I have to tell you about my bus trip to San Agustin. It is a 5-8 hours bus trip from the nearest city linked to the Panamerican highway, Popayan, and the road is in really bad shape (not European bad, but South America bad...). So you end up sitting in a small, uncomfortable bus, bumping up and down for 5-8 hours... I had breakfast in a restaurant at the bus station, while waiting for the bus. When it was about to leave, I did not struggle my way in front of the line to drop off my bag like the Colombians, but waited til last... Bad choice, when I came in to the bus, there was no seat left. I was of course not happy about this, because I was among the first people to buy ... read more

was a hilarious experience. It was basically two days of being dirty because as soon as you got out on the street, someone would come and paint your face (or sometimes by accident your clothes too...) with color, spray foam on you, or throw flour at you, especially if you looked kind of clean. The Carnaval was held over January 5 and 6 and represent the older days of Colombia when slaves were allowed to celebrate on January 5 and their masters painted their faces in black to show approval of the festivities. The following day, the 6th is the white day. However, as you can imagine, the colors were not respected and during the two days of celebrating, watching concerts and parades, I felt like a cameleont, going from black, to green, to orange, to ... read more

Since the university semester ended last week, I decided to go travel somewhere, maybe to find some Christmas spirit... Even though the whole university is decorated with Christmas lights, Senora Mariela with whom I live play X-mas songs very loudly all day long and I went to Bazurto, the local market, to buy gifts for poor children, I just don't seem to be able to find any Christmas spirit in 30 degrees heat, warm water and among palm trees... So I decided to take the bus to Parque Tayrona, a National Park, that many of my Colombian friends have recommended. I finally actually ended up in Taganga, a beautiful small fishing village about 15 minutes from Santa Marta. It is tiny tiny tiny, has only a main street along the water and five streets up the ... read more

El mapale! El mapale! El mapale! Remember I told you that I wanted to learn to dance like the black people here? Here we go! You could almost think I am Colombian, right?!?!?! ;o)... read more

Hmm... Crazy crazy crazy. I was a little bit disappointed Wednesday because after the week-end there was nothing going on in town, no festivities (is this what Colombians call a party?!?!). And I was prepared for the biggest week of fiestas ever, before I leave the country! Thursday however started The Big Thing. There were so called Bandos that passed around town. Like big trucks where the beauty queens stand and wave to the people. And, other trucks (more fun and with prettier people) that advertised different alcohols. But, the interesting thing was not the Bandos, but what happened around it! Actually it started earlier in the week with kids (and grown-ups!) going around painted in black or blue, asking you for change or else they will smear you into the same color as them (or ... read more