So this week was about settling in and trying to create a life for myself here in Xela. I was originally supposed to be leaving to go back to Denver March 2nd, in a week, but my time here has passed so rapidly that I want and need to stay longer to improve my Spanish. First task was to acquire funding in order to keep me alive during my extended stay. Amazingly, I had a few very generous supporters. I will likely still need money for other odds and ends if you still have interest in contributing.
http://www.gofundme.com/maqig4
I started back at my old school in Xela and have the wife of the teacher I really liked before. My new teacher, Thelma accompanied me this week in setting up my volunteer placement and looking for an apartment. By Thursday I had finally started at my volunteer work. I am torn about moving out of my homestay though. Claudia and Roberto are amazing hosts! They also have two kids that are quite friendly.
I feel some relief at not having the time constraint of learning Spanish so rapidly. It still feels like it is such a long and difficult process though. I've been very hard on myself this week on not understanding people and feeling like I never will. Also, I'm not completely crazy about Xela. There really are a lot of other foreigners and it is difficult for me to avoid them. I ran into a girl I met one of my first weeks traveling over 2 months ago which was nice but also strange to live in such small circles. And it always seems to be a party with them, every night going out. I can't keep up, not with classes and volunteering...
Also, I am struggling with my sense of loyalty, allegiance, or attachment. It's so strange not to have a connection with my old teacher, Ari. After 45 hours of classes together, just the two of us, I had felt a sort of dedication to him. But now he has other students and no time for me and he feels so distant. Things move so rapidly here. I thought it was strange in grad school where I became so connected to my teachers for 2 years only to have them repeat the process with the next class of students. But this moves even quicker. The teachers here are constantly gaining and losing, people coming and going, you build a connection, then it's gone.
I'm having those same feelings with my one friend, Patrick, that is still here from when I was here before. In the time I was gone, he has formed new friendships and the connection I once had with him seems to have weakened. But in a week, he too will be gone. How will I find some stability for myself in these months to come now that I have decided to settle with connections that are so transient?
Oh, I also started a salsa class which has been quite lovely. Every Monday-Thursday evening though it's quite difficult to fit it in with my volunteer work and having to be back home for the family meal. Another reason why it might be better for me to have an apartment.
Well, folks, that's all. With my extended stay, I don't see myself continuing a daily blog post that will likely bore you anyway. My count-up complete, I think Day 75 is a good place to stop. I hope to transition to writing regularly about my volunteer work on the website for the awesome organization that I found my placement through. Please follow me there instead.
https://www.omprakash.org/volunteer/profile/kirsten-young
Other than that, I will perhaps post on occasion here too but feel that it will be too much to keep up with and a bit boring now that I'm staying in one place for awhile.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Day 71 (Arriving back in Xela)
My plan had been to stay in a hostel near the bus companies in Zona 1 so that I would not have to pay for another taxi in the morning. However, it just so happened that the hostel I selected also had a delicious banana/strawberry pancake breakfast beginning at 8am. Therefore, I had a somewhat leisurely morning before heading out to find a bus to get myself to Xela. However, once I started out I realized that I'd missed the early bus out to Xela which was at 8am and that there wasn't another until 3pm. That wouldn't put me in Xela until after dark and I would still have to arrive at my homestay as well. The other bus company I located didn't even have buses to Xela on Sundays.
Therefore, I decided to make my way out to the outskirts of town to take a chicken bus instead. I asked at the front desk of the hostel to see if it was an actual possibility if the chicken buses ran on Sundays. He was very helpful, showed me the city bus stop I would need to get myself to in order to get myself to the chicken bus terminal, all in Spanish. I packed up my stuff, wrote down the stop I needed to go from and the one I needed to get off at, and was on my way.
Finding the bus stop was a bit more difficult than I anticipated. Once I finally located it, it was closed. I heard someone explaining to someone else that they had to go to another stop that I had already been to. So I hiked back with all my belongings. Then I couldn't get in. It only took coins. I stood around looking lost for a few minutes, then went back across the street to the store fronts to figure out how to get coins. I noticed there a stand where people were just handing over bills and easily getting back coins. I tried it to. So simple, didn't even have to say anything.
