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. :)

Getting better and better

• Another chilled-out night in Miami with Forrest Gump & PizzaHut after a hard day sightseeing & lunching @ Hooters.

• Adios America after my first security check that included some kind of (nude-?)scanner.

 - no picture published here. Applications via private mail welcome - ;)

• Landing on Aruba via Curacao. Pretty expensive accommodations here. We found sth.
• Julez & I "went out for a beer". Bartenders reaction when told where we sleep: "Guys, that's the shits! And hookers all around!" He isn't that wrong... ^^
• Home at 6am, after walking through BurgerKings Drive-Through (successfully) and mingling with Dutch-/Arubans. Great night! Happy Birthday, Julez! :)

• Met Mikey again today! *ohyeah* Spent the day at some snowwhite beach with pristine waters, chilling, swimming, playing beachvolleyball until after sunset.

• Spent some luxurious hours in WestIn Resort. Being a backpacker is marvellous.

• Back to Hotel California. It's gonna be another good night - I always enjoy sleeping when everyone else around me has to work... *g*

What a start

• Amazing first night with two lovely ladies (cheers Judith & Karin!) in Much with Aperol Spritz, Spaghetti Bolognese, Kölsch, the Settlers of Catan & Ligretto. Not much sleep included. ;)

• Flight to Miami, after spending 1.000 € on a return flight - otherwise no entry to the States possible. Bank account almost empty.
• Brilliant cab driver in Miami, 3 helpless dudes on tour. Warm welcome by Isi with Corona, Heineken, two Italian blokes, Whirlpool, Pool by the seaside, massive apartment, rain. Tropical feeling. :) Halloween night. Oh yes! Americans are crazy. ^^

• First skinnydipping under the stars. Germans are crazy, too. (Oi, and - Swiss as well, Gin.) ^^

• Again - way too little sleep...

Adios, amigos

The present

I'm currently working in a Mexican restaurant at Lake Constance, Southern Germany. Amazing place. I like my job, but somehow my itchy feet won't come to a rest. After finishing my Bachelor degree in Barcelona this year, exploring the Indian Ocean for some weeks and finally picking up this job to get my bank account back in the blacks, I'm finally ready for my next adventure:

SOUTH AMERICA

Okay, so - off we go! 8 days left before we'll leave Europe. "Us" includes two friends and me: Julez, a fellow student from Freiburg, and Gin, a lady I met while working in animation in Turkey 2009. Both are absolutely excellent characters, and I'm looking damn forward to start this terrific trip with them.


The plan

Our plan is to have none. Our one-way-flight brings us from Duesseldorf to Miami, where we'll catch up with Isi, former uni colleague as well. She made a 48-hours-non-stop-"Let's-rock-Miami"-plan. From there on we'll fly to Aruba, some small island just north of Venezuela, to finally see Mikey "the legend" again, our good, old German-Canadian friend we once got to know in Freiburg...

And then? Well... we'll see... I can't predict what's gonna happen, but I'll try to post what has happened. So just step by from time to time and check for updates. :)

Cheers from cold & grey Germany.

Chris