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Old Oct 15, 2010, 4:13 am
  #14  
olafman
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
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June 2011: Cartagena, Colombia

I really am not sure how we ended up in Colombia. I remember sitting in front of my laptop playing around with the Oneworld round-the-world booking tool. The first eleven months were all planned and we needed a flight from Santiago. It had to be a Spanish speaking country so Terry and Corbin could continue to learn Spanish. I wanted it to be in South America since we were already down there. Central America is fairly easy for us to get to when living in California.

I had several conversations with our Venezuelan friend Dan who lived next door to us in Munich. My guess is that he convinced us to come here over many beers together. He said Cartagena was absolutely beautiful and would be a fun place to hang out for the last month of our year long adventure.

Using the RTW booking tool, I was able to see that LAN flew a 767 with their flat beds into Bogotá which would make our journey very comfortable. Leaving Bogotá at the end of the month, we could travel on American Airlines through Miami back to Los Angeles or fly back down to Santiago and then up to Los Angeles on LAN in their comfy seat/bed. The LAN option would give us 18,000 miles versus only around 8,600 on American. The frequent flyer geek in me easily chose LAN with more miles and a fully flat bed over anything American would offer me. I did ask my family if they minded flying a “few” extra miles with the advantage of getting a LAN bed and they went for it!

So on Sunday, June 5, we flew up to Colombia. The full trip report can be found here:
FLIGHT#37 LAN#570 Santiago, Chile – Bogota, Columbia 767 Biz with Pics

After we arrived in Bogotá, we took a one hour hop on the Panama based carrier Copa Airlines. They have begun to also serve the domestic market in Colombia. Here is the brief trip report on that leg:
FLIGHT#38 Copa Airlines #7478 Bogotá – Cartagena Economy with Pics

After spending a month in Chile where the season was late fall/early winter, we were really looking forward to the summer warmth of the Caribbean in Cartagena. For almost our entire trip, we had done a fairly good job of following summer around the globe. April in Argentina was our first month where we could actually wear pants if we wanted to. May in Chile forced us to leave our shorts in the suitcase. The coast was even colder than Santiago.

The humid warmth of Cartagena hit us immediately. The last bits of daylight were leaving as we drove in the taxi to our flat in Bocagrande. We drove past the Old City with its large, protective walls. The historic buildings were lit up and I felt like we were at Epcot Center at Disneyworld. It looked too picturesque to be real.


Quiet, beautiful streets of Cartagena


In the old town of Cartagena

After the Old City we saw the white skyscrapers of Bocagrande. As we had been told, it looked a lot like Miami, Florida with its tall white apartment buildings. We spent much of the last month in the Miami of Chile, Vińa del Mar. Now we were in Colombia’s version. The funny thing is that Terry and Corbin have never been to Miami. I am sure once Corbin finally visits Miami he is going to say that neither place is like Miami. Life is like that.

The porter at our building, Mar Adentro, gave us our keys and soon we were opening the door to our amazing place. The dining room and living room both directly faced the beach. This was “ocean front” at its best. Both rooms also opened up to large balconies where we loved to hang out. The ocean breezes cooled us even on the hottest days.

In addition to the wonderful living spaces, the place had three huge bedrooms and four bathrooms. It was a palace. I was especially happy with the American-sized kitchen including a huge Whirlpool refrigerator/freezer. Mama had done good. Our last month was going to be very comfortable for us.

We had missed the sunset that night but I looked forward to sipping a cold beer while watching the sun hit the water every night. When I booked the place I made sure you could see the sunset into the water. This was important to me. The owner said the view was spectacular from the apartment and he was not wrong. The next evening we saw an artist’s pallet of colors. I have always said that Cape Town has the most amazing sunsets. Cartagena seems to be giving Cape Town a run for its money.


English class at our flat in Cartagena

On our first evening, we were quite hungry by the time we arrived at our new home. We could see many restaurants on the next street over. A local fish place got our business and soon we all had full stomachs and were content. Fried plantains and arroz con coco (coconut rice) are the staples served at most restaurants. I do not like sweet things much and luckily the arroz con coco had a strong coconut flavor without being sweet. It went well with our fish and chicken main dishes.

