Sorry about the lack of updates of late, I got swept up in Colombia and as my time there drew nearer and nearer to a close, I couldn't justify spending more than 5 minutes in an Internet cafe. So let me wrap up the last few days with a short anecdotal list of some things I saw.
* While getting ready to go diving, the boat pulls up to the dock and this little rat-like dog tried to make the leap to the dock from the boat only to make it halfway, paw around frantically and then fall about 3 feet into the water. The look on its face was one of pure terror as there was no way to get to solid ground without assistance. I laughed and plucked it out of the water. Surprisingly enough, it didn't show its appreciation by paying me any attention for the remainder of the day.
* While diving at a wreck about 90 feet down, in bad visibility, I cut my hand pretty good on the barnacles and rusted hull of the ship. This was fun and kept up my tradition of getting cuts on every trip I have been on (subsequently, that same night, I stepped on a shard broken glass bottle and it cut my foot (which has happened to me before in Nicaragua). Luckily, I am aware of my penchants for broken glass and carry around about 50 band-aids.
* Another fun diving incident was a leaky regulator which ate up my air at a quicker rate than normal. That was on my last dive and I got to hold a puffed up puffer fish so I was in good spirits regardless.
* Many nights were spent with my dive master Leandro as we made full use of the height of my condo by hurling baseball sized chunks of ice towards the ocean. I hit water on a couple of occasions (all under questionable sobriety).
* Going out in Colombia is fun. The one thing that is not cool is the inability of going to the bathroom and not see some European snorting up half a pound of yayo. I say European because the only Americans I met were ones who taught at an English school and lived in my building. Colombia's reputation is both a blessing and a curse. Other than that, the only people I saw going crazy were a few European and Australian tourists who came to Colombia for a very obvious reason... I steered clear from these people and all was well. I was approached by a drug dealer of clear influence and when I rejected his offer he was very surprised, he then tried giving me coke, then was amazed I turned that down. I told him, that's not why I'm here to which he said how honest I was and he loved me for respecting his country. He then called over a bodyguard who gave me information on getting in touch with him if I wanted to come on his yacht the next day and sail around these islands in Cartagena. I declined because my good fortune had already found the apartment and although I clearly have no problems with accepting niceties from people of questionable moral standings, I didn't want to leave the cushy situation I found myself in.
Leaving Colombia was hard. I took in my last sunset knowing one day I'll return. I was even told by these teachers that their school was looking for American teachers to come teach rich kids down there; they said their quality of life was amazing... I took down their email just in case.
Much love,
James
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