Eventually the bus came. I didn't get a seat so was still standing with my giant pack still strapped to my back. The stop I went back to was actually the beginning of a loop. It went through the main part of town through all the stops I'd already walked past, then the bus finally went by the stop that had been closed and we were finally on our way. After awhile a guy got up and offered me his seat, but by the time he walked over to me to ask if I wanted it, some lady already took it.
At some point, I arrived at my stop and was on my way! Hurrah, for successfully navigating public transportation in Guatemala City! Once off the bus, I followed the crowd out of the stop and at the top of some stairs asked for directions. The lady I asked was possibly going to lead me astray but a guy stepped in and told me which way to go. I walked for a ways without finding anything, trying to get up the courage to ask someone else. I decided to go with a male again, but didn't quite understand his explanation of where to go.
The next guy I asked wanted to send me back to Zona 1 on one of the fancy buses even after I explained the scheduling problem. He told me to take the bus to Zona 1, or even better, use one of the white taxis, right over there. Afterward I realized that with all this Spanish only instead of the English from the other countries I just visited my brain is doing a strange thing. It's translating everything to English so then when our conversation was over the words left in my head were English so I thought he'd actually spoken English to me. Nice that my brain can so quickly translate without working too hard at it, but it will be nice when/if it doesn't have to do that extra step. An interesting experience to have to question whether I just conversed with someone in English or Spanish though.
At some point I finally found some chicken buses. However, they were the wrong ones but one of the assistants finally gave me a clear answer where I could find the ones headed to Xela. It was quite a bit more of a walk with my heavy pack though. Perhaps, the first lady I asked had been correct if I'd just listened to her. Once I was getting close to where the other chicken buses were a van pulled over saying they were headed to Xela. I was getting tired of walking so decided to give the minivan a try instead of seeking out a chicken bus.
In the end the minivan was the same price with less stops because it could only fit around 20 people on it. For some reason I like this experience and that of chicken buses better, of being squeezed in on top of other people, than the "luxury" buses of the other countries I've just come from. I think in the end I was kind of glad that I missed out on taking one of the fancy buses that morning and saved myself money in the process.
It was interesting passing places where I made transfers on this same journey when I was last in Guatemala. Nice to have some familiarity with returning to a place that you have already been. "Oh, I remember waiting on that corner, and that one too!" And arriving at the bus terminal in Xela, remembering the first time I'd arrived there a couple months ago, having to be told that I'd arrived and to get off the bus. But this time, seeing and knowing exactly where I was.
I'd decided that if it was after 3pm, I would take a taxi, before I would try and get a minibus. I looked at my phone, 3pm on the dot. Minibus it is then, I guess. However, even though things were familiar I still had some difficulty locating the stops for the minibuses, but when I finally got on one I ended up being dropped off nearly right in front of my school, how convenient!
Ilse, the secretary/housekeeper greeted me at the door and called my homestay. My house mom, Claudia, came and walked me to their house. She showed me to my room and fed me lunch. Later that evening, I went back to the school and hung out with my friend, Patrick, who was still there at the school from before I left and staying in the connected hostel. We were joined by another girl who was meeting someone for a movie and invited us along. In the end, I didn't get home until 11pm and got in trouble from my house mom for arriving too late and not telling her I was leaving. Oops.
Therefore, I decided to make my way out to the outskirts of town to take a chicken bus instead. I asked at the front desk of the hostel to see if it was an actual possibility if the chicken buses ran on Sundays. He was very helpful, showed me the city bus stop I would need to get myself to in order to get myself to the chicken bus terminal, all in Spanish. I packed up my stuff, wrote down the stop I needed to go from and the one I needed to get off at, and was on my way.
Finding the bus stop was a bit more difficult than I anticipated. Once I finally located it, it was closed. I heard someone explaining to someone else that they had to go to another stop that I had already been to. So I hiked back with all my belongings. Then I couldn't get in. It only took coins. I stood around looking lost for a few minutes, then went back across the street to the store fronts to figure out how to get coins. I noticed there a stand where people were just handing over bills and easily getting back coins. I tried it to. So simple, didn't even have to say anything.
Eventually the bus came. I didn't get a seat so was still standing with my giant pack still strapped to my back. The stop I went back to was actually the beginning of a loop. It went through the main part of town through all the stops I'd already walked past, then the bus finally went by the stop that had been closed and we were finally on our way. After awhile a guy got up and offered me his seat, but by the time he walked over to me to ask if I wanted it, some lady already took it.
