My Vacation

For those of you who think I´m in a long lovely vacation, lets have a little info session. Trecking around god knows how many kilometers in the last 4 months, with everything you own on your back, in foreign, Spanish speaking lands, which are often stifling hot amd full of people trying to screw you, is not easy. Fun? always. Easy? rarely.

So when I left my big bag in a hostel in Santa Marta and took off with only my day pack and a hammock to Parque Tyrona, Colombia´s claimed best beaches, it was like going on vacation. This is a beautiful park with rich beaches and really amazing boulders scattered in interesting formations all over the park.

Unfortunately my SD memory card for my camera is on vacation as well... It has decided to only display the fotos on it on my camera, not on a computer. I hope he decides to come back soon.

In Colombia; In awe

This country is blowing me away. It's hard to say it's may favourite becaue I have absolutely loved every country I have been in, every one has been so different from the others, and I have visited them all at different times in my travels, but Colombia is amazing. It is by far the most beautiful and it definitely has the friendliest people... ok it´s the best

*This rediculous idea that Colombia is extremely unsafe is no longer valid. A few years ago the place was a little shady to visit, but today it is no more dangerous in most places than any other Latin America country. Sure the country exports about 6 billion of the 8 billion dollars worth of produced cocaine to the US every year, and yes there are a few very dangerous rebel groups, but for the most part the rebels stay in their part of colombia (which is roughly half) and the regular people stay in theirs. I reccomend Colombia to everyone.

When I arrived off the boat, I had to walk 2 hours through the jungle to another town to get my passport stamped. This was an interesting first impression.

So much has happened since I arrived here, and I need to save some stories for when I return home, but there are a few that need telling.

One major difference between Canada and the US and pretty much the rest of the world is football.
I saw a game in Medellin of these two teams and wow... the fans for this sport are like the fans of nothing else. When a player would take a corner kick, riot police would have to rush over and put shields up around the kicker becasue the opposing teams fans would be throwing hurling all kinds of things at the player.

The police or military are everywhere in Colombia. Here's a little example of how tight security was at the game.

Unfortunately on the way home from the game, my friend Kim and I were mugged by four guys. She had her camera taken off her but I fended 3 of them off one-handed with my eyes closed and luckely we escaped unharmed.

On her camera were some great photos of a club we went to in Medellin, which is famous for its night life, its plastic surgery, and its breast implants. Now forever lost are some pictures of me breakdancing on stage at Mango's as well as 5 go-go dancing midgets on the stage beside me... like I said... it's famous for night life.

After Medellin me and 2 frinds headed for a quiet little pueblo called Salento. We had two other friends show up and made great friends with a guy working at the hostel. This place was so much fun. We visisted a cofee plantation, saw the tallest plametrees ever, hung out in the mountains... too much to list. I definitely had the best time here over anywhere else in my travels. The Wax Palms are breathtaking as well...

Yesterday I visited a remote little villiage in the deep jungle that is only accessible by little platforms on an old railroad track that is powered by a motorcycle. My friends and I grabbed some innertubes and spent the day floating down the river with nothing but jungle at our sides.

Now I'm in Bogota, the Capitol. It's a really happening place of roughly 8 million people. I'll probably be here only a couple days as I need to get to the coast soon so I can fly back to Central America in time for my flight home.