Casa Pombo Cartagena

... in May where he left his boat for the summer, but they are just so fun and full of love and have the most amazing stories ever! They know Cartagena pretty well so they have been showing us around town. We went over to their boat for dinner and then weve been going out a lot too with them. Their accents are just brilliant and their sense of humor and story telling is great. They took us into town to see some Colombia dancing and taste authentic food and just get a sense for the city ...

... je mljela nekih 10 minuta na spanjolskom. uglavnom, ugriz na nozi nije ni pogledala nego mi je samo dala neku kremu i ibuprofen tako da me cijelo to veselje kostalo nekih 50 dolara (s tim da bi mi pare koje sam dala za pregleda, nekih 20 dolara, trebalo vratiti osiguranje).

pokusali smo ici van u cartageni, ali je bilo nemoguce naci neko mjesto jer decke nisu pustali, ako nisu imali na sebi cipele i kosulje tako da smo na kraju samo lutali gradom i ...

... of sugar mangoes, and snacks.
Returning to Cartagena mid afternoon we ran to El Mejor Sitio for lunch. Had to have my soup fix. Decided to go to the Hotel Sofitel's famed Coro Bar to have drinks that night. Supposedly Prez. Clinton had drinks there. He's a cool enough guy for me. Must be some good drinks. Or sexy ladies. We know he likes them. Or maybe not. Monica was not that much of a looker. Anyway ...

... on folding tables in grubby stores and restaurants lit with flourescent lights, ceviche stands, used book stalls selling any and every type of book you can imagine, very public urination, the small of the open carinceria all down the streets. Stinky puddles. Mangy dogs. Playing kids. Catcalling old men (slightly gross). Fruit sellers. Dozens of men selling tintos and pericos (coffees), walking around with little racks and bags full of little plastic cups. It's so alive. It ...

... people. I am just sweaty, hot, and hungry, but happy to have experienced another proof ex negativo of who I am today. After that I take a shower. Why not write a story about my seven-second fight with gravity and the soap? They have every right to be honored here. The soap is a piece of cheap red perfumed soap I bought in Santa Cruz for my private bump who refused to use it. It's very slippery but it does what it should do: take away the sweat. I keep it in a plastic bag so that it doesn ...

... the river. I jumped back as they did. Took there pictures and found out that they are not commonly seen and are very poisonous. Good thing they were having sex when I came upon them. I found a horse shoe and had it in my pocket so now I have that with my travels for luck. We took a speed boat for two hours, a jeep ride with me riding in the back with the bags for half the trip for four hours and then a small bus ride for four ...

... to the big 3.


Arriving in Piura we check into a cheap hotel and track down two local girls (Mapi and Carmen) who we met in Valparaiso. They have offered to show us around their part of Peru and with a phone call we meet up for dinner and plan to spend a weekend at a friend's beach house an hour away.


Saturday March 07th and Sunday March 8th


REST DAYS: PIURA AND COLAN


Before heading out to Colan Playa, we bump into a Norwegian backpacker near our ...

... Que chimba marica! Am Tag drauf habe ich mich mit Douglas auf den Weg zur Playa Blanca gemacht. Wir wollten ein oder zwei Tage dort am Strand bleiben und dann nach Cartagena zurückkehren. Auf der Fahrt dorthin haben wir Bekanntschaft mit fünf Jungs aus Irland gemacht, die mich von dem Tag an noch weiter begleiten werden... Nachdem sich also die sechs Jungs jeweils zu zweit ein Zimmer direkt am ...

... to find a boat. In the end, because there is no b*s (or road) across the Darien gap to Panama, we had no option but to book a 230USD flight. We did manage to squeeze in some rum time in the hostel courtyard and celebrated a supertramp birthday with a fancy dinner. Cartagena is a cool old fortified city with surrounding walls and a maze of cobbled streets to walk around. We blame the oppresive heat for us ...

... del Rosario. And the beach... oh my. Playa Blanca was just something else. If I ever go back to Cartagena, I'm going with a tent to spend a few days in Playa Blanca and doing some diving in Islas del Rosario - but this time, my time was running out.

Then finally, Monday 10th December 2007 had FINALLY arrived. A day I had been waiting since I landed in Lima 4th September - near my original sole purpose for my trip to South America again - to meet ...