New blog open
So from now on I'll be writing here:
stenback.wordpress.comMainly in Finnish but also in English so that those interested and not capable of following the worldly language of Finland can also see what is goind on every now and then.
R.I.P. RTW:Exchange in Chile
Home sweet home
Not much to say there, unsurprisingly there is something unsurpassable by all the wonders along the way, and that is coming home, meeting the girlfriend, having some dark bread, having a sauna and seeing all the friends again. That is why the blog was left unfinished for a while.
Seeing my house from the air as the plane landed was really a sight for sore eyes:
Soon after my arrival I headed for my birth place, Lappeenranta, to see my mom and to visit the family summer house with Johanna. Some pics:
Eventually, things are getting back to normal. Here I am at the party for new students of my university, with the traditional party overalls:
Now what was supposedly left was to end the blog. However, the past week has shown that it might be a good idea to keep on writing, so I'll probably change the headline soon and continue to write about various stuff going on in my life here. To my surprise, I'm told there are readers.
Now, upon arrival, I'm faced with the question of "What was the best of all?". I tried to figure it out, but could not pick one that was above others in everything, so here are some "bests" (keeping in mind, of the places I went to):
Best country overall: Colombia (people, food, prices, culture, nature)
Worst country overall: Paraguay, though unfair to judge by a that short of a visit
Best city overall: NYC, no competition really though Buenos Aires was a good number two
Worst city overall: Ciudad del Este
Closest to paradise: the islands of Fiji
Farthest from it: the mines of Bolivia
Cheapest: Thailand
Most expensive: in some cases Cuba, in others the U.S. (considering service along the price the most expensive is all Cuba)
Cheapest gasoline: Venezuela, 1 euro buys 35 liters
Most expensive gasoline: did not check all, but of the ones I did I faintly remember it to be New Zealand
Most positive surprise: the overall Colombian experience
Most negative surprise: the pushy and arrogant Peruvians
Most inexplicable language: Patois of Jamaica
Best spanish: (northwestern) Mexico, was there ever doubt..? Quite pure (pronouncing as it is written) dialects are found also in Colombia and Panama.
Worst spanish: Chile (sorry to say but that is the case)
Best climate: Venezuela or Colombia
Worst climate: Chile
Place I liked best for living: Panama
Worst: Paraguay
Felt most safe in: Auckland
Most unsafe in: Caracas
Least corruption found in: Australia
Most corruption found in: Venezuela
Most tourist-friendly country: Canada
Least tourist-friendly: Peru
Best government (my opinion, considering the individual situations like the economy, minorities, foreign relations, etc.): New Zealand
Worst: Venezuela
Richest (seemingly, not necessarily absolutely): U.S. -doh
Poorest ("): Bolivia
Best wines: Chile (BY FAR, even Argentina does not come close)
Best food overall: Mexico (Worst: Bolivia)
Best meat foods: Argentina (Worst: Thailand)
Best sea foods: Chile (Worst: Panama)
Best junk foods: Chile (Worst: Cuba)
Best (/worst) chicken foods: too tough to say, lots of it everywhere
Best beers: Chile or Argentina (Worst: Venezuela or Paraguay)
Best coffee: Colombia
Worst: Chile and others that do not use other than Nescafe
Best drink: Bloody Caesar, Canada or Pisco Sour, Peru
Worst drink: Fernet Cola, Argentina
Most beautiful women: Brazil (Least: Bolivia)
Best native music: Mexico or Colombia
Best parties in: Chile
Most stamina for a party: Argentinians
Most unreasonable drinking habits: Bolivians
Most hospitable people in: Fiji (Least: Peru)
Best sight of all: Macchu Pichu (Second: Moreno Glacier, third: Salar de Uyuni, fourth: Iguazu falls, fifth: beaches of Parque Tayrona)
Most frustrating thing: the stiffness of the communist system in Cuba
Most disgusting thing: the slaughtering of llamas in Bolivia
Coolest activity: Climbing the volcano in Pucon (Second: diving in Taganga, third: cruising the Florida Keys in a convertible, fourth: trekking in the jungles of Amazon, fifth: snowboarding in Ushuaia)
Most interesting history: Cuba
Best cheap accommodation facilities in: Colombia (Worst: Jamaica)
Best beaches: Colombia (Worst: Peru)
Best airline used: New Zealand air (felt like a king there)
Worst airline used: Varig (urging anyone to stay the hell out of their "service")
Best buses: Ormeño, Peru
Worst buses: Viazul, Cuba (lacking resources) or Greyhound (inexplicable shit)
..that's all that came into mind right now..
