El Vago en Suramerica

I’ve got an idea… basically, its the original idea of driving to Chile. But who knows, we could drive through any country in Latin America.

I feel that I’m missing out on something by taking buses. Granted, they are a far easier (and cheaper) mode of transportation. But with a car you can stop wherever you want, go wherever you want, and spend however long you want there.

Also, it would be fun traveling with other people. I don’t have any trouble in the cities, but once I get to little towns or really into the countryside, it feels like there’s just nothing to do. As long as you’re with crazy, interesting people, it wouldn’t be a problem finding an adventure.

So the plan is for a wild, random road trip through latin america (or anywhere, i guess…).

It’s not really a plan though. We’ll see how it works out.

Today I spent ages traveling, and I ended up where I started. I guess that`s sometimes how it goes.

I set off at about 10 am for Villa de Leyva, supposedly the nicest colonial village in Colombia. A bit over two hours later, I arrived in what truly is a gorgeous town. It is tiny, however, and in under half an hour, I had explored most of its streets. I got some expensive lunch (its a tourist town, so its certainly not cheap), then sat down on the main plaza for about 15 minutes. My problem with going to these little villages is that I travel alone, and there usually isn`t a whole lot to do in these places. Ready to leave, I arrived at the bus station at about 3:30. The bus from Villa de Leyva takes you to Tunja, a nearby larger city. Upon arrival in Tunja, I was shocked by an enormous line filling the entire bus terminal. I asked a security guard what the people were lined up for, and he told me, “Bogota.”

I was in the line from 4:30 until 6:15, when somebody finally came through offering a spot for a single person on the next bus. During this time, there were loads of people blatantly cutting the line, and as everyone would complain and inform the police, they would stand by and do nothing. Once on the bus, there was traffic getting back, and then some problems with the mass-transportation system in Bogota. I didnt actually arrive at the house until 9:45. It was quite a journey.

Bogota is a great city. It has (at least) three stellar museums, two of which I visited in the last several days. Much of it is good for walking around, and it is easy to navigate because most of it is a giant grid. The nightlife is excellent. On sundays and holidays, some of the city`s main streets are shut down to only allow bicycles through. There are lots of universities, and most people here seem fairly well educated. Also, people here seem to be much more politically involved and activist than in Medellin or on the coast. The one complaint seems to be that the people of Bogota aren`t so friendly, but that isn`t a big issue. Though they aren`t as friendly as most colombians, they are still far more friendly than most people you encounter in most other parts of the world.

Colombia is a funny country though. I`m afraid that I will never be able to make people understand what it is like here. To walk on the average street in Bogota feels like walking on the average street in Boston, more or less. It is not dangerous. Most people you meet are friendly and helpful. You see crazies walking around sometimes, but you just give them some space as you pass one another on the sidewalk. There are streets that aren`t so safe in Boston, just like in any city in Colombia. It doesn`t feel at all like there is a war going on. Still, Colombia has the highest murder rate of any country in the world. The other day, I read that only 25% of murders in Colombia are attributed to the guerrillas and paramilitaries, which means that 75% are straight-up street crime. It`s a surprising fact. It is a contraction, that I can be talking about how safe the streets are, and yet how dangerous the country is. Yet I can find no better way to say it. There is no doubt that lots of terrible things happen in Colombia, but It isn`t really THAT bad.

That having been said, I wouldn`t come to Colombia without some good knowledge of spanish. In Cartagena, the con-men clearly have a great time with the ignorant tourists.

The girls here are beautiful, but they generally go for older men. In Colombia, it isnt such a cool thing for a girl to go out with a younger guy. The cool thing is for an 18-year-old girl to date a 35 or 40 year old. It is depressing, seeing these young beauties all going for rich old ugly fuckers. And IT ISNT JUST THAT IM JEALOUS…

Drugs also have a weird presence. I`m not going to lie, I`ve seen a lot of cocaine in my time in Colombia. I have not done cocaine, and I don`t plan on trying it. It really is all over the place, though. Weed is also quite common, and absurdly cheap. One day in Medellin I saw a homeless guy searching through the trash for food scraps while smoking a joint. Only in Colombia can a person more easily afford drugs than housing or food. The big drug gangs are virtually invisible, but still definitely present. The other day, an $800 million dollar cocaine shipment was found in Cartagena. A kilo of cocaine, upon reaching the united states, is worth well over ten times its worth in Colombia. And still we wonder why we can never seem to deter the constant drug flow into the country.

