As I write this, Christmas has been and gone and I've missed out many festive things but as with any family get together, I've missed out on the retelling of those (often cringing) family stories. My auntie Janet was would always make a point of embarrassing me (usually in female company) about how when I was just 6 years old how, I was fixated with my Dad's 40th birthday cake. To be fare it was a very well endowed birthday cake and being 6 years old I was understandably taken back at seeing such a booby-licious cake, but in my defense it was my aunts cat that destroyed the left breast resulting in a last minute boob-job.
You maybe thinking, "where is he going with this?", but upon arriving in Colombia the mouth hanging open fixation had returned. Colombian women are reputed to be the most beautiful in the world. Well there's some truth in that I suppose, but they're definitely the most enhanced women in the world for sure. With my lower jaw returned to its rightful place I soon learned that Colombian girls when reaching 16 don´t ask for that dream trip to Europe or a car anymore, its all about getting down to the plastic surgeon to get the works. I think I'll return to the UK, get my chiropractor's license and return to Colombia in 20 years as there are going to be a lot of back problems in Colombia´s future.
Aside from being easily distracted, I arrived in the Caribbean city of Cartagena, a place with a lot of history, from the trialing of supposed witches to the incessant invasions of English pirates, the city has experienced a lot. Most of whats interesting is kept within the old city walls, from museums showcasing just how to torture a potential witch to examples of the gold that used to be found there before the Spanish half-inched it. There's a lot to see and do, but the thing that keeps me coming back to the old town every day is the restaurant La Mulata. It´s Caribbean food but on a par with a lot of top London places (and I know I´m on a connoisseur of the Chicken Cottáge as my old boss Lonsdale used to remind me), but this place served up Caribbean delicacies for about 4 pounds.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richsmith/5280105967/in/set-72157625522989611/
The old town is fantastic for a stroll around, and the colonial architecture is stunning but I´m pretty certain there is still a significant amount of pirate blood in the local people here. Aside from some cheeky bugger trying to unzip my bag (he failed), the place has the feel about it that everyone's out for a fast buck and keen as mustard to party themselves to pieces come night time. This could be a lifestyle I could get used to and to make things feel like home the local clubs charge even more for a Cuba Libre than most places in London ($18,000 COP = almost 7 quid).
One of the tourist tours that get myself on, is to the local mud volcano; Volcan de lodo El Totumo. Well I say volcano, it looks more like a 15 metre high termite mound, the top of which is a mud bath. The blog won´t do this justice, but it was great fun trying and failing to sink below our necks, evading the locals terrible attempts at massaging and getting the apparently healthy mud into every single orifice. A few days later and I'm still managing to find mud, which is a surprise given after you'd had your fill of the mud, you wander down to the lagoon resembling a slightly less-hairy chewbacca to be rigorously hand cleaned by one of the local women. I'm hastily reminded of being a child and being scrubbed to bits by my mum in the bath tub, my ears never feel the same!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richsmith/5280184863/in/set-72157625648662090/
Back in Cartagena after a lengthy breakdown, its time to get a wriggle on for Medellin in central Colombia, in search of an oven to roast some kind of bird for Christmas... well that was the plan at any rate.
photos in the usual place...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richsmith/sets/72157625522989611/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richsmith/sets/72157625648662090/
You maybe thinking, "where is he going with this?", but upon arriving in Colombia the mouth hanging open fixation had returned. Colombian women are reputed to be the most beautiful in the world. Well there's some truth in that I suppose, but they're definitely the most enhanced women in the world for sure. With my lower jaw returned to its rightful place I soon learned that Colombian girls when reaching 16 don´t ask for that dream trip to Europe or a car anymore, its all about getting down to the plastic surgeon to get the works. I think I'll return to the UK, get my chiropractor's license and return to Colombia in 20 years as there are going to be a lot of back problems in Colombia´s future.
Aside from being easily distracted, I arrived in the Caribbean city of Cartagena, a place with a lot of history, from the trialing of supposed witches to the incessant invasions of English pirates, the city has experienced a lot. Most of whats interesting is kept within the old city walls, from museums showcasing just how to torture a potential witch to examples of the gold that used to be found there before the Spanish half-inched it. There's a lot to see and do, but the thing that keeps me coming back to the old town every day is the restaurant La Mulata. It´s Caribbean food but on a par with a lot of top London places (and I know I´m on a connoisseur of the Chicken Cottáge as my old boss Lonsdale used to remind me), but this place served up Caribbean delicacies for about 4 pounds.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richsmith/5280105967/in/set-72157625522989611/
The old town is fantastic for a stroll around, and the colonial architecture is stunning but I´m pretty certain there is still a significant amount of pirate blood in the local people here. Aside from some cheeky bugger trying to unzip my bag (he failed), the place has the feel about it that everyone's out for a fast buck and keen as mustard to party themselves to pieces come night time. This could be a lifestyle I could get used to and to make things feel like home the local clubs charge even more for a Cuba Libre than most places in London ($18,000 COP = almost 7 quid).
One of the tourist tours that get myself on, is to the local mud volcano; Volcan de lodo El Totumo. Well I say volcano, it looks more like a 15 metre high termite mound, the top of which is a mud bath. The blog won´t do this justice, but it was great fun trying and failing to sink below our necks, evading the locals terrible attempts at massaging and getting the apparently healthy mud into every single orifice. A few days later and I'm still managing to find mud, which is a surprise given after you'd had your fill of the mud, you wander down to the lagoon resembling a slightly less-hairy chewbacca to be rigorously hand cleaned by one of the local women. I'm hastily reminded of being a child and being scrubbed to bits by my mum in the bath tub, my ears never feel the same!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richsmith/5280184863/in/set-72157625648662090/
Back in Cartagena after a lengthy breakdown, its time to get a wriggle on for Medellin in central Colombia, in search of an oven to roast some kind of bird for Christmas... well that was the plan at any rate.
photos in the usual place...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richsmith/sets/72157625522989611/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richsmith/sets/72157625648662090/
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