Ecuador Adventure Begins

Hi again!  So I am quite a bit behind on my blogging and I do apologize.  Life just got really crazy the days leading up to the farm, and once we were on the farm its an hour and half hike just to get down the mountain.  Life is wonderful right now.  I spend my days gardening, taking care of 12 chickens, 2 cats, a dog, and a goat, learning about herbs and natural medication and nutrition.  We cook everyday the most fantastic vegetarian meals ever.  I do not even miss meat and am learning so many fabulous new recipes.  Potlucks are going to be taken up a noch.  I spend the rest of my time practicing yoga and poi and getting lost in the beautiful view.  But I will post more about the farm next time so I can put pictures up and give you full details.  This post needs to be dedicated to Quito and my first week in Ecuador.

 So this is Quito.  It is a huge sprawling city surrounded by mountains and a volcano.  We took a cable car up a mountain and then continued hiking up towards the volcano.  The elevation change was a bit intense.  It just gets harder to breath, and each step seems to go so slow but all you are doing is simply walking.  I tried Coca leaves for the first and only time on this hike.  It helps with the elevation sickness.  The process is, you take a handful of coca leaves, and put a small pile of baking soda on top and fold the leaves over it so when you eat it you do not taste the baking soda right away.  The baking soda activates it.  You then process to chew on the leaves for about 30 minutes with them slowly dissolving in your mouth.  It makes you mouth tingle and a slightly euphoric feeling takes over your body.  It helps reduce nausea and makes breathing more comfortable.  They also sell this in candies and teas, but it is illegal to bring into the states because through a more chemical process it can be turned into cocaine.  However in ecuador,  you will see people vending the plant everywhere, and after this test try, I did find it quite useful in releiving altitude sickness.

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 Quito happens to lie right along the equator so obviously I went to see the center of the world.  It was super cool.  The museum we went to had all sorts of experiments to participate in, like balancing an egg on a nail on the equator, and pouring water through a faucet to see which way it turned.  On the the precise equator the water just goes straight to the ground with no spinning in either direction.  So that is me up top, on the center of the world with a hand in each hemisphere.  Another fun fact about Quito:  it is the only place along the equator with a mountain range.  This means, due to the way the Earth bulges slightly on the equator, when you are up in the mountains, you are the closest you could possibly get to the sky, the stars, the moon and the sun without actually leaving the ground.  The stars here look so close, you could almost touch them.  One day, I hope to return and hike the highest mountain around Quito and really reach for the stars.

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 This was part of the museum at the center of the world, and I just thought you would all appreciate a lesson in how the indigenous like to scalp their enemies.  If you need more explanation than these pictures, please feel free to ask.

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 Quito is considered the cultural capital of the world.  It has some absolutely beautiful architecture in the center of town.  Mostly churches but also some other old buildings.  The bulk of Quito that I saw is like your average Latin American city, fairly dirty, tons of people everywhere, lots of venders, and somewhat dangerous, particularly for getting robbed.  The buses in Quito are quite nerve racking actually.  The city buses are only 25 cents to get anywhere but the people are packed on, at all times of day.  You can very easily get robbed, stepped on, or shoved on one of the buses, but at least its super cheap.  Quito has tons of musuems, parks, historical sites and hiking all around it that I feel it is a worthwhile place to spend some time if you can handle spending time in a big city.

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I believe this is a bank in the historical part of Quito, if I remember correctly.  I just liked the architecture.  Its always fun seeing the funky old buildings next to the more modern recent buildings.

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After Quito I took a night bus down to Guayaquil to meet up with Cassie.  It was my first directo bus to actually be direct.  Fun little fact, when in South America, you will go to the bus station and ask for a ticket for a direct bus to whichever town or city you are going to.  The man or woman selling the ticket will tell you Si! Si, es directo.  This should mean the bus should not step to pick people up or drop them off.  However, they all do.  This is what often makes the buses dangerous for getting bags or other personal belonging stolen, as well as a couple of scary machete stories I have heard from other travelers.  Luckily, despite the frequent stops my buses usually make, myself and my belongings have arrived safely to all my destinations.  I also found it really fascinating on my one bus that was actually direct, the driver went around with a video camera to all the seats and videotaped all our faces with the seat numbers.  We all also had assigned seats.  It was the safest bus I have taken so far, and is a company that has been in existence for over 50 years.  

