Bogota, Cartagena and Carnival

Lets begin this one with a little street fight.

What has been going through my mind lately since everything hit the fan, getting my things stolen. I tried to remain in a positive state not letting myself feel angry over the whole affair.

i know better... i should just process it as it comes... but i had so much energy built up towards going away up to the coast, writing, working out, meditating just living and being happy, that i didnt want to see any darkness at the time.

well it seems that if you hide the darkness inside yourself it has a funny ways of popping up and saying hi.

decided to take a break with everything and head up for Carnival... pictures will come later when i can find an internet cafe... they are not popular in this area.

a break with everything, have some drinks and chill out... fighting with myself over that since i made an oath to not drink... and lately i couldnt figure out a good enough reason to hold on to it.

drank a bit and went out with some friends... lots of tenssion was built up.

I had a friend a few days before tell me that i need to release this built up anger and rage. visualize and then let it out in a physical manner, like a punching bag or going for a run.

im thinking to myself have i really gone that far in the opposite direction since my meditation in nepal... mind you that was a long time ago and i havent really kept up with my mental work outs...

so... actually having a good time met up with some new people and a english teacher from the hostel, which was also teaching me spanish. and went out, the english teacher and his friend disapeared for a while, when they came back they seemed more energetic... haha right Nick the english teach, a couple inches taller then me, fairly fit, thin blonde hair... tells me that he just fought his friend in the street... which is when i enquired if they were alright and what happened... well it turns out that they just wanted to let loose and see what would happen...

oh... haha well i thought without really thinking it through that it was a brillant idea, so we got a friend to make sure we didnt really hurt each other too bad and a safe word... the best one we could think of at the time was FUCKING STOP!

Dancing around on our toes with our fists up... circling each other in a half drunk boxing pose... he misses as i jump back, i come in... crack... first hit... missed thought, hes going to have a sore neck tomorrow...(i should mention that i wasnt hitting with full strength)  dancing around some more... opening... crack... jaw...nicely done Tyler .... oh... Nick goes side  step side step topple.... cement!

i think... oh shit! run over to him and help him to his feet.... he asked what happened... as he regains his balance. next thing you know... our friend that is making sure that we dont kill each other wants a go...
this one didnt last long... i give him a quick jab to the head... mentions that im faster then i look when some security guards came around the corner and we acted like nothing was going on... could have been straight out of a movie... scratch the back of your head and look up at the stars...

Next night went out with a bunch of people from the hostel, J and Felix the Cat as well as a couple Isrealis that were down for vacation, dancing drinking... and for some of the others some white powder in the bathroom.. dont worry i have never touched the stuff.

after the party ended we decided that we still wanted to go out. driving around in a small taxi, J is talking to the guy in spanish trying to find a place to go... we drive around one corner... and what a sight to see its a marachi band full on costumes and insturments... at 3 am ... in a dark alley...
they go up to The cat and ask him in spanish if he wants some marachi which he replies... no thanks im gay.... i teared up i laughed so hard... on the other side of the cab the isreali girl was shouting PLAY THE HORN PLAY THE HORN... obviously they were asking if he wanted some coke... but that reply was priceless.

so we end up going to an underground club... they have radios to watch out for police and unlock the door when its safe... quite the set up actually... only problem was it was a flamming gay bar... but the music was good and we danced all night... we were all grabbed and proded like cattle but... telling them that we werent interested seemed to work.


a day later im heading to Cartagena with J an american traveling doctor. im not going to get into a lot of detail right now cause we were there for a week, but i will highlight some details for you.

in the old city, walled city, quite beautiful actually it seems like there are no normal bars... ah they look normal and they sound normal and they give you normal drinks, there are lots of pretty girls in Colombia as it is... but if you pay close attention yes, it is true they will talk to you and be friendly but they are going to need some exchange of money for their time.

Now this kinda reminds me of that song from cage the elephant,  

  what made you live this kinda life

 aint no rest for the wicked, money dont grow on trees, 

i got bills to pay i got mouths to feed

 and nothing in this worlds for free.

Actually sat down with one of them and had a normal conversation, what i found out is that working a normal job without education they make absolutely fuck all for money... barely enough to feed themself let alone anyone else... and the ratio of single monthers here is stupidly high... so a lot of them have kids and need a way to support themselves. A lot of them just dont have a lot of choice, they do what they have to to live and ... or should i say survive. 

after a couple days of non stop drinking... yay for doing the complete opposite of what i planned to. 

get a message from felix said he was staying in Barrenquilla and that he had a place to stay for cheap if we wanted to join... Barrenquilla is where the carnival was taking place and its also where there are no accomidations from months before.

