Medellin, Colombia Round 2

I had so much fun the first time I decided to do Medellin one more time. And this time I was meeting up with my Australian friend I was traveling with after about a month and a half. I met him at the Pit Stop hostel and we headed up to the cable cars right away so he could check out the sweet view. After walking around for a bit we headed back to Poblado for some Mega Pizza. Mmmmm mmm! After that feast we met up with our Couchsurfing host Juan. Juan was a super cool guy that knew perfect English. He was self taught too.

That night we went out to this place called The Pub. They had an all you can drink beer night for super cheap. It was a pretty grungy place but it was fun. Well, until this guy threw his beer at me because I was talking to his lady friend. Uhhhh, so annoying! He kind of got us both because I think he was trying to hit her but I was right beside and we both got it. That pretty mad the rest of the night so we left not to long after that.

On the Friday we went to Parque Gerres to watch the futbal game. Parque Gerres is surrounded by bars and night clubs. It gets pretty packed anytime there's a big futbal game. Colombia was playing Argentina. Colombia played pretty decent but Argentina ended up winning by one goal. After that we went to our favourite pizza place and then went for some bowling Colombia style. Yes, Colombia has bowling alleys. This was the first time I played ten pin so I was in for a bit of a challenge. No matter though, I still smashed Matt in bowling. Yer I did!

That night we went to a couchsurfer meet up to meet some locals. We all drank and talked about traveling. It was great! We then headed towards a bar to meet up with our Couchsurfing host, Juan. Haha, this took us a while though. We got intercepted but a group of people partying in a room off the street that was under construction. It was so random! They stopped us and got us to open up and pour cheap Medellin rum in our mouths. It was maybe 6 girls and one guy. The guy was having a great time. He was being very creative with his electric fan. Haha, I think he was a big 'fan' of Marilyn Monroe. After that excursion we finally made it to the bar and met a whole bunch of Juan's friends. It was a super sweet place but we found ourselves cabbing with locals to another bar outside of Medellin. These guys were talking about this place like it was God's gift to partiers. Buuuuut it was a dud. There was hardly anybody there. So we stayed there for a while and then cabbed back and caught the first train in the morning back.

The next day we headed to Pit Stop use their facilities some more for free :D. We played some baskteball and got embarassed by some Israeli's but it was good to do something active again. Well, until I got a huge blister. Teaches me for playing in sandals. Whew, after over two hours of basketball we had to head back and change. I was soaked in sweat.

So we were all ready to hit the town but first we had to get our daily intake of Mega Pizza. We hit the hostel but didn't stay there long because we met some friends that wanted to get into this sweet bar early. No dice there though so I convinced them to hit up this Hawaiin party that was hosted by one of the locals I met last time I was in Medellin. All for nothing though. We taxied there but couldn't find the place. What a shame! So we headed back to Zona Rosa and went to a bar called Red. There was a bar across the street called Blue which was a similar bar under the same ownership. I pretty much bounced back and forth from each bar till close. Following a good jog in the rain I made it back safe & sound.

The next day was super chill. We went to the hostel to say our goodbyes and to grab one more taste of Mega Pizza of course. Then we grabbed our stuff back at Juan's place and said goodbye. I was off to Bogota and Matt was off to Cartegena. So, one last stop in Bogota and the trip is capped off....

Pereira, Colombia

After a quick bus were arrived in Pereira late at night. We were able to score a cheap hotel for the night.

The next day we decided to do a little walking tour of the Pereira. The town isn't that big so it didn't take us long. We tried to hit these gardens at the university but apparently you have to be a student to see them. So why did they make it a tourist attraction on the map? Anyways, we decided to hit up the zoo to satisfy the child inside of us. I know I know, this is something you can easily do in Canada. This zoo was really cool though. It mostly had Amazonian animals and some that were quite rare. Some of the animals were really cool but my favourite were definitely the monkeys. How can't you love those lil guys? And I was pretty much screwing with them the whole time. Feeding them leaves, playing pass with pebbles and I even did the ET with one of the guys. Those little guys are so curious!

Once we got back to Pereira we arrived at our Couchsurfing place. We were staying with a nice Colombian girl named Alexa. We all went out for a beer in the party district, Zona Rosa, which was tranquil at the moment. Some hilarious stories were flying around in a mix of Spanish and English. My American friend couldn't really handle his manly bright blue Long Island ice tea that he couldn't finish, so we had to take him home :P

The next morning we headed out to Salento which is a nice small town with some great views. We did some hiking around the area and admired the views. That area look exactly like the country side of Switzerland. We were with a guy from Switzerland and he was tripping out from this fact. We decided to pass some time in the stream at the bottom of the hill. The water was quite chilling but not cold enough to jump out. Perfect for a hot day! After spending some time in the ol' watering hole we headed back up to the town for some lunch and then a quick tour of the area that has the famous giant palm trees. We all rode on jeeps and man do these guys pack the people on these tiny jeeps. I really don't think they have a max number in their minds for these jeeps. We rode their with probably 8 people on these jeeps with us hanging on the roof and standing on the bumper. After about 40 minutes of fore-arm wrenching holding on we made it. These palm trees were huge! They were about two or three times larger than the normal palm tree. They weren't even that thick. They were just really really tall. They were like some weird radioactive palm trees. We walked around the area for a bit but didn't have much time. We had to jump back onto the jeeps and this time there was even more people. The driver even decided to pack more people in the jeep because it was more money in his pocket. They packed 14 people on this jeep. I thought someone was going to fall off because he wasn't taking it easy on the turns either. Haha, I thought 14 was a lot but the other jeep had 16! They had 3 people on the cloth roof. These Colombians are crazy! Once we got back we went for some dinner and some drinks at this pretty cool lounge type bar. I had some of my favourite Mexican pizza and we chatted it up for the rest of the night.