Cassie came!  =)  <3  Travelling with a friend is quite different travel than by yourself.  It was a pleasant change to say the least.  We could not stop chatting the whole first day she arrived, and it has been so nice having someone to share experiences with and bounces ideas off of for how to spend our days.  We spent the night she arrived in Guayaquil, checking out the downtown area and the boardwalk.  We then went to Baños, a fabulous place I will have to post pictures of.  The town is right next to another volcano and here are wonderful hot springs to relax in.  We did the hot springs at night after renting bicycles for the afternoon.  We rode our bikes on a winding road along a river with amazing waterfalls along it.  We lost count of how many waterfalls we saw, but ended the bike trip by hiking down to the largest waterfall in the area, el diablo.  It was huge and awe inspiring.  

We then spent the entire next day bussing down to Vilcabamba to start our volunteer work at Sacred Sueños.  It is difficult to put into words how happy I am with this experience.  Everyday I wake up to the most beautiful view with the sun rising.  Everyday I stop my chores or put down my book to get lost in the most beautiful sunset, of which no two are ever the same.  I have so much to share about the farm, but as usual, I would prefer to do it with pictures and lots of stories so that will be my next blogpost!  I would like to send my love out to my Father!  I hope you had a wonderful Fathers day and know how much you are appreciated.  I would also like to send out birthday wishes to my handsome man James Abisamurai!  And of course birthday wishes to my little man Ollie and my kitty PennyLane!  <3<3<3<3  So many birthdays.  =)  Lots of love to everyone, and until next time....

Pura vida!

Hasta Leugo Colombia

 Hello again!  I am separating this into two posts because I do not think it would be fair to combine my last days in Colombia with my first days in Ecuador.  I spent quite a lot of my time in Colombia based out of Santa Marta due to my volunteer work and extended illness.  (I am healthy now! YAY!)  This means I did not get to do quite as many of the tourist spots as I would have liked but it does add to my list of reasons of why I should come back to Colombia in the future, the main one being, to do more work with the Mariposas. 

 This is the pizza guy, a man after my heart.  He spends all night whipping pizza after pizza out of the two part oven.  You can request your toppings, anything from chorizo to veggies to pineapple and ham or salami.  A slice is about $1.35 and I only need two if I am really feeling hungry.  I also found it pretty funny that his cart says Good Pizza instead of Bueno Pizza.  

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 I have also spent a large part of my time in Colombia with the lovely girl pictured above.  Lauren from Northern Ireland.  In fact, I spent so much time with her I was starting to pick up an Irish lilt.  Whenever I told people I was from Boston they thought I was from Southie.  She and I volunteered together and lived at the Dreamer Hostel together and I am already missing her!  One of the best and worst things about travelling, the wonderful friends you make but eventually you have to say goodbye.  However Boston, watch out for St Pattys day, I am trying really hard to get her to come up and visit.

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 This picture says it all.  I am working with Abraham, a fiesty little 4 year old who can be the most adorable thing in the world sometimes, and others a little bull.  This was my last day of teaching, and boy he did not want to learn.  Raphael is sitting across from me with Lauren making her work just as hard to get him to focus as Abraham is with me.  This is one of the biggest challenges with volunteering with the Mariposas, working through all the times the kids dont want to focus while sweat is dripping down your brow.  The great thing is I really felt like I saw improvement in the kids even in the short month I was there.  Progress!  May more volunteers continue this great task!

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 My last day.  =(  Hard to say goodbye, but I treated the kids to ice cream as a farewell gift.  I have always participated with various volunteer programs, enjoying the experience and the ability to help kids.  This is the first time I have become so attached to a specific program and really feel the desire to do more beyond the time and effort I have already given.  I hated saying goodbye.  Goodbyes are something these kids really have to get used to, because in this program volunteers constantly come and go.  I really want to be a volunteer that comes back into their lives time and time again, helping the program grow, and the kids grow.  The exciting thing is, my ability to communicate with the kids will grow too, enabling me to make that much more of an impact and stronger connection with the kids.  If you, my readers have any desire to volunteer or donate, please go to Fundacion Mariposas Amarillas.  You can also buy T-Shirts to represent the Mariposas around the world.  The profits go directly to the organization.  So I guess its not really goodbye, its hasta leugo (see you later) because I will return.

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 I spent some of my last days in Colombia in Cartagena, one day of which we went to Playa Blanca.  I am pretending to be the Little Mermaid here.  A pretty good rock to do it on I would say.  Luckily I still have my off key voice and managed not to hurt myself getting on or off this rock.