Throughout our year, we told Corbin he had seven days off he could chose to use whenever he wanted. Even with these days off, Corbin would be completing 177 schools days with us which is the California schools requirement. Corbin does not get the option of taking time off from the family like Terry and I do. This was my way of offering him some control. The next morning after our arrival, Corbin decided to use up his last remaining day off.

Terry and I were both relieved at his decision. A day off from school for him meant his teachers also got a day off. Score! We used the day to unpack and play at the beach.

All along the beautiful, sandy beaches, little cabanas are erected each morning. For only 8,000 pesos ($4.50), we could get shelter from the sun and two plastic chairs for the day. Then as we sat there, the world came by to sell us cold drinks, shaved ice, ceviche, cut up mango, coconut sweets, jewelry, day tours and massages. The latter was the most annoying. The women would come up behind us and just start massaging our shoulders. I would politely say no but they would continue. This would turn into me asking them to stop touching me. Speaking Spanish the entire time, there was no communication difficulty here. They were aggressive. In the end they would start to yell at me as they walked away. One of them even slapped one of my friends on the shoulder when he asked her to stop! We were shocked how forceful she was.

The best part of the beach was the water. It was wonderfully warm and we enjoyed playing in the waves. At times they were just big enough to do some body surfing but nothing as big as in Hawaii or California. The beach was also very gradual so I never worried about Corbin swimming. He could always touch the bottom. We are scheduled to go to the beach over the 4th of July weekend in LA. I warned Corbin that the water was much colder and dropped off much faster there.

We went down to the beach for five days straight before the vendors drove us crazy. Corbin loved to play in the water and in the sand. Terry and I took turns watching him and reading under the shade of the cabana. Every thirty seconds someone came by wanting to sell us something. They were relentless. After the first week, people bother me less if I wear sunglasses and headphones while I read. I pretend not to hear them and then end up leaving much sooner.

Even when you are swimming in the ocean, guys approach you asking if you want to rent a jet ski or boogie board. Also they try to sell a raft ride behind a motorboat. All of these things really appealed to the eleven year old boy at my side. I managed to postpone the inevitable raft ride for a couple of days. We have great memories of rafting with our friends in Lake Tahoe. Paying $15 for ten minutes of fun in the Caribbean just could not match up.

We had no problem finding a guy with a raft. I figured out the guy with the raft is not connected to the guy with the motorboat. The boat guy is a subcontractor of the raft guy. The boat driver has learned that most clients love to be flung off the raft a couple of times during the ten minutes of fun. Corbin got thrown so hard that his lifejacket literally fell apart. The whole thing was a bit forceful for me but Corbin loved it. He could not have been happier.


Out wild raft ride

On another day, Corbin really wanted to rent a boogie board. A guy came with a boogie board and tried to get our business as we were way out swimming in the ocean. He started at 20,000 pesos for 30 minutes with the board. I was shocked it was so high. I simply said no. As with any negotiation, if the opening price is too high, the interested party might just walk away at that point. I swam away. Soon he caught up to us and the price was at 15,000 pesos. I told him that he started way too high and I was done negotiating. Quickly 10,000 pesos was offered. Corbin’s eyebrows went up at this point. In the process of negotiation, an eager young boy by your side is a liability. I told him that we were not going to do business with this guy. I wasn’t feeling it. Then the guy threw out an offer of 10,000 for an entire hour as a last ditch effort. I said “no” but knew where to start with the next guy.

Ten minutes later, the next boogie board renter came by and I offered 5,000 for thirty minutes. At first he said no but when he saw I was not budging, he agreed. Corbin played for about twenty minutes before the rash on his chest was too painful. I played for five minutes but then was finished too. We both got out of the water but the guy was no where to be seen. I simply put the board leaning against the cabana and started to read. After a half hour, he finally came by to get the board. He said I owed him 10,000 pesos since I used it for an hour. He said he’s been watching us from the side. I corrected him saying that we used it for 25 minutes and then we got out of the water.

