Back to Santa Marta after La Guajira Peninsula

I wrote this 3-4 weeks ago and never got around to posting it.. It became irrelevant when l met up with Holland in Medellin last week and the Brits came the day after. However, they have all gone to Manizales and beyond for the hot springs and shit down there, so yea.. I guess it works again.

Last night we lost the Dutchman. We were planning on parting ways once our bus arrived to the terminal in Santa Marta (from Riohacha), however as we were getting off the driver told (screamed over the sound of traffic) Dutch it would be easier to get to Medellin from Barranquilla, so with a moments notice he jumped back on the bus as it began to pull away. A bus employee was also hanging onto the outer edge of the door, shouting something about Marijuana, it was quite chaotic.

It was during this crowded and confusing exchange I realized how different the rest of my time in Colombia and elsewhere will be from the last 3 weeks. I met Dutchman my very first night at the Northstar in Bocagrande, Cartagena, 99% of my trip thus far has been with this insane stranger at my side. Today I am still with familiar faces, the Brits and I are spending one more night (we ended up staying 2 nights because it's an awesome place) at the Brisa Loca before they head off to Taganga, and I Bucaramanga. In the lobby area we stumbled across another Brit the other Brits traveled with for a while in Venezuela, ha, so he’s back in the group once more.

Once the Dutchman left all Spanish conversations became my responsibility. If I learned one thing from Dutchman it was that Colombians lie, a lot, and on purpose.

Before packing our bags in the taxi’s trunk we made sure he knew where the Brisa Loca was, Si Si, he assures me. All is well, the Brisa Loca is right in the center of town across from the main square, and is the most popular hostel in all of Santa Marta, surely there would be no issues..

After 15 minutes of driving the cab stops in front of Pollo Loco, a fried chicken restaurante.
Aqui aqui! He shouts and starts to unload our bags.. uhh what?
Senor, senor… this is not it I explain. He points and says Pollo Loco. Yes, we see the massive sign. We need La B-r-i-s-a L-o-c-a. He gestures towards Pollo Loco one more time furiously nodding his head. No no no.

Es un lugar para dormir, lo no es un restaurante x3
(It’s a place for sleep, it is not a restaurant)

We want to take all of our baggage to a fried chicken fast food joint?

10 minutes later explaining that it is a bright orange building in the main square of town we finally arrive, I know my Spanish sucks but I wonder what the fuck is wrong with this guy.

Below, a blurry shot of Brisa Loca from their terrace down into the court yard. And a bit of the dorm room.

Semana Santa - Merida, Venezuela

When I read about Merida I thought I had found the perfect town to stay for a few weeks and focus on improving my Spanish. So many people on forums said Merida was such a great place, it is unfortunate Semana Santa is "ruining" my experience.

For the last 6 days 90% of the shops have been closed all day, after 3:00 you struggle to find places to feed yourself, it's insane. Today I would say 95% of the businesses never opened and now half of those that WERE open, are now closed. Buses out of the city are full for the next two days, so I sit here in my hostel listing to my Michel Thomas Spanish audio-course (it's really great, btw) spending cash at the shitty 4:1 ratio out of the ATM while everyone else is getting 6:1 on the black market.

No matter how I phrased the email to my parents asking them to transfer some cash to the hostels foreign account it sounds terribly shady. From my online banking client I cannot make the transfer and I don't feel like calling the bank. Shit, I might not even be able to call the bank because all of the international call centers are closed anyways. I try to explain that everyone else in the hostel is using the blackmarket to get a better exchange rate.

This is not the "but Mom, everyone is going to _____'s party but me", literally EVERYONE here is getting the good rate (aside from myself). This is not America, the black market cash exchange seems to be the primary exchange because Chavez is such a douche.

Bucaramanga - First Sight

Sitting on the beach at midnight with an obnoxiously drunk blonde American girl, 2 cute Peruvian girls, and an Australian guy passing a bottle of whiskey back and forth I realized my nightlife experiences in Colombia suck so far. I mean, this moment is nice I guess. People probably fantasize about it, but it's not exactly "nightlife", just some alcoholics on the baby bottle on the beach. And maybe that isn’t a really fair assessment because I had only been “out” legitimately twice, my second and third night in Cartagena, and I’ve almost been here a month! I did enjoy those two nights out however I only interacted with people I had met at the hostel and went to the bar with, which is ok, but at some point I should really make an effort to talk to Colombians too.

Two days ago I took a night bus from Santa Marta to Bucaramanga, which put me at my hostel’s doorstep at about 5:30am. I slept for 2-3 hours and started the day exploring my new neighborhood. I found a little empanada shop run by a really nice and chatty older lady, plus the chicken and cheese empanadas were the best I’d had in Colombia. 3 empanadas and a Tropical Hit later (coming to a total of about $3 US dollars) I came across a guy selling fresh pineapple slices. And by fresh I mean he cuts the entire thing up in front of you, a clear plastic bag the size of my foot full of pineapple chunks with a toothpick as a utensil set me back .55 US cents, this morning keeps getting better.

Semana Santa is this week, it has just begun and it’s already pissing me off. I have to leave Colombia within the next three days, but if I wait to the last minute the buses may be full and I’ll end up overstaying my VISA, something I would like to avoid.

I booked a 2am bus to Cucuta (the closest border town) which is supposedly a 7 hour ride; although the same bus with the same company leaving at 6 am only takes 4 hours… I wonder if we are making many more stops. I checked out of my hostel today and now I’m just hanging around until 2am to take the bus, which saves me cash by not having to pay for a place to sleep tonight.