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 Cartagena is quite a beautiful city, particularly the old city.  It is a lot of funky architecture with lots of bright colors, balconies, and often times plants.  The city is extremely hot and humid, pretty much every day, year round (so I have been told).  My three days there were no different.  We walked around a lot and just absorbed the city vibe.

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Dad, this picture is for you, and I think you know why.  Miss you lots!

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So I have mostly finished Colombia at this point.  I say mostly finished because I am ending my trip there by flying out of Bogota on August 21st.  I am hoping to have about a week to play in Colombia before I leave but we shall see.  I really liked Colombia (minus the getting sick part) and feel like there is so much more to see and do.  Luckily, depending on the time of year, roundtrip tickets can be pretty cheap, so I can be fairly positive of my returning.  Some final notes on the country?  The coast needs to work on the whole flooding issue.  It only takes about 5 minutes of rain for the water to be halfway up your calves in the street.  Its pretty gross, particularly as many of the poor areas do not have proper bathrooms, including the schools I taught at.  YUCK!  Love the dancing and music.  Everybody dances here and its more than the bob back and forth.  I think thats absolutely fabulous.  Colombia is not as dangerous as everyone in the states thinks it is.  I swear!  I mean, its still dangerous, but so are most places in the world.  You just have to keep a head on your shoulders, eyes open, and make wise decisions.  I am sure I have more comments on Colombia but I am hungry and want to eat dinner before catching my bus to Gauyaquil.  Updates about Ecuador soon!

Pura Vida!

9 Days Later

So it has not been 9 days since my last blogpost but it had been 9 days since the beginning of this terrible illness.  Food poisoning?  We are not sure.  The owner of the hostel thinks I might have a virus.  He is being a proper Colombian father and making me go to the doctor.  I hate going to the doctor.  Most of the time it is just a useless, expensive and uncomfortable experience.  Ugh we shall see, anything would be better than how I have been feeling the last few days.  Its like I was really sick, then a little better for a few days (but still with the stomach cramping and lack of appetite) and then it just came back full force the last few days.  Torture!  I miss proper food like you do not even know.

 A nighttime shot hanging out with some good friends on a street close to my hostel.

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 On one of the days where my stomach was only cramping up off and on Lauren and I went to the Simon Bolivar Museum.  Its only about a 5 minute walk away from my hostel.  It is the estate he spent his final days in.  This is a picture of me jumping in front of the big funky tree right at the entrance.

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 So this is the most normal thing to see in Colombia.  Little kids, sans helmets on motorcycles with the parents.  Or even not their parents.  I have seen Mothers get on motorbike taxis with their little ones.  And Mom used to think it was bad when Dad took me for rides in the country with a helmet on.  This is kids go out almost daily on motorbikes with no protection on absolutely crazy streets.  Hopefully the drivers go extra safe with the little ones on the bike.

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 This is during recess at  volunteering.  We are still doing construction on the school and a man was bringing up filler material with his donkey cart but the road leading up to the school is so messed up from the crazy rains that the donkey could not make it up on its own.

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 Volunteers and students are helping the donkey get the cart up to the top to of the hill.

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I went with four friends to a river on Saturday.  It was very tranquillo.  This is my friend Gabriel looking off in the distance.  I spent a lot of my time practicing yoga on those boulders (quite difficult I must say).  Lauren has a few photos of me doing that but I do not have any on my camera.  I came to the conclusion during that yoga session that being one with nature is quite ticklish.  So many little insects crawling up and down my entire body.  I am becoming immune to insects.  Also I have stopped using repellent.  My Colombian friends say to not use it and eventually I will become immune.  In all honesty, I still get bit, but I would not say anymore or less than before when I was using repellent regularly.  And I have the added bonus of not spraying DEET on me everyday.  I hate spraying chemicals on me.  I also wash myself in lavender body wash and use lavender body oil to help deter the mosquitos.  They do not like the smell of lavender.  

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So I think its time for me to go shower, brush my teeth and head off to the doctor.  Hopefully good health will return to me soon so I can enjoy my last days in Santa Marta properly.  Also, I bought my return ticket home.  I will be flying out of Bogota, Colombia on August 21st returning to Boston and my adorable little kitty, Miss PennyLane and my lovely friends of course.  Would it be wrong to request Al's that night?  Oh do I miss food!!!!

Pura vida!

La Ciudad Perdida, and the Hectic Life that Followed

Ahhh so it begins.  The time elapses between my blog posts get longer and longer.  I returned from La Ciudad Perdida tired and dirty, and my only reason for wanting to use a computer was to talk to my handsome man who is currently on the other side of the world.  So I slacked.  Volunteering was quite wonderful this past week.