Unfortunately, I only had a 10,000 bill to pay with. He wanted to take it to get change. My worry was I would never see him again so I asked for the board as collateral. He didn’t like this but understood. Thirty minutes later someone else brought the change and took the board.

I am not totally comfortable with this whole process of bartering. I take it very personally. It does not seem fair. The price should be the price. All over the world we have bartered. It finally is getting to me here. I’m tired of bartering. Plus it seems to be worse here since they are so aggressive. I lived for two years in Malawi and bartered almost every day. Here in Colombia I was struggling with it all. I fully understand that these people are just trying to feed their families. They are using a system that is part of their culture.

Back in Malawi, I used to joke around with the cashiers at the supermarkets. After they had rung up all my groceries, they would tell me the total in English. I would always respond in Chichewa with the phrases that you would use if you were negotiating at the open air market. “You have made the price very expensive. Come down a bit please. I don’t want the European price. I want the Malawian price.” They would always giggle and just wait for me to pay them. At least I got a giggle out of them!

June in Cartagena means that it is always hot. The temperature hangs out around ninety degrees Fahrenheit and I heard the humidity is 96%. It’s hot and it feels REALLY hot. Being on the coast helps because the breezes come in off the sea. Within the walls of the Old City, I instantly melt. Few places have air conditioning. I have decided that it is perfectly acceptable to have sweat pit stains that meet in the middle of my chest. It’s not a look that I usually go for but IT’S HOT!

With Chile being so cold, I did not do much exercise. This paired with the plentiful Chilean red wine and my midriff had taken a bit of a hit. It was time to get back to the gym. After seeing myself in a bathing suit on the beach, I found my motivation. Luckily I got several recommendations via the CouchSurfing website. The closest was a brand new gym about four blocks from our flat. At $7 a day, it seemed expensive compared to other local prices but worth it. I was really sore the first few days. My body let me know that it did not appreciate the multi-monthed hiatus I had given it. I look forward to a more disciplined life back in California where I hit the gym either every morning or every afternoon.

We found the Olympica supermarket about three blocks from our house. They stocked all the basics plus some imported foods like salsa and peanut butter. I was perfectly satisfied until I saw the Carulla supermarket a block further away. The produce was gorgeous. They mostly carried imported products both from Europe and the States. I was in heaven. The problem is that the prices were understandably high. Even the seafood was beautiful. I bought some lovely baby squid and made a delicious dinner one night.

The hardest part of our travels is cooking with a limited kitchen. My original thought was to dedicate one checked bag to kitchen items: a frying pan, sharp knives, fish sauce and spices. Unfortunately just did not have the room in our six bags. Now that we are down to three bags we REALLY do not have the room. Soon enough I will be setting up our kitchen in Berkeley and I will have all my tools at hand.

Arriving in a new city means we get to explore new restaurants. We have done very well all around the world with the recommendations from Lonely Planet. One restaurant stood out in the listings that I really wanted to try: La Mulata. After school one day, we took a nice cool taxi to this popular eatery in the Old City. It was buzzing with locals as we walked in. This is always a good sign. A very busy waiter told me that the wait should be around ten minutes. Perfect! What I did not understand at that point was we were just supposed to take the next available table. We figured out the system after watching several other groups who arrived after us just grab tables from leaving parties.

Once seated we all chose our meals from a simple menu that changes daily. Terry chose beef and Corbin and I both had shrimp. The first course was a fantastic lentil soup made with a flavorful beef broth. The mains were also wonderful leaving little room for the fruit tart for dessert. Our bill was less than $10 a person and we had eaten so well. This place receives my highest recommendation.

The Old City has many great restaurants and tourist sights. Often after school, we’d take a cab over there for lunch with some tourist activity afterwards. Once thing I could not get over was all the churches there wanted a $7.50 entrance fee to look around. I’m not Christian but I do enjoy a nice stroll through a church as we visit different cities for their historic value. There is no way I’m going to pay over $20 for my family per visit per church. We had nice tours from the outside.

