Yo Tambien

The five of us (2 Germans, Manon, Lani and myself) began our trip by riding the local bus, that is easily accessible from the front of our hotel. The three of us had met the German girls two days before our trip and we invited them to join us on our adventure to Playa Blanca. The local bus is super cheap and extremely entertaining. There are checkpoints on all of the routes, which provides for an exciting trip. The drivers have to make each checkpoint in a certain amount of time otherwise they get fined. So the speed of the bus depends on where they are located on their route.

Playa Blanca

Our driver could have driven with his eyes closed without hitting a single pedestrian, moto-taxi or colectivo. He also seemed to know how to make the checkpoints in a timely fashion by zipping a squeezing past every other vehicle on the road. I was basking in the humid breeze of rotting fish as we drove through the local market, when our bus suddenly broke down. Thankfully, the assistant driver was able to spray the engine with motor starter; while the driver turned the key in the ignition. On about the fifth turn with cars beeping and people screaming at us to get moving the engine made a roaring noise. We were on our way again.

All of a sudden our driver abruptly stopped for the second time. This time the five of us looked at each other -- then at about the same instance we realized that we were to jump off this bus and pick up a second bus that had just screeched to a stop in front of us. Once we had transferred to the next bus things went smoothly -- the assistant driver jumped off the bus with the punch card to run to the check point even before we reached it so that they wouldn't have to pay.

When we finally reached our stop the driver was kind enough to wish us safe travels. Our next mode of transportation was a colectivo. A colectivo is a taxi that a bunch of random people can ride in. Seeing there were five of us and the driver we easily filled the entire car. The driver took us to a small town where we were to catch the local ferry to the island that Playa Blanca is located on.

As we road the ferry across the water, Lani made friends with the people next to her. They offered to take us the rest of the way on their bus. Lani thanked them generosity, but told them that we had no problem taking a moto-taxi. I was in between the two Germans on the ferry. I could tell by their facial expressions that they were pretty unsure of who they were traveling with. I tried to make some jokes and reassure them that we would reach Playa Blanca, but I think they were hesitant to believe me seeing that we were drenched in sweat and in the middle of nowhere.

The Germans

As we reached the other side -- Manon, Lani and I were eying the moto-taxi drivers. As I stepped off the ferry I was immediately swarmed with 15 drivers all trying pursuade me to ride with them. I started looking for my friends and spotted the Germans. Lani was talking to them explaining how we were about to take moto-taxis for 45 minutes to reach our final destination. One of the girls seemed to be really nervous and it was apparent that there was no way we were going to convince her to hop on the moto-taxi.

Lani quickly gave me a look that meant -- we need to figure something out otherwise we are going to be spending our weekend on the dirt road. Maneuvering her why through the crowd, she found her new friends and immediately took them up on their offer to ride the bus to Playa Blanca.

The two boys who would later become our new friends began talking with us as we waited for the next ferry to arrive with their bus. When the ferry arrived the mother of one of the boys, jumped on the bus to announce that they would be helping some foreigners out by giving us a lift. I could tell it was not going smoothly -- people were pissed that we were going to be riding for free and worried that we would be stopped at military checkpoints because the bus was going to be packed like sardines. We were going to be breaking the law because not everyone would be sitting. She ignored their responses and started to enthusiastically pull us on the bus. The 2 Germans were on it first and Manon slip her way on it before it started to pull away.

Lani and I were still standing on the road. We were just thrilled that everyone else had made it on the bus and would reach Playa Blanca. However, our new friend Carlos came to the rescue and stopped the bus. We were able to get on. People were not thrilled, but as the bus began to jerk down the road it was apparent that everyone would soon be at peace with the thought of our company. At each military checkpoint we were instructed to drop to the ground.

We arrived about an hour after getting on our bus to paradise. Not many foreigners travel to Playa Blanca. Those that do are in awe of the pure beauty of this place. There is about 5km of white, pristine beach. It is like landing on Robinson Crusoe's Island. We walked about a half a mile down the beach to a small cabana.