The thanks for this trip of a lifetime go to:
- My mother Mariitta, a great woman who never questioned the decision to spend all my money and more on this and for all the support I was given,
- My girlfriend Johanna who always believed in me and never doubted me for a second in any aspect,
- My family and friends who kept me sane (?) during the trip by just asking how I was doing,
- Johanna for the great times in Thailand, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil,
- My co-travellers from Fiji for a great week,
- Carlos for royal treatment in Mexicali (I REALLY owe you one),
- My compadre Jesus Maria Peraza and his family for their hospitality and a feeling of belonging after all these years,
- Some divine intervention that led me out of Peru against all odds,
- All the people living at Santo Domingo 1568 this spring for unforgettable times (Anibal, Ximene, Chris, Alvaro, Pedro, Ilaria, Gael and Cindy),
- Gael and Cindy for all the trips, parties and general support during the studies,
- Charlotte, Robin, Sebastian, Maria Jose and all others that made my time at UAI an experience,
- Patricia, Kata and Simo for paying me a visit,
- Kiki, Markus, Ossi and others for the foreign Finnish-bonding,
- My fellow travellers in Bolivia for good times,
- Simo for hosting us at Buenos Aires,
- The Finnish Embassy and especially Jacob Cohen for all the professional help with my passport in Brazil,
- Victor for his company and pro traveller advice in Venezuela,
- Felipe for his company in Colombia,
- Kalle for good times in Miami and
- Alex for all her help and letting me crash at her place in NYC
Moreover, to finalize with some facts and figures, this was a total of:
- 5170 hours, 216 days and 7,5 months
- 19 countries and 63 cities
- roughly 56000 kilometers and 73 hours by air, 2700 kilometers and 85 hours by sea and 22300 kilometers and 467 hours by land (not including travel within cities), which sums up to 81000 kilometers (more than twice around the World) and 625 hours (26 full days) spent solely travelling
- unimaginable number of memories and experiences, many new friends
- ...and so many euros I do not wish to know. ;)
My favourite song says: "It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right -I hope you had the time of your life" -and I can say that I really did, not many people have the luxury of stating they have fulfilled one of their biggest dreams by the age of 26. In the words of the Dead Poets Society, this was all about "sucking the marrow out of life", a ride truly to remember. Thanks to all you for reading the blog, especially for commenting on it and for those interested I promise to keep on writing soon.
Oh, Canada
I've said it before, but I'll say it again: The U.S. bus system loses in many respects to several of the ones I used in South America. Greyhounds are expensive, service is mostly poor and it rarely includes extras like movies (equipment might be there though), they are late, etc. -remarkably like a bus system one would expect to see in Russia, for example. Anyway, I had to enjoy it one last time (for now) to get to my last destination: Niagara and Toronto.
Niagara was a sorry attempt for waterfalls after seeing Iguazu, but nevertheless a good place to stop by for some hours to check it out.
There too the falls are divided by the national border. Here is "the American side":
And the Canadian side:
Where the falls were sort of a disappointment, Toronto was a positive surprise. I would characterize it as a smaller, more calm and much more clean New York.
Some sights from the CN tower:
Of course, there is not much to tell from one day in Canada, especially as it is not all that different from Finland anymore. At that point I was just getting ready to go home.
Best national "dish" tasted: Bloody Caesar (a spicy drink made out of vodka, my favourite Clamato juice, spices and lemon)
Best national beer tasted: Molson's Canadian
Best experience/sight: Niagara falls
New York, New York
"Start spreadin' the news, I'm leaving today
I'm gonna be a part of it: New York, New York"
The city definately lives up to its reputation. Before experiencing it myself I could not understand why on earth someone would want to walk around in a t-shirt proclaming they love the city.. But it took just about five minutes to get an idea why, and after five days I was ready to join the fan club. That city has it all and more.
Apologies to those that have been looking for an end to the blog (I'm learning that number of people is far bigger I had expected), I have been quite busy the past weeks. Anyway, here goes, the highlights of NYC:
Lower Manhattan from the ferry to Liberty Island:
Lady Liberty:
The Wall Street Bull (made out of 7000 pounds of bronze and originally placed in front of New York Stock Exchange without permission):
Being a business student, I just had to see Wall street and, even though my wet dream does not include it, the NYSE:
The WTC site was quite awe-inspiring despite of the recent outside criticism that New Yorkers are taking their time to fill up the hole in the ground.. The plans for 2010 show that they will end up showing the World that they are not intimitaded by cowardly terrorist acts.
