Que tal beautiful Medellin

Alright, first of all only TWO WEEKS until my mamacita and cathy come to Ecuador!!!! I´m counting down and am super excited!!!!!!!!!!!

I´m currently in Medellin, Colombia.
Since the last time i wrote, i went to a finca/farm for cafe /coffee. I posted a couple of pictures. I learned all about the process to make coffee and even helped out, picking..grinding etc... Lots of fun. and got tons of coffee!. Even a litle sample of Colombian coffee in a pouch made right there. yum


I also went to Manizales for a day or so. A university town tucked away in parque los nevados. You could see a couple snow capped peaks in the distance, and Manizales was set the the green, river filled region of Colombia. I DARE say that Colombia may be the most beautiful country i´ve ever seen. Alright, i haven´t seen everything. But this country is TRUELY incredible!




After that I headed for Medellin, a city of 3 million people. Fairly large, but also fairly healthy. I am staying with a couchsurfer (actually the ambassador of Colombia for couchsurfing) simultaneously with a guy from Argentina who has been traveling for 1 yr 8 mos. and a guy from Spain who is here only 5 days doing a project wtih you and drug involvment. Very sweet people.
Medellin is a ver nice big city,, not that I like big cities too much. It is filled with unique and ample architecture, everywhere there is something to be seen. It also has a metro, the only one in Colombia that spans all of Medellin, an awesome system.
I walked through centro and the pedestrian boardwalk of sorts, met a guy painted in blue. tons of stuff. went to ecopark cerro el volador, a bi mountain park right in the middle of the city with beautiful views of the city (there is a pic). I also went to a place callled pueblito paisa, a little annexed pueblo in centro with a lot of character and good views. We also did a couchsurfing get together last night for a bday of a couchsurfer. Lots of fun to meet everybody and the locals from here. It was a diverse group- as always with cool people like couchsurfers. Argentinans, Spaniard, German, USA, and local Medellinians.


I also (see the pics) went to La Piedra. WOW is what i have ot say of that. 200 m high, 650 steps to reach the top of the rock. and the view is spectacular! like jaw dropping. pics can´t capture it! A huge lake going to the horizon filled with islands of pine trees and everything, little pueblos, little boat holding places, everything. very incredible. There have only been a couple of times in my short 19 years of age that i´ve said wow like that. one example would be the Grand Canyon when my dad and I did a week road trip out there that was a lot of fun! and La Piedra was no exception.


Medellin has been a lot of fun all in all, a big city, but plenty to do and really nice people. I continue north to eventually see the Carribean for the first time! Cheers to firsts! experiencing new things!!!! TRAVEL!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you

HELLO AGAIN ALL!!!!!
I{d like to start by saying thank you to everybody. For all the support you have all given, ever single one of you. You know how you say that every minute somebody is thinking about you and you don{t know it. Well you have no idea how many of you I think of- at random times too!! Hahaha
Also thank you for writing on my message board and staying in contact with me, i really enjoy it. Hugs!!
As for the continuation of the sabbatical...
I{m traveling through Colombia yes. Believe me, it is one of the most beautiful places I{ve ever seen. It{s gorgeous. Of course if you don{l like green (uhhhum Auntie Diana) you wouldn{t like it. If you don{t love Colonial ranches, horses and carriages, coffee fields, nice people, people calling you ´¨mami´, good food and just awesomeness...then you wouldn{t like this place.
I am couchsurfing through Colombia (http://www.couchsurfing.com/- can{t recommend it enough!) Right now i{m in Armenia staying with a Juan here, who works on computers. He lives with his mom (with is not uncommon among bachelors in s. america) and she is an absolute sweetie, who has a unique interest in Native American history. Ha what do you know i have something like 1/32 in me- it{s like we are twins and i{m your study- not. Not that i{m dissing my ancestors, i{m grateful nonetheless. :)
Today I spent the whole day in Salento, a little pueblo outside of town. This was one enchanting town. All the buildings painted colorful colonial colors. artesinal places, a nice plaza with many vendors of fresh trout caught form the town that runs through the stream. The best trout i{ve ever had- freakin delicioso!! Colombia is also filled with old cars ( i know you would like that dad! and joe :) ) Filled with old Buicks, land rovers from teh 60´s, willy´s. awesome. I took one of those jeeps to a nearby valley, valley de cocura. Incredibly beautiful, full of horses, ranchs, streamsa nd rivers, palm trees (the nat{l tree of colombia is a palm tree that grows at some 2000 m. very different) cows, beautiful. I met a girl from Germany who is studying in Bogota. We did the 4 hr hike together. Following the stream and then headed up the mountainside. Gorgeous!
Tomorrow I head to Manizales and continue through Colombia! woohoo!!
p.s. i{m trying to post pics. check it out. it will pics of colombia so far. keep in mind i can only post so many, so ill have to delete the others. there old anyways and so much has happened between then!