The next day JP was off to Bogota and my Swiss friend and I headed off to the natural hot springs. These hot springs were amazing! They were very beautiful right in the middle of nature. We decided to be a bit ambitious and go for a hike to the waterfalls. Haha, on the way we were intercepted by a goat where we saw one of the amazing wonders of nature. We actually witnessed a goat piss in its own mouth. What an intelligent and beautiful animal! I really thought I grew through that experience. We hiked through this super sketchy trail for about an hour. We were cutting through spider webs, walking through almost knee deep mud and cutting through thick bushes. It seemed like we were the first ones through this "trail". I was even doing this trail in sandals, haha. This waterfall wasn't showing up and lunch was fast approaching. I could lose my sandals in mud, I could be attacked by a armadillo, I could even be bitten by a goat that drinks it's own pee but there was no way I was going to miss lunch! So, we headed back....

After a delicious lunch we decided to hit the hot springs. I mean, that is why we went there. Whew, I was in there for over two hours. I feet and hands looked like they belonged to an 80 year old man. So, it was time to jump out and hike some more. I explored a bit and found some cool mini-waterfalls and some amazing vegetation. I swear some of the plants looked like they were gonna eat me. Don't worry, I kept my distance. After a little dessert we headed back to Pereira. Once we got back we met a bunch of Alexa's friends and family. That was Spanish 101 on the spot for me. It was great though. Everyone was very nice and quite interested in Canada. I don't know what it is about Colombians, but it seems that everyone wants to go there even though the first thing they ask about Canada is, "Isn't it really cold over there?" And Colombians aren't exactly the most cold resilient people I've met.

That night we headed out to a cool bar inside a bar and had a "cerveza giraffa". Haha, a giraffe beer eh? Isn't that cute? That's what Colombians call pitchers of beer. We drank that and played a pretty comical game of pool. Alexa showed us her pool skills followed by her ballet moves. It was quite the sight. I haven't seen ballet with a pool stick in hand. Bravo! But, it wasn't enough to take down to power house of Kean and Lizeth. Better luck next time guys! We headed to another bar for a little bit and then headed to bed.

The next morning I caught an early bus back to Medellin to meet up with Matt. Round 2 baby!

Medellin, Colombia

Whew, I was glad that long bus ride was finally over. After getting razzed by the Colombian police and their dogs for drugs we caught a cab to our hostel. There we ran into our Australian friend we were traveling with, Dave. If you go to the party hostels it's very easy to run into people you've seen in other places before. This hostel, Pit Stop, was great because it had great parties, tons of people, a pool , ping pong table and basketball court. Many of the people never left the hostel, haha.

After we were done using all the great facilities we decided to check out the area for a bit. We were staying in the Pablado area of Medellin. Pablado is the rich area of Medellin that also has Zona Rosa. This is very important because that's the party district. Medellin is well known for being a modern city in Colombian terms and for having the most beautiful women in Colombia. Women are beautiful in Medellin, however, whether it's because of cosmetic surgery or not, I don't know. In fact, it isn't rare for a girl to get a boob job on her 16th birthday. Cosmetic surgery is very common and cheap in Colombia. This is because cosmetic surgery is accepted as a norm in Colombia and physical beauty is very important in Colombia. Even the guy will get pec implants or fake six packs. This is strange for a Canadian but normal for a Colombian.

After checking out Pablado for a bit it started to rain so we opted to hit the movie theatre to watch Angels and Demons. I had to go to the movie theatre once while I was in South America. Plus, we found and English one that was super cheap.

That night we hit up this place called Babylon that had all you could drink till midnight. Too bad it was only crappy Colombian rum or aguadiente (aka. gasoline). But it definitely did the trick. The American guy I was traveling with, JP, and I met a group of Colombian girls. Full of aguadiente, it didn't take us long to start dancing on the chairs and tables. These Colombians are crazy...and it was contagious!

The next day we jumped ship to a couchsurfers' place who also lived in Pablado. He was a Brazilian guy who was working in Medellin via AIESEC. He was a really cool guy that told us about all the cool places to see and more importantly, about Mega Pizza. Mega Pizza serves the largest slices you'll ever see in your life that are delicious and come with a coke. All that for the equivalent of $3. Boom baby! I think I went there 6-7 times, haha.

We then headed over to the cable cars to meet up with Dave our Australian friend. The cable cars bring you up to the top of a high hill that has a great view of the city. We grabbed some lunch up there and walked around for a bit. It was weird though. There were tons of police everywhere and a lot of streets were blocked off. Then when we tried to leave we saw tons of people waiting by the railing waiting to see someone. We didn't know what was going on but we later found out that the King of Spain showed up for some type of conference. King of Spain? Wasn't he just congratulating Barcelona for winning the Champions League? That guy is everywhere!

We then hit up a Couchsurfing meeting that was setup to connect travelers and locals and for the locals to practice English. We all met some really cool people and one of the girls offered to cook us dinner. Again, Colombians are rediculously generous. We had a great time having drinks, eating and listening to some Colombian music.