The new photo exhibit next to the site was equally impressive:
Among the things I liked best besides (or, actually because of) its many faces was the food. I was not afraid to spend a little more on it though at this point there was little extra to spend. Best pizzas I have ever tasted were found in the Italian restaurant Grimaldi's in Brooklyn:
I also visited what is seen by many the best steak house in New York, Peter Luger's. However divine the taste was, the 60 dollars spent for the steak and a glass of wine seemed a bit overdoing it after the great steaks in Argentina, which cost about a tenth of it or less.
The Brooklyn Bridge offered some great views:
Due to lack of time, I did not go to many museums, but the sign on this one was enough to lure me in:
Among the must-sees there was the Empire State Building and the sights it offered of the city:
Curilously, probably the place I was most intrigued by was the United Nations, too bad I had to "just" go on the tourist tour as my friend TP was no longer working there:
Times Square:
Some other places of note:
Besides the museums that I missed, the one I regretted the most was not having a chance to see a Yankees baseball game.. But, there are only so many things one can do in NYC in five days.. And shopping possibilities were not to be overlooked, so eventually a lot was left for my next visit. I was lucky to be able to stay at my cousin Alex's place in East Village so I got to see something refreshing outside the almost-eight-month hostel rally. I was asked which part of the city I thought was the best and I could not decide between East Village and Little Italy, but those two were above others in my book -East Village by the general atmosphere and Little Italy because of the great restaurants there.
Leaving tne U.S.:
Best "national" dish tasted: Pizza at Grimaldi's
Best national beer tasted: Budweiser
Best experience/sight: The UN
Visiting the capital
DC passed by quite fast. I was really just looking forward to getting into New York (which, by the looks of things, might just be the greatest city on Earth), so I spent a little over 24 hours in Washington DC, checking out the sights. This time I'll let the pictures tell the story, as there was little to say about the city besides its monuments (that for staying there a day).
The Bush residence, thank god not too long anymore:
Lincoln memorial and the famous sight (felt just like Clint Eastwood sitting on the stairs, just did not catch any pigeons there):
Washington memorial, yet another fallos symbol:
"The hill", admittedly much more impressive than the copies of it presented in Buenos Aires and Havana (I guess it is the overall setting and the white colour):
To finalize my DC experience, I went to spy on Pentagon and check out the Arlington cemetery on the other side of the Potomac river. The amount of identical, white-stone graves in Arlington really silenced me.
Will Smith: Miami
That song does have a point -it describes quite well the Miami and South Beach areas. The heat is definately on, the water is really clear and cars quite expensive -and the parties do go out until the break of dawn. And this seen from a point of view of a budget traveller! I was positively surprised by the city.
The journey out of Jamaica tested nerves, but I made it. I had hidden all the objects that indicated they were cuban made on my person and the 40-minute "chat" (as the customs official called it) plus extensive baggage search did not provide them with a reason to deny entry. Thanks to the recent terrorist activity I got my bag searched in every possible corner, unlike other passengers. I must look suspicious then..
Arriving I immediately sensed the total change of atmosphere, but after all this time it sure feels good to get some real service, on time and without something missing or wrong (ok, one has to pay up to 15% for it too, many times included in the price..). I also met 5 Finns during the past 3 days, one of whom accompanied me for a trip to the Florida Keys (and, coincidentally, who I had met in my student life adventures earlier). We rented a convertible (oh, yeah) and cruised for a day around the southern tip of Florida and Miami with all its beaches, clubs and celebrity homes. Enjoying the junk food culture and Mexican immigrants' cooking to the max, sipping rum runners and catching the last decent rays of sun on the trip -that's all that Miami was about. I can recommend it.
Art deco of Miami:
Hotel backyard of the rich and shameless (not including me just yet):
South Beach, not too sunny that day:
Cruisin' on the bay:
Shaq's flat and a typical boat passing by:
House of the champs:
On the road:
(in this one me and Kalle are breaking the law at 70 mph in the Florida Keys)
The Southernmost point of the continental USA, in Key West:
Irie, mon!