We did enjoy our visits to the Museum of gold and the Naval museum. At the gold museum we saw many interesting artifacts from ancient cultures. Corbin loved the cone shaped device that was used to cover the “man bits”. They even had one for kids. A guide inside the museum was very aggressive to make us take his tour. Even after I said no, he started talking to Corbin. Instantly the tour began and he never paused so I could cut him off. I finally just interrupted him saying that we had to leave. Half of the museum was inside a vault which really impressed Corbin. I on the other hand was very impressed by the wonderful air conditioning there.

The Naval museum was a big hit with Corbin. His favorite part was being able to hold various weapons. Of course the son of a pacifist is obsessed with guns. He couldn’t believe that they let him hold them in his hands. I often try to talk to him about the non-glamorous side of guns: the killing. At one point he told me that he would like to join the army if he never had to kill anyone. I guess I should be happy about this. We’re half way there.

Walking the streets of Cartagena on a hot day, we love coming across lemonade vendors. For $0.60 you get an ice-cold glass of fresh-squeezed lemonade. It is truly one of the best things about Colombia. Others also sell a slushy version of it but they are not as common.


Buying lemonade on a hot Caribbean day

We have two favorite restaurants here that are not typical Colombian: the Hard Rock Café and Crepes and Waffles. We don’t do McDonalds so you have to give me to leeway here. Back while living in Los Angeles, we learned that the Hard Rock Café actually serves good food. It’s no TGIFridays. When traveling the world, a dose of fajitas can go a long way to help you get through the unfamiliarity of foreign travel. Corbin’s medicine is spicy chicken wings. These are flavors from home that make us and our stomachs happy. The HRC (Hard Rock Café to straight people and Human Rights Campaign to the gays) has a cheap lunch menu where we can get out of there for $8 a person including drinks. Bargain!

Crepes and Waffles is another beautifully air conditioned restaurant with excellent food. Corbin loves that the ice cream menu is actually a book with photos of each selection. Like the HRC, the quality is really good and we’ve been back several times. You cannot eat fried plantains all the time!

I do most of the cooking and Terry does not offer very often. Some mornings I’ll announce that he is in charge of dinner. Mama is taking the night off. This happened one day after we arrived. Terry found a recipe and went shopping. Just before it was ready, I popped my head into the kitchen to ask what we were having. He replied, “Mango chicken”. Delicious!

Then I asked the fateful question. “What else?”

“Nothing else. That’s it.” Really? No rice? No veggies? No salad? Just mango chicken? He added, “You can make a salad if you want.”

The last thing I want to do on one of the rare times I’m not making dinner to make a salad. Like I said before, Mama is taking the night off. I threw out “Can you least make some rice to go with it?”

It turned out very nice but that is all we got, some chicken with mango sauce over my added rice. I cannot say that I was thrilled with the whole thing but it is a start. The problem is that Terry does NOT like salad and cannot really be bothered with making a vegetable. What are we teaching our son?

The next morning we were chatting about the day and he volunteered to make dinner again tonight! I asked if he would be making an entire, balanced meal or just the parts he liked. This did not go down very well. He declared that he thinks that we only need to eat vegetables four times a week. WHAT?!?! It was not a great moment of our relationship and I ended up making dinner.

I met up with some local CouchSurfers to experience one of the gay clubs, Studio 54. We met for a pre-club beer and then headed over together. When we got there the crowd was thin still. The funniest part was the electricity went off twice while we were there. Dance clubs are not much fun without any lights and no music. After a bit I turned on some Paulina Rubio hits on my iPhone which helped fill the air. The worst part of no electricity was it meant no air conditioning.

I met a French traveler via the CouchSurfing Cartagena forum and we invited her over for dinner one warm evening. She turned out to be delightful and had even stayed with Peter and Seba, our CouchSurfing friends in Valparaiso. She was traveling on her own for a year and I enjoyed hearing her stories.

