Colombia and close to the end...

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Hola mis amigos!

Right now I'm at an internet cafè in Cartagena, Colombia, after a day full of strolling and swimming at the beach. This city is incredible! It's the oldest Spanish city in the new world (The conquest world that is) and it has an enormous amount of history to tell and tresures to show. The city has about 1 million inhabitants and is hence a large city, but its size doesn't bother me at all. Instead all the great Spanish architecture, the climate, all the fresh fruit (of which half I know the name), the beaches and the general way of life here made me love this place from the minute I got here. They say that Colombia is the third most dangerous country in the world, and of course I'm careful, but I must say that I feel very safe walking down these streets. Cartagena is starting to recieve more and more tourists, so it's nice to have been here while it's still rather untouched by the pale, fat Europeans with their bathing suits underneath their regular clothes. We are also tourists, but me and my collegues have started to really mock these stereotypes and it's loads of fun!

Before we came here to Colombia we visited the beautiful, small island of Grenada. The island is also called the Isle of Spice since their greatest export used to be the nutmeg (muskot) and because they also grow other spices such as canela, cacao and clave. The island was really like a small paradise with rain forest, plantations, white beaches and really friendly people. They all took care of eachother and were like one big family. In 2004 the island suffered from the hurricane Ivan which devestated the island and destroyed 90 per cent of all the buildings. They have today managed to rebuild almost everything with great help from mainly the EU and the U.S. Everything is recovering, but it takes time and today tourism is the greatest source of income. After Grenada we went to a small coral island called White Island where we stayed anchored for a few days just snorkeling and improving our tan which by the way starts to look pretty good! A shame that it all goes away once you board the plane...;)

The crossing from Grenada to Colombia was amazing with perfect sailing. The students are really starting to enjoy that part as well now and not just the pure "coming to new places" part. They all climb the rig like monkeys and do hard work. It's great to see that event the tiniest and shy girl can step forward and do this kind of work and feel that they've done it well! They grow as individuals all the time and it has been such a pleasure observing this development.

The students are starting to realise that this adventure is coming to an end, and so am I. These last days will be spent with cleaning the boat and our cabins as well as having at least a couple of good bye parties. I'm going home with the students on the 29th, whereas the other officers are returning on the 31th, so unluckily I'll miss the BIG party! Another time... Most of them live close to Gothenburg so I hope I'll see them all again.

Now I'm gonna continue wandering the streets of Cartagena and enjoy every minute of it! Not looking forward to the "real" life right now... But I miss all you guys so much!

PS: Sorry that there are no pictures yet, I'll try to put some in before I leave Colombia...

See you all soon!
Besos grandes // Sandrita

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