 

We have two volunteers, a husband and wife, John and Serena Star-Leonard, from Ireland and New Zealand respectively doing wonderful work putting together a video and posting blogs for the Mariposas in an effort to raise money for the foundation.  How Can We Help?  That is the link to their blog, a specific post about their work with the Mariposas Amarillas, and soon we shall have a video putting the issues into real life perspective.  That is Serena up above with the some of the kids playing under her tripod. 

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Thursday is sports day at Oasis, the afternoon school.  It is an afternoon program so most of the kids to attend another school in the morning.  We play on a concrete court in the blazing hot sun.  Many of the kids run around with no shoes.  You could fry an egg on this court easily.  We had to take breaks about every 20 minutes and buy bags of water for ourselves in the kids.  I worry about how much water the kids drink when we are not around.

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 I am so mad at myself for not getting pictures of the kids being interviewed.  Ricardo the boy on the right was interview along with two other childern at the morning school.  They were so nervous in front of the camera with the microphone and all the official technology.  Everything they used was powered by batteries because as of this moment there is still no source of electricity in the school.

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So let me take a step away from volunteering and talk about my 5 day trek to the Lost City (La Ciudad Perdida)

 I cannot seem to get half the photos to load so you will just have to wait till facebook or until i return and go through them personally with you!  The trek to the La Ciudad Perdida can be done in 4 to 6 days.  I did it in 5 which is the average.  It is 46 km total, 23 km there and 23 back.  The way there is spread over 3 days and the way back in 2.  It is beleive to have been founded in 800 AD by the Tayrona people.  On our trek there we had to cross the river around 20 times, sometimes stepping on stones and sometimes getting our feet wet.  Luckily, our first three days of treking we managed to get to the encampments before the rains started.  Above is a picture of the waterfall pre-rain.

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 The waterfall during rain.  I took a lot of pictures trying to capture the intensity of rainfalls we experienced in the afternoon but it was nearly impossible.  This seems to be the best illustration.

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This is one of the river crossings where we had to get our feet wet.  The river was so strong here we were not allowed to cross barefoot.  It was the last crossing before the Lost City.  We had a puppy (dubbed Puppy Perdida) who followed us for 2 and half days.  Ralph, one of my fellow travellers was afraid the puppy would try to swim after us (he had done so before) and carried him across while hanging on the rope to not float away himself.  After crossing the river this time we climbed around 1,000 steps to get up to La Ciudad Perdida (I counted on the way back down).

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  This is a Cogi village we passed along the way.  These are the typical style huts that are likely very similar to what they had at the lost city.  The Cogis are descendents of the Tayrona people.  We would hope to have more knowledge of the Tayrona people but they had no written language and thus rely on stories and archeology.  

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 Some of the many steps we climbed in the La Ciudad Perdida.  The site may have housed 2,000 to 8,000 people.  The Tayrona people abandoned this site during the Spanish conquest leaving the settlement to disappear into the jungle and mossy green.

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 The closest thing to written language in the Lost City.  It is a map of their terrority.  While we were there we could imagine the children sitting in a circle being taught by their elders.  Similar to today, just sans electricity. =)

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 La Ciudad Perdida consists of a series of 169 terraces carved into the mountainside, small circular plazas and tiled roads connecting it all.

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 The site was discoverd in 1972 by a group of grave robbers, a local man Florentino Sepulveda and his two sons Julio Cesar and Jacabo.  They found a series of stairs and followed them to the Lost City.  Authorities then discovered the site in 1975.  They sent in the army and archeologists to protect the site and learn from it.  Looting and fighting continued for years after.

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The indigenous knew of the site prior to the grave robbers but never said a word.  They sometimes used it for religious ceremonies and still do to this day.  I took one or two pictures of some of the children asking for sweets but felt uncomfortable taking more than that.  I did not want to reduce these people to a subject of tourism simply for being natives and sticking to their natural way of life.  If you would like to see them ask me when I return!  Or look on Google and I am sure some else has posted something.

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 You can only travel to Ciudad Perdida via a guided tour.  The area is protected by the military but has not had Guerilla problems in about 5 years.  Some of my friends who trek a lot on their own refuse to pay the money for the tour.  I highly recommended sucking up the money and going for it.  It was my greatest experience so far.  The pictures I took do not do the city justice.  It is amazing and wonderful to explore ruins and be the only ones there.  It was just our group of 7, our tour guide, and the military.  I have never before had the chance to explore an ancient site in quite the same way.  Plus, I earned it!  After all that hiking.

