BARRANCA AND VOMITING

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The bus ride to Barrancabermeja was beyond freezing, and EXTREMELY winedy (like from side to side)!!! I hardly slept, maybe because of the four Colombian coffee’s I had had (my newest addiction). But it gave me time to read the entire Colombia section in my lonely planet.

So CRAZY Luis picked me up with his motorbike. I was a little in disbelief when he packed me on the back of his bike along with my two back packs that weighted a combined 40-45lbs. Thanks Luis!! People looked at us like we were nuts, and we were. But all things said, Luis, although really eccentric, was the most giving, the most considerate, compassionate, concerned, and helpful person ever. He reminded me of my sweet Lily from Venezuela, expect plus the craziness.

So that day, after dropping my bags, and after his super, super, sweet aunt Nelfy made me a delicious breakfast, and lunch, we hopped on his motorbike and we raced through the streets to see the city of moderate size. Barrancabermeja, certainly not a touristic city, is Colombia’s largest petrol city, and so we went to see the massive oil refinery. Bordering the refinery was a beautiful park, with a lake, at the centre of which was a giant, hilarious petrol Christ. Lol.

The day was really hot, (back in hot climate, yay), but I wasn’t feeling well. I got my massive migraine again and started to feel nauseous, and so after some torturous, crazy, motorcycle riding, we got to the country club Luiz frequented (he’s a chemical engineer, by the way). Arriving into the airconditioning was refreshing, but after the velocitization from the bike wore off, my nausea was at full bloom and I ran into the bathroom to have the first projectile vomit of my life. If its wasn’t so horrific, I would have said it was cool, I mean the speed and force with which those 2-3 liters of liquid food left my mouth. I became a pathtic ball hunging the toilet for abou 10 minutes and then felt much better.

I told Luis what happened and we hopped back on his bike and went home. His aunt Nelfy was so concerned with me that her along with her kind daughter made me feel like I was in my mothers arms. She put me in her bed, the only room with airconditioning, and made me jello, fed me this special saline stuff to help prevent dehydration, and did everything possible to make me feel better. I passed out for about to hours to wake and vomit again, then after my next sleep, next vomit, and diarrhea, everybody crawled onto my bed with worried faces, calling doctors, and debating on weather to take me to the hospital or not. Nelfy was a godsend and I enjoyed chit chatting with her in her bed. Luis went to the pharmacy to get the drugs his sisters had recommended, a couple tablets and a bowl of jello later I was asleep. I slept all night in the bed, along with Nelfy, and her son on the floor. -Such a generous lady.

Luckily the next morning I felt much better, despite some weakness, so I decided to make the 9 hour car ride, which was actually in a very bouncy truck, to the mine, with Luis, his boss, and the driver. I didn’t mind being packed into the back, as I curled up into a ball and slept the entire way.

When we got there, after the extensive security procedure to enter the peculiar little town that had been made exclusively for the upscale employees of the mine, I ate some chicken and rice and slept an additional 14 hours.

After a marvelous and sound sleep (despite the rude brief awakening when the maid accidentally bursted in around 8 am) I woke up late around 10:30 am. Having little money, cause I lost my bank card and it was in the mail, I ate my tasty powdered milk and farinia lactea; mixed with water it provided an excellent source of nutrients and just the right amount of calories for a healthy breakfast. I showered and ventured off into creepy vile.

This tiny little town was a page out of… what’s that movie called… pleasant ville! Except, this tiny perfect town was fenced in with high security, cameras, and invisible guards, everywhere! You couldn’t see it, but if you crossed the street the wrong way, and undercover guard would come and talk to you. You weren’t even allowed to take pictures in the town, for security purposes. It was a really nice place, but I felt a little awkward, as I knew every face that looked at me, immeadiately knew I was from “out of town”- and not because I was Canadian -this was a multinational city- but because it was so small. However, hilariously enough they had their own bus system, complete with bus stops every 30 m, so that no one had to walk the whole kilometer across the compound… go figure. -maybe that’s why they looked at me strange, being the only person walking, rather than DRIVING (yes driving their own cars), or taking the bus, the whole 100 meters or so.

