Seahorse in South America

its these little round things they are red and they come on pizza. i think you carnivores call them peperoni. and dare i say at the risk of offending someone, i wasn’t that impressed. sorry kids. oops.

i cried today. don’t feel sorry for me yet. it was at the end of the time loved classic Disney film Cool Runnings when they carry the seld over the finish line. and to top it off it was in Spanish, i dont know if that made it better or worse.

you try taking a 15 hour night bus from Santa Marta to Medellin, by the 19th hour of that bus ride you’ll be crying too. then bus stopped twice in the middle of the night for random pat downs and bag checks. getting woken up by a policia in the middle of the night only to corralled on to a dirt road at three in the morning to have you pockets checked for drugs like a mule and you have no idea what is going on because your still asleep can be rough on the nerves.

Medellin is beautiful. went to my first football game right after checking into the hostel and eating pizza. it was like being at home for a second. but straight after that it was pretty much chaos. screaming and singing white and green banners running across the bleachers when a goal was scored everyone on surged forward and all i could think about was getting pick pocketed at any second or getting trapped or even worse spilling my beer. it was so much fun. it ended in tear gas with the home team losing 4 to 1. i got out of there before that. and as i was leaving got a stand ovation from the grandstand. gringa wave to the crowd. i think i could make myself a nice life here if i learned some spanish.

of string woven together that i happen to pick up all long the way have alot of meaning tied up in them little life lesson that choose to keep to myself at the moment. i hope everyone saw how beautiful the full moon was last night. i salsa danced under it while a hot wind kicked up all the dust in taganga. its was so beautiful. it finally hit me last night. I’m travelling now. im in Colombia. my heart never does me wrong i think im going to follow it everywhere for the rest of my life. im in love with my life. i see at least one seahorse everyday. Lucinda (i have decided to name my first daughter Lucinda by the way and she will speak 3 languages as well) saw one while diving in the ocean yesterday she said it was sleeping and really cute. i only wish. but if i see a seahorse in the wild i will never have another reason to go in the ocean again. i just need to know they are out there and that’s enough for me. in other news i have finally realized just how much i have back home. I’m miss you all so much you little jerks. i cant wait to come home and fall madly in love with all of you all over again. Especially Alex. have i told you how amazing you are lately? I love you.

i keep forgeting to breathe.

and there is nothing any of you can do to stop me. I’m going to Medellin tomorrow. night bus so pack a midnight snack. Ive got more tricks up my sleeve than a rabbit. I’m am pretty proud of myself these days. i have become a fish and mind you it was for free. i have discovered ciparanias, i have swung in at least 16 different hammocks, performed surgery, all in a day at the office now i must leave the coast. my heart longs for a city again, although the invite to learn to juggle was tempting i must leave the hippie commune of taganga. this dusty little town was alomst enough to hold me down but a girls gotta get a move on for equador sometime. and in other news i miss rita. rita rita rita.

im am going on a six day long trek into the amazon rain forset tomorrow in search of a lost/found city. colombia´s maichu picu so to speak getting to the base camp was not easy though. it was a long stop and go bus ride from cartehenga to santa martia. it was filled puppies in plastic bags with thier heads popping out finches in cages and of course my old friend spanish. people look at you like you have to heads when they figure out that you are a white female who doesnt speak the language travelling alone. with good reason. wish me luck.

I’m back in one piece almost. i have been eaten alive by bugs, covered in mud, drank water straight from the river, and been revived by a ingenious coky medicine man in the middle of the jungle after passing out and hitting my chin on a rock. now i have almost done everything. he said the new J shaped scar i have on my chin was a sign from the gods. i mean i fainted face first. not like in the movies where you fall backwards but just took a digger face first right into a rock. smooth move. i don’t remember next thing i know i flutter my eyes open on to find myself in the hut of the local medicine man who pretty much said i smoke too much and gave me a tonic made out of coco leaves to drink before sending me on my merry way.

it was one of the hardest and most rewarding things i have ever done in my life. i am also really happy that it is over and i am clean for the first time in almost a week. this trek involved crossing rivers on foot climbing up waterfalls (think destiny´s child the survivor video) hiking in ten inches of mud in deep jungle lost style. i will lose both of my big toenails by Christmas for sure from all the down hill climbing. the life lessons #347 next time i will buy the hiking boots.

and now for my next trick…. i will be starting scuba diving lessons for my open water license tomorrow and then i am going to Medellin for paragliding classes for my Christmas present to myself. i wont be making it out of Colombia before i have to meet my mom. I’m having way to much fun here playing with all the extreme sports. i have to take it all in before this place becomes a tourist hot spot as soon as they take it off the red list, and the kidnapping subsides.

in other news i got the offer to go to a cocaine lab in the jungle, i didn’t take the offer it was 30,000 pesos (too much to visit a fake coke lab). this place is like coke Disneyland.

for those who don’t know this is a big deal. i haven’t eaten meat in 13 years! i think im going to go be sick now, it was so good. i spent all day floating in a giant ant hill filled with volcanic mud. you heard me right. and then a Colombian woman took off my bathing suit and washed me in the river. it was kinda like being in outer space and being a baby all over again all wrapped into one Colombian style. pictures to follow but i will say one thing we all look the same in the dark and covered in mud. i made moquitos for everyone staying in the hostel today. aka i am everyone favorite. siesta time before the Saturday night tradition that is salsa dancing gringo style.

