I am writing this blog from Cartagena, Colombia where Chris and I are spending the holiday with two Brits. Chris told them they should be excited to celebrate the American holiday where we celebrate being free of their tyranny. They didn’t seem that excited and claimed they would sit on the balcony drinking tea all day long in protest. We are currently planning a mini Boston Tea Party for their bathtub in retaliation. Just kidding.
We are staying in an apartment with Antony and Lisa from Leeds, England. We met them in Ushuaia, Argentina at the beginning of our trip and have managed to meet up in Lake Titicaca, Cusco, and Quito. They are at the end of their year long around the world trip and booked this apartment in Cartagena for two weeks before they fly home. Chris and I are tagging along.
We survived the jungle. Chris promised he would write a blog but he never finished it and now he will be mad that I’m pointing this out on the blog. The jungle was fine. The best part was Pancho the monkey. Pancho is a nine month old Wooly Monkey and her mother was killed by poachers when Pancho was very young. One of the rangers found her and brought her to the lodge where we were staying. So now they have a naughty, but very cute, baby monkey causing all sorts of trouble and amusement. Monkeys are great entertainment, kind of like having a small stupid child that can climb and dangle and hop onto the table and steal your food in about 2 seconds.
We saw a big anaconda, lots of wild monkeys, birds, big scary spiders and bugs, and I managed to walk around with a tick under my arm for about 2 days. When we got back, and I could finally take a hot shower that wasn’t river water, I discovered it and had to pull it off. Yuck. Chris escaped parasite free.
I uploaded the remaining photos from the Galapagos and the jungle, but I am having trouble with our photos page on the website. The photos are posted on my public photo page so if you click here and here, you can see them. Or you can just click on the My Public Gallery tab at the top of the page and see all of the pictures.
When we returned to Quito we visited the site of the equator with two other girls from the jungle trip. In the 1700’s the French came and determined the exact spot where the equator was and they built a monument. It turns out they were about 150 meters off and the local people had already found the spot about 900 years earlier. Fast forward to GPS days and they built another museum on that equator spot… although they may be a bit off as well. But we went to both monuments and had fun in the museum and then traveled back to Quito. Click here to see those pictures.
On Tuesday we flew to Colombia. Cartagena is the top tourist destination and so far, we’re not sure why. We need to get into the old city and see some of the beaches farther out of town because the ones close to us are pretty dirty and polluted. Cartagena was the main export point for all of the gold to return to Europe. It was built in the 1500’s and the colonial city is supposed to be very cool. We are also on the Caribbean so we want to get to the better beaches to see the white sand and blue water.
So for now, Chris and I are in Cartagena for one week, maybe two, and then we are off to somewhere else in Colombia or Brazil, depending on flights. We leave at the end of the month so time is running out. Happy 4th!
We are staying in an apartment with Antony and Lisa from Leeds, England. We met them in Ushuaia, Argentina at the beginning of our trip and have managed to meet up in Lake Titicaca, Cusco, and Quito. They are at the end of their year long around the world trip and booked this apartment in Cartagena for two weeks before they fly home. Chris and I are tagging along.
We survived the jungle. Chris promised he would write a blog but he never finished it and now he will be mad that I’m pointing this out on the blog. The jungle was fine. The best part was Pancho the monkey. Pancho is a nine month old Wooly Monkey and her mother was killed by poachers when Pancho was very young. One of the rangers found her and brought her to the lodge where we were staying. So now they have a naughty, but very cute, baby monkey causing all sorts of trouble and amusement. Monkeys are great entertainment, kind of like having a small stupid child that can climb and dangle and hop onto the table and steal your food in about 2 seconds.
We saw a big anaconda, lots of wild monkeys, birds, big scary spiders and bugs, and I managed to walk around with a tick under my arm for about 2 days. When we got back, and I could finally take a hot shower that wasn’t river water, I discovered it and had to pull it off. Yuck. Chris escaped parasite free.
I uploaded the remaining photos from the Galapagos and the jungle, but I am having trouble with our photos page on the website. The photos are posted on my public photo page so if you click here and here, you can see them. Or you can just click on the My Public Gallery tab at the top of the page and see all of the pictures.
When we returned to Quito we visited the site of the equator with two other girls from the jungle trip. In the 1700’s the French came and determined the exact spot where the equator was and they built a monument. It turns out they were about 150 meters off and the local people had already found the spot about 900 years earlier. Fast forward to GPS days and they built another museum on that equator spot… although they may be a bit off as well. But we went to both monuments and had fun in the museum and then traveled back to Quito. Click here to see those pictures.
On Tuesday we flew to Colombia. Cartagena is the top tourist destination and so far, we’re not sure why. We need to get into the old city and see some of the beaches farther out of town because the ones close to us are pretty dirty and polluted. Cartagena was the main export point for all of the gold to return to Europe. It was built in the 1500’s and the colonial city is supposed to be very cool. We are also on the Caribbean so we want to get to the better beaches to see the white sand and blue water.
So for now, Chris and I are in Cartagena for one week, maybe two, and then we are off to somewhere else in Colombia or Brazil, depending on flights. We leave at the end of the month so time is running out. Happy 4th!
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