Los Mochileros Arrive in Colombia

The first day did not disappoint for adventure. We made it through the Minneapolis security with little time to spare for our 1:15 AM flight only to find out it was delayed. After a little waiting, we boarded and had an uneventful flight to Fort Laurderdale. Once there, we had a four hour layover. The only eventful thing that took place was I had to use the bathroom and the line was super long for the women's restroom. I was about to participate in this 100 yard line when I noticed a sign saying additional women's restrooms this way. I took the bait, which lead me down several flights of cement stairs and through this creepy alley thing. In the end it was worth it though because no one was waiting to use these gems.

After a long night of flying and little sleep, we finally arrived in Colombia. The heat was such a nice change from the bitter cold but my body is unaccustomed it. We made it through customs unscathed and went out to find a taxi to take us to our Hostel. I have never ridden in a taxi before and wasn't really sure how to hail one but luckily, our taxi hailed us. The driver stopped in the middle of the road and called us over to him. He was a pleasant man who delivered us safely to our destination. When we finally arrived we realized we didn't have local currency to pay him in but thankfully he happily accepted American. 

Our first taxi ride!

Once at the hostel, we were put in our room. A 10 bed co-ed room. One of our roommates is from Michigan, two are from Chile and I haven't met the others yet.

It was a relief to shed our packs and put on swimsuits and tank tops. The room has a safe box for our valuables and locked storage for our backpacks. It is a relief to no longer be carrying such important documents and money with me. After we got organized, we headed out on the town exploring. Our goal was to find a bank where we could exchange some money but after a few blocks our grumbling stomachs won and we stopped for food.

I had a wrap that had falafel and baba ghanoush. 

This is not my normal food choice but I made a promise to Malcolm to try new things.

The total for the 3 of our meals was 72,000 pesos. This is roughly $35 US Dollars but it was still funny to see on the receipt that we owed so much. (We paid this in American too because we still haven't exchanged currency).

After eating we wondered the old city. Cartegena is made up of two parts, the old city and the new one. Our hostel is dead in the middle of the beautiful old city. The buildings are well loved and their history pours out of them.

We walked to the edge of the old city and looked upon the new. It was amazing to see such old buildings and also to see the stark contrast between fortified walls and skyscrapers.

On our way back to the hostel we stopped at a local grocery store to pick up some clean water.

On our way to drop the water off at the hostel, we ended up getting lost in the city for a half hour but with the help I some friendly police we found our way back. We got to see more of the city that way.

By the time we got back to our room, we were all pretty spent. However, it was only 7:30 and we didn't want to waste any precious time that we have. We headed to the communal patio where other travelers staying in the hostel gathered.

We met 2 more fellow U.S. Citizens and one guy from Switzerland. We ended up all going to a local bar for some dinner and to catch the second half of the Super Bowl. The game was thoroughly disappointing and we didn't even have the funny commercials to liven it up.However, it was nice to participate in watching the game even though we are so far from home.