The return to the states.

I had quite a few pesos left before we left, so during my last hour of the city, i did end up handing out quite a bit of money to beggars on the streets. I mean, they’re pointing to their change cups asking for a few coins, and I know that even a few coins won’t really buy you anything, so rather just giving than the 100 or 500 pesos they were asking for, I ended up giving them 10,000 or so, just whatever ended up in my hand. I mean, it’s $5.00 to me, but it’s several days of sustinance to them. I guess it’s my way of showing them some American good will

Back at the hotel, besides the guys and girls that worked the front desk, there were 3 members of the staff who did everything. I mean, the same guy that carries your bags up the stairs, also cleans your room, cleans the floor of the hotel every day with a toothbrush, goes out on the street to buy fresh fruit for breakfast, makes your breakfast, serves it and everything else that makes your stay enjoyable. So i ended up finding out how much the ride to the airport would be, and dividing the remainder of my funds among those 3. I found the minimum wage in Colombia, and assuming that’s what they make, each got bonus of 2 weeks salary from me. Again, they made the visit that much better and again, it’s not THAT much to me, but to see their smiles like “oh my god, i hit the jackpot” was completely worth it.

We got to the airport and got in line. Spirit prepays your exit tax for you of $75.00, so they give you a coupon to present. Every bag that leaves gets either hand inspected or x-rayed. And there’s dogs sniffing everything. Ours were x-rayed. No worries, I don’t theink the authorities are too worried about the counterfeit poloshirt i bought, nor the faux rolex i stuffed into my carry on.

But you’re searched MANY times on the way out. First through the metal detector. Then a patdown that basically inspects every seam of your clothing. The a bag check. I had to turn on my laptop for them to verify it works and isn’t just a container to smuggle drugs out. And then, once you’re through all that, you still get a thorough pat down once more before you board the plane. I figure the number of times you do it and the number of different people who do is Colombia’s attempt to make sure no one subverts their security. And i’d wager that for all the drugs that leave colombia to the states, practically none of them travel through the airports.

And i’d say the US pretty much thinks they do a good job. Once we got to baggage claim, yes, there were dogs running around smelling everything, but i didn’t note anyone having their stuff gone through. It’s just like “well, colombia already did their thing, so we can’t be more thorough than they already were”.

So.

That’s that. I’ll post a few more pictures in a bit. But this concludes the most of the events of the trip. Again, fascinating experience. Would love to go back, and probably will. But I feel like my next extended outting will have to be somewhere else. Somewhere more exciting.

One thing I’m taking away from this is how valuable it is to know the local language. So just as soon as i figure out where my next destination will be, I’m going to commit myself to learning at least a little bit of the language there. At this point, I’m assuming it’ll be Arabic, as the middle east is a venue that’ll be sure to provide some excitement even a year from now…