Aug 6, 2017 - Cartagena: fort, museum and farewell dinner

sunday Today's weather was sunny and hot and very muggy. Just like N.J. We boarded the bus at 8:40 for our brief ride to Castillo de San Felipe. Our local guide, Samuel, talked about the fort and the 4 month war. The Castillo was named in honor of the King of Spain, Philip IV. The fort was paid for by the Spanish crown, designed by Italians, and built by the slaves. The fort itself was built on the mainland, while Cartagena was on an island. The size of the fort is misleading. It was constructed on the Hill of San Lázaro from the top down....

Aug 5, 2017 - Cartagena

A very cloudy morning, then sunny in the afternoon. (Some light drizzle once in awhile.) We went down to breakfast at 7:00, and met in the lobby at 8:00 for our walking tour. We were introduced to our local guide, Samuel, and we walked (minus Kippy who was not feeling well) over to Plaza Fernando de Madrid. He did a quick orientation, then we headed down the street. We arrived at the first corner and we stopped. Here Samuel pointed out the four corners. It was here in the old days that separated the neighborhoods into social or economic...

Aug 4, 2017 - Travel day to Cartagena

Since we did not have to leave until 10:00 for our flight, we decided to sleep in. I got up about 7:15 to shower. I decided to skip shaving since there is no hot water at the sink. I then went out to the courtyard to work on the blog, download the Star Ledger, and try to upload a journal entry. Jean came out about 8:15 and we had breakfast. Since we had time, we both requested scrambled eggs, mine with cheese. We also had the toast and fruit. Mostly everyone else had already eaten. The single ladies were just sitting at their table and...

Aug 3, 2017 - Wax Palm Trees and a Hike in the Valley

Sunny & warm again, the streak continues! While Jean was preparing for the day, I sat outside in the courtyard trying to connect to the internet. I was only partially successful. Ron sat outside with me and was reminiscing about some places in New Jersey, such as Pal's Log Cabin, Newark Italian hot dogs, and other places. After breakfast, we departed at 8:00 for our hiking day near Salento. The main roads in this region are in great shape and supply a smooth ride. The region itself is very middle/upper class. The houses and businesses look...

Aug 2, 2017 - A School Visit & A Coffee Plantation

Today was a sunny, hot day. Breakfast at the hacienda is not like the hotels. It is a very small buffet of breads, cereal, and fruit. I had a light breakfast since I was not feeling well. The internet is very slow or nonexistent here at the hacienda. I was able to upload, after a lot of trouble, the Easter Island tour blog that I worked on last night. Couldn't do anything else. We were suppose to start our day at 8:00, but there was a major accident that delayed the bus and our local guide, Alejandro. They arrived by 8:15, and we hit the...

Aug 1, 2017 - Medellin to Pereira

The weather was all over the place today: sunny, overcast, and at Pereira, sunny, hot and muggy. After breakfast, we had a late start today @8:30. Our first stop was at the Santa Fe Mall to see the huge peacock made of flowers. We ascended to the fourth floor in order to be able to the whole creation. This was 3 stories high, and the tail spread on the ground and took up an area that is usually a play are. Back on the bus for our drive to Comuna 13 area of Medellin. Along the route to the area, we saw them setting up the grandstands for the...

Jul 31, 2017 - Guatape

The weather was all over the board today - cloudy, overcast, we drove through fog as we climbed in altitude, and beautiful clear skies at the lake. The breakfast buffet was nice at this hotel. They had good scrambled eggs with ham, an omelet station, tangerine juice, plus all of the regular cheeses, meats, cereal, pastries, etc. The breakfast area was a covered open air restaurant. On the bus at 8:00, our local guide, Julian, talked about his life in relation to what was happening in Medellin. He talked about the unrest, FARC, religion,...

Jul 30, 2017 - Medellin

Weather was cloudy, but no rain. We did breakfast at 6:00 today. Bags out at 6:30 and on bus at 7:00 for our ride to the airport for our flight to Medellin. Diego arranged for a group checkin, all we had to do was wait for him to return our passport with our boarding pass. We had a 9:01 flight today. We arrived in Medellin about 10:00. Diego made sure our luggage was gathered and taken to the bus. We met Julian, who was to be our local guide for Medellin. (The "ll" usually is pronounced as a "y" sound, but when Diego & Julian pronounced...

Jul 29, 2017 - Salt Cathedral

When I looked out the window beforebreakfast, it was raining. By the time we boarded the bus, it had stopped, but was overcast. Later in the day it was sunny. Diego wanted us to be among the first at the salt cathedral when it opened at 9:00. So, we left the hotel after breakfast at 7:30. Our bus is nice. It holds 21, and there are only 12 on the tour, and only 10 of us took this optional trip to the Sat Cathedral in Zipaquira. So, we could spread out and be comfortable. However, it could use new shocks. It was a very bumpy ride until after...

Jul 28, 2017 - Exploring Bogata & Monserrate

We had the breakfast buffet in the courtyard just below our room. It was ok. It had an omelet station if you desired one. Then at 9:00 we had our orientation meeting. We met in the lobby because our guide did not know what conference room would be available. Our assigned room was on the fourth floor. This is the floor which you have to climb a spiral staircase because the elevator only goes to the third floor in this section of the hotel. We walked through a bar/restaurant area and up a few steps to get to our "conference" room. Our room...

Jul 27, 2017 - Travel day to Bogota

We got up at 4:00 to shower and shave. We had to have our bags out by 5:00 am, and be in the lobby at 5:30 to leave for the airport. We went down a little before 5:00 to the continental breakfast. It was juice, tea/coffee, with breads and some pastries. We ate and returned to the room to refresh and for our backpacks. We left about 5:25, and the morning was not as chilly as previous days, but the skies were cloudy. We made good time to the airport as there was very little traffic on the road at that hour. At the airport, Juan & Wendy took...

Apr 18, 2017 - A Life You Will Remember

During my cross country road trip, I saw a couple of my old childhood friends. I don't have many friends, but the ones I have and actually care about, I tend to make an effort to keep in touch with them. Anyways, these two guys both had little babies - one a one-year-old and the other a three-month-old. This made me stop for a bit and question where I am and where I'm going. I want to have a wife and family too. The whole teach English in Chile thing, I don't see a long-term career in that, it's still along the lines of do what you want to...