We didn't end up getting back to our Couchsurfer place till midnight and had to get ready super fast. The plan was to go to this famous bar called Mangos. The locals raved about this place. I really don't know what they were talking about though. This place was terrible! We got in for super expensive. All the drinks were crazy expensive and there was hardly anyone there. There was a prison theme that night and the funny thing about that was the place is notorious for having mafioso patrons. Perhaps a little foreshadowing. But still, the average age there was around 40 and it was pretty dead. If you go to Medellin, do not go to Mangos!

The next day we checked out some Science Park, the famous gardens and we ran into a free concert of some famous Colombian singer that we never heard of. We decided to meet with some local Colombians that afternoon to hang out with. Hit it up a park had a few beers then went to everybody's favourite pizza joint, Mega Pizza. The night got late again so we had to deke to get ready to go out. One warning about hanging out with Colombian girls, they'll keep you out late.

We met up with our Couchsurfing host, had a few drinks and then hit up Zona Rosa. We hit up a cool place called Red and had a pretty solid night. I think my Salsa is getting better too...

The next day, JP and I had our last taste of Mega Pizza while we could (Well JP anyways) and then we headed off to the Coffee District. I don't drink coffee but I'm sure I'll enjoy it anyways...

Cartegena, Colombia

Woohooohooo...what a bus ride! I was surprised we made it alive and this time it wasn't because of the bus driver. So, there were 4 older men at the back of the bus getting super wasted on Colombian rum. They were all taking shots and being super loud. I thought it was kind of funny till the one guy got out of hand. First, he started screaming at one of the guys trying to sell snacks on the bus. Ok, he's a little drunk no big deal. Then he stumbles to the front of the bus and starts talking to the bus driver and the bus driver's assistant. Then he decides to announce something to the rest of the bus in his drunken Spanish. So the bus driver finally stops so he can take a piss outside even though there's a bathroom in the bus. So he finally sits down and stay quiet for maybe ten minutes. Then he gets up and again and makes his way through the hallway hitting everyone on the way and actually falling on someone's lap. He starts getting belligerent with the bus driver but the bus driver is having no part of it and ignores him. The drunk guy gets super pissed and yanks the bus drivers arm while he's driving! The bus swerves to left into incoming traffic in the middle of the highway. The bus driver gets the bus back on course and a whole bunch of guys tackled him down till we got to the next checkpoint where he was taken to the cops. The dumb drunk guy even got some boots to the head. Anyways, luckily we didn't get into an accident that night.

So we made it to Cartegena safe and sound and decided to take a cab to our Couchsurfer hosts' place. Cartegena is notorious for being a two-faced city. There is the old town where everything is very poor and colonial and there is the new city where everything is modern and quite nice. The bus station is in the old city so when we first saw the place we thought Cartegena was ghetto central. Thing was we were staying in the new city which is right off the beach so in other words...we weren't to choked we left the old city. With that said the old city is cool to explore and tour.

We met our couchsurfing host, Erv, and her childhood friend Jackie. We got there late Friday night so of course we were ready to drink. So we all had some drinks and shared some stories. The two girls had an early dive the next day so they weren't able to go out. That wasn't stopping us though. We headed straight to the party area and found ourselves in a very weird bar where there were very many single good looking girls that were very aggressive with all the guys. Right away it seemed a bit strange but we couldn't put our fingers on it. Haha, then we walked to the next room and it all hit us pretty quick. We were in a puta bar! Hmmmm that's strange, after we say, "No tengo dinero," the girls tend to lose interest right away. I wonder why?

Sooo, we didn't spend much time there and tried to find a normal bar. We found this one place called Mr. Babilla which we became well acquainted with during our stay. It was pretty dead that night but we met some cool people. But the most important part was it wasn't a puta bar.

The next day we decided to check out the old city. The old city within the walls is a nice colonial town with some beautiful buildings and churches. It has a nice Bohemiam feel there. I don't know what it is about Cartegena and puta bar but we couldn't seem to avoid them even though it was 1 in the afternoon. This guy came up to us and said, "Come on guys, the party is starting in 20 minutes." We wondering what the hell he was talking about considering it was the middle of the day. Then we saw a girl in her bra looking at the laptop of some old guy's laptop. There are two things wrong here. First off, she is obviously a prostitute. Secondly and most importantly, who the hell brings their laptop to a bar? Weird...

The plan that night was to do the infamous chiva bus with our Couchsurfing friends. The chiva bus is a big colourful bus that has a bunch of people playing Colombian music, drinking, dancing and slapping their asses. It is tons of fun! If you go to Cartegena, this is a must. We bussed all around Cartegena made a pit stop at the walls and met tons of people and then partied some more on the bus. They were even nice enough to drop us off at the bars with an arepa in hand (Delicious Colombian food). We seemed to have lost our Couchsurfing friends so we decided to head to our favourite place in Cartegena...Mr. Babilla! Oh man, and it was rocking that night! It seemed like it was everyone's birthday! We met tons of Colombians that night. I made really good friend's with the cooler guy outside of the bar that sold beers for super cheap. I was his best customer. Mr. Babilla was good to us that night!

The next day was a bit of a later start because of the epicness of the last night. We decided to check out the fort that is situated in the middle of Cartegena. It was considered the Spanish's strongest fort in all of South America. It was quite large and had an amazing amount of cells inside of the fortress. The cells could be found via the tunnels that winded through the innards of the fortress. The fortress also had a great view of both sides of the city. You could look one way and see the new city and then do a 180 and look at a city that looks completely different. It was like looking at heaven and hell.