Self declared salsa

Alrighty well plans have changed.

I left Mompiche yes and I went to the Columbian border to get another 3 months to ensure I could travel around with my mom. After two days of confusion, frustration, and argument, learned taht I could NOT enter Ecuador again. I know kinda scary. As for mom coming, something will be arranged don´t worry. Julie is still in Riobamba working as well.
As of right now I am traveling through Colombia for about 3 weeks, couchsurfing!!! (http://www.couchsurfing.com/) It is a beautiful beautiful country. And definitely has a different feeling than Ecuador.
I stayed in Cali, the self declared salsa capital of the world (and i´m sure not many would dispute it) It gave a new meaning to a market city as well. YOu could find anything there anything. not joking. It still had a colonial feel as well and was surrounded by beautiful mountains.
RIght now I´m in Buenaventura. A large port town on the pacific. And there is a town festival right now.
I plan to do a loop up to the Caribbean coast of Colombia and then head down to Bogota. If I can, and it isn´t too expensive I´ll fly from Bolivia to Peru. And then be able to get mother dearest/hot mama/mamacita
(bythe way, everybody calls you ´mami´in Colombia, it´s awesome)
THose are the plans, but as i´ve learned, they change so often...
I´ll try and be safe.
Plenty of stories...

We´re off to see the wizard...

As of today I have left Mompiche. I was there for almosttwo months. And it was fantastic. I gathered lots of memories and some photos. But it was just what the doctor ordered. But like all prescriptions, they must come to an end...
I´m en route to Quito where I´ll visit immigration and hopefully get an extension so my visa doesn´t run out when my MOMMIE comes to visit in November! The next month will be filled traveling through the Oriente, theamazon of this beautiful country. I´m excited. It is a region unknown to me. When that month runs out, mymom will be arriving, the 15th and who knows what will do for the much anticipated 2 weeks she will be here (along with Cathy!) I´ll keep ya up to date as much as possible.
MUCH LOVE
mucho amor, abrazos, y besitos
XO

p.s. any suggestions for this site, how i´m writing the blogs etc... let me know. I´ll take them into consideration...

My first apartment

Well I{ve got my own apartment of sorts, living on my own for the first time. I[ve been living in Mompiche now for a little over a month. SOme may remember how much Julie and I bragged as Mompiche being paradise when we first visited it.
Well after talking with Cloro, I was able to exchange staying in a cabana for cutting weeds and stufff with my machete in the back...sweet deal! The cabana is a closed bar and the bar is below nd there is one big room above it. 50 feet from the waves, window looking out over the sunset, other window looking over the fishing boats, no electricity, doesn{t get much better, i{m telling you.
Julie is still in Riobamba. The semester lasts until the end of this month (there are 2 month intense sessions), she might do another or we{ll travel around again...gotta ask her what she{s up too
MOm is coming the 15th of November and believe me you can{t imagine the excitement.
I{ve also been able to frequently get the phone charged and have been able to receive calls from mom and my family and friends. It{s really nice. glad she got it!!
Life is good.... yaaa