Americans on one side Europeans on the other. Surprise, surprise?

As Scotland is different to England and Schleswig Holstein is a different world to Bavaria so are the two coastal sides of Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is strong in agriculture but not so in recent history and culture. The Spanish certainly haven’t left much of a mark; there are no colonial cities or monuments to speak of, so Costa Rica has been claimed in another way.

Most of the west coast / pacific coast is claimed by North Americans, big hotels and a good infrastructure including a couple of Airports that can be reached directly from the USA without having to go through the hub at San Jose, the capital.
The east coast, on the other side so to speak, is claimed by the Europeans or at least a small part of it.

To the north of the Caribbean coast you have a very large nature reserve called Tortugero and I have talked about this before. The centre is dominated by Limon, a port town, and the south of the Caribbean is where the Europeans have set up camp. East or West is the question? I know where I would rather be but that doesn’t mean you would.

Let’s start with Limon, which is about a two to three hour car journey from San Jose, as the road takes you through the coffee and cane sugar farms in the mountains and then drops down and literally past Limon you might as well have a quick look and see if you can be surprised. May be at six on a Sunday morning after the streets have been cleaned from the day before a thought ‘this is charming’ could just flash past your mind but, it would literally be a flash in the pan. Yes 50 years ago but not today. Limon is a very busy port town, a container transit place for the whole country and the petrol that arrives here from the USA gets pumped via pipelines to San Jose and some other cities; Limon is a trading place for drugs and prostitution too and I personally wouldn’t walk it much after 6pm unless you can disguise as a local.

The next little town you pass on the way to the south, about 50 km or so from Limon is Cahuita. A bit of a hippy village, all is to hand and if you wanted to ‘hook’ up with someone to travel you can meet people here in hostels quite easily. It’s a cool place, lay back, nothing posh so you can’t get tempted to burn your dollars.

Another 50 km or so on you reach Puerto Viejo where I wanted to be. No more a small village but a small town it’s a symbiosis between Limon and Cahuita. I had hoped for something tidier and more cared for but then there is no money around and if there was you get your Starbucks, MacDonald’s, Zara stores and other crap that make up our High Streets, boring and monotonous! This way you have to snoop around and explore to find the good bits and you will.

From here on towards Manzanillo about 15km of gravel road and potholes; a 4×4 or Motorbike (yes you can rent BMWs and KMTs in San Jose) would serve best especially if you need to turn right into the jungle to find your next accommodation; 35kmph or less is all you can do here. You are driving of course along a beautiful road and speed doesn’t come into it; ocean, beach and strips of jungle on one side and the deep rainforests on the other side. A mix of small restaurants French, Italian, Spanish, Argentinean; bread shops, yoga and massage and Reicke places, diving centres, riding schools, delis owned by German, Swiss or Italian people and many more small hotels and tiny 6 table gourmet foodie type places all dotted along the gravel road.

With your car window down, with the sun about to go down you hear the howler monkeys, dogs and birds all joining into the final big chorus of the day as it comes to an end sharp at 6pm every day all year. Geckoes Lodge was what I was heading for. I had heard about it from friends back in the UK. Geckoes Lodge is off to the right of course meaning into the jungle bit where you do need your 4×4. The yoga teacher who gave me directions, not bad by the way, both, the directions and the girl, insisted I look out for a purple wall but as it was pitch black by now I wondered how that colour indication might help. A mile or so and with a bit of luck i.e. taking the right fork in the road rather than the left I came across a well lit purple wall with a gecko on it; here we are.

Tom is from Europe, I think he is Dutch, French and Belgian all in one and Zoe is from England. Both are or were lecturers at the University in Amsterdam and made the big jump to change their lives. Tom said most of his fellow lecturers thought they were crazy to forgo their pension rights and leave the ‘system’ and Tom’s simple reply was, ‘I could be dead by the time I get my pension’. After a long search in Costa Rica they literally stumbled over their dream property. With a biologist friend, a local architect and a local builder they created what you can see on their webpage. They have only just opened for business and are now looking for honeymooners and other romantic couples to rent one or two of the luxury guesthouses which they have built next to their own. I don’t know how they did it but there are virtually no mosquitoes on their property; they tell me because they drained the land well and created a well balanced environment; who knows but, you can sleep naked on your bed with windows open and wake up to a magical morning bird concert with your skin still intact. (The bite I’m talking about later on is not from here!)

For property and other info on the area also go to: www.caribesur-realestate.com

I talked to quite a few people here from many different countries, men and women and the message I got from most of them is, you don’t come here to make a lot of money but for a different style of life. You come here to appreciate nature and live with it as it was and is; not trying to change the landscape to ultimately line your pockets by starting a big business. It’s about living a civil live for the few years we are on this earth, without destroying it.

These discussions and meetings reminded me a little of similar talks I had with people in central Portugal not long ago. There too you have this eclectic bunch of people from different countries in Europe who I’d call ‘Aussteiger’ who have grouped together, supporting each other where possible and looking at life in a more honest way; in a Buddhist way perhaps? While I write this I realise it is a thought I need to keep thinking about and find out what the answer is for me.

Bloody hell, I just realised I’m late for lunch, got to dash and meet ex Miss Costa Rica……see you later….

Her name is Kristy, a friend of my friends and she is Ex Miss Costa Rica 1994 that makes her about 35; I didn’t ask of course. She now works in a bank but still walks, obviously the first thing I noticed, in the way when you learn how to walk properly; straight back, tall, head high and proud. When I asked her what was the most important thing she had learned from travelling the world and showing her body she said, ‘to have the confidence to talk in front of many people; it helps me in my job even today and if I have a daughter I would want her to go through the same training’. What about if she is not pretty I asked she laughs and said, ‘she will be’ and if it is a boy I said, ‘I will think of something’ she replied. Something self-conscious and a bit black and white about her but a great lunch anyway.