I`ve been staying the last week or so at the house of the ex-wife of a friend of my uncle`s. Living here also are her daugher, who is 21, and her father. They are extremely kind and helpful, and I`ve really enjoyed their company.

So on Thursday, Milena met me here in Bogota. She was with some friends. We spent a little while together, then went out. Later in the night, we never met up; some people ended up at one disco, and the others at another one. That evening I was dancing until 6 am, and then I went to a bit of a house after party. I got back home at 9:30, pretty damn exhausted.

On Friday I finished with Milena. I like her a lot, but I`m traveling and I don`t particularly want a girlfriend. I went out with the daugher who lives in the house with me, Paola, and some of her friends. We danced the night away at a cool, very crowded club.

On Saturday I went out with two friends I met in Cartagena. I slept at one of their houses, and spent the following morning selling cellphone calls. Fun stuff.

Tomorrow I`ve got to go to the bank, and then I`m off to the coffee zone. Next weekend I`ll be in Cali, the salsa capital of the world.

Leave me some comments. I`m starting to feel a bit out of touch.

Love,
Dan

I´ve returned to Bogota. I arrived last night at about 11:30, after a good ten-hour bus ride.

Things are looking fine in the city. In some ways, I like it more here than in Medellin. I think, on the whole, Medellin is a prettier city. However, Medellin has nothing to compare to Bogota´s colonial district, the Candelaria. Medellin´s center, though it has its sights, is a bit too congested and hectic to make it a pleasant place to pass the day.

In over five months of traveling, since leaving boston until the end of the carnaval, I had not a single rainy day in my trip. This fantastic weather represents incredible luck more than anything, I think. In Medellin, I unfortunately was struck by my first rainy period. It wasn´t one or two rainy days, but it rained heavily on at least five of my days there. I would always take the metro to a new part of the city to explore, and just as I got off, the rain would come pouring down. I walked for about an hour, got very wet, and decided it was time to head home.

Some days, though I had some great explorations. Once I walked down from near the top of one of the mountains, where the neighborhoods sit perhaps one thousand feet above the city center. It used to be dangerous in these neighborhoods, but today it is fine to take a walk through during daylight hours. The views are gorgeous, and the entire journey a trip through different climates, social classes, and lifestyles.

In Medellin, I also managed to meet a number of friends from a University near the hotel. When they got out of class in the early afternoon, we all would hang out by the metro station and talk. I first met one guy who sells cellphone calls, and then he introduced me to some of his friends from the school, and they all introduced me to their friends…. before I knew it, it felt almost like I was a student there myself.

Last Sunday was election day in Colombia, so there was a bit of tension over the weekend. I would perhaps have come to Bogota earlier, but I decided that it wasn´t a great idea to travel considering several earlier incidents of a bomb in the road and bus that was destroyed in the south of the country. The trip yesterday, though long, was without incident.

This last weekend was a dry weekend because of the elections. That means that no bars or discos are open, and no alcohol is sold. Basically, it was the most boring weekend of my entire trip. The highlight was a game of night soccer on Saturday evening, which was cut short when the lights went out at 11.

This trip is going by far too fast. I need several more years to explore Colombia alone. I wish i could just stay young and never grow up or have to get a job. I like wandering around the world without any cares at all.

