Afterwards we walked around a little bit more in the city, and then caught our bus home to relax there. We met Andrea and went out with her, to have dinner at crepes & waffles. This is a really nice restaurant, where one can eat crepes filled with many different things, like stroganof, chicken, beef in different sauces and flavors and it tastes really good ... and at the end, for sure, we needed a big ice cream ;)
The next day, Carol and me again did some sightseeing. First we took the metro to get to the University of Antioquia. And we were a bit jealous, because in Medellin they have a big big pool in the middle of the university area. From this university we started walking and passed by the point zero in Medellin. This is the point from where all geographical measurements start. For example to measure the distance from Medellin to Bogotá, the distance between their point zeros is measured.
After passing by the point zero, we reached the national university of Medellin (The counterpart of the university we were studying in Bogotá). We walked around, had a little bit to eat, and because of being tired of all the walking this day and the days before we relaxed and lay down in the grass.
This evening I had a meeting with a German friend (Christian, I met him in Bogotá during my first classes of Spanish, I think I also already wrote about him about a year ago) and another German leading the economy faculty at a university in Medellin. That meeting was the trigger to go to Medellin by the way. Christian offered me to come with him to the meeting, and I thought it is a good possibility to get more work contacts in Colombia. And when I told Carol, we decided to go together and make some days of vacations and meet her little sister ;)
The plan was to take a bus home to Bogotá that Tuesday evening, but when I arrived home, there were no more buses driving that late to Bogotá, so we had to go early the next morning. What a bad idea ... During the night one can sleep in the bus, and it does not matter that much to spend the time driving, but during the day it's lost time and it really was awful, because the bus had no or no good air condition, and we had to drive between the two ranges of the Andes. There in the valley it had about 40 degree, there was almost no shadow, no air condition, and then we got into a traffic jam... At least I learned not to drive there again in the bus during the day. But in the end we made it alive to Bogotá that Wednesday evening.
As I told in the second last entry, on Friday ,the 23rd of February started our (Carol's and mine) trip to Medellin... Thus we arrived at about 10 p.m. at the bus terminal in Bogotá, searching for the cheapest bus to Medellin, and found an enterprise taking us for a ride for 30.000 Pesos (converted about 10€). At 10:30 the bus left the terminal an we were excited about our trip, but regardless of that, we slept almost all the ride...
We arrived at about 6:30 in Medellin and Carol's father picked us up and drove us to the flat of his ex-wife and his daughter, Carol's half sister. This was especially why we, particularly Carol, have been excited: She has never met her 11 year old sister before!
It was really early on that Saturday morning, so we all, especially Carol's sister (Andrea) were really sleepy ;) And after the first contact, we went to sleep a little bit more. The apartment was not that big, and had only one bedroom, but Carol and me were "forced" to use it all the stay, and Andrea's mum (Consuela) were sleeping on a mattress in the living room. That day we 4 went at about noon to a shopping mall. I think that is always a little bit more fun for girls than for boys, but it was ok. Only unfortunately I did not find anything nice to buy. In the afternoon then, we met some cousins and aunts and other relatives of Andrea (so also kind of relatives of Carol), and had dinner together. In the evening then, Carol and me went out with one of the cousins to the Parque Lleras, which is like the nightclub district in Medellin. The first pub was kind of loud, and strange, with weird people ... so we went to a Scottish pub and had some Paulaner Weizen there ;) The next day Andrea, Carol and me went to their father's home and had lunch there. He initially wanted to join us and do something together, but sneaked out of that. Thus, we 3 went alone to a shopping center, walked around, and went with Andrea to an amusement park inside the mall (which was kind of an expensive leisure ...).
On Monday Consuela had to work, and Andrea had to go to school, so Carol and me went into the city for a little bit of sightseeing. After finding out which bus to take and after burning my lips with a hot pineapple, we arrived in the city center, where it was really hot. There we walked to the museum of Antioquia (which is a department of Colombia, with Medellin as capital). In front of the museum is a place of Botero, with some statues from his work.
After we got a little bit tired, we made a stop in a nice cafeteria in the middle of the museum. There also my mum called me to the cellphone, and I told her, that Carol and me are now a couple :). This made us really happy, because my mum then also finally knew it, and was ok with it.