The next day was a holiday so we decided to meet up with our good friend Mr. Babilla one more time. Pourque no? But first, we decided to watch everybody's favourite Kazakstany, Borat. That'll get you in the right mindset. Mr. Babilla didn't have so many people over but it was still pretty fun. I met this one Colombian guy who was in love with his country. We had a pretty hilarious conversation.

Unfortunately, we didn't have the luxury of a late start this time. It was time to hit the boat early enroute for Playa Blanca. Playa Blanca is Cartegena's most famous beach. It is one of those infamous white sand and pearly blue see throughwater beaches. It really was amazing despite how touristy it was. We got my favourite corriente luncches for lunch with some delicious trout. We then pretty much enjoyed the water till the boat was ready to go. We wanted to stay the night in a hammock but this wasn't possible because we needed to be in Cartegena to check for flights into San Andreas early.

Our efforts to find early and cheaps flights were unrewarded so we decided to scratch San Andreas and stay and extra night in Cartegena so we could do the mud volcanoe. The mud volcanoe is a small mountain that has mud in the middle instead of lava and is heated naturally from below. The mud isn't too hot or too cool. It is incredibly comfortable though. You pretty much dip in and the guys that work there slot you into a spot and massage your body. If I'm ever going to do a spa that would be my version of one. It was awesome, no of us wanted to get out even though we were in for over an hour. We then rinsed out in the lagoon and went for lunch in front of an incredible view of the Carribean Sea.

That was definitely worth the extra day! Next stop Medellin. Watch out Pablo Escobar, here we come...

Santa Marta, Colombia

Oh man, what a crazy bus ride that was! Within the first hour two people were puking in the bus from the windy roads and the fact that the driver was driving like a maniac. Not only this but for some reason they decided to lock the bathroom door. So you would have to walk to the front of the bus and ask the bus driver to open the door for you. Well, if your gonna puke it's kind of hard to ask the bus driver to open the door for you....you kind of have to puke NOW! So the first guy was trying to wrench the door open but obviously couldn't open it. So my friend grabbed the bus driver to open it and he was there for awhile. 20 minutes later a woman didn't even attempt to make to the washroom. She just went on the floor and moved seats. Those were all great sights to think about when trying to fall asleep.

So 15hrs of that later we finally made it to Santa Marta. The humidity hit us like a brick wall. We were hot and wet on the spot. We grabbed some breakfast and then made our way to our Couchsurfing host's place. He lived in a nice condominium right by the beach so we took advantage of the beach right away. After a good beach sesh we grabbed some lunch then headed to a little fishing town called Tagonga. This is where most travelers stay because it's a nice quaint fishing town that is great for scuba diving. I was short of funds so I wasn't able to go scuba diving. It is very peaceful buuuuut not exciting enough for me. We then headed back to downtown Santa Marta and meet up with some friends and grab some fresh fish for dinner. We then headed back and called it a night so we could head over to Tayrona bright and early.

The next day we took an hour bus to the entrance of Tayrona Park. After getting razzed by the guards we finally got in. Tayrona Park is a very beautiful national park. It is probably Colombia's most famous park situated on the Northern coast of Colombia. It is covered in Jungle and has some of the nicest beaches I've seen in my life. Jungle is very tropical and I saw tons of wildlife I've never seen before. There are lots of lizards, birds and crabs. There are several camps right off the beaches where you can eat and sleep the night in a hammock. They transport everything by donkey. So pretty much when you're walking you have to contest with these donkeys on the trail. After about a 45 minute walk were arrived at the first beach and we decided to jump in the water while we waited for our friends.We waited for a good half hour and still didn't see them so we decided to move on. There were three beaches in this section of Tayrona Park. They are all very nice but that last one was amazing! That was the most popular amongst the travelers, suprise, suprise. You'll have to wait for the photos to this my description to do real justice. One weird thing about this beach was there were shiny gold sparkles in the water. It was really weird but cool at the same time.

After chilling at that beach for awhile we decided to head back to the first beach because the hammocks were cheaper there. And wouldn't ya know it, we ran into our friends. They decided to take a wrong turn and walk on an aimless quest for about 5hrs. Man, were they glad they made that wrong turn, haha. I think they got a little too much sun. Once we got back it was dark so we grabbed some dinner, had some drinks and watched the Boca Juniors lose the Argentinian championship. Time to have my first full nights sleep in a hammock.

I think they setup my hammock for shorter Colombians I could not get comfortable. But I did manage to get some shut eye. We all grabbed some breakfast and the trekked back to the entrance to grab a bus and grab our bags. Next stop, Cartegena for the weekend!

San Gil, Colombia

Whew! We had just finished a 7 hour bus ride in a crappy little bus that had zero leg room. I thought my legs were going to fall off by the end of it. Once we arrived at our hostel we figured out a good place to eat and how to get to their famous waterfalls. He directed us to this great restaurant that had the typical Colombian lunch. This was our first taste of a typical Colombian lunch and I never went back since. For the equivalent of $4 we got a soup to start, then a salad, then rice, fried banana, meat and beans followed by a dessert. A four course meal for $4? How could I ever refuse?