As the scenery changed to Jamaica, I could not help but feel a bit of relief to get out of Cuba. Yet, I was not too welcome as the customs official questioned me for nearly half an hour before being convinced that I can be allowed access. Makes me wonder what kind of a special treatment is waiting for me in Miami -just hope they let me in the country. Let's see.. passed trough Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba -all U.S. favourites - and now carries a passport issued in Brazil, with no info of entering the country.. Not the best starting point, but keeping the fingers crossed..
Anyway, two things hit me as soon as I landed here, both of which I did know of but were still a shock: I must be the only white person in Kingston (have not seen many in 4 days) and these people speak a non-english (or properly called patois english.. for those of you unfamiliar with it, an example would be "irie" in the headline that means basically alright) that is not within my range for a five-day visit. But other than that I stick out like a sore thumb and understand very little unless people make the effort to switch to real english, Jamaica is "irie". And yes reggae is everywhere, as well as ganja (the marihuana the rastafaris puff ritually, still illegal though).
I ended up staying in Kingston and never made it to the north coast to flock with fellow tourists (though intended to), as I got a major neck pain from shitty ergonomy of the local internet cafes (spent a day answering emails..), I actually could not move anymore. So there was I enjoying Jamaica in the no-aircon -room virtually paralyzed from the neck down.. Lucky I got some relaxants from the pharmacy, now I can move (like a robot, but still) and head for the plane tomorrow. Kingston itself is not all that beautiful, local highlight being the Bob Marley museum.. but here are some shots anyway:
Residencial area around Kingston:
Descriptive statues from the emancipation park (girls can zoom in):
Bob Marley museum:
The Jamaica house, residence of the prime minister (Queen is the english one):
And finally, disappointment to you who were waiting me to get rastas -I'm too fond of the long hair and decided to keep growing it, but I did get cornrows so I did not chicken out totally:
No McD's here by the way (did not do so well here!) though people are major junk food consumers and looks like they have a problem with fat people almost equal to the U.S. -I actually feared for my life when a small 130-kilo Mrs. was trying to get pass me in a local buss..
Best national dish: Patties (kind of meat pies) with salad and bacon
Best national beer: Red Stripe
Best experience/sight: Bob Marley museum
Hasta la victoria siempre
-Ernesto "Che" Guevara
So then it was time for Cuba. I have to admit I knew rather little of the country coming in, but now I have some kind of a picture. After all, this was the first contact with real communism as I never went to the Soviet Union before its downfall.
On a general level I'd summarize that every U.S. president since Eisenhower and their politics towards Cuba together with uncle Fidel and his response to it have f-ed it up for everybody in Cuba, for tourists and especially for the people living there. Still, Castro is beloved among his people and despite the poor conditions people live in he is still a revolutionary hero. Judging from what I came to learn during my stay the revolution was actually a good thing but the following socialism drove things to their current state. And to my ear the ultimate socialism, or communism, was just Castro's response to the U.S. politics. Man do the Cubans hate the Americans.. According to a popular theory the U.S. meddelled in the affairs with a poor excuse and eventually this led to the infamous Platt amendment that guarantees U.S. the right to intervene when ever it sees fit (that is why Guantanamo still exists).
So much for the history lesson, but eventually no matter what is the opinion about who is the guilty party, things are quite.. interesting there. What is good of the communism is that cubans have a health care system unparallelled by almost any country in the world -and the doctors are world famous for their skills and knowledge. On a general level all cubans are well educated and quite intelligent, plus the illiteracy rate is very low thanks to a huge
alfabetizacion campaign of the governement. Also, arts and sports are blooming (sports internationally as well: some 20 odd medals in the olympics is not bad..) though the actual money that artists and athletes see is pennies compared to other international equivalents. Cubans themselves have two favourite sports, it seems: baseball and domino (yes, it is a sport).
But then there are the downsides. I did not know wether to laugh or cry at the sight of the interior of a supermarket. Gimme a break.. there is virtually no choice, and you buy the one pasta there is, be it good or bad. If the market in Cuba ever opens, there is work for all you marketers and advertisers. A lot of work (see the sneak pic below). Internet is a luxury locals can't afford at 6-14 USD per hour (that is why I skipped updating the blog there) and functioning poorly anyway. Thanks to U.S. trade embargo there is scarcity of everything: you are given a 30 meal menu in a restaurant and all they really have is fried chicken. Many cars are barely functioning as they are repaired with the most imaginative of things, plus they pollute a hell of a lot. And when the only spare parts supplier, the Soviet fell, cubans had to import a million bicycles from China to keep Habana on the move. Thus, the ration card is still in use and everything personal is under control, even travelling within the country. Also incredible is that the intelligent university guys and gals drop out to scam the tourists, as that makes them a better living than practicing medicine for example. Still, the worst thing of all, in my opinion, is the lack of everything, especially opportunity and choice. Now it is official: I think commies suck big time!