After finishing our coffees, we kept on walking through the city center, to get some more impressions, and found a shopping center, which looked more like a palace, not only from the inside, like you can see on the photo to the right, but also from the outside. We walked through a weird park, which had a lot of really long stone spikes on the ground, and then passed by some government buildings to reach our goal, the intelligent building (which is like a museum of modern technical stuff). But unfortunately, the museum was closed that day :( So we just sat down to have another cup of coffee in a cafeteria under some palms ;)
And the rest of our trip I will describe in the next post, in a couple of hours, or a couple of days.
Yes, for everybody who does not know, I am back in Germany since more than a month. So last weekend a gave a "welcome and finished study" party at my house. What to tell about the party ... Everybody who knows my parties, and has not been there this weekend, knows what he/she missed, and the ones who don't know my parties, let's tell you: "You missed something". I did not take a lot of pictures, but at least some, so take a look yourselves.
Finally, after a break of 2 months I find the time to report you some more things about my stay in Colombia. So let's travel back in time almost 2 weeks ... Friday 23rd of February 2007:
Fortunately we noticed that in that week there is a WTA tennis championship in Bogotá! So for sure I wanted to go there (especially because I almost never played tennis here, so at least I wanted to watch some matches...). So Carol an me went to the north north north part of Bogotá to the fancy fancy club "El Rancho" to see the championship (did I mention the club was in the north part of the city ... far away? And that its a really fancy high society jet-set club?)
After arriving, the first what happend was that one of the Italian girls got hurt while playing, but fortunately it seemed to be nothing really serious. Thus we went to watch the match between an Italian and a Czech girl on the other court (there were only 2 were they played). Substitutional for playing tennis, after the match I indulged myself in having an icecream like so often these days ;). The icecream of crepes&waffles is really delicious!!!
Afterwards we went to see a double match, but had to leave after the first set, because that night we also were headed to leave to Medellin, and before we went to meet some friends and deliver them gifts for my parents, because some of them were going to Germany on that weekend...
Besides, there is a lot more to tell (for example about Medellin) and I hope the next days I have the time to write one or more new entries to the blog.
Da steht man morgens extra früh um 7 auf um zur Uni zu gehen, macht sich Frühstück und dann gleich auf den Weg. Kaum auf der Strasse wundert man sich: Heute ist aber wenig los? Dann wartet man 20 Minuten auf den Bus, was sonst keine 5 dauert, ist ein paar Minuten später an der Uni und stellt fest, dass sie geschlossen ist... Da fällt einem ein, achja, in Kolumbien werden die Feiertage der vergangenen Woche immer auf den Montag der nächsten verschoben, also ist heute ja Heilige drei Könige. Aber war normalerweise an Feiertagen die Uni nicht auch auf? Hm, nunja, hier sind momentan ja auch noch Ferien, aber da ist die Uni normalerweise ja auch auf. Nun anscheinend nicht wenn beides zusammenfällt (oder mal Unruhen sind) ... Ganz großes Kino, da hätte ich auch noch weiterschlafen können!
I just uploaded a new bunch of pictures, all about my Christmas vacations. You will find them in the folder vueltas/Xmas_Eve. Altogether there are now 700 photos available. Have fun!
I knew that the decision to spend Xmas and New Year´s Eve in Colombia for sure would also result in celebrating these days in a for me unusual way. But I did not expect this vacations to be like they were and to be that great: My initial plan to spend Christmas in Santa Martha did not work out, but fortunately Carol invited me to her home in Socorro. So first I went to Bucaramanga in the night of the 20th December to visit Pipe and Diego Silva and their family and chill a little bit with them. (The man next to me snored horribly and when he once finished snoring his baby started shouting - great - anyway I got some sleep) So I arrived at the 21th in the early morning to Floridablanca, Bucaramanga
and went to the house of the Silvas. We relaxed that day, played XBox and in the night some rounds of Poker. The next day in the morning I played golf for the first time in my life. Or lets better say I did not really play, more watched and hit the ball sometimes.