Where was I? I went horse riding with Edwin Salem, an Argentinean, who is in his elements when he is active. We did hit it off pretty quickly but if you are a girl and you fancy the look of Sean Connery he is your man and from surfboarding to sailing to horse riding he will teach you anything. (From 3h to 5 days and more if he likes you) I went with him on a jungle and beach horse trek and my legs will never forget this. I have never ever ridden this fast in my life before (on the beach) nor swam with my horse to cross rivers nor got so close to wild life as on this trip. Check it out. www.horsebackridingincostarica.com

After eating mangoes, bananas and apples all day one does get hungry so you go either to see another Argentinean couple called Patricia and Michiel who own ‘el Refugio Grill’ just a couple of km north of Manzanillo. 7 tables, a small place just set back from the road and the food and service couldn’t be better. Alternatively there is also a French woman at “La casa del pan” in Playa Chiquita who cooks a pretty wonderful meal and of course the Italian guy at La Pecora Nera if you have money on you or his other one just beside the road called Gatta Ci Cova both truly fabulous and one more casual than the other.
Italians seem to be incredibly and overtly fond of each other and they must be walking around with a magnet in their pockets. As soon as the ‘Madam de la Maison’ of La Pecora Nera found out that my friend was Italian she phoned her head chef, husband, proprietor somewhere in San Jose, this evening, and the two Italians where talking away as though they were long lost friends. Just imagine you were English or German for that matter and walked into a restaurant were the owner is from your country. All you do is say, oh really!

20 years ago cocoa farms were the big thing here until a virus called the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease came and wiped it all out. Farmers had to change and either sold their land or ‘gave’ it back to the jungle or started a small tourist operation – remember there were hardly any tourists in this part of Costa Rica in the 80ies. To read more about the virus go to www.icco.org
 
I have stuffed so much bloody chocolate down my throat over my long life and never touched or felt or smelled or opened a cocoa fruit; it’s like not knowing where milk or eggs comes from. So off I went, you do need your 4×4 for this one, and met up with a Swiss couple, who else, who farm cocoa trees and manufacture the most delicious chocolate. Their product gets sold at many deli shops around Costa Rica foremost at the international airport shop in San Jose. I paid $1 and at the airport you pay $4 for 33grms of heaven. Look out for ‘CHOCORART’! and / or look at this too: www.fodors.com

When you run out of cash you have to go back to Puerto Viejo. You will also most likely cue for at least an hour because there is only one cash machine for the whole area, no petrol station either for 60 km, you get the drift but, while you are cueing at least you are being well entertained by prostitutes, drug dealers and other down and outs. One woman, not a pretty face, stripped down to her knickers and nearly created a war with the more ‘respectable’ women waiting in my cue for the cash machine whereby the men of course cheered her on; poor thing didn’t know what she was doing. It must be the draw of the cash machine but dealers of all sorts seem to do well here.

Back to Edwin and I and the jungle trek on horseback. By the way, Edwin keeps his horses’ semi wild because he says that way they are not spooked by snakes and other creepy crawlers and not long after this bit of information Edwin spotted a red frog on the floor. I told him how ashamed I was noticing so little and he replied it’ll probably save your life. What he meant was that if you don’t notice things you can’t be afraid or curious and therefore you are not scaring the animals. Makes perfect sense but I still rather notice things and not be afraid. The red little frog by the way is most venomous like many pretty colourful things in the jungle. Indigenous people use the serum to coat the tip of their arrows and shoot monkeys and other beasts. If you are a large enough human and have been bitten by this beautiful frog you have about three hours to get to the next hospital or you turn into a dead prince. The basic rule of the jungle is most pretty, colourful things are frequently also most venomous – does that apply to us humans as well?

The driest months in this part of Costa Rica are February, March and early April and mid September to the end of October but temperatures are all year a steady 28 degrees during the day. No surprise therefore, it is May after all, the rainy season, when we did our first river crossing, my horse which was a tat smaller than Edwin’s could for a moment not quite touch the ground. I was about to sacrifice my camera which I was holding with one stretched out arm high above my head and swim away from the horse, only to be helpful to my horse, when it just in time caught ground again and climbed up the steep river bank. A beautiful experience and a camera richer we carried on.

You should know a little about the local indigenous people who managed to survive the Spanish invasion. The woman who told me first about them gave me a massage and I’ll tell you about that later but after she finished she gave me a piece of chocolate made by the Bribri community and told me about them. There is the Indian reserve in Bribri; the Kekoldi Indian Reservation. Both are home of highly organized indigenous groups, the Bribri, Kekoldi and the Cabecar Indians. As you visit places like the ‘Parque de la Amistad’ in ‘Alta Talamanca’ you will encounter a hidden ancient world of strong spirits that fight hard to hold on to traditions and costumes practiced by their ancestors over 1000 years ago. Many generations were able to survive in the deep, dense Caribbean jungle, several tribes possessing countless medicinal secrets; their bush doctors, or Shamans as they are called, are highly sought after internationally for their successful cure of cancer. Bribri is only about a 20 minute drive west of Puerto Viejo and a must visit.

As Edwin and I were riding along the river bank, we were able to ride next to one another for a short while; I questioned him about the Papalomoyo Mosquito bite. (Leishmaniasis) As I had learned the night before, it is a mosquito on which a butterfly has laid its eggs and when you get bitten by this mosquito the eggs of the butterfly are placed under your skin or that of an animal. The bite looks like a normal bite but doesn’t disappear. So if it hasn’t gone after say a week you must consult a doctor and be checked out. Edwin confirmed this and my thoughts went straight to Mr Dick who had been bitten nearly two weeks ago and the spot hadn’t disappeared. I decided to forget about it and concentrate on the next muddy, steep and dark jungle bit as the hind legs of my horse sunk deep into the morass and it had to use all its strength to keep moving. Can it wait to London was another thought, will the eggs hatch into little larvae under Dick’s skin was another and then Edwin pointed out a sleeping boa which I would have missed again!

On a horse, in a jungle, on a trail that wasn’t really one with all those beautiful sounds around you and no human voice nor barking dogs for that matter, is just magical. But I can also see how this dampness and darkness and cold at night can affect your mood very quickly and you need to be up where the monkeys are, in the canopy, where the light is.

The horses were muddy and dirty by the time we got to the beach and so were we. A fast canter (sorry, the fastest canter I have ever done) along the beach and walking the animals into the water to cool off and clean off was great. The coastline along this stretch of Costa Rica is truly stunning, mid week the beaches are empty and I assume there are not many places on earth where one can appreciate the ocean and jungle in such proximity plus a few comforts like excellent food and a clean bed.

Of course, if you are living here permanently you have to have some major interests to keep you alive and going all year long even with all this beauty around you. But, there certainly are some big questions I need to ask myself as to why I am not doing it now…..

Oh there was this fabulous massage I mustn’t forget to write about. Sylvia, her name is. Although I was meant to have gone to see Sondra (88564423) on Edwin’s recommendation somehow I was drawn to ‘La Hija De La Luna’ (88892020) next door to the hotel more hostel type place but right on the beach. Sylvia was magical, she told me there was something wrong with my 4th chakra and my right side upwards from my shoulder blades and if I don’t see her again I should find someone in London. She was pretty amazing, from not having discussed anything with Sylvia beforehand, she gave me an accurate description of my problem zones. She knows more than I do! Scary! My Spanish is still terrible but the other thing I understood is that your left side of your body is the female side and your right side is the male one. I need to get my right one sorted she said. What a tall order sorting out my male side.