Three-quarters of my heritage is northern European. Because of this I have fair skin that is not fond of the sun. As a teenager I loved shellacking on the baby oil and bronzing my skin. Later in my thirties I saw the permanent effects of sun on my skin and began to stay out of the sun as much as possible. Now in my forties, pretty little brown spots have started to appear on my body. Neat-o. My outside wear has resorted to essentially a big, floppy hat and a mumu.

Our month in Cartagena involved daily beach time. I always rented a canopied shelter for $5 a day to help get out of the sun. In addition, I covered my body with sunscreen and even worn a long sleeved swim shirt. I still got burnt! The sun was strong there an in the end my best protection was to limit my exposure during the strongest part of the day.


Creative sand art

As the month went on, it seemed to be getting hotter. Several evenings, we were forced to eat on our balcony because the living/dining rooms were just too hot. If the evening breezes failed to come, the sweat would pour off of us. Only our bedrooms were air-conditioned which worked most of the time.

With just a few weeks left of our adventure, we all started to think a lot about our new lives back in California. We had jobs. We had a place to live. We had a school lined up for Corbin. Our brand new lives were just waiting for us as soon as we got home.

The effect of this was we all started to get restless and anxious. We really wanted to enjoy Colombia but our brains were constantly fast-forwarding to California. I’m actually surprised that it didn’t happen earlier in the trip.

Back in Germany and also before in California, our family has always enjoyed going out to breakfast on the weekends. So on our second Saturday morning, we at the nearby Isabella’s Coffee. I had smoked salmon eggs benedict while Terry and Corbin enjoyed some pancakes. It was a great way to start a weekend.

The next morning our friend Jay arrived from Seattle. He and also Terry’s mom win the award for Most Times Visited. They each visited us twice on our year of adventure: Jay in Vietnam and Colombia and Terry’s mom in Scotland and New Zealand. In addition they both also came to Germany. We were so happy to have them a part of our great adventure.

We decided to head into the old town for lunch to celebrate his arrival. I was not prepared that most of the restaurants were closed since it was Sunday. We finally ended up in a VERY hot restaurant that served up some delicious local fare. After lunch we tried walking around a bit but the heat drove us back home and out to the beach.

That evening we celebrated the 12th anniversary of CouchSurfing.org at a big dinner at Crepes & Waffles just down the street from our place in Bocagrande. We ended up being about sixteen CSers and we had a great time meeting everyone. Several had been on an organized bike ride just prior which surprised me because of the heat and humidity. Corbin was a big hit and all the local woman loved all over him!


CouchSurfing 12th Anniversary Dinner

In the final weeks of our fifth grade school year, Corbin finished up the PowerPoint presentation that he prepared for he class visit in New Zealand. He finished up all the slides from the remaining countries to complete the project. The final step was to make a video showing the slides and narrating each one. The result was a 45 minute video that he posted on YouTube as his culminating project. I am so proud of all his work and it is truly amazing what he has been able to experience. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc-Omf0_rHk)

With Jay’s arrival we had a renewed tourist spirit to go tackle the more popular tourist adventures in Cartagena. One of the first was a Chiva Bus Tour. For $8 each we got picked up in a multi-colored windowless bus full of Spanish speakers. It had not occurred to me that it would only be in Spanish. Poor Corbin and Terry just didn’t have enough Spanish to understand ANYTHING!! I translated some of the things but Corbin was having trouble connecting to the experience.

Corbin did perk up when we visited the old Spanish Fort, Over 250,000 slaves died constructing this huge fortress on the hill. Cartagena was an important entrance port to the Americas from Europe and Cartagena had the fortification to prove it.


Visiting Cartagena’s Spanish Fort with Jay

One of the culinary highlights of our month in Cartagena was our visit to the famous La Cevicheria. Not only has it achieve fame by receiving a glowing review in Lonely Planet. It also was featured on the TV travel food show “Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservation”. We worried that the modest restaurant might not be able to live up to all the hype but were willing to give it a try.


