The end

I've been hanging out in bogota for a few days waiting to catch my flight home. Weather has be awfuland I've been feeling sick so not too much has been happening. I did watch some rap and death metal in the rain. I found old dirty bastard. I went to the military and police museums (saw Pablo Escobar's guns!). So it wasn't wasted. I fly home tonight. I'll do a YouTube dump when in get back, I have a bunch of videos that in haven't been able to upload due to crap Internet.

 

wrapping up in cartagena

I went to the last couple of attractions. A huge castle and a big curch. The castle had all these dark winding caves under it. They give off huge echos and a few of them were so dark that i had to use a flashlight to stop from bumping into the walls. The church actually has the bones of a saint or somebody on display right under the altar. They glow under strange orange lights. They also had a two large macaws in a cage in their courtyard. I dont remember any parrots in the bible.

I spent my last day on one of the nicer beaches. Unlike the crappy walkable beach that I have been going to, everyone hastles you to buy stuff. It was pretty annoying. I dont want crabs, fruit, oysters, a hat, sunglasses, jewelry, or any of the other crap. I also had some crazy one legged lady who kept touching me and yelling gibberish (probably spanish, still can not tell). I did get a pretty good massage for $5. I have been going to a film festival in town but it was cancled becuase some famous musican died. They just played this horrible documentary about him instead. I am off to Bogota for few days them back home. Hoping that I can find the old dirty bastard portrait while Im there.

.

Mud!!!!!!!!!

Mud+volcano=awesome! Not really sure how the science behind a mud volcano works, but this thing was awesome. Doesn't feel like you're in mud, more like pudding. You can't sink!! Reminds me of what it would be like to float in space (if space was filled with mud).

Inquisition

There is a small Inquisition museum in the center of town. They have a rack, gallows, and other miscellaneous torture devices. I took some pics and hung around the park nearby watching little kids chase pigeons. I spent the night wandering around and got myself very lost. I flagged down a cop to help me get home but he couldn't speak enough English to explain it. He proceed to call all his cop buddies to come by and by the sixth or seventh try a female cop motioned for to get on her bike. She rode me all way back to hostel! I've never been hooked up by a cop like that in the states. ( I got a lot of funny looks pulling up to the hostel with a cop)

I got up this morning bright red and sunburned but still determined to go to the beach. I aloed and sunscreened and walked down. While Enjoying my swim I noticed four men on each side of the small beach pulling larges ropes. Turns out It was a giant fishing net. When I got out out of there way, one of them motioned for me to help. I pulled in the net with them and it had a hundreds of Pounds of long silver fish with crazy teeth. One guy even offered me some fish for helping. Not a very vegetarian thing to do, but " when in Rome".

Cartagena or operation beach bum

The last couple days have been pretty rough. A three hour night train back from macchu pichu, a two hour scary van ride back to my hostel and the three flights with about 18 hours of layovers between them. Not fun. But that is what happens when you travel cheap and plan nothing. I got into cartagena around three yesterday. Its my first time in the Caribbean. The place is so cute. Colorful buildings, horse drawn carriages, tribal drummers and tradition dancers, and fresh fruit on every corner.

Last night was brutal though. After all my flights I just wanted to crash at like 10. When i got back from dinner, they had set up a bar and sound system directly in front of my dorm! Not cool. No sleep until they made everyone go to the club at like 1am. Apparently this is the norm thus- sat. Grrrrr. Not really what I'm in the mood for right now, but this is the only safe hostel with AC, so I'm stuck. I feel like such an old man.

I woke up at 8 this morning to a blue sky and blazing sun. Had some coffee and commenced operation beach bum. All the "nice beaches" are a boat ride away, but I'm from michigan, so every beach is a nice beach to me. By 9 I was playing in the waves! The city is small so I was able to walk most of it today and go to the modern art museum. I don't expect much action for the next week, just beach and relaxation (and two more nights of stupid loud spring break nonsense) .

Machu pichu

Because it is the dry season and the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Machu Picchu it was hard to get train tickets. I could have booked a multiple day trek and hiked in instead, but I have been incredibly laid back and lazy and decided not to. I took a morning train into the horrible tourist city of Angeles cantleis. The city itself is beautiful. Buried in mountains, with a river cutting it in two. No cars are allowed so it free of the horrible exhaust that plagued Lima and Cuzco. Unfortunately, everything else about it screams horrible Inca Disney land. Cheesy souvenirs and expensive gross tourist food. I found a Harri Krishna restaurants that was ok (and a little amusing) but that was about. They do have hot springs, but they were disgusting and not very hot. Hopefully I don't bring back any weird diseases from bathing in the visibly funky and stinky water.

The plan was to wake up a 5am, eat breakfast ( the hostel gets up and makes pancakes when ever you tell them too! Very cool) and go climb Huayna picchu. Huayna picchu is a steep mountain/hill behind then ruins. Unfortunately, what woke me up was pounding rain on the roof at 3 am. The reason so many people come to Machu Picchu in july ( 2000+ a day) is that it doesn't rain! Unless i have tickets, in which case it pours. Because I'm insane I bought two different ponchos on the way to the bus and stole some little plastic bags that i turned into a water proof uniform. In think I was literally the only person to not get soaked and miserable. I decided not to don the climb because slipping down a soaking mountain and dying in Peru is never a good idea. I did spend about five hours wandering around ruins. The plus side of the terrible weather was that it added an unearthly air to the ruins. Clouds float past covering everything only to part a reveal astounding views. It was like being on some strange fantasy film set. The ruins and the view really are epic in scope and I haven't seen anything quite like it. Well worth the trip even it didn't quite go as I planned.

 

Sexy woman

There was big festival going on Today. Dancing and traditional costumes. I managed to lose my ATM card while digging for some change in my pockets. Thankfully I lose stuff all the time, so I was prepared. Canceled card, still have a some cash and my visa, so I'm good. After working that drama out, I went and hiked to a few local inca sights. The biggest one is pronounced exactly like "sexy woman". Hilarious. Great views. I stopped for a drink at a little village restaurant. The owner had 3 dogs and hideous turkeys running around. I'm writing this surrounded by horrible eurotrash at the hostel bar. They just painted their faces and are dancing on the tables. I want to punch them all.