Sam, 1 maart 2006
Colombia , Los Nevados (Medellín, Manizales)

Time to write another story!!!

It’s been a while since we wrote, so I (Sam) start to write a part of the last months…
I had the great honour of my mother’s visit the 31st of December!!!
It was a great time so I’m going to tell you a bit more about it:
So my mother told me two weeks before she came, she wanted to visit me. Well, that’s of course no problem for me!!! So the 31st I got my mother together with Checho (a good friend of mine) from the airport. It was really weird to see my mother walking around, so slim and in ¨my¨ country. On our way back we talked a lot about everything we didn’t speak about yet on the phone or by mail! Yes, it was a great experience!
So we went to my house where we found Anna, Adriaan (who was here to visit Anna) and Giovanni. We tried to keep my mother awake until New Year, but at 9 o’clock she was exhausted of her trip from the Netherlands and her horrible day before (more info: ask my mom), so Checho and I brought her home. I took a cab home and from 12 o’clock we walked a bit around to see some ¨Año Viejos¨ exploding. It’s a typical tradition of the Colombians (I’m not sure if it also happens in other countries, but feel free to explorer!). It`s a kind of big doll, the size of a human, filled up with fireworks. They light it at 12 o’clock and a good one last about 15 minutes. So we went to see some of those and afterwards we went to ¨Aranjuez¨ a (bit of poor) neighbourhood here in Medellín. We tried to get some of the New Years spirit, but the party is mostly a family party and not that big on the street… It was especial a bit lame because a lot of bars closed at 2 o’clock and for me New Year means: PARTY HARDY! So we decided to go home and drink some rum in ¨nuestra casa¨. So Giovanni and I went to a liquor-shop to get us a two litre bottle of rum. But on our way back, we met some friends of him partying on the street, so we stayed there for a while and celebrated the New Years and welcomed the new spirits of 2006. We stayed there for about an hour and went back to our house. It was that moment around 3:30 so most of the people were falling asleep. After a few shots I found my bed and fell asleep.
I woke up the next morning, because the secret admirer of Anna called us with his drunken head… So I went around 11AM to my other house (the apartment of Carolina) where my mother stayed. (Carolina was still with her family in Bogotá ). It was a day of a lot of talking and lunch and that was the only thing we did that day .
The next day we decided we should go some were else so we (My mom, Anna and me) went to Los Nevados (for the people who think it’s a familiar name: True, reed our journal). We went first to Manizales were we stayed in a Hotel where I stayed about 2 months before. This time they raised the prices three times because there was the local carnival of Manizales… Just when we want to stay there… But okay, we had the luck of my mothers walled, so Anna and I agreed .
We organized a half hour after we arrived there a trip for the next day to Los Nevados and went out to find some supper… That wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be… But in the end we ate some chicken at the big square were the big festivities were. So we ate our chicken with a lot of ¨vallenato¨ (reed bajenato) and ¨Reggaeton¨ on the background, the two popular music genres here in Colombia… My mother wasn’t able to eat a lot. I think because of the ¨great¨ background music and the jetlag…
Anyway, we left the next day at six o’clock with a bus that picked us up at our hotel. I entered the bus and the same moment I understood we were in a typical tourist bus… A thing I always try to avoid… But okay, we just had one week with my mom so sometimes we have to do things we avoid to do when we travel on our own. Our guide had the great philosophy of opening the windows to acclimatise for the coldness we would find up in the mountains.
Anyway, we arrived after 4 hours driving at the entrance of ¨Parque National Los Nevados¨. The bus had to stop there and we were able to make some nice pictures of my mom and her new friends (see pic). We drove further to a place where we had our breakfast. After finishing, we went on with the bus, which stopped at several places for the great view and to get more acclimatise to the highness. On our way up we passed the first big volcano. This was a typical volcano with the shape of a… volcano . After an hour driving we finally arrived at the beginning of the volcano ¨El Ruiz¨ A super high volcano (5325m). We weren’t allowed to climb it all to the top, because the top is only with ice and snow, so it’s only possible to clime it with the right gear.
On our way up we met a lot of Miss Latinas. They were there because the carnival of Manizales. We heard they also climbed to the top, but that’s something I just can’t believe: They were on unconvertible shoes and light cloths, so it was just not possible. I was a climb of one hour (for me) and up there was a great few of the whole valley and the rest of the Parque. To bad I had to wait for a good shot, because it was quite misty. Later I found out that even my best picture didn’t capture the entire valley, so I wasn’t really pleased about that… But on the other hand, it means that I have to go back there another time. The next time I’ll be there I also want to do it a bit different. Not with a guided tour bus, but just with a few people and some nice gear that would help me to the total top, I’m looking forward! The trip was wonderful, but hard to describe. This because it’s a silent way up and pictures say more than words… On the way back I told the guide what my moms (and in someway mine) special relationship with this volcano was. You wanna know the story too? Okay:
20 years ago my was hospitalized, because there was an annoying little child in her belly. The doctors told her she better stayed in the hospital the last 9 weeks, because it would be a difficult birth, with danger for her and the little creature inside of her. So she was bored and asked the people of the hospital to fix her a TV. Of course she got one, because; who could say ¨no¨ to a lovely woman with a child inside of her? Anyway, on November 13 she turned on the TV and saw a Hugh eruption of a volcano. Shocked by this image she didn’t want to turn it of and after a couple hours she heard thousands of people where dieing and the cameras showed a picture of a little girl who got stuck in the mud stream. Days they tried to get the pour little child out of the mud, but they just weren’t able to get her out of there. My mom felt rage: They can put people on the moon, but they’re not able to get a little child out of the mud?! Of course it was a combination of hormones and stress, but she really felt a strong connection with the child in her belly and the child she saw on TV. In the end the pour little child died. No body could do anything and the girl died of hunger and stress… It was a horrible experience to see that all on TV.
Two months later my mother gave normal birth to a healthy big son... Me.
I never heard this story until we were on our way up to the same volcano, which killed these thousands of people, and especial this little girl… Yes, it was a weird but great experience for my mother…
The End…

