I feel like I've been here a lot longer than I have. Tomorrow will be five full days, but it has felt longer than a week and every time I look at what day it is I think my watch is broken. Like in Central America, time here moves slower. Things get done when they get done (for example, my payment for dinner has been sitting on the tabpe for 10 minutes. I haven't received the bill yet either) and you'll get heckled if you are caught rushing around. Add that to the fact that I don't have any "solid" plans and no wonder it feels like forever; I'm moving at their pace.
Colombia has been great. I even get hassled less for stupid crap I don't want and that includes drugs. It may come as a shock to some, but I feel pretty safe here. More so, in fact, than in a lot of places in Central America. My first place was Cartagena, which I stayed a few days in. The old city is beautiful. It is encslosed by a wall and you can definitely feel the Spanish influence. They have a park just outside the wall that has monkeys, sloths (a guy I met saw one die), Iguanas, and a snake. It's not a zoo, these animals roam around and interact (to some degree) with people in the park. Also, it has most the modern conveniences that I'm used to from home. I needed a little down time, so I stayed there until yesterday. However, I did spend quite a bit of time roaming and even bartered my way into a 15 buck travel bag (I'll post a pic on FB). I also jumped into an active volcano. Ok, it was mud not lava, and was a crazy experience. All the locals are trying to scape every dime out of you for their services. Dudes in the volcano force you a "massage", kids bring you flip flops 10 feet to you without asking, and old women strip you naked or at least pour water down your shorts and "scrub" your junk through your shorts. After feeling pretty raped already, they come demand a couple bucks. Luckily I brought hardly any money so I couldn't pay the kids for the 10ft flip flop service. Hahaha.
I caught a shared bus up to Taganga with some girls from the hostel yesterday. I really like it here. Only 3 people have hassled me, it BEAUTIFUL, and the food is good. There is a soccer field where all the kids hangout. A lot of people are really friendly, even when they don't have any wares. I decided to get my advanced open water dive cert here cause its cheap. However, there are bad shops here and you really need to ask around and look at reviews. I originally was going to go with Nautilus and even put down a 5 dollar deposit. However, I thought it prudent to research a little and found bad reviews and warnings. The saying with dive shops here is, if it seems super cheap, it's cutting corners. Ultimately, I am diving with one of the better shops called Aquatis.
After that, I am going to go to Tyrona park and hike a laze around for a day or two. I doubt I'll have internet access though, so be patient if you try to get ahold of me. Then I think the plan is on to Bogota.
On a, what a coincidence note, I finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in Panama and found a first edition (translated) for The Girl Who Player With Fire. I found it in a cafe with a book exchange. I gave them the first one and 2 bucks. Booya.
Aslo, people in the hostels want party all the time. An odd thing I've learned about myself is that I don't want to. I find myself bored going out with them. Or maybe I just don't want to spend my time and money doing it. Also, while I've met some cool people, I haven't really found anyone that I want to travel with or when I have, they too different of a schedule to do so.
That's all I got for now peeps.
D
Colombia has been great. I even get hassled less for stupid crap I don't want and that includes drugs. It may come as a shock to some, but I feel pretty safe here. More so, in fact, than in a lot of places in Central America. My first place was Cartagena, which I stayed a few days in. The old city is beautiful. It is encslosed by a wall and you can definitely feel the Spanish influence. They have a park just outside the wall that has monkeys, sloths (a guy I met saw one die), Iguanas, and a snake. It's not a zoo, these animals roam around and interact (to some degree) with people in the park. Also, it has most the modern conveniences that I'm used to from home. I needed a little down time, so I stayed there until yesterday. However, I did spend quite a bit of time roaming and even bartered my way into a 15 buck travel bag (I'll post a pic on FB). I also jumped into an active volcano. Ok, it was mud not lava, and was a crazy experience. All the locals are trying to scape every dime out of you for their services. Dudes in the volcano force you a "massage", kids bring you flip flops 10 feet to you without asking, and old women strip you naked or at least pour water down your shorts and "scrub" your junk through your shorts. After feeling pretty raped already, they come demand a couple bucks. Luckily I brought hardly any money so I couldn't pay the kids for the 10ft flip flop service. Hahaha.
I caught a shared bus up to Taganga with some girls from the hostel yesterday. I really like it here. Only 3 people have hassled me, it BEAUTIFUL, and the food is good. There is a soccer field where all the kids hangout. A lot of people are really friendly, even when they don't have any wares. I decided to get my advanced open water dive cert here cause its cheap. However, there are bad shops here and you really need to ask around and look at reviews. I originally was going to go with Nautilus and even put down a 5 dollar deposit. However, I thought it prudent to research a little and found bad reviews and warnings. The saying with dive shops here is, if it seems super cheap, it's cutting corners. Ultimately, I am diving with one of the better shops called Aquatis.
After that, I am going to go to Tyrona park and hike a laze around for a day or two. I doubt I'll have internet access though, so be patient if you try to get ahold of me. Then I think the plan is on to Bogota.
On a, what a coincidence note, I finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in Panama and found a first edition (translated) for The Girl Who Player With Fire. I found it in a cafe with a book exchange. I gave them the first one and 2 bucks. Booya.
Aslo, people in the hostels want party all the time. An odd thing I've learned about myself is that I don't want to. I find myself bored going out with them. Or maybe I just don't want to spend my time and money doing it. Also, while I've met some cool people, I haven't really found anyone that I want to travel with or when I have, they too different of a schedule to do so.
That's all I got for now peeps.
D
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