The rest of the day I was cruising around with Diego to visit some family members and friends. At the evening we first went to a reunion of his college (with beer and whiskey) and then to a kind of "high-society"-club with Pipe and some friends of his, Juliana and her sister Mari, played bowling there (had more beers) and just talked. The 23rd in the morning the Silvas left to Santa Martha, but I could stay a little while more in their home and then in the evening I met Daniel (my apartment mate). We went to pick up some other friends of ours and then partied into Christmas in a discotheque disco called Mr.Babilla in Bucaramanga with Salsa, Merengueand electronic music until the early hours of the 24th. Because it was already 6:30 in the morning and we did not want to wake up Daniel´s aunt, we decided to sleep in the car for 2 hours. After that unbelievably recreating sleep we then had Flautas for breakfast and Daniel drove me to the bus terminal so I could take the bus to Socorro (This time no crying babies or snoring adults - or I just did not realize it because I was fucking tired).
Arriving in Socorro I was welcomed by Carol and two of her (millions of) cousins, Kati and Laura. We had lunch and yet were on the way to Carol´s aunt´s and uncle´s finca to celebrate Xmas with her family and have a great dinner (buffet). After midnight then we went to the Tercena, a Bar/Disco to party with some other friends. Generally in the evenings we went to the Tercena or other pubs to enjoy ourselves ;).
I don't remember how long we were there the 24th, but I remember really good the next day: at the early afternoon we went to the sports point in Socorro to do rafting. Unfortunately I have no photos of that, but the people from the sports point are going to send me some the next days I will then put into the gallery. But it was really great to feel the power of the water in strong tides and to be shaken around.
The next day we drove in two cars (Carol+cousins+uncles+aunts+me) to the Parque Nacional de Chicamocha, which is more or less a viewpoint in the canyon south of Bucaramanga. From there one really has a great view!
On the 27th we went to the river where we also did the Rafting, to bath in the sun, swim a little and jump off some rocks into the water. And of course ... to eat ... a lot. For the information of my German friends, the people here eat as much as we do during the days of Christmas and New Year´s Eve ;)
For the next day some more action was planned again ;) Carol, Lili, Daniel and me were going to do Rappel (or better, we three without Carol were doing it and Carol was our adorable company). Rappel is about roping down from a big height, in this case from about 80 meters off a cascade, and I can say its really fun, but also scaring at the beginning when you are hanging there in the height of 80 meters at the edge ...
And again, we could not get enough of the action ;) The 29th Juliana and Mari arrived and again we went to the river, but this time to do a kind of bungee jumping from a bridge. Again an exciting experience (only I felt the Guarrapo I had to chug before while swinging around). When I stood at the edge of the bridge I thought, you're crazy jumping off from here. But when the instructor tells you he is now counting to 3 and then you jump, you just do it ... but see yourself (Unfortunately there are existing only photos of my jump and no video, so this is the video of Carol):
That evening we went to San Gil, the next town to go out, but it was a bit weird, because half of the town was without power and we did not really find a nice place to stay. So afterwards we went to a friend´s apartment with bottle of Aguardiente and the evening had a really nice ending. We slept long, were really lazy that day, ate lunch, hung around in the park and in the evening this time I got to bed really early, at least I want to be recovered for New Year´s Eve ;)
The 31th we walked a little bit through the town, but it was really hot so we spent a lot of the time in the house, played grass, and for sure ate a lot. In the evening from about 10 to midnight. The new year then started with a Colombian custom: We took some baggage, money and ran around the block. This shall signify luck with money and a lot of traveling in the just beginning year. After the run Carol and me made the way to the Tercena, to meet other friends, talk, party and dance:
After relaxing on the first day in the new year, including a visit at the finca, on the 2nd Carol, Lili and me went to Curití to do paragliding. Or better I did it and had a great company, but see yourself:
This was the first time I have done this, but again like the other sports we did, it was really great. And when I flew it is really relaxing, I could enjoy the nature, the view, the wind and of course, the flying. But unfortunately I had to leave yesterday in the morning with the bus to Bogotá (This times two babies crying, shouting and vomiting ...). I will always remember this great vacations because of the great time I had, the nice new people I met and my great friends! And big THX to Carol that she invited me!!!
