Les vacances commencent
Tomorrow is my last day in Hamilton before my holidays will start. I will be away for about 3 weeks and spend my time in two different countries: Colombia and the USA. The decision to go there was rather late than early and my plans are very spontaneous and not really fixed yet – let’s see how this will all work out! For Christmas I should be in Santa Marta in Colombia and for New Years I might be near Madison in Wisconsin. I will update this post asap.
South America – Bogotá
I traveled from Hamilton, Canada via Buffalo, New York, Orlando to Bogotá, Colombia within about 18h using buses and airplanes. Total travel costs had been about 550$ including a quick dinner in Orlando.
Before I went to Bogotá I didn’t really know what to expect and as I arrived the first thing that happened was unexpected too: My baggage has not arrived! Being totally not able to speak a word spanish, this was a worst case situation. Fortunately I could stay for the whole time in Bogota at a friend’s place somewhere in the city. The city is so extremely big (8 million citizens), I simply cannot even tell where I stayed. As often discussed with my friend from Bogotá, the city has a kind of bad reputation in the world, like the country Colombia itself. I cannot speak for the whole country, but I got to see quite a bit from the city and I can tell you, it is simply amazing, incomparable to all the pictures you have in mind created from bad Hollywood blockbusters (e.g. Mr. & Mrs. Smith) and outstanding for the density of people on the streets, trying to make business. The city seems to be quite safe, but you should avoid traveling in the night-time by local buses, rather take a cab, which is quite cheap. Cheap is literally everything, but if you really wanna go cheap, Bogotá is the wrong place. You have to go to the landside, or even further to countries like Venezuela, but you pay for cheapness with safety.
I will remember the uncountable amount of different fruits you can buy, eat and drink and their ordinary look, which let you assume you get an ordinary taste too, but compared to everything I can buy in Canada it is an extra-ordinary taste! Some fruits look scary, some look unimpressive, but they all taste!
The crazy and inscrutable traffic is for a Western European citizen like me simply beyond words. The fact, that I have not seen any real accident in the city makes the system even more adorably. I would never overestimate myself to think I could drive there safely on my own, so renting a car in the city should only be considered if you are a really expired driver!
If you have a local around you, getting around by the many small buses servicing in the city is the best opportunity! For only about 1.200$ (Peso – is about 60 cents in American Dollars) you can get on a bus that brings you from one neighborhood of the city to the next far away one. Also the new TransMillenio bus system is a very comfortable way of getting around in the city, but it is limited to the main roads going through the city, but as its buses drive on their own driving lanes, traffic jams are no problem. It is comparable to a Metro System, but working with buses overground – the Colombian low-cost solution!
An amazing point for seeing the city is Mon Serate – a mountain (3200m high) in the north of the city with a small church on the top and a really expensive restaurant. You can either walk by foot or go by a lift up the hill directly from the bottom of the city, which is at 2600m sea level. The view is totally worth this trip, as you see city in every direction you look nearly until the horizon starts.
During my stop in Bogotá, I also attended the South American Footbag Championships 2009, which were held in a big hacienda near Bogotá. I got to know the South American players, which are all very motivated and talented. They had been really happy, that they had some international guests and we got a really warm welcome. Actually I did not too bad and got unexpectedly South American Champion in the routine discipline of footbag – WOW! I could not believe, because a lot of players seemed to be technically so much better than me, however, they are still very young so if they gain experience they will beat me all next year! It was an awesome event, held with nearly perfect weather (15°C, sunny and cloudy, almost no wind). A more detailed review in German can be found here!
South America – Santa Marta
My friend from Bogotá and his parents gave me a ride to and hostage in Santa Marta. We traveled by car for about 19h from Bogotá to Santa Marta, passed hundreds of different small villages, took over and got overtaken by almost as many cars, trucks and buses and rode over thousands of bumps on the street crawling up and down the hills and mountains of Colombia.
