Our plan when we arrived in early December at the airport in Cartagena was to take the public bus down to the old section to our hostel. Timing was on our side because outside on the main road we found a bus stop, just before a bus arrived. However, the bus driver would not let us on because even though we had Colombian pesos to pay the fare, we needed a preloaded card to scan entry. So off the bus we went.
We wandered into a convenience store about a block away hoping they sold the cards but they didn’t. And that was when I started to fall in love with Colombia. The person at the cash register spoke English so he got on the intercom saying a bunch of words in Spanish that meant nothing to us except for one I clearly understood, gringos. He then turned over his register to the person he had called out too and walked us out the door in search of the elusive bus card.
After a few attempts he found an entrepreneurial woman down the street that amongst selling various wares (all legal and with clothes on), sold us use of her bus card at the standard rate. The clerk then stood with us for another 10 minutes, waiting for our bus to scan the card and send us on our way. And oh by the way, that first bus we tried to get on, was going the opposite direction to where we wanted to go.
Today was probably my lowest point of my trip so far. I recently split with my travel partner and yesterday got the depressing and very hard hitting realization that I may not be 29 anymore. Also, this is the first Spanish speaking country that I’ve found such a huge hindrance in not being able to speak the language. So this morning I hastily changed plans to attend Spanish school next week which meant I would skip a couple places in this area that I wanted to visit. One spending more time in a national park and the other a popular jungle mountain town.
I’m currently in Taganga on the Caribbean coast northeast of Cartagena. The town is known for their sunsets so every night people congregate on the beach front or the hilly pathways and overlooks that skirt the edge of town. This evening I just went and sat on the concrete benches above the beach. While there I started talking with a Colombian man and woman born and raised in the area that spoke English, and both around 29. By the end of the conversation, besides local recommendations for what to see, I was offered introductions to people in the mountain town I was gonna skip (one fondly called the mayor by friends) and requests to join if I stayed to explore that area.
As we were finishing up our conversation, a homeless man came up to us but rather than just begging for money, he had something in his hand to sell. As usual and probably even more so because I was in conversation, I ignored him. But unlike the usual, this guy didn’t just pull away, he seemed to reinforce to me what he had in his hand, that is when I noticed a little bronze bicycle. As most of you know, I might be a little into cycling. But, still ignored him or said no gracias and definitely showed no interest in what he had in his hand.
Later that evening I was eating dinner outside at a restaurant and the same homeless guy came up to me and in a nice way was almost forcing me to realize, dude it’s a bicycle as if he knew my connection and that was the one and only thing that I needed. It is a bicycle he made by bending a coat hanger and I gotta say it looks very cool. But more importantly I look at it as a sign (second one this trip by the way) that says everything is good. LFG!!!
Stories about our first couple weeks in Colombia coming soon. Stay tuned.
Life is Good!
Love this Jordan! Have to see the bicycle. Enjoy the trip and getting out of the bubble, know you’ll have a blast!