And there was a little injury from riding I want to keep track of so I’m recording it here. Unfortunately, what was a little graze turned into something bigger and I don’t know if it is from swimming in the ocean afterwards and getting some sand into it or from washing the wound afterwards at the hotel and drying it with a towel that wasn’t perfectly clean. I even covered the cuts in tee tree oil but it still went nasty.

My foot….I went to see a doctor at a farmacia who gave me un crema con cortisone and bandages and it went green two days later so I went to see another doctor at the emergency section of the international hospital here in San Jose and came out totally confused. First I had a medic looking at it then a doctor who told me I need to wash it three times per day and take antibiotics orally. Then a nurse came to wash it for me and said I should keep it bandaged up after every wash. Hellllppppp!

Here is what I am doing:
I bought the antibiotics $58 because I had none left in my first aid chest. (My last lot I administered to a guy in the jungle in Colombia) I went home and kept washing the wound with an antibacterial liquid soap 3 times per day as suggested to get out all the green gunk but, I didn’t of course take the prescribed antibiotics.
It seems to heal although slowly because it’s right on the ankle. If it doesn’t get better I can always take the drugs.
I have got to go to the RF Hospital anyway when I’m back for some tests as I think Dick has been stung by a mosquito. (I was of course sleeping naked on top of the bed) Normally a bite disappears after about 4 days and this one has been there for over 2 weeks which could suggest something more serious but I’m not getting my Dick in a twist until I know what’s what.

Now you are all up to date with some serious jungle news!

One last cup of coffee before I go……A Costa Rican Company won an award last year for extracting the essence from the flower of the coffee plant and creating a range of new products.

So, this is coming to the end of 8 exciting, wonderful weeks in Costa Rica; thankful and grateful to my dear Friend of 28 years when we met in London and to his wife Katalina and three year old boy Daniel. We said farewell over lunch at ‘Da Marco’ one of his favourite restaurants and hope to see each other again soon. Click here or see also here

From my earlier notes on Costa Rica you have learned that since the 1945 about 50% of all forests here in Costa Rica (Costa Rica use to be one big rain forest) have been destroyed. Even today Costa Rica is finding it hard to preserve and protect what is left of the forests from people and companies who are still going deep into the jungle and cutting down hard wood for profit; only about 1/5 of the country today is preserved and what will it be in 10 years time?
HRH the Prince of Wales is working on a rainforest project that wants to see a tree to be more expensive alive than cut down. If you are interested to find out more and want to sign up, here is the link: www.rainforestsos.org

A current factor and important is the effect the global financial crisis has on this country. In the last 12 month there has been a reversal in tourism from 70% North Americans and 30 % Europeans. But it is not as simple as this because a) it is only the same amount of Europeans travelling and b) the Europeans are much meaner with their money. Tips and turnover on ‘schnickschnack’ has tumbled. Bottom line, I guess, there is 50% less business and many operators are or will be going to the wall. May be in 9 months time from now there will be some opportunities for commercial buyers.  

As you may know, Costa Rica abolished the army in 1948 and vowed to spend the money instead on education. Brilliant idea and I wish we would all follow this ingenious lead but if a great depression and 2 WW haven’t taught us anything than what else does it take? By the way, on the surface this deal seems great but, I don’t know what it actually has cost this country. I’m sure the Americans told the Costa Ricans at the time we will look after you guys, no army needed but, we have some wonderful land please in return to grow our bananas. Many years of ‘DDT’ spillage later that deal might not have been such a good one because the environmental impact of mass production of bananas, pineapples, etc is enormous and Costa Ricans have the highest rate of stomach cancer worldwide!
Anyway, the big new football stadium in San Jose is now built by the Chinese Government with Chinese workers all over, busy like bees for the duration of this project. May be this is the start of a balancing act and power sharing and some form of independence for this country?
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So, Costa Rica is not a third world country as every child has to go to school from the age of 7 to at least 14. This scheme has been so successful that most ‘TICOS’ don’t want to do the shitty work any longer and people from Nicaragua, Guatemala and Colombia being brought in to empty the bins, work in households and / or factory work, etc. Hallelujah, don’t we recognise this from Europe!

San Jose, the new Capital of Costa Rica after Catargo, to the east of the city, which got destroyed by a Volcanic eruption but has been rebuilt, is always windy – some parts of it anyhow. Manfred, my friend, doesn’t like it; it’s too ‘noisy’ for him. I can understand this but for me as a visitor it keeps the mosquitoes away. San Jose is about 1000m above sea level and has volcanic mountains all around which go up to about 3500m. His house sits in a gated, wealthy part of town.

It is 4 am and still quiet outside but as soon as the first bit of light appears on the horizon an orchestra of birds, just outside my bedroom window, can be heard. It’s like the warming up period of the different players just before the concert when everyone is tuning their instruments and absorbed in their own thoughts of what’s to come. I should be the bird conductor actually and get some order into it. Just heard the first one as I can see the sky colour change from black to greyish; now it will not be long before to the main performance will start.

Good morning again! I went back to sleep for a while listening to the birds.

The centre of San Jose is about half an hour away by taxi from where my friend and his family have their home. San Jose seems a bit of a neglected place to me. It’s run down to say the least. It only has a few colonial buildings and what’s new (20 to 100 y old) looks old and is in dire straits. Some of the market stoles were good but nothing spectacular. The national Theatre building is pretty so I decided to sit down in the Theatre Café and have a fresh fruit juice of Papayas, Pineapple, Orange and Banana. Not bad, but at $5, this would have been half that in Colombia or Nicaragua, confirms the two tire society. (You can have lunch in San Jose at $5 or $50 compared to London were you would pay for an equivalent meal $10 or $45 – it just illustrates how prepared people are to spend more than they should just to be separate).

Anyway, at the theatre they have a Bach concert on in April for which I will try and get some tickets.

On my 2500 km trip around Costa Rica with the highly recommendable ‘Meier’s Weltreisen’ one of the first Hotels we stayed in was called ‘El Establo’ in Monteverde; it was quite magnificent and their story appeals to me too. What today is a little village was then dense forest when first established by Quakers who moved here from the USA around 1950. They refused to send their children to war or into the army hence had to leave the USA. They bought some land right in the middle of the rainforest miles away from anywhere and up what was then a dirt track; just over 1000 meters above sea level they started their dairy farm.

