Ecuador to Columbia

p.s apologies for the lack of puntuation and spelling atrocities. The keyboard is abit lacking in fundamental letters and symobols.


Ay up,

Well peeps it seems as though its been something of a while since my last update. This weekly task has become monthly, but i guess it takes a while to read my ramblings and ive not exactly had anybody banging down the doors begging for more, so i´m not too concerned.

As you are probably all aware we are currently on the north coast of Columbia in a wee party town called Taganga. It is actually the Carribean coast, although it doesn´t like any place i have seen Carol Smiley or Gloria Hunniford in the past. The beaches are pebly and full of stray dogs pissing on peoples bags but apart from that its all good. Theres a fair few gringos here, most of whom only intended to be here for two or three days but got a bit stuck, hence while they´re still here three or four weeks later.

Partly the reason for my lack of correspondence (hark at me, i sound like bloody Graham Greene or somebody (iwish!) is that ther isn´t really alot to tell and hence tonights rambling wil be kept fairly short. Also it is nearly 10pm here and i have a cubre libra in my hand and theres more waiting outside so i dare say there call will be stronger than this. Basically since the last post we studied more spanish in Quito and did very little else. We were on a mission to spend as few pennies as possible so found a supermarket, which was more like a marks and spencers rather than the local asdas, stocked up on food and didnt really leave our hostel for a week other than to spar in espanol with our enthusiatic lingo tutor. The lessons certainly helpèd although i have to guiltily confess i haven´t looked at the books since, although the other night after several of the aforementioned cubre libras i was speaking fluently spanish, the stiff of enrique´s dreams i dare say. Its just a shame that i´m a bit cinderella ish and as soon as morning breaks i´m back to the stumbling tourist of the past five months.

Anyhow i digress, after Quito we had some luxury in a flight to Bogota although the plane was delayed for five hours and throughout the airport all that was audible was the angry cries of protesting locals doing what the locals do best here and venting their anger in a organised fashion against no person in particular. In fact the protests this time rounmd were aimed at the weather as the sudden mist caused the closure of Quito airport (as often happens due t the cities altitude).

I just want to use this point to reassure everyone that Columbia is pretty safe. Yes theres areas you cant go, but where we´re heading is as safe as any other country in south america. We have to be careful clearly, and touch wood we´lñl be fine, but theres no reason why more harm will come to us here than anywhere else. The places we´ve been are packed´with the friendliest people we´ve experienced so far on our travels. I think they are just so happy to have tourists and desperate to prove that columbia is a safe and beautiful country that they take it on themselves to be ultra friendly and nice. The country itself is possibly the most developed we´ve seen and is incredibly beautiful to match. All in all, all is well. Yes we´re going to be on our guard but i´m confident all will be fine.

This time around we only had the pleasure of one night in Bogota but we will be returning as we have a couple of friends there that we want to catch up with, one columbian and one australian. After Bogota we had the pleasure of a nine hour bus ride to Pablo Escobars old city Medellin, where i got to watch some more football, in which only one spectator died which is something of a good result. The atmosphere was just what you´d hope for, flares, bangers, riot police etc. Quite a hoot. The funniest thing was probaly how the riot police had to hold the sahields over opposition players taking throw ins or corners. Also everyone who stands around the touchline, photographers,. police, medical people etc all wore hard hats. The only people that werén´t provded protection were the poor ball boys who were subjected to torrents of missiles. I´m abit pissed off also, (just a wee rant i promise) in that ive come to south america the home of attacking football and sen only one goal in three games. Whats that about. I dont understand.

After Medillin, which not only is the former home of the most famopus drug barron, is also the worlds capital for plastic surgery. Just a wee fact for you. I didnt really see too much evidence what with being at the football and all, but Maya siad that at thge bars most of the girls were somewhat less than 100% natural. Anyhow, after Medillen we headed on a 13 hour bus ride for Cartegena which is renowned for its beauty and is kind of like the paris of south america in its reputation for romance. It is indeed pretty stunning, lots of old buildings and what have you. Was cool, but we could only afford to use it as a quick stop off point as we needed to get to where we are now as accommodation is scarce and books up fast. We will probably head back for another look after new year.

We have a flight back to quito from Bogota on the 16th Januray, and the a flight the following day to Santiago in Chile in order for us to head down to Patagonia before our money runs out. Aftyer that, which will probably be just the beginning of Feb, we will be heading to Buenos Aires to try and find work. From what peo`ple have said it shoulñdn´t be too difficult to find teaching work, so i guess ill have to don my best cardigan and begin to educate the world. The prospect doesn´t scare me, but it by no means thrills me, but its all about breaking out of the comfort zone i think.

Anyhow, i hope thats something of an update. Hopefully now ive done some catching up ill be inclined to keep updodate more in the near future. I sincerely hope everybody had a lovely christmas and wish you all the best for the new year. It was a bit bizarre being away from everyone, especially being on a beach in mid 30 degrees of heat. But it was a new experience and thats why we came here after all.

Hope all is well
Rob