Columbia More

A little late, but still good for memories.

So the last couple of days have been a blur of cocaine and booze. Or the non stop action of Cartagena is making my head fuzzy. I spent much of that time running the streets of the old city searching for something unique, something mine. With 10's of miles on my feet I came to realize what I already knew, it has all been done. A city packed full of people honking, screaming, and drinking is what I found. With a gaggle of tourists  all shooting the same frame. At one point 5 separate people walk to the same spot and shoot the same shot. I travel to Santa Marta via shuttle and get there in 4 hours.

As I sit on the roof of my Santa Marta hostel and stare at the Andes I wonder why I didn't get here sooner.  Santa Marta is the oldest surviving city in South America. An old city with a lot of character. A few main streets with people packed wall to wall selling and buying the same crap as the other guy. Then there is a beautiful plaza full of greenery and sitting areas. Past those is the beach. A coca cola colored water laps on the shore, where in the distance two islands and a huge cargo ship off loads large quantities of cocaine. Ok maybe it is weed I don't know.

I have a grand conversation with a Canadian fellow who was biking the country. He seems to do a lot of solo trips and been all over the world. The next day I awake and make the trek to the mountains. I reach the taxi stop to find two Germans also waiting for a ride. We jump into a early 80's sedan, no fabric left on the seat, bare metal on the insides of the doors, a homey feeling. The Germans and I had a lovely GerSpaGlish convo. on the way through the bump mountain road.

As we reached the small coffee city of Minca the temperature dropped to a pleasant degree. I got out of the "cab", paid the man, and starting walking to where I thought the hostel was. I reached the basketball court and bumped into a woman Marie. She told me all about the place and how to get there. After the series of steps I reached the top. Greeted by people from around the globe I feel strangely at home. I end up talking with Kevin, Marie boyfriend, for quite sometime. We ended up going to a nearby waterfall where we spotted a local couple, girl with no bottoms on, but a top. Strange, I think why the bottom hanging out, oh well. Kevin and I get a good look and better chuckle and move to a different part of the falls. We splash about a bit and return to the hostel for dinner and long conversations. It's always fun to travel when you meet great people as I did. The next morning was spent wondering around enjoying life. We also carried a chop saw down to Santa Marta on the top of our "taxi."

Beautiful Butterfly

Small houses in Minca

View from Minca of Santa Marta

All and all Columbia was an insanely hot and beautiful place. Not many place have the history and culture still alive, but I feel part of this country still do.