Gradually they got into letting some rooms in their cottages because the location was just so beautiful. The climate is not too hot even slightly chilly at night and there is tones to do. From horse riding to walks to bird watching to observing wildlife from canopy expeditions on bridges or just to laze about in the well equipped SPA complex. Not cheap but well worth it for a few days.

Walking around on my own outside Monteverde village I came across a local herbalist family who were so keen to explain everything they do and make but my broken Spanish wasn’t good enough and I didn’t have my lexicon on me to help take it all in. I walked out of their ‘kitchen’ where they extracted liquids from red onions and garlic or from cat’s claw, etc. and thought how fascinating and how much skill and knowledge they have to make all this. My business mind wanted to take over and help them market their product but that’s another story.

As I have a bad stomach I was quite prepared to be a guinea pig and use this inspirational experience and advice as a starting point for my 10 day water fast. Once I come out of the fast I’ll use the garlic / onion and cat’s claw liquid extract to get my stomach going again.
Wait for the result and yes it’s a crazy thing to do while on an activity holiday but there we go. Yesterdays Dorado filet with steamed veggies and mash, excellent quality, at the Flamingo Beach Hotel was my last meal.

To the north of the country lies Rincon de la Vieja, one of the highest Volcanoes with many active geysers and thermal springs. It is also known for its health giving mud. Costa Rica is not just bananas, pineapples and coffee (some cocoa beans too along the Caribbean coast) but it also has an enormous amount of horses everywhere. When we drove into the 1000 hectare estate of the Buena Vista Lodge bordering on one of the National Parks we were immediately told ‘we have over 500 horses roaming around here’ and you’ll be riding some of them tomorrow.

After a rustic but comfortable night and a hearty breakfast at the Buena Vista Lodge I road off into the sunrise. Actually on three horses which, to keep things simple, I called Tina; my ass hasn’t been sooo soar for years. Tina no 1 was snow white including her eyelids, I couldn’t see if they were white or actually a shade of grey due to her age; No 2 was the colour of chestnut hair but with highlights, it had spirit, was very responsive and well trained and it was a joy to ride him. It wasn’t a horse for tourists apparently so they told me after but, what happened was after a rest and a swim at one of the many waterfalls I trotted off on my white lazybones, it almost always looks fast asleep because its long white or grey, nearly translucent eyelashes, are almost always shut even if he is walking. Suddenly there was a lot of shouting and this chestnut beauty came chasing after me without a rider. I managed to stop it and took the reins but now it wouldn’t move and we were stuck on a steep, rocky narrow path. I got off my horse thinking that one was as safe as it was dopy but no! My one belted off and our guide chased after snow white.

That’s how I got hold of this chestnut beauty. What a delight when you find a horse you feel in tune with – a bit like finding the perfect woman! ½ an hour or so later we stopped for lunch and enjoyed the volcanic mud SPA with its steam room and warm pools. On my return to the horse park Tina no 2 had disappeared.

I guess one of the guides took it back – what a shame! Tina no.3 I decided wasn’t my type of Tina although it looked good we just weren’t a match made in heaven. I got off and walked him back to his stables. As it happens, walking was much better for my bum. We parted on good terms but no more – he was glad I got off him and I was glad to have conserved my energy for taking some pictures of the beautiful sun set back at the ranch at 6pm spot on.

Moving on! The one single person on this ‘Meier’s Weltreisen’ trip was not a 25 year old Amazonian beauty as I had hoped for but a lovely 70 year old man who I have become very fond of. He gave me a book to read by Charlotte Roche called ‘Feuchtgebiete’. I think he was embarrassed by it and wanted my opinion. Charlotte Roche is English but was educated in Germany and works now for some German TV channel as a presenter. ‘Feuchtgebiete’ is her first book which came out last year. I thought the book was great, bordering on fantastic because it is not just bloody open and honest but is fundamentally a fine, very sad story particularly, towards the end; a ‘Christiane F – Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo’ Novel with a different twist springs to mind. No drugs involved for a change.

I get infuriated; you come into a perfectly pleasant hotel bedroom and not a water bottle in sight; it’s a hot country after all. Why does one pay so many dollars and not have some fresh water to drink on arrival – pathetic!

Oh I forgot to mention a lovely story on our journey from the Volcano Poas which stands at 2900 m and has the largest crater in the world. As we passed by a village called Grecia, apparently one of the cleanest around in Costa Rica, our bus stopped briefly to give us time looking at some modern, steel construction of a Church which I could do without. Most Cathedrals / Domes give me the creeps so why look at this. (Apparently there are over 5000 in this 90% Catholic Country) Instead I observed our driver how he quietly passed on a large bag of fruit to a young woman who just happened to be standing at the street corner where our bus had parked. She took the bag, they chatted, a couple of kids arrived and all continued chatting until our bus gradually filled up again and left. When our driver parted from these lovely people on the street corner one bag of fruit poorer there was no hugging or kissing just departing. He hooted a couple of times when speeding off but what a chance encounter or not and were we really meant to look at this church.

Today is the 1st of April; Obama is in London catching up with the other G20 Presidents or Heads of State or bunch of crooks most of them and apparently a computer virus was launched to take down the global financial systems. As it is the 1st of April I ignore all and visit San Carlos instead. Here you have a little German baker next to the Austrian baker next to the more enterprising Swiss Hotel with a Swiss Fire engine parked in the Swiss garage, Swiss looking cows grazing on the meadows and even a Swiss Train that would take guests up into the not Swiss hills. We are of course near the Volcano Arenal and on the way to Tortugero.

Tortugero is a fabulously secluded part of the country that can only be reached by plane or a 40 km ride in a speed boat. As I can’t influence the G20 meeting from where I am I propose to collect and dispose of any rubbish I come across on my visit to this holy site of Turtles. I hope the apple isn’t so big I can’t get my teeth into it – we’ll see. The great big Green Back Turtle by the way is born here and comes back 5 years later to lay its eggs along the 40 km long sea shore of the Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean Sea.

