Dia... me da fiaca hacer numeros, pero entre el 18 de Dieciembre y 5 de Enero. La visita de Meaghan.

Hi everyone.

I am fortunate to be a guest writer of this blog, a participant of Diego’s great adventure and of course a co-driver of the Aceituna.

While reading this blog section I highly recommend listening to these following Colombian road tunes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2XSd0miGVo&fb_source=message http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2XSd0miGVo&fb_source=message.

My Journey with Diego and Francisco commenced in Cartagena, Colombia . They picked me up at the airport and took me to the hostel they were staying at. I loved our boarding room, perfect for our needs. Unfortunately I tainted this perfect room immediately. The Argentine candy that was in my bag for Diego attracted an army of ants into our room. I did not realize the ant invasion until I changed my clothes and kept getting bit (first I thought I had fleas). I attempted a pest management operation but made things worse and more ants migrated into my bed. I was still getting bit by ants 3 days later, but I learned to live with them.

We were in Cartenga for 4.5 days as we waited for the Aceituna. Cartagena is a highly popular tourist destination for its Caribbean climate, beautiful beaches, and for its colonial architect/ world heritage features. With a tight budget and without a vehicle, Cartagena was a good city to be delayed in. There were nice places to walk, we enjoyed the beach under a tent for $5 a day, beer was cheap, and you could get a free foot massage if you are willing to only have one foot rubbed which was a part of their “free sample promotion”……

We celebrated New Years amongst other long distance travelers: An Argentine and Mexican couple who were selling bracelets to finance their way to Argentina, and 4 Argentine brothers from Cordoba (I could not understand them at all..) with a Cuban girl going towards Argentina. Together, we ate Italian influenced pizza (Italian pizza is really floppy), then headed to the main plaza of Cartagena at 12am to watch fireworks. On a side note, apparently in Mexico to start off the New Year you need to do the following: wear red underwear, eat 12 grapes, open champagne, and leave suitcases at the door. I googled the explanations: http://gomexico.about.com/od/festivalsholidays/a/new_years_eve.htm.

We walked the streets looking for a bar, but much of the streets were covered with tables having private dinner parties wich we interrupted. Diego went straight towards a music instrument assemble and started playing the drums to the beat of the DJ music. Our group all grabbed an instrument (including the cow bell) and participated. After this we found a fenced off, and even bigger and better party. Quick and sly, Diego immediately jumped the fence and attended the formal affair. The rest of us entered via a not well regulated corner near guys that were not good at their security job.

Diego went straight up on stage and started playing the drums and speaking to the audience on the microphone, again we followed and quickly others went on the stage to dance. I believe the audience had a 50-50 response to our performance. Half enjoyed the entertainment and the other half seemed bitter that we got in for free and were wearing somewhat raggy clothes. After we were asked to leave the stage for the band to play, I thought that the security guards would kick us out; but surprisingly not. We kept the dance floor moving by integrating others... And we all went around talking to people to mooch their champagne. In all it was probably my best New Years.

On Monday, after many hours dealing with paper work Diego finally received his van. I will be honest I was concerned to what happens to a van that someone has lived in for 4 months that has been sealed in a shipping container for 3 weeks. I imagined the similar effects of the unidentifiable matter in a lunch container that I have found behind my desk once; and throwing out the van with the shipping container is not an option. Surprisingly the van was fine. It only smelt like yeast when we opened the cooler.
We started travelling Monday late afternoon and arrived in Taganga around 10pm. Taganga is a small fishing village that is located near the city of Santa Marta. Taganga has a beautiful cove with peaceful waters surrounded by mountains. To me, Taganga looked like an area where travelers get trapped within the peacefulness and never leave. There were many “Earthy” people dancing and playing various music instruments; a great atmosphere to have on that particular beach.

Later the next day we started travelling again with the goal to reach Bogotá that night. It was a very unrealistic goal. Instead it took us 2 more days. In total it took us 25 hours to complete 1000 km. The roads in Colombia were slow and unpredictable, with temporary road closures due to construction or accidents. During our waiting times, Diego, Francisco and I would work on our musical talents or eat road side mangos. On route we had to go through the mountains. It was amazing viewing the mountain folds, the rivers flowing pass, and the sustaining small mountain villages. A picture could never capture the beauty within those mountains.

After Two nights sleeping at small operation hotels we reached Bogotá; with just enough time for me to do some site seeing. This is Francisco’s city, so he was an excellent tour guide. He took us to the house where he grew up which was one of the oldest existing buildings in the city, took us out for lunch at a diner with traditional Colombian food, then took us to the center. In the center Francisco guided us 1) to where I had the best cappuccino ..ever; which included fancy cream art, 2) to the plaza where we walked with a million pigeons, 3) to artesian craft mall and markets, and 4) to the Botero Museum that features Fernando Botero (apparently I really like art that creates objects fatter than usual.) Here are some examples of his art work; http://www.paintingiant.com/artists/fernando-botero.html.

By late afternoon I had to head the airport for my flight back to Argentina. I was sad to leave and I wish I could have stayed longer. I felt I only skimmed the surface of what Colombia offered, and to be honest living in a van is appealing to me. I had a great time Diego and Francisco. Thanks for the many memories - Most of the memories were good, with only one really bad memory – smelling Diego’s body drying rag. Haha. Diego, Good thing your mom included a ‘Real’ towel in your care package.

Suerte!

Con Mucho Gusto [Diomedes Díaz y Álvaro López]

 

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