So, mein eigentlicher Plan, Weihnachten und Sylvester in der Karibik zu verbringen ist leider mangels vorhandener Apartements in Santa Martha gescheitert. Dafür hat sich aber eine andere Türe aufgetan... Ich werde jetzt am 21.12. als erstes einmal mit dem Bus nach Bucaramanga fahren und dort bis zum 23. bei Pipe und Diego Silva bleiben. Am 23. morgens brechen die beiden allerdings mit ihrer Familie nach Santa Martha auf, und ich werde wenns klappt den Tag mit einem süßen Mädel verbringen. Abends dann hat mich Daniel (mein Mitbewohner, der auch aus B/manga kommt) auf eine Party eingeladen, wo wir dann beide hingehen und am nächsten Morgen werde ich dann wohl im Halbschlaf am Busterminal antanzen und nach Socorro auf eine Finca von Verwandten meiner Spanischklassenmonitorin Carol fahren und noch ein paar andere Leute dort treffen. Dann geht`s ans Weihnachten feiern. Ob wir dann zwischen Weihnachten und Sylvester auch auf der Finca bleiben oder woanders hinreisen steht noch in den Sternen, jedenfalls werden wir Sylvester auf jeden Fall wieder dort sein mit noch ein paar mehr Leuten... Auf jeden Fall werde ich diese Weihnachten und Sylvester nicht frieren ;) In Socorro hat es an die 30 Grad und B/manga ist nochmal ein Stück wärmer :) Bin dann vom 21. bis Anfang Januar auch nicht zu erreichen, zumindest nicht per Mail. Und euch allen die das hier lesen, schonmal ein frohes Fest und einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr.
PS: Ich bin jetzt gleich auf dem Weg zu meiner ersten Novena, das sind hier Familien-Weihnachtsfeiern wo bei jeder Familie normalerweise eine stattfindet, mit viel Essesn usw. ;)
This Thursday I coincidently met my "model agent" in front of the disco I was going to. Yep, and he lost my mail, that`s why we didn`t have more contact. Don`t believe him and I don`t think this job will work out, but anyway he got me into the disco for free...
Finally new pictures are online. I uploaded the photos of the farewell parties in Germany and another party with Volker and the ones with the Gringos - more pictures with them will follow. Furthermore the fotos of my trip to Bogotá are online as well as the pictures of my trip to Nevado de Tolima. Besides that some pictures of Dirk, Ossi and me are in a new folder in the amigos part. Big thanks to Curt, who redesigned the gallery and built in new features.
Have fun!
PS: If you experience any problems with the gallery it would be nice if you report it to me
Heute schreibe ich euch mal was über das öffentliche Verkehrssystem hier, damit sich die die es nicht kennen die Stadt etwas besser vorstellen können. Also wo fang ich denn mal an: Am besten bei den Bushaltestellen. Ja geben tuts die hier, aber wohl eher um sich beim Regen unterzustellen. Die normalen Busse halten überall wie mans auch von Taxis gewohnt ist einfach wenn man den Arm rausstreckt. Jeder Bus hat vorne seine Linie draufstehen wo er langfährt. Beim Aussteigen ist es ähnlich, man drückt einfach den Knopf im Bus und der hält an und man steigt aus. Sehr praktisch das Ganze, sofern man die Schilder am Bus versteht wo er hinfährt ;) Natürlich sind die Busse dadurch nicht ganz so schnell und man weiss nie wann der richtige Bus für einen vorbeikommt. Ein anderer Vorteil der Busse ist jedoch der Preis: Man zahlt pro fahrt je nach Bus zwischen 1000 und 1200 Pesos(3100-3200 Pesos sind 1€), und zwar egal wie weit man fährt, also kommt man sehr günstig auch durch die Ganze Stadt. Taxis gibts hier auch wie Sand am Meer, wer schonmal z.B. in Istanbul war kann das vl. damit vergleichen. Und auch diese sind für unsere Verhältnisse wahnsinnig billig: der Grundpreis liegt bei 2800 Pesos, womit man auch so etwa 15 Blocks weit kommt, wenn man dann so 80 Blocks fährt zahlt man etwa 10000 Pesos also umgerechnet etwa 3€ für eine Entfernung von ca. 8 oder 10km schätzungsweise. Eine Metro oder Strassenbahn hat Bogotá nicht, dafür aber den Transmilenio, das ist ein Bussystem mit festen Haltestellen, kostet 1300 Pesos und man kann für das Geld auch beliebig oft umsteigen. Diese Busse sind recht schnell, da sie extra eigene Fahrbahnspuren haben, die Buspläne sind jedoch komplizierter als jegliche bisherige Metro- oder ähnliches Pläne die ich gesehen habe. Aber irgendwie kommt man in dieser Stadt immer an sein Ziel...
