happy spirits to find a local club for some dancing and fun. We danced for hours, socialized with the local crowd, and tackled quite a few bottles of the aguardiente that night – it was late to bed, early to rise….

On a side note: Manning had read online that explosives were found all around the city of Bogotá as retaliation for Ingrid and the hostages being rescued. Good thing we got out of Bogotá when we did.

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Posted by: ubignut | July 4, 2008

Flying high in Medellin – Colombia Day 3

It’s July 4th – Independence Day. I don’t think I could have spent it better any other way (except I could have captured it all on video to remember it!). Besides Christmas time and Cinco de Mayo, July 4th is one of my favorite holidays. I love the feeling of a summer day, with no work, sunning on the beach, the smell of BBQ, hanging with friends, and then the excitement of fireworks later in the night. But this year I created a new excitement – I paraglided off a mountain in Medellin.

We decided a few days before that we would definitely do this while visiting Medellin. The night before was a late night of drinking and we were all hoping that when we woke up this morning that we wouldn’t be too hung over (or too sick) from the Aguardiente that we wouldn’t be able to go. Not a chance, we were all ready (and a little tired)! So up we rose and headed to the bus station to get a local bus to take us up the top of the mountain. It took us an hour at least to drive up to the top. If the parachuting wasn’t going to get me sick, the bus ride sure did! We arrived at the mountain top to a restaurant and look out point and were met by one of the guys in the group who told us we had to now climb the steep but small little hill to the actual “top” where we would meet our tandem team member and they would suit us up. As he takes off on his moped, I’m thinking “why are we hiking up and he’s riding?”…. I wanted a ride up! :)

The weather was great. The sky was clear and sunny. The birds were flying around at eye level with us. As we stood there waiting a little bit, a small prop plane flew right near us and headed down the mountain. It was just so very cool to be that high up and overlooking all of the city below us. It was so big! And very heavily populated! Other jumpers were taking off and it seemed like no problem at all. I was so excited and eager to go, not even scared at all. I was the smallest so apparently the first to go in my group. OMG!! Ok, now I was a bit nervous. I didn’t know what to do and I hadn’t watched the people before me too closely. Breathe….breathe… I could totally do this…. I was called over to where the parachute laid spread out on the ground and they strapped me up and strapped me in. I was doing this… no turning back now. My adrenaline was pumping, my heart was racing and three guys were all speaking at me in Spanish and I’m getting all confused and yet I heard “Corre!” and I just ran my little legs as fast as I could and next thing I know my feet are running in the air and we’re lifted off the mountainside and just floating in the sky! It was amazing!

I took in everything I could from that 25 min of being airborne. I felt weightless, just flying through the air overlooking the countryside at one side, and the city on the other. Birds were flying beside me, and we just drifted over trees and houses and animals. I was literally breath taken at how peaceful I felt. My partner didn’t talk, and I didn’t talk. I just soaked it all up and reflected on the moment, and how I wish I could feel more at peace in my life. About 15 minutes later, the silence broke, and my partner asked me (in Spanish) if I wanted to do swirls? Sure! Why the heck not! Except I forgot I had been drinking some strong, local devil juice the night before AND I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet! The thought enhanced my excitement and my adrenaline but it probably wasn’t a good idea on my empty stomach. No…. I didn’t throw up. Although as we made our loops of circles in the air, I laughed hysterically all the way. I laughed so hard I was practically in tears! And just as I do at Disneyland on the rollercoaster’s, I laughed out all my fears, all my worries, and all my stress. And then I realized it wasn’t everything from that moment, but everything I’ve been carrying for months! All the crazy, hectic crap in my life at that moment just went “c-ya later, buh-bye”… and all I could think was that I was so glad that I did this at the beginning of my trip to Colombia!