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 This is the infamous shot of La Ciudad Perdida.  Hope you don´t mind my little bit of meditation.  I think that is my only disappointing part of the tour, we only had 2 hours at the Lost City.  I would have preferred spending a whole day their, exploring and taking it all in, doing yoga and meditation.  It is probably better for maintaining the site though if the tourists that come almost daily are not climbing up and down everything all day, but rather take a slow walk through.  

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 This is one of my tour guides Jhon.  He is up in an avacado tree throwing really large avacados down on our heads.  (He was aiming for our hands actually).  We each got to take one home with us.  I never quite realized how much an unripened avacado weighed until I had to add it to my bag for the last day of hiking.  I also never realized that avacados grew on trees.  Learn something new every day!  Jhon was super helpful for me the last 2 days, because not long after La Ciudad Perdida my ankle did one of its fun twists.  He cut me a walking stick and walked super slow in the rain helping me through the final days of the hike.  I cannot thank him enough!  On top of that, I practiced a lot of spanish with him because he spoke no english.  The tour was incredibly Colombian as all the people that worked there the trek were Colombian, and I actually did not find anyone who spoke English.  This was a downfall in someways for aquiring information, but fantastic in the way that all the money spent was going for Colombian jobs and welfare.  Shop Local Baby!

So a few other notes of my last few days.  I would have written sooner but this weekend I went out.  I went out Saturday night for my friend Sam´s last night bartending at the Dreamer Hostel.  I pre-gamed pretty hard with Arguideinte (not sure if I spelled that write) and by the time we were all ready to go out it was down pouring.  But we still decided to go for it.  The cab drivers could not get us to our destination because their cabs were being water logged.  We had them drop us off at the Colombian bars we passed on the way and sprinted into one after leaving a hefty tip for driving in such conditions.  We were the only gringos in the bar.  First we got stares, but after we bought some drinks and started joining in the dancing we gained some grins.  Everyone was singing along to the music and I did not know a single song.  It was a fabulous Colombian night.  We ran across the street to a larger bar for better dancing.  The water was rushing through the street well above my knees at this point.  We hung out at the other bar dancing and making friends until the bar closed.  When it closed, our new friends told us not to leave, that it would not be safe with all the drunk people in the street, and that we should wait or else likely be robbed.  We hung out for another twenty minutes and then tried to catch a cab.  After a few more minutes we decided as a group of 8, we were hopefully fairly safe and walked the 20 minutes back to our hostel.  We made it back safe and sound, but oh was the next day hell!  A hangover I truly deserved.  But the hangover did not go away.  I think I was actually on the way to getting sick on Saturday and then just amplified it with my drinking.  I am still recovering today and it is 3 days later.  I am hoping to eat something more than crackers and fruit today.  We shall see!  Sadly, these kind of food troubles are normal ones travellers face in Central and South America.  I just hope I only have to deal with it once, because it is the least fun part of my trip.  Until next time....

Pura vida!

A Second Week in Santa Marta

 

 The kitten that was at the hostel!  I say at the hostel because the housekeeper took her home while I was away last weekend.  =(

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This past weekend I went to Playa Costeño with a few of the other volunteers from the Mariposas and another NGO that works in Santa Marta.  It was wonderful.  One had to walk for around twenty minutes to get to any kind of store and even then it was only the smallest of markets.  If you walked twenty minutes either way on the beach the only people you ran into were fishermen.  I am really dissappointed in myself for not getting pictures of the beach and the hostel.  Here is the link to their website if you want to see more of what it was like: Costeño Surf Camp.  Sadly I did not surf as I need to save my money for the Lost City trip I am leaving for today.  The above is an artsy photo I did manage to take of my friends while were hanging out by the bonfire.  At night there was basically no electricity except for a few twinkle lights in the bathroom.  It was so tranquil and beautiful, and there were crabs, frogs, geckos, and animal life everywhere.  There were monkeys and caymans, and while I heard them, I sadly did not see any in my time there. I also encountered plenty of insects who thought I was breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Bug spray is just really ineffective in this country.

