Reunions (Bogota, Colombia)

It's nice to return to Colombia. Me at the Bogota Airport 

You know that scene in the movie, when there's two people in the same location, but they just miss each other by some random mishap? Well, I feel like I'm in the movie right now. I'm sitting in the Bogota Airport and I was supposed to meet up with my friends Toni and Marie before they fly home to France after their 16+ months of traveling. We had made plans to meet at the 'doors' either inside of the customs gate. So right now, I believe that they are on the inside of the gates because they have a connecting flight, and I am on the outside of the gates, now sitting in the foodcourt, waiting for them to pick up a wifi signal and bloody email me.  I can't re-enter the other side.  Sigh. Oh well. Even if I could just see them through a window pane, and give them a kiss through the glass I would be so happy.

The real reason why I am sitting in the airport is because I am waiting for my best friend Mike to come, I've got another 45 mintues or so for his arrival! Also very exciting!! We are going to travel together for 3 weeks. What a treat it will be to have him at my side. We know each other inside and out so it will be comfortable, I hope. You know the myth of best friends backpacking together? They end up hating each other. Haha.

And then... in three weeks I am meeting up with my two good friends from Montreal, Emilie and Melissa. If you go back to my blog archives from November 2003 you'll find our travel adventures in India. We met back then and have been close ever since!

I keep having little tiny reunions as well. The other day I had coffee with my friend Alison, who I originally met here in Colombia back in November. She is now working there in Buenos Aires.

Alison & I

Also, the last time I was in Colombia, the very first day I arrived from the airport I met Louise, and she is still living here, so we will hang out in a couple of day.

Furthermore! My buddy Shaun who worked briefly with me in that hostel in Ecuador lives in Colombia now as well, and I'm gonna visit him!

Another one, this guy Orlando who I met in Buenos Aires is originally from Colombia and I'm going to maybe, maybe, go to his city for a day and hang out with him!

Orlando & I - he loves 90's R&B music. :-) 

Also, my friend Jair from Lima, Peru is planning his first backpacking trip and I so I hope to see him here!

Also... a month ago when I first arrived into Salta, Argentina I bumped into two friends I spent new year's eve with in Ecuador. They were having coffee on the street and I just happened to see them. We then hung out a week later in Buenos Aires.

Lastly! My friend Michelle, from Calgary who I once worked with was in Buenos Aires when I was there as well and we had the opportunity to meet up a couple of times. 

I love it. I love knowing all these random people throughout South America. Locals/backpackers/ex-pats, it's so cool to arrive to a place and know you have friends there. :-)

So now... if only I could see Toni and Marie one last time...

Brasil!! (Sao Paolo, Brazil)

Veronica y yo. Gracias por todo. 

Okay, I couldn't resist not having a blog from Brazil. I'm just at the airport, on a 3 hour layover. I love the way Portugese sounds, even more, i love how I can understand some of it due to its similarity to spanish.

I haven't really slept, except for a crappy, uncomfortable middle seat on my two hour flight from Buenos Aires.

That's it. My one month there is over. If I had to sum it up in one word... Relaxing. I took private Spanish lessons daily for two weeks with my awesome prof, Veronica. I spent my last week with Leticia. I spent three weeks hanging out with my new friend Pablo, all in spanish I might add. I spent many random days walking around various neighborhoods and tourist sights. I spent many random days just at home, shooting the shit. I definitely got my money's worth out of that apartment. I used the gym on a regular basis. 

Pablo y yo. 

So now, I'm off to see my best friend Mike in Colombia. He just whatsapp'd me, he's boarding his flight in Calgary as we speak. In his words, "Eeeekkk!"

After the gym with Leticia - my trainer. 

But it's so early! (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

They call this a city where no one sleeps. I'm really starting to believe it. The more and more I hang out with the local peeps I'm consistently astonished at their tenacity for staying out late. Not only staying out late, but it seems that everything is just bumped ahead on their daily schedules compared to the lifestyle I'm accumstomed to in Canada. 

Meal times, for example, are really late, lunch can be around 2pm and a normal dinner time can be at 11pm! That's right 11pm! My one friend doesn't go to sleep until about 3am and then has to work everyday at 8am. Huh?