So as I walked, I found THE grocery store, that was in the “commercial center”, got a nice yogurt and headed to the souped-up ultra chic gym. I was obviously feeling better, and after so many days and not feeling well and not be able to exercise, it was time to work my withering muscles. The gym was huge and complete with brand new top of the line, every kind you can imagine, machines. It cost me 2 dollars to enter, and since I was the only person in the entire gym, being centered in a what was mainly a ghost town during the day, the personal trainer tried to focus all his efforts on me, but I shewed him away, wanting to relax. I worked out for an hour and half, all weight training and it was HEAVEN…

Afterwards, I went to my wax appointment (that I had made on the way there), and the girl, as sweet as can be, was a total idiot when it came to her job. It took her two hours to do what should have taken her 40 minutes, and the procedure was way more painful than it should have been (and not just mentally). However, when all was said and done I had just enough time to go for a gorgeous 45 minute swim in the cities, large outdoor, luxurious pool, during which time the sun decided to set.

I then headed to the town’s only restaurant, that resembled a cafeteria, run by ARMARK nonetheless, for dinner. Coincidentally, I ran into Luis there who had been working at the mine all day. He told me we I was going to see the mine the next day and then we would be leaving. I was going to go to the coast to meet Edgar’s mom, and although Luis was heading back home to Barancabermeja, he said he would drop me somewhere close to catch the 6-hour bus ride over.

However, the next day didn’t go quite as planned. After breakfast we took the hilarious little employee bus (you even had to wear seat belts on the 5 minutes, 5km/h ride) to the high security mine, but upon arrival we were informed that I couldn’t enter the actual mine mine because I lacked the super duper extra permission that Luis forgot to get… Oups… Luis felt really bad, and it was a pity, but I suppose all I was missing was to look at the hole in the ground. I got to see the strange little city, the warehouses, and giant machines.

Since Luis’ boss was going to be in a meeting all morning, we decided we would climb the nearby hill to at least get a look from a distance, however, my headache was beginning to start up again, but worse than that was an emerging feeling of nausea, among other unpretty gastrointestinal things. So feeling a little too sick to go up Luis and I started to worry about my onwards journey to the coast further away from medical attention. We had debated getting medical attention all throughout my mysterious illness, but it was not easily available, and the concern was that I had picked up something strange from the Amazon, in which case I would need to see a specialist in Bogota. Either ways, I needed to Bogota to receive medical attention and so we decided to put me on the next flight back before things got worse again.

I have to confess, that my worry was really growing, having had these terrible migraines for more than 3 weeks now, and having felt generally unwell. I was reaching a state of dysfunction, and was beginning to worry that maybe I had picked up some illness and would never be well again, like unfortunate people who get chronic conditions. The thought of living with a permanent headache was terrifying, but I tried not to jump to conclusions. Most importantly, in that moments I realized that the most, most, most, important thing we have is our health, and I promised myself if I felt really well again, I would never take for granted one more healthy day again. -because that’s all I wanted was to be healthy.

Around noon time we set out and Luis, being so amazing, put me in cab to Valledupar, a nearby city where his cousin lived, who was amazing with me, and who put me into a plane that evening to Bogota. It would just be too cumbersome to describe the generosity and care these people extended to me. Luis was cute as he totally harassed the cabby before putting me in in order to make sure I got there safely; he even took down the cabby’s name, plate number, etc, and called his cousin to make sure I got there safely, etc.

As the plane took off to Bogota, I felt the same fantastic feeling I always felt when my plane was taking. How fortunate I was to be jet setting across the world, picking up at a moment’s notice to jump across segments of the globe, how incredible…

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Comments

[elbanda]

oraleeee!
Pretty cool to see that you accepted the Barrancabermeja challenge. I visited twice there already and girl, it is different to Long Beach, CA most definitely. Hot weather made me sweat so I drank some club colombias, partied hard and had good times. thanks for sharing your experience.