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This is the Dreamer Hostel, where I have been living for the past week and a half and plan on continuing to live at during my stay in Santa Marta.  I am sure you can figure out the appeal from this picture.  It is wonderful coming back from teaching the kids on a hot day (every day here) and jump in the pool and cool off and then take a siesta in one of the many hammocks surrounding the pool area.  I might be getting a little spoiled here.  It does however get tiring living in a 10 person dorm room (the cheapest room available) particularly since get up every morning around 6:20 to be at the school by 7:30.  We used to take the bus to the school but it is very slow.  All the buses here go into the center of town and then to wherever the destination is.  This means what should take 10 to fifteen minutes can take 30 minutes to an hour.  Lauren and I have started taking the motorbike taxis to work.  They cost about a dollar, take ten minutes, are a little scary but quite a lot of fun.  The drivers are very good about slowing down when they come up to puddles so as to not splash water on us.  The other day we took two to get back the hostel after school and they briefly drove down the wrong side of the street so they could cross earlier.  Always in a rush.  Don´t worry though, our drivers like living too so I trust them about as much as I trust a taxi driver.  Another great thing about taking them instead of the bus is I am learning the route to school better and the price is always the same.  Instead of being late I have time for breakfast!

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 These are the kids we are working with.  Yesterday we had a police officer come in as a guest speaker.  The kids loved it.  He got them all to participate and worked on teaching them about being safe and being respectful.  The kids too often just demand things and do not use phrases like please and thank you.  We are working on them though.  This is my first experience working with 4 through 7 year olds.  Let me say it is difficult and exhausting.  Their spanish is almost impossible for me to understand because they mumble like crazy and they have the attention span of a pea.  They are great kids though and face a lot of issues in their home and the area they live in.  One of our boys´ shoe was falling apart and I said to another volunteer who had been there much longer that I felt bad for him.  She looked back at me and said at least he has shoes.  Despite this the kids are pretty happy the majority of the time, particularly if they are running circles around us.  Maybe that is why teaching little ones is so tiring, I constantly have to chase them down!

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 Feliz Dia de la Madre!

Happy Mother´s day Mom!  I love you and miss you.  We spent the rest of yesterday making Mother´s day cards with the kids.  They got really into it.  It was so pleasant having a full day of the kids being productive.  If any of my readers have worked with this age group and have suggestions of activities, songs or games please pass them along to me.  I would love to hear them!!  Since I could not make a Mother´s day card and send it to my lovely Mother I took a picture of the kids with their cards.  <3

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Tyler, this story next story is for you.  There are extremely large frogs here.  Probably technically toads, but for this story it is a frog.  Lauren and I were walking along the main avenue by our hostel and saw a frog larger than my two fists put together.  It jumped into the road and we both let out small screams ¨FROGGY!¨ We thought for sure he would be hit by one of the cares, motorbikes, or buses that flies down that street.  One car missed the frog by mear inches, in fact from our angle we thought he was a goner.  But he was still alive, dodged a few motorbikes and made it the otherside.  A real life Frogger story.  Sorry if no one else gets this Playstation reference.  Tyler I thought of you and I playing that game the rest of the way home.  

As much as I would like to continue telling stories about my adventures here I have to go pack my things and run to the ATM before I get picked up by my tour group for the Lost City.  You can only trek to the Lost city with a tour and while it is a little expensive we are supposed to get fed extremely well and have mini-hostels in the jungle to sleep in on the way.  The ruins should be beautiful with barely anyone there except the army, our tour group and maybe one other group or researchers.  I do not think I can even explain how excited I am.  So more soon!  I will write next week when I return.  (Sorry, I am going to the land of no wifi.  It should be blissful)

Pura vida!!!

Santa Marta, My First Week

So I left Medellin about a week ago now, and leaving was quite the mess.  About an hour before I had to leave the hostel to get to the airport I went to the ATM that had worked earlier in the week to take money out to pay my bill and have some money when I arrived in Santa Marta.  Of course, the ATM decided that my bank was temporarily unavailable.  I tried three times.  None of the other ATM's near my hostel worked, and at this point, I was stressing... a lot.  I ran back to the hostel and immediately tried researching what other ATM options I had in the area.  The other travellers kept suggested ATM's that were in the center of the city but there was no way I had time to go to the center, find an ATM that worked, come back to the hostel, pay my bill, and then make it to the airport in time for my flight.  Finally one of the girls that worked at the Wandering Paisa Hostel told me there was a Citibank ATM a few blocks away (which for some reason did not show up on the Google search).  I ran there, hoping I would find it and make it back in time.  I found it, and it did not work on my first try, but thankfully worked on my second try.  I was then on my way to Santa Marta.