Love,
Dan

I’ve been fairly busy recently. Just yesterday I arrived in the interior of Colombia once again, to the city of Medellin. Medellin has a bad international reputation: it immediately conjures images of violence and drug lords, in a large part because of the once-enormous Medellin cocaine cartel and its celebrity leader, Pablo Escobar. Today, however, Medellin is a very modern city with little evidence of its troubled past. Violence remains a problem, but certainly no more than in other parts of the country. The city’s pride is its metro system, which is cheap, clean, and efficient, unique in Colombia. Among Colombians, Medellin is famous for its nightlife and its beautiful girls.

So I went to Barranquilla from Santa Marta on Wednesday, and found a cheap hotel room in the city center. The next day I headed to the Universidad del Norte and met Roger Walter, a distant family friend. He showed me around the beautiful campus and introduced me to some other faculty at the school. I then met Milena at the bus station. That night, we went out with some crazy friends of hers, and all of us ended up screaming for hours at each other.

On friday we decided to go to Puerto Colombia, the nearest “beach town.” It wasn’t really a nice beach; in fact, the water looked quite disgusting from all the shipping coming in and out of the Rio Magdalena and nearby Barranquilla. We followed the signs for a touristic seawall, and then walked out onto the wall. As we walked out over the sea, the waves grew larger and larger, and sometimes water would even spray out over the wall. As we reached the end, there were big holes in the cement, and the walk got a bit scary. As we returned the cement was wet and the wind strong… despite all odds, we made it back alive. Also on the way back, we ran into two guys I had met in Bogota with a Colombian family. As it turns out, Milena also knew one of the guys, from his time in Santa Marta. The whole world of travelers in Colombia at times feels very small.
The next day the carnaval began. We headed to the main parade route a bit late, and there were absolutely no opportunities to get close to the action. Instead, with some people we had just met, we stood atop a wooden platform at the back. Because we couldnt see much of the parade, we became very involved in an intense foam fight. These foam fights became a real classic carnaval experience, as every day there would inevitably arise an enormous battle between complete strangers of all ages, and by the end, everyone would be good friends. This first day essentially followed this model, and we left the parade in the car of several new buddies.

The highlight of the first parade was the presence of Carlos Vives, a Colombian music icon and national hero. Shakira and Juanes, at least on the coast, are sporadically popular, but Carlos Vives is universally adored.

 That night was incredible. I went with Milena to a street with a number of bars and clubs, which was packed with people. Though the clubs were often charging cover, Milena could, without fail, get us in for free. We met lots of people, and spent most of the night dancing in the street and drinking cheap beer. Some highlights of the evening: a weird swiss guy kissed both Milena and I in a club… Milena and I went around screaming, and I would ask for high-fives from every car that passed in the street… We met two goofy Argentinian guys who were ditched by their female friends… A truck passed by with a band on the back, and a bunch of crazy guys were dancing nearby. I danced with them, and then we all hopped on the back of the truck. They dropped off the truck minutes later, but Milena and I stayed on as the truck sped away, and we had to walk several blocks back to the clubs… a beer vendor tried to steal about $1.25 of ours, as we paid for beer and he just ran away. We found him one block away, with our money in his hand… Some girls were trying to get me away from Milena, and she got a bit angry at me for wanting to dance with them… Milena fell asleep in the taxi on the way back to the hotel… I left our room to buy some water downstairs, and Milena, asleep, was unable to let me back into the room. The hotel worker finally came upstairs after I had made lots of noise, and opened the door for me… It was a wild evening.
 
The following days we were able to get far closer to the parades, which were spectacular. The colors and dances were fantastic, representing the great collective creativity and imagination of the people of the colombian coast. The problem was that, at times, the parades were too long. Over four hours of nonstop parade can get very tiring. We continued to entertain ourselves with foam fights, as well as other various spectacles of the carnaval. At one point, a guy painted all black ran over and, as he put a spear in my chest, began to yell gibberish at me. He apparently wanted money, but I spent at least a minute completely perplexed. There were numerous transvestites who would parade through the streets, and during the carnaval it was unclear whether these people were idoled or hated. The most bizarre thing I saw was a man who was sticking knives up his nose, eating fire, smoking cigarettes backwards, and even crushing a florescent lamp and eating the glass. In the United States, you would obviously assume trickery; here in Colombia, these things are shocking, but somehow believable.