La Cevicheria – the best in town

Our gamble paid off with by far, the best ceviche I had ever eaten. We ordered two varieties served in large bowls and we ate up every morsel. I am fully aware that ceviche (raw fish) is a marginally risky food. The old myth that the lime “cooks” the food is mostly false. I read several articles while down in Chile and decided that it should not be eaten often. So I hate to admit that we returned to La Cevicheria for one of our final meals. Great is great.

On another day we tried La Cevicheria Donde Wippy. In spite of the bizarre name, it too offered some delicious food but at a higher price than its competitor. I put reviews of both places on TripAdvisor with my opinions. A few days later, I received an email from the owner Donde Wippy arguing some of the things I said. This is the first time that this has ever happened to me.

One of the highlights of our month in Cartagena was our visit to the mud volcano, El Volcán Tutumo. The French woman we met through CouchSurfing raved about the experience. So we paid our 50,000 pesos per person and booked for the next day. I had read in Lonely Planet that was possible to take public transport to reach the volcano but with the heat, we decided to go with the tour in a nice air-conditioned minibus. It was a good choice and made the day much simpler.

After about an hour, we arrived at this small volcano that rose about 25m off the horizon. We all stripped down to our bathing suits and climbed the stairs to reach the top. Indeed, the top was a circle about 5m in diameter fully of thick, bubbling mud. Our guide had warned us that the volcano has a depth of around 2000m! Our bodies were so buoyant in the mud that it was almost impossible to push our bodies in past our shoulders. Some people submerged their entire head into the mud but I made do with just painting mud on my hair and face carefully avoiding my nose, ears and mouth. I’m not a big germ-o-phobe but this looked like a lovely bacteria breeding ground.

My two boys, Jay and I had a wonderful time playing in the mud. It was a very intimate experience that we shared with twenty of our closest, new friends that we just met on the bus. We giggled and laughed because the experience was so strange. Finally our time was up and it was time to emerge from the mud. I gave my camera to a local villager who happily too pictures of us throughout the experience for a predetermined fee. We carefully made our way down the volcano which was not too easy since our entire body was caked with mud.


Getting ready to get covered in mud at Vulcano Totumo


Volcanic mud fun

After a short walk we arrived at a lake where we slowly removed the mud. Yes, it was everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Several local woman were available for hire to aide in the mud removal process and give a short massage. We all chose to handle it ourselves in spite of their many offers.

Finally our bus load of tourists were clean again and we returned to the bus for a thirty minute ride to our beach restaurant. If Gilligan, The Skipper and the rest of the castaways ever moved to Cartagena, this is the type of restaurant they would open. It’s rustic charm lasted until a huge downpour hit and we had to play the game, Find A Place Under The Tarp Roof That Wasn’t Leaking. Needless to say that we lost that game. The other interested thing about the restaurant was that it seemed like they weren’t expecting us. After thirty minutes of no drinks or food offered, we asked if we could get beers. No problem. They said that the complementary beverages would be served with the meal. We didn’t want to wait that long.

The meal choice was fish or chicken like EVERYWHERE else in Colombia. All fried and served with a simple salad and coconut rice. The kitchen seemed to be able to produce about one meal every five minutes so we soon figured out we were not leaving any time soon. As I have mentioned before, Jay and I met in the Peace Corps in Malawi. We spent many hours together waiting so this was not new for us. Luckily like in Malawi, we had brought along our cards so we filled the time playing Bardu. Jay picked it up quickly and the four of us had a great time at our Gilligan’s Island Restaurant in the pouring rain.

As the temperature rose throughout the month, we discovered a lovely air-conditioned mall with a movie theater. Back in Germany when Corbin was 10, we took him to see The Hangover. Terry and I had both seen it and decided that Corbin would enjoy it. Sure, there were adult theme involving sexual situations and drug but nothing we could explain and discuss with him. Of course, he loved it. I think he knew that he was on the younger side of being able to watch it.

Throughout our travels this year, we have often seen posters advertising the release of The Hangover 2. The best part was that much of it was film in Bangkok and Krabi WHERE WE HAD JUST SPENT A MONTH. The three of us anxiously looked forward to seeing the sequel to a movie we had so enjoyed.