The landing hurt. It was a big thud on my ass but I was still on such an adrenaline high that I didn’t care. I took off all my gear, checked I could still walk, and then looked up and realized what I just did and where I came from. Amazing! If I could have high fived myself, I would have. Now it was a matter of playing the waiting game for the boys to come down. And I waited… and waited… and waited… The my tandem partner tells me “time to go”… Que?? Huh?? Wha??? He says “I’m taking you to the metro station”… again… huh?? I told him I was waiting for my amigos. And he tells me “they will meet you at the metro station”… hhmmmm. Something’s not adding up here. Not wanting to risk being left behind, I hopped in the cab with them, they dropped me off at the metro station, and he said “thank you, bye bye”… Luckily I had ridden the metro the day before (when we ventured into the ghetto) so I knew where I was and what to do. But what I didn’t know was where the heck Coconut and Gorky were at. Should I stay or should I go?? Donde estan los Miguels??? (I bet you’re wondering that as well right?) So…turns out they hadn’t even jumped yet! It’s now been an hour at almost since I jumped and here the boys were stuck at the top of the mountain still (ah, the wonders of cell phones and texting). Gorky said it started raining right after I jumped and so they were pretty much stuck there waiting for the weather to cooperate. They hadn’t even jumped yet, and it could be an hour, could be two… who knew! Well, darn. But I wasn’t going to let this damper the rest of my time in Medellin, so I decided to take this opportunity to go site seeing. I went back to the Pit Stop, got my travel book and made my way to the bustling downtown area. I picked up some tasty snacks from the street vendors, looked at some historical churches, walked down a few street markets to eye the good being sold, and then sat for a few minutes and people watched. It was very busy! After about 2 hours, I finally met up with the Mike’s. The met me downtown and we walked around the botero square – a big park filled with large Botero statues. We walked around a bit and played tourist with our cameras, then headed to a local fruit market (there seemed to be some SHADY people following us so we stayed long enough for a fruit smoothie, a walk down the stands and then we left).

None of us had really eaten a full meal that day, and we still had to get to the 8:30 bus to take us to Cartagena. We headed back to our favorite Zona Rosa area where all the great food was and the good looking people were out for the night. I had a glass of wine and some pizza. We had just been commenting on how we didn’t really want to leave and it would be good to stay one extra night here in Medellin, when within minutes it started pouring rain! Yeah, we didn’t feel bad for leaving then. We finished up dinner, got our bags from The Pit Stop and headed to the bus station. We missed the 8:30pm bus and had an hour to spare for the next one. So we stocked up on travel munchies and bundled up as much as we could – we learned our lesson from the last bus ride on how cold it could get! I had bought a hoodie sweatshirt from the Juan Valdez coffee shop thinking that would help me even more.

The bus was newer than the last one and seemed more comfortable. It rained all night and the ride was much longer than the one from Bogota to Medellin. It was also twice as cold too – I froze my damn culo off. Juan Valdez failed in his attempt to keep me warm! I had the hoodie on backwards and the hood part over my face while my neck pillow warmed my neck, and it was somewhat doing the job. I didn’t get much sleep at all that night. All I could keep thinking of was how darn cold I was, and thawing out on the sunny beaches of Cartagena. I later found out that we were transporting meat below the bus so they had to keep it extra cold in order for it to not go bad.

In the morning, the rain had stopped, it was still cold inside, and the bus was starting to get really uncomfortable. People were getting off in various towns along the way and that opened a few seats. I moved to the one in front of me and stretched out and tried to sleep a little more. I watched the the countryside through the window, this time the scenery was much more beach like than when we were on our way to Medellin. It was more tropical rather than rainforest like. It was very serene, very untouched, and very picturesque. I fell asleep and woke up just as we were pulling into Cartagena.

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Posted by: ubignut | July 3, 2008

Welcome to Medellin, come judge a swimsuit competition – Colombia Day 2

Thank goodness for ear plugs. As soon as the bus left the station, the lights went out and a baby started crying a few rows back from us. They were also playing Mr. Bean’s Holiday Vacation very loudly and something about an English actor dubbed in Spanish wasn’t my idea of an entertaining movie. So I put my ear plugs in, adjusted my neck pillow, and drifted off to sleep.