Heute habe ich mich endlich mal aufgerafft Kleidung kaufen zu gehen, was ich schon seit längerem machen wollte, brauche unbedingt neue Schuhe, ne Jacke und ein Pulli wäre auch nicht schlecht. Nunja, Pulli und Jacke hatte ich endlich mal je eine gefunden die mir gefallen, aber gab's natürlich nicht in meiner Größe. Und wie ich letztens schon festgestellt habe haben die Kolumbianer anscheinend komische Keidergrößen: Fast alle T-Shirts sind mir an den Oberarmen zu eng wenn sie sonst passen, und es ist ja jetzt nicht so dass ich unglaublich muskelbepackt wäre. Nunja, wie auch immer. Hosen habe ich heute auch noch anprobiert, und anscheinend haben kolumbianische Männer dort nichts wo es etwas unangenehm ist wenn die Hose zu eng ist, weil wenn mir eine Hose mal gepasst hat, war das an gewissen Stellen doch recht eng. Nunja, wie auch immer hab ich mir dann 2 Jeans und 3 T-Shirts gekauft(die T-Shirts haben glücklicherweise gut gepasst, die Jeans imerhin noch besser als andere), aber natürlich nicht das was ich eigentlich bräuchte. Dafür war der Einkauf mit umgerechnet ca. 43€ doh recht billig ;) Und nun gerade hat es hier so richtig das Schiffen angefangen, und ich habe jetzt an sich Spanisch Kurs, wenn das allerdings so weiterregnet werde ich den wohl mal ausfallen lassen müssen weil ich nicht wirklich Lust habe mich zu erkälten. Bei dem Regen momentan hilft auch kein Regenschirm, weil man dann eben von unten her nass wird...
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Documentation about me Sebastian, one guy who is also living in my apartement, is studying arts, and therefore he had to make a video and decided to film a documentary about me and my life in Colombia... and there it is:
Letztes Wochenende war hier in Bogotá von Samstag bis Montag Rock al Parque. Ein Open Air Festival im Parque Simon Bolivar mitten in der Stadt. Das Beste daran, es ist kostenlos. Mein Plan war an sich Sonntag und Montag hinzugehen, da es jedoch am Sonntag aus allen Kübeln gegossen hat und niemand mit mir hingehen wollte, habe ich es auch gelassen, den Montag ließ ich mir aber nicht nehmen. Obwohl auch hier wieder keiner mit mir gehen wollte (Die Weicheier mussten entweder lernen, wollten nicht (wesegen auch immer) oder waren das WE nicht da). Nunja, dann bin ich Abends gegen 18:00 losgetingelt, hab den Transmilenio zum Parque Simon Bolivar genommen und war dann gegen 19:30 mitten im Konzert. Die erste Band die ich gesehen habe war Severa Matacera, eine Reggea Band. Also mitten in die Menge gestürzt, getanzt, gepogot. Und danach kam dann er Hauptakt des Konzertes weswegen ich an sich hingegangen bin, Manu Chao. Den Zeitungsberichten zufolge waren ca. 150.000 Menschen bei Manu Chao anwesend, und das hat man auch an der grandiosen Atmosphäre gemerkt. Ich beschreibe am besten gar nicht weiter viel, sondern schaut euch einfach die beiden Videos an, auch wenns da nicht so richtig rauskommt:
Am Ende des Konzertes nachdem ich schon fast überall beim pogen Schläge abbekommen habe dachte ich mir, nunja, biste schlau und gehst schonmal ans Ende der Menschenmasse um dann schneller rauszukommen. Gesagt, getan. Was ich dabei erlebt habe, habe ich allerdings noch auf keinem Konzert gesehen. Meine Idee hatten anscheinend noch etliche andere, so dass schon eine kleine Masse nach hinten geströmt ist. Wenn die Musik allerdings etwas härter wurde, haben plötzlich alle innegehalten und das tanzen oder pogen angefangen und keiner ist mehr gelaufen. Das ging meinen gesamten Weg nach hinten über etwa 2 Lieder so. Als ich dann am Ende allerdings noch einen Schlag in die Weichteile bekommen habe dachte ich mir, naja auch egal, auf die 2 Songs kommts jetzt auch nicht an und bin rausgegangen. Der Weg aussen zurück führte genau am Konzert wieder vorbei, und als ich auf der Höhe der Bühne war, hat Manu Chao angefangen seinen letzten Song zu spielen: King of the Bongo. Da musste ich dann einfach auf der Straße tanzen, man tut ja keinem dabei Weh ;) Ein paar andere sind dann auch mit eingestiegen. Auf dem Rückweg habe ich mir dann ein Taxi geschnappt und auf den 20 Minuten zu meinem apartement hat mich der Taxifahrer dann ausgequetscht wie deutsche Frauen denn so sind, war sehr amüsant :P Bis zum nächsten Mal, haltet die Ohren steif.