“even tho you think i am…just hush for a moment and i will wrap you in my mosquito net” there are only 5 people in the world that know why that is funny. lets just say my new bunk mate got ahold of the good shit last night.

i moved to the dorm today to say the least. i now live in a bunk bed. tomorrow i will have a hammock on the beach. I’m losing weight fast, a vegetarian in Colombia who doesn’t speak Spanish is the best diet Ive found yet. get jealous. ill start spanish lessons tomorrow Ive got to get a Handel on this.

it rain so hard last night that the streets are flooded with about a foot and half of water. there are the make shift bridges that people set up made out of ply wood so you can literally” jump” from bridge to bridge to get to the other side of the road. gringos must pay to use these bridges it makes you like a sitting duck for getting pick pocketed. its either that or chance wadding thought the knee deep standing water. i swear there is everything under the sun in that water, i will spare you the details. one sip would either kill you or make you immune to every disease on the planet, the fountain of youth so gross even the most daring of gringo wouldn’t try it. I’m not willing to find out. its just a thought.  i also met a guys the other day who drank freshly killed frogs that were put in a blender a made into juice. you can see it on you tube just look up frog juice. you can do everything here

my bag has already doubled in size. I’m not quite sure how it happened but somewhere between the second hand market and me taking half of aaron´s supplies when he left i can barley get my bag closed and it has only been 6 days.

today me and my new crew Cecilia Shaun and Ana walked around the old part of the city shopping for things they are bringing back to their family in Cuba. i was invited to come back to Cuba with them for Christmas so that I’m not alone. very tempting offer. i might ditch out on south America for a minute. we will see i cant even figure out what I’m doing tomorrow let alone Christmas.

in other news left as rain got its first hit in Colombia and its a big hit. they were playing it in the hostel all night last night even after i went to bed. it was good to drift off to sleep to the sweet sound of home.

someone send me a care package of food i can eat and a camera charger. i left mine in bogota and now i cant upload pictures cuz i cant waste the battery. help.

I’m cursed. it is impossible for anyone to stay on a trip with me without losing all their money or have a family emergency that whisks them back to the states. Aaron is going home sunday at 5pm to be at his father´s bedside while he has quadruple bypass surgery. i really feel terrible for him. i could imagine what that would be like.

Looks like I’m a one man show now. as you might of guessed im staying on the trip solo. its a shock. this place is alittle less then safe. but that was the original plan before i invited Arron to come along so i guess it was meant to be.

carthagena is amazingly beautiful and everything i wanted from Colombia. it looks like lil pirates should be running around raping and pillaging this colonial city. it´s amazing more to come on that later i´ve to get ahold of myself first.

This morning i woke up around 6:30. Our hotel overlooks the main grassy square of Bogota. there must of been a pack of two dozen dogs running through the street this morning and although the streets are alive now at 10:21 with sound of cars sputtering, children laughing, and and a language i can barely understand. At 6:30 in the morning there was another soul out there. Just the dogs. it was beautiful.

i found a little note in my bag today. i little well wishes from the first world. I miss you kids too. thanks you so much. we might not always be functional but i think we are the best family we could ever ask for. i love you all very much. i needed that.

imma go nom nom lobster on the coast now. its been a long week time for the beach. My phantom daughter was in my dreams again last night, she is so cute. i think the mug-wort is still in my system, or it grows on the roof my hotel here in Colombia. i guess it likes to grow in vacant lots sometimes too. if you dont know what mug-wort is i suggest you google that shit and pop by prospect park and pick yourself up a bag. its the best way to find your spirit animal and take it for alittle ride. it is a weed that if you hang it above your bed while you sleep you will have lucid dreams, shit will fuck you up. last time i was near the stuff Ben walked into my room in chaps and a cowboy hat and tossed a smoke bomb at me giggled like a creep and ran away like squirrel, maybe Ben is my power animal. Or you can ask glen he is the majestic creature sleeping between my sheets in the princess room while im away. he might be able to tell you where to find some. it is one of his many talents, that lil wizard.

who can help me put some pictures on this thing? i think it would help.