Apartahotel Yivinaca Barranquilla

An overnight drive of 16 hours, over a precipitous mountain range took us down to the back water town of Puerto Colombia, right on the coast of the Venezuelan Caribbean. Fabulous place to relax, spend time on the beach, take boats out to uninhabited beaches, and bounce in the surf. The perfect relaxation spot!

"Aguila Aguila Aguila, dos mil dos mil, la Aguila fria!!!" Dieser Ausruf wird mich noch lange in meinen Träumen verfolgen... überall in den Strassen von Barranquilla liefen Bierverkäufer rum, die in einer bestimmten, nicht nachzuahmenden Melodie, das Dosenbier an den Mann und die Frau zu bringen versuchten. Zusammen mit kiloweise Mehl und dosenweise Rasierschaum, mit dem jedermann angesprüht oder überschüttet wird, sind Bier und Aguardiente ein wesentlicher Bestandteil vom Strassenkarneval ...

Carnival started last Saturday. We were greeted to the parade by a cornflour fight and someone trying to pickpocket me although he failed. I was there with two other English couch-surfers, Kaas and Bill, and we managed to push ourselves to the front before the main floats went by. Generally it was really fun and everyone was dancing along and having a good time. There also seemed to be a lot of 'evil-doers' in the parade, including: Hitler, Saddam, Osama and Mugabe, but I couldn't ...

... very contagious on other people, like Susanne or Mutti especially. I was worried that Lili would also become annoyed, and I told her that she was not the reason. I knew that these feelings were not caused by anything but myself, my own expectation on how the moment should, or should not be like. This knowledge didn't help my mood, but I knew it would pass, so I didn't try to fight it, I just needed to wait until the storm passed, to give way to daylight once again ...

I thought some of you would like to receive a postcard from South America or Spain, so if you do, please leave a comment for this blog entry with your address. Also, please let me know if there is a particular place, in South America or Spain, from where you would like to get a postcard - I will try to go there and send you a postcard form ...

Halloween in Colombia! What should I wear? No time to get a costume, working all day, no costume shops... maybe there are costume shops? Well, anyway, I wanted to be a Pirate, and get some things from second-hand stores to build a costume, but I changed my mind. I remembered a peace corps volunteer in Kyrgyzstan being a "Nerd", and the costume was much easier than that of a pirate, so that was my plan. Lili went with me to the downtown market, and we searched through some ...

How many times do we let fear control our emotions and actions/decisions? I think fear is one of the main reasons why people fail to live the life they aspire to. At least, fear, has in my past, led me to make bad decisions. Then again, since I am alive and well now, was it really bad decisions, or the way it must be? I believe so. We cannot change our past, only learn form it, and behave differently in the present. My past mistakes ...

... heat, 25 competitors, at least 15 repititions of "High School Musical" and "Hannah montana", singing, a lot of the time screeching, but there could only be one winner...and guess who was forced to the stage to present the awards in front of 200 people? That's right! Gutted I forgot to bring my camera to capture my moment of glory. Apart from all that, just working away at my classes - I now have an undergraduate class, a night ...

My first entry since my arrival... I just have not had any time. But I hope that once I get settled, I will be able to write more frequently. The question is always, should I write, or should I experience? Finding a balance is very important. Without experiences, there is nothing to write about, and without writing, the experiences are no as salient and educational. Anyway, it was very easy to get through immigration and customs, not at all like what I was told by someone ...

... and rewards were offered to local fishermen who found the rest. I maintain that it was all a big scam by the bottled water giants to scare people into buying their product! And the students who thought that class would be canceled due to the water shortage were sorely disappointed! Apart from that, I've just been doing a lot of "networking" (ie partying). Last weeked I went to one of the other teacher's flat for a housewarming party. Got to ...