journalcont

Greetings folks. So today is our last day in Ecuador, I will miss Quito. Today we will take a bus to the border town of t�lcan. Then in the early morning we will head to Cali. Night travel is not recommended in Columbia, so we want to arrive during daylight. I hope I have better luck with Colombian women than I did here. We didn't plan on spending half my time in Ecuador, but there was much to do. We are considering exchanging my tickets, so I can fly out of Cartagena. There may not be time to get to Venezuala. I will be back down here anyway, we can see it then. For now that is just a thought. After camping we might just want to stay on the beaches of Columbia. I really wish I had more time down here. Well, time to head to the bus depot. Hablar ma�ana.

7/25

7/28

Hola folks, sorry no update for awhile. It was hard to find a good internet connection at first. We ended up staying in the small town of Popayan for a night on the way to Cali. We arrived in Cali yesterday morning. THIS PLACE ROCKS. So much that we are going to cut an entire country out of the plan. You know that song, "I wish they all could be California girls". Well, the "fornia" part need to go. We heard that the bus route from Bogata to Cartagena is dangerous due to the FARC. Therefore we are going to skip Bogata and fly straight from Cali to Cartagena on Sunday. After all these bus rides a plane will be nice. It will also save a day and a half of bus time. Then I got a flight from Cartegena to Caracus to catch the original flight plan. So I will be in Venezuala for about 11 hours. I might have to go outside just to get the passport stamp. Colombia is alot more tranquil than Ecuador. It is the first time that I have felt more comfortable during the nighttime. There are alot of yahoos out during the day. It is really hard to get used to the prices down here. One dollar is about 2500.00 pesos. So the cash registers freak me out. I love telling John that he owes me ten grand after I buy lunch. We are staying at a really cool family run hostal for 11,000.00 a night. After the mountains, the weather here is nice and hot. Now is the actual vacation part of my trip, the Cartagena beaches will be awsome. Alot of Europeans thought we might have trouble at the border with our American passports. The guy said hello, then told us to make sure we see the women of Cartagena, then said welcome to colombia...STAMP. I think this country has changed alot in the past few years. It is safer here than most of Milwaukee. People in Milwaukee can afford guns. I might live here at some point in my life...after a little espa�ol study. So, all is well and I have not been kidnaped. I will update in a few days. We finally got to sleep more than 5 hours last night(like 13 hours), so this day was kind of pissed away, last night was a fun night at the clubs. We might wander more than 7 blocks from the hostal tomorrow. There is so much to see in this little area though. I am going to update the tidbits section now also. Sucks to be in America...HA HA!! VOTE KERRY!! bye.

Buenos. Last night we checked a few nightclubs. We went to a really cool place that was empty. It was an outdoor club on a hill, with a view of the city, and the mountains the other way. The owners must be complete idiots to be that slow on a Friday night. We didn't find a cool place until 4 am. We never slept past 9am in Ecuador, but as soon as we got to Cali 4am happens so fast. We got some good info last night, so tonite should be more fun. My attitude toward Euros is better here. It takes a certain kind of tourist to come to Colombia. Any yahoo will go to Ecuador. In our hostal we have a Scottish couple, two solo brits, an Israeli, and you'll never guess...a Wisconsin boy. They are all very cool, well the brits drink alittle too much, and if you pass a joint to any european, don't hold your breath. I have never imagined finding a hostal that is this cool. I think that this morning was the first time that I missed home, but that passed. I am so jealous of my roommates. Most of them have been traveling for over a year now, and I only get five weeks. If bush wins the election I might come back down through Mexico. Speaking of Bush, here is an economy update, as I have a new perspective. On tuesday the US dollar was 2770 colombian pesos. thurs=2540. friday=2400. I changed enough money for awhile, so I don't get screwed. So anyone who believes that "around the corner" crap, needs to think again. It was fun watching the Kerry speech with a bunch of Europeans, they could not believe the music and lights. They said it was more like a concert. They just don't have the same type of media that we do. They don't need flashy crap to stay interested. The funny thing is that one of my reasons for comeing down here was to get a new appreciation for the old U.S. of A. But it is having the opposite effect. Anyone want to fund a new bar in Cali for me? Well, I better go, we slept half the day away already. Later on.

7/31

Greetings. Our flight to Cartagena was a breeze. We still wonder while Arnold S. had to go through the jungle in that terrorist movie. The airport was alittle easier. Man, this place is alot more touristy than any of our other cities. You can't sit at the beach for a whole minute without someone trying to sell you something. I found that if I try to sell them my shirt, they either get mad and walk away, or laugh and walk away. It seems like everyone speaks english here, except the attractive girls. The tourist factor is getting expensive, so we might head to an island for some peace and quite. I like the beaches here, but so far Cali was my favorite city. Well, the old town here is really cool, it still has old spanish cannon turrets on the walls. As far as all the crime you here about; They are just con men. Some want you to exchange U.S. dollars, some want to sell you drugs. We just aren't that stupid. Plus, John and I are big guys down here. Today some idiot tried to offer us a 3100:1 money exchange rate (right in front of the bank) Like we would fall for that (banks are 2500-2300) As we walked away toward the bank, the guy grabed my arm. The fact that I got right up is his face scared the shit out of him. He thinks that all tourists are scared little gringos. Well surprise, this gringo is no chump. He left his "post" and I think that I blew a whole day worth of scamming for him. I just stay nice, until they look for weakness. That seems to serve me well. Another funny thing I do is when someone says "hey mon, come here, I speakin da english", I answer, "no. Sprekezdy Deuch". And no, I can't spell in german (sorry sally) They have no answer to that. I have never seen so many people trying to get me to spend my money in one place before. Yo tango, yo tango, no nessesito, no gracias, no, no, no, t� tienes problemas? If we had traveled in the U.S. for 5 weeks like this, we would have been robbed at least once by now. Right across the street from the hostal is a pizza restaurant run by an Italian couple. They are so Ozzy and Sharon. Right down to the hyper dog. You find an Italian that makes coffee in Colombia, and you found one hell of a cup of coffee. And his pizzas are awesome. He also sells cigarretes with some green stuff inside...hmmm, must be a Colombian thing. Well this might be the last entry, but I might be wrong. We are just being beach bums for the moment, so not much to report. Speaking of the beach....bye.

8/4