Santa Marta, etc

Today, Sunday, I finally felt like I had the type of vacation that I imagined. I spent most of the day at the beach under a cabana and in the very warm waters of the Carribean Sea. This is by far the warmest water I have ever been in. It was amazing! I don't have any pictures for that because it's advised not to bring anything of value to the beach. You will just have to take my word that it was awesome, and that I got a good amount of sun.

Earlier this week, a guy from my Spanish school, named Maciej (ma-SHAY), threw a party at his partner's place here in Cartagena. He's Polish, and one of the greatest and sweetest guys I've met here. He's "family". He also speaks around 5 languages: French, English, German, Polish, and Russian - along with understanding many other languages, too. Maciej has travelled a lot, so he has several stories to tell. He lives in Warsaw, Poland and has graciously invited Brian and I to visit him. Well, he demanded that we visit, lol.

Anyway, here's some pictures of the fun we had:


^^^From left to right: Simon (Swiss), Ana (Brazilian), Ariana (Washington, DC), Tara (Jamaican), and another Swiss gal. I forget her name.





^^^(most of) The gang from the Spanish language school. A lot of these people are from Switzerland, a few from Sweden, England, Brazil, Poland, and Italy.


^^^ This is Maciej having a "tequila bomb". I never heard of it, but it's a shot of tequila shaken up on a half pint of 7up. No thanks. =)


^^^ This is me at Café del Mar. As I mentioned before, Cartagena's Centro district is walled off where visible to the sea. It was a fortress during the Spanish colonial period hence me sitting on one of the several cannons along the wall that is over 20 km (12 miles) long. It was erected in the in the late 1500s for protection against the English and the French from invading the area. Cartagena was also considered the "door of the new world" where everything was traded from crops to slaves.

History lesson: back in back in 1810, right before the war of 1812, Cartagena was the center battle stage that led to the independence of Colombia. It was led by a good friend of George Washington and he was named Patrick Vernon. Under Vernon's command, he successfully wisked away the Spanish and Colombia became a sovereign country of their own. George Washington was so impressed and pleased with Vernon, that he named the estate, that we now know as Mount Vernon, after him. Pretty cool huh? This is one of the many reasons Colombia has such a great appreciation for America and they welcome them here with open arms.

I wish I had more pictures. The wall around the city, you are able to walk atop it and see all the cannons atop it, too. It's REALLY cool to imagine how it was back in those days - seeing the cannons shooting at any trespassers, etc. Furthermore, in the background, you can hear horse carriages clapping around on their hooves. The feeling of being taken back four centuries in time becomes more and more evident each day I'm here in Cartagena. It's a wonderful experience eventhough I'm sure what I imagine is nothing like how it really was.

On Saturday, after partying until 3am, I had to wake up at 7am for a day long trip to Santa Marta. It's a resort city like Cartagena, but without the history of it. The region is a national park, too. Parts of the Santa Marta park is still controlled by the ELN rebel group, but not to worry, they rely more on drug trade to keep themselves financed as opposed to kidnappings. Furthermore, they're dwindling in power. Plus, I made it back okay to post this blog, so it's not death-defying unless you live, right? =)

The trip to Santa Marta was very stressful. We were told it was going to be a 3 hour drive, but it turned into being a 5 hour drive. Plus, Colombians drive like maniacs. Imagine the worst driving experience you ever had and think of that happening every moment of your trip and all the time. Stop signs, stop lights, speed limits and lane dividers, especially, are considered mere suggestions to Colombian drivers. I was so tired and all I wanted to do was sleep. Yeah right, I wasn't able to do that.

We finally arrived at the park and it was a hassle getting in. We waited about 30 minutes before being cleared to go. We get off the bus, and there was a trail that we had to hike on in order to get to the beach where we were supposed to eat. This was straight up a Jungle. There were red ants everywhere, spiders the size of my hand, bug that sounded like eagles cawing, and the occasional monkey scurrying across your path. It was soooo humid but such a beautiful and amazing experience. Here are some of those pictures:









This trail was about 7km (3 miles) long. I had noticed at this time that my battery was running low on my camera. I decided to keep it off until I got to the beach for the better pictures. It was worth it!!





It was so beautiful here. I wish the pictures could do it justice. If you could picture the best vacation with just yourself and paradise, then this is it. Right after this last picture, my camera died. There were some cabana houses with hammocks that you could stay overnight in. I didn't do that because I just wanted to get back to Cartagena. Several people in my group decided to stay in Santa Marta, but I just wanted to get back. We got back into town at 10:30pm. It was just as stressful of a drive coming back. Brian, Devin, and myself all went to dinner, came home, and passed out.

Today we had a chill day, went to the beach, and then went out to dinner with Maciej and his boyfriend that had arrived the night before from Europe. We had an amazing dinner in Town Center. I had Langosta, which is similar to lobster. They just don't have the pinchers. It was a 500 gram (~1 pound) Langosta and it cost only 39,000 pesos, which is about $20 USD!! It is definitely the best "lobster" I have ever had in my life. The drawn butter was like no other. As I type this, my mouth is still drooling over it. I didn't take any pictures, but Maciej did, so I'll have to harrass him for pictures. We also returned to Café del Mar and had a drink in the brisk, warm wind from the Sea. It was the perfect close to the not-to-perfect week.

But who cares! I'm on vacation and I still have 19 days left of it. I have one week left in Cartagena, and then I'm off to Buenos Aires! Update on that: we secured an apartment there which is right next to the cemetary the Eva Perón is buried. I'm trying real hard to keep my expectation low for Buenos Aires. According to many, it's one of the best cities in the world. But, I'll see for myself!