We are of course also in the middle of the jungle as it reaches down to the Sea. We are staying in little huts, monkeys roaring around us, crocodiles lying in wait, turtles dotted around like turds and you think all bird species of this country have come together for afternoon tea. I of course had to take a canoe and go off on my own to test if I could spot any wildlife without a guide having to point it out all the time. I didn’t fail to see the bigger crocodiles but the more delicate, camouflaged stuff is so hard to spot. One of the guides told me afterwards that it has taken him about 2 years to adopt his mind and eyesight to new shapes and colours when he first arrived here from University. The other thing I didn’t realise was how exhausted you can get from the heat and not eating. You would think canoeing is easy; it’s just moving your body weight but …did I take some time getting home again. Oh yes, on the rubbish front, I picked up two chocolate wrappers not far from our lodge complex and an empty crisp packet floating on the river- must have been thrown there by some oversized Americans who else would eat this stuff or, may be some Germans couldn’t find the right recycling bins or……

After 2 days in wonderful Tortugero we took off to Rio Perlas. We left at 8 am for the 40 km boat journey through the jungle back to our bus. We had the sun coming up behind us and the temperature was near enough perfect at 28 degrees or so especially with the light breeze from the motorboat cruising through the dense forest. Most animals don’t seem to be disturbed by the noise of our boat. I guess it’s a bit like us getting use to the flight paths of planes above us in their approach to an airport. Again we saw herons in all sizes and colours including the young tiger heron who turns blue when older, we saw turtles, crocodiles up to about 4m long, we stopped for a boa curled up on a branch who wouldn’t even open an eyelid from the clicking noises of our cameras. We saw monkeys jumping from tree to tree following our boat for a while in play until you heard the deep roar of father monkey shouting ‘ORDER’ come back; I guess.

For lunch we stopped at a little road side café called La Lena El Clon, a rotisserie par excellence and very reasonable in price. I’m still only eating with my eyes but I promised myself I would come back here if only for the cake called Pan Elote which is made with Maize, Milk and Honey.

Our next Hotel is Rio Perlas SPA in Orosital and is situated in the middle of the most famous coffee region. Coffee grows best between 800 and 3000 meters above sea level on volcanic soil and thrives on less oxygen. I said earlier, a good coffee picker can earn up to $40 per day or to be more specific 12 kg can be picked in about ½ hour in ideal conditions and a picker would get $3 to 4 depending on how many green fruits he happened to throw into the basket. Green means not ripe! I guess you spend the same amount of money again on extracting the bean from the red fruit, washing the beans twice and drying the beans in the sun and filling it into 46kg sacks ready for roasting. (That’s how it is sold) Costa Rica only grows 100% Arabia Coffee, a plant particularly suited to the conditions here and regarded as the best. I figure you have costs of about $1.50 per kg and can sell the best quality beans for about $3 per kg depending on supply and demand. The two large players called Nestle and Kenco, way down on the list you have Jacobs and than all the boutique roasting houses. I personally want to find out more about Coco for Chocolate not the other stuff unless I need the latter to finance the other. Worldwide we consume 115 million 46kg bags of coffee per year. Have a look at this site: http://www.ico.org/index.asp

Now we are down in the south west corner of Costa Rica on the Pacific Ocean and staying at Villa Rio Mar in Dominical. Great food, try the Argentinean Fillet, and good service but bad beds! I complained and got upgraded from a narrow single bed to a double bed but the mattress was just as bad. The beaches are miles long and great for surfing; the atmosphere is cool and laid back.

The next day we went on a 90 minute speed boat ride out to the Corcovado National Park to which you can get access only by plane or boat. The Park rangers lodge, right on the sea front tucked between forest and beach, doubles up as a meeting and picnic point for tourists and by arrangement you can come here with your own tent and own food and stay for a few days. Again, the guide we had was a biologist and the two hour walk through the tropical rain forest was fabulous. As we were lucky with the weather once again it is hard to imagine that they receive over 11 meters of rain per year in this forest – 11 meters! We saw plenty of sloths on the ground and in trees. Sloths are the ones who move very, very slowly obviously to do with their metabolism. I’m sure it is difficult to digest those thick jungle leaves so sloths eat and sleep for a week up in the trees, come down for a poo and back up again. If I understood the guide correctly, Sloths have a direct genetic link to the koala bear and the North American raccoon. I can’t remember but I think I was trading in them during my fur trade years….ooops! The fur isn’t as good as that of raccoons by the way.

We heard monkeys and birds; we saw many different types of lizards but also many beautiful orchids, bird of paradise flowers and others before we gathered for our picnic. Off shore particularly during July you can Whale watch and see many dolphins. The currents are strong and there meant to be something in the water, not sure, a type of snake and / or crocodile but my attention span wasn’t long enough to listen and I still wasn’t eating as I found myself struggling in the sea trying to get back to the beach.

On the journey back our skipper took a detour through one of the largest mangrove forests in the world, over 21k sq km, and if you want to get lost, this is the place. At night there meant to be quite some activity around her by a species called Homo sapiens. They use this area to hide cocaine which gets picked up by some other Homo sapiens before it travels onto Mexico and onto our beloved shores. Exciting, now I have learned something really useful. 

Funny with groups and I do a lot of work with groups so I shouldn’t really be surprised but I always am again and again. We were quite a motley crew to start with and the idea of travelling in concert is a most strange one to me at any time. I don’t like it and never will but doesn’t one just get attached to one another after two intensive weeks together? I can see what the different attractions are for many people but for me it takes away the essentials of travel and what it is all about, the chance of surprise, the unexpected, spontaneity, adventure, discovery and most of all freedom. Ascending in a group onto something that was chosen on our behalf in the first place is like going to a fundamentalist prayer meeting – chaos, noise and worse!

But, the assimilation process works wonders, the spots on our backs were less obvious and by the end of the tour and to the credit of our excellent tour guide and considerate bus driver we all jelled well and some might even meet up again. I for one will certainly see one or two again I guess?

The one region we didn’t have time for is Limon and Puerto Viejo on the south eastern side of Costa Rica i.e. the Caribbean Side but, I look forward to doing that on my own or with a friend. Here will be more jungle and especially cocoa farms (http://www.icco.org ) and from what I hear a rather different atmosphere to the rest of the country. Wait for the next surprise!

I´ll be leaving Colombia on the 15th for Santiago and on to Australia on the 20th.

C

That’s his story. He sold the boat and has been travelling for the last 6 years. I met Eduardo Del Corral, Mexican, at ‘Casa Kiwi’ in Medellin. One morning we got talking and ended up having breakfast. He was about to go to Leon in Nicaragua to buy a hostel. He had lived at that hostel many times over the last few years and generally has fallen in love with Nicaragua. The woman owner knew of his interest and it seemed to suit him after so many years of living out of a backpack.