After the satisfying meal we made our way to the buses to be dropped off at the trekking point to the falls. We had to pay the owner a couple bucks to go over his property towards the falls (It's common for South Americans to monetize anything that tourists do). The guy warned us that we have to watch out because we'll get super wet and he said I'll have problems with my sandals. We were like ohhhhh big deal, probably a few slippery rocks. Haha, yaaaa it was a little more than that. It was more like climbing with slippery ropes up rock walls and jumping from rock to rock across rapids. It was really fun though. Once we got to the top we found out why everybody was clammoring about this waterfall. It was pretty dang huge. You can see from the pictures I'll put up. When I went under it I thought I was close to the middle. The water felt like big beads of hail nailing me on the head. In the photo it doesn't even look like I'm in the waterfall! We jumped in the water a few times which definitely woke you up but it wasn't too cold. After screwing around for a while we decided to take an alternate route which had some great views of the mountains. Once we got back to the road we had to hike a bit to catch a bus but we finally caught one and got back to San Gil for an early night.

The next morning we woke up to hit some intense rafting. We were told it got as high as level 4 and level 5. We started off with some easy rapids and got to practice some of the rafting orders. Once we got a hang of that we started hitting some level 4 rapids. That was a pretty good start and everybody got their first soak. We got to jump in the river a few times and hit some pretty damn big rapids where people were knocked all over the boat. The guide said the first person in the water would have to buy everyone beers. Thing was, everyone was a pretty solid paddler so we weren't hit toooo hard by the rapids and we managed to keep the boat unflipped. There was one part I thought we were going to flip. We hit super hard and I thought the guy in front of me fell in but it was actually his paddle. Then, the guide decided to dig his paddle into the wedge of a rock to spin us around really hard. I was at the end of the boat so I got the worst of it. My upper body flung out but there was no way I was buying everyone beers. So I wedged my foot into the median of the boat and pretty much held on by the tips of my toes and was able to get back into the boat without falling out. Whew that was close!

After a quick lunch we hit a few more big rapids and then hit the end of the rafting trip. We all chilled and had a few beers and then headed back. Overall, the rafting trip was really fun. It was a shorter then I was used to back in Golden. It was only about 2 hours and a half. The ones in the Kicking Horse River are about 5-6 hours and more consistently crazy and it is supposed to be only level 4. I think the guys said the one in Colombia is level 5 just for the gimmicky factor to get more people to do the rafting trips. That's my theory anyways...

So we got back had dinner and headed right for the bus. Santa Marta here we come! It's beach time...

Bogota, Colombia

After a bit of a stumble I finally made it to Colombia. I decided to take the more risky form of transportation via the bus. It much cheaper and I figured it would give me a better chance to see the city. It took about an hour to get to La Candalaria which is the location where my hostel is located. I haven't been in the country for an hour and I was already receiving the infamous Colombian hospitality. Probably, five or six people on the bus helped me to find out when to get off the bus and an older man took the liberty to walk me to my hostal. Wow, I love these people already!

Bogota is a behemoth of a city at 9 million people. It sat at 2,600m high but at that point that was low for me. For Colombians Bogota is known as a cold city. Most people will be walking around with long pants, a shirt and sometimes a coat. I was perfectly fine with shorts and a muscle shirt but then again, I am Canadian. One odd thing about Bogota and for that matter Colombia is their address system is based completely on a number system. They have calles and carreras which are avenue and streets. Instead of having names for the streets and avenues they would only have numbers. This complimented with building numbers which we're all used to. Anyways long story short, you can pretty much tell where anything is in the city right away just by looking at its address. Even in a big city! It's quite brilliant really but takes a little getting used to.

The district I was staying in, La Candalaria, is known as a student area and a very dangerous area. There are a lot of universities and a lot of bums on drugs. Although it is much better now, in the past hostels would have someone coming back to the hostel reporting a robbery everyday. Many locals I met never even been to that area their whole lives because it was too dangerous. So, the plan was to keep the eyes and ears open. I got into the hostel in the late afternoon so I decided to stroll around the area for a bit and then went for a bite to eat with a Welsh couple. The plan was to taker easy that night and get an early start the next day.

The next day a few of us were set to see all the sights around La Candalaria. We hit up the plazas, a few cathedrals and the amazing gold museum. This gold museum is the most famous of its kind. Colombia is notorious for its gold deposits. Especially the amount of gold the aboriginals had in their possessions till the Spanish rudely snatched all that up. The museum was full of jewellery, masks, armor, monuments, idols and many other artifacts. Most of these were worn by the leaders and the shamans. However, every tribe member would wear some sort of precious metal. It would be a sign of the standing in their tribe. Each metal and each type of artifact made from these metals would have their own meaning. Many of the aboriginals believed shape shifting and reincarnation. This was all tied into their strong belief with astrology. It was all very interesting but unfortunately I can't explain it all in this blog. You'll have to learn more at the place itself.

After the museum we decided to hike up to Monseratte. This is a famous church on top of mountain in Bogota. It has an incredible view from the top and we were actually lucky enough to catch the sunrise bellowing over the city. It was cloudy all day but the sun decided to peek through. The church itself was quite nice as well. As per all South American churches, there was a Jesus at a certain step of crucifiction. This guy was extra tanned, perhaps an accidental bias of the local artist? Anyways, by that point it was night fall and we had to get back for dinner and drinks.

A big group of us went out for some local Colombian food. We all ordered some big platters that we all shared. I'm happy to say, Colombians have been blessed with some incredible food. After dinner and some hialrious conversations we headed out to a salsa bar where we danced the night away. Oh man, I sure got my fair share of salsa practice in Colombia...