Our Hammocks

With only paying $2.50 we were each able to get a hammock with a mosquito net for the night. The day was pretty relaxing and peaceful. The food was very rich -- lots of fresh fish and fruit.

The owner of the cabana come out to collect our belongings right before the sunset so that they would not be snagged in the middle of the night. Once the sunsets there is no electricity. Some people go to bed early because they don't know what else to do. However, Lani and I stayed up for a while enjoying the night sky.

When we did go to bed things became pretty funny. Lani had crawled into her hammock and I was sitting in mine brushing the sand off my feet when I found myself lying in the sand. My hammock had fallen to the ground. It was pitch black out and other people were sleeping. Lani asked if my hammock had fallen. When I responded yes she started laughing and jumped out to go find the owner.

He came back to help me reattach the hammock to the beams. I thanked him and made a joke about how I hoped it didn't fall again in the middle of the night. He respond by saying, "Yo tambien (Me too)."

Have a wonderful day!

Peace,

Megan

Ven a Colombia y Pierde Tu Ropa

I live in a hotel. To say the least it is an assorted, unique and quaint community. You have Colombians that have lived in Bellavista for years. Foreigners who stay for an extended period of time. People are always moving in and out. It is a fantastic way to meet new friends and learn about different places.

Now sit back and picture a one bedroom, one bathroom studio/apartment with a tiny, little kitchen. That's where I live with my best friend Lani. It is ample space seeing that we are very busy and active people. The only downfall to the living situation was how expensive it was to have clothing cleaned.

Before I knew what I was doing I was telling her about my expertise in washing clothes. I immediately offered to wash her clothing. She was literally putting me up in her place for two months for next to nothing. The least I could do was wash her clothing. Lani kept insisting that it was not necessary, but I quickly reassured her that it was not a big deal! All I needed was some laundry detergent and water.

A week went by and I woke up one morning with an urge to wash clothes! So I took our bag of dirty laundry and walked to the back of the hotel. I had to shuffle and scoot my way around miscellaneous tools, buckets and rusty gadgets to reach the sink where I would be cleaning our clothing.

As I approached the laundry area, I had this feeling that this might not go exactly as I had planned. The hotel staff was bustling about with baskets of sheets, towels and guests laundry. With the language barrier I was sure that I had misunderstood the directions that I had been given the night before from my friend Manon. This could not possibly be the right place! I was about to turn around and head back to the room when one of the maids from the hotel motioned for me to come join her.

Manon

Hesitantly, I stumbled over with my bag of laundry trailing behind me. Before I could stop her she was giving me the prime location to wash our clothing. I knew that it would be rude to leave now, but I had an inkling that I might be in the way and washing clothing for eternity. I emptied our bag of pants, shirts, bras and underwear into the sink and got to work.

Time seemed to pass quickly. However, I was very conscious of the eyes that were on me. My method seemed to be 100 times slower than every other women around me. Despite being completely in the way of their work, I know that I had thoroughly entertained them for the day. It was not until an hour later that I realized how long I had been at the sink. Lani came looking for the key to the room and could not help but smirk at my appearance.

I was dripping in sweat and had no clue how to efficiently wash clothing by hand. She chuckled a little and said, "I will have lunch waiting for you in the room." I was thrilled, gave her a quick little nod and proceeded to continue to laboriously scrub our clothing. With the thought of lunch lingering in my head I managed to finish rather quickly. I gave the ladies a nice smile and than proceed to squeak out, "Gracias." Next I hung the clothing on the line and raced back to the room for lunch.

Dusk was nearing and I knew that I had to get back to take the clothing off the line. Manon had warned me that if I left clothing overnight it was sometimes taken. But I was on my game and knew that I was alright because it was not yet dark. As I walked back to the clothesline I began to compliment myself. Only to find that one of my sports bras ($16.00) and a pair of my underwear ($5.00) had been snagged off the line. I was a little disappointed, but managed to let it go and was glad it had not been Lani's clothing. I headed back to the room to tell her of my findings.

