Part 104 - Alina, Colombia

Alina isn't a place in Colombia, it's actually the name of a person - a very sweet and lovely person - that I met in Bolivia way back in episode 33. 

Unfortunately for her, the only flights from La Paz to Colombia leave in the middle of the night, but luckily we were staying for a few nights with my new Colombian family (well, actually they're not new, since I've been talking about them since November). Instead of a nap, however, she dived straight into some work. 

This is what happens when you have a job that is actually important!

Meanwhile, I was downstairs learning how to cook Hugo's world famous hamburguesas. It involved rather more equipment and elbow grease than I expected. 

 

Although I'd been back in November, Commun 13 is always worth a visit, for the views, history, and general cool vibe. There's also lots of really cool graffiti (all with backstories that I've already forgotten).

Aping the Ape

Commun 13

Commun 13 at night

Hugo and Stella also took us out for the day to the hills outside Medellin. As well as visiting the town of Santa Helena, we also visited the lovely Parque Arvi. They insisted we jump on the cable car, and I was quite surprised when it took us all the way back to Medellín. Not sure why we took the car to be honest, but it did allow us to visit a couple of other parks and places of interest.

View from the cable car

Stella, me, Alina, and Señor Listo

We also hopped on bikes for a cycle tour, which was fraught with difficulty, not least because Alina hadn't ridden a bike with gears before, and the guide was quite happy to guide us through the middle of heavy traffic. Still, I got to see parts of Medellín I'd never seen before, despite being here for 3 months.

Some photos are best left blurry

One of many sculptures by Fernando Botero dotted around Medellín (the cat thing in the middle)

We also visited a karaoke bar where Alina and I massacred some songs, but I'll spare you the videos of that caterwauling. 

Anyway, we decided that at 25c, the weather wasn't warm enough, so we hopped on a plane to Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast, where the temperature was a much more manageable 40c. So hot, in fact, that we spent a day just lying around the pool and making full use of the aircon (Alina's not really one for the heat, living 4,000m above sea level). 

If you want to see me in my swimsuit, you'll have to subscribe to my Only Fans page

There was also a mad festival / carnival going on in a nearby city, Barranquilla, so we hopped on a bus and spent the time trying to find some shade. We also met up with friends of Ali's who were very friendly - even when I was rifling through one of the their bags and chucking stuff out (thinking it was Alina's). All very embarrassing, but still, I managed to practice saying "sorry" in a thousand different ways in Spanish, English, and Spanglish. 

One the few times when my tiger shirt wasn't the most garish item of clothing on display!

The festival itself was pretty crazy. Basically a big piss-up that went on until dawn the next day. Some of the costumes were very impressive, as were the troop of ladies walking down the street balancing a bottle of the local firewater (aguardiente) on their heads...

Except not for us, because the last bus back to Santa Marta left pretty early. And indeed, we managed to miss that as well, but after some complex negotiations between a bus driver and Alina (in Spanish, so no idea what was said), suddenly we were winging our way back to air conditioning.

Our final leg of the trip took us up to the mountains to a town called Minca where it what it lacked in 40c heat, it made up for by having an incredible amount of annoying insects! 

 

And that was that. Sadly, it was time for the delightful Alina to return to Bolivia and me to Medellín, but I hope we can get meet up again one day soon.