Showing posts with label colombia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label colombia. Show all posts

Saturday, November 13, 2010

A Picture Tells A Thousand Words



I was going to give you a very short day by day update of what I did, but I had the whole post written and it didn't save. It just wasn't meant to be. So now I'm just going to pick my favorite pictures and give you a short explanation..here it goes:)

We went to a theme park, which had some pretty cool rides. This is the view form the boat ride.


The park had a log ride. Jade told me I would get pretty wet, but I was just expecting your normal wetness from a ride like this.







I was not expecting to look like I had just showered. Needles to say, we went and laid out on the concrete to dry a bit before moving on to other rides.









In order to get to Parque Norte, the theme park, we had to take the Metro. Carlos, one of the sons of the family we were staying with said the Metro would be too hard for us to do on our won, but we managed!









Oh the faces you make on a ride that takes you upside down. This picture is thanks to my wonderful photography skills.







Fresh strawberry juice from the fruit bar near our house.











A grotto that is alongside a busy road. We passed the place many times, and there were always cars lined up from people who were visiting. We decided to stop in one day when walking past.





Jade and I decided to take a tour of the city one day, so we could see all parts of it. On one of our stops, we stopped in a park that had a collection of statues like this one.















It was raining on our tour, so they gave us a huge Colombian colored umbrella which screamed TOURIST. Jade's photography skills in this one are pretty good though…Colombian umbrella and the Colombian flag.




We also stopped at a University Park. It had a bunch of cool things like a reflections pool, sundials, and this thing. There were two of them a bit apart, and you could stand both of them and talk to the person at the opposite on.




A fountain at one of our stops.







Our tour group.







Fruit salad. Good, but weird. It had all different kinds of fruit, granola, yogurt, creamy milky sauce, and cheese just to name a few.










The gorgeous views we drove by the whole way there.







The dad, Juan Carlos, and Carlos took Jade and I to the family finca, or vacation house for the weekend. We traveled through some cute town on the way. One town had really cute taxis.





We stopped at a restaurant on the side of the road to see this rock, the second largest in South America.






For all my lovely St. Cecilia girls out there, I made Jade do it with me in this one.






My FAVORITE food we tried, sweet corn arrepas with butter and cheese!






The view from our back balcony.







Alejandra, Me, and Jade. Alejandra is the little sister of the family, she is 13.






On the way to Saboneta (an area of Medellin), we say the beginnings of their Christmas decorations being put up. Medellin is going to be so cool at Christmas time, picture things like this, but all up and down the street. And then lit up! They were already putting up lights everywhere when I left. All the parks had things hanging form the trees, and the malls had lights all over them too.






The fountain in the main park of Saboneta. It was so pretty with everything hanging in the trees, and the fountain, and birds.






Jade's awesome photography skills.







One of my favorite Colombian foods after the arrepas. It is a wafer sandwich with arequipa and jam in the middle.










So, I may have gained the freshmen 15 here even though I'm not in college. But, can you blame me? I'm faced with bakeries like this with so many delicious things on almost every street corner. How can I not try everything?




And yet another food we tried. Although we though it looked disgusting, it ended up being pretty dang good.







A church in Saboneta. They were having mass around noon, and it was so packed that people were standing outside.






They have religious stores all over the place. If there's a church near, there is going to be tons of stores selling religious items.






One of the malls close to our house.







We stayed home and watched a movie with Carlos one night, and decided to get into full Gringo attire. Carlos is not a huge fan of looking like a tourist, and told Jade she couldn't wear her gringo jumper anymore.









I got to be there for Jade's birthday!! We went and had lunch with the family (Where we got to eat cow's blood mixed with rice stuffed into cow intestine), she skyped her family, and we went and got our nails done.




The dog form hell, she managed to pee, poop, and barf in our room all within 24 hours.






Candida, the wonderful woman who cooked our meals and took great care of me while I was in Medellin.










Last picture:( This was right before we lost it and started bawling.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

A Continuation Of



FRIENDS
Just kidding...while I have become obsessed with Friends, I won't bore you by writing about it. I'm guessing you want to know about what else happened in Cartagena.
After the Mud Volcanoes, Jade and I decided to go to the Islas del Rosario and Playa Blanca. We ended up taking a tour that took us around the islands, snorkeling, and then dropped us off at Playa Blanca. We had decided the night before that we were just going to skip the tour and go straight to the beach. But when we got to the dock that takes you straight there we turned around left. It was possibly the shadiest place I have seen the whole time I've been in South America. There were a few boats that looked like they would sink if we even placed a toe in them. We decided for a more expensive but safer route!
When we got to the other boat dock, we were bombarded by people trying to sell us tours. All of the tours were around 50 mill. We took forever to decide if we were going to go because we weren't sure if we wanted to spend that much money. When we finally decided just to do it, because it was our last option to get to the beach, all the people who worked there clapped for the people who had convinced us. You gotta love being a gringo.
The actual beach was amazing. We ate the typical beach food: coconut rice, a whole fried fish, fried bananas, and a salad. As gross as the fish looked, it tasted amazing! We slept on hammocks right on the beach for just 5 mill per night (which is about $2.75). The beach was great, we relaxed and soaked up the sun. We also met some cool people who are traveling around selling the stuff they make to finance their travels.
My hammock…surprisingly very comfy!

The woman who serve us very good fruit salad for breakfast on the beach.

One of the many women who walk the beach selling fruit, baked goods, and massages.

Playa Blanca… gorgeous eh?

A stand selling food on the beach.

The man making pine coladas in coconuts.

Enjoying beach life.


After Playa Blanca, we went back to Cartagena for a night and then headed back out for Parque Tayrona, a National park located close to Santa Marta. And this is where our plan faltered a bit. There are a few ways you can get to the park. The way Jade and I picked consisted of our getting a bus form Cartagena to Santa Marta (4 hours), a bus from Santa Marta to the Park (about an hour), and then hiking for a little over 45 minutes to Cabo San Juan Del Guia. Our bus ride ended up taking a full day, so we decided to stay in Santa Marta for a night. The next day we got up bright and early to go to the park. The bus ride went as planned, but the 45 minute hike ended up taking 4 hours. By the time we made it tot eh beach, out two night stay there had turned into one night with pretty much just the morning at the beach.

Our muddy feet after the long hike.

The hike was long, but with views like this it was worth it.

Leaving our mark…


Never ending.

Our bus.


But, don't get me wrong I'm not complaining! The hike gave way to many gorgeous views, and the beach was the most beautiful thing I have seen in my life. There is no way I can describe the views that we saw. Hopefully the pictures will give you some idea!
I slept like a baby that night, I don't know if it was because I was tired or just because I have become an expert at hammock sleeping, but either way I needed the sleep because the next morning we got up, enjoyed the beach for a little while, and then started the trek back to the bus to get back to out hostel.
A tuna a man on the street was selling, he was more than happy to let us pose with them even though we weren't looking to buy. We did master cooking in a hostel, but I think a whole fish this size might be a bit above our skill level?

The poorest area I saw in Colombia. They had gotten a lot more rain than normal, and their houses were all flooded.

Santa Marta at night.

Leaving our home in Cartagena.