El capital de Colombia

Okay, so – here we are, in Bogota. So much stuff to do.Where to start? How about a freshly squeezed fruit juice for a dollar? Or maybe have a delicious lunch including soup, juice and some excellent meat for 2,50$?

Well, in fact, we spent our first night watching Mr Bean. :) Always reminds me of happy family afternoons and/or evenings in front of the TV. ;)

Bogota’s weather is pretty annoying these days. Usually the day starts off sunny, but before noon clouds cover the sky, announcing the daily afternoon rain. After dusk the rain stops, even though the clouds remain… Temperatures are freezing cold, around 15-20°C. Not as hot as some happy chappies would imagine December in Latin America, but well… ain’t no use in complaining, as Bryan Adams already knew.

And we don’t complain anyway. Went to a tourist office to gain a deeper insight into the stuff to be done. Some Colombian school kids were around as well. After like two minutes their teacher approached us to shyly ask if these kids were allowed to greet us! Sooo cute! Well, of course they were. And then we had to teach them how to say “hi” in German, answer questions about our home countries, our current mission and our destiny. Sooooo cute! That teacher explained that these kids don’t meet to many gringos, but they were astoundingly curious. And cute. ^^

The streets here are already covered with Christmas decoration, Santa Claus runs around and asks money for pictures taken with him, and we even found a totally overpriced kind of Christmas market, selling art, local craftsmanship and a lot of senseless stuff. Doesn’t feel like Christmas here at all. Even though at least the temperatures are kind of winterish.

So – how to spent cold, grey & rainy days? We started off at the Museodel Oro, the gold museum. Besides loads of gold treasures from what many people refer to as the “El Dorado” (a pile of gold and other valuables the Incas sunk in a nearby lake to sacrifice it to their gods), we had the honor to see a special exhibition about former Latin American cultures, like the Mayas, Incas and Aztecs. Incredibly interesting! Did you know, that even these days there are actually more people speaking Nahuatl (the indigenous Maya language) than Swiss German? *hahaha*

Another pretty stunning, though unfortunately these days totally touristy sight is the salt cathedral. Some 2 hours out of town, a former salt mine transformed time after time into a cathedral, as mine workers started to build some crosses into their dug-outs – in case the mine should start tumbling down, they could still send their last prayers up to heaven. These days, the whole mine converted into a three-storey-high tourist attraction, including a 3D-movie cinema, a dug-out featuring a light show that could easily transform into a discotheque on week-ends as well as souvenir shops and even a café! Incredible. In my opinion, this place is totally exploited and therefore spoiled. A shame. But – it’s still quite impressive to look at what these mine workers built up down there! :)

The next day, after some exhausting hike, we enjoyed the marvelous view from a hill nearby above Bogota. Massive.Absolutely massive.

Of course, we also had check out the nightlife in such a huge city. And, hey – I’d call it totally terrific! Well – on week-ends. We went out Saturday night to find some 11 blocks (!!!!!) incredibly crowded with people, bar after bar, club after club. Unfortunately, as gringos we weren’t as beloved as we could have wished for, but hey – life ain’t a kids birthday. The main problem is, that obviously many Latinos can’t handle our unbeatable charm, and just don’t know how to react when encountering some guys as good-looking as us. ;) So, whenever all those lovely ladies pushed us over to the dance floor, we found enough other dudes trying to build up a barrier between them and us within minutes… well, well, jealousy is just for losers… ;) I still got my first, private “How to dance Reggaeton in Colombia-“ lesson. ^^

Believe it or not – we went to that same area some three days later, just to find it completely dead! La Villa had its famous “Gringo Tuesday” celebrations going on – but the rest of the street was empty! Weird story… No clue where all those party animal had gone…

All I can say for sure is that we were gone the next day as well. Off to Neiva, some further eight hours to be spent in a bus. It was kind of sad to leave, as after six days we had found “our crew”, some fun people to hang out with. But you never know – paths always cross twice, they say…

Backtrekking - Right into the Jungle!

So, here we are now. In Bogota, Colombia's capital. Approximately 8.25 million inhabitants live here these days. Many of them came during those hard years when the government confiscated huge strips of land in order to fight cocaine cultivation. They were all looking for a safer, better life, a job to earn a decent living... and so many ended up in poverty. Crime is big down here, they say, and many dreams have been shattered in this valley or on the hills surrounding it. But I haven't been here for long. I can't judge from my own experience.