Santa Marta is a rather big city (more than one million citizens) on the coast of Colombia facing the Gulf of Mexico (Atlantic Ocean). This city gets spoiled by its beautiful nature around it and the great beach in front of it. Santa Marta is compared to Bogotá a little less developed, but it offers you a lot more sunshine and at least as many people, which are crowding the streets and try to make some money. I only spent about 2 days in this city, so there is not a lot to tell, but I got the opportunity to celebrate Christmas with people there. This was so different as I used to celebrate it and so nice at the same time, that it is hard to explain. The people exaggerate the decoration of their trees with lights in all colors of the rainbow and it looks all a little crazy when the weather is 30°C and there is no snow, but they love it and this captures your mind and you start to like it too! I never dived for fish in the ocean on the 24th of December before and I really loved this!
North America – Chicago
Got there after going from Santa Marta to Bogotá – 8h over night at the airport – and from Bogotá via Orlando to New York. Connecting flight to Chicago got delayed for 5h and additionally I fought with some travelers disease: More than 28h on the road, arrived totally exhausted at the hotel at 4am… Total travel costs: 605$
Chicago, the windy city – absolutely true, and absolutely harsh, if temperatures are subzero (Fahrenheit!!). The city welcomed me at 4am in the morning so gentle, I had to take a cab to not immediately break down, because I could not stand waiting for a bus. Maybe because I had been a little ill, I am a little bit exaggerating now. The city presented itself dressed up with its typical weather, a thin snow layer on everything, you saw the exhausting gases streaming out of cars and trucks and people were bundled, you could not even see their faces!
So I attended the Midwest Regional Footbag Championships in Chicago, which was held as a part of the Sports Festival at McCornick Place, a big hall full of every cool sport you can think of – one thing to claim: A sports fest and the only food supply was trashy, really expensive fast food. No vegetables, no fruits! Come on, guys!? I did not too bad at the competitions and the pills I got from the doc helped to stop thinking of my bad stomach. Competition is strong there, but it was really awesome to play with all these people, trying to learn some tricks from them and collecting tips. Special thanks to Milan, he is the man! And congratulations for Ken to win the circle competition – awesome!
… oh, and of course I ate one of these famous deep-dish pizzas at UNO’s!
North America – Wisconsin
Short trip to Milwaukee and further up north. First stop Westbend, second stop somewhere (Mountain) far north in Wisconsin in the middle of nowhere. Total travel time of about 6h in a Buick! The bus ticket was about 20$.
I will remember Wisconsin as a very cold but nice state of the US, where people line up outside on a drive-in to get some frozen custard on the coldest winter day! Over a friend of a friend I got to be invited at a place far up north in Wisconsin: A small cabin in the woods near to a small lake, with electricity but without water. I could celebrate New Years Eve there and it was awesome. I caught my first fish through an hole in the ice there and ate it the next day. The people are nice and rough there, but all in all very honest and straight forward, I liked it. We had snow, bonfires, alcohol and a bunch of people to entertain ourselves, farther more we had snow-mobiles to ride on the lake and bob-sleds to sled down a hill! I could not expect more, again I was surprised!
After 3 days in the lonesome wild we headed out to Madison, the capital of Wisconsin to spend my last two days of my trip there. The city was even more cold than Chicago, and I did not really see a lot, but what I saw was simply impressive, mostly big: The capitol (one of the biggest domes in the world!), the Campus of the university (it is like half of the city!), a hockey game (where Wisconsin one with 5:4) and two big ice-covered lakes which seem to hug the city center from both sides. I watched a stand-up comedian show and it was great – I got roughly about half of the jokes, which makes me really proud: Evidences, I can nearly speak English now! After this show I had to leave to catch my bus at 2:20am…
Canada – Toronto
I got back to Toronto with Porter Airlines from Chicago Midway Airport after riding 4h with the bus from Madison, which felt like only one hour, because I slept most of the time. I flew for 2h (again felt like 30min because I slept like a stone) with a turbo-propeller machine to the Toronto City Airport, which was nice, because it is relatively near to Union Station. This trip was for about 130$. Got my go-bus back to Hamilton, I slept the whole ride…
