You say goodbye, I say hello (Cali, Colombia)

After spending two weeks in the modern city of Medellin, two days in the picturesque tourist town of Guatape with my pals Leticia and Will, one more goodbye, and an overnight bus ride, I arrived to the city of Cali, in the south of Colombia. And tonight i will be off once more on an overnight bus to the border town of Ipiales.

I've met a cool Mexican-American guy, Alex or Alejandro as he would now like to be called as he proudly reclaims his birth name and his Latino roots. We have bonded quickly over talks of cultural identity, traveling, personal growth, and one specific scene from the movie Selena that we both hold dear to us. As well I've bumped into Kwinton who I briefly knew from Medellin. The three of us take off to the equator.

I am also on my way to meet up with my French friend Jimmy who I travelled with a few weeks back. It's cool to have friends in different parts of Latin America that I just meet up with here and there, arriving into one town,into one hostel to find a familiar face. No initial questions of where are you from, etc, etc, etc. But a How the heck are you, instead.

On the night bus the other night, a woman and her two young kids said goodbye to her husband/dad and they all cried. I felt for them. On my multiple goodbyes that I've had in the last year, I understand.

So goodbye for now Colombia, there a chance of my return. Theres a chance i will bump into Leticia again after the new year, once she moves on from Colombia, and theres a chance i meet up with Alejandro again in Quito for Christmas, as he will settle down there and volunteer at a hostel.

As David says, my pal in Medellin that I never got the chance to formally say goodbye to, it's more like a see you later, see you in another country...

New Cel, Blocked Cel (Medellin, Colombia)

I bought a brand new Cel phone today, with the help of my friend David. Actually, my friend Leticia bought one as well, they're identical! Teehee. I have even received my first phone call on it... so it works. But then, stupid me, I decided I would fool around with the functions (all in Spanish of course) and now I have locked myself out of my new 'effing phone! Mierda!

Stability (Medellin, Colombia)

So the last couple days, after departing from my last travel partner, Jimmy, I've been really anti-social. My bout of diarrhea hasn't helped with my social life as well.

I've just briefly talked to this French guy in my dorm room, he's been traveling now for 18 months, and as of 2 weeks ago he separated from his travel buddy of 7 months! Wow, 7 months is a really long time to travel with someone. They originally met while couchsurfing at someone's house in Venezuela. Then, 5 weeks ago his friend ran out of money and couldn't keep traveling and had to stay put in one town to find work. The French guy hung around the same town for an extra two weeks because he didn't want to say goodbye. Que triste!

He's now going through a bit of an anti-social / jaded phase I believe. He's not in the mood to meet new people, to make the effort to chat it up with other travelers if they are only going to be leaving in a couple of days.

Man, I know this feeling. I am yearning to settle down for a bit, either with volunteering or perhaps some more Spanish courses in one spot. Money seems to be a problem though, or a perceived problem at least.

I have two possible volunteer opportunities that await me. One in the far north of Colombia on the Caribbean coast, or another in a city called Florencia where I would live with my friend Leo's friend. Both would be volunteering in a school, most likely with English tutoring. Should I do it?

So many paths to consider while traveling, while living life I suppose. Every now and again you bump into someone and travel together on the exact same path for a while.

8 days, 3 weeks, 7 months, 12 years...

It's coming out like lava (Medellin, Colombia)

Damn dodgy ice cream. Enough said.

Anti-social (Medellin, Colombia)

Yesterday was a full day of travel, once again through the gorgeous Andes mountains, but a very long day nonetheless. A six hour travel turned into 11 hours. Yuck. At least I was with a Swiss couple I met at my last hostel.

My last hostel, by the way, was called "Estrella Sin Fronteras" translated to Star Without Borders. Or, as I'd like to think of it, Estrella without borders. It's a nice way to think of myself. A global citizen... no borders... no limits...

