I did have a pretty strange coincidence happen. 
Way back when in La Paz, I met a couple from Seattle who were staying in my hostel. They were heading north, and I was running in circles (Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, Columbia) I randomly ran into them again at a different hostel in Máncora (northern Peru) and hung out with them for a couple days. Not five hours after I arrived in Cartagena, I was walking on top the city walls when I hear "hey!!!" from a taxi down below. It was the Washington couple! After coffee and catching up we went our separate ways with the mention of maybe meeting up for dinner. Around 5 when I hadn´t heard from them, I decided to go out for a walk. I was on top of the city wall again when I hear "MARIEL!". It was the couple from Washington. Apparantly the wall is the unspoken meeting place. Dinner at Hard Rock Cafe for a little taste of home (okay, only appetizers, and shared, dinner was too expensive) and some seriously large glasses of pop (if they came with refills I´d have thought I was back in the states. No such luck...). The following day, after 3 hours spent on hot sweaty city buses and one failed attempt to make it to the nearby Volcan de Lodo (Mud volcano, the tallest in Columbia) made me realize that sometimes it really is worth it to just pay the money and go on the guided tour. Maybe when Angel comes.
Way back when in La Paz, I met a couple from Seattle who were staying in my hostel. They were heading north, and I was running in circles (Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, Columbia) I randomly ran into them again at a different hostel in Máncora (northern Peru) and hung out with them for a couple days. Not five hours after I arrived in Cartagena, I was walking on top the city walls when I hear "hey!!!" from a taxi down below. It was the Washington couple! After coffee and catching up we went our separate ways with the mention of maybe meeting up for dinner. Around 5 when I hadn´t heard from them, I decided to go out for a walk. I was on top of the city wall again when I hear "MARIEL!". It was the couple from Washington. Apparantly the wall is the unspoken meeting place. Dinner at Hard Rock Cafe for a little taste of home (okay, only appetizers, and shared, dinner was too expensive) and some seriously large glasses of pop (if they came with refills I´d have thought I was back in the states. No such luck...). The following day, after 3 hours spent on hot sweaty city buses and one failed attempt to make it to the nearby Volcan de Lodo (Mud volcano, the tallest in Columbia) made me realize that sometimes it really is worth it to just pay the money and go on the guided tour. Maybe when Angel comes.The highlight of Cartagena was the museum of Inquisition era torture techniques, and the numerous monuments around town ripe for photo ops. Now I´m in Taganga, a teeny little beach town near Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast. This town is what I expected when I showed up in Cartagena, and I have set down roots (at least for a month). I found a really cool place to stay (I´m not there yet, the room is occupied for the next couple nights), I´ll post pictures when I have officially moved in. I´m excited and nervous to stay somewhere for that long...The longest I´ve stayed in a city not including cruises or treks was 5 days in La Paz. Hopefully this does a bit to remedy my travel-tiredness.
1 comment:
What is not to like in a city which celebrates torture? Shows what a small, small world it is when you can run into fellow travelers multiple times in different countries, even with the city is small and off the beaten path. I love reading your blog and seeing your pictures.
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