COLOMBIA..SUMMER 2008

Arriving to Cali

It was a long journey getting from London to Cali, Colombia. Getting from London to Bogota was a long flight but it was when I got to the airport in Bogota that things were always going to get interesting. I arrived at the airport at 8:45 in the night and was gonna have to spend all night there. As I sat on the hardslippery, wooden benches in the waiting lounge, I thought i was never gonna make it till 4:00 am and there was no way that I was ever going to wake up if I fell asleep. I was exhausted and yet had to stay up. As I sat there wondering what I would do all night, a stranger came to sit opposite me. Should I talk to him, should I just leave him alone...who knows how long he was planning to sit there....was he american...or south american.....but then thanks to the annoyance of a lottery vender, he started a conversation with me. A dutch journalist who had been living in Caracas for the past two months. hearing our English voices, the only other foreigner, a 19 year old girl who had spent the last six months working in a hospital in Quito. It was amazing, we had stories to share, annecdotes to recount and most importantly look after each others belongings when one of us needed the bathroom or a fag. Time passed quickly and before i knew it it was time for us to check into our next flights. I was so glad that I had changed my original plans and was going to Cali instead of Venezuela.....it sounds like the most dangerous city on earth......would like to hear more about it from people who have travelled there.

At check in, I realised I was at the international check in when I had a domestic flight and thats where I met my next new facebook friend. A colombian musician with his guitar going to play in Venezuela. I know I have said it many times but this is what I love about travelling.....meeting people everywhere.

Finally I arrived at Cali airport to the sweetest welcome ever. Valery was holding up a beautiful welcome sign and there was my brother and his wife who I hadn´t seen in such a long time. I was exhausted from not having slept for 2 nights in a row but the warmth and amazing welcome I got from the people here kept me going till midnight. We started the day with a delicious colombian breakfast, hot chocolate and cheese bread...what more could I ask for. Then we went shopping and walked around the old city with my own personal tour guides......such amazing people here.....everyone wanted to meet me and show me around....and finally we went to "La Loma"...to hear the sounds of the beautiful andean music and eat delicious arepas. It was amazing. One guy getting over 200 youths to spend the night learning how to dance indegenous dances and having so much fun instead of them hanging around drinking and not getting up to much good. It was a perfect way to end my first day in Cali. Getting right into the city and its culture with a circle of friends around me at all times.