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Cartagena was to be the last stint of our travels in Colombia, although we would still be travelling through other areas this was the final stop for us. We had a good 8 hour journey from Santa Marta on a mini bus that had a TV in it and played some English films. This was the first time we had really got to watch TV since leaving for our travels. When we arrived at the hostel where we had agreed to meet the 6 other guys at. The first thing we noticed was the heat, it was staggering. The hostel looked nice, it had a pool, huge beds and the biggest kitchen I have ever seen. There was no sign of the others so we assumed they must be out sight seeing. Cartagena is a beautiful walled city with well kept colonial buildings and a massive fortress just beyond the walls. We went and had a stroll to the sea front and around the streets. After a while we headed back to the hostel to see if there was any sign of the others.
We spotted Franky and Elien down by the pool, it was great to see them again. When we asked where everyone else was they explained to us that they had, had a terrible time so far. First off they were almost frozen to death by the air-con on their mini bus, when they asked the driver if he wouldn't mind turning it off he said that this was his country not their's and he wanted the aircon on! When they arrived at the hostel the booking had been messed up as it was supposed to be for all 8 of us and sharing the same room. Apparently the staff had been very rude when they were asked to change it. The hostel proceeded to get the rooms wrong anothr 3 times! Lastly Franky had purchased a some clothes on offer in a local shop, when he looked at the recipt he realised they hadn't taken the 30% off. When Franky went back in to ask for a refund on the mistake they refused and told him that because he had payed on card they wouldn't give him anything back! After all this Stu, Carly, Barry and Jen decided that they wanted to move to another hostel. A very different start to their trip to Cartegena then we had, had!
We decided to go an see the other 4 in their hostel. I have to admit that it was a very nice little place with air-con, breakfast included and run by a really sweet lady but this came at a price that was too high for our budget so we stayed put with Franky and Elien. Stu, Carly, Barry and Jen had all been on a big night out until 6am the night before and were still recovering in bed so we had a quick catch up and they told us their stories on what sounded like a very funny night out. Franky, Elien, Sal and I headed out to grab some food. After a while of looking around we settled on a nice chinese restaurant, we each took a seat before getting straight back up after seeing the prices which were way above the usual in Colombia! We settle on a little run down place owned by a sweet local man. The food was cheep and not too bad and it was great fun seeing the owner running out to make a purchase every time we ordered a beer or some chilli sauce. I'm not sure that he gets many 'gringo's' eating there. After dinner we carried on walking around and came across a pretty little shop full of amazing looking icecreams. The shop was decorated like and old english tea room with floral wall paper and upholstry on the chairs. The icecream was to die for, we would have to bring the others here at some point. Later on we went for a stroll and found a tiny little bar that was booming loud samba music across an outdoor square where there were tones of chairs and tables with people having a sneaky mid-week drink…so we decided to join them. While we were sat there a street performer started entertaining the crowd. He was dressed up as Charlie Chaplin and he all had us in stitches. He would walk up behind people and imitate their walk without them realizing.. then as a taxi would drive past he would run after it and jump in the door. Then when horse and carts went by he would jump in the back of the cart and make any passengers jump out of their skin! My favorite was when he would "accidently" drop his hat infront of a passing car then he would drop down to pick it up out of the drivers view and crawl around to the side of the car, the driver would still be sat there thinking he was underthe car but the next moment he was in the back seat, Classic! He was great fun to watch and kept us entertained for hours! To finish off we watched some nearby fireworks before heading back to the hostel for a very sweaty sleep.
The next morning we met with the others over breakfast before heading to a volcano where you can dive into a mud bath. Our hostel said to us there was no way of getting there without doing a tour so we went and asked somebody else who said of course we could make it there on our own, it was just a bit more hassle. After 2 buses and some very dirty and bumpy roads we arrived at the El Totumo Mud Volcano and its alleged healing mud-bath. I dont know what we were expecting, when we finally arrived it certainly did not appear to be the massive mud volcano that I was imagining. Instead it was this big mound of mud in a carpark accessible via a dodgy wooden staircase that leads to the crater. Apparently the mud pool is actually around 200m deep but because it is so thick you dont sink at all.