Not too bad right?  Oh but I made a grand mistake.  I forgot to write down the address of my hostel in Santa Marta.  My connecting flight was delayed so I arrived in Santa Marta a little bit before 9 o'clock.  I took the shuttle into the center of town, and while on the shuttle started using my (still poor) spanish to ask if anyone new where the hostel was.  The Colombians on my bus tried to help me as much as possible, but to be honest, they had no clue.  I ended up getting poor directions to another major hostel that was in the center of town.  I got off the bus, and tried following their directions.  I probably wandered for about a mile around the center of town, asking directions along the way, and having no luck.  I could not find an internet cafe, and at this point, I was once again feeling stressed.  Note, that at this time, I had my full pack and a backpack I used as carry-on, with all my cards, camera, ipod, and everything with me.  Luckily it was a Saturday night and there were plenty of people on the street so I felt fairly safe, but was not particularly enjoying the situation.  I went back to the main park, Parque de los Novios, where there were a fair amount of restaurants and bars.  Finally, someone knew the hostel I was asking about.

His response?  The Dreamer Hostel was no where close, but was actually on the outside of town.  Oh dear.  He did not know the address but was able to direct me to the closer hostel, La Brisa Loca.  I knew they would have internet and/or know the address of the hostel, so I made my way there.  It was only 4 blocks away.  I was able to get the address, and at this point I just hopped in a cab.  Of course the cab driver had to hit on me, and try to ask me out for the next day, and not wanting to make my cab driver angry when I was in a strange city by myself I just kept pretending I did not understand him.  It's a fairly good fall back option to avoid unwanted attention.  Thankfully I arrived safe and sound, and immediately ordered a beer with a sigh of relief.

The Dreamer Hostel is wonderful.  I will have to take pictures, as it is had been my home for the last 3 weeks, and will continue to be for the next 3 to 4 weeks.  There is a pool table, an in-ground pool, hookah, a bar, a restaurant, hookah, a cat and a kitten!  The owner is incredibly kind, and is giving me a discount because I am volunteering with the Mariposas Amarillos. 

As I was to begin volunteering on Monday, I went to the beach on Sunday.  The transportation was provided by the Dreamer Hostel, and there were 5 other girls also going.  I made friends with 2 Colombian girls, Sandra on the left and Maria on the right.  Sandra spoke pretty good English pretty well, but I used my spanish a lot as Maria only knew a few words in English.  We call it Spanglish. 

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 This is me having a great time on the beach.  Both sides of the bay were surrounded by tall hills, or small mountains.  The vegetation was sparser than I expected but I am here at the end of the dry season, so it should only get more green from here.

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 I just really like this picture.  Playa Media.  The beach itself was called Playa Concha Bay.  It is more of a Colombian hotspot than a gringo hotspot.  This means there were not tons of people walking up and down the beach trying to sell souvenirs.  We were given a cooler full of beer that we could pay for however many we drank at the end of the day.  That was sweet.  American beaches need to adopt this feature for sure.

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 The lunch prices were a little outrageous, but I had not packed a lunch so I went for it.  It was a whole fish with plantains, rice, soup, and Colombian style coleslaw.  (No mayo, much better!)  Que rico! In translation, how rich!  (delicious!)

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There are lots of street cats and dogs and Colombian.  We fed our leftovers to a little pregnant cat.  Kitties deserve some nice fish too.

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The rest of my week has been pretty pleasant.  I started volunteering with the Mariposas.  It has been a bit of a crazy week for them, with holiday on Tuesday (no school), and then Wednesday was a little bit of mess, as we got the kids too riled up with games early in the morning to accomplish much teaching wise afterwards.  Its difficult, because if we teach first and then play games, it is really too hot to run around.  The kids are super cute, but very difficult to teach, as they have very little sense of discipline.  I am more of a teachers assistant in the classroom, as my spanish is too poor to properly teach.  I plan on devoting an entire blogpost at the end of next week to my volunteering experience.  I want some more time with the kids, to do it justice.

On Wednesday nights, the Mariposas run a trivia night at my hostel to raise some money.  The hostel got quite riled up over the trivia competition as the winners are given free breakfast by the hostel.  We then ask for donations and basically everyone obliged.  It was all around a good night, although it felt like teaching again, just this time with adults from all over the world.

Tomorrow after teaching in the morning, myself and some of the other volunteers are going to spend the week at what sounds like a perfect beach.  There will be no internet, and we will sleep in hammocks and hang out around bonfires at night.  It should be spectacular.  I promise more pictures of Santa Marta, my hostel, and adventures this weekend.  I have just been so busy doing things this week, I forgot to play tourist and bring my camera with me a lot of the time.  Until then....

Pura vida!!!

