Punto de encuentro (Point of encounter)

Besides being our favorite country so far - the people, the landscapes, the ease of getting around on and high quality of the public transportation (no dilapidated former school buses at 300% max capacity passing other buses on blind curves, etc.) - Colombia was also a fun part of the trip because we met, and met up with, new and old friends.

The ultimate frisbee team Tim played with at the beginning of December was a really great, friendly group of people, and the Colombians he played against were warm and welcoming. Tim traded frisbee jerseys with a Colombian player who later invited him to play with them in a tournament elsewhere in Colombia in January (we didn't end up going).

In Medellin we grabbed coffee with an English gal named Liz that we met during our first few days in Guatemala at Earth Lodge. She is living in Medellín as she prepares to buy land nearby to open her own hostel.

Then we spent two weeks with my mom and the Colombian fam in Bogotá. Two days after my mom flew out, we took a bike tour of the city and ran into our friend Hannah totally unexpectedly on the street. She was with some Australian guys she has been traveling around with, and we got to see the "muy bien" (very good) tattoos they got on their right butt cheeks in person. Australians love to party.

In Santa Marta our hostel roommate was an Englishman, Steve Martin, who had also volunteered at The Bubble in El Salvador a few weeks after we were there, so we got caught up on what Gloria and Mario have been up to.

Finally, my friend Jess from Bozeman flew to Cartagena to hang out with us for a week, and we had a super fun time, despite all of the semi-consensual back massages and crab meat consumption at the beach (the beach vendors have some very aggressive sales techniques. They even knew from poking my shoulder that I'm "very tired" from all of the not-being-gainfully-employed I've been doing). We also got to have dinner with Ross and Kirsa, buds from Bozeman, who were also in Cartagena at the hotel next door to ours... coincidentally!

We were sad to leave Colombia, but know that we will return someday. All of the planned and unplanned meet-ups there gave us an extra good feeling about the place, which was already awesome to begin with. We are now in Costa Rica with Tim's parents for 10 days. The meet-ups never stop!

Tim, Jenn and Jess in the mud volcano near Cartagena. The mud is very dense so human bodies are super buoyant! This mud pool is 23 meters deep and you don't need to tread. It is impossible to sink!

Jenn and Jess in Cartagena.

Bike tour along the walls of the old city. Cartagena is surrounded by walls to protect from pirates!