After that good and long sleep in the night from Thursday to Friday, having breakfast and packing our stuff it was already kind of late, but fortunately our plan for today was not that extensive. The goal was to get to the altitude of 4000 meters, so we had to walk up about 800 height meters. Most of the way consisted of slippery, slimy and greasy rocks, so one had to take care where to put his foot to not fall down, but fortunately this day almost no roots, only when one had to jump from root to root over muddy areas. It was not that easy and the way was pretty steep, but compared to the day before it was a recovery. Really eye-catching was the change in the appearance of the nature. We were not anymore walking through woods with large trees, but rather the trees were more droughty and kind of bony and also were spread more rarely. Besides that the ground was covered with long, yellowish grass bunches. After a while the trees were replaced by frailejones, the plants you see on some of the pictures with a long bole and a bunch of leafes at the end. Arriving at our goal for that day after about 3,5 hours, we had a great view over a part of the way we walked, and also over the part of the way we have to make on the next day.
After a beautiful sunset, again we unsuccesfully tried to light on a campfire... and went to bed kind of early, because we knew the next day would be more strengthenous and we had to get up at about 4 a.m. But that is the next part of this adventure.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Kolumbianische Fußballgeschichte II
Das andere Spiel ist das legendäre 5:0 über Argentinien (in Argentinien) bei der Qualifikation zur WM 1994 in den USA, welches Kolumbien die Teilnahme an diesem Tunier sicherte.
Ja, im Moment sind die Kolumbianer was ihre Nationalmannschaft angeht eher Leiden gewohnt. Die guten alten Zeiten...
(Auch diese Video leider mit japanischem Kommentar, den Originalkommentar hätte ich gerne gehört)
Und nun könnt Ihr getrost eine Diskussion über Fußball mit einem Kolumbianer anfangen ;)
Kolumbianische Fußballgeschichte I
Es gibt praktisch nur 2 Fußballspiele über die man in Kolumbien immer wieder spricht. Die sozusagen wichtigsten/besten der Geschichte. Bei jeder Diskussion mit einem Kolumbianer über Fußball wird zwangsläufig irgendwann über mindestens eines dieser Spiele geredet.
Das erste ist das letzte Gruppenspiel bei der WM 1990 in Italien gegen den späteren Weltmeister Deutschland, in welchem Kolumbien in der 47. Minute der zweiten Halbzeit das 1:1 markierte und damit gegen die übermächtigen Deutschen den Einzig in die nächste Runde sicherte (wo man dann gegen Kamerun verlor).
PS: Leider is der Kommentar nur auf japanisch)
Bungee a lo colombiano
Bungee auf die kolumbianische Art. Ein paar Blocks von mir zu Hause...
PS: Heute als ich dort vorbeigefahren bin, waren sie gerade wieder dabei...
