Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
I had breakfast with the medstudent, Victor, from the night before. After talking for a while about travelling by motorcycle and volunteering I truly realized that I wanted to stay longer than three months. My exam could wait. I decided to work a lot on my spanish, and I had my first spanishlesson through the black sheep hostal, here in Medellin. What really made up my mind was the fact that he invited me to come along on the back of his bike. He also suggested me buying one, and him teaching me, if I rememer correctly. He told me to think about it, but I was sold from that moment. I didn't tell my parents until it was all set, but in my head, it was. I was doing it!
I took a bus, after chilling out in the pool for a long time in La Media Luna, together with a belgian girl from the hostal. I got on the crammed metro to the Pit Stop hostal, and was sent to all different directions by locals, genuinly trying to help me out. People are very friendly here. They don`t stare and they`re much wealthier, so it feels very safe. It`s a beautiful city and the people are very proud of it, and themselves. It`s the rival city of Bogota, but it`s kind of obvious that it`s going to outgrow the colombian capitol, as long as safety issues don`t reoccur.
The Pit Stop hostal is actually a big party hostal with a pool, gym, basketball court, ping pong table, bar, etc. I`m sleeping in a 14person dorm for 17000cop a night, but I actually got it all for myself because for some reason, there is hardly anyone here! Therefore, we`ve been hanging out down at the Black Sheep, cooking and watching a movie, etc. I ran into a french guy here, that I`ve bumped into in three different hostals in three different cities, now. I went with him and some other people to take the metro and cable carts up to the top of the city and to the national park up there. We met some very young colombian New Yorkers(15 and 17), rode in the back of a truck and tried to help out two dogs that had been having sex, and got stuck to each other! It took them five minutes to pull apart from each other.
After that, me and a english girl went for a spanish lesson. Then we bought groceries to cook, had a shower and watched Salt. We were all going for karaoke, but they charged a cover, so we went to play pool instead. A great night, still!
We also went by the airlines office to talk to them about cancelling my flight to Ecuador, but they`d charge me 200usd if I did! Thus, me and the britih girl are going for a weekend trip to Quito and Otavalo, that has a famous market. Silly airlines..
Monday, September 6th, 2010
Getting to the airport took us 45min in a taxi. The trip was painless. The security even let me bring my big water bottle. The Secret Garden hostel had sent a driver to pick us up and take us there for 5usd. I have to borrow money from her for the moment, because the ATMs in the airport couldn’t read my credit card. It was beautiful to see the afternoon lit city from the air. It was massive! The hostel was very tight but tall. On the 5th floor, there is a outdoor restaurant with a fireplace and the most spectacular view! Me and Emma, the 28 year old teacher I’m travelling with, met some cool guys from Australia, got 2nd place in a trivia quiz, and went out for a bite. Trying to eat more healthy now, but it’s not easy. We’re gonna find a gym today, when we’re going on a free city tour. Unfortunately, there is no kitchen here!The tour was very cultural for an uncultural being like myself. Went to Otavalo early and had libanese dinner with some guys from the secret garden hostel. We stayed in a private room at hostel Maria. The first thing we encountered was a guy that tried to grab Emma`s lonely planet book. She was carrying a backpack and a camera, but no. He went for the lonely planet! The streets were packed of people, eateries and a concert area, with a band that just began playing the radio hit that had been haunting my head all day long. It was fun, but I had no party in me, so I made sure the guys met up with some other gringos, that immediatly shouted out to us as we came near. It was the first night of a festival of love, and the night before the big saturday market; largest indogenious market in SA. I´m a terrible shopper, so it was more looking and trying out funny instruments for my part. The market is huge and colorful. On sunday we went to el mitad del mundo, the center of the world, first to the monument at the fake site, then to the museum 200m away, where the GPS really is 00.00. That was definately my best museum experience so far! We could see the different effects from being on different sides of the line, and on it. We were told a lot about the indogenious, history, etc. European schools teach us about the world, but hardly anyone knows south american history.
I was extremely psyched to get back to warm, green and lush, Colombia. I´m so glad I went on that short trip, since I now kno
w just how amazing this country is, after being in Quito: the city of eternal autumn.Ecuador was cheaper, had more international goods and europeans, but far less colour and caribbean spirit.I had a two hour spanish lesson in the morning, where we mostly had a conversation, as that is what I need to practice, took a taxi to the airport and discovered that I needed to pay a departure fee of 41usd. Jenny found herself in trouble as she had borrowed all the money she had used in Ecuador, from Emma, because the credit card she brought doesn´t work anymore. Had to change the colombian pesos I had and receive charity from a man from Texas who just handed me some money. Truly great people out there! The alternative would have been calling my bank for them to give me a code I could use in the ATM to pay, which would have been a lot more hassle.
The busride from the airport holds some gorgeous views, and I was just tripping of happiness from being back to this great city, where I can walk the streets around the hostel, almost like back home.
I fancy settling down for a bit, and went crazy with the grocery shopping, before we all just chilled out with a few episodes of the "in betweeners". Now I´m going to bed in a 14 person dorm, where I`m not alone like last time. But yeah, I´m happyy!
Traditional dance performance at
Mitad del Mundo
Animal market in Otavalo
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