Summing it All Up

Yeah it has been a while but we need to bring ourselves up to date too here. Last time we checked we were heading from awesome coffee in Salento to re-convene with our fellow Californians Keith and The Goober in Cartagena. This put us on the shores of the Caribbean and it was HOT. It was like draping yourself in a wet wool blanket and it was already 90* outside. We stayed in a neat little hostel in the bohemian section of town where rum was flowing, night parties ruled the lives of those of us who could move from the day before and the oppressive heat kept us laying low and sweating.

Cartagena

Cartagena is an important colonial town with whitewashed stone buildings and well kept and illustriously painted shops and houses. The colors of the place  match the attitude of it all. There is a large section in the middle of town that was once a walled in fort that now houses hundreds of high and low end shops as well as vendors of art jewelery and all other sorts of wares. We saw the sights and hit the beaches. Basically everywhere we went we sweat there. It is hot and still and super humid. When we were at one of the beach enclosures on the main strip the vendors ruled the day. The four of us rented chairs and umbrellas for the seating and from then on it was whatever we wanted brought to us with a flourish. Beers, food, massages, cold treats all with the wave of a hand. The water was a very un-refreshing mid 80's and super saline. We were all very buoyant and whether that was from the booze or the salt I cant say. At one point a guy with two five gallon aluminum bucket walked by and we asked what he was selling. He responded by removing the lid of one and to our delight it was full of bricks and yes i mean bricks of smoked fish. Hunks the size of your foot without bones and delish. We ate too many. Red and in a sun and food stupor we stumbled back to our hostel only to discover that tonight was a particularly good evening for salsa dancing at some of the clubs so of course we cleaned up and got out to em. Keith and Lou are practiced. Thier skill is obvious but my lack is also obvious so that night was mainly spent in awe of their abilities. and beyond them the locals can fly. Very impressive. It looks to me like sometime down the road we will be trying our hands again at the sport of salsa.

A couple of days before we had run into some old trail freinds of ours, Tom and Sheetal from England. We spent five days on the trail to Machu Picchu with them earlier in the trip and found we would all be in Cartagena at the same time. So the six of us now piled onto a boat to a small island off the coast called Playa Blanca and spent another awesome day at the beach this time with much less hubbub all around and more time to relax and bask in the awesomeness of pure white sand and crystalline azure waters.

Kelly, Keith, Tom, Sheetal, Sampling the local fare. Coconut+Rum=YUUUUM

After a couple of great days in The city it was time for us to hit the road again and say goodbye to Keith and Lou. Kelly and I were en route for the northern coat of Colombia to a national park called Tayrona. Words cannot describe this awesome stop. One of the best places I have ever been. Its a very warm and sticky hour bus ride from a place called Santa Marta which is a coastal site that leaves much to be desired. After arriving at the entrance you wait in line for 45 minutes because tourists cannot make a simple transaction to pay a park fee without shitting themselves for some reason. During our wait we were behind three young Colombians who spoke pretty good English and ended up hanging out with them for the better part of the day. The park is a chunk out of the northern coast and the trail go from east to west along the water to three areas that have been cut out of the jungle for camping. They were only there for the day but we were humping all the way to camp three for the time of our lives. Along the way you weave through leaning coconut palms and lush ferns, sloping boulders beach-side and land crab infested trails, giant spiders weaving orb webs overhead and shrieking cicadas. All very enchanting and all the while glimpses of the amazingly blue water crashing onto gleaming white sands littered with coconuts, and bordered by dark green jungles so dense that three meters in you dont even know you're near water save for the sounds.

Black Sands leeching onto the beach

We stayed for two nights, the first in a rented tent and the second in the beachcliff bungalow in hammocks. This place was paradise.

Beachside Bungalow

Sheetal, Tom, and Kelly with fruit smoothies and of course RUM!

These assholes are running all over the place

This is the panorama from the bungalow. Two coves side by side. Coconut palms, warm water.

After Parque Tayrona we regrettably returned to civilization. Our next stop was a tiny little town next to Playa Blanca called Tagonga. Tagonga is a special little place because it is the second cheapest place in the world to get a PADI scuba certification for open water. So we did.

Sea snake

Lobster

Octopus

There are upwards of 20 different companies that are in place there but we chose Aquantis and they were super pro. Everything was clean and ship shape. Our instructor was a Frenchman named Lorent. He was awesome and has been traveling around the world chasing dive sites and instructing. Three days later with two dives a day and we were certified. It is now one of my favorite things. Scuba is great.

 That pretty much sums it all up. We went back to Cartagena for a day an route to Bogota which was forgettable and we were tired and ready to be home. This trip was all that we could have asked for. So many new experiences had and barriers broken. We found ourselves safe and sound without any serious mishaps and many memories of people places and experiences that will forever change our outlooks on life. Everything is different for us now but all still very similar. We have gained a bit more perspective and broken out of our comfort zones to grow and we are better for having taken the chance and opportunity. Thanks for all our readers and supporters. We have since been back home for 7 weeks and now have around 10 days under our belts in Asia. About which we will also be writing but I needed to finish this up first.