Ja, was macht man wenn man kein Auto hat und einkaufen muss. Es bleiben wohl oder übel nur das Taxi oder der Bus. Manche Leute scheint dies auch nicht beim Einkauf von besonders delikaten Produkten zu stören. So kam es dass ich vor ein paar Tagen so um Mitternacht in einen Bus stieg. Ich setzte mich hin, als ich mit einem breiten Grinsen feststellen musste, dass der Typ auf der anderen Seite des Gangs zwei Plastiktüten mit je einer jungen Marihuanapflanze mit sich führte... irgendwie muß das Zeug ja heim.
As told in the last post I am taking again spanish classes, this time at the Nacional, where I also write my thesis. Last Wednesday after the class (which is from 4 to 6 - stupid time), a couple of students went out in impulse to have a beer at an inn near the university because it was the birthday of Carol, the girl monitoring the spanish classes. It was the first time that I really spoke to the most of them, and they are really nice, and it seems like they are almost all gifted comprehending languages, like the japanese guy who suddenly started to talk to me in perfect german ;) It turned out we drank not only one beer like we wanted, but a couple more, and while I was on the phone, the group decided to go out dancing. So we took a cab to the Candelaria (the old part of the city), let our bags and stuff at the home of Johann, a swedish guy who lives in the Candelaria and headed to the discotheque (I have no more idea how it is called or where exactly it is...). As in generally known the world is small, and after getting in I coincidentally met a colombian friend I have not seen for a long while. So we all had a lot of fun there, talking, drinking, dancing - also because the swedish guy donated a bottle of Tequilla. Hail the donator. The next day after a discontinous sleep - also because there are still no curtains in my room - I hit the road to the university in the afternoon to the spanish class. But ... no idea why ... the university was closed. So Johann still has my bag and my umbrella, and it seems that today the raining season started ;) Thus lets see what the weekend keeps ready, because this weekend is Rock al Parque in Bogotá, which is a freebie music festival, where this year amongst others also Manu Chao is playing, whom I for sure want to see. And when I have the photos of last wednesday and revised the gallery, you will find them there...
Ok fellows, because I am too lazy to write another long essay about my second day of climbing the Tolima hill, I am just describing one insignificantly day of my life - and picked this Tuesday. So, let's start and stand up on that day. That was a little earlier for me a,t about 8 o'clock, because I had class at the university at 10 (my only one). After having a shower I rapidly inserted two toasts of Nutella, chattet in the web and then I already was on the way to my class about Wavelets and Mathing Pursuit algorithm. This time held by a student in spanish. And I can proudly say that I understood all of the lecture, although it was held in spanish. However that student was not that good prepared and had not that much to talk about so the lecture was a bit short and ended after about 80 minutes. After arriving back at home again, I played first computer for awhile until the maid had finished cooking my lunch ;) ,hmmm, delicious. And what else do I do on a normal day here in Colombia? Yep, right, have to do my thesis, thus I was programming in the afternoon. After some phone calls I realized the world hates me and nobody wants do anything with me that evening... so what to do? Try to make the best out of that situation. One take the wine bought on monday, the Nargila bought on Friday, the notebook, arrange those things appropriately on the table, set up the tabaco in the Nargila, let the wine aerate a little and then start a little gaming and enjoy the stimulants...
Given: Starting time s = Wednesday 13.09.2006 End time e = Sunday 17.09.2006 x(s) = Bogotá x(e) = Bogotá s < m < e x(m) = Top of the tolima mountain
Searching: An exciting adventure
Solution: Starting on Wednesday leaving in a cab to Lisette's (Dirk's girlfriend) house in the late afternoon, then going to buy gloves, some food and having dinner cooked by Lisette's mom, leaving to the bus terminal, meeting the rest of the adventure group (alltogether we were 7 people), the trip began by taking the bus to Ibague at about 0:00, which was driving like the devil was chasing him. So what to do in Ibague at the bus terminal at 3 o'clock in the morning with only one hour sleep and 3 hours more to wait to pursue with the journey? Sweeten the time with a couple of cold beer... The time passed and shortly after 6 we grabbed our backpacks an startet to walk through Ibague to find the person who can bring us up the hill to the place from where we wanted to start overcoming the mountain. But who thought there would drive kind of a bus up th hill thought false. In Ibague we aproached the driver of a dairy van who possibly could bring us up the hill, and it worked out. Five minutes later we were standing on the platform in the back of the van driving over bumby streets, or lets better say paths, muddy with holes, a deep sheer on one side. This way we swayed to our driving-endstation for about an hour ... and finally reached our origin of walking at about 8 o'clock in the morning. Starched with a shot of Aguardiente the real trip now could start!
