After our time in the jungle, we return to Santa Marta. Four days of this quiet lifestyle is enough to see a city differently. The smells, the sounds, the garbage, the homeless people, it is like a slap in the face. Every sensation feels much more extreme. David, Omid and I come back. We’re tired and exhausted and the city is getting on our nerves.

Omid and I want to go to the barber. We find a cool one go. Omid is usually a very talkative person, who starts a conversation with everyone. He does it at the barbershop as well. I felt too tired to listen. It was hard to keep my eyes open. Halfway through, I notice that he also stopped the conversation and was almost falling asleep as well. Afterwards I start to look for analog films for my camera. This is where I stumble upon the problem of Latinos’ willingness to help. If they don’t know the answer, they still want to help you and just send you off to the next shop. This became a problem. I was sent all over town with the answer that the analog films I am looking for might be around the next corner. That evening I was not successful. I head back to the hostel feeling frustrated and defeated. The fact that I booked a party hostel just made it worse. I still fell straight asleep anyways. David was not pleased either that I accidentally booked a party hostel. We both were sleeping through it anyways. If you’re too exhausted you can sleep everywhere, but mistakes happen I guess. The next morning I wake up and I am back to my mission to find those camera films… I stumble into the same problem, though. Everybody is pointing me in different directions which is driving me crazy at some point.

Tip: If you are in central america and face a similar problem. Ask a few people and take the location that is named the most. This will lead to the most successful one.

I almost gave up. I get back to the others and I make one last effort and try to get to a mall, which a few people recommended. The others want to join so we grab a taxi. Here you can see the awesome personality of Omid. Five minutes in the car and he already starts a party with the taxi driver talking about salsa and latin music. What a legend!

We get to the mall and I immediately walk to the camera store. I almost jumped into the air when I saw that they had analog films for my camera. I happily bought five of them. Finally I can continue shooting analog pictures. Sadly the mall was directly located where David and me first got dropped off when we got to Santa Marta. So if we just took the time then I could have had amazing pictures of the lost city hike… What are you going to do? In hindsight everything seems to be so obvious.

After that small hustle we finally get to go to Palomino. Palomino is a small beach town located on the Caribbean coast. There we meet up with Jolisa and Teresa again. Basically most of the Gorillas, the hiking group to the lost city, is in Palomino. We hang out and still have lunch together. I guess when you experience something amazing together for four days you turn strangers into friends. I didn’t expect to go surfing in Colombia but the conditions are pretty nice.

You can see the crazy beach break. The wave is just chaotic. It reminds me of the northern sea chop I surfed in the Netherlands. Literally a random breaking wave on the banks. When I was there, there was a strong rip to the side as well. I went in anyways. One day it is even bigger than expected. I head out but get completely obliterated on the first bank. It is shallow with a big wave breaking every seven seconds. This means, that a wave will hit you every seven seconds. Barely time to navigate and paddle out. I am really scared not to get hit by one of those waves on the banks. Which of course was the case. The others sit at the beach chill and watch me. I almost gave up, while paddling out. I knew it was scary and I know it is not that fun when you’re scared. I am also pretty stubborn though. Maybe just one wave… After a long time I finally could paddle out. Finally a minute to breathe behind the breaking waves. It is still irritating seeing a wave rear and build up but then suddenly disintegrate. After another fifteen minutes I see a wave that could be surfable. I paddle until I feel it’s power. At this point habit takes over and I get to my feet. Once on the wave the drop and the sliding down the wave begins. In the beginning this feeling was normal. However as I slide down the wave I notice that this part is unusually long. I ask myself how big this wave actually is. While surfing this wave I felt really relaxed. This is so unusual for a big wave. A wave that big I have never surfed before… It was almost like time stopped. Feelings stopped. It was like a spiritual moment where nothing else mattered. Just me and this massive of a wave. Me and the ocean with it’s massive force almost being one. When I reached the bottom I stood up completely, which is another thing you rarely do on a surfboard. As I stand up I take a peak over my shoulder to see how big the water wall over my head really is. Wow! I was allowed to ride it in a particular way. A wave that was twice as big as me. After riding this wave way to relaxed the fear starts to kick in again. This is way too big for me! I immediately head back to the beach. I am done for that session. But damn was the feeling crazy as I realized I just surfed the biggest wave of my life. Some people of the group saw it. They confirm that this wave looked absolutely insane. Wow what an experience!

I like this place, so I decided to stay for a week. The others, however wanted to explore the most northern part of South-America. This place is a desert apparently. Yes, Colombia has a desert unbelievable right? Actually Colombia has two deserts. They head there and get into a roadblock of the indigenous people. The people ask for more territory and more support from the government. Meanwhile I stay in the jungle go surfing and sip on fresh coffee and eat french pastry.

When they came back, David and I decide to head straight to Medellin. The overnight bus is supposed to take 15 hours. At this point you probably know how it goes. These fifteen hours turned into agonizing 20 hours… What did you expect? Luckily, I slept through most of it, though. We get out and we get to see how crazy Medellin really is. The valley is completely build out. Buildings go as far as the eye can see. In the valley itself, as well as on the slopes. Food is sold everywhere and Salsa is blasting from every place. Usually I don’t like cities, but this one seems pretty charming to be honest.

In Medellin there are many communities and quarters. These are divided into 16 Comunas for administration. David reads in a guiding book about Medellin. This is what it said: Some of the Comunas are dangerous due to poverty, drugs and crime Quarters like Comuna 13 are to be avoided.

We talk to a few people and everyone seems to recommend us to go to Comuna 13. Do they want us killed? Do they not like us? We check the date of the book and it is from 2005. Today Comuna 13 is one of the most colorful and active quarters of Medellin. This change happened in 18 Years! We decide to see for ourselves. And we are stunned. Many street arts and graffities fill the street. Micheladas are being sold everywhere and music is playing everywhere. It is also known as the hip-hop quarter.

The smells of fresh Arepas, barbeque, beer, and mixed fruits get on to the lively street. It is also Samana Santa, the Easter week, which makes these streets extra packed also by Colombians. We stroll the colorful streets enjoy a fresh sugar cane juice and one or two Micheladas find our hand as well.

We leave the quarter slightly tipsy. It is very beautiful to see people enjoying themselves, when you know the history. It is probably less then 15 years past where this was one of the most dangerous quarters. I will make a separate blog post about the transformation of Medellin.

We want to check a small viewpoint in the center of Medellin. We get there and it starts raining. I wouldn’t even call that raining I would call it pouring. We gave up on the idea, found a local bar and got a beer while waiting for the rain to stop. Behind us there is salsa music blasting as loud as possible. Later we saw that someone was playing salsa on vinyl. It doesn’t get any cooler than this.

The next day we join a free walking tour. I expected it to be mediocre, but it was surprisingly good with loads of information. We heard a lot about the culture and the history. It was often really dark and saddening. As the guide told us how he was hiding in shootouts, saw his cousin getting shot and how the nation was betrayed by the extreme right, the extreme left AND the government. It almost brought tears to my eyes, as he told the stories of misery and betrayal. Still the Colombian people are smiling and enjoying the better times. They cling to the few hopes they had and hold on to them.

One example of hope was represented by the metro. Dio told us, that the metro is one of the most powerful symbols of hope for the people in Medellin. Nobody dares to scratch it, damage it, or put a graffiti on it. We took a closer look and it is actually true! The cable cars and the metro is really clean!

I head to Gutapé next. David decides to stay in Medellin. See you next time! Cheers!