A scorpion, the Taganga collection, and a clown shirt

Sorry about the long time span between posts... but late is better than never. So, going back about two weeks takes us to Taganga again. (Taganga is the little fishing town). So one night Maxi, Laura and I decided we would travel the next day. We had a big going away party, in other words, Maxi and I and the Ronaldo (the local guitar player) played music at the bar in town and had some drinks. What more can you expect from a little town? The next morning, we got all out bags, instruments and stuff together and headed to the bus terminal in Santa Marta. We left our bags in the guarda-equipajes and made a trip to town, to go to a real supermarket that has lots of things to buy and you can actually get them off the shelf instead of asking someone for every little thing that you want. This is what happens after spending an extended time in Taganga, you forget what the city entails.

When we made it back to the bus terminal, Laura got her bags since her bus was the first to leave. She didn´t even make it 50 feet away and she dropped her backpack and everything that she was carrying. A huge scorpion (5 inches) went flying and she squeezed her arm like crazy to get the poison out. The scorpion had gotten in her bag in Taganga without her knowing. I freaked out way more than she did. The people in the bus terminal said that if you get bit by a scorpion that your tongue and throat goes numb, so you can´t talk and then you get a really bad fever with chills. Laura is a champ, she just went and got straight on the bus without doing anything else. And she made it to Bogota in good shape.

Backing up a bit, the three necklaces are the result of me having a clogged up ear in Taganga and not being able to play my cello. I call them the Taganga collection and yep, they are all up for sle. The yellow and red one has a big piece of Colombian amber, the brown one has acai seeds from Brasil and a serpentine stone from the Sacred Valley, Peru and the black/rainbow necklace has a symbol of Tahuantinsuyo carved out of gray onyx, also from the Sacred Valley, Peru. They all have more stories, but those are to tell in person, not here :)

So, Laura went to Bogota, and Maxi and I went to Medellin. I imagined Medellin to be a small city nestled in green mountains... it is a HUGE city sprawling out over green mountains. Anyways, we did a lot of walking around the city, found some nice neighborhoods and met some nice people. After four days, since Maxi had limited time before his return trip to Argentina, we headed to San Agustin. San Agustin IS a tiny little town in the middle of green mountains, but far in the south of Colombia. This is the main drag:

We played some music, that´s us outside of the hotel after we recorded a song. We composed and then recorded it, and I tried to upload it here, but the computers are too slow so everybody just has to wait till I come home. Anyways, San Agustin is a great little town, super chilled out and right now, pretty cold.

Friday, we went to Pitolito (the closest bigger town) so that I could renew my passport and Maxi was going to take a bus to Bogota. In the end, the only clean shirt that I had was my clown shirt, so I put it on figuring that it didn`t matter much, considering that I had two sweaters on top. Well, we got to Pitolito and they told me that I had to go to Neiva to renew the passport, 3 hours away, and that I better hurry up or the office would close and I would be out of luck... and illegal. Oh geez. Maxi said that I turned white. As if I haven´t spent enough of my life clandestine here in South America. So we went to the bus terminal and in the end Maxi ended up coming to Neiva with me (it was going to be cheaper than going direct to Bogota). Well, in Neiva its REALLY REALLY hot, so I had to take of the two sweaters. You can only imagine the look on the cop`s face when I walk into the customs office, 5 minutes before it closes with a yellow and red polka dot shirt on. His first question when he opened my passport was, ``You waited until today... at this time?!?`` Actually, the people in Pitolito gave me bad info, I tried to explain, but then I realized that he actually started to doubt me because I was speaking perfect spanish. ``What are you doing here in Colombia, anyways?`` I told his that I was being a usual tourist, staying in nice hostels, going to lots of ruins and museums (ok, so maybe I exaggerated a little). Well, in the end he told me that he would renew it, but I had to come back on Monday. So here I am in Neiva, all my stuff is in San Agustin and I am just hanging out until tomorrow morning when I will head back. It`s all been good so far. I bought a new shirt for a dollar, it says ``loyalty`` and has a picture of a sailboat. Hopefully the cop won´t give me such a dirty look tomorrow. Oh, and I found the hare krishnas. I think they want to adopt Maxi and I. One of them told Maxi that he was Buddha in a past life. They didn´t tell me what I was... I guess that must mean I was something like a garbage man or sea algae, haha. Well, at least I have been eating good vegetarian food the past few days and enjoying a break from the cold and rain.

New posts soon to come from San Agustin...