At some point, I arrived at my stop and was on my way! Hurrah, for successfully navigating public transportation in Guatemala City! Once off the bus, I followed the crowd out of the stop and at the top of some stairs asked for directions. The lady I asked was possibly going to lead me astray but a guy stepped in and told me which way to go. I walked for a ways without finding anything, trying to get up the courage to ask someone else. I decided to go with a male again, but didn't quite understand his explanation of where to go.
The next guy I asked wanted to send me back to Zona 1 on one of the fancy buses even after I explained the scheduling problem. He told me to take the bus to Zona 1, or even better, use one of the white taxis, right over there. Afterward I realized that with all this Spanish only instead of the English from the other countries I just visited my brain is doing a strange thing. It's translating everything to English so then when our conversation was over the words left in my head were English so I thought he'd actually spoken English to me. Nice that my brain can so quickly translate without working too hard at it, but it will be nice when/if it doesn't have to do that extra step. An interesting experience to have to question whether I just conversed with someone in English or Spanish though.
At some point I finally found some chicken buses. However, they were the wrong ones but one of the assistants finally gave me a clear answer where I could find the ones headed to Xela. It was quite a bit more of a walk with my heavy pack though. Perhaps, the first lady I asked had been correct if I'd just listened to her. Once I was getting close to where the other chicken buses were a van pulled over saying they were headed to Xela. I was getting tired of walking so decided to give the minivan a try instead of seeking out a chicken bus.
In the end the minivan was the same price with less stops because it could only fit around 20 people on it. For some reason I like this experience and that of chicken buses better, of being squeezed in on top of other people, than the "luxury" buses of the other countries I've just come from. I think in the end I was kind of glad that I missed out on taking one of the fancy buses that morning and saved myself money in the process.
It was interesting passing places where I made transfers on this same journey when I was last in Guatemala. Nice to have some familiarity with returning to a place that you have already been. "Oh, I remember waiting on that corner, and that one too!" And arriving at the bus terminal in Xela, remembering the first time I'd arrived there a couple months ago, having to be told that I'd arrived and to get off the bus. But this time, seeing and knowing exactly where I was.
I'd decided that if it was after 3pm, I would take a taxi, before I would try and get a minibus. I looked at my phone, 3pm on the dot. Minibus it is then, I guess. However, even though things were familiar I still had some difficulty locating the stops for the minibuses, but when I finally got on one I ended up being dropped off nearly right in front of my school, how convenient!
Ilse, the secretary/housekeeper greeted me at the door and called my homestay. My house mom, Claudia, came and walked me to their house. She showed me to my room and fed me lunch. Later that evening, I went back to the school and hung out with my friend, Patrick, who was still there at the school from before I left and staying in the connected hostel. We were joined by another girl who was meeting someone for a movie and invited us along. In the end, I didn't get home until 11pm and got in trouble from my house mom for arriving too late and not telling her I was leaving. Oops.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Day 70 (Travel Day Bogota to Guatemala City)
I was able to have a somewhat leisurely morning as my flight wasn't until 12:00. I exchanged money with Julia, giving her my Colombian Pesos for some American Dollars. Tried to leave myself enough for the taxi to the airport and some food. Didn't see a taxi out front but then some guy with a car said he worked for the hostel and said he would take me there. Sometimes I think I might be too trusting. However, he was quite friendly and we talked about a few things all in Spanish. Perhaps he sensed my apprehension as he gave me his card associated with the hostel. All turned out fine.
Had some difficulty finding where I needed to check-in but security was a breeze. The Colombian Pesos didn't turn out to be enough and I didn't have enough to pay for the meal I ordered. I took some items off and still had plenty to eat, just nothing to drink.
Feels very strange to be in an airport again after so much travel on buses. Very different worlds. Here only the highest classes take planes because flights are outrageously expensive (hence why I used miles to book my flight) and therefore the airport was quite empty even on a Saturday. Even services are better on South American airlines than airlines in the States, getting meals on both short flights in addition to the option of free alcohol. So much different than sitting on a bus for hours at a time starving to death with no options for any food.
Layover in Panama City. So strange. Was I really just here a week ago? Why did I even go to Colombia? Feeling like I'm returning with my tail between my legs. With all my overland travel have I really been to international airports in every single country I've visited?