Anyway, today, I wake up in another big city, surrounded by lots of other backpackers, many of whom are hungover from their wild Saturday night. Myself, I'm tranquilo. I don't feel like talking to anyone really, I don't have the energy to socialize and make new friends. I kinda wanna explore the city, but I'm lazy to get up and go by myself, to navigate these new surroundings, speak a foreign language, take the public transport, walk around all day, get lost, get found.

The Swiss couple (Daniel n Sonia) are probably not going anywhere today. Hanging out with couples can also be awkward, feeling a third wheel at times. So either I go alone or make new friends. Or, I can just be a bum at the hostel.

Country to Country, Culture to Culture (Salento, Colombia)

Colombia... wow! I have been here 8 days now and I can thoroughly say that I am impressed with the beauty of this country.  My first two days in the capital city of Bogota were filled with excitement and sightseeing. Bogota has a great night life, streets bussling with people on the go, beggars, partiers, vendors, and everyday folks doing their everyday things.  I stayed in the Candelaria area which is an older part of the city, filled with grafiti, colonial streets, colorful doorways and houses, with an antique yet modern feel to it.  I loved it.  The first two nights I went clubbing and tried my hand at some latin dancing, locally brewed beers, a quick trip to a ladie´s club with a bunch of local guys that thought they were showing us a good time, and an impromptu visit to a house party that we got invited to while walking on the moonlit streets. 

I am now in a small village town called Salento, surrounded by the lush, misty mountains that inhabit the majority of Colombia. Gorgeous.  Yesterday I went on a coffee tour where the owner, Don Elias, described how famous Colombian coffee is grown and produced. Today I went on an 11 hour hike in Cocora, there was rain (of course), but hiking up the muddy trails, through wooden bridges over rivers, and over slippery rocks was well worth it. My clothes are wet, my shoes are a little muddy, and my only pair of jeans are dirty.  But the views... oh my.  There are these extremely tall palm trees sparsely planted throughout the rolling mountains, which can been seen beyond the foggy clouds. Our hike ended at the top of one mountain where we were able to partake in some hot chocolate, a typical drink for many Colombians. 

It is interesting going from one country to the next, one city to the next, and one culutre to the next.  The food changes, the clothing changes, the currency changes, the expressions and accents change as well, amongst a multitude of other things. Spanish is not just spanish. It makes it difficult for me, the traveler, to get a grasp of things. I am always lost, always learning, always wide eyed with curiousness. 

Because of my role at work in Calgary, people have called me such names similar to, ´The cultural diversity guru´.  I always say that it is impossible to know everything about every culture, and I will never try to claim that name, however... (I can´t think of the word... my english is becoming so poor... surrounded by so many languages at once!).... FLATTERING (I found it in my head) that may be.  The more places I go, the more travelers and locals I hand out with from so many different countries, the more I realize that there is so much to learn, but at the same time, there are so many similiarities amongst cultures.  I once again come back to the concept of ´journey´.  We are all on a journey of learning, of becoming, of existing, of living, of loving, of searching.

There´s a saying out there that goes something like, ´the more you learn, the less you know´.  That´s how I feel as I pass from town to town, and pass meals and wine with global citizens. 

Since I arrived in Colombia, I have had the pleasure of hanging out with Louise from Scotland, Sam from the States, Ruben from Holland, Caroline from Sweden, and Jimmy from France. Jimmy and I have been traveling together now since Bogota. He´s a hardcore, free-spirited backpacker, with a tent in his backpack, facial hair that hasn´t been shaved in over 6 weeks, smelly clothes, and only one pair of socks.  He´s been away from home for 13 months and will be soon going home to surprise his family on Dec. 24th.  You know you´re a backpacker when you take out a piece of clothing from your backpack and the first thing you do is smell it, to see how clean or dirty it is, nonetheless it goes on your body.  Haha, that´s my mental image of Jimmy.  Anyway, tomorrow will be our last day together, he goes south and I go north, so one more goodbye will be had. 

I posted this quotation from the movie ´Hope Floats´ on my facebook status a while back, ´Beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but it´s what you make of the middle that counts the most´. 