All I know is, that yesterday morning the whole world looked totally different to us.Well, we better start 3 days ago. We took the bus to the National Park entrance. After our bags had been checked for alcohol, we were allowed to pay the entrace fee: 35.000 Col$ (18US$) for everyone - except for sneaky German "students". They only pay 7.000 Col$ (3.5US$). Bämm, babe, we're sooo damn cool! ^^


Anyway - off we went into the park. Some 40 mins walking were planned, we took some 1.5 hrs or so. Just to enjoy the nature. Look at that - and you'll know why!

So we hiked over rocks...

...waded through (sometimes knee-deep) water...

...and all that, to finally reach this place: Arrecifes. :)

Booked a hammock for 6US$ a night and spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out at the beach on some waste-built bench, talking and laughing, learning how to breakdance and exercising our bodies... :)

Next day. Even before the sun could rise, we were already wearing our swimshorts. Right, we slept in them. *lol* Life is amazing, if all you need is a pair of swimmers and a happy mood.

Oh, and - don't forget the sunscreen! :)

After some nights' sleep we left Arrecifes. Cabo de San Juan was like 30 mins away - way too little for us. So we got lost in the jungle for a while, watching out for massive butterflies...

...and pretending to be hobbits... :)

Finally we foundthe right track. Pretty easy - just head down to the beach and follow the sand...

...pass through rivers...

...always underneath shady palm trees...

...until we finally reached Cabo de San Juan,

where Gin found her personal tree trunk,

Julez his personal rock,

and I my personal palm tree. :)

However, two days were enough in paradise. We decided to go back. Three options were all we had: No. 1: Take the boat. No. 2: Take the same route back that brought us here. No. 3: Go right into the jungle, climb up to "El Pueblito", a former, little village of Tayrona Indians (guess why the National Park's name is Tayrona) *g*) and over some hills down to the second entrance/exit point. Of course, we chose No. 3. And, hey - I might have been mistaken when I first thought that that might take another 45 minutes... we had some five hours hiking to do! With all our luggage on our backs! Damn hard task, sweat was dripping out of every single pore we have... but hey, again - that stunning nature is soooo rewarding! I love it! :)

Well, we reached the exit point, perfectly timed to watch the first half of FC Barcelona kicking AC Milan's ass. :) A bus brought us back to Santa Marta, Julez & I did some shopping, while Gin was watching our luggage, and finally we grabbed a cab to the bus terminal - and (possibly) got almost robbed! Our cab driver tried for like five minutes to call some friend, which made me suspicious. He finally reached someone, just to tell him in Spanish "Tell my brother, I've got clients" and quit the call. We immediately told him to stop and got out of the cab. The thing is: I luckily had read a day before in our Lonely Planet guidebook, that this kind of scam often happens in Cali, another Colombian city: The cab driver calls someone, and a few minutes later, the cab is stopped - and the clients get robbed.

Lucky us, we found another cab, which brought us out to the bus terminal (which was, by the way, in another direction than the first cab was heading to), caught a last minute bus ticket to Bogota, had a French shower right in front of the ticket office (very much to the amusement of the two ticket ladies *g*), and off we went. 21 hours in a bus. Marvellous route, suicide-endangered driver. (Construction site: 30km/h. But that sign must be made for beginners. Real pros take this part with 60km/h - while overtaking another car! Hardcore...)

Anyway - we arrived safely here in Bogota. It was pouring! But hey - finally our raincovers made some sense! :) Found a nice hostel (casa platypus), and I personally like the city. 8.25 million inhabitants. However, from what I've experienced so far, education ain't that bad, people are happy and willing to share a smile, and maybe even some helpful advice if they're politely asked for it. I like it here. The air smells different. Fresh. Clean. In a city of 8.25 million inhabitants. Inviting. Maybe I should start looking for a job around here... maybe I should start making my dreams become true - and help other people to do exactly the same...

Call us Open Water Divers, baby!

What did we do for the last 11 days? Quite a lot. :)

Gin & I enjoyed a last sunset in Cartagena as well as the "Miss Colombia" final, before we left the next day.

Off to Santa Marta. Not much to see there. Gin became sick for a day, which Julez and I spent in Taganga to compare prices in ... diving schools! Oh yeah! So, after another night of hanging out on our roof-top-terrace (btw.: That instrument, that Julez is playing there, is called "Halo". And it sounds amazing!)...

...we took a minivan (so-called "bus") for like 40 € cents over to neighbouring Taganga and moved into Calipso Diving School, to start our Open-Water-Divers-Certificate. 4 days, one theoretical test (yaa, okay, we were allowed to copy from each other... *g*)

...8 dives (2 in the pool)...

