A Chance to be a Kid Again

Most of you would say that I am still a kid so the title of this entry is quite misleading, but my latest trip to Medellin really gave me the chance to let that little girl inside of me bust out and play. It is a fantastic city located more or less in between Cartagena and Bogota and is known as the city of eternal spring because the weather there is so nice. It is clean, big, and friendly, filled with museums and parks. I loved it.

To begin with they have a metro that runs clear across the city and also cable cars that run off it up the mountains surrounding the city making the city accessible to all. We spent one whole morning just riding around the city in them.

Lindsey, Iveth, and Josa Angel on the Metro

MetroCable

They have the sweetest interactive museums and I have sworn to find a job there as a bilingual guide if I ever have the chance to live in Medellin.

Rock climbing at the Parque Explora

Bubbles!

We also took the opportunity to just have fun, play mini golf and ride the ferris wheel in the mall.

Iveth rockin' the mini golf equipment

I found a little car...

...and Jose Angel found some swings

There was also the sweetest park called the Barefoot Park that had fountains, a forest, and a huge sandbox all for people to play in. I took off my shoes and really got into it (not surprising since shoes and I don't really get along) but I have no pictures from that because it was dark by the time we found it.

It is a beautiful place and I highly recommend a trip there. It is well worth it. Definitely my second favorite city in Colombia.

The City of the Bikes

Bienvenidos a Mompos

Meg and I decided we needed a vacation from our constant vacationing, so we headed out for a relaxing weekend in Mompox, a sleepy town a few hours southeast of Cartagena. Honestly, the most exciting part of the trip was getting there and back (although back was much more entertaining because we were accompanied by a British man who spoke no Spanish, but definitely spoke his fair share of English, if you catch my drift...)

It is a nice town on the banks of a river (requiring a ferry ride to reach). We really didn't find much to do there, so we mostly ate and read. Not a bad weekend if you ask me. One interesting thing I found was that there were hardly any cars there; most everyone chose bicycles or motocycles as their mode of transportation. Megan and I indulged ourselves in a moto ride one afternoon, and our new friend took us all over the town, pointing out the highlights (like, "Here is a church. Here is another church. Here you can buy cheese. Here is church.")

We also took a boat ride up the river. Since it is not high tourist season right now we ended up being the only people on the boat ride with our guide, a friendly man who loved to point out all the wildlife and share all of his knowledge about the river (and so naturally we ended up talking about politics and the upcoming presidential election and the changes that need to be made in Colombia. An excellent conversation.) Basically, we got to see a zoo-full of animals, but with no bars, no glass, and no protection from flying poop...

King Fisher

Iguana

(We saw too many of these for my liking.)

Our guide and a flock of birds he scared out of the tree for us.

Monkeys!

(Yes, poop throwing was attempted.)

Cow

(Never a complete trip in Colombia without a cow.)

Just beautiful.

Beautiful Cartagena

Being the English Assistant at the University of Cartagena has given me some amazing opportunities already. I have met all the head honchos and they have all offered me their services whenever I need it. The rector of the university gave me the best gift: when he found out I wanted to go up the school's tower he called the security guard to personally escort me to the very top to see the most beautiful view of Cartagena. It was fabulous! Here are a few pictures:

First we had to go up this really sketchy stairway...

The inside of the tower is beautiful! I love the windows and the floor.

This is the university from above. Gorgeous!

I live between the tall buildings in the back. Everyday I walk from there to here. It looks a lot farther than it really is. It is beautiful!

The mountain in the background here is called La Popa. This is the highest point in Cartagena and is one of those points that helps you figure out where you are. You can see it from almost anywhere. On the very tip, there is a church, but I don't think you can really see it in this picture.



Beautiful views, eh?