El Ultimo Semana

I'm Home.

I got home April 24th, the day before my 19th birthday. However before I comment on the strangeness of being home, I'll elabourate on what I was up to for the last week of my trip.

Parque Tyrona was a blast. I just wish I had more time to spend there; lying on the beach doing nothing at all. I met a cool English girl there, Tara, and we headed to Cartagena.

Cartagena is a major port city in Colombia and was once the most important port as all of the plundered gold would be transported there by land then shipped to Spain. This made Cartagena a hot target for both Pirates and the English. The old city is completely walled in. The final defence set up, constructed in the early 1500's made Cartagena impregnable. All of the hostels are a few blocks from the city walls. The neighbourhood is swimming with prostitutes, coke dealers, and drug addicts; it's a ton of fun.

I spent most of my time in Cartagena just wandering the old city, enjoying the atmosphere. However, one day Tara and I took a day-trip to a mud volcano. We walked up the stairs on the side of the 15m volcano then hopped into the crater which was completely filled with mud. Once in, assorted Colombians laid us on our backs and stomachs and massaged us. When we got out, completely covered in mud, we headed down to the lake beside the volcano and Colombian women washed us.

Returning to Costa Rica ended up being somewhat of a mission. I had begun feeling a little ill when I was in Tyrona. By the time I left Cartagena, it was significantly worse. I arrived at the airport in Colombia at 5:00am on friday morning. A full 3 hours of dealing with customs, baggage check, departure tax, and the airline desk had exhausted me by the time I got on my plane. Once in Panama City, I immediately went to the bus station and barely made the 14 hr direct bus to San Jose. I arrived in the middle of the night and was then screwed by a cab driver. I could hardly believe the relief I felt when I finally got back to Chris and Luisa's house. I did end up puking twice, but I got a lot of good sleep.

On my final day in South America, Chris, his family, Melissa, and her mother, took me to a beautiful park with this amazing waterfall. I was still a hurtin' unit, but it was nice to be outside with the friends that gave me so much over the course of the trip.

I ended up spending the night in Miami due to complications with my connection flight. I stepped off the plane in Detroit at about 11am. It felt so good to be home.