Time has been flying by lately. I'm glad that a quarter of the amount I paid for the Spanish classes goes to send Colombian children to school because man I was feeling like jumping off a bridge after a couple of those sessions. So on Sunday evening upon the return from Tayrona park I caught up with the rents and Liz and then had a nice night at an ice cream joint / cafe on the beach on my own which was great. After class on Monday I spent about 2 hours reviewing a scuba diving manual loaned to me by the dive center to give myself a refresher course after not diving for almost 5 years. Surprisingly no one else was scheduled on the trip for Monday afternoon so it was just the divemaster, the driver of the small boat and myself. Great company by the way called Aquantis ran by an Austrian named Johan (aquantisdivecenter.com). The sites weren't comparable to the great barrier reef, but still pretty good. On the first dive I saw a snake like thing sticking it's head out of the sand about 4 inches and then completely squirming out exposing the other 4 feet of it's body. It was a really interesting snake because it had somewhat of a fur texture and the print and colors of a cheetah. On the second dive I saw a lobster, but here they have daggers instead of claws. The best thing I saw was an angel fish that was camoflauged into its brown surroundings. The dive master scared it and it swam away changing to a luminescent blue and yellow only to stop dead after about 15 feet and turn to dark brown and black with spots. The amount of change in its pigment was incredible. We took a break in between dives on a small island just off the coast and ran into what looked like a group of local men relaxing by the water's edge, until they all jumped up out of their chairs yelling and reaching for their fishing net's ropes The ten of them in line like a tug of war contest then pulled in this huge net. Once the last few feet came out of the water as well as the catch it was clear they were all unsatisfied and prepared to put the net back in place. Tuesday was quite a bit of a change as I went into Santa Marta with Shauli, the Israeli I met in Taytona Park, to shop at the grocery store and go to the mall. I hadn't seen that side of Colombia since Bogota. It was good though doing a bit of the city thing and we went to Jaun Valdez for coffee which was really good as everyone had mentioned previously. It's basically the big chain in Colombia just like Starbucks in the rest of the Western world but they obviously serve coffee from only Colombian beans. For nemerous reasons, I ended up staying in Taganga another night but this time at Casa Felipe which is the backpacker Mecca of the town. The place is like a mini village of cement studio apartment buildings with an extremely imperfect stone patio / walkway connecting them all and a hammock hanging every 10 feet. On Wednesday I went to the 'peliqueria' and had my beard shaved off. First time I ever grew one and thus seeing that much hair removed from my face was a shocker. Shauli and I went to Rodadero which is kind of the high end part of Santa Marta where the locals go for the beach and dinners. On Thursday I left pretty early for Cartagena by bus, since it would have taken 2 full days of riding to get here by bike. When I arrived I ran into a couple people in Hotel Marlin, another backpacker joint, that I had met before and said hi to them oy to get confused looks. Then they were like "oh you were the dude on the bike you look 10 years younger without a beard"! If ever necessary in the future now I know I have the perfect disguise. So I haven't talked about food in a bit so I guess I'll mention some. Plantacones are real popular with standard dishes and are basically like a bigger firmer banana. They usually mash them down and fry them kind of like a pancake. Pretty good. A new favorite breakfast staple for me is arepa con huevo, which is an arepa (corn meal fried dough patty) with a fried egg inside. Another popular thing here and favorite of mine is bocadillo, a candy like fruit chew made of condensed dried guava and sugar in the form of cubes wrapped in dried banana leaves. Every proper super market has about 500 packages of it. I have had my share of more natural juices / smoothies, at least one a day, including lulu, mango with orange, zapote with milk, melon with blackberry and papaya. One of the craziest fruits I've ever seen is Granadilla. It's really unique and considered special to Colombia, so I took some pictures of the last one I ate. It has an outer casing you crack open qnd inside is a dry pulpy like sack that is holding a big wet cluster of seeds that is each in it's own transparent membrane of juice. It looks disgusting like fish eggs, but the seeds in their little jelly sacks taste sweet and have a unique crunch best described as a baby watermelon seed. First impressions of Cartagena are pretty good. It's a beautiful colonial city on the coast with a historic center which is literally the old city within the 'walls' which surround the town center and are about 20 feet high to keep pirates out. The buildings are very Spanish influenced with pretty intricate banisters on the balconys and colorful cement buildings, narrow roads and wide open squares. Ok I guess that makes another book. Take care all.
