From the Mud Pit to Medellin

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Hola!
Lena and I said goodbye to Matt and got on the Sunday tourist ferry, the only option on Sundays to get to Playa Blanca. Well, welcome to the tourist boat from hell - we had a two hour boat ride to an island with an aquarium we were too cheap to visit, then had another hour to the beach - all aboard the reggae boat crammed with local tourists taking advantage of Colombia’s love and friendship weekend.
We arrived slightly annoyed by all of the people, took advantage of our lunch with the boat tour (which was actually quite good) and then started off for the north side of the beach away from the local tourists. After 10 minutes in the hot sun and walking past some sketchy hammock options, we found our new Danish friend Christine and a couple she knew from London who had set up camp at Mama Ruths. Hammocks were $3 a night and we heard she was a mean cook. At about 4 pm the entire beach became empty as all of the day visitors leave for the night. We found out there is a resort on the far north end and then just a handful of backpackers chilling out in the hammocks at night.
Since Lena doesn’t eat fish, and I had one for lunch, we decided on just the vegetarian option for dinner - for $3 Mama Ruth made us coconut rice, fried plantains, fries, egg and salad. A Swiss guy joined our dinner party since ours was the only place serving food that night - the beach was a ghost town. After a decent sleep, except for when Mama Ruth’s donkey with a permanent erection decided to Hee-Haw at 2 and 4 am, I woke up to sound of the ocean on a white powder beach with crystal clear aquamarine waters. I have found my Colombian paradise.
We had heard that a “fruit lady” comes by in the mornings, but we waited and waited and were extremely disappointed. We found out that no ferry comes on Mondays so the entire beach was silent. The next morning while Lena and Christine were snorkelling they were distracted by the fruit lady yelling “fruitas!” from the beach. For $2.50 we had a tasty and healthy breakfast.
Two and half days of lazing about, eating fruit, ice cream and coconut rice was enough for us, plus we were leaving with a pretty sweet tan. We got back to Cartagena excited to see if Matt missed us, but we found him in our room unable to get out of bed. It turns out he had a dodgy fish soup and picked up some sort of bug that had him bedridden/bathroom ridden. Dr. Lena put him on an immediate 3 day course of antibiotics and started getting him fresh juices and sandwiches to help put something back in his belly.
Lena, Christine and I went on a power shopping trip for jewellery, art, and other odds and sods. We had a light supper of my new favourite fruit juice blend (passion fruit and mango) and a street meat chorizo sausage.
We were hoping Matt would feel better for our field trip on Wednesday, but he was still looking/feeling terrible. Without him, Lena and I went off to one of the coolest things I have done so far - the Volcan de Totuma which is a mud volcano about 50 km from Cartagena. We stripped to our bikinis in the van and then walked up to the top of the 18 meter volcano before jumping into the giant mud pit. It was weirdest feeling, you are completely buoyant, and while you think you can swim in it like water, you don’t move anywhere no matter how hard you kick. You get in, lie back, and these men push you to a corner of the mud for a quick $1 massage. We couldn’t stop laughing the entire time. We got 40 minutes to take stupid pictures and videos before getting out and trying to wipe off as much mud as possible. Our bikinis were so heavy with mud mine would barely stay on - it looked like all of the girls had taken a mud dump from behind. We walked to a lake where some women took us by the hands, sat us down in 2 feet of water and assaulted us. We were thoroughly dumped with water, had our ears cleaned, and then bang, bikini top off. Bang my bottoms were gone. I looked at a kiwi couple we were hanging out with in the mud and said “I’m completely naked right now.” They cleaned our bikinis and then let us get dressed before we went back to the bus. Freaking hilarious!
After some more shopping, where Lena and I got matching panama hats (and then found that Christine had bought the same one as well) we went for Lena’s last dinner in Colombia, and Matt was well enough to eat solid food again. Pizza in a beautiful plaza, except for all of the hawkers trying to sell us jewellery, statues, cigars... over and over again.
For Lena’s last breakfast we had banana nutella crepes, followed by a boat load of fruit juices as we walked around the old city. Cartagena is a beautiful city with colourful streets and beautifully painted wood doors, I loved it.
Finally we said goodbye to Lena, I was teary eyed but didn’t cry. Matt and I left for the bus station to board a 13 hour bus to Medellin - for all of you who watch entourage - it’s that Medellin. In South America all of the night buses are freezing cold because they crank the air conditioning, so we had our matching sleep sheets ready, so after watching 2 movies in Spanish I decided it was time to go to the bathroom before I attempt to sleep on the bus.
Um - ya, the bus driver was hauling, and the bus was shaking back and forth. I got to the bathroom and realized there was no light inside - I told Matt and he started fishing around in his bag. Assuming he would give me his headlamp, I was surprised when he gave me his ipod to use for light. I managed to get in the bathroom, holding onto the ipod and one against the wall, I accessed the situation - basically a giant metal bowl looking thing with a hole in the bottom. There was a “toilet seat” type thing on a spring that you could pull down on sit up -which I would never do. So - on the rockiest bus ride ever - I tried my best to prop myself against the walls with both hands (one still holding the ipod) and tried my best to not pee on myself, drop any of my belongings down the metal bowl hole, and somehow get some toilet paper out of my purse. At one point we hit a bump and I bashed my forehead on the door handle, by the time I got out I was laughing so hard - it could have been a scene from a Mr. Bean episode.
Our bus driver was on a mission and got us to Medellin over an hour early, so by the time we found ourselves at Casa Kiwi at 7 am we were tired, but not tired. We found a place to have breakfast and buy some yogurt, and then I crashed until 1:30. I woke up to have the best shower ever - this hostel is sweat, big screen TV with 3 levels of leather couches, high pressure hot showers, ahhhhhh.
After a good nap, and watching Rock Star, the boys got beers and I subjected myself to smirinoff Ice in a can and went to drink in the park nearby. Our hostel is in the Zona Rosa area which is full of bars and restaurants. We met a bunch of other backpackers drinking in a park before hitting a club called blue - which was across the street from Red. Music was bad 80’s, but I had a riot dancing with some Irish guys and watching Matt get accosted by Colombian women. One of the Irish guys was a clone of Robert Nilsson, it was so creeping. Same body, height, everything. I didn’t have a camera so I can’t prove it, but it was weird, especially since his friends were skinny little things, I think one might have been a leprechaun.
At 4 am we stumbled home, unable to find any street meat still open (except for the 10 hot dog restaurants which Matt said looked sketchy). Since I have partial insomnia, I was up a few hours later and found a replacement for my camera that was stolen, and then I made Matt get out of bed so we could explore Medellin. We took their new metro (nicer than the LRT) to a square downtown filled with Botera sculptures and a museum with a lot of his work. Matt was cranky hungry (hung over and hungry from yacking at 6 am) he fed, and then we ripped back to the hostel where we were lazy for the rest of the night. I pulled the loser and went to bed by midnight so I could get up early for my morning bus. Matt and I said goodbye at the bus station - he was heading to Cali and I was going to Salento - a small town in the coffee region. So long Team St. Albert in South America - back to solo travelling.

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Photos

Playa Blanca
two babes on the streets of Cartagena

Comments

[Jen Sharpe]

naked lady
Um, so those statues look familiar. I believe I have a miniature version of that curvy mamacita perched on my bookshelf. Sexy. In other news, the gift you got me is ridiculous -- ridiculously AWESOME. Makes me hilariously hungry for carrots every time I pass the fridge.

[Lena]

im pretty sure you cried when you said bye to me.....