colooooombia!

an attempt to describe the last month of my life...

first up, the walled colonial city of cartagena, a gem of a city, so pillaged and plundered by pirates in the sixteenth century that the spanish up and built massive fortifications surrounding the town. now, the only people doing the plundering are moneyed colombians in town on holiday. we spent days wandering around the labyright of winding streets in the old city, escaping the ever-oppressive midday heat in the shade of narrow alleys lined with colorful, weathered buildings. shirtless men gather to play dominoes in the many plazas, street stands heave with mounds of fresh fruit just begging to be blended into a deliciously fresh smoothies (mango, piña, banana and maracuya--twice a day, everday!), cumbia music blasting at all hours, beautiful people everywhere, dancing in the street. it´s a vibrant, romantic, steamy city--a perfect introduction to colombia, i´d say.

mud, mud, everywhere, and not a drop to drink. 40 minutes through coast and swamp land brought us to volcan totumo, home of the infamous mud baths. natural hot springs mixed with volcanic ash, apparently, create a mud chock-full of theraputic minerals (or so they tout to the tourists). after stripping down to our suits, we gingerly climbed up slipperly steps to the crater filled with dark gray goo. lowering down in one by one, we were each slowly enveloped by the thick, cool mud, laughing hysterically while we did so because words really can´t convey how ODD the sensation of climbing into a vat full of mud is. you´re literally suspended, mineral-laden goo oozing through your fingers and toes. colombian men from neighboring villages were ready and waiting to give massages, which were nice but a tad awkward with hordes of people staring down at us. after the ¨baths,¨we were led towards the lake, where local women with buckets pounced on us, and before we knew what was happening, shoved us in the water, stripped off our suits and scrubbed us clean from head to toe. and just as steathly as they were removed, moments later our suits were back on without a trace of mud-even from behind our ears-to be seen. magic!

moving north up the caribbean coast, we parked ourselves in taganga for a spell. a small fishermans villages, tiny boats dotting the horseshoe-shaped bay, there´s not much to be done besides recharging the batteries for the upcoming holiday season. i managed a short side trip to parque nacional tayrona, trekking through forests with howler monkeys and sleeping in hammocks on jungle-fringed beaches.

back to cartagena for christmas, the city all dressed up in lights. it was weird, to say the least, not being home for the holidays, but at the same time just didn´t feel like christmas at all. the whole lead up was gone--no shopping, tv christmas specials, parties, baking and, you know, family and friends. christmas eve dinner at the hostel was disappointing but all-night salsa dancing and revelry made up for it. christmas day the whole hostel banded together to make up for the sorry excuse for the meal the night before--spanish rice made by yours truly, frijoles, guacamole, veggie and meat kebabs, spanish omelets, fresh fish and dulce de leche turnovers for dessert.

wow, an attempt to describe the last month and i only made it two weeks in! more to come about medellin, a new years eve involving midget clowns (!), the zona cafetera (yes, the colombia coffee zone, aka alexandra´s heaven on earth), patacones, chivas, rumbas...and i´m not even out of the colombia yet. if i had it my way i´d stay here forever.