The next day was a little later wake up, hehe. I decided to head up to Usaquen which was a nice area that had some good shopping. Gotta buy presents eventually, right? I then checked out Parque 93 which is a beautiful park surrounded by great restaurants. After some good pricey eats I made a funny tshirt that pretty much backfired later on. Ok, if South Americans call all of us Gringos then why is it when we call our selves gringos we're all of a sudden American. Bullshit! Still made for a funny night though.

The plan for the next day was to head to the Laguna de Guativita. This is the famous lake of the legend of El Dorado. This name might sound familiar to you. It is the lake the was home to the famous aboriginal tribe that had an incredible wealth of gold, diamond and other precious stones. This tribe had a tradition to sacrifice these precious stones in the name of Mother Earth, the Sun and the mind. Bronze signified Mother Earth, gold signified the Sun and diamonds signified the mind. All three of these metals were sacrificed by dumping them in the lake. Some of these stones were even hidden in caves or buried but the large majority were dropped in the lake. This is why the lake was of great importance to the Spanish, then Germans and then the English. All these expeditions were unsuccessful to drain this massive lake. They used everything from pressurized hoses, to manual bailing to actually cutting a crevace into the mountain. The best they could do was lower the level of the lake permantely. Many artifacts were recovered however. Most are in Bogota's gold museum but some are all over the world.

That night we decided to hit the same Salsa place we went to on Wednesday. This time it was full out salsa night. Whew, I better get my dance shoes on. Man that dance is a workout!

Saturday was pretty chill. I checked out a little more of La Candalaria and planned the rest of my Colombia trip. That night we amassed a crew at the hostel decided to hit up everybody's favourite party spot, Zona Rosa. This is a party area in Bogota that is going on from Wednesday to Saturday with tons of bars and discotecas. We almost got stopped up by some efffed up bum that tried to pull out a shank on us. Luckily he was too effed up on crack and we just pushed him away. We ended up a pretty cool discoteca that was fairly packed. Out of no where these three guys in giant costumes came in. They were Tony the Tiger, Buzz Light Year and the other was some type of bear. And I'm talking about full out mascot costumes, not something they made themselves. I was kind of tripping out at the time, haha. They even went up to the stage to dance with the band. Haha, good on them!

I decided to stay on extra day so I could watch the local futbal game with some friends. It was Bogota versus the precious champions, Cali. Cali was a heavy favourite but we decided to go for the local guys. As soon as the Colombian anthem went on everybody lifted arm in the air. I was a bit surprised about this because it look exactly like a Nazi rally in seconds. But what the hell, when in Colombia...so I joined in. Don't worry guys, I was told this is a normal Colombian custom when their anthem is playing. No Nazis about it. The quality of soccer was dramatically less than Argentinian soccer but it was still entertaining and the home team won! Wooo!

That night a huge group of us went out to a fancy restaurant for dinner. We all had incredible meals, wine and champagne. I had the best wine I've ever had. Even better the Trepeche in Mendoza! After the dinner we went out to the pub to share some drunken stories. It's those type of nights that makes you want to go to hostels. Where you have a huge group of different cultures sharing amazing stories. It really is a treat to be immersed in so many cultures at one table.

Bogota...check! Next stop, San Gil...

Lima, Peru

So I wake in the bus at 7am. I'm thinking, oh that's weird, we are supposed to be in Lima. The bus driver said the bus ride was only 18 hours. Well, apparently this was Peruvian time because we didn't end up getting into Lima until 10am. A good 3hrs late. My flight was to leave at 11am and I'm trying to find a cab to drive to the airport which is a good 3o mins away. I finally find one and tell him to step on it. Lucky me, I found the one cabby in Lima that doesn't even know where his only airport is. What taxi driver doesn't know where the airport is? I don't care how big your city is. So, buddy was driving all over the place asking people directions to the airport. He would then drive another couple blocks and ask some other people directions. It was like he kept on forgetting the directions. He did this atleast 8 times. So I finally get there at 10 to 11am. I obviously missed my plane I had to find the office and get my new flight for the next day. It was a bit of a costly mistake but that was the first of the trip, so I got off well...

I cabbed back to the hostel I stayed at when I first went to Lima. They didn't have any room but they let me chill there for a bit. I then went to then went to the Catacombs with a Canadian couple. That was a really cool museum and exhibit. These Catacombs had stored the bones of over 30,000 bodies in their cellars. It was pretty surreal to see. In the top of the building there were many spooky murals on the wall of famous people from back in the Biblical Times. Spooky thing about them was that all the heads were painted over in white. It was like something out of the Ring. The tour guide didn't even have a good explanation of why the heads were painted over. There were also tons of bats in the roof of one fo the rooms flying all over the place. I thought it was a cool place with a spooky place.

After the Catacombs I checked into my third Loki Hostel for a free Tshirt. Booya! I then went to this place called "The Canadian Bar". I'm thinking great, they'll probably have the hockey game. Nope! It was this discoteca bar that resembled nothing of Canada. They only played salsa and merengue and all the server girls would flirt and dance with the old men who drank there. Hmmm, anybody been to a bar like this in Canada? So I had to resort to the hostel to watch the devastating defeat. Brutal!

The next day I was defintely not going to miss that plane again so I got to the airport extra early and caught that darned plane. Great Success!

Cusco, Peru (Part 2)

Somehow I managed to wake on time without an alarm clock. Thank you biological clock! After a little breakfast I felt a lil better and went down to the office to meet the crew. Everybody was from North America and seemed pretty cool.