Medellin

I do apologize for my tardiness and giving this blog update.  I was unable to upload my pictures on the computer at my last hostel, and at this one, well I have just been busy having fun.  But I do have some great photos and small stories to share.
First of all, Medellin is beautiful.  The city of eternal spring nestled in the mountains.  It is breathtaking and the people are so incredibly kind and helpful.  I have never been anywhere quite like Medellin.

 Raphael Uribe Palace of Culture.  Across the street and around it are about 22 fat statues donated to the city by Fernando Botero.  It is an absolutely amazing place to stumble on when wandering without a map.

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 Fernando Botero´s el gato.  Mreow!  One of many of his works.

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The cable car is part of the metro system.  So it only costs about a dollar to go up and get some really spectular views of the city.

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Me in the cable car.  =)

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 My friend Martin from Austria.  There was a second cable car that you had to pay extra to go on, and we just assumed it was to get to an even better viewpoint.  So we went up it, and went up and over the mountain into a national park.  The cable car ride was our entrance into the park. We were only planning on going up to the top of the mountain to see the view, but we ended up hiking around the park for the day, going to a lake, meeting this little fellow, and eventually getting to a view of the city that my camera just could not do justice, but I will never forget.

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 The first part of the metro cable is part of the metro because it does take you to parts of the city.  The food was cheap and delicious, and there was some amazing local artwork to be seen on the walls of many of the buildings.

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 Much of the artwork came with deep meaning.  The pieces above are protesting violence and sexual violence.

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 There were many massive photographs of different people, various cultures, and some with writing like this posted like billboards on the walls of buildings, so that you could see them when you are going up or down the cable car.  This is one of my favorites.

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While up at the top of the mountain in Medellin, we walked passed a school yard of kids playing soccer.  Everyone was wearing really traditional uniforms except for the girls that were actually playing.  The kids were chanting, cheering and screaming.  You can see how their love for footbul starts at such a young age, and is such a large part of the culture.  

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 This was a pretty intense Colombian PETA protest we came across in a park.  The girl is washing herself in blood (fake I believe... or at least hope) and is protesting testing products on animals.  Really quite visual.

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 At the botanical gardens in Medellin.  I liked the workers shirts so much I had to get a picture.

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 La casa de los mariposas.  There was a butterfly house in the Botanical Gardens.  It was only fitting that I get a picture with one, as I was going to be, and now am, a Mariposa Amarillo.  (Thats the organization I am currently volunteering with.  I will tell more in my next blog post, but right now I am focusing on Medellin.)
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 Everyone drives motorbikes.  Alright maybe not everyone, but a lot of people.  Particularly the young ones.  This is a picture of the university.  You can see the double line doing all the way down the street.  Everyone is always warning me to be careful in Colombia, particularly all of you back home, well if you are going to worry about me, I would worry about me getting hit by a car of motorbike.  They drive crazy here, and it is absolutely not condusive to Boton style walking.  It is by far the thing that makes me the most nervous.

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 This is a man I started talking to.  He could not actually speak, he had pieces of paper with a few sentences written on it.  I did not even mean to start talking to him, but I thought the oragami made out of leaves next to him was a really animal... and of course I wanted a picture.  I gave me Gri Gri, the bug looking thing next to him, and made me a hummingbird out of leaves.  I left them with my hostel the Wandering Paisa as I did not think I could bring them with without destroying them.  I took them into the Botanical Gardens with me when I went back to sit and study my spanish, and all sorts of Colombians get stopping to ask me about them.  It was really quite funny.

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 I actually ending up picking up these Colombians with Gri Gri.  They were quite lovely.  Another example of the amazing kindness I was greeted with when travelling around Medellin.  I hung out with them the rest of the day, and part of the night, having a blast practicing my spanish, and working through the language barrier.  Thus far, it has been one of my best days.

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 Torry, one of my Colombian friends, in the Casa de los Mariposas, with one sitting on his rosta hat.  

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A few other notes.

• My hostel was perfect. Its called the Wandering Paisa Hostel.  I left a review on Hostelword.com.  Its friendly, fun, and a great please to meet people and go out, without being a crazy party hostel. 
• I am sorry I have not been on top of my skype account.  The hostel I am currently at has free internet, but no headphone or microphone.  I will be finding an internet cafe tomorrow to remedy that.
• I will be updating again very soon, because I have a lot to tell about the beginnings of Santa Marta, but I figure this is enough with just Medellin.
• I will write soon, with less time in between this time, I promise.  Once again, my apologies.

Pura Vida!