Leaving Colombia

I officially left Colombia today. Below is an update of the past week in Colombia, with pictures to follow shortly.
Night diving
In Sta Marta, the night before I left, I went night diving. It was pouring rain and I left at dusk. The second dive was around 9 pm. It was really interesting diving on a wreck at night, and I saw lobster, sea horses, and all sorts of things that werent there during the day.
Cartagena

When I arrived in Cartagena I went for a long walk and joined a party bus with a bunch of people from the hostel. It is exactly what I usually avoid as I already do enough drinking on my own, but it was a lot of fun. I volunteered my seat to a couple, so I sat with the band on the bus, and was allowed to play a bit of accordian (picture), and I didnt have to share my rum, as the band wasnt drinking. In fact, they got me two more bottles. It was a crazy night, and I even ended up on a Chilean TV show (picture)>, as they were doing a special on Colombia. Things got a bit hazy after that, but I know I ended up at a disco with a few italians from Treviso. The follwoing day, I did a bit more walking around, and bought some Christmas presents, which (knock on wood) will make it with me all the way to Thailand for Christmas. The picture is of Guillermo Doria and one of his girlfriends. He is happily married with several girlfriends who all know of each other, the one in the picture being pregnant. Apparently that is accepted on the coast. We discussed my buying a farm and opening a school for artists, teaching Ceramics and painting, etc.. If anyone is really reading this, please let me know what you think of me starting a venture of some sort, that starts with me buying a Colombian farm. If there is interest, I also have details on a rabbit farm. Anyway, enough of that small tangent, and back to the pictures. The sculpture on the left of the picture is a Bolero, who Guillermo and his son both do excellent ¨tribute¨ paintings of. That evening, it was pouring rain, and I had a hard time making it to the bus station. I had to take a normal bus and walk in the rain as all the taxis were full. That, amongst many other experiences, has shown me that the Entreprenerial spirit is very alive here. Several people boarded the bus, selling candy, combs, toothbrushes, etc..
Medellin to the border
The bus to Medellin, like all buses which have A-C, was freezing. When I arrived, I shared a cab with a Norwegian and a Finnish guy, who had been travelling for 12 years, not staying in one place for more than 8 months. They were a fun group, and we walked around Medellin together, playing mini golf, eating, and drinking. That evening, I took another night bus to Cali. I decided to skip it, as I generally dont like big cities and needed to get heading south. Finding a bus to the border at 5am was surprisingly easy, and was supposed to take another 9 hours. I ended up going with the driver who let me sit up front. It was great, as the bus was one of those relatively small vans, and I ended up working, yelling out the at people in the street to try and recruit passengers. The transport system is quite efficient, and they alwasy try to fill up as much as possible. For instance, collectivo cabs won´t leave until full, etc.. Anyway, it was funny for the passengers, as at first I didnt have much luck. Everyone practically cheered when I got my first customers. It was also extremely hot, so many laughed when at the gas station I came back with hair all wet, and one pant leg drenched in water. I held my leg out the window and it cooled me off nicely. When i arrived in Pasto, we didnt have enough passengers to warrant the trip to Ipiales, so I got moved to another Super taxi (a really nice Mercedes van) but there wasnt room. All that really meant though, was that I had to leave the bus station and go flag down the same van on the street, as when they leave the station, they arent allowed to have more passengers than seats for safety reasons, which only means they just pick up passengers after the station, which is where I was.
Ipiales

I arrived in Ipiales on Thursday evening, and was going to just cross the border, but a couple told me not to miss the Cathedral which was just above a river built into a cliff ,with the taxi driver, and at night). They claimed it was the most beatiful cathedral in S. America, so I got a taxi and went to have a look.(I have a picture of it from a distance
The taxi driver was a nice guy and became my personal tour guide for $8, which included transport to the cathedral, and then to the border. We ended up attending the later part of the mass, eating Hamster or Guinea Pig (called Cuy, a specialty that was quite good), and I had a tour of the city.
Since I wasn´t sure if the Cuy was a Guinea Pig or a Hamster, I included pictures of them alive, grilled, and me finishing off the last bit, which happened to be the head.


It was getting late, so I decided to stay, and he took me to a hotel which charged $4, including hot water (my first time in Colombia) and a tv. After losing some money at a Roulette table and making many friends in the local casino, I went for a drink at the bar down the streetThat is when all the fun-trouble began. That is where I met Henry, MaFe, Carolina, Fernando, Rollo, and a few others.(the first picture) Long story short, 2 nights later, I was still at that bar, now considered a local. That night, I think we put down 4-5 bottles of Aguardiente, a local liquor, and several beers. After bar close, they went to a random unmarked window to get more, and we went to a park to finish that off(picture)I think I got back around 5ish, and then went to work with Henry the following morning as he offered to take me around and teach me in the ins and outs of the rice business.
It was great fun, with an excellent breakfast, and several stops at warehouses filled with rice. It was amazing to watch how the trucks were loaded. Teams of 6 guys would build a ramp out of pallets and bamboo into the truck. Then they would pick up 100lb bags of rice and run up the ramp. These gusy were small, but TOUGH. We also played a bit of billar while waiting for a truck. It is a great game which involves 3 balls, and you need to hit two of them with the ball you are hitting to get points and keep going. In my opinion, it is much harder than regular pool, and most pool halls here are full of mainly this style of table. Friday night, I decided to stick around, as they promised it was a good night out. We went to the same bar, and switched to Whisky.
Keep in mind, this place was very cozy, and you bought drinks by the bottle. Again, I didnt make it to bed before 6, and the following morning, Henry picked me up to get Brunch. We met several of his friends from the rice business and I learned all sorts of new words while eating steak and drinking whisky. I dont think these guys even went to bed. I meant to head to the border, but at this point, I had to nap a bit, and then it was off to my local bar again, where Henry never took a rest. After the place ran out of alcohol, literally, we went to a disco where i was able to prove to everyone that I really cant dance.
After that closed, off to get more again, though Henry had long left, and we ended up in a house listening to all sorts of good music, once again, until the sun came up.
Anyway, feeling thoroughly poisoned now, I slept a bit and headed to Ecuador. I was torrentially rained on, and am now in Quito on election day, where they forbid the sale of alcohol to make sure things run smoothly. I think it is probably good for me to not have a drink for a change. In any case, I now have several new friends in Ipiales, and one more local bar. Now that I am in Ecuador, I think I will hike to close to 5000 meters and do a bike trip. I need to get in shape and figure now is as good a time as any.

By the way, if there is a bad link on a picture, click on it, and the picture will open up anyway. Blogger is a bit weird with pictures.