After about a two hour ride we hit the top of the road for our full day downhill bike tour. Most Dangerous Road round 2? I think so. Everybody took awhile to get ready so I decided to screw around with the pigs that were ride by some shacks. Word to the wise, pigs loooove candy wrappers. Who knew?

So we started down the downhill paved road. We weren't exactly flying because the guide was taking it easy to be safe I guess. Pffff! So we made it down maybe 15 mins and our intelligent friend Zach from Minnesota dropped his camera while pissing at the top. So we had to wait for them to ride back up and grab it. While we were waiting we saw this girl bomb by yelping like a speed freak. Surprise surprise, we found her a little further up in the concrete ditch badly injured. She skidded for about 10m and was hunched over about to get sick. After seeing that we decided to take it a little slower...which lasted about 5 mins. It was awesome though! We were bombing down the road going through streams that were going right over the highway. Ya, I don't think they've invented the culvert yet in Peru.

Once we got to the dirt road where it was rough and rocky the guide decided let my American friend and I take the lead. Oh baby, all bets are off. We just pointed it down the road the full way. That was the best part of the ride without a doubt. It was close to being the worst part after we barely dodged this three legged dog that decided to hang out on the side of the road that we were riding on just around the corner. No worries though, we barely managed to dodge the little mut.

Once we got to the bottom we waited for the rest of the group and ate our lunches. We stopped at a nice viewpoint of a river valley in the Andes which was actually a group of ruins. Our guide shared some stories and history of the specific ruins and of the Inca people. From there we were driven to our hostel in the nearest tiny Inca town. We pretty much chilled out from there and checked out the concert the locals were having. Gotta love merengue music!

The next day was our hardest day of hiking. Luckily enough, it was also when my stomach decided to act up again. The hike was mostly steep uphill climbing. It wasn't easy at that elevation but it was definitely worth it once we got up the the viewpoints. Wow! We were treated to some incredible views! Throughout the day we went on and off the Inca Trails. Contrary to what most people think, there are many Inca Trails. The Inka Jungle Trek is an alternative route that uses the Inca Trail at certain parts.

After about 6hrs of hiking we made to the hot springs. Yes! What a great reward. These were natural fed hot springs that were quite elegant. Most of us jumped in and relaxed. Problem was we didn't know we had a bit of a hike ahead of us to get to the next town. So, we had to push our lazy asses up the hill for one last climb of the day. Whew, we made it! I took it easy that night. Some people went to the local dicoteca to party it up. That wasn't an option for me because I was on the meds and my stomach was doing some funny things.

The next day was an easier 22km hike which was relatively flat. We saw some cool waterfalls and the lunch was awesome that day. The hike was all train tracks after lunch. I'd have to say that was the most boring part of the trek. The reason you go on a trek is to see incredible views. So, my friend Zach and I decided to play the name game till we hit Aguas Calientes to pass time. Ya, we also jumped in the freezing cold river on the way too. There was no hurry to get to the next town so we decided to enjoy it. Well, enjoy in a freezing cold type of way. We also got our first peek at Maccu Piccu from below. We could see some ruins peeking over the side of the mountain. That night only involved dinner and a prep for the next day. It was an early night because we had to wake up for 4am for the long hike up to Maccu Piccu.

Man, did 4am come quick. We got outside to be greeted by some rain drops. Some people bought some garbage bags so they wouldn't get wet. I declined on the garbage bag. huge fashion faux-pas in Maccu Piccu. Hello! So we headed up the 1000's of stairs in the pitch dark. We started to get some light once we got close but it was very foggy so we could hardly see any views. Maccu Piccu couldn't have come any quicker. I had one fierce delivery to make in the little boys room. That's the first time I've ever made an echo while going to the washroom. I was quite proud of myself...

The gates to Maccu Piccu finally opened and we made our way in their. The guys at the desk tried to take away my food that I brought for the day. Those profiteering assholes were trying to take my food so I would buy their overpriced food. Hell no! I found some random people in the line to hide my food in their backpack and sneak it in. Mission accomplished! Don't try to get in this guys' way when he's trying to save money. We went straight to Waynu Piccu to get our ticket because only 400 people are aloud up there a day. Once we all had our tickets the guide gave us a full tour around Maccu Piccu. It was very interesting to hear about the Inca lifestyle back then and about the hole Inca Kingdom which was centralized in Cusco. It spanned from Colombia to the middle of Chile. It was huge!

After the tour we made our way up Waynu Piccu which was another trek on its own. It wasn't so bad at that point because I think all of us were used to it by then. The top was incredible though. There are a bunch of rocks stacked on eachother that everybody just lounges on and enjoys the view. We stayed for quite a bit and chilled and reflected on the trek. After taking a rediculous amount of photos and seeing everything there is to see in Maccu Piccu, we made our way back down to Aguas Calientes. We were scheduled for a 6pm train. So we ate and then waited at the train station where we met a giant group of Peruvian school girls who had an insatiable hunger for gringos. Haha, not interested but some funny conversations none the less. After a long train ride and a heartbreaker overtime loss by the Canucks, I was ready call it quits and hit the sack.