Sudando (Panama City, Panama)

Wow... I just had a shower 45 minutes ago, walked in the bloody hot sun for ten minutes, came back to my hostel and for the last 20 minutes, as I sit still eating my pancake breakfast, I am sweating like there is no tomorrow! I can literally feel multiple droplets of swear rolling down my chest and forehead. I look around and everyone else is dry! WTF?

Happy independence day Panama!! It's my last day here... :-(

Pretty Woman (Panama City, Panama)

Pretty Woman, you know the movie, the one where the pretty street girl gets treated like a queen in a big fancy hotel.  That is what we have compared our last couple of days to, a bit of a fairytale moment.  So there's Trey, Stella and myself.  Trey flies out of Panama City to go back to Colorado today and so he wanted to splurge on his last night and ended up renting a room at the Radisson Hotel here in the big city.  And of  course, as Trey explained, what fun would a fancy hotel stay be without my good friends? So Stella and I had a free stay at a gorgeous hotel.

As you can imagine, as a traveler who has been living out of backpack for the last 10 weeks and sleeping in dormitories with nasty shower stalls and toilet garbage bins filled with poopy toilet paper that is not allowed to be flushed in the actual toilet, the Radisson Hotel was a palace in comparison.  It was almost a little embarassing walking into the lobby in our shabby, smelly clothes with our rugged, stained packs on our backs, asking to check in.  And getting kicked out of the lobby cocktail bar due to wearing shorts, was almost reminiscent of Juila Roberts getting kicked out of that fancy clothing boutique.

The hotel room gave way to my new video project that I am embarking on, about traveling and personal growth. I have now interviewed 4 people on video, including Trey and Stella yesterday.  Stella truly is a pretty woman, and the other day she purchased one gorgeous sumbrero to protect her precious face from the sun, also very reminiscent of Pretty Woman.  Enough of these comparisons!  Anyway, these interviews are profound to me, to hear the thoughts and feelings of my fellow travelers.

Ironically, as we lavishly enjoyed being on the swanky 27th floor room, Stella spoke of how humbling and liberating it is to escape the materialistic world of North America and know that we can survive with just the small amount of belongings we have in our bags. "Empowering," I believe is the word she said.  And Trey, he went on to say how traveling is not about the destination, but about the journey and creating new perspectives on life.

And so after our long day of sight seeing the manmade, expansive wonder called The Panama Canal (much more interesting than I ever would have thought), interviews, photos, and hot showers, we ended the evening at a Hookah Restaurant. Over our meals of fetuccine alfredo (I know, right?) falafels, and a round of sheesha, we continued our deep conversation of traveling, personal growth, religion, diversity, and life.  A common occurrence as it seems in my on going journey.

So once more, only 1 hour ago, the three of us parted ways.  Stella and I have now traveled together for more than two weeks, and Trey, maybe 9 days.  The morning had that similar somber feeling in the air that reminded me of my last day in San Jose with Luis, the day I said goodbye to Cesar, the day I said goodbye to Manuela, the multiple other times I've said goodbye to travel mates, and the many days of goodbyes I had back in Calgary with my dear friends.  Leaving the hotel, the glam, once again reminded me of Julia Roberts and her departure in the film.  

And so how do I feel? Does it get easier each time? Do I become jaded little by little each time? I don't know how I feel really... I will continue on the journey I suppose, alone once again, face to the wind as they say.

On our first night in Panama City, this guy named Carlos, 5 minutes after our introduction said that he is "following the yellow brick road" and then asked me how I interpret the moral of the story in the Wizard of Oz.  Hmmm.... a question mark... or perhaps just a quest.  

Identifying Markers (Panama City, Panama)

A quickie. I think when I walk around with a bottle of water I stand out, it doesn't seem like a necessity for locals here.  Also, today I figured that the rain would start to pour at any minute so I brought my umbrella out with me and sure enough, no one else was walking around with one. However, when it is raining, I see that normally the majority of people have one, go figure. I just it is kind of like the question I sometimes get from immigrants about why I never wear a toque during the winter time.