Overall I slept pretty good, and more than the guys did. The bus was comfortable to say the least, but it was VERY cold and I wasn’t warmly prepared. I woke up here and there because I felt the bus stopping a lot throughout the trip. I kept wondering why, and often I would peek out the window to see what was going on, but it was raining and dark out and there wasn’t much to see. I think I even had a dream that during one of the stops, militia men came aboard and asked “where are you hiding the Americans?” Damned that guard at the church telling us about the hostages, now I’m going to have nightmares! A few times that I looked out, I would see lightening, and it would light up the mountainside that we were going over. The views were beautiful and in some way, comforting. As it started going from dark to light, the mountainside became breathtaking with the rich, green leaves, and the fog or clouds rolling in. We passed by creeks and crossed over rivers. I saw big houses and run down shacks. Along the roadside were horses and cows (red cows!) and donkeys. And there were people walking along the road, in the middle of nowhere, going to work. Where was work??

We stopped at a rest stop and I got a bite of pollo soup. It was tasty and very welcomed. But mostly the stretching and bathroom break was great. There was a bathroom on the bus, but I was not about to go in there!! Back on the bus I fell back asleep. The soup warmed me up and I forgot about the freezing air that was blowing around me – definitely I’m buying a blanket for the next bus ride! As we kept driving on I admired the yellow and red flowers in the middle of all the greenery. In one spot you’d see a statue of Mother Mary holding baby Jesus, and then a mile later there were signs in Spanish with men that had war painted faces. Every now and then you’d see armed soldiers walking down the roadway, in the middle of nowhere, holding their rifles out for all to see. One area we passed must have been the soldier’s station where they were sitting around tanks, washing their uniforms in a bucket and standing guard.

39km outside of Medellin we passed through a small town called Marinilla, it had been flooded from the rains over the past few days. But kids were happily playing with a balloon, tossing it in the air, and not even concerned about the standing water throughout the town.

We arrived in Medellin around 10am – we were all so happy to get off that bus. The air was a little muggy so I’m guessing it had just rained. We got a taxi and made our way over to the “Pit Stop” hostel which was located in the Southeast end of the city, near the Zona Rosa (Red Zone) area. That is where you usually find the good nightlife and restaurants. Coconut and Gorky were really tired from hardly any sleep on the bus, and they napped for a few hours while I read and explored the grounds. We were in a dorm style room, me with the top bunk again. We had two roomies with us who were passed out, and the room reeked of smelly feet – ugh! The bathroom was big! It had a jacuzzi tub, a sauna, and a shower, except that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go in any of it considering the people that came through there daily. To get away from the smell, I went outside for some fresh air and read by the pool. The place was nice and big, but the rest of the guests were not big on talking and came off very unfriendly. Then it started raining so I went back to the smelly room, opened the window a bit by my bed and laid there watching the rain fall. The boys finally got up, the rain eventually stopped and we all got ready and headed out for some food. Oh what a treat! We ended up at this restaurant called Basilica with a great ambiance and menu option. The food was excellent – we started with tomatoes stuffed with beef, bacon, onions, and cheese with even more loads of cheese melted on top. I had a steak entrée with mozzarella cheese and mushrooms smothered all over it. Omg! I was so ready to pop!

Afterwards we waddled our way to the metro station thinking we would just go venture to the other side of town and see things via the metro line. We got off at Estacion Andalucia and continued on to a cable car that took us way up into the “not so nice” part of the city, but where the views were amazing. You can see the whole city from the top – it was so big, and so heavily populated with house after house, packed so tightly together. We really stood out from the others in the neighborhood. It was like Beverly Hills meets Compton. But the kids there were talkative and asking questions (more so to Gorky since people were attracted to the tall, blonde, white boy!) The adults just smiled at us and stared. It was a little uncomfortable and so we stayed just a few minutes to take some pictures and then quickly left.