I should have read a review or two of the movie before we all ended up seeing it. We made it through the first one with just a couple of explanations so this one shouldn’t be that different, RIGHT?

Things were fine the first thirty minutes. Several questionable things happened but all good. Then we arrived at the part when Ed Helms finds out he was anally penetrated by a transsexual. I was wondering if Corbin really understood what he was talking about. I assumed no.

The rest of the movie constantly walked the thin line of being kind of appropriate for an eleven year old and not appropriate at all. I was relieved when we finally made it to the credits. Whew!

What I had forgotten at this point was that in the original Hangover, the credit sequence showed a series of pictures depicting what actually happened during their forgotten night. The sequel couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do the same. The moment I will never forget is when we see pictures of the transsexual’s penis and then see Ed Helms bent over being plowed by the tranny. Great moments in parenting.

Soon we said goodbye to Jay and we were left alone for our final week of Cartagena. We watched Corbin’s final version of his forty-five minute presentation. As I said he posted it on YouTube to share with all our family and friends. He’s created quite a group of followers this past year and I was amazed how many people invested the time and watched it.


Snorkeling on Rosario Island

I also put a thirteen minute slideshow together showing what the year was like from Corbin’s perspective. It really turned out well and it’s yet another view of our adventures. I’m glad I took the time now to make it because once we return, it’s going to be crazy.

We spent a lot of time together that week enjoying the final moments of this amazing opportunity. Over the year we had learned to enjoy hanging out together. Playing cards, watching US television shows, chatting about our future. We didn’t do much touristy stuff. We relaxed and enjoyed beach living.

Cartagena was a great last month for us but by far it was the hardest because our brains were constantly thinking about our new lives in California. I wish that there was a direct San Francisco – Cartagena flight because I would easily choose it over Hawaii or Mexico for a one week family vacation in the future. Price is a key factor. It has great bang for buck. The people are all super friendly. The sellers on the beach can be annoying but like any good South American, I quickly learned how to get rid of them with the common dismissive hand gesture. There are very few places in the world where you can take a mud bath in a volcano!

We packed up our house for the last time and headed to the airport. The trip report of our flight down to Bogotá can be found here:
FLIGHT#39 Copa Airlines #7471 Cartagena - Bogotá Economy with Pics

After a nice flight we easily transferred to the Embassy Suites in North Bogotá. The hotel is located in a nice area surrounded by many good restaurants. I would definitely choose this location again! A couple of our friends had recommended that Bogotá was worth spending a couple of days when visiting Colombia.

The big gay pride parade coincidentally was being held on the afternoon of our arrival. We assumed it was in our honor. I had been communicating with some gay CouchSurfers in Bogotá who wanted to march together so we decided to join them.

We quickly dropped off our bags at the hotel and cabbed it over to the parade starting point. In countries who are just beginning to show their gay pride, the event is usually a march. From there they graduate to a parade. Then it turns into a parade and a festival. Big homo paradises like SF, NY and LA have multi-day pride events with dance tents. Bogotá was at the parade level.


Marching in the Bogotá Gay Pride Parade

The staging area for the parade was chaotic as expected but soon enough we found the CouchSurfing organizer. In all we were a group of seven who march in the parade representing CouchSurfing.com. We didn’t have a banner but marched in solidarity next to the organization “Families of 1,000 Colors”. It was a beautiful experience. I think out of the two thousand people marching in the parade, we were the only gay family. Because of this we stood out and were mini-celebrities. So many people came up to us to talk. It was a great experience for all three of us. I was even interviewed by the national newspaper. Colombia is ready for gay families. They are now where the US was in 1998. I felt privileged that we could represent gay families at the event. As I have shared several times throughout this narrative, tears are streaming down my face as I write this. It was an emotional moment in our trip. The warmth and brotherhood we experience that day will never be forgotten. I am so glad that Corbin was a part of our experience because he too will never forget what happened.

