Wednesday August 15th. I left the Atlantic City Airport with official backpacker gear (thanks to Kate Binns) and found out some important stuff the hard way. Lesson ·1- You need to have this thing called a return ticket to actually leave the country. Honestly, I don´t think Colombia would´ve minded that much if I bussed my way around South America, but apparently the American Embassy does have a problem with this, and Spirit Airlines have found a way to make it profitable. I knew that cheap ticket was too good to be true. $127 later, I have a one way ticket from Medellin to Ft. Lauderdale leaving sometime in September that no one will loose. What did Poppop say, never break a deal over $5? I could´ve tried to print out a bus itinerary perhaps, but at 5;30am with one cup of coffee in my system, how do you make such a decision? You hand over the plastic, shrug off another pricey mistake, swear it´ll be the last one (hey, at least I´m not missing my flight as I have in past experiences) and hop in the security line. Phew. 10 min out of the car and first crisis averted, or dealt with at least.
Plane from Florida-Cartagena, sit next to Alejandro, originally from Bogota and gives me the scoop on Miami strip and Colombian cities. He gives me my first 20,000 pesos for the cab ride downtown since there was not an available money exchange when I arrived in the airport. Things to do PRE ARRIVAL. What happened to my checklist? I get the green light in Colombian security line, hop in the cab, see coastline and colonial city of Cartagena.
First days there are spent wandering the Old City, historic center, officially changing my moolah and drinking several cups of extremely small ´tinto´(cafe), to get up to my daily, half a pot caffeine level.
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