I’m in Colombia!!!

Cartagena, Colombia Skyline

Holy cow!  I'm pretty exhausted from only sleeping a few hours on the hard airport floor, but I’ve officially arrived; and it's officially hot.  It's like full on summer, and I’m sweating through all my clothes.

It has already been a pretty crazy culture shock thus far, as my Spanish is far worse than I ever thought and I have no idea what people are saying.  

On the plane I just didn’t know what to expect, I talked to the Colombian guy sitting next to me and he seemed very nice, and when the plane landed and half the people cheered, I began to think this might be the happiest culture I’ve ever been a part of.  

But once outside the friendly confines for the airport (with their signs in both Spanish and English) I knew I was in trouble.  It seemed that most everyone spoke Spanish (duh) and only a few could handle the nuances of the English language, and thus I was fucked.  I decided to not bother with the bus system in my state, and instead got taken for a ride in a cab, by literally paying double what I should… I rationalized it by thinking that I was still on American currency, so the extra $2 was nothing.  

The Media Luna Hostel, where I wanted to stay, was booked solid for rest of the week, so I met up with Darin, an Aussie I’d met at the airport ATM, and found a dorm room at the Hotel Marlin across the street.  He had lived in Peru the year before, kiteboarding and taking Spanish lessons.  I knew that’s what I needed to do immediately, as I was basically a def-mute, struggling to say a word to anyone that wasn’t hello or thank you.  I wish I’d taken charades a little more seriously…

But things are looking up, after sleeping more than 12 hours the first night I’m feeling pretty good, and I’ll be even better when I can figure out what other people are saying!