January 31, 2008
Day 855
Crossing the Gap, Day 1
It was finally time to leave South America. My first step was to take a bus from Medellin, the big mountainous city in the center of the country, to Turbo, a small port on the Caribbean coast. The bus started along the same road… Read More »
January 30, 2008
Day 854
For my last day in Medellin, I went to the interactive Explora Museum. It had a lot of cool exhibits showing the history of the earth, what DNA looks like, how there are lots of different kinds of people on earth, and what Read More »
January 29, 2008
Day 853
Today I tried to get to a colonial town called Santa Fe de Antioquia, but things didn't quite work out as planned. I got on one of the frequent buses out of Medellin without any trouble, but I didn't realize that the main road only skirted the edge of… Read More »
January 27-28, 2008
Days 851-852
I was in no hurry to leave Medellin, so I spent a couple more days sightseeing the area. I discovered that like several cities in South America, Medellin had a cable car system that went to the top of a large hill. However, unlike the other… Read More »
January 26, 2008
Day 850
I decided to get out of the city for the day and took a trip to the hills surrounding Medellin. After a short uphill bus ride, I was out of the city and in another world. My first stop was El Peñól, a massive 200-meter high… Read More »
January 24-25, 2008
Days 848-849
Medellin used to be the most problematic city in Colombia. Pablo Escobar's drug cartel was more powerful than the government and was constantly at war with the other cartels, paramilitaries, and the legitimate military. Bombings and shootouts often happened in the middle of Medellin, and its inhabitants were generally… Read More »
January 21-23, 2008
Days 845-847
When I left Santa Marta, I took a bus along the coast to Cartagena, a big city with the same sweltering climate. Many backpackers had raved to me about the city's old fortress, so I checked it out on my first day. As soon as I… Read More »
January 19-20, 2008
Days 843-844
I decided to stick around Santa Marta to watch the Packers game, and what a waste that turned out to be. Not only did they lose, but I sustained an injury to my hand when I was cheering and it came into contact with a spinning metal ceiling fan.… Read More »
January 16-18, 2008
Days 840-842
After finishing my scuba diving coursework, I needed a few days to relax. I went with Samantha, a girl from Bogotá who was on vacation visiting her brother in Santa Marta, to Tayrona National Park. It was only an hour from Santa Marta, but only had… Read More »
January 9-15, 2008
Days 833-839
I started my PADI open water diving course with Gretel, an Australian who had been traveling for the last seven years, doing various jobs around the world. Teaching English in Japan and Ecuador, doing office work in Canada and England, and being a dive instructor in… Read More »
