Colombian coffee???

We take for granted in the states that one of colombia's biggest exports is coffee. Well, that and emeralds are their two biggest exports. But in my little bit of research before coming down here, everywhere i saw said not to expect anything spectacular coffee wise. They simply export all of their choice beans to us here in the states to have anything worthwhile left over for domestic consumption.

We went to a really fancy looking place for hopefully coffee and dessert tonight. I had a drink. Danielle ordered coffee. She was served a cup, a bowl of Folgers and a pot of hot water. At one of the nicest places. She made a big squawk about it and sent it back, demanding real coffee not instant. I could already predict, she'd be getting instant again, just premixed with water.


Which she did. Again, just because colombia's known for its coffee in the US does not mean they've got great coffee there. It just means they sell us their good coffee, and that's all.


Meanwhile, I got myself a safari type hat. I dunno. The sweatband inside of it prevents sweat from dripping from my face into my eyes. And i think during the day time, it'll provide ample protection from the sun.


And at night? I can look a little more mysterious wandering the streets and alleys of Cartagena.

Everything I now know, before I've gone

This last week has been a crash course in learning about Colombia in general, Cartagena in particular. Here's some of the highlights:

* There are essentially 3 types of beer to drink there. All three are made by the same company.

* Pretty much the only liquor that people drink is rum. Straight up rum.

* Colombians don't use seasoning on their foods. I expect mild and bland for the most part. I will be there for giant ant eating season though. Not sure how i feel about that.

* The water in the mountainous regions is some of the purest you'll ever find. Unless you're in an area where they were processing coca, in which case, expect gasoline, kerosene and many other nasty's in it.

* The water along the coast (where I'll be) is essentially undrinkable without boiling it. That means no icecubes. And not eating the skins of any fruits, as it may have been washed off with contaminants.

* Scammers abound everywhere.

* Cartagena is just about one of the oldest cities in the Americas. Though christopher colombus never stepped foot on colombian soil, it's still named after him, and it was (I think) his first officer who actually made it to shore.

* Colombia's estimated to have 90% of the worlds emeralds.

* On exiting the country, the odds of having your intestines x-rayed is quite high. Drug smugglers and all.

I'm sure there are other tidbits of trivia I've learned, but I'm failing to remember now.

Learning about Colombia.

I have no idea what i'm doing. All i know about Cartagena is that that's where Joan Wilder and Jack T. Colton ended up in Romancing the Stone.

Except it wasn't. See, Colombia was too dangerous in the 80's for Hollywood to send actors and filming crews there. So instead, the Cartagena scenes were filmed in Vera Cruz, Mexico (I believe - i just googled it today). So, even the little impression i had of the city - it's out the window.

So to help me figure out my way over the next 6 days as I prepare for the outting, i got a travel guide. Better than nothing, though Cartagena only occupies 14 pages of the book. Better than nothing, I suppose. Though, I'll probably end up ordering something from Amazon with expedited shipping, just to have something else to review before getting on the plane.



(Since Romancing the Stone was pure fiction and not even filmed where they purported to be, this book is now all that I know of my impending travel.)

I needed a vacation

I've lived in Florida for 5 or 6 years now, and have never gotten around to taking vacation here. I mean, I live here, so there's not much i can think to do that I couldn't do anyways. Usually, then, I use my vacation time to go home to Massachusetts, and see family and old friends.

Enter now.

I just went back to Mass a couple weeks ago for family reasons, and let me tell you - brutally cold. No need for that. So much so that my friend Danielle wants to come down here for a bit instead. So she's coming down, for enough days that I figured I should take some vacation time. And then, almost as soon as i requested my off days, it hit me - I really don't want to spend my valuable paid time off to sit around Florida. I mean, sure I could sit by the pool. Or go to Disney. Or Key West. Or South Beach. Or any other touristy thing to do in Florida, but in the end, it's all the same place.

First instinct was to go to the Bahamas. I mean, it's nice, safe, and would still mean I'd get a new stamp on my passport. But after looking at all the deals there, really, all the trip would be would be sitting by the pool, drinking a log, gambling perhaps, and floating around in the ocean. In otherwords, boring.

So i started looking where else Spirit Air flies (they have dirt cheap flights). And then I got to thinking. So i called Danielle. I think. The conversation may have taken place over text message, actually. But in the end, a new decision was made. Cartagena, Colombia, here we come!