Cabo de la Vela to Santa Marta: Surprise Fiesta

Cabo de la Vela to Santa Marta: Surprise Fiesta.
August 9.

Girls in Colombia have a huge party for their 15^th birthday.  It is their biggest birthday of their lives and they dress as nicely as possible to be exceptionally pretty for that special night.  In Colombia, they say that an ugly woman is a woman who has never turned 15.

Am I tired of Colombia or am I just tired of t fight for a fair price for everything all of the time.  Is gringo skin tax is wearing me out?  I am tired of something that I have felt for a couple of weeks now.  I can feel it is time to leave this country as I am becoming very short with everyone.  I felt this way in India last year and did not like who I was becoming so I left within days.  A few days ago Chiara and I were taking about Marc.  She was saying that he is a nice guy and I was sort of joking when I said, “Yea, he is nicer guy than me.”  She agreed, “Yes, I can feel that.”  Now, it is one thing to say that someone is nicer than you are, but when someone confirms it, the words ring out in your head.  So, maybe I need to get out of here.  I am super defensive and suspicious all of the time when money comes into play with any locals.

After my crew got moving and the lady who runs our hostel had finished hassling us to eat in her restaurant, we went for a walk along the beach to see what there is to see in Cabo de la Vela.  It turned out that there is really nothing to see but the sea and sand.  The wind here is incredible, and it is the same way all year round.  We made friends with an older German who has been in Colombia for 25 years and has a kite-surfing school here.  This is low season and there is no one around.  We asked him if he gets bored in Cabo de la Vela.  He told us, “Well, sometimes I do and I go to the big city (Riohacha – 160,000) and I go to the cinema and have to deal with all of the cars and all of the people and I just want to be back here where I was.”  Cabo de la Vela is seclusion.  We asked him about the path through the desert and all of the bridges that are just cement bridges with no roads to them, sitting in the desert in places.  He told us that about 20 years ago the mayor of Cabo de la Vela received a government grand to build a road from Uribia to Cabo de la Vela.  So, the mayor ordered the bridges that would be necessary for the creeks that run for five days of year that it rains here.  One the bridges were delivered and paid for he kept the rest of the money for himself, said the money had run out and ran off.  So, now there are unsightly cement bridges scattered in places in the desert on the trail to get here.

Marc, Knut and I wanted to get back to civilization from Cabo de la Vela to Santa Marta so we rented a man and his SUV to drive us to Uribia for C$100,000.  The driver was drinking beer when he arrived to pick us up with his buddy in the front seat.  The five of us headed out on the desert trail and bought rounds of beer from locals in small shacks on the drive.  Our driver was out-drinking everyone.  Once we got to the main dirt road we found a side road vendor in the middle of absolutely nowhere in the desert.  I have no idea why he was there, but he was as happy to see us as our driver was to see him.  A handi-capped man collected our empty bottles from us as the driver’s buddy bought more beer from the vendor with a Styrofoam cooler and standing behind the vendor was a Colombian soldier in camouflage wearing a balaclava over his face with a machine gun in his hands.  I wanted a picture of the scene but was too scared to take it.  Once we collected another five beer for more of the trip, our driver pounded his beer at once and finished it before he even put the vehicle in ‘Drive.’  Then he moved our SUV at speeds of 140km/h down the dirt road, flying past motorcycles, cars, bicycles and pick-up trucks loaded with people while dodging pot-holes.  All the while reggaeton music blasted at levels so that we could barely talk.  It was quite a ride from Cabo de la Vela to Santa Marta.

In Santa Marta a huge fiesta was taking place.  We found a cheap hotel for the three of us.  My bed had a lingering sex stain that had remained on the washed sheets.  Oh well.  We indulged in the party ourselves that took up streets and the entire beach front.  Colombia is a place where dancing with someone you do not know is fine as long as you hold them tight and dance cheek to cheek.  The man grinds his penis on the leg of the woman he dances with as the woman grinds her vagina on his leg.  It is mutual masturbation.

Knut told us that he likes cross-eyed girls and told him he is lucky as there is probably a pretty good market for a guy who likes that.

I could not really get into party mode, hard as I tried.  I felt like I was just kind of wasting the night and spending money on beer, buying a hangover for a night that I was not able to find a way to enjoy.  I was not feeling great and I could not confidently approach people.  I did not feel like I had any power.  I really do not like it when I am in such a state.  On the way home to the hotel to test myself I pinched the arm of a pretty Colombian woman in pink as she passed by.  She lit up with a glowing smile at me and it made me wonder why I was having confidence problems though the night.  I frustrate myself at times.

As we were close to the hotel a homeless man lead us to a whore-bar where we agreed to go for a last drink of the night.  Hookers do not interest me at all and beer is twice the price, but still only $2.50.  However, it is always fun to go and look at whores with your friends.  There was nothing in the entire bar that I felt was an attractive girl.  On the television screens in this Latin American whore-bar Caucasian porno was playing.  Why not Latin porn?  I have not watched porn for six months now and I do not really seem to enjoy it anymore.  That is good!  I can see that there is no real emotion in it now.  Of course that is obviously the case, but I never really recognized that about porn before.  I can now see that is just a job for two or more people who are doing what they do to make their income.

Cabo de la Vela to Santa Marta completed.  What a day.
$11 – Room per person in Cabo de la Vela.
$55 – Private car hire from Cabo de la Vela to Uribia.
$0.80 – Roadside beer from Cabo de la Vela to Uribia.
$35 – Private car hire from Uribia to Riohacha.
$9 – Bus ride from Riohacha to Santa Marta.
$6 – Taxi from outskirts of Santa Marta to the center.
$7 – Room per person in a cheap hotel in Santa Marta.