So, me and J go to the bus station, and show the address of where we are going...

They freaked! Do NOT  go there!!  are you crazy you are going to die!

apparnetly The Cat was staying at a cheap hotel room pay by the hour in a part of the city where not even police are allowed to go into. The people at the bus station were so convincing we decided not to go... 

When i called The cat later and told him what area he was in he replied    i know....

Anyways J made friends with one of them girls from a club in  Cartagena... and it was her birthday so we rounded up a cake, some friends and party hats and decided to go and see her cause she had to work on her birthday. 

We got there and they looked well more then surprised but she was quite happy with it, they even through on happy birthday music and turned off the dance for a while. 

after a drink i danced on the stripper pole for a minute... which seemed to give me a lot of attention and we left back to the hostel cause they had a party going on there... but i think that J really made her day.

after that a man J had met the night before gave him some Stuff... to try and if he liked it to buy some... 

not a good idea though, it was set up ... the other dealer told him that he had to buy all of it and if he wouldnt... he would be found and delt with.

things were getting pretty heated in the street... J had lived here for over 3 years and wasnt about to take this garbage... but 10 feet back i could see 6 guys in view that were with the deal and aother with his hand on something on his belt on his back maybe a gun... it is colombia... i gave J some money and we called it even with the dealer just to defuse the situation

Then it was carnival day... headed in with a few people from the hostel... was suppose to meet a canadian girl there cause she was on a different bus... she called me from the street a couple times but the phone that i bought is having issues... only rings once and goes to missed call. 

the parade was so cool, its was super hot out and people were cheering and spraying people with foam and throwing handfuls of flour long with water ... quite messy but fun.

The costumes in the parade were outstanding, a lot of fun!  girls dressed in feathered head dresses, guys dressed as monsters...they even had a predator custom.... and for some reason some guy was dressed as hitler ... not sure how to take that one... the parade was lots of fun, couldnt find a place to stand close to it so i will have to crop photos and hope they turn out alright from my replacement camera. 

afterwards I had dinner with a couple Aussies i had met... which were all very indecisive they decided to catch a bus back at 6... but that was too early... and i hadnt heard from my canadian friend so i waited... missed my last bus but ... there was one at 5 in the morning ... and its carival... 

i met up with the Cat...

he told me in an email that he moved out of that dangerous place because there was ... too many little children with knives and guns... which is true that area has 12 year old gangsters that will stab you for drugs... 

so he told me there was a cheap place to drink at a strip club near where he was living... turned out it was an actual legit strip club, no touching the girls, cant take the girls home, there was cheap beer and the girls dont strip all the way!

this may not sound good to some of the guys that think... they dont strip all the way...?  this place is crazy, relaxing a little sounded good, no prositutes seaching for your money sounded good as well..

The girls were gorgeous in there and since it was a local place my friend the cat and i had a lot of attention from them... and then The cats friend came by... the only reason the cat wasnt skinned and made into a purse by 12 year olds with the knives and guys was because of this guy... it was easy to see that he was a gangster... that rarely blinked.

anyways... the guy made me feel uneasy but i got the feeling that if i stayed on his good side... 

the girls didnt speak much english... well none really and my spanish is not really at a conversational level... 

so felix got a couple of the girls to join us for a drink after their shift was done. 

well turned out that only one girl wanted to join us... 3 am the girls had been dancing all night and were ready for bed. understandably 

so we got a bottle of rum and headed back to the cats appartment ... right... the better place... uh huh...

heading up the starts the cat starts giggling... 

let me paint a picture of what he new better place looked like... 

front door... doesnt close... no other doors in the place, the only furniture is a room with two beds and another room with a matress on the floor, there is no glass in the windows, he had to find a light bulb from god knows where cause the rest were missing, there was no running water but a hose that came over the wall and the toilet seat was missing... a man and his son were staying in one room and a random guy was in the cats bed... 

hahaha wow wtf right...

anyways its about 4 am... next bus leaves at 5... we have this stripper back she looks surpised but wants to stay... the creepy gangster guy is feeding her shots even when she is saying no... it was quite obvious that she was interested in me and my friend and not this guy but i think he got a little jealous .... the idea was a 4 some that im not sure if she actually agreed to but this is what i was told ... and yeah so not my thing... we drank talked for a bit and by the time 5 hit i was out the door and in a cab to catch my bus back to Cartegena GOOD RIDDANCE.... i said a few choice words to the gangster before i left... even though he had an intense look and didnt blink i dont think he was really all there... 

there is a brief rendition on what has been happening lately... go Colombia!

unedited and raw... hold nothing back and there you have it...