Hi All

I know, I know its been awhile since my Last Entry… Sorry about that been a little busy enjoying life, hehehe

The couple of months in Colombia that I have been here has been amazing, and has turned out to be a test of mental endurance. Where ever you walk, you find armed soldiers and Police… why are they there?...who are they protecting you from?.. I have not seen any type of drug cartel (Tony Montana style), Gangs or (inverted commas using my hands) "bad people " you hear about or see in movies anywhere in my travels… are the they there to show the tourists how safe it is?....I can honestly say that I feel safer here than I do back home in Melbourne. The people here cannot do enough for you. Sure I've heard stories from the locals about how bad it used to be… they have all said that " the Bad People" leave the tourist alone because they know its their livelihood if they disturb the money coming in from Tourism… I'm happy with that… did I mention how safe it is

Off to Argentina

Booked 2 tickets in late Jan for early Feb to Travel to Argentina and Chile.. Was going to catch up with some friends from back home in Buenos Aries and then fly to Santiago in Chile to apply for a tourist Visa at the Australian embassy for Maria. My understanding of Spanish has improved ten fold… speaking it is another story.. sure its improved but not enough to handle the negotiations of travel agency ( the hard part is the fact that I can speak Italian and there are so many words that are similar in Spanish that I find my self slipping into Italian which leaves a stunned mullet look on the faces of the locals when I finish)..Maria has been a godsend when it comes to translating.. the fun part is I can understand everything they say without them knowing...hehehe

Buenos Aries…. word of advice make sure you grab a local authorized Taxi from the Airport.. a lot of shady people trying to grab a Taxi for you…Wow!, what a city…did the local tourist tour on a bus with a guide first day which was great… I would recommend doing that first every time… Great way to get your bearings to know where things are compared to where you're staying. So much history… Dave and the boys show up the next day and we already interrogating the locals … Where are the bars?...had a relaxing morning and afternoon getting ready for the night out… boy what a night.. well at least what I remember of it…the shots hear are 50ml ( not like home 30ml).. how many did we have?...anyway ..at night we met a lot of people, Dank a couple of shots with beer chases, Met a few more people, Drank a couple of shots, travel to new bar, Maria starts talking English, drank a couple of shots…stagger to a cab to head back to the hotel… Lost my iphone... what more can you ask for. Slept until the afternoon and the realization of what a lost phone means...s***! spent the next day at police station and in recovery mode…packing getting ready for Chile

Off to Santiago, Chile

Land at the airport and WTF!... how beautiful and Modern is this Airport…Not what I was expecting at all…in fact the whole city is modern metropolis.. what a City… its just like Melbourne. The apartment was in the central business district which is amazing.. Restaurants, shopping centre's and coffee shops .( they have Jaun Veldez here .. Colombian Coffee shop.. like a coffee club back home) Thank you Jaun Valdez for saving me from Starbucks.. I'm trying to teach Maria about coffee so I take her to a Starbucks to show her the difference.. I know its sacrilege.. Remind me to go to confession when im back home… I wait for her to sip so I can see the expression on her face… its judgment day and make or break time for her…. If she likes Starbucks?… well lets not go there … the cringe on her face after the sip is a huge relief for me… anyway I digress… I enter the embassy to find out the process and to make sure we have all the correct information… talk about security… its understandable…I chat with an Australian girl… at this point I cant express how great it was to hear an Australian accent after so many weeks.. I didn't have to think about speaking…so I gathered all the info needed and met Maria outside to start getting the information together.. Mission accomplished the next day with Maria handing in the paperwork and now comes the long wait. The next couple of days we traveled around the City, took a cable car up to a statue of Mother Maria and visited a few local bars and restaurants.. the people here are used to tourist and the service was good… wine was amazing as they have great local vineyards, this is one place I need to come back to

Back to Colombia

Back in Colombia the city is preparing itself for Carnival… what's the history of carnival?, where did it start? I here you ask… I asked myself the same question and so headed off to the Carnival Museum to find out… All the masks that the people wear during the festival have a special meaning and each character has a special dance.. In Barranquilla, the carnival has a mixture of 3 cultures.. European, African and local natives which goes back to the start of the 20th Century… with music from all 3 put together to form a unique sound in this region. I found out a lot of info and will hopefully get a chance to explain later… I got myself a couple of grandstand seats, which included meals drinks and entry to a special event later that evening…. Off to Carnival we went

Carnival

I can't express in words the atmosphere and the emotional experience you get from being involved in Carnival… Check out the photos and videos I took of what was happing…we had a local band in our grand stand and everyone was singing and dancing all day… this is one experience I will never forget and strongly suggest that it should be one for anyone's bucket list.

Since Carnival

Took a trip to the city centre with Maria … first time I saw the poorer areas of the city…there are beggers on the streets and people trying to sell you everything… I did feel a little unsafe in these areas but as I mentioned earlier there are soldiers and Police everywhere. I had heard a few stories from the local people how it was 20 years ago… Corruption and money ruled.. Government officials and police were on the take and if you didn't know someone who new someone… life was tough. The Americans stepped in and with the help of Locals and politicians and a special police force, changed Colombia.. and its still changing for the better. Although there was an incident that kind of put me back a bit with this line of thought. I was travelling to Cartagena with Maria for a couple of Days… I was travelling at the speed of the traffic and didn't relies that I was at 108km/h ( local speed limit here on the hwy is 90km/h) I was pulled over by the police as they had me on Radar… calm cool Davide needs to make an appearance… Chatting to the officer he explains the road rules (me playing stupid innocent tourist who knows nothing) and shows me how fast I was going… I explained that there was a vehicle behind me that was overtaking me and must have been going faster than me ( until he saw the police where he slowed down behind me).. he said yes I was right but I was in front.. Who am I to argue with that.. anyway.. I'm having a friendly chat with him ( in my mind im thinking yes.. he will let me off)… when he turns to Maria and asks her to explain to me what I have to do in this situation.. remember! I understood everything he said.. Maria then goes on explaining that I needed to give him some cash so that he could " Forget about it"… HUH!!!!!.. what happened to stopping the corruption?... The dilemma is now , one, how much do I give him so that i either don't make him laugh or two over pay him… I turn to Maria and ask her.. she shrugs her shoulders and says in a questioning voice "20 thousand Pesos??" ( its about 12 Australian Dollars).. ok. So I fold the money in my hand and give him the handshake releasing the money into his hand.. I took one look and said "away you go"… Immediate thought.. did I over pay him.. how much would the fine have been?

Last night we celebrated Maria's Fathers Birthday (29th Feb.). it's the first person I've met that had a birthday on a leap year day… so he really is only 18 years old…and gave him a bottle of whisky as he is legally allowed to drink now ( I bet everyone is trying to work out how old he is…hahaha).. I told everyone the story of the policeman and responded how lucky I was… the going rate for a police bribe is 50 thousand pesos and a speeding fine is 320 thousand pesos… I guess he must of liked my charm...hehehe

That's all for now…