Trying to validate my experiences, my decisions thus far. Seeing the Kuna Islands was truly an amazing once in a lifetime experience. I met a few amazing people. Even though I didn't get to stay long in any of them, I saw 3 pretty cool cities in Colombia. Maybe someday, when my Spanish is better, I will return....
Second time arriving at the Guatemala City airport. Finally some familiarity. Feeling like an old hand at getting through customs and declarations. Not bombarded with people trying to give me a ride or take me to their hotel at departure. Found a taxi and negotiated a price to get me to my hostel I'd booked the night before. Feels good to be back in the world of only Spanish being spoken with the taxi driver, at my hostel reception, maybe I can finally get back to really learning the language....
Had some difficulty finding where I needed to check-in but security was a breeze. The Colombian Pesos didn't turn out to be enough and I didn't have enough to pay for the meal I ordered. I took some items off and still had plenty to eat, just nothing to drink.
Feels very strange to be in an airport again after so much travel on buses. Very different worlds. Here only the highest classes take planes because flights are outrageously expensive (hence why I used miles to book my flight) and therefore the airport was quite empty even on a Saturday. Even services are better on South American airlines than airlines in the States, getting meals on both short flights in addition to the option of free alcohol. So much different than sitting on a bus for hours at a time starving to death with no options for any food.
Layover in Panama City. So strange. Was I really just here a week ago? Why did I even go to Colombia? Feeling like I'm returning with my tail between my legs. With all my overland travel have I really been to international airports in every single country I've visited?
Trying to validate my experiences, my decisions thus far. Seeing the Kuna Islands was truly an amazing once in a lifetime experience. I met a few amazing people. Even though I didn't get to stay long in any of them, I saw 3 pretty cool cities in Colombia. Maybe someday, when my Spanish is better, I will return....
Second time arriving at the Guatemala City airport. Finally some familiarity. Feeling like an old hand at getting through customs and declarations. Not bombarded with people trying to give me a ride or take me to their hotel at departure. Found a taxi and negotiated a price to get me to my hostel I'd booked the night before. Feels good to be back in the world of only Spanish being spoken with the taxi driver, at my hostel reception, maybe I can finally get back to really learning the language....
Friday, February 13, 2015
Day 69 (Bike Tour in Bogota)
This may be my best use of a day other than Spanish language courses during my whole trip thus far. I knew I would only have one day here in Bogota so I knew I needed to make the most of it. I hear they have fantastic museums here but since I had no guidebook for Colombia I didn't know which ones and where they are. I decided to look on TripAdvisor and saw that one of the most highly recommended activities was a bike tour of the city. Just my luck, after my bike ride in Panama City I knew it would be right up my alley (I hadn't realized how much I'd missed my bike, Justin you better be taking good care of it!)
The ride started at 10:30 and the location of the tour company was just right up the street from where I was staying. After an authentic Colombian breakfast, I was on my way!
The ride was great and the best part was the very quirky guide. He was a journalist from California who had been living down in South America for many many years. At one point he asked where I was from and when I said Colorado he said he had friends in Boulder, of course you do, where else in Colorado would there be people as quirky as you? Really was the best way to get to see a city and nice to be on a tour instead of wandering aimlessly on my own like I usually do. I really have had it with walking everywhere. Maybe I need to invest in a bike when I return to Guatemala.
In the evening Julia and I met up with Mags, one of my good friends from the San Blas Tour. We chatted the evening away. So lovely to have a night with female friends. Feels weird to be leaving tomorrow and be on my own again. Strange feeling to not have any roots, decisions made effecting no one but myself.
The ride started at 10:30 and the location of the tour company was just right up the street from where I was staying. After an authentic Colombian breakfast, I was on my way!
The ride was great and the best part was the very quirky guide. He was a journalist from California who had been living down in South America for many many years. At one point he asked where I was from and when I said Colorado he said he had friends in Boulder, of course you do, where else in Colorado would there be people as quirky as you? Really was the best way to get to see a city and nice to be on a tour instead of wandering aimlessly on my own like I usually do. I really have had it with walking everywhere. Maybe I need to invest in a bike when I return to Guatemala.
