Uruguay take Two and the Northern Hemisphere

After Mendoza, we set off for Buenos Aires, en route to Colonia, Uruguay. After a night on a bus and a mid day ferry over those familiar chocolate milk waters, I was once again on Uruguayan soil: the land of mate, alfajores, and dulce de leche. We spent a sleepy two days in Colonia (all the museums were closed, there isnt much else to do in that town), Laurel and Tim had to head back to BA to catch their flight back home. We parted ways in the afternoon, Laurel and Tim back on the boat and I on a bus to Montevideo. I spent the weekend lounging around, hanging out with a friend I had made who was living at the hostel the last time I was in town.

Sunday morning at 115am I started my 24 hour marathon travel by bus, boat, and air that would bring me over 1000 miles away to Bogota, Colombia. The 115am bus took me from Montevideo to Colonia, where I hopped back on the ferry at 430am to arrive in BA at 730. Flight at 6pm that night, connection in Lima (Lima...again!!), and finally touchdown in Bogota at 1am. Back in the northern hemisphere once again, as I will be for the remainder of my trip. I was disappointed that my vision that all of Colombia is a sun filled paradise did not hold up in Bogota, as it is 2600m up in the Andes. One day of gray and drizzle was enough to drive me to the bus station, where I bought my ticket to Cartagena, on the Caribbean coast, which as long as the weather channel didnt lie to me (and it never does), will be a sun filled paradise.

My time in Bogota, although short, was filled with museums (okay, only two museums, but that is more than I have visited my entire trip, I think). Particularly interesting was the Museo de Oro (Museum of Gold), which not only housed thousands (and I dont think that number is an exaggeration) of gold artifacts from prehispanic civilizations, had a really interesting exhibit on metallurgy. The other museum was the national police museum, which had lots of really graphic pictures in it of dead people. One that was particularly noteworthy: an action shot of a beheading. As in, the head had not yet hit the ground when the picture was taken, and the blood droplets were still flying off the sword. Pretty graphic. I also got to see the jacket that Pablo Escobar was wearing when he was killed. At least there is one thing I can check off my list to do before I die.