Tuesday, June 24 - Sunday, June 29
After a nine hour bus ride from Bogota to Medellin, I called Andres, my next couchsurfer to make sure he was home. After I spoke to him I took a taxi to his house, and all went quite smooth (Tuesday, June 24). Once I did a little laundry and got settled in, we caught a bus to catch the metro, and eventually we made it to the fix it shop where his truck was getting fixed. He is a tire salesman so, from there we checked out some tourist sites, and he also dropped me by about 6 different tire places around the town of 2.5 million people. It was good because I got to see a lot of the city this way...so beautiful with the mountains surrounding the city! Andres doesnt really speak any English at all, so it is good practice for me while staying with him. Most all the other couchsurfers were able to speak english, so I didnt get as much practice in.
One of the days while in Medellin, I decided to make my way to El PEÑOL. It is a small city that has a huge 200M-high granite monolith that rises straight up from the banks of the lake. Then you climb up 649 steps to see an unbelievable view from the top. I left at about 745 am, and it took me about two hours to get there. It was definitely well worth the trip, and while I was on the hike up this thing I started conversating with two girls from Colombia. One spoke a few words of English, but the other one didnt. They were two very nice girls from Bogota and Cartagena, and after we were all done, they invited me to come with them and their friends to this small town nearby called Guatape. All six of us piled into their small car, and went on a 20 minute car ride to this town where we hopped on this boat that took us around this lake. It was fun to hang around all of them because I got lots of practice with my Spanish. After we got done with the boat it was about 430 pm and a guy on this bus yelled out that this bus was leaving to Medellin...so, I said goodbye to them all and caught the bus back to Medellin. I arrived back about 730 pm, so it was a long day. The only problem I had was that I didnt have keys to the couchsurfers place that I was staying at, and he was gone when I returned. I just sat there for about a half hour because it was raining and I didnt want to go out in the rain to try calling him. Fortunately, one of his neighbors was kind enough to let me into his place to hang out, and he borrowed me his phone to call Andres. I ended up hanging out at his neighbors house for about an hour until he returned home. It was good once again though because I was able to practice some more Spanish with his neighbor, and he was an awesome guy!!
After spending four nights with couchsurfer Andres I moved on to couchsurfers Sheena and Sean´s place for one night before I caught a night bus to Cali on Sunday, June 29. When I arrived Sheena and Sean's place I went to the store to buy something cheap to eat to last me the two days I was there. I ended up buying 30 eggs for about $2 and ate them within a two day time period, and that was all I ate. Not sure if that is good or not, but it seemed to satisfy the needs. I also ended up buying my usual things that I purchase for my long bus rides (couple cans of tuna with bread, and my cookies, and some sort of candy). It was nice during my stay in Medellin because it was quite relaxing. I spent one full day of seeing all the sites, and a couple days it rained, so it was nice to stay inside and study some spanish. Sometimes it feels tiring because I am always on the go to check out the sites.
I arrived Cali at 8 am on Monday the 30th after a 9 hour bus ride from Medellin at left at 11 pm. Once I arrived, I called my couchsurfers Karen and Josh to make sure they were home, and they told me to hop another bus to this gas station where they would meet me. After another 35 minutes I had arrived the gas station, and made it to there place. It is great to be in Cali...more to come later...ready to learn some more salsa!!!
