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.

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.

Colombia - unsafe? nah I don´t know what your talking about

Colombia - beautiful? Now that is a statement I could agree with.

Here is is folks, I have felt safer in Colombia than I do in Peru. There are countless numbers of police around, and they actually do their job unlike the "police" in Peru!

Jade and I have survived the first half of our trip! We had a few misshaps, but nothing that would be considered big enough to ruin our trip. Actually, I think that they all helped to make it a nonstop adventure.

I arrived in Cartagena, to Jade holding a paper with my name, it's always great to be welcomed at the airport! My flights were perfect minus the landing on my second one. When we landed, it was so bumpy that everyone practically ended up sitting in the seat beside them. But other than that they were great. Good food, and even better fruit juice.

We used the mad taxi skills that we picked up in Peru, and got a taxi to the hostle. The Chill House Backpackers Hostle to be exact. What a name right? I couldn't say it and keep a straight face the whole trip. Even with the name, the Chill House was great. We ended up staying there our first three nights, and then returning in between out short trips to Playa Blanca and Parque Tayrona. It had a nice kitchen, where Jade and I became hostle cooking experts, and a tv room where I became slowly addicted to Friends (which is by far one of the best tv shows I have ever seen). The beds were typical to a cheap hostel, but I was so tired every night that they didn't matter. It was hot in Cartagena, and not just hot but humid. I felt like I was back in Nashille during the summer. The stickyness resulted in taking two to three cold showers daily, something I have never before looked forward to. We met some really cool people in the hostle. Having the common areas in the hostle was really nice because it made a friendly atmosphere. I always love hearing everyone's travel stories!

On our first day there, Jade and I decided to keep it chill (maybe the hostle was rubbing off on us) and do a bit of shopping, see some of the Old City (which is where our hostel was located) and hit up the supermarket. I bought a pair of jeans, which were badly needed since I wore holes though the other three pairs I brought to Peru. The city is beautiful. We stayed in the historical area that is walled in, all of the architecture is Most of the buildings have wooden balconies with flowers hanging from the sides. This, put with the colors that the buildings are painted make it picture perfect.

We ended up booking a tour for the mud volcano through our hostel. This was probabaly one of my favorite trips. It was nothing like I expected, but still completly amazing. The actual volcano itself just looks like a small hill. Once you get to the site, you have to hike up the side. At the top there is a fairly small hole that they have built wooden sides around. As for the actual bathing in the mud part, when you reach the top, they stick you in the mud and lay you flat on your back. Then they push you over to the massage men. I was kind of iffy on the massages, I wasn't sure if I wanted some random man's hands all over my body. Jade and I decided that if we can this far, we should just get the full experience. The massage ended up being amazing! Once you were done with your massage, you could just chill in the mud. It was a really odd experience, because the mud is so thick. It was difficult to move yourself around at all, much less sink. I pretty much just ended up half sitting, half sprawling in the mud until they made us get out. Once you got out of the mud, they sent you down to the nearbye lake to get washed off. Here, they have women who bath you. Once again, I was iffy as to wether I should be bathed, but decided to go for it again. The experience was funny on two parts. One, I now know why little kids hate having their hair washed, I though the woman was going to drown me with all the water she was pouring over my head. And two, half way through, the woman tell you to take off your bathing suite. So strip I did, the water is cloudy, so no one could see anything, but knowing that your sitting within a few feet of about eight other naked pople ins't the most comforting thought in the world.

While we were in Cartagena, we also ventured out to Playa Blanca and Parque Tayrona, but more on those later, this post is getting way too long.

Love from Colombia!