¡La Caribé!

We just got back from a WONDERFUL 3 or 4 day (can't remember how long we were there) adventure to an island about a 2 hour bus/walk/moto ride/ferry away from Cartagena, called Playa Blanca. Carribean. Carribean. The water was cristal clear with star fish and coral and white sand. It was gorgegous. Like a commercial. We camped down the beach away from the tourist loading area, where they all get off the boat and stay without exploring the rest of the island. I woke up before sunrise every morning and walked on the beach to watch the sun rise and keep the no-see-ums from eating me alive. At night and during the day the bugs weren't bad because of the breeze, but right before the sun came up, the wind would die and the no-see-ums would creep into the tent. La dueña of the hostel we're staying at in Cartagena, loaned us a big pot and we cooked all our meals over the fire.
yesterday, a fisherman brought in lobster and we bargained with him and got 4 lobsters, for us and our neighbors, for 10,000 pesos. About $5. Oh! Que rico! A guy from Brasil and his australian girlfriend were camped next to us and we cooked and ate and played music and spoke in portugeese. Rubén speaks portugeese (yes i am aware i am spelling portugeese wrong) since he lived in Brasil and Natalie, the girl from australia spoke a little too, so all our conversations were a blend of spanish and portugeese. I followed along quite well. Portugeese is very similar to spanish and i found myself understanding.
A girl from denmark let us borrow her snorkel and mask and Rubén and i went down to the far end of the beach yesterday and snorkled until my back was as red as the lobster we ate for dinner. THe water was even more clear down there than it was where we were camped. I found like 5 HUGE starfish, all different colors. There were lots of fish too. We're back in Cartagena for the night and tomorrow we're going to the Imigration office to see if we can get an extension on our time in colombia and then going to Taganga to meet Gato and his girlfriend Nicole. There's a national park a little north of Taganga where we're gonna go camping either tomorrow or the next day. It's also on the carribean and i hear there's lots of snorkling and beatiful beaches, but not as nice as Playa Blanca. It was so cool to live on the beach for a bit. No showers. Only swimming in the ocean. My hair is almost dreaded. If we like Taganga, Rubén and I have been talking about renting a house and staying there for a month. The Brasilero was telling us that he and about 12 other people rented a one bedroom house for about 150,000 pesos for a month. That's about 5,000 pesos a day, about...$2.50 a day. It would be cheaper and it would be nice to settle somewhere for a bit. It's tiring to constantly be moving and travelling around. I'm ready to be stagnant to a little while. Hopefully, tommorrow we can get an extension on our visas. WE're also talking about taking a cargo boat up to Panamá. But we're not ready to leave Colombia, yet.

A fisherman brought in 2 sharks and was selling them for 40,000 pesos each. About $20.

Rubén and René, our Brasilero neighbor.

Cartagena from the ferry.

The Carribean!!

Cooking a Brazilean breakfast.

The Lobster.

Sunset at Playa Blanca.

Nuestra casita.

It's 2009

Ladrilleros

Ladrilleros. Where the hilocopters fly low like Vietnam. Guns hanging from faceless fingers out their open doors.
Where the children sing and beat empty kerosene containors with a rythym only found in the blood of an African.
The Indians work quietly. Selling the palm frond hats and purses. Their children's pigeon-toed feet slap the ground as they run past, flashing toothy, innocent grins.
Ladrilleros. Even the Hunchback has his place here. And the silent "cara de loco" who sells his collection of seashells, finally gave us some words to remember him by. A voice strangely reminescent of Mike Tyson's.
Ladrilleros. Where I ate fried fish, arroz con coco y plantains for 14 days straight, cooked by the incessantly screaming family who's little Alejandro could never keep away from mud puddles and trouble.
The ocean roars here with la marialta. After a night filled with jungle rain, the jungle seeps its way into the sea and fills it with it's hojas and trash from the pueblo.
Ladrilleros. I will remember you by hot nights, singing mosquitos y negritos, arepas con huevos, tranvestites and my first UFO sighting. Un hobne. Con la luna llena. Yo creo ahora.
Gracias Ladrilleros.

La playa. Filled with tourists and local women offering to braid corn rows.

Trash in the beach.

Cliffs and jungle line the beaches.

One of the many cara de locos de Ladrilleros.

Working. 7000 pesos for a trincita con semillas.

Neighbor getting a bath.

Our work. Mainly Rubèn's.

Trabajando.

Christmas in Colombia

It was a very hot Christmas down here in colombia, but it was really cool. On Christmas day we went to Paula's (Ruben's sister in law) dad's farm house. There was tons of family there, kids, grandparents, aunts and uncles, music, delicious chorizo and carne and guacamole, TONS of salsa dancing (which, by the way, i'm getting quite good at!), an entire backyard full of avocado, papaya, bananna and other fruit trees and lots of drink (aka aguardente, which is a very strong anis based liquor which is very popular here in colombia)! We ate and drank and danced all day and night. It was a very different christmas than i'm used to but very very fun. Christmas eve night we went to another family's party which was very different with no dancing but it was still cool to be around family and experiencing a Colombian christmas.
I'm beginnning to see an end in sight to my travels. I am really beginning to miss Italy and I want to see my family and I want to see my friends. A large part of me can see myself living down here, somewhere, and starting a new life down here. But then, every now and then, I get this sense of completely not belonging here. And that makes me homesick. A little. But maybe it's just Colombia, because I didn't feel that in Ecuador. Colombia is definately different. The other day, I was in an internet store, writing an email to you, when all of a sudden a body was slammed against the glass walls of the internet store. I looked up and like 3 police men were beating up 4 or 5 guys with their night sticks. All these people were gathered around them like a middle school lunch fight. The women in the store with me were all very nervous and pushed themselves together up against a far wall of the store. Then somebody fired a gun and people screamed and everyone in the store dropped down on the ground. I was just standing there, in shock, and watching this crazy "COPS" like scene evolve in front of me through the glass. "Oh yeah, I'm in Colombia" i was thinking. It was crazy. I waited in the store until it seemed as though the police had everything under control and then quickly snaked my way out through the doors and past the crowd. It was a little scary.

Here are some pictures from Cali, Colombia and Christmas at la finca.

Ruben's sister-in-law's dad, owner of the farm house, dancing. He danced and drank all night long like a 20 year old. Cali is the Salsa capital of Colombia. They love it.

Paula y Samuel, Rubèn's sister in law and nephew.

Me dancing la salsa gringa.

Artisañia y amigos en Cali.