Cartagena, Colombia: You have My Heart

Ahh,

The little cobblestone streets full of dulces (sweets) and subtle (but lovely) nightlife of Cartagena, Colombia are enough to make staying in Hotel Toledo (at 16USD a night--check out photos below: I legitimately thought there were bed bugs) totally... and I mean totally worth it.

The people are just how you imagine them: friendly, helpful, dark-skinned, and toothy--always smiling. Their accent is almost incomprehensible but it´s so similar to a song that it doesn´t matter. The Colombianos laugh and dance on the streets and don´t make a fuss if the tourbus gets a flat tire--as long as there is unlimited fake rum and good live music in the back of the bus.

These tours are called Chivas, and it might be the best tour I´ve ever been on. They pick you up in a big, windowless, as-loud-as-your-deaf-grandmother bus on South American time (LATE) and give you a tour of the city, all of which you´ll be lucky to remember after they´ve supplied you with unlimited Cuba Libres. They take you to a place where you can see the beach, maybe have a tipsy conversation with an interesting local, and if you´re really lucky (Sarah Abel), you might be able to hold a sloth. Yes, sloth.

Note: Sarah gave too many pesos at the end of her sloth carry to ensure the sloth was well-taken care of. She said this to the owner in English. He speaks only Spanish. Classic.

"I held a sloth!" has been the most screamed phrase, I´m sure of it, in Cartagena history.

I met Argentines on the tour, who of course, reaked of buena onda, as all of them do. It made me excited to go back, despite the early end to the travel adventures.Tomorrow we´re off to Quito, to see Sara Randolph, and to hopefully pick her up for our trek to Macchu Picchu. If you see her, tell her to put her big girl pants on and come with us.

I´m sure you´ll hear the juice of the upcoming days. Or maybe you won´t, with us three and Quito´s prices, it´s going to be a party.

One more sunset in Cartagena isn´t enough.

Besos.
B

Fear of Bedbugs

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From High Hopes to Empty Bank Accounts

I wake up on the shuttle, groggy and greasy with a neck cramp induced by my inflatable travel pillow. Sarah looks up at me from the seat behind and groans. I can tell she hasn't slept at all.

She says, so rationally in her half- kiwi half-American accent,"Dude. I've had five hours to think and to be honest, we're really tight on money. Like, really tight."

I blow her off and fall back asleep, pushing the worry aside and strolling in on Costa Rica Grayline to Tamarindo, a little surfer town with a gorgeous beach, too many gringos, and expensive everything.

The next evening after dinner, We start to lay it out... Realistically for the first time since Sarah called six months ago and said that, "dude she was coming to backpack South America with me."  We start.to.sketch it out, and laugh hysterically when we realize the most painful thing to a traveller: we have no money, did no research, and are going to have to end our adventures early. Laughing seemed the only option. It is too hard to complain with Costa Rican beer in our hands and a warm breeze on our faces... And a Costa Rican stamp fresh in out passports.

After our laughing fit, we decided the places we wanted to see most. So for all you blog readers (Mom) here's our plan:

Cartagena, Colombia

Quito, Ecuador

Cusco, Peru

Macchu picchu

And then, Sarah goes down under, and I fly 26 hours (it was cheaper and I'm probably going to die) down to Buenos Aires, where I'll be forced to rent a room,  eat choripan,practice Spanish, and write write write for the month before school.

Hard life, right?

Ps. By the time I've finished this, I'm sitting in a 16 USD per night hotel, in Cartagena, Colombia, which might be my favorite city in the world so far. Check out the room pictures above- pretty sure I have bedbugs.

b

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Running Out Of Money, Horribly Uncomfortable Hostel Beds, and Giant Sea Turtles.

The title says it all.

And as for Costa Rica, pictured above, decide for yourself.

Ps. Anyone wanna donate ten grand to my travelling fund? Otherwise the plane ticket home is happening. Think about it....

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The Joy of Layovers

Going from seventy degree sunny to shoved-up-against-a-freezing-window in Fort Lauderdale for four hours is a little less than luxorious. And considering we just exited what seems to be the most ghetto airline on the face of the planet (Spirit AIRLINES,where they so casually charged me three dollars for a glass of water and the plane made so many you're-about-to-die noises that I almost shit my pants with fear), we have started our trip off right...full of adventure.

Speaking of adventure, thanks to ms. Abel for suggesting an early arrival to the airport; we needed it more than she expected. Two hours before our flight, We were told by the check-in dude that we needed a ticket OUT of Costa Rica before we were allowed to enter. Lovely.

Frantic, we called what seemed to be everyone under the sun, and ended up finding our solution under the Australian one, where one of Abel's friends booked us a "ticket" back to LA. Spirit airlines, in all of their proper professionalism, didn't seem to mind that we had completely changed our minds, decided to not backpack, and booked a ticket back to the states for ten days later. As long as, of course, we payed our 43 bucks to check our backpacks.

Needless to say, we owe our lives and the fact that we will be on a beach in less than 24 hours, to a certain technologically brilliant Aussie. She knows who she is.

The adventures are just starting. Stay tuned.

I'll be getting tan.

Xoxo

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From LA to Costa Rica

It's 11:01 am in sunny (but not warm) LA and Sarah and I are taking advantage of our late check-out, trying to avoid carrying our far-top-heavy backpacks around until our ten pm flight to Costa Rica tonight.

With over 24 hours of travel ahead.of me starting tonight, I can safely say we are off to a brilliant start... Although the plush hotel across the street from Disneyland may have spoiled us for hostels.

We've eaten cheesecake in our own double beds, seen mickey, ridden space mountain and made a make-shift ghetto refrigerator... Two hours before finding the real one.

We can sum up this LA pitstop with one word: excess. Excess food, excess sleep, excess fun, excess money have all played a part in a little bit of excess paradise.

See you in Costa Rica!

XOXO

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Here We Go Again....

The Basics of the Trip:


I currently have:

• Not enough money
• One 60 Liter Backpack 
• A plan to meet a kiwi (New Zealander) friend in LA, for Disneyland and such. 
• A one-way ticket to Costa Rica 
• Approximately 70 days to get down to Buenos Aires for school
• An empty journal
• Not enough sunscreen
• No itinerary
• A GPS tracker, just in case
• Butterflies in my stomach

More to come.

So.
PUMPED.