The next day I felt great! My stomach finally felt more or less normal. I hit the town to check out some cathedrals and museums. I happened to meet up with the American guys that I trekked with and we all went to Loki Hostel to party it up one last time. And what a party it was! Loki was rediculously packed! There was a live band playing and it was Friday so...no surprise. We headed over to everybody's favourite place, Mama Africas after. We went to same other places for a bit to claim our free drinks of course. Mama Africa was amazing as usual though. At about 5 in the morning this Israeli girl convinced Zach and I to go to this Israeli bar. We were both surprised that there was even a bar just for Israelis in the middle of Peru. So, we had to check it out. We arrived there to find an Israeli in a fight with the bouncer. The Israeli guy threw the bouncer right through this huge plank door. The Israeli guy took off and the bouncer walked it off but was bleeding and really pissed off. Right away, the people nailed up the door like nothing happened. We came up to them and asked, "Uhhhh, could we come in?" They knocked on the door and said "Customers". So, they took down the door again and let us in. Seems like a legitimate establishment...nope. This place was weird! We were the only non-Israeli. They were playing some hardcore techno. Everybody was drugged up. I could just feel the vibe there. I was not into it so I pretty much left after about 10 mins to call it a night. It was a good thing because my buddy Zach stayed and said the fights didn't stop there. Apparently a guy grab a huge plank of wood and brought it into the club and started fighting a bunch of other guys. It was a huge brawl apparently. I was told there are two opposing groups amongst young Israelis. I didn't inquire too much but apparently this was the cause of the brawl.

The next day I met up with the American guys before they left for Lima and then hung out with some other friends. I checked out a few more museums and did a little more shopping but it was all a prelude to the Canucks game I was waiting to watch. After being dissapointed by my Canucks I decided to drown my sorrows one last time in Cusco. This time I decided to check out somewhere new that wasn't Mama Africa. I actually went to this place that wasn't even close to Mama Africa. It was called Las Vegas and this place actually had a lot of locals for a change. Well, my cab driver really liked the place. In fact, after he dropped me off he actually came out to the club and started partying with me and I met all his friends. Haha, what a crazy place that was. Word to the wise, it looks nothing like Las Vegas...

Sunday morning was merely breakfast and off to the bus straight to Lima. The plan was to get into Lima and taxi to the airport to grab a plane to Bogota. That was the plan...

Cusco, Peru (Part 1)

So here I was, finally in the legendary city in the minds of many backpackers. Cusco is one of the most touristy cities in South America because of its proximity to Maccu Piccu. There are many things to do around Cusco other than Maccu Piccu, it´s quite scenic and it has an incredible nightlife. This leads to very long stays by travelers. Me? Well, I ended up staying for two weeks. Worth every second...

I arrived on Tuesday night with a hostel already booked. I know, I was very proud of myself. Well, there was a Loki Hostel there so it was an easy choice. There are four in total in South America and every last one rocks. Tuesday was an early night because I had a long day of searching for bottom basement prices for my Maccu Piccu trek.

The next day I started early on travel agency bouncing. There are probably over 50 travel agencies that offer the same tours. Some are easier to barter than others. I was on a mission to get the lowest prices possible. You´d be amazed the prices you can get if you play hardball. Throughout the day I pretty much jump from travel agency to travel agency while exploring the city and checking out the touristy parts. It really worked out great.

That night I had a huge shephards pie courtesy of Loki hostel and their dirt cheap dinners. That was a great way to meet tons of people at the bar which I had drinks with after. I even bounced into a friend I met back in Buenos Aires. Both of us decided to head out to a discoteca which name completely eludes but had amazing music and some hilarious Peruvians. Overall, a super fun night and I got a St. Patty´s tie out of the mix from my lady friend. Score one for me...

Thursday involved a later start on the barter process but I finally found a place that was willing go down to $120. So we had a deal. I also decided to book the Sacred Valley tour through them. Other than that, it was more aimless walking around Cusco which is actually a good way to see the city. Later that night, I jumped on the internet to watch the Canucks first win against the Hawks. Strangely, I got lured to the table beside me to play King´s Cup. I can never resist King´s Cup. So after some drunken talking in the past tense and in the third person I managed to pass out earlier than expected for an early Sacred Valley Tour the next morning.

I don´t know how but I actually woke up on time for the Sacred Valley Tour without an alarm clock. The bus ride was a bit painful at first but I eventually woke up. The Sacerd Valley Tour is tour of the four main groups of Inca ruins not including Maccu Piccu. Each group of ruins had there own stories and shared amazing views of the Andes. The history of Incas was really cool and the tour is very complimentary to the Maccu Piccu Tour. I definitely recommend it, just don´t do it hungover. It´s a lot of information to take in.

It was finally Friday night and time to check out the most infamous bar in Cusco, Mama Africas. When you first see it, you wonder why it´s so famous. You have to experience it to know why. Just something about it I guess ;). Man, what a crazy night! I didn´t leave that place till 8am. Haha, I even found my friend having an argument with a cabby because he only had Brazilian Reals and he didn´t even realize it. Haha yep, he was out of it. Good night...

The next day I was soooooo sick. Preying to the porcelain Gods by noon. That was defintely a first. I pretty much slept the rest of the day because I was so out of it. No Saturday night for me.

The next day I still felt terrible but I was a little better. It was time to get a doctor, especially amidst the Swine flu scare. They have a on-call doctor at Loki Hostel so I was able to get a check-up easy. Turns out I had a stomach infection they day before I was supposed to do the Inca Jungle Trek to Maccu Piccu. Great! There´s no way I was going to cancel though. The plan was to just tough it out. I got my antibiotics and I was back to bed to rest as much as possible before the big trek. Man was that bad timing. Nobody likes the squirts throughout a 4 day trek...