Advertisement
Or is Queenstown the San Gil of New Zealand?
Either way I had the most incredible time in San Gil.I arrived on the Saturday night n booked into a hotel with bathroom ,double bed and cable TV for only $7 a night.Tried to orgonise a bungee jump for the next day but they wouldn't confirm for 1 person so I orgonised a Paragliding flight for the next afternoon.Spent the next morning looking around n had a swim at the Parque Galleneral.At 1pm I arrived at the Paragliding office and within 20mins 5 of us ,the Instuctor ,Isrealli couple ,Colombian girl and I ,were in a car heading up the mountain.When we arrived there were a few other people waiting.There were 3 pilots sharing 2 rigs ,taking people for 20min flights ,only $30.Most people were couples so I ended up going last.This was good becouse I was able to watch the 3 pilots n choose the 1 who was the most extreme.When it was my turn I told him I didn't want the tranquil flight everyone else had ,I wanted him to TRY n scare the pants off me.I spent the next 20mins doing spirals n stalls n many other fun things
but all in all it was pretty tame.Fun though.
That night I was buying some street food .A Swedish girl ,Ida, asked me what I had just ordered.She had no Spanish so I ordered what she wanted and we talked about the fun things to do in San Gil.I explained that I couldn't orgonise a bungee.She said she was going the next day so I should meet them in the park at 9am.
Next morn I was there n we spent the morning trying to orgonise Bungee without sucsess.We tried to orgonise an absail instead.I screwed up my translation though and thought they started at 2pm.We got a bus aboiut 20kms to the waterfall only to find out they finished at 2pm.Had a good explore and a swim though so it wasn't a wasted day.
The next morning I went to her hostel to find out that the hostel owner ,Shaun ,an Australian ,had orgonised our Bungee and another guy ,Eddie, from Brighton, was coming with us.It was only a 25m bridge so nowhere near as scary as the rope swing at Banos ,Ecuador (this was 70m.I think I said it was 35 in my blog).Eddie went 1st but he
just fell ,instead of jumping, so didn't bounce much.I dived with all my strength and shot back like a bullet.I seemed to bounce forever.Ida was scared n took a while to go but when she did she gave it her all and bounced even higher than me.Having watched us Eddie decided to go again and this time he remembered to jump.Bungee was only $12.We then got a bus to a small village and walked about 45mins to a river with a beautiful waterfall.We had lunch there then walked up the river to find many other waterfalls and jumpable cliffs.
We got taxi back to their hostal and Eddie said he was going to absail in the morn, did I want to go.YES. Sp I was back at the hostal at 9am.Was a group of us went out to the waterfall this time.They gave us a VERY quick instruction ,in broken English, then he asked who was 1st.I said "why not" n before I knew it I was hangin off a 70m waterfall with water pounding my head n shoulders.Turned out going 1st was good becouse 1 instructor had to go to the bottom so he used the 2nd rope n encouraged me to jump the whole way.I got down twice as fast as the next quickest and 4 times most people.What a rushand only about $15
A couple of Irish guys said they were going to bodyboard down the river so Eddie and I signed up n about 2pm we were given a lifejacket ,helmet and a bodyboard with handles.A guide had a kayak n after a quick instruction we were off down 11kms of raging river ,rushing through about 10 grade2 n grade3 rapids.The guide did good job but you only had to go a little off course n you were in the rocks.At some stage I smashed my knee.It is still black n blue now but it was totally worth it and only cost about $15.About 2hrs later we arrived at the end ,exhausted but full of adrenaline.
The next day they all went White Water Rafting but after 4 days of keeping up with 20year olds ,I was exhausted n had a lazy day.We had agreed to meet at 4pm for 1 last bungee to say goodbye to San Gil.This time The rope was longer so the jump was heaps more exciting.The instructor kept grabbing me n saying he'd never seen anyone jump so hard.I could have reached up n touched the other side of the bridge on my 1st bounce back. YYEEEHHHHAAAAAaaaaaa aaaa aaa aa a TO SAN GIL.I had such a great time I will never forget it
Next day I got bus to Bucaramanga .I had been told of an excellent tattooist so got a smalñl piece for $20.Had a good nights sleep then got the bus here to Medallin.Booked a hotel on the party strip but it was to noisy for me so I moved hotels this morn.
Today I went to the Antiaquia Museam.This district is called Antiaquia so I thought it would teach me about the district.You can imagine my horror to discover it is an art museam.Did get good photos of an AK47 that had been converted to an electric guitar though.I then went to the Metrocable ,a cable car that runs up to the districts inb the hills above Medallin.In the afternoon I went to the Discoverpark.Like Scitech in Perth but with an aquarium n other local education sections.
Thats me caught up.I think I will get bus to Monteria tomorrow then I will take a slow trip to Santa Marta ,on the Carrabian, to meet the 2 Irish boys and do my PADDY SCUBA course for less than $200.I´m having the BEST time.I LOVE COLOMBIA
Advertisement
Tot: 0.044s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 13; qc: 19; dbt: 0.0243s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb