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Published: September 20th 2009
Hola!
I rewarded myself with a couple of very lazy days following our jungle trek. Lena took in some diving while I slacked about. We met a very cute Swedish boy who spent the afternoon with us - we heard the next beach over from Taganga was nice, after the 15 minute walk we found out it was a shit hole too but enjoyed some speedo spotting from the locals. Ben - our adorable gay austrailian friend was very upset that Lena and I got to see Carl with his shirt off.
That night we went for some unbelievable hawaiian pizza from a guy who sets up at night. Some euro girls who were working in town were having a house warming/birthday party so we decided to go. When I arrived I was treated to vodka jello shooters but was still pretty tired so I pulled the loser and went home early. Lena was already in bed because she was going to dive again in the morning- and at 6 Matt drunk whispered us awake so we could let him in. He took advantage of the house party, then to the local bar, then to an after party, then
two local girls walked him home because they thought it was dangerous for him to walk alone. Too funny.
We moved to Santa Marta for a night so that we could get up early and go to the beach. That night we were walking through a square and a local guy wanted to draw us - for the steal of a deal price we paid $7.50 for the three of us to have our portrait done on one page - 45 minutes and even some local police stuck around to watch. Meanwhile we ran into Luis - a half cracked local who speaks perfect english. We bought Colombian coloured bracelets off him the week before. He lost his sandels,went without for 6 days, then decided to make new ones out of carpet and some of his Colombian coloured belt fabric. The best thing about our artist was that he "had to take out his glasses" which ended up being one lens that he squished lengthwise in his eyeball. I hope you like the picture.
We spent the rest of the night trying local treats on the boardwalk included snow cones and hot rice pudding before we crashed at
about 9 pm. In the morning we went to another gold museum which told us a lot of the history of the lost city - Matt ripped a loud one in the completely silent museum, and the security guard poked her head around the corner to check out what we were laughing at.
Our beach destination for the next three nights was Tayrona National Park. Considering the country has a large carribean coastline, they certainly dont make it easy to get to the nice beaches. We took an hour cab to the entrance, then paid $15 to get in, drove another 5 minutes before we got to hike 45 minutes to the first beach. We heard it was expensive there so we decided to pack 5 liters of water each. I can tell you that the next 45 minutes to the third beach was not enjoyable. I was so cranky by the time we got there. We cheaped out and went for the hammocks on the beach for $7.50 a night- a good choice since the $10 ones in the upper cabana were jam packed and had night rats hanging around. We were worried since there was no mosquito
nets - but the bugs weren't bad at night and there are benefits to no net. Our first hammock night on the trek- Ben informed us that you shouldn't fart - he thought it would escape through the mesh net, but instead it got trapped inside, creating a dutch oven effect.
The days were filled with chilling out,reading books,swimming in the ocean and taking a few sports illustrated/baywatch wannabe photos. I hope you enjoy. Since we are cheap we did a full carb diet - nutella sandwiches for breakfast which we packed in, then we would buy a cheese filled pastry and a banana bread loaf at lunch from the sandwich lady, then the cheapest thing on the menu for dinner - pasta. I may have scurvy. I also stopped showering - the salt water makes my hair not look greasy so I've decided the ocean substitutes for showers. Oh - the humidity has done a number on Lena - her hair has taken on a life of its own and at one point Matt and I thought we were watching Shakira walk from the beach into the water - we want her to embrace it but she keeps
pulling it back.
We did the full hike out and spent the rest of the day taking buses to get to Cartagena. I had a killer stomach ache so I took it easy the first night. Our first full day here involved walking around - every street is a different colour, the colonial architecture is amazing. It is so hot and humid here we are so disgusting. We all have sweat mustaches, although Lena's look best right after she puts sunscreen on and it turns all white. I am currently keeping the juice business alive in this country. Every street I buy a new glass of lime juice, mandarin juice, mora juice, etc. I know I should be drinking water - but when a little man with a giant container full of fresh juice filled with ice chunks looks at me, how can I say no. The street people here don't beg for money - they beg for lime juice.... that is how hot it is here.
We decided to make our first Friday night in Cartagena a good one by doing a little pre drinking at the hostel - I was telling a story about how Matt
has gas all the time and he shouted out "Sharman has diarhea!" All silence followed and then I burst out laughing. I swear it could be a Colombian version of that immodium ad back home where the guy is in the hot tub. This followed with us telling all the other backpackers about Lena's sweat mustached - aka sweatache - and how she should try rubbing anti-persperant above her lip - or install a windshield wiper.
We went to one of the city's oldest clubs - an upstairs lounge with a little dancing room. A lack of air conditioning mixed with a lot of dancing had us all dripping with sweat. While I was taking a breather on the balcony - overlooking the wall to the old city I realized I am going to be alright here. It is hard for me to be away from the Oil Kings right now, but it was my first moment alone where I realized I am so happy to be here. This was followed by the return of my stomach ache from the night before - rocking a budda belly and finding it hard to stand up, i pulled the shoot -
not before the grandma that Matt was dancing with gave us all the kiss kiss on our cheeks - she had a sweat beard worse than all of us - so gross.
At 3 am I was woke up by Lena's drunk voice - which is much louder than her usual loud voice - that Matt had been robbed. 10 meters from our hostel he decided to stop to listen to some locals playing a guitar. Once Lena and our other friends were inside they insisted that he pay for the music. She changed into her pj's and went back out to look for him to find the 8 guys putting their hands in his pockets and taking all his money. They didn't touch Lena but the pack of them and their dirty steak knife was enough to have her shouting when she got back. Once back in the room, she was so angry she didn't do anything, because she totally thought she could have taken them.
We found out this morning that an American that was with us had an issue last night too - some sketchy guy tried to get him to smell something - then
threw weed at him. Suddenly the police were there trying to make money off him, all very sketchy but since he had his money hidden in his sock all he had was 50 cents... which somehow made it all good with the drug dealer. Oh - and "someone" made out with a local guy on the dance floor with a local guy who was probably 21 and wanted to hang out at the beach. at least "someone" will go home with a good Colombian story. Gotta love Colombia.
Our highlight of today was - in between juices and sweating - we went to an torture museum. It was $5.50 - which is a total rip and more than I spent on lunch (and would buy me 9 street lemonades) but we went anyways. Once we got inside and did the upper level we felt like we were being tortured - it was terrible. Once we got downstairs there were some interesting machines and devices they used on witches. I was parked in front of a fan when Matt walked up to me, saw the fan, and said "I see what you're doing" and then I said " oh my
god, did you just fart?" and he said yes. It was the grossest hotest blegh experience, I was almost crying with laughter. We then spent ten minutes taking photos with our head in a noose at the gallows. The bathroom was mint though - well worth the entry to the museum. Toilet paper and a toilet seat, it was like gold.
Lena and I are off to the beach tomorrow while Matt stays in Cartagena and hopefully wont get robbed again. Today is the Oil Kings home opener - I hope my boys can pull out a win for me.
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justin
non-member comment
stupid people
The lesson is, don't trust poor people