I got back from a 10-day trip to Colombia on Sunday and am SO excited to share all about it. It was amazing—I’m absolutely in love with the country and the people there (well, except for the gang of kids who hurled boulders at our cab—no love for you). I’ll spread out the trip day-by-day so keep on the lookout for posts over the next few weeks!
It was 4:30AM. I needed to leave for the airport by 6AM. I also needed to finish packing, move my car from the garage to the neighborhood in which I have street parking, and shower. Gotta love procrastination, right? Somehow I managed to do all this and get a workout in by running to my car and then running the few miles back to my apartment after I parked it. I wish I’d timed that run because I must have broken all sorts of personal records—nothing like an impending flight departure to put a little pep in your step.
I’m also apparently a magician when I’m in a hurry because I managed to fit all eleventy million bikinis I wanted to pack into my already stuffed bag. I put them in Ziploc bags, sat on the bags to push out all the air, sealed them up and—voila!—ghetto vacuum packing. It was the perfect space-saving solution.
Because I had booked my roundtrip from Boston to Miami separately from the roundtrip from Miami to Santa Marta, I was convinced checking a bag would result in its disappearance, and was hell-bent on fitting everything in a carryon.
A body-cavity search from TSA later…I definitely should have checked the bag with the jar of peanut butter in it. The 9mm and machete I had on me were fine, but apparently I’m a national security threat if I want to bring my friend a jar of peanut butter. Oh well.
I had every intent to make up for the night’s lack of sleep by napping the entire flight to Miami, but then I started reading the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy in the airport and that plan was completely blown to hell. Sorry, Twilight, but you’ve officially been demoted to red-headed stepchild. HUNGER GAMES IS AMAZING! I read the entire book before I even arrived in Santa Marta.
During my layover in the Bogota airport, I watched a pretty sunset (photo taken with Instagram) and got mistaken for a South American no less than 5 times thanks to my dark hair. I felt really cool (I mean really cool) and ethnic—until I had to open my mouth, reveal I can’t speak Spanish, and ultimately disclose my Gringa status.
I finally arrived in Santa Marta around 10PM, and after smothering my friend in hugs and giving her diabetic host family Mike’s Pastry as a thank-you gift (oops), we headed out to Parque de los Novios for drinks. Because that’s the responsible and healthy thing to do to your body after a long day of traveling.
The plaza is lively, fun and teeming with people at night, which made for a warm welcome to Colombia. Spotting a girl with a fake butt was an even warmer welcome. Big, round booties are prized in South America so apparently some of the women wear padded underwear (or opt for plastic surgery) to enhance their badonks. It goes without saying that my tiny little white girl bum fit right in on the beaches of Colombia. Not.
Cocktails and shots at Ouzo, mojitos at Bistro, and beers and awkward dancing at Inka Inka later, I finally went to bed, excited for my first full day in Colombia and…drunk.
Now that we’ve got my day of travel out of the way, stayed tuned for day 2!
pumps & iron 
Always wondered how this was done!
Did you mean to leave this on my nail polish post? 🙂