No, not the end of the total story, just this part of course
After the big climb we went down again and went to part two of the organized trip: The thermal baths! It was a hotel build around some natural warm water sources. Anna and I enjoyed the warm baths with a lot of salts and sulphur (really bad taste BTW…). Avoiding getting the water in our mouth we enjoyed the warm and relaxing water and talked about all the beautiful things of live and our future (a subject where we talk about a lot…). I still haven’t got a real plan, but lets say I’ve got some ideas…
Our trip back was a thing I don’t really remember, this because of the trip and the thermal baths… The next day we took our stuff again and went back to Medellín. The five hour bus trip was again a good reason to not feel really safe in this country… No, no problems with any Guerrillas or paramilitaries, but the busses drive like maniacs and the roads aren`t that great… Anyway, we survived it all and I had a good change to show my mom a lot of Medellín. My girlfriend came back after a few days so the last days we showed all the tourist places of ¨our¨ city. We ate some weird jelly made of cow hoofs and went in the cable car for a good view of Medellín. The last day we (Checho, Carolina, my mom and I) went to a super cool place called Vinacure, some kind of bar/exposition hall, where we introduced my 20th birthday. There was some great show with magicians and Drag Queens… It was a great evening, but my mother got a bid of diarrhoea so we had to leave around 2 in the morning. The next morning we celebrated my birthday with Anna, Giovanni, Carolina, my mom and me and brought my mother to the airport… I spent a great week with her, so it really felt bad when I had to let her go again, but okay, that’s travelling.

That evening I celebrated my birthday in a club called ¨Blue¨. I went there with some friends: Giovanni, Anna, Juan, David, Carolina and every body who was there. The entrance wasn’t as easy as I hoped it was: Juan was wearing a trouser until his ankles and that’s (of course) ¨not done¨ in that club… But we are in Colombia, a beautiful country with a lot of easy solutions. So we went walking for a solution and we found an easy one really quick: A guy of Juan’s size came up to me and asked me if I wanted to buy cigarettes or chewing gum. My reaction was: ¨No, but I want your pants…¨. His reaction was: ¨HUH?!¨ So we made a deal to change his pants for Juan’s and give him 10.000 pesos extra (that’s about 3 euros). Juan happy, I happy, every body happy. So we had a great night with a lot of Rum, cocktails and good music!

So that was my story for now, I’m going to write soon more, so wait and see

Big Kiss, Sam


PS:Siem en Greet SUPER Bedankt voor de extra foto ruimte!!!!
We kunnen nu 800 foto´s plaatsen!!! Genoeg voor de komende maanden!!!
Bedankt!!!!!

Naar Anna en Sam in Colombia bellen kan nu wel heel goedkoop met HalloBuitenland.nl