My impression of the people of Barranquilla was extremely positive. I have met dozens of extremely hospitable people in my trip, but the energy in Barranquilla, at least during carnaval, was a bit different. People would talk to my friends and I, invite us to join them after the parades, tell us that they would pay for us, that they wanted us to have a good time so that we would leave with a good impression of Barranquilla and its people.

 The third night of the carnaval was also interesting. We went with some new friends first to a club, then to a house, and we ended up at a club at the edge of the city, on the edge of the river. The club was full of people of all ages, all extremely energetic and fun. Milena got angry at me for dancing with some girls, and I got angry at her for trying to be to controlling. By the end of the night it was all good again.

On the last night, there was nothing really going on. We went to a club for a short time, but went to bed a bit early. The next day I headed to the university one more time, then packed up and went to the bus station.

The bus trip from Barranquilla to Medellin was horrendous. The main road between the two cities had been closed, so we took an alternate route of at least 5 more hours. Also, the entire night, the driver had the air conditioning set to ridiculous temperatures. I couldn’t sleep at all. Locals came on the bus with big sweaters and blankets, and these are people from a very hot part of the country. The impression is that people actually buy warm clothes for the bus rides. In any case, around 4 am, I went to the driver and asked him to turn down the a/c. The temperature was comfortable, more or less, until breakfast. As we had left the bus to eat, once again the a/c had been on full blast. I arrived in Medellin miserable and exhausted, and took a good long nap, taking the rest of the evening to relax.

From here, I’m not sure of my plans. I will go to Bogota next, but it could be sometime in the next few days, or maybe the following week. I like Medellin, and it would be a nice place to spend a short while. The nightlife is great. If I get bored, I’ll take off.

Love,

Dan

Ella y Yo is the second best reggaeton song.

I´m dedicating this post to answering some questions, and responding to comments.

Jews aren´t under-represented in South America… but the continent could definitely use a lot more pseudo-jews. Too many of the jews here take the chosen people philosophy a bit too seriously.

I havent really had many problems with cockroaches, surprisingly. Ive been in some dirty places, and some hourly hotels, etc., but they were all fairly cockroach free. Nor have I had issues with rats!

I havent seen anybody from the FARC, they´re based more in the south of the country. In Santa Marta there are paramilitaries who are responsible for most of the country´s drug production. The government and the paramilitaries are in a state of relative peace at the moment. They look just like regular Colombian soldiers, which really iis kind of like the guy on Nick`s tatoo.

 Cocaine is all over the place here. In Santa Marta you could ask just about anybody on the street, and they could obtain it for you. I know this only because lots of the tourists in my hotel were sampling the local produce. Also, If you go on this trek to a place called the “lost city” in the mountains near Santa Marta, they take you on a tour of a cocaine factory.

In terms of bargaining and being ripped off, it is almost expected to argue about prices. People never get angry about it. In the end, though, it is always up to the person offering the service as to whether or not you can get it at a normal price. And after the fact, you cant argue; in taxis, for example, you ALWAYS have to agree on prices beforehand.

Colombia doesnt FEEL so dangerous… It is a dangerous country, and I wont try to deny it. Colombia does have an obscenely high murder rate. I havent seen anything so exciting (unfortunately?). In Bogota, just after dusk one night, a guy grabbed my neck and my shirt, and demanded money. I reacted quickly. Aware that he didnt have a knife or any weapon, I pulled away, screamed, and punched him. He let me go, and I ran to my hotel. That`s the worst thing that`s happened to me, but the only result was a ripped shirt. The mute laundry woman in Santa Marta sewed it back together for me.

 So I`m back in Barranquilla now, getting ready for Carnaval. Milena is about to arrive today as well! The only issue is that I would prefer not to have a girlfriend during Carnaval… I want it to be really crazy and wild. We`ll see how it goes. I`m damn excited.

 Rock On

Dan