For a tourist it gets even more interesting. The country fights to maintain a double economy, with two currencies, and some things allowed to cuban natives and some allwed only to tourists. Tourists do not have to wait for days to get on a intercity bus as the locals do, but in many cases tourists pay of the same product or service the same sum of money (say 5 for example), with the exception that 5 cuban pesos is 25 times less than the tourist money, 5 pesos convertibles!! Of course, one has to think that cubans have entered their workload for the common good to get these prices, plus that the average salary of a cuban is somewhere around 15 usd per month. But still it pisses a tourist off to get treated that way. There is just no way to live cheap there, I almost doubled my travel budget there and ended up slumming (or what of that is allowed for a tourist who can slum for a 20 usd a night equivalent at someone's home, a
casa particular) for several days. All the time the cuban government is sucking money off the tourists the people are poor and live their life in
lucha (struggle) and all cubans I talked to comment their lives by
no es facil, it's not easy. But people try to bend the rules, like as I was supposed to use only given taxis (tourist taxi), the 25-time fare a horse carriage driver was able to get from me (1 whole USD) made him beat the hell out of his horse to make it run faster to avoid capture by the police. And another great point about the double economy is that changing dollars to pesos convertibles there is always a 10% commission (excluding the exchange rate), that does not apply for euros. U.S. versus Cuba at its best. The export rules are interesting too: the beautiful and cheap artworks (see below) found all over Cuba are either not allowed to take out or then you need to queue for bureaucratic permits. You can take the famous cigars out ok, but then you are bound to hit a snag entering the U.S. as anything Cuban is forbidden. I cut the labels off my t-shirts bought in Cuba.
And the cuban government keeps stubbornly on going with all this. There was less propaganda than I thought, but some still is seen, especially around the U.S. affairs office. But in TV the only thing is educational programs and even the soap operas carry a message like "beware of aids". Of course the news coverage is "selective". And all the while people maintain a certain Caribbean carelessness and they are seemingly happy with music playing all around all the time. Incredible.
Some propaganda:
Here's some U.S. - Cuba play: the U.S. put some propaganda on the top floor of their building so the Cubans put up "some" black flags on the same height in front of it..
I decided that as I could not take any with me to U.S., I'd smoke a quality cigar every day, accompanied with some cuban rhum. I ended up liking, surprisingly, the Montecristos best, and Havana Club reserva took the prize among rhums as I did not get to taste any Matusalem which is supposedly even better.
Then there is one more thing that you can not miss in Cuba: Che. Che Guevara was everywhere with his motto that now decorates the headline of this post as well as my apartment wall. On this trip, I have really made an effort to get to know his life, work and thoughts as he is still among the most known and respected latin american men. The cuban kids rally on with "
seremos como el Che", we will be like Che, which I find a very noble goal.. It is not his politics he fought for but the way he did it that fascinates me. Here's him in the museum:
Followed by his monument in Santa Clara:
Myt 9 days in Cuba was spent mainly wondering around (walking to save money, lost at least 2 kilos there) and learning stuff about the culture and the country overall. 5 days in Havana was enough so I took off for a tour to Trinidad, a beautiful colonial town in the south coast, Santa Clara that was the place of the greatest (and decisive) victory by Che during the revolution, finishing off at Varadero, a gringo tourist hell that, though surrounded by beutiful beaches, sucked me dry of my money and gave me the urges to move on. On general Cuba is very safe even in the big cities, it has many incredible monuments but the system really gives me the creeps. A nice place to see and understand, but I do not think I want to return unless the economy opens some day -which cubans are proud to say will not happen when Castro dies.
Trinidad:
And the obligatory visit to the beach -view from my hotel lobby in Varadero:
Best national dish tasted: Lobster in chili sauce with arroz congri (also called moors and christians, meaning a mixture of rice and black beans)
Best national beer: Bucanero
Best experience/sight: The Che memorial in Santa Clara
The Picture show follows.. Some famous hotels of Havana, lower the Hotel Nacional:
Other Havanna shots:
Plaza de la Revolucion:
Fidel's Tank:
Bonus, a funky tree:
From the capitolio, modeled to look like..?