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| We got to try a bunch of these fruits. I think I finally got enough of my vitamins for the week! |
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| One of these things doesn't belong. The vendor's daughter is sitting in the produce! |
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| Finally at a market where I can take pics. Relatively uncrowded plus I'm in a group of tourists so we all stand out like sore thumbs. |
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| National Sport of Colombia! |
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| Bogota has tons of political graffiti! We saw a bunch along the way. |
In the evening Julia and I met up with Mags, one of my good friends from the San Blas Tour. We chatted the evening away. So lovely to have a night with female friends. Feels weird to be leaving tomorrow and be on my own again. Strange feeling to not have any roots, decisions made effecting no one but myself.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Day 68 (Travel Day Medellin to Bogota)
I started my day off by getting my flight booked from Bogota back to Guatemala using my frequent flier miles. Then asked Julia about joining her on her journey to Bogota. She said she wasn't leaving right away so I had time to take a shower and slowly get myself ready.
No problems getting ourselves to the bus station and didn't have to wait to long before we were able to catch a bus headed to Bogota. Very long bus ride through the very unpopulated land between Medellin and Bogota. We didn't arrive until 9pm or so. However, once we had a taxi it was difficult to get through town because of traffic. We easily found a hostel with beds available. Very nice having a traveling companion even if we don't talk much.
No problems getting ourselves to the bus station and didn't have to wait to long before we were able to catch a bus headed to Bogota. Very long bus ride through the very unpopulated land between Medellin and Bogota. We didn't arrive until 9pm or so. However, once we had a taxi it was difficult to get through town because of traffic. We easily found a hostel with beds available. Very nice having a traveling companion even if we don't talk much.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Day 67 (Day in Medellin)
My main task of the day: find a language school! 4 weekdays I've been out of class now, I've got to get back to learning Spanish.
I emailed a couple different places the night before and decided to just show up at one to try and join a class. Somehow I couldn't find the building. Later they emailed me back to say that I couldn't join a class and that private lessons were nearly $20 an hour!
Instead I found a coffee place to have some breakfast and use the internet in what seemed pretty much like the restaurant district of Medellin. Hurrah, for my relaxing Starbucks-like experience in Colombia's equivalent franchise. Also, Medellin has the perfect eternal spring-like climate with tons of parks and greenery so it was a quite lovely coffee experience.
With my internet connection I loaded a map to the other school attached to a hostel and set off on my way.
I had some difficulty finding it but eventually made my way. The girl at the front desk said that the guy who taught the classes was on vacation. She gave me the card for another teacher and allowed me to use their internet to send her a message.
After that I walked. On my way, I found yet another beautiful park with some great views.
Then walked further heading toward the metro. At some point I came across a giant superstore called Exito. It was fantastic! It seemed as though it was probably owned by Walmart or Target. Such an organized and relaxed shopping experience, it's the little things which you grow accustomed to and miss when you're away from them so long. I looked at socks for quite awhile, reveling in the ability to just look without some market stall vender pestering me to buy or argue a price!
In the end, I didn't buy anything but decided I could come back at the end of my excursion. I headed further, over the bridge above the road to get to the metro.
With no guide book, I really had no idea where I was going. I ended up just getting off when some other tourists got off and slyly followed them until it appeared that they were a bit lost themselves.
Though this downtown area of town was significantly different than the relaxing restaurant district I had just come from, it was still had a relatively calm vibe. I just walked and explored for a bit.
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| Maybe my favorite thing about Medellin, the light posts! So creative and awesome! |
Eventually I found a place to have lunch where I was even able to study Spanish for a bit. I then found myself back at the train and headed back stopping at Exito for some socks and other odds and ends on my walk back.
I then rested for a bit and had my book club call. I finally heard back from the Spanish teacher too who would only be able to teach me, at most, 2 hrs per day but guaranteed me that with her style of teaching, I would learn quickly. Somehow, I wasn't convinced and decided I really just needed to get myself back to Guatemala for my Spanish classes.
Also, Julia had returned and told me she was leaving for Bogota the next day. This is the city I would need to fly from if I were to use my frequent flier miles to get myself back to Guatemala. So in my sleepless night I decided I had to book a flight back for Saturday in order to get back for classes on Monday which meant I should just leave with Julia to Bogota tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Day 66 (Travel Day to Medellin)
Woke up at 6am needing to catch the 7am ferry to Turbo. I had planned on getting to the dock at 6:30 but didn't arrive till 10 minutes to 7. It wasn't a problem at all, I doubt the boat even showed up until after 7:30. A little more than half of the group on the tour was also leaving on the ferry that morning. Getting situated and on the boat was a madhouse. They wanted to charge us for the weight of our bags so we had to hang it on their scale device and hand over the money.