We headed back to the Pit Stop and got ready for dinner. It rained off and on through the day so we were hoping to be spared at dinner – we didn’t hope hard enough. Every place that looked good in the square was packed, and considering it was raining heavily now, we just wanted to get out of the rain. So we ate at a place called San Y Carbon. It was a little light on the people there to eat, but it seemed nice enough to hang there and have a few drinks while we let the rain pass by. A few appetizers, some wine and some shots of aguardiente later, we were ready to go out, but it was still pouring! We ran to one place that had good music, but the guys thought it was a “sausage fest”. So we ran to another recommended place that turned out to be hosting a swimsuit competition! The boys enjoyed it immensely of course, and I just kicked back, had a few more rounds of shots and danced a bit to the music. We all were not feeling up to walking back to our place in the rain so we took a taxi, but us feeling tipsy after a few shots was nothing compared to how the driver was probably feeling after the joint he just smoked before picking us up. Wow that taxi just reeked of marijuana! Back in the dorm room, I safely climbed up to the top bunk and passed out – clothes on and all.

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Posted by: ubignut | July 2, 2008

Sightseeing in Bogota – Colombia Day 1

I woke up this morning and it took me about 5 seconds to realize that I was really in Colombia. Yesterday was a full day of traveling. I left LAX at around 6am and landed in Miami 5 hours later, only to have a 4hr layover instead of 2hr, an hour and a half of which was sat on the plane itself on the runway due to a thunderstorm that started as we were ready to taxi off. And by the time I got to Bogotá from Miami, got a cab, and got to the hostel where the boys were staying, it was almost 11pm and nothing was open. I was hungry, but so glad to be off the plane and hanging with the Mike’s. Beds were already claimed by the time I got in so I was given the top bunk. I didn’t mind so much, and actually it was fun – it was like being kids again and having a sleepover. Except when I got up to get out of bed, I had to remember that I couldn’t just roll over and get out!

One place I REALLY wanted to see while visiting Bogotá was “Andres Carne de Res”. At least 5 different people told me about it, yet I found out before I left for Colombia that it was only open Thurs – Sunday, and I was arriving on Tues, leaving on Wednesday :( . I think I even considered changing my flight to get me in a few days earlier, but it wasn’t worth the cost. It’s basically a legendary steakhouse that will literally blow you away with amazing food and a party-like-a-rock star festive attitude. It’s north of Bogotá a bit but well worth the hassle as a tourist to try to get out there, unless there’s someone you know that can take you. The Mike’s were able to go the Sunday before I arrived with Manning’s friend Santiago who he had met in Brazil but lives in Bogotá. It just so happened to be a holiday weekend in Colombia so when they went, apparently it was dead – no party party like it should’ve been. So they didn’t get to experience it as best they could. Such a bummer for them, altho my selfish only child inner attitude was secretly happy since I didn’t get to go *insert evil laugh here*…. Thank goodness I didn’t change my flight eh?

We were going to do some touristy Bogotá sightseeing today before heading out to Medellin via bus tonight. The Mike’s had already been in Bogotá a few days and explored some historical areas, but they saved the museums and other stuff for me. We were in the Candelaria area, pretty much the heart of Bogotá. The area is packed with museums, craft markets, cafes, and churches. We all got up and took showers and packed our bags up, then headed out to find some breakfast. We came across a very cute little french style cafe and had eggs. I was dying to get a good cup of Colombian coffee – aah so bold, umm so rich, and oh so good! Before we could even finish eating our breakfast we started eyeing the dessert pastries. Is there such a thing as breakfast dessert? The fruit tarts tasted lovely, and with our bellies full, we didn’t know if we should start our sightseeing or go back for a nap!

The path to the inner market area was full of great architecture and character. Narrow, cobblestone-like streets and bright colorful buildings surrounded us. Flowers were in almost every windowsill or balcony on the 2nd floor. And local vendors called out from the doorways whatever it was they were selling to get our attention and interest. Our first stop was the Botero Museum which is a permanent exhibition of works of art donated by Fernando Botero, Colombia’s most famous artist. The 208-piece collection contains 123 of Botero’s own works – anything from sculptures, paintings, and drawings – as well as works of art from other artists like Picasso, Matisse, Monet, Danli and Renoir – a few of which are my favorite from the Impressionist era. Right next door was the Casa de la Moneda (the Money House or “The Mint”). There we viewed collections of coins and bills, and a very old South American money press. Not as exciting as the previous display of artwork, but what the heck. We also toured the Museo del Oro (Museum of Gold), but not the original one. This one was a modified version of the exhibit since the original one was under renovation. Apparently the Museo del Oro contains more than 34,000 gold pieces from all major pre-hispanic cultures in Colombia and it’s arguably the most important gold museum in the world. I’m not really a big fan of gold, but i was sorta excited to see what all the hype was about. Except we didn’t see 34,000 pieces of gold – we saw more like 34 pieces… definitely wasn’t impressive.