About 10 days later, I decided that I would do laundry again. This time I thought I might try washing our clothes in the shower because I did not want to be in the way of the staff. It went surprisingly well and before long all of our laundry was clean. I throw it in a cloth bag and headed out to the clothesline. I decided that if I hung the clothes earlier, they would dry before the sun had begun to dip into the horizon.

Again I was mistaken. This time with the sun shining firsiouly on the clothesline, I realized that two of our shirts had been stolen. The first one was a new black shirt ($9.98) that I had just bought before coming to Colombia and the second one was Lani's favorite black shirt ($15.00) that her sister had given her. I found this to be rather amusing and all I could really do was laugh.

Within in minutes I realized how naive I had been. I invite you all to come to Colombia and let me do your laundry. You will lose your clothes ("Ven a Colombia y Pierde Tu Ropa"). So if you come to Colombia and let me do your laundry it averages out to be about $22.99 a load. Lani was paying about $15.00 a load. So in the end I was the more expensive service. All in all things are on the up and up. We now have clothesline in our room.

Until next time,

Megan

Necesito tomar mas!

If you are born in Colombia you come out of the womb dancing. I on the other hand came out sunny side-up.

The first time that my friends took me dancing was quite the sight. In my mind I pictured a lively venue with a dark atmosphere. A place where Megan could become a fly on the wall. My hopes were shattered. Instead the club Safari was like being on the beach on the sunniest day of the year. Bright walls, colors and lights surrounded me and it was obvious that I would not be able to hide myself.

To make the whole situation even better -- I was with a group of 20 people that I live with and see everyday. I was not going to be able to wake up the next morning without having to worry about seeing anyone that I had been with. I tried to avoid dancing for as long as possible. I would avoid eye contact with as many men as I could because I knew once I caught their gaze I was screwed. Instead I tried to act like I was in deep conversation with the people sitting near me. Which lasted a whole five minutes because they speak Costenol. Making it extremely difficult for me to understand them.

(My dance teacher -- Jorge)

Jorge had been bribed to be my salsa teacher for the night by both Jota and Lani. Let me just say that the first dance was probably the five most difficult minutes of his life. He had to try to get a piece of steel to move in the right direction with the beat of the music. By the end of the song it was obvious that we were both very relieved! He said to me, "Necesito tomar mas. Y tu?"

In Spanish it means, "I need to drink more. What about you?" That pretty much sums up the first few minutes of my night of dancing.

However, as the night progressed my dancing improved ten fold. I think this was due to a number of reasons. The main one being that throughout the night my new friends kept handing me more rum. To say the least it was a pretty entertaining night.

And due to the fact that I have some serious dancing issues I have decided to enroll in the local dance school. That's it for now!

Peace,

Megan

Mamando Gallo

Hi Everyone!

I have arrived in Cartagena, Colombia and I am safe and sound. You can put all of your worries to rest. It is a city of a little less than a million people located on the Coast. I am living in a hotel across the street from the ocean. Pretty sweet if you ask me.

So my dad you have inspired me to blog and make bread. I figured blogging was probably the easiest way to keep everyone up to date on my adventures. As I write this I have bread baking in a toaster oven. I will let you know how it turns out. I am calling this bread White Oat Delite! Seeing that I have only been able to find white flour. I can't lie...I miss your bread!

So I have been here for less than 48 hours and I am already fascinated with the people, the city and the culture. Just so that everyone is on the same page I am living with my best friend from home Lani. Yesterday, when she was at class I went with her boyfriend Jota to explore the center of Cartagena and purchased a cellphone. He was nice enough to help me find the cheapest phone. The center of Cartagena is filled with colorful buildings, many lively restaurants and crowded shops. Jota has been teaching me many different words and phrases. My favorite phrase so far is "mamando gallo," which literally means "fucking chicken" in English. But in Colombia the phrase is used when you are joking with someone.

The Spanish that is spoken here is extremely fast and difficult to understand. However, I am sure that with time things my speaking will improve. I don't think I really have an option. Since I only will be speaking English when I am tutoring kids.

I got to go to the beach! Enjoy your day!

Peace and Love,

Megan