The first obstacle we encountered after 20 meters was the comletely muddy path we had to walk. So we tried not to get too muddy or fall down - if we would have known that in a couple of hours nobody of us cared anymore about the fact of beeing muddy and dirty. (By the way some of you may have recognized that this text is in english. For those who not - it is. So also my not-german-speaking friends can enjoy this blog. Now back to topic...) After about one and a half hours of walking over muddy paths, stony paths, adventurous bridges an up and down we vanquished the first 200 meters of altitude and arrived at a ranch in the height of 2800 meters, rested there for an hour and first of all had breakfast. So much about the easy and comfortable part of our trip.
Knowing that we have to climb up the hill for about 800 meters more that day, we had not that much time to rest and startet to walk at about 11:30, still with lack of sleep one could feel in the bones. On the first 200 meters of walking it seemed that the rest of the trip will include a lot of mud and stones like the path before. But then came new variables into the game. First of all, the rock, which let us know that the trip will not be without danger. The path was interrupted by an aslope rock face ,with a 10 meter deep sheer at the bottom, we had to climb down unsecured. And then the party startet! The second variable: rampant muddy path with roots and lianes. The next 100 hight meters were really steep and we had to climb up muddy ground, grabbing roots and lianes, bypass detaining branches and watch out for the loose stones flying around kicked of by the man in front. After about 2 hours of climbing and walking we only accomplished 200 more height meters. The temperature was fortunately not that high, approximately 15 degree, but the atmosphere was really humid. Many mosses and ferns. Deservingly we reached a really beautiful waterfall and could make a break and rest a little while there. My snacks there and on the way consisted of Snickers, an energy drink, and like all the rest of the trip of coffee beans coated by chocolate.
After almost an hour break and bathing the feet in the incredibly freezing cold water we continued walking. There were still 600 more height meters to overbear. It was possible to walk faster on the following paths, but nethertheless strenuous, because of the many stony obstacles. On that way the climate changed a little and became less humid. However, during the last hour of walking it was almost impossible to think, one footstep followed the other mechanically. I cannot remember how long that state lasted, but finally after about 3,5 hours we arrived at a cave with a little cascade at the altitude of 3600 meters, rested there for awhile and cooked sth. to eat. After talking for a bit of time and setting up our tents the day drawed to a close and we slept really good and long.
Naja, dann will ich mal nicht so sein und etwas schreiben, über das ich mich schon seit längerem wundere. In und um die Uni sehe ich andauernd irgendwelche Gruppen von jungen Deutschen. Sie scheinen auch nicht auf der Uni zu studieren, sondern laufen eher ziellos mit ihren Digitalkameras hin und her, ganz so als ob sie ihren Rudelführer verloren hätten. Auch ist mir bisher nicht aufgefallen, dass es sich immer um die gleichen handelt. Vielleicht habe ich ja auch einfach was verpasst und es gibt seit neuestem ein Heim für herrenlose deutsche Jungtiere in Bogotá aus welchem diese ausbrechen. Solltet ihr solchen Wesen begegnen, dann haltet bitte Abstand und wendet euch an "Deutsche suchen ein zu Hause".
Da der Neuzugang im Blog ja leider nicht so viel bringt außer nen 4 Zeilen Post und ich allerdings auch gerade nicht die Muße habe nen ellenlangen Text über die letzten 4 Wochen zu schreiben folgt dieser großartige Eintrag. Nunja, ich hoffe dass Volker hier über die 2 Wochen berichtet in denen er da war (und mir dadurch auch die Arbeit darüber zu posten abnimmt :P). Die Tage werde ich einige Bilder nochmal neu sortieren und versuchen die Kommentarfunktion zu vervollständigen. Ansonsten würde ich mich freuen wenn ihr hier im Blog etwas mehr schreien würdet ;) Na dann, bis zum nächsten Mal.