I'd had my giant backpack packed away in a plastic garbage bag and wrapped up with tape. So I decided to just rip a hole in the top. After it was weighed it was whisked away to be put on the boat. I chased after the guy because I'd wanted to tape the top back up but he misunderstood and started ripping the bag open. Ugh!
In the middle of this, they wanted me back behind a line and they started calling people up to get on the boat (we had to purchase tickets the day before and they'd written our names down). Since I'd bought my ticket late in the day the day prior I was one of the last ones called. Luckily, I'd been one to already have my bag weighed so I was able to go straight to the boat. Even still, it was already packed totally full! Not anything I'd define as a ferry in my world, more of just a motor boat stuffed with 50 people or so. Somehow they managed to find a seat for me, and then we also squeezed another person into my row as well.
At first it was a relatively nice boat ride and I wasn't getting wet at all. But then it seemed to go on forever. Finally we arrived at the dock in Turbo and were bombarded with men asking where we were going. After getting all the plastic off my bags and getting them situated I was the last one left on the dock. I was thinking "Oh, great, here we go, back on my own again, now I've got to figure out how to get a bus to Medellin in this madhouse!" Luckily, the girl next to me, Julia, had known I was going to the same place and waited for me with another guy up higher on the dock, I just hadn't seen them.
Of the giant group, there were just 3 of us headed to Medellin, the rest of everyone else was going to try and get themselves to Barranquilla for carnival later that month. The Spanish of the Belgium guy we were with was quite good and he ignored the hoard of locals following us and "trying to help" and asked a police officer where to catch a bus to Medellin. In the end, one of them stuck around and rather than showing us where the ticket office was, managed to rip us off by telling as the tickets were 60 Colombian Pesos when in reality they were only 50, and he took off with the other 10!
The bus ride was quite long and over windy dirt mountain roads for part of it. From the looks of the countryside, Colombia appears poorer than Guatemala. It is vast and large with very few inhabitants. However, I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived in Medellin, a beautiful large metropolis full of energy and life. We took a taxi from the modern bus station and were easily able to find a hostel with dorm beds for the 3 of us.
I'd had my giant backpack packed away in a plastic garbage bag and wrapped up with tape. So I decided to just rip a hole in the top. After it was weighed it was whisked away to be put on the boat. I chased after the guy because I'd wanted to tape the top back up but he misunderstood and started ripping the bag open. Ugh!
In the middle of this, they wanted me back behind a line and they started calling people up to get on the boat (we had to purchase tickets the day before and they'd written our names down). Since I'd bought my ticket late in the day the day prior I was one of the last ones called. Luckily, I'd been one to already have my bag weighed so I was able to go straight to the boat. Even still, it was already packed totally full! Not anything I'd define as a ferry in my world, more of just a motor boat stuffed with 50 people or so. Somehow they managed to find a seat for me, and then we also squeezed another person into my row as well.
At first it was a relatively nice boat ride and I wasn't getting wet at all. But then it seemed to go on forever. Finally we arrived at the dock in Turbo and were bombarded with men asking where we were going. After getting all the plastic off my bags and getting them situated I was the last one left on the dock. I was thinking "Oh, great, here we go, back on my own again, now I've got to figure out how to get a bus to Medellin in this madhouse!" Luckily, the girl next to me, Julia, had known I was going to the same place and waited for me with another guy up higher on the dock, I just hadn't seen them.
Of the giant group, there were just 3 of us headed to Medellin, the rest of everyone else was going to try and get themselves to Barranquilla for carnival later that month. The Spanish of the Belgium guy we were with was quite good and he ignored the hoard of locals following us and "trying to help" and asked a police officer where to catch a bus to Medellin. In the end, one of them stuck around and rather than showing us where the ticket office was, managed to rip us off by telling as the tickets were 60 Colombian Pesos when in reality they were only 50, and he took off with the other 10!
The bus ride was quite long and over windy dirt mountain roads for part of it. From the looks of the countryside, Colombia appears poorer than Guatemala. It is vast and large with very few inhabitants. However, I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived in Medellin, a beautiful large metropolis full of energy and life. We took a taxi from the modern bus station and were easily able to find a hostel with dorm beds for the 3 of us.
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