San Andres y Providencia

The first thought that I had was that I was going to an island in the Caribbean... The next place I imagined myself in/at was the cold Russian winters. Never this close to the equator.

San Andres y Providencia is close to Nicaragua and their has been many conflicts over the territory between Nicaragua and Colombia. Within the last 30 years it was officially claimed by Colombia. Since the 1600s San Andres y (and) Providencia were taken by the English Puritans and they established slave-worked plantations but shortly after Spain overpowered the people on the island by brute force. Buccaneers (a specific type of pirate found in Hispaniola in the 17th century) and Henry Morgan, representing the British, reclaimed the territory. Up until the claim by Colombia there has been disputes over these two relatively small islands. The demographics is afro-Caribbean and Colombian. Most money generated from island is purely tourist money.

San Andres y Providencia are two separate islands that are close together.

I thought we were only going to San Andres but it turns out we were going to both and La Providencia was are first destination. La Providencia is different in the retrospect that it is extremely poor and not as big as a tourist attraction as San Andres. There is seriously like two roads. Both islands are extremely beautiful with a hot tropical feel.

At Providencia we stayed at a hotel called Sol Caribe Providencia and it was luxurious in the fact that it had air conditioning, free dinners, running water (but not safe to drink) and finally a toilet. The water in the shower was absolutely freezing that I would just splash water over me. Well I will add more to this blog but I have to go out again... Phew, I am so tired.

En Colombia!

Prologue:

Forget all you have heard about Colombia; the cocaina (cocaine), drug cartels, 

governmental corruption, FARC, and kidnapping of the innocent and dignified. Forget all that 

media has portrayed and look at the progress and the actuality of Colombia. Yes, Colombia has 

problems... but every country has problems. Learn about Colombia through my experiences.

The Start of My Journal:

I am finally in Bogota (the capital), Colombia. The city is a clash between ultra modern to dilapidated buildings with chipped exteriors. Although I immediately saw many differences

between the my country/culture and Colombia's there was many parallels that I could draw.

The plane ride was short except the 3 hour layover I had in the George W. Bush airport. On the

flight to Bogota I made a Colombian friend named Ximena (pronounced like Samina) she new

people in Hernando's graduating class at Gimnasio Moderno and she was once modeling.

Ximena clued me in on Colombia culture and made me feel more at ease.

Meeting Hernando's parents was nothing less then frightening but once I entered through their

big wooden door and I heard the word "Bienvenidos!" I knew everything would be OK.

Hernando asked his parents Maria Luisa (mother) and she said she liked me. His father's name

is Hernando as well.

Sister= Ana Maria

Brother=Julian

There will be more updates soon (San Andres y Providencia, getting sick, dancing salsa,

climbing a mountain and more!)