10/21/2010 - Cartegena, Colombia: Liberation

I've finally arrived at my home for the next few months: South America. It was quite an adventure just to get here with my motorcycle, but really, it's worth all the trouble. There are some amazing things I plan on doing here, like: scale Machu Pichu, drive the death road through Bolivia, star gaze in the Atacama desert, tango in Argentina, drive across the largest jungle on the planet, and of course give that big fucking Jesus a hug in Rio De Janeiro.

Getting to this continent was half the adventure. There's the massive stack of paper that I had to work through just to get my bike out of Panama. There was finding my container, loading my bike, and finally catching a slew of taxis and buses just to get to the sailboat. It was a pretty crazy couple of days right before catching that boat, but hey, I signed up for all that when I pointed my bike towards Mexico and never looked back. There were some times when I wasn't a very happy camper, but ultimately things have worked out, as I've spent the last week snorkeling in the carribean, and being a hopeless tourist around Cartagena, Colombia.

Once I was settled on the sailboat, it was a fantastic experience. The rain clouds lifted and revealed a beautiful island landscape. The San Blas islands consist of 357 separate islands that are owned and governed by only the indigenous people called the Kuna. It's a completely different part of Panama. Though it's considered part of Panama, they don't get to vote or have a say in government. But they do have pretty much total control of their islands. Therefore the environment is kept peaceful by Kuna law, and the results are some of the most gorgeous group of islands I've ever seen. Turquoise blue water with coral reefs for miles is pretty grand when all you have to do for four days is eat and sleep. I fell into a pretty vigorous routine of snorkeling, napping, snorkeling, lobster fishing, eating, napping, drinking, card games, snorkeling, or some other extremely difficult variation. It was all pretty relaxing, and it also doesn't hurt when the captain of you boat is a retired Austrian chef. Meals were hefty, and the people were wonderful. I really couldn't have asked for anything more.

Finally arriving in South America.  Booyah!!

Life is tough.

It's always nice to be in a new place, but Colombia is effing awesome. It reminds me a lot of Mexico. There are friendly strangers at every street corner, delicious street food, and amazing colonial history all around. Cartagena was once the entrance point for the entire Spanish Empire to all of South America. So, as you can imagine it was well protected. Around the old town, there's a twenty foot high wall for protection. And on the highest hill there's a massive fort (or castle if you're European.) Today the fort serves as a tourist attraction, but it's still pretty damn fun to walk around. There are not only amazing views of the city, but also dark ominous halls to explore on the inside. Also known as Disneyland for the cheap and mildly retarded American traveler. Walking hunchbacked down some pitch black historical maze can be a lot more fun than you'd think. Afterwards, I drank some beers on the relic walls with my newfound friends from the sailing trip. It really was a perfect travel day. Sometimes I love being a tourist.

Looks like I've got a boner...

Fortress of San Felipe de Barajas

Today was kind of a different story. After a full day of running around, I finally have La Chupacabra back to me. Unloading her today was pretty fun, since of course neither BJ, Ian, or I know how to listen. We were told to wear long pants and shoes when running around town, but it's pretty hot and were told the same thing in Panama and it didn't matter. So, when it came time for inspection, we had only a pair of pants and shoes between all of us. I had the shoes, so BJ traded me his pants and only I was allowed into the unloading dock. After a good walk, it was a nice sight to see the container. After it was opened I remembered the original problem: you can't get inside the container since the truck is so damn big. So after crawling under the truck and hopping in through the window, I finally freed Bertha. Next were the bikes. It was awesome to be back in the saddle, even if it was only for a minute to move it out of the way. A long while later, all the vehicles had been liberated, and I couldn't have happier to drive on some pretty fucked up one way streets with some other fellow motorcyclists and nutty taxis. Now that I've got my freedom back, I'm eager to hit the highway.

Oh! And I could dedicate a whole blog to this cheesy and bready street food.  Delicious and about 0.30 Cents.