Colombia, Santa Marta

The travel Girl is back! We have two slight changes: now it´s only me, M. is studying maths in Uni and the other M. returned to Thailand for a three weeks holiday. Anyways, I decided to continue my travel Blog and here it is: newer, better, regularly updated (yeah I wish...we´ll see about that) and in ENGLISH. So few people understand German nowadays...tsts, real shame.

This is my third week in Columbia, South America and I still can´t believe how many things I have done and seen so far: walking around La Candelaria in Bogota, dancing salsa with a  really really drunk 60-year old in some random salsa bar downtown, getting really lost in the same city and having a full collectivo helping you out in the language that you just learned and not really know how to apply in the real world,  doing caving and canyoning and rafting in Columbia´s outdoor capital number one, the small but bustling city of San Gil most of which included heavy drinking of Rum and Aguardiente before, after or whilst doing it and also swimming in little secluded parts of a river slowly flowing down the valley. Also, the food is incredible: I just can´t go a day without eating one of these awesome fried empanadas they sell on every street corner and/or a fruit shake, favorably mango. Love it!

La Candelaria

Pescaderitos

Canyoning and Mudbathing

The last 10 days I spent in Santa Marta in the region of Magdalena volunteering for Mariaposasamarillas, a foundation that sponsors two schools for kids from underprivileged barrios of the town. The kids are well, how to put it nicely, less disciplined than what we are used to. In other words: a screaming mess. Thing is: not speaking spanish fluently doesn´t help exactly in calming them down. So what we basically have been doing is sitting around reading a book to one kid that is marginally interested, chatting and randomly shouting ´tranquilo´! in the classrooms when they were all over each other again. You could find this shocking - for me it just shows, that a) those kids just grew up in a totally different environment than we did that puts emphasis on different skills than we do and b) that I definitely do NOT want to be a primary school teacher.

Apart from this I had the best time with my fellow volunteers and my columbian family we lived in. We went to the nicest beach on earth, the Bahia Cancha, a part of the Tayrona National park which is just stunningly beautiful.

We also went to the Northernmost Point of South America: Cabo de la Veila, the smallest town ever with more goats than anything, a breathtaking landscape and the nicest starsky I have seen since New Zealand. It took us like 10 hours to get there, including being on open back buses with 12 people and a goat.

Pimboli and Rat are Back! Get more information on them on 

http://bisszumendederwelt.blogspot.com/2011/06/und-der-wirklich-letzte-post-wie-ratte.html

Punto de Azucar

We went to Minca in the Sierra Nevada hiking to Waterfalls and getting attacked by a wasp nest which was not really fun but once we sat down and had a brownie with ice cream the whole world looked better already :)

Yesterday we spent the day relaxing in Taganga, a nearby fishing town just chilling out on the beach drinking muchas Aguilas, the local beer. This is an Art performed in perfection by us and the locals: chilling out. I feel so relaxed here, it´s unbelievable. With 30°C and a constantly blowing breeze there´s not much you can do. Take a beer and some friends and heaps of time and there you go, having the nicest time ever in a country that still triggers disbelief when you tell people where you are about to go since it was considered really dangerous (you all know that) but fact is: it is a lot safer now, there´s police and security everywhere and as long as you don´t walk around at nighttime flashing your credit card and passport you´ll generally be fine.