As well, I've been out to the clubs a few times now. The first time Leticia and I tried when we first arrived, we got to a club at around 11pm and the bar seemed as though it has been shut down. I only realized a week later that the clubs don't open normally until 1am! This past Friday I went out with a couple friends and they picked me at 12:45am and the one friend kept complaining how early it was to go out to the clubs, so we had to find a pub to go to first and waited until about 2am to arrive to the club. They say the fashionable time to go is around 3am, that's when its pumping! By 5:30am I was standing up on the dancefloor with my eyes shut, basically sleeping. Another time when I went, the DJ didn't start playing music until 3am, and this time I was almost falling asleep by 3:30am and was the first one to go home. I always thought I was a night owl, clearly not.

Leticia, myself, and Mike - ready for the club! 

And here's another thing, I guess it doesn't happen so much in Buenos Aires, but in other cities/towns throughout the country they have siestas during the daytimes. They get a four hour lunch break! Wow. I think this is the fuel to get them through the day. But then what about those that live in Buenos Aires?  

Pass the mate (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

I'm a huge tea drinker at home, I especially love green tea. Well here in Argentina they drink yerba mate, which some will disagree with, but to me it is very similar to green tea. Not to mention, you drink it in a very stylish fashion with a cup made out of an old fruit shell and a fancy straw that acts as a filter as well.  I bought everything a while ago and just watched on youtube how to do it, I guess each Argentino takes pride in their way of preparing it. Anyway, I have been drinking it solo ever since and discovered the other day that it is a very social kind of activity, in which you continually pass it on to your circle of friends. It's interesting because the cup is so full of mate that you don't really get to drink a whole lot each time, but then you have to pass it on. It's a unique and cool ritual. I love it.

On that note, I'd also like to add that I've been drinking a lot of Argentinian wine! It's so cheap! Probably one of the cheapest things you can buy in this city, I swear. A cup of coffee from any old cafe (and there are a tonne of them on every street) is sometimes more expensive than a bottle of wine in the grocery store. Mmm.. vino!

Lastly, I might as well throw in that when I was in Lima they had a similar ritual of passing on the drink, but it was with beer. It's normal to get a 750ml bottle of beer and then share it amongst 4 or 5 friends, but only using one cup, normally a plastic cup. If you have the bottle in your hand then that means you're next in line. Once you receive the empty cup, you fill up your glass about a third of the way, pass on the bottle to the next friend, drink your beer, dump out on the ground any remaining suds at the bottom of the cup, and... pass it on...

At one point, in the big group that I was sharing beer with, I asked "why don't we all just get our own glass?". That didn't go over very well.

Craving Fulfilled (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

I write this while at a sushi restaurant in the Chinatown of Buenos Aires. I've been craving sushi for soooo long but I'm always to cheap to pay for it in other Latin American countries because in comparison to local food it's so expensive. But here, everything is ridiculously expensive, so I might as well get what I want! Yummy. My only complaint is that there is so much cream cheese inside the sushi rolls. Is that normal?

By the way, sushi in Spanish is called... well, sushi.

A Friendship Like No Other (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

It started with an outing to a shopping mall in Medellin, Colombia. What was created was an on & off travel buddy for nearly 7 months, and a friendship like no other. I will miss you Leticia Defazio... until we meet again!

New Jeans (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

I've just purchased new jeans! I now have... two pairs of jeans! Now that's exciting. Think of all the outfit combinations I can make with my gigantic wardrobe now, I'm ready to go out on the town!!

Pic for the sake of having a pic - not my new jeans! 

Nuttin' (Buenos Aires)

I love how I haven't done anything all day! I went out for about an hour only to accompany Leticia to this one area of town so she could go on a graffiti tour. I came back to my apartment afterwards and haven't really gotten off the couch all day. Ahhhh.... It's so wonderful to have my own place and do absolutely nothing, other than veg on the couch, surf the net, eat food that I've cooked for myself, wear my pjs all day, etc. I've missed this. I felt a little guilty at first, but now I'm grateful to have done so!