Tuesday, January 09, 2007

For You...I would Kill the Bull

Cartagena, Columbia!!!


I have arrived in Columbia to the beautiful Columbian port of Cartagena and so has everybody else. It is vacation time here and it seems every single columbian goes to Cartagena. The original plan was to have a month of Spanish school here, but we all know those plans changed. So as soon as I had set my bags down in my hotel I went off to find Volcan de Lodo El Totumo. It really is more of a hill than a volcano, but instead of lava it spews mud. It was a rather bizarre experience swimming through mud and receiving a mud massage while immersed in a volcano. But I enjoyed the experience and we spent the rest of the day at the beach with fresh fish for lunch.
The next day I headed out to the islands that surround Cartagena and the famous Playa Blanca. At the first island, where the president of Columbia owns a house, we did some snorkeling. Then we headed over to Playa Blanca, which looked like the Columbian version of spring break. It was also fairly evident that Columbia is one of the world´s leaders in plastic surgery (as well as anorexia and bullemia). After a couple hours at Playa Blanca we went to our third island for the day and had some more fresh fish for lunch.












My plans to go to Santa Marta the next day were interrupted when I heard the words: BULL FIGHT! Not only would it be a bull fight, but they were the smaller bulls with inexperienced bull fighters. Which meant there was the opportunity to see some mishaps. I paid for another night, went and saw the castle of Cartegena in the morning, and attended the bull fight in the evening. I have mixed reviews. One of the bullfighters was very entertaining and really got the crowd going. One of the bulls completely destroyed a barrier that the bullfighters can stand behind for protection. But otherwise it was a bit monotonous. I think six bulls was too much. Glad I saw it, probably won´t go to another one.
Now I understand why everyone who has ever been to Columbia loves it. The people here are amazing. They will go completely out of their way to show you around their country. I think because there is less tourism here they are more excited to see foreigners. Columbia is now up there with Guatemal and Nicaragua as my favorite countries so far.

2 comments:

warge said...

Hi thanks for this bit of bull.

Does the expression, "for you I will kill the bull" mean "I will do anything for you?" if yes, where can I find a source on the Internet for this explanation?

Thanks

warge said...

Hi thanks for this bit of bull.

Does the expression, "for you I will kill the bull" mean "I will do anything for you?" if yes, where can I find a source on the Internet for this explanation?

Thanks