Pre-Carnival!

The Carribbean life was so easy and it was very hard to pull myself away from the lull of waves, the convienence of Fresh fruit juices and delicious sunrays.

My next stop was Barranquila, Colombia. This is not an average tourist destination unless it is Carnival. I met a a lovely, American who is living there working on micro-financing. Carnival starts on the 6 of March for a week, but the month leading up to the festival is full of pre-carnival parties. So I was in Barranquila for the pre-Carnival party and parades of mayham.

I arrived on friday night to be dropped off in the middle of 1000´s of people watching a parade. It was over-whelming, but such a beautiful chaos. So many colours, and feather and leathers.

John and I met up with some of his local friends to watch the parades and start drinking rum and colas on the street. May I add that drinking in public is allowed and you can pour, shoot slamm back liquor right in front of a policia. God what a good country. As the night progressed I was able to get a my hands on a beautiful carnival mask and a costume! We made friends with a street meat cooker and he let John take over the grill for a bit while he ran some arronds. John sucessfully sold all the 18 skwers of meat adn pototoes!

After the Parade we headed over the a famous Salsa club. The club was packed, but had an open patio concept, enabling up to dance freely and into the streets. It was so fun and I got lessons from some of Johns friends, and I was so pleased that they were in no way trying to make it a sexual thing, they truly wanted me to learn Salsa,¨Just dance to the beat of the music¨ they tell me- I am trying but it is too fast!

I was going to leave the next day, but the beach was more inticing than a loong hungover bus ride. That night we went out to watch Defile Gay(Transvestit Parade). I was blown away, the plastic surgery in COlombia is amazing, I was rally having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that all of the paraders were once men.

El Viajaro

Bueno dias mis amigos!

I have been keep busy and on the move since my last post. I left off right before I headed to Taganga to get in some well deserved scuba diving. My goal going there was to get my masters but I guess I failed to realize that there were a few courses that needed to be completed before that so my next stop was adventure diving.In order to get my advanced ticket you have to complete five dives, I chose, Navigational, Deep Dive, Drift Dive, Underwater Photography and Peak Buoance Performancy.  So once you hvae completed those five dives you become an advanced diver and can do any of those dives whenever. It was so awesome to be diving again, be able to breath under water is amazing.The best thing I saw was a sea turtle, I have seen them before but only swimming by, but this guy was chilling out on the bottom of the sea floor. We floated and watched him for about a minute' soo cool.

I met up again with my friend Pamela from Chile and we had a lovely private room. I was so excited, to be able to be free and do as we please, but my bed ended up having bed bugs! So gross, I changed rooms immediately and tried to explain to the staff that there were bed bugs and they said they would clean the room. I tryed to further explain that they needed to fumigate the room, but they couldn´t grasp that.

So I moved to this place called BayView, and it had a lovely balcony with a hammock that over looked the local soccer pitch. At sunset, the skyline would be amazing and their would be a nightly soccer match.
I also loved the numerous Jugos Naturales stands, on every corner. My favourite is Pina, Mango and Banano. The Carribbean food was amazing with loads of fresh seafood, ceviche and fruits.

Colombiana

Hello all you lovelies back home,

Once again I have found a stick that is finally long enough to scratch my itch, for the travelling bug bite.

Colombia is my first stop on my 4 month adventure. I must admit I was a bit scared of flying into Bogota, Colombia's capitol city -solo. But after the first cab ride and checking into hotsel fatima with my beginner, broken spanish, the inital fears subsided. The hostel I stayed at was lovely and surprisingly clean, and I met great, friendly, travellers right away.

Me a block away form hostel Fatima.

I met up with an awesome Chilean lady by the name of Pamela, we both arrived the same day and weren't expecting rain, so we did what any girl would do in a new city on a rainy day- shopped! Bogota is a very trendy  city, and I was feeling a bit like a munger (hippy) with my hikers and MEC get-ups.  By the end of the day, I was styled out in a new leather jacket and boots. Aw shiia, five my lbs to the pack back...

A still miner, who digs for good when given a coin.

Bogota nights was filled with pub crawls and games of shit head( cards). During the day we hit up a few must sees such as a gondala ride up to the top of a mountain that overlooks the city. A white church is perched up there with artisan stands surrounding it. Selling all sorts of good, like mini-guitars, and a lot of Catholic paraphernalia.



 Gondola




 The lookout  from the top of the gondola ride.

Simon Bolivar is a man who freed Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Venezuala from a European hold. He also founded Bolivia . Every town and city in these countries found a plaza or a square in his honour.
 
 Plaza de Bolivar

Even the llama's want to check out the Plaza de Bolivar.



Pamela and I with Simon Bolivar.

Next stop, Cartagena. It is the oldest, colonial city in South America and it is praised for its colonial style architecture. My plan was to stay there for a week and do a week of spanish school and live with a Colombian family. But there wasn't enough people for the classes to run, so they offered private instead, muy cara (too expensive). 

The boat ride to Play Blanca, with a sneak preview of the beautiful city of Cartagena.

On Tuesday, we headed up Playa Blanca, which is an 45minute speed boat ride away
Playa Blanca

 
 Ceveche anyone?

to paradise, minus the hagglers. I think is it the most turquoise water I have experienced.


We had fresh camerone(shrimp) ceveche, a fresh fish lunch and while sipping on coconuts. Vacation has truly started.


Coconut and white sandy beaches.


Mo, Rickey(USA), me, Pamela(Chile), and Ryan (Vancouver).


Fresh fish lunch, coconut rice, fried plantain.

Unfortunately, I got heat exhaustion and the next day I was not able to keep anything down. But luckily I had a lovely friend from California who brought me water and checked in on me.
That down day also prohibited me from sight seeing the lovely old city. So not pictures yet, sorry.

I am currently in Santa Marta, which is along the Caribbean.
The hostel I am staying at has a lovely roof-top terrace, where I have been doing yoga at sun-set.



View from roof top at sunset.

I was  planning on embarking on a 6 day journey through the Tyrona National park, but the guide group I was going to go with only had two other hikers, both Spanish speaking. I know it would be a great opportunity to learn Spanish, but I want to do the trek with a larger group.


Plaza de Bolivar, Santa Marta

So, this afternoon I am heading to Taganga to start scuba-diving! This is a tiny fishing villae that doesn't know hwat hit them, with a super laid back diver and a lb of backpackers. I am super pumped and I can't wait to get into the water and be one with the fishes. 

 I hope everyone is enjoying the beauty that our wonderful country has to offer and please take in some fresh, crisp kootenay air for me.

Ciao
Brie

                                                 Cute little Colombian boy in the market ripping around on his new bike.

                                         Funny sign in the bathroom.