...and many, many amazing fish and corals later we did it! Call me Open Water Diver, baby! Oh yeah! :)

So, of course, we had to celebrate a little. And did so with a fun round of "spin-the-bottle". *lol*

As there's otherwise not much more to do in Taganga, we spent exactly one more day exploring the Valencia waterfalls...

...fooling around... ^^

...before we headed out into the jungle: Tayrona National Park was calling! Bye, bye Omar (our terrific diving instructor)...

...and bye, bye beautiful Taganga!

Back to the Caribbean

Guys, imagine you're heading out around midnight. First round of double-deck kings is played, everyone's dressed up, looking smart and is ready to rock.

 

So, off we went, found a cool place, right at the waterfront, 12.000 Col$ (~ 6 US$) entrance fee, 6 beers included. Not a bad deal. That's what we thought first... until we found out, that the club closes at 1am. *lol* 60 mins of serious drinking had to be done... ^^

That was last night. The days and nights before we filled with dancing, happy people and beautiful women, as November 11 is the Independance Day of Cartagena, a national holiday, which got combined with a carneval-like parade featuring all the candidates for the Miss-Colombia-competition! *woohooo* Pretty cool stuff!

A little uncool: Carneval attracts loads of tourists, hence loads of ladrones, pickpockets. Julez lost 50.000 Col$, and I was pretty happy about my Barcelona experience - 5 (FIVE!!!) attempts to steal my camera failed. *ha* Take that, losers! Still - we're not taking our cameras out anymore...

Foam party at Cartagena's Fiesta Nacional.

 

Foamy, but happy: the outcome of a fine day at Carneval. (Oh, btw.: That blue stuff is powder, which locals love to throw on harmless tourists - and their friends, relatives and everyone else. We're still trying to figure out how to get that stuff out of textiles... *g*)

Cartagena is considered the "architectural gem of the continent" (Lonely Planet, 2011), sometimes even referred to as "the most beautiful city I've ever seen" (K. Schulte, T. Höring, 2011). In any case - it's pretty nice here, pretty hot, pretty touristy. If you ever come here, you'll understand why. ;) Because it's pretty... pretty! Amazing colonial architecture, carefully restored, almost any street could be featured on a postcard...

Gin & I went to a mud vulcan yesterday. Have you ever tried that before? It's like floating around in space, you don't drown, but you can't stand stable either. You can sit, lie down, or stand around, your head is always above the surface, the rest of your body isn't. Weird feeling. Weird outcome.

Oh, and - hey, we weren't the only ones... ^^ (But look at that beautiful scenery behind! Amazing!)

Washing off the dirt in that lovely river right next to the vulcano. Fun, fun. :)

 

 

What else is there to say? Well - should you ever come to Colombia, try "bandeja de pais". Mum, ask your VHS-teacher about that. ^^ It's amazing. And cheap. You choose a meat (pescado, pollo, cerdo...), and you get served a soup first, then you'll get your meat, usually with rice, fried bananas, salad, sometimes even beans, eggs and avocado. Delicious!

Okay. Off we go. Beachsoccer & -volleyball are waiting. :)

Wish all of you some happy Sunday!

Hasta la proxima. :)

Viva America del Sur!

• Aruba. One Happy Island. We chilled out 5 days long.

• Tried to go sightseeing in San Nicholas. No sights there. *g* (This beautiful strip is in Oranjestad)

• Slept one night at Radisson Hotel at the pool. Amazing. The pool guard even brought us towels, so the mosquitos wouldn't bite us. :) (Unfortunately he only did so the next morning. Was too late anyways.)

• Won a beer-bobbing and a hot-dog-eating contest (that was Julez). Good times, good times.

• Booked the latest last-minute flight I ever did! 3hrs before departure we paid the travel agent, went to the airport - and were still the first ones in line to check-in. Aruban people are "kind of" relaxed. *g* (Honestly, if I'd live in a paradise like this, I'd chill out all day long...)

What I learned:

• How to summersault backwards.
• Never wear a wedding-ring to play beachvolleyball.
• Four moons should be enough to cater for a new planet.
• Renting a bike on Aruba is more expensive (25$/person) than a car (45$/4 persons).

New location: Medellin, 3rd most-populated city in Colombia (after Bogota & Cali). Arrived here yesterday, found some cheap hotel and did sightseeing today. Not much to see, not too beautiful - heading on soon is obligatory. :)