Life in South America is going well. Yesterday we went Playa Palomino, the only beach in the world where you can see a snow covered mountain (or so they told us, but I think I should probably confirm it online.) Also, they neglected to7u tell us that in order to see so-called snow covered mountain, you have to be on the beach before dawn. So while I can say that I've been to this beach, I can't exactly say I've seen the snow covered mountain. Bucket list item: check?
We met another group of Israelis and two of them came with us to Playa Palomino. We spent the entire time in the water and struck up a game of frisbee with some local kids. In order to get to the beach, we had to walk through the jungle for about 20 minutes. The beach and the jungle literally border each other and it's incredibly beautiful. There are also beautiful mountains in the distance. The ride to Palomino alone was unbelievable with giant green mountains, beautiful landscapes and cliffs that dive directly into the ocean.
Colombia is the greenest place I've ever seen, but the reason for it is because it rains every day. We're in the rainy season now, and it's pretty much guaranteed to rain every afternoon.
To give you an idea of my life at this point, I'm currently sharing a room with ten people. There are five bunks beds and each person gets a locker to keep important things like passports, money, electronics, etc. There's a fan but no AC. It's really hot a humid in the days here, but the rainy afternoons help to cool things down a bit in the evenings. We pay 18,000 pesos, or $9, a night. We cook for ourselves most of the time. I've been to the Exito, Colombia's version of a super Target, more times than I can count at this point. Today Raph and I went and bought food for today's lunch and dinner and tomorrow's breakfast. We spent a total of $5 each. So far, Raph has cooked every meal for me. He says he likes to cook, but I think he might just be scared of my cooking. I clean the dishes afterward. A typical breakfast is eggs or cereal, for lunch either the previous dinner's leftovers or cheese sandwiches, and dinner is usually white rice with some sort of vegetable medley, beans, packaged soup, or pasta. Raph is a vegetarian, so when we cook we cook that way. There's also the biggest avocados I've ever seen (heaven), delicious tomatoes, and you can buy an entire pineapple for about $0.90. Raphael loves ice cream too, so we make sure to eat it at least once a day. We've been able to drink the water everywhere we've been so far. At dinner, we set the table nicely, sit together, and cheers to our trip.
People here, especially the kids, look at me a bit funny. They stare a few seconds too long or take second, third, and fourth glances. I'm pretty sure I'm the whitest person they've ever seen.
Colombia has been an interesting place to start. I feel very safe in the areas I've been in, but very few locals speak English (unlike most of the other countries,) so I have had a hard time communicating with them.
Tomorrow Raphael and I head off to Tayrona National Park to trek to Ciudad Perdido, the Lost City. It's a five day trek and it leads you to ruins built in 700AD, two hundred+ years before Machu Picchu. Even more amazing, is that these ruins were just found in the 70's. The guide book says that trekkers can come back with hundreds of mosquito bites. I thought that was a joke, but I've now seen the legs of people at my hostel who have done the trek, and it is no lie. "But didn't you wear bug spray?" I asked one of my new friends. "Of course I did," he laughed. "It doesn't matter though, they love it. It's like an appetizer to them." It's also supposed to downpour during at least half the hiking. We stay in hammocks a couple nights and beds the rest. One of the girls I met here told me she found a scorpion in her bed one night. Sounds fun, right?
BUT everyone who comes back swears that the ruins and incredible jungle scenery make it worth it. I still can't help but think about what one girl said to me, though, when she was talking about her own friend's testimonies. "I can't tell if they really think it's worth it, or if they just want me to suffer the same way they did."
I won't have access to the internet while on my trek, so you won't hear from me again until next weekend, but I'd love comments, emails,.and Facebook posts to come back to!
Pictures below:
1) Through my eyes: the Dreamer hostel at night. Raph is on the left in a yellow shirt cooking dinner, some people hanging out, the pool table, the bar and the pool
2) Dinner is served, rice, scrambled eggs, and Aguilla Light, Colombia's equivalent to Bud Light
We met another group of Israelis and two of them came with us to Playa Palomino. We spent the entire time in the water and struck up a game of frisbee with some local kids. In order to get to the beach, we had to walk through the jungle for about 20 minutes. The beach and the jungle literally border each other and it's incredibly beautiful. There are also beautiful mountains in the distance. The ride to Palomino alone was unbelievable with giant green mountains, beautiful landscapes and cliffs that dive directly into the ocean.
Colombia is the greenest place I've ever seen, but the reason for it is because it rains every day. We're in the rainy season now, and it's pretty much guaranteed to rain every afternoon.
To give you an idea of my life at this point, I'm currently sharing a room with ten people. There are five bunks beds and each person gets a locker to keep important things like passports, money, electronics, etc. There's a fan but no AC. It's really hot a humid in the days here, but the rainy afternoons help to cool things down a bit in the evenings. We pay 18,000 pesos, or $9, a night. We cook for ourselves most of the time. I've been to the Exito, Colombia's version of a super Target, more times than I can count at this point. Today Raph and I went and bought food for today's lunch and dinner and tomorrow's breakfast. We spent a total of $5 each. So far, Raph has cooked every meal for me. He says he likes to cook, but I think he might just be scared of my cooking. I clean the dishes afterward. A typical breakfast is eggs or cereal, for lunch either the previous dinner's leftovers or cheese sandwiches, and dinner is usually white rice with some sort of vegetable medley, beans, packaged soup, or pasta. Raph is a vegetarian, so when we cook we cook that way. There's also the biggest avocados I've ever seen (heaven), delicious tomatoes, and you can buy an entire pineapple for about $0.90. Raphael loves ice cream too, so we make sure to eat it at least once a day. We've been able to drink the water everywhere we've been so far. At dinner, we set the table nicely, sit together, and cheers to our trip.
People here, especially the kids, look at me a bit funny. They stare a few seconds too long or take second, third, and fourth glances. I'm pretty sure I'm the whitest person they've ever seen.
Colombia has been an interesting place to start. I feel very safe in the areas I've been in, but very few locals speak English (unlike most of the other countries,) so I have had a hard time communicating with them.
Tomorrow Raphael and I head off to Tayrona National Park to trek to Ciudad Perdido, the Lost City. It's a five day trek and it leads you to ruins built in 700AD, two hundred+ years before Machu Picchu. Even more amazing, is that these ruins were just found in the 70's. The guide book says that trekkers can come back with hundreds of mosquito bites. I thought that was a joke, but I've now seen the legs of people at my hostel who have done the trek, and it is no lie. "But didn't you wear bug spray?" I asked one of my new friends. "Of course I did," he laughed. "It doesn't matter though, they love it. It's like an appetizer to them." It's also supposed to downpour during at least half the hiking. We stay in hammocks a couple nights and beds the rest. One of the girls I met here told me she found a scorpion in her bed one night. Sounds fun, right?
BUT everyone who comes back swears that the ruins and incredible jungle scenery make it worth it. I still can't help but think about what one girl said to me, though, when she was talking about her own friend's testimonies. "I can't tell if they really think it's worth it, or if they just want me to suffer the same way they did."
I won't have access to the internet while on my trek, so you won't hear from me again until next weekend, but I'd love comments, emails,.and Facebook posts to come back to!
Pictures below:
1) Through my eyes: the Dreamer hostel at night. Raph is on the left in a yellow shirt cooking dinner, some people hanging out, the pool table, the bar and the pool
2) Dinner is served, rice, scrambled eggs, and Aguilla Light, Colombia's equivalent to Bud Light
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