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And finally...
Well we are on our way back to Britain! albeit via Peru which whilst not the most direct route, is the one that we have tickets for. Columbia has been pretty relaxed for the most part, despite the passing by of hurricane thomas and the largest amount of rain in these parts for over 60 years.
On arrival we spent a few days in Cartagena, soaking up the atmosphere and wondering around the colourful streets of the old walled city which contains brightly painted 16th century buildings with balconies of tumbling bourgainvillia. We found that sightseeing here was best done early in the morning before the heat and humidity got too bad. After that we would return to our hostel and Kirst would have a go at getting the air conditioning to make it snow inside. Later having had a supersiesta (spanish for Powernap, honest), we would head out for the mandatory evening stroll.
From Cartagena we headed to Santa Marta via a 7hr 40 degC bus Journey (always fun), and then on to taganga which has been our base for the rest of the trip. Our hostel here was not really a hostel at all but a room in a nice old guys house where jean, our 77 year old host made us more than welcome. Fair play, Jean has had one of the most varied lives of anyone we have ever met. He grew up all over SE asia as his father was the french commisioner of half of indo china and since then has done many things, eventually ending up in Bogota as a linguistics professor for about 30 years. Despite this in normal conversations with him you start to learn more from his stories and keep getting taken of guard when sentences start with " when I was a green Beret" or " I used to be a natural history photographer for a while in so and so jungle...heh heh heh". definately proof if it were needed that working 9 to 5 is not the only way to go about things.
We headed away from taganga for a few days to let kirst get over a cold so that we could do some scuba diving and found ourselves the only occupants of a 3 mile stretch of carribean beach with nothing but a hammock, a book and a chess board for company. Tough times indeed. Unfortunately for kirst my former position as third on the Wickwar county primary school chess club ladder was too much for her but did earn the comment, "my god you are such a geek!" Gary Kasparov and Deep Thought we are not.
Back in Taganga we took our Padi open water course. Due to the hurricane in the area we had two days of just reading the dive book after our confined water sessions which resulted in high enough exam marks for another free t shirt each... result! Despite low visibility we both really enjoyed the diving and are keen to do some more when time allows though the most immediate opportunity appears it will be cleaning the sealion enclosure at Bristol zoo. For some reason this actually quite appeals to us.
Finally with 5 days left we had a choice to make. Either we could go back to Cartagena, go diving, relax and generally be in the town whilst the Miss colombia pageant was in town, or, do a 5 day jungle trek to a lost city having promised ourselves no more jungle treks and during the worst rainfall in Colombia for 60 years... So trekking we went! Despite the lack of opportunity to practice my spanish on beauty queens, lots of bug bites and a case of food poisoning for half the group, the trek to the lost city was great and we now feel we made the most of our time despite the itchiness.
That brings us to the end I´m afraid! Thank you to anyone who has had time to read our random mumblings on our way round the globe, especially for the comments which let us know that we are not just writing to ourselves. Thanks again to all the friends who have put us up along the way and let us know if you are in the Bristol area in the future!
love to all
Ian and Kirst
p.s. Mines a pint of bitter and kirst will probably have a G&T!
- comments
helen yey i have really enjoyed your blogs will be looking forward to seeing u guys soon hope u have a safe trip home xxxxx
Natalie hey guys I have also enjoyed your blogs its kept me going when i have had a stressed day at work i will read what you guys have been up to and relax :) cant wait to see you guys :) been tooo long looking forward to it and have a safe trip home love to you both xxx nat xx
Julia /Mum It has been wonderful to have all your stories to keep us going - can't wait to see you both - tomorrow - yeeaah. xx
Virena Everyone should do a trip like you've done!! A necessary education and exercise in living fully!! Your first job back could be financial advisor....teach me how to make a trip like this happen!! :-) I'm serious! Loved your writing Ian; you could very easily write your first book now, after this, and be well on your way to being like your host you describe in this blog!! Xo
Verity What an adventure you both had. It really sounds like you made the most of your travelling and your stories have certainly brought plenty of smiles to my face! Welcome home Kirsty and Ian :) xxx