Mike called up Santiago and he eagerly met us for lunch. Santiago’s a lawyer in Bogotá and apparently there wasn’t much to do that day so he was open to meeting us for some food. He also wanted to get together later in the evening after work too – of course us LA people never turn down a good happy hour invitation :) So with half the day behind us now, we still had a few other sights to conquer and continued to the Plaza de Bolivar square. Surrounding the square is a number of important buildings such as the palace of justice, the seats of congress, the mayor’s office, the presidential guards, and the cathedral. None of the buildings are open to the public except for the cathedral which was absolutely beautiful inside with its neoclassical design. Inside the square are a number of vendors selling you telephone minutes and giant roasted ants (yeah, didn’t go there). We stood sort of in the middle and circled ourselves around to take in each view from north, to south, to east, to west. Van Gorkom stood out to everyone, with his tall, blonde stature. Girls would stare and giggle and people would call him Gringo. It was so great to see Mike try and speak Spanish. People were in “awh” of him like he was God – they would just stare. It was pretty amusing. Maybe they thought he was famous? After spending some time in the plaza we headed over to the Church of Santa Clara which was now open as a museum. Everything else had been free to enter thus far, but this place was charging $2. We figured it must be good if they are charging, and there was an exhibit of some sort being shown too – woo hoo, bonus! Yeah…well… big negative on the expectations being met. I say if you’re going to go there, don’t expect that the $2 donation is getting you anything better than just a donation to help fund the daily upkeep. Dont’ get me wrong, it was pretty inside. The hand carvings of the biblical characters were beautiful. But it was really short. I think it was about the size of my condo actually. Anyhow, while we were inside, we had a lost in translation moment. The security guard spoke only spanish and was very hard to understand. But basically it went something like this (based on what we thought we heard or understood):

Guard: Are you American?
Us: yes
Guard: Did you hear about the American hostages that were kidnapped?
Us: first freaking out, then thinking WTF?? Then replying: Kidnapped?
Guard: yes, the American’s that were kidnapped
Us: first thinking where’s the internet when you need it right now? and get me the next flight out of Bogotá!
Guard: something something, then the words Ingrid and the words FARC
Us: puzzled looks and still very confused
<Van Gorkom gets on iPhone and confirms via CNN or yahoo news that there were no hostages actually taken, but hostages released>
Us: oh! Hostages were released!
Guard: yes, yes, yes… then he’s probably thinking “dumbasses, that’s what I said!”
Us: letting out a big sigh of relief…. thinking thank goodness we’re safe… and then knowing that Kris’ mom is just about freaking out right about now hearing the news.

So after the heart stopping drama of whether Americans were being kidnapped or actually being released, we continued with the rest of the non-impressive photo exhibit in the church. I think the church itself was more interesting to see inside than the exhibit of “faces” and “blurred photos” that some guy took and decided to call it art. Anyhow, exiting couldn’t have been fast enough for us, and we made our way down the street to the Museum of Police history. Here is where we met Armando, our police guide who took us literally… on a 2 hour tour. It was very interesting in the beginning. We learned of all the issues with Pablo Escobar and how the police were involved in tracing his steps, trying to take him down, etc. That was cool. Then we saw the gun floor. Many cool, different styles of guns. That was cool. Then we got to the area where I consider the “other country” part – here they had dolls and patches and different hats and collectables from other police officials in other countries. It was an impressive collection, and we all kinda wondered why they had so many dolls to play with etc. But it didn’t come with any juicy, cool, bloody details like Pablo had. And after a few hours, it was definitely time to go. He was such a great guide and very informative. But it was starting to get happy hour time and we had to say adios to senor policia.