The reason I mention this story is if you wait long enough, you are patient enough and you are open to new ideas, offers come along one would normally not think about or even contemplate.

At the moment he is helping and financially helping with a TV documentary on a writer and poet from Bogota who had died last year – he introduced me to his friends and I got a pretty good ‘insider’ experience of Bogota over the next few days. Pelir and Angela are two very interesting women. Pelir had a very bad experience with the Paramilitary as a child, her parents have lost all and she is now a devout and highly intellectual active communist. Angela works on documentaries for a TV station. I said before, if you speak Spanish this city has a lot to offer.
Eduardo knew I was interested to travel to Nicaragua and gave me the following itinerary which would make the journey not only much more interesting but instead of paying US$290 you can do it easily for a 100 less:

Notes:
1.  Take a bus to Turbo. From Medellin or Bogota about US$40
2.  Take a 2 hour speed boat to Capurgana (US$25) and if there are no flight connections from Puerto Obaldia to Panama stay the night in Capurgana. ((US$25) There are plenty of hotels / hostels unless you are there over Christmas you will not have a problem finding accommodation. If you have time and you want to spend more time in and or around Capurgana visit Sapsurro or La Mie by water taxi.
3.  Take a 20 minute boat ride (US$4) to Puerto Obaldia in Panama. In Obaldia is a runway where a small plane takes you to Panama City. Book in advance with aeroperlas. www.aeroperlas.com it’s about US$80 depending on the fuel price situation. The week before I flew the price was US$69.
4.  In Panama you have ‘Zuly’s Backpackers at US$20 or Hotel El Parador at US$50 or many other International Hotels at well over US$120
5.    I will write separately about Central America and how to get around best.

So far it has been very exciting, I have learned a little I think and I have started my daily Spanish lessons. My travel plans have changed totally as I haven´t moved further south than Colombia. In fact I have spent the last 3 weeks in Nicaragua.

Have a look at the Photo Galleries to see what I have been up to.

C

The woman trying to sell us jewellery must have gone back to the police and told on us. What was her reward I wonder – US$5?

Whether true or not 15 minutes later we had 4 armed ‘coppers’ onto us determined to find something. They searched the water, our pockets and bags until eventually the first traces of rolling our joints were found in the sand and then they found the bag. After almost an hour of individual interrogation, threats of going to jail for the night and flashing handcuffs at us we cracked it and were brave enough to mention the word money. Surprise, surprise it worked and offering $15 each did the trick.

The next day some of us took a taxi to Santa Marta, only 10 minutes away from Tanganga and we got stopped again by a police checkpoint. One of the Officers recognised Matt from the night before. Hola! Mattheus! ….and waved us through. We figured that with our $75 we bought the local Police Station lock, stock and barrel and had a free hand in Tanganga from now on.
Airport – Standard operating procedure.

At the airport in Cartagena for a flight to Panama City my backpack got searched in minute detail which took at least ½ hour. Going through my toiletry bag the officer came across my stash of condoms – no! Not marijuana – I’m not that stupid!

‘Mucho’ he said. ‘Yo un optimista’ I replied. He smiled and put 3 aside holding them in his hand. ‘OK’ he said pointing to his pocket. ‘Si, porque no – mucho gusto’ I replied and the search was over. He very kindly helped me put everything back.

We were only six people on the entire flight. Unpacking my things in Panama I noticed he took the UK-Brand obviously the more expensive ones – bugger!

Funny Story

Booking my hotel in Panama via the internet was so easy. Only, when I arrived no one knew the Hotel which was suppose to be a 10 minute taxi ride away from Panama City airport and a 10 minute walk into town. 2 hours and many phone calls later I discovered I had booked Panama City near Miami, Florida, USA – When did they create this place? I did get my money back.

I have another funny story from Panama if you want to know…..

Gracias por tu e-mail e como estas?

En doce dias tu e uno año mas curado – perdone maduro! Junto – vosotros celebrarle aniversarios en N.Y. tu y Sara?

Tengo vuelta da Nicaragua ayer, y tengo mucho que contaros pero en ingles………..My Spanish lessons are starting on the 10th in Cartagena and my limits are obvious – see above.

Going to Nicaragua I left it too late to do it the cheap way so I had to take a one way flight to Panama City to catch up with some American friends I met in Medellin. The funny thing was that I also booked a cheap hostel via the internet and paid for it online. When I arrived in Panama City no one had heard of the Hostel / Hotel. Hours of enquiries and searching resulted in finding out that I had booked the hotel Panama City, Florida, USA. Anyway I got my full refund and booked into an alternative place in Panama City, Panama this time.

Panama City is awful (big skyscrapers and many McDonalds; they are doing up the old city but in the process drive out everyone who had a right to live there) to me Panama is a waste of time – and too American for my liking – the food consumption seems to be going up here too.

My friends bought a car in Panama to drive it back to the States but we missed each other by a couple of days so I organised myself a bus ticket on the famous ´´TICA´´ bus that travels daily through Central America. You can hop on and off in different cities and in different countries. From Panama it goes north to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, San Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. The bus ride is 30h from Panama to Managua and costs US$ 62.- plus taxes at the different boarders. From Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, to Leon is another 2h.

By luck we arrived all on the same day in Leon and had dinner together.

Leon and Granada are little gems and worth a visit. (In Leon stay at La Casona Colonial – very reasonable and in Granada Hotel Alhambra or Hotel Francia if you have too much money) The coast near Leon is well known for surfing (Las Penitas) – it´s only 20km to the coast and as Matt and Kelly had their ‘new’ Jeep it was easy to reach. Fantastic waves, great beaches and cheap good food make it a surfer’s paradise.

Talking to some other travellers we heard the Caribbean Coast is also very beautiful particularly, Big Corn and Little Corn Island. (the airline to book is on www.lacostena.com )

There are direct flights from Managua to Big Corn Island for US$190 but there is also an exciting and a much cheaper way of getting to the islands.

An 8h bus ride to Rama, followed by a 2h speed boat ride through the Jungle to Bluefield (there are no roads linking up to the coast) followed by an overnight stay at a small hotel in Bluefield. (Bluefield I think was a English pirate)

There was no ferry service to the islands for 2 days so we took a flight across the water for US$60 from Bluefield to Little Corn. The whole trip including the hostel in Bluefield came to less than $100. By ferry the whole trip would have cost $55.