The nice thing about Embassy Suites is the big breakfast buffet in the morning and then the “all-you-can-drink” reception in the evening. That’s what I call it. They call it something less boozy like the “Manager’s Reception”. All I know is that the alcohol flows freely for two hours and I never saw any manager. A small selection of pupus is offered with the free drinks but it was not enough for a meal so we’d usually pick up something else.

One of the touristic highlights of Bogotá was the visit to the Museo Botero. Terry and I have always enjoyed his work. Corbin was a fan of his work starting at eight months old. Back when Terry was a TV writer, we would often pop over to Hawaii when he was on hiatus for some R&R. When Corbin was eight months old, we spent a week at the Grand Wailea on Maui. Their lobby garden area is decorated with nine huge bronze Botero sculptures. As dumb, young parents, we let Corbin crawl all over them. We got some amazing pictures of him with these beautiful works.

That trip was also the same trip where we forgot Corbin’s suitcase at home. We got to check-in and the agent asked “How many bags?” I replied, “Six.” She added, “Well, I only have five here.” Once I realized that Corbin’s bag wasn’t there. I turned to Terry and asked “Did you forgot to put Corbin’s bag in the car?” Terry rebuffed, “NO, did YOU?” Even a decade ago, we had our moments. Luckily there was a K-Mart next to the airport on Maui and Corbin got an entirely new wardrobe of Hawaiian outfits. We bought seven matching shirt-shorts outfits. He continued to wear them back in LA and everyone loved them. So all the Botero pictures with Corbin feature his Hawaiian theme line of clothes.

I’ve never forgotten Corbin’s suitcase ever since. Neither has Terry.

The Museo Botero was a wonderful collection of mostly his work with the addition of a couple of his contemporaries. I really like his artistic sense. We purchased a couple of posters at the end of our visit to adorn our new home.

Our final dinner of our year long adventure was spent at a great Japanese restaurant near our hotel. It was a chic, hip spot popular with the locals. It was Corbin’s choice. The three of us shared memories of the year. It’s hard to believe that it was a year since we all were sharing a meal together on the eve of our departure from Munich. We have experienced so much together this year. Our perspective of the world is forever changed. Most importantly our lives are forever touched by the many wonderful people we encountered along the way.

As I’ve written before, we decided to fly from Bogotá back down to Santiago, Chile on our way back home to California. It’s not the quickest way home but it’s how it worked out. Needless to say my tombstone will be inscribed with “I did it for the miles!” By flying Bogotá to Los Angeles via Santiago, Chile we earned 11,000 extra miles and flew the entire way in LAN’s Premium Business fully-flat seat.

The trip reports for both flights can be found here:
FLIGHT#40 LAN#570 Bogota, Columbia - Santiago, Chile 767 Biz with Pics
FLIGHT#41 LAN#600 Santiago, Chile – Los Angeles, California 767 Biz with Pics

Finally on June 30, 2011 at 6:45am, we arrived back on US soil. It was day 365 of our adventure. We made it home. We were healthy. We were well rested. And we were ready to begin the next chapter of our lives.


Day 365: We arrive back on US soil

NOTE:
I’m currently working on the final chapter of this chronicle reflecting a bit on the entire experience. But until that’s finished I’ll update that after being home four weeks, we flew to London for our dear friends’ wedding. Our round-the-world ticket finished there. I’ll post a short trip report on that flight also down the road. We spent a total of 40 hours in Europe but well worth the effort of traveling from the West Coast of the US.

Re-entry into the United States has been interesting. Luckily it has gone well and we are enjoying our new lives. We are working hard at our new school. Corbin is attending public school for the first time in his life. He’s in sixth grade at a middle school where all of the students came from different schools. He’s already made good friends. He’s playing his trumpet in the band. He’s made the transition from being homeschooled by his dads to middle school without big drama. Life is good for us.

We are constantly asked about our experience. It’s still hard for all three of us to process all that we experienced. That will take time. Never ever will we have that year together again. But it will always remain with us. The experience shaped our lives and will forever guide us as we move forward.

Last edited by olafman; Oct 6, 2011 at 2:40 pm
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