Deconnecting

Dear all,

Well I´m here on the other side of the world in hostel Las Alegrias in Bogota. So far it has been quite the adventure and a good test for my patience and faith that things will be ok. After a goodbye at Schiphol airport, things appeared to be going smoothly. A two hour stop-over in Madrid and I was off to Colombia. No idea how long the flight would take, or what time difference, or the current exchange rate and without a Lonely Planet I got to Bogota, so not like me, for you may know, my middle name is Miss Prepared.

Bogota is huge!! We flew right over the entire city and all you could see was city. A very nice lady next to me in the plane gave me her phone number just in case I got into trouble or something. That was the first sign that things could take a turn for the worse! So I got out of the plane, past immigration, my bag arrived safely, but my phone was down... No need to worry now, just very cranky that it didn´t work, cause there were some people I wanted to call.

I got out of the airport and no Eva, my travel buddy. I looked everywhere!!! She was supposed to meet me at the airport, but she was nowhere to be found... nerves started to kick in.... So after a thorough search I exchanged some money and went to a shop to make a call. I got hold of Eva once, so I received the name of the hostel and the street, then the connection got lost...

Still... no worries! I´m just gonna go to a taxi driver, they know all of the hostels. And what classic don´t of travelling did I do: I went with a non-official cab towards Bogota. They told me they worked for a hotel and were on their way home and wanted to make a quick buck. I checked identification and they turned out to be my rescuers!!! So with Daddy Yankee on a high volume, we drove towards the La Candelaría in Bogota. However, they didn´t know the hostel, no one did.... even the police. So after two hours of driving around in the area, escorted by the police, who couldn´t find the hostel either, I got to the hostel!!!! To find out that apparently Eva and her friend left for another hostel only 10 minutes ago!!! %&$%&$%&$%&$%&$!!!!

So I tried calling Eva, and her cell phone was down too. So deconnected from any form of communication I decided to stay at this hostel, cause Eva told the lady she would be back. So I grabbed a pizza and waited.... and waited.... and waited.... Luckily there were some really nice backpackers in the hostel who were just blown away by this story!! I was really tired so I went to bed early and after an hour of sleep, the reception woke me up to tell me Eva had come back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I won´t go into the details of why she left, I only know that the friend she is with wanted a shower and didn´t want to wait anymore. I just cannot get my head around their decisions, but hey, everyone is entitled to their own choices, some are just smarter than others.

So after a good night of sleep, I wanted to grab a shower, but there´s no water hahahahaha They are working on the water so it will come back, but I feel dirty!!! hahahaha I still look good though uhum!

Anyways, today the plan is to go downtown to watch the elections. Eva is picking me up at 11.00 and than I am going to go to her hostel. So as I will miss the elections in the Netherlands, I will be able to join the ones here in Colombia.

I am going to go and find a phone and some water and enjoy the sunshine outside! It was quite the trip, but I am doing ok, meeting lots of really nice people and I am planning on buying a new phone tomorrow, for today the shops are closed.

Keep you posted on what´s happening!!! Thanks for all the sweet messages!!! Big kiss and hugs!!!!

Karlijn