We decided on Little Corn which has no cars, no telephones except in the main village, no internet except on Big Corn. Little Corn, a 30 minutes boat ride away from it´s bigger sister is Paradise and at $56 per day including great food there is no reason to live anywhere else on this planet. You need to be able to get on with yourself, enjoy the jungle with its snakes (boas, huge blue crabs, ants and more) and the water and bingo, you are a King. We stayed at Ramon´s place called ´´Ensueños´´. Ramon is a biologist and has lectured at Managua University. If you want he will always find you a job or two in his hotel – I cleaned the beach every morning for unlimited supply of Mangos and Coconuts. I could have had them without raking the white sand at sunrise (5.30) but what better work could one do.

Returning back to Panama City was less than $130 but took 60 hours.

If I hadn´t booked my Spanish course I´d still be on the island and I will return to it.

Yes you can spend $20000 in the Maldives in a week but I much rather do this at just over $200. If you want to be extravagant you can do your PADI Open Water Course for $330, you can eat a lobster during the lobster season from June to late autumn for $20 a shot, you can go horse riding for $30 or take a boat out for snorkelling. (if the lagoon isn´t big enough take a boat for $20 with 3 others for 5 hours)

A good book, local snorkelling, walking and bird watching are free and highly entertaining.

Going back to Cartagena, Colombia will involve air, boat and a bus ride and will not cost more than $190 incl. One night in a hotel in Capurgana versus the direct flight I took from Cartagena to Panama of just over $290.

There is a small plane service to the boarder of Panama and Colombia, you can walk across into Colombia if you find a guide and it’s not the rainy season or you take a small fishing boat from Puerto Obaldia to Capurgana. From Capurgana to Turbo is a daily speed boat and local buses from there to Cartagena. (About 12 hours)

There are no roads linking Panama and Colombia and the whole boarder territory is dangerous due to Guerrilla activities and dense forests but the route described to me by a Mexican, I met in Medellin, is fairly well travelled.

I hope this has given you a little taste. As you speak Spanish you would have a great time here and can most likely explore even more than I did / do – ah, we snow boarded down a Volcano, spent hours in yet another police search (this time living the surf beach near Leon, we had to pay them off again – same story as in Colombia) Ah, and Matt saw the POOanamanian police shoot someone on the street in the City and I think that´s all but you can have all of this and more in London or NY except the volcano bit.

Te deso lo mejor, hasta pronto and I´ll call you on your b´day my darling, dulce boubou, herzlichst….Papa

Once you get off the bus at the entrance to Tayrona Park, you pay a fee and may be searched for drugs. A pickup truck will take you about 4km into the park from where you have about a 1 hour hike to the first campsite and another hour to the second campsite where we wanted to be. Here you find more beaches including a nudist beach.

The second campsite is also the approach route to ‘Pueblito’ an Indian reserve a 2 hour hike into the park – it’s occupied only by a couple of families. Visiting ‘Pueblito’ gives you a good idea of what to expect trekking up to ‘Ciudad Perdidad’ which is a 6 day trek. By the way if you walk down the other side of the mountain you get back to the main road that takes you to Santa Marta or Riohacha. Just in case you want to be adventures.

Depending on how long you intend to stay in Tayrona Park and on your purse you can bring in as much or as little as you want. Most is available for money and if US$50 isn’t a lot for you carry little. I was pleased I had my own sleeping bag and tent on me as it was quite chilly at night and if it is not windy there will be mozzies around.

In my horny madness I invited Jenny and her 2 year old but I didn’t realise that a) the little one was a very light sleeper and b) her mother was paranoid her daughter might find us ‘playing’ together so as a result there was nothing between Jenny and I before, during and / or after Tayrona. Jenny and Thanit, her little daughter, were delighted though, almost overwhelmed having been invited. Jenny became our eyes and ears on the jungle trek to ‘Pueblito’. She heard and saw hidden treasures of plants, butterflies and reptiles that we had no idea were around. As she explained everything to her 2 years old, Matt, Kelly and I brushed up on our Spanish as we had a good chance following what she was explaining in very simple Spanish.

What is so special about Tayrona Park? It has not been commercialized; you can only sleep in tents or hammocks. The restaurant and washing facilities are very simple, you can only hike in or on horseback but, will it remain like this is the million dollar question in every sense.

Food for thought:

Never mix any type of melon with any other fruit. I.E. don’t make a fruit salad with melon. The body cannot digest melon fibres so if you were mixing it in you would get bloated as a result.

Take Vitamin B1 or better a vitamin B complex to fend off mosquitoes. Eat lots of ‘Vegemite’ this can do the trick cheaply. Eat garlic and onions on top of that and most mozzies will navigate around you unless you are just such a sweet person they can’t resist.

A tip from the Mayan Culture that stops you getting pregnant: Slice an avocado kernel into finger thick slices and boil one slice in some water. When it has cooled down drink it and you meant to be safe for one month but don’t take my word for it. Too much of the stuff will make you sterile.

Now I am in Tanganga near Santa Marta, staying at the hostel ‘Casa Filipe’. (Private room with shower for US$15) Fife years ago Tanganga was literally a tiny fishing village were very little happened. Except of course on weekends when local folk from Santa Marta, some 8km away, want to have a good time on the beach. But even today Tanganga is a place where you can chill out and totally relax. You can still find a secluded beach on week days if you are prepared to walk for 30 minutes or so or, there are plenty of water – taxis who will take you and pick you up but pay at the end or you may not get picked up. As it happened I used ‘Casa Filipe’ as my base where I could leave a bag of stuff that I didn’t need on my travels. So all in all over my 3 month in Colombia I probably spent 4 weeks in total in Tanganga. The places to visit nearby are (max 1 ½ h by bus):  ‘The Lost City’ (Ciudad Perdidad), Tayrona, Santa Marta, Minca, Palamino, Valencia

The internet works well at ‘Casa Filipe’ so I decided to give ‘Skype’ a chance to connect me to my dearest and I was lucky! The line was so clear I could almost feel him next to me, I so wanted to give him a big, an enormous hug but it wasn’t quite possible. The first time in over a month Thomas and I caught up in 35.5 minutes at a cost of under $4 with all that was relevant to say. The warmth in his voice filled me with joy and my fondness for him continues to grow even after almost 20 years. Having a child that has become a friend is just the best thing in the world. Why? Because, as in true friendship, where there are no expectations on either side, make for a very easy, warm coexistence.

After the phone call I put pen to paper and the two somehow feel in harmony which doesn’t happen very often to me. I might be jumping about a bit in my thoughts but I hope you will be able to follow.