Walking back from the police museum we made a detour to La Puerta Falsa – a 370 year old house by the cathedral and is Bogotá’s, and possibly Colombia’s, oldest operating place to eat. It serves local snacks like tamales, chocolate santafereno (hot chocolate with cheese and bread), and sweets since as far back as 1816. We ordered practically one of everything. But me… 1) not really being that much of a sweets person, and 2) not liking chocolate, well, I had about 3-4 bites total and called it a day. They were good! But I just can’t handle all that sugar – I’m hyper enough as it is! We decided to try and find a drinking place close to our place since we had to go back and get our bags. We stumbled upon this crazy little small circle-like area with a few stores and restaurants, but mainly there were just a bunch of backpackers and locals hanging out in the center, playing guitar, and smokin’ a little herbal stuff. It looked like a mellow place to hang, and the music was sounding really good. So we walked into the bar on the corner called MalAbar. Very very cool. It had to have been an old hotel or house that was converted into a restaurant. There were multiple rooms and each room was sectioned off and decorated so that you could have some privacy in your discussions. From couches to coffee tables, candles and cool décor, you felt like you were chillin’ in your own house actually. The music was good – a crazy playlist we saw the guy managing and sorting through for what to play next. It took me by surprise that he was using Winamp! Were they still around??… the music selection was awesome, the drinks were good, and our appetizers were delicious. They had this avocado that was cut in half, and in the pit area they put bacon, corn and onion. It was sooo delicious! I definitely have to make that at home! It was at this place too, and all in the first day of our trip, that we discovered traveling with 2 guys both named Mike was gonna be a slight problem, or maybe just annoying. Every time I said Mike, they both would answer! So we decided to come up with nicknames. Manning was amused by “Coconut” who was Pablo Escobar’s right hand man! So Mike wanted to be Coconut. Van Gorkom was trying to think of something when I reminded him that at work, Gorky is trying to get started as his nickname. So he agreed that Gorky was it!

As Tesla finished up playing “The Final Countdown” in the background, we said goodbye and headed back to the Anandamayi Hostel to get our bags. Santiago drove us to the bus terminal and helped negotiate a bus fare to Medellin. Within an hour we had our bags on the bus, we were all settled in our seats, and we started out on our 9+ hour bus ride…

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Posted by: ubignut | July 1, 2008

Just a little travel through the jungles of Colombia…

Lately my world traveling friend Mike has been stepping up his inquisition of when I’m planning to meet him in South America. I figured if I didn’t just go and do it now, I was probably going to miss the opportunity. So… I’m going to Colombia! My mom wasn’t too thrilled at first when I told her. And my friends have all been saying “oh my god, why are you going THERE?”… but I’m very very excited and I can’t wait.

My girlfriend Norma’s husband is from Colombia and he (Javier) has been giving me lots of details on the cities. I also won’t be traveling with just Mike either – my good buddy Mike with whom I work with is going to join also – woohoo! And just talking to another buddy of mine, Luke, he and his sister are planning to meet us for a few days while they attend a wedding in Miami. So this is now turning into a group trip which will be much more fun!

As a kid, I remember one of my favorite movies was “Romancing the Stone”, and I’m surprised how not many people have seen that movie. It’s a GREAT movie!!! But in the movie they had an adventure going from Bogota to Cartagena which seems to be my travel path as well. I bought a book to familiarize myself with places we were planning to go. The towns, countryside, and definitely the beaches, look absolutely beautiful! So why fear? If Joan Wilder can do it, so can I! And with Pablo Escobar dead for years and the country trying to turn itself around, what’s a little rumble through the jungle gonna harm? haha

This time I’m planning to not pack as much as I did in Thailand since it was kind of a bummer having to carry all that stuff around. And if we spend most of our time at the beaches, I’m guessing my daily wardrobe will consist of a bikini, shades, a towel, and a coconut drink.

Bring on the coconut drinks….

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