One by one we all got into the mud. It was a really strange feeling! We each laid there while a man would cover us in the mud and then lightly massage it into you, I opted out of the massage but the girls seemed to like it! The mud was so thick you could barely move so it was quite an effort to swim around. You could stand straight up and not have to do anything to support yourself as the mud holds you up. Barry, Stu and I thought it would be fun to get dunked under the mud or cannonball into it so we all did one or the other, I think Stu did both. It was so funny and we got some great picks on Carly`s camera, the only drawback was the mud getting into our eyes and ears, I'm sure I was still finding it in my ears days later! After playing around for a while and trying to have races from one side to the other and generally messing around before we got out to let the mud dry on us. When we got to the lagoon to wash off a few ladies were standing there with bowls ready to scrub us but we all declined. However one of the ladies thought this was extremelly rude and started shouting at us and then threw her bowl on the floor in disgust while another wagged her finger at us as if we had been naughty boys and girls! We just ignored them and then got in the lagoon to wash it all off.
In the evening we all decided to have have a night out with a "few" drinks as we would all soon be heading our own way. Our good old friend Ron joined us for pre-drinks in Barry and Jens room (Ron being rum in spanish!). We all headed out to a really nice restaurant with amazing stakes and cocktails before making our way to a local club. After a few more ron and cokes we were all up on the dance floor showing the Colombians how to dance!!! I Think we peaked when Cotton Eye Joe came on at which point all the locals sat down! Late on into the night some of the group decided to head home while the rest of us stayed out. When the few who remained decided to head to another bar we spotted to of the other coming back towards the club so I ran and high fived them excited to see they had returned. Moments later there was a load of shouting and a taxi driver was pointing at me and the other 2 I had just high fived. The Columbian police came over and asked us to come with them over to an arch way, at this point I had know idea what was going on. The taxi driver started shouting 'COCAINE.... COCAINE!' at which point i started to go crazy at him calling him a liar. The police push us up against the wall face first and started searching the 3 of us. One policeman span me around and started shaking a little plastic bag full of white powder at me. My first thought was 'S**T! They have planted cocaine on me!'. They contined to search me and then told me that I could go but continued searching the other two. As I walked back I continued to shout at the taxi driver who was still shouting that I had cocaine on me, I wanted to hit the little lying idiot. When I walked back over to Sal she told me to shut up! Moments later I realised why. Sal explained that cocaine had been found on the others and that the taxi driver was actually in on it with the police and whoever had sold the cocaine! I didn't believe it at first but when I looked over to the two getting search they looked very worried and one had gone ghostly white! The police told us that they were being deported so they were taking them into the station. I could not believe that this was happening..... in Columbia of all places to have a incident with cocaine. The rest of us headed back to the hostel and stayed up all night worrying and wandering what the hell we could do to help the others. It seemed like there was no way of getting them out of trouble. The next morning it turned out that the two that had been lead off had, had to pay a bribe to the police just around the corner from where we had left them before having the cocaine returned to them! They were then search again thanks to the first two policemen contacting some of there friends, luckily this time nothing was found on them even though they actually still had the cocaine tucked in a hat! After that they had thrown the cocaine away and went home to sleep. The rest of us who were up all night were off with the guys in the morning. I had a go at them for being idiots. I don't think they realised that I was more angry that we had been up all night worrying about them while they had been tucked up in bed without letting us know they were okay. The mood of the group seemed tense after that. It was such a shame to have had such a great time with these guys over three weeks to leave it like this due to one night. That evening we all mucked in to cook a big final meal together. The mood had relaxed but it still wasn't quite the usual Ocho experience.
The next morning as we all started to head our own ways there was still a lot of tears, I was really going to miss this bunch more then I think they could ever realise. We had such and epic journey together, from the hammock boat to the heights of Ciudad Perdida. Our travels have still only really just begun but already I know it will be a miraculous day when we find a group as great as this to travel with.
- comments
joe You should put up pics and videos of you guys being dunked under the mud.