To finalize, some pics of the old cars:
Canalandia
Introducing the country that is known for.. its canal. Sorry for the long delay, but Cuba turned out not to be the place to update one's blog -or generally acess internet. Now I am in Jamaica already, leaving tomorrow for Miami. Anyway, some words about Panama:
The big American influence leads back a few years, up until when they were guarding their interests in the canal. The French tried to build the sucker first, but imagining they could level the canal to the sealevel. This obviously involved a lot of digging and people dead of poor working conditions and diseases. Not the bright point of French engineership. Enter Americans and design the current system that involves lifting the boats to a reservoir lake level and lowering them back down. The principle is quite the same as in my home town canal, the Saimaa canal. Except that it goes two ways and is a little bit bigger. Here are some shots from the canal:
Rest of the city tour included just the Puente de las Americas and the old town:
Thinking that after 12AM it is possible to find a bank in the modern Panama to get some euros for the dollar-stiff Cuba turned out to be a mistake. Banks close at 2PM and in the whole banking district there seemed to be only one bank to give out euros (out of some 30 banks or so)! Of course this was among the last I looked for, as the bank tellers in other banks were reluctant to tell me where this could be done. So no euros which meant loosing 10% of my money in Cuba. Thank you Panama.
On the other hand, there were surprising benfits with the ISIC student card, like two movies for one. At least I got to see the Pirates of the Caribbean finally -not as good as the first one, but sympathies to the question "why is the rhum always gone?" ANd the answer is the same as well.
Best national dish tasted: Panamanian breakfast (steak!!, eggs, coffee, tomato sauce, mushrooms..)
Best national beer tasted: Balboa
Best sight/experience: The canal
Rhum, beaches and scuba
I have just left South America. Sniff. But there is still one month left of the trip, so better make the most of it. After all, after two days in the gringolandia of Panama I'll be in Cuba.. Panama City surprised me with its similarity to some American cities that have big Latin influence. They even use the USD here, and the nice prices of Columbia seem to be a forgotten dream already -Still, a bic mac sells for 2,29 USD (1,80 euros) and the meal for 3,29 (2,58 euros) so I'll live.
The last days in Columbia were full of partying, chilling on the beach and diving. The first greater experience was the bus travel between Colombian cities in the guerrilla territory. The companies have big tables (below) that tell how many of their passengers have "had accidents", have been injured or died in the past couple of months. Just radiates with confidence that usually the number of dead was down to like 1 or 2 per month. Also, the travel itself is constantly interrupted with highway police carrying loaded M-16s and a standard 4 full clips in the weapon belt (which, by the way, says US in big letters) in addition to the one attached to the gun.. They also have little fortresses built on the road stops in case the bus is filled with your average housewife guerrillas that start WW3 when pulled over. One police even said they have bazookas hidden in their booths. We lived a brief moment of fear on the road, as we were asked to get down for the second full inspection in a 10 kilometer road -the women onboard refused to be inspected again so the policeman entered the bus with a new attitude and a finger on the trigger of his loaded rifle.. And suddenly had a much more receptive audience. But anyway, a 50 kilometer trip lasted for almost two hours!!
Eventually I did get to Tayrona National park, and after a bumpy truck ride and some 40 minutes of jungle trail I found my way to what was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. Just look at the pics below, they don't even do justice to the place.. Tourists that made it there were all sleeping in hammocks or snorkeling in the clear waters nearby. I can highly recommend that place to anyone who likes beaches. All it takes is a little patience to get there.
From there I went on to a village called Taganga, which is good for two things: partying and scuba diving. Ok, there is a nice beach nearby too.. There I spent the last few days tasting local rhum, smoking local cigars and just being a stereotypical tourist. I'd say that though Cuba is more famous for the beforementioned products, Columbia can be proud of the quality of their own as well. And diving -anyone who has not tried it is missing a world of its own. I was sold after the first two minutes (which was about the time to get the hang of it), that was something I will definately do again -many times. I always guessed it as I tend to like water sports, but it still surpassed all my anticipations. Plus, in Taganga it is dirt cheap: for instance, an open-water certificate course goes for 160 USD -a price even Thailand has a hard time to beat. Some Taganga highlights:
All in all, the country I liked best in all of South America was definately and without a doubt Colombia. Here's a couple ones for my Columbian friend Felipe (see, I got the
sombrero volteado):
Best beer tasted: Club Colombia
Best national dish: Bandeja Paisa (beans, rice, sausage plus other meats in one plate)
Best experience/sight: Parque Nacional Tayrona's beaches
