Pause in Transmission

Oh you knew it was going to happen.

I cant be bothered talking about my journey through the rest of Columbia.

I went to Medellín, the transport wasn't free, I saw the two doves of peace by Botero, I saw nine Irish men make irish stew with hash in it and then watch Hotel Rwanda (why would you do that stoned? Why?).

I went to Santa Fe in Antiquoa and was beaten by the heat and the hotels that wouldnt let anyone swim in their pools. I managed not to trip over any of the many, many men with machine guns that were stationed around this sleepy market-town´s square.

I went to Bogota and stayed in La Candelaria which is small and cobblestoned in part and covered in stencils just like Fitzroy and had friendly people and a cobbler who fixed two pairs of shoes for me*. I also wandered into a European film festival and found myself watching a german film from 1954 about... a bridge... or some freedom fighters from Belarus... or Yukoslavia...or somewhere and something about Germans and "tife" which I only worked out afterwards was typhoid. And then I watched an impossibly french film called "The Page Turner" which I would advise no one to ever watch unless drunk or stoned. Those irish from Medellín are probably hiring it right now.

And I went up another teleferica and realised that there were miles and miles and miles of Bogota that I would never know and probably it was better that way.

And then I travelled for four days straight to wind up in Ecuador where I'm now. In the mountains. It is high up. And cold. It rains every day. There are Indians. And markets. I have bargained and purchased unnecessary things. The beer comes in one litre bottles but the money is all American dollars so suddenly I'm not a millionaire anymore.

Tomorrow I'm off to Quito, hopefully to not get robbed or pickpocketed. I have already had my bag searched and aired my dirty undies in the customs office.

For desperate picture loving losers out there, check out this rather good flikr site for photos somewhat relevant to some of my observations:

Katie's Flikr Site

Soon I will unleash my "El Sabor de la Sandia" photo on this blog. Soon.

*that link includes a picture of the hostal that I stayed in, too, although I never went up that staircase and the hostal was mainly cold, dark and damp. Ah well.