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Hey everyone,
I just heard it snowed in Alberta, my deepest apologies. I will bring back as much sun and warmth upon my return. Even if it is only with my wonderful tan.
I arrived in Santa Marta, Colombia yesterday and it is quite the relief to be near the ocean and sand once again. After loosing much of my tan in Bolivia, I´m taking the necessary steps to regain some much needed color. Colombia so far has been amazing, and not at all sketchy as I had imagined. Ecuador was another story all together. Nothing unfortunate happened to me, but stories of muggings and theft were rampant. Leaving ecuador was another story. Once we arrived to the border town of Tulcan, Ecuador, my friend and I only had a dozen american dollars (Ecuador´s currency is the US dollar) and a handful of Peruvian Soles. After finding a hotel, we only had enough money to pay for half, and the rest went to some much needed grub. We decided that we would hit up an ATM in the morning before making our way across the border, since we had no USD on us at all. Well, after combing the entire town of Tulcan, not one ATM would work for us. I was in panic mode, what to do? the money exchagers wouldn´t change our peruvian money. Should we pawn something? sell my body? (JK) anything. after a couple hours of searching and brainstorming, I returned to the first bank I visited and delivered my sob story, all in broken spanish of course. (No actual tears were shed) The bank teller, seeing my distress, asked one of his money exchanger friends to help us. HE DID!! what a relief! with my 90 soles, about 30 US, the cambio (exchange) man was gracious enough to give me 15 US, WHAT?! 15, but I had no other option. So we paid the rest of our hotel, crossed the border, went straight to an ATM, and nothing. No just kidding, it seems that only a few Km away the ATMs were fine. After that, made our way to the wonderful city of Cali.
Cali is beautiful, the people there are extremely friendly, and we stayed at a wonderful hostal known as the Pelican Larrys. Great atmosphere, close to downtown and who can beat the all you can eat BBQs on wednesday and sundays. After staying there a couple nights, we made our way to the resting place of Pablo Escobar, Medellin. As beautiful as it is, it doesn´t seem to have as friendly of a vibe as nearby Cali. It does have a bumbing nightlife, and the Parque llever (or something close to that) is a great place to hang out and have a couple, or several, beers. As my friend had his return ticket from Bogota, we parted ways, and I made my way to the Coast. Cartegena is a picturesque city that many cruise ships stop at. It was quite comical to see the hoards of tourist in groups walk the streets. Hoards of gringos can only mean one thing, lots of people selling their crap. I made the mistake of sitting at an obvious gringo restaurant, and was soon acquainted with everybody selling everything. I did however purchased something for a 10th of the asking price, I won´t say what, I don´t want to ruin the surprise. After a few nights there, I now find myself in Santa Marta, the best place to get yourself a tour to hike to the Ciudad Perdia. Luckily enough, the hostal which I am staying at, Hotel Miramar, offers such a tour. Thus I will be leaving in the morning for the six day hike to the Lost city of the Incas discovered in the mid 70s. I will be taking a bounty of photographs, which I will be posting along with Machu Picchu, Ecuador and the bullfight. Sorry to say, that I will more than Likely post these upon my return in early may. see you soon, and that snow better be melted upon my glorious return.
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