Greetings from the land of coffee and cocaine,
To answer the first question that generally jumps to everyones heads, No, there are not piles of white powder that they sell in tiendas in poorly lit streets while a man in aviator glasses searches you at the door with cigar ash falling in your hair.
Admittedly, we have been in the more touristy areas in Columbia and can not make a call over the entire country but so far this has been a safe (within reason and with some precautions taken) place where the beaches are nice but the people are even nicer.
We arrived late in the night and started chatting to a south African called Earnest. He had been traveling around Panama as well and had been enjoying the country as much as we have been. When we got through customs we went to the baggage area only to find out that our stuff was not there. We filled in a report but it is a worrying feeling when you really can´t speak the language and you are leaving with out your bags. It was also difficult because the poor girl had obviously been berated by Colombians and looked as tired as we were. We jumped into a taxi and headed to our hotel to crash for the night.
The next day (NYE) we walked around and tried to understand the city. We (in a few short hours) organised cheap accom for the rest of our stay, bought some replacement clothes that were badly needed anyway and went to the beach. When we went back to our hotel we got told by the front desk that our stuff was at the airport and we needed to get there by 8 if we wanted clothing for NYE. The front desk people were really nice and had been trying to contact the airport for us all day.
We jumped into a taxi... well kind of sat in, I do not know how one can actually jump into a taxi. Most taxis here are really small anyway and jumping into them is a difficult task to say the least. We got to the airport and collected our bags from some helpful staff who paid for our taxi fare and headed back. The look on the front desks staff ´s faces was the most congratulatory look you could ever imagine. This is another example of how the people here are.
From there we headed into a backpackers hostel to meet some other travelers that we met while looking for alternate accommodation. We had a few drinks and then went into town where we lost most of them on our travels through the really crowded and narrow streets. We settled ourselves in a plaza where music could be heard from all directions from different places with different Latin beats. The countdown came and people kissed in the streets, shouts of feliz año were everywhere and fireworks popped overhead.
This is where we met Jorge and Roxanna. They are Columbian students who are both studying medicine and spoke English slightly better than we speak español. They are also the loveliest people you could meet. They took us to the coolest local club and we drank and danced until the sun came up. Sandra and I had the best NYE that we have had in many many years.
We had to get out of our hotel by twelve which meant getting up four hours after we had gone to bed. We were tired, a little hungover and hot. Our new hotel was just the perfect place to head. Our rooms have the biggest fan you could ever see spinning at whirlwind speeds, it is awesome. You open up the balcony to the streets of getsemani and the wind comes in cooling you in an instant. We called Jorge and Roxanna (who insisted that we do the next day) and met up at the beach where we spent the rest of the day with them, speaking English and Español and slowly recovering.
Today has been walking around the old streets of Centro Historical or "Old town". There is so much to see in this walled city and all of the reports that this is the most beautiful city in all of South America are not unreasonable. I will chat about that later though.
Sandra and I are now going to try and call our insurance people and then head out into the streets of centro historical again.
Lots of love
Glen
Hi guys
Glad you like it where you are at the moment. I am on a lunch break so I thought I would get a short message off!
We leave for Albany on Saturday for the Summer School. Lectures in Photoshop should be exciting but I think the mere fact that I have finally got Mum to go camping (thanks to you guys) is even more exciting!
Yes we should have listened to you and got a 6 man tent - the campbeds are the problem - plenty of room if you doss down on the floor!
Welll catch up with you later as I need to do some work!
Posted by: Nigel Innis | January 02, 2008 at 08:10 PM
Hi Sandra and Glen
I am pleased you are having a nice time now. Also that you are following some of my suggestions. We have been packing up some of the rubbish in Brocks room - ie Dad's cupboard. It never ceased to amaze me what he collects. It has been quite hot here - and of course the power supply does its usual dummy spit at this time of the year and we are limited on how much we can use the airconditioners.
I am looking forward to going camping. I started packing up a few things tonight. We do our official packing tomorrow night and I am wondering how we will fit everthing in the car! I am looking forward to the Photoshop course - it should give Dad and I some relief from some of the dramas we have had this end of the world - not to mention worrying about dramas your end of the world.
You cat is protesting as she reckons it is time I went to bed - she likes to snuggle up. I think she will be so ruined by the time you get back.
Take lots of photos for me - where you are staying at the moment sounds absolutely amazing. Lots of love from MUM
Posted by: Julie | January 03, 2008 at 05:55 AM