Last night the 5th of April I organised a big fare well dinner as 5 friends were moving on or heading in different directions. We have pretty good kitchen facilities at this hostel and I decided to go down to the waterfront, wait for the fishermen to return with their daily crop and buy some fish. As I have become friends with a bunch of hippies or rather ‘artesanos’ as they refer to themselves, making and selling jewellery I passed by them on the way and practised my little Spanish on them. I happened to mention my imminent purchase of some fresh fish for dinner when Abel, one of the local guys who hangs out here, immediately offered to help buy the fish at the best possible price from the best possible fisherman.

I can’t really loose out using a friendly middleman so Abel and I trotted off and came back with 2 Tunas of 3kg each costing in total $20000 pesos or US$11. Abel thinks I would have paid double had I gone on my own well, I leave it there…….

Abel, Abel, Abel, Abel also overheard that I had invited my new ‘girlfriend friend’ and her two year old daughter to join us for dinner at the hostel. At an instance he offered to gut, clean and cook the fish for us. Abel by the way, provides a room to this young mother who scrambles to make a living selling her handmade jewellery and bags to backpackers walking by on the beach.

I bought vegetables, rice, soy sauce, garlic, lemons, pepper and salt for $13500 pesos or US$8 and now we have ingredients for at least 9 people.

Abel and I got to the kitchen and within seconds he claimed his territory and set up his cooking operation. He did it with such calm and determination and clear moves that I was rather stunned. Yes, help with the gutting of the fish but everything else was my job or so I thought. I know a little about cooking I have watched Jamie Oliver operate in his TV-Kitchen in the past but, this guy prepared the rice, made the salsa, gutted the two big fish, made a big fresh salad and cooked the fish steaks all in less than 90 minutes leaving me to do just some clearing away. At last the marinated fish steaks wrapped in foil, I have never seen them so big, were ready to go onto the grill. Others in the group made sure we were supplied with Hash and Cerveza.

Abel, as it slowly transpired, had been a chef in Santa Marta and decided to chill out for a while possibly starting his own restaurant sometime in the future. He is a big, happy smile kind of guy whose determination came out in the kitchen. By the way, the marinade was made up of soy sauce, lemon, garlic, pepper and salt mixed in the blender.

We sat down for a sumptuous meal: Marketing Gurus Matt and Kelly from Minnesota; Javier who has two hotels in BA; Nicolas the Student from Stockholm; Banker Tiernan from London; Student Rob or Robin from Sydney with grandparents in Somerset, UK; Jenne and her daughter from Bogota;  Abel from Santa Marta and I.

How I met my new ‘girlfriend’ Jenny.

Within 3 days of arriving in Tanganga I found myself a new family or rather ½ a family found me. On day one in Tanganga I placed myself on the terrace of a little cafe reading a novel by GGM called ‘The autumn of the Patriarch’. I call this book one of the most difficult books I have read and I keep reading each page twice to be able to follow the plot but even twice don’t seem often enough.

After a while I was fidgeting, half reading, half observing a group of ‘artesanos’ setting up for evening trade across the street. One girl was waving across to me or at least that is what I thought but it was actually to a girlfriend sitting a couple of tables away from me. As I innocently waved back noticing my mistake too late I got my own ‘wave’ and smile. Later, when I could no longer read, I strayed across and ended up spending the rest of the evening with Jenny, her kid and the other artesanos. Jenny comes from Bogota where she normally works as a freelance set designer for TV if she has work. She has a daughter of two and lives with her mother but without her partner – he pissed off. The other ‘artesanos’ are from Argentina, Bolivia and Venezuela. Jenny probably lives on @20000 pesos a day = US$12 and has no other resources. What attracted me to her was the way she dealt with her little one – just very natural, at ease not getting angry, distracted her with stories when she had her tantrums and showed her how to string beads together so she can become part of the next generation of artesanos.

I started hanging out with these guys, exchanged English for Spanish and bonded until my American friends arrived from Medellin. We planned to hike into Tayrona Park about an hours journey away by bus from Santa Marta.

Negotiations were being mediated successfully by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Uribe’s assault on the FARC guerrillas in Ecuador was a stark illustration of the regime’s refusal to allow for serious steps toward a negotiated settlement to Colombia’s civil war. To the contrary, Uribe’s latest move suggests that he will continue to serve the rich Colombian ruling class and imperial interests of the USA and other major capitalist powers.

During the last 8 years, 3 million people have been displaced, this century alone, for commercial exploitation by the ruling class with paramilitary support. 28 Unionists have been murdered this year, 2008, by the paramilitary. Anyone who tells me ‘FARC’ is bad should look behind the curtain to see what is going on. Many Bosses, be it political or industrial, local or international seem to have an appetite that cannot be quenched.

On another aspect, the weekends in Medellin are wild. Everybody is out to enjoy themselves and weekend means from Thursday through to Sunday. Forget ‘Forte dei Marmi’ at high season. Here it is twice as nice at half the price.

It’s horny and not just for the men. An English girl told me it is so easy to have a conversation with a guy here it is jolly, none threatening and fun at the same time – it seems to be like this both ways. Yes, a girl might go out with her boyfriend but that doesn’t stop her turning around and helping you with your first attempts at Salsa for instance. It usually ends in great laughter you trying to put one foot in front of the other looking like an unoiled robot just not getting it. That’s me.

I guess when your country is at war like Beirut or Tel Aviv and many other places on this sad planet, partying is part of the answer to changing the atmosphere just for a moment. It’s about seizing the day or rather the night and to enjoy yourself; not quite knowing, what’s around the corner tomorrow. If you fancy the look of someone and you want to talk to them you talk to them. Obviously there are exceptions and it is not uncommon for a jealous boyfriend to lash out.
Last night by the way it was two girls in each other’s hair – the police got there quickly to untangle the two mascara smeared princesses who obviously had too much ‘Ron-Medellin’ or ‘Aquardente’. The excitement was short lived and the music was back to normal.

Medellin is great, it has an efficient metro system most likely financed by drug money and what a way to wash the dosh. Not just over there, it’s over here too, in Europe, if you look at the communal services managed by the MAFIA in Napoli. Working girls look stunning and it is called the city of eternal spring due to its wonderful climate. Medellin is 1500 meters above sea level and much warmer then Bogota – the nights are much more pleasant. ‘Casa Kiwi’ where I stayed is a hostel owned by a guy from Seattle since 2005. He doubled the size of his operation late 2006 by taking the building next door and managed to keep the occupancy rate well above 70%. The hostel borders on what is referred to as the ‘Zona Rosa’ where all the bars, restaurants and night clubs are as well as shopping. If and when Paul wants to sell he knows I am interested.