WHEW--it's been a couple of action packed days in San Gil, pronounced San HEEL, not San GIL (gringo pronunciation) Rough Guide's #1 recommendation for "What not to miss in Colombia." I actually wasn't on planning on going, but after meeting two separate groups of English girls who raved about the place, I changed my mind (por que no?) I caught a night bus from San Agustin to Bogota (around 10 hours) and then took another bus straight away from Bogota to San Gil, which was another 7 hours. My ass and back were in sooooo much pain after I got off the bus. When i arrived in town, It was May 1 (May Day) which is apparently a global holiday that the US doesn't celebrate (probably because we don't like supporting labor unions and such.. ahh capitalism!) but the place was filled with Colombians on vacay, which was pretty nice since they're always so much fun!
Even though I was exhaustedddd... a group of Colombians visiting from Cartagena dragged me to the town square and then to a club where we befriended some Europeans and danced all night... i had a greattt timeee. Plus the Colombian crew gave me the nicest compliment--they told me that even if my eyes were asian and my passport was american, my hips, ass, and dance moves were colombian :) WOOPWOOPPPP
Anyhowssss... the next morning I woke up to go paragliding in Chicamocha Canyon... I had heard from someone that it was the second largest canyon in South America, but I can't verify it via Google, so it may not be true (Trust but verify).. Either way, it was a spectacular 40 minute trip gliding up to 4000 meters in the air over a variety of spectacular landscapes... i got a taddd bit dizzy while i was up there which made me happy that i didn't give into pressures from the night before and do a million tequila shots. a poor English guy in my group got so nauseous he threw up his breakfast burrito.... which i guess it serves him right for eating at a place called Gringo Mike's... TBH, he actually turned out to be amazingly cool.. he and a friend have developed a start-up that matches teachers to countries so they travel all around the world to visit schools... but anyway, i digress. the paragliding trip was sosososo pretty and worth every single cent (it was around $70)
And sinceeee it was Saturday night, a bunch of us went out to this amazingly delicious dinner at El Mana that was $5 (!!!!!) and came with a drink, fruit, dessert, trout, rice, salad, etc.... i even tried the fried ants (HORMIGAS CULONAS) which is a delicacy here. some guide books compare the taste to popcorn... which is a liee... unless they're eating some nasty ass popcorn.... i was actually expecting it to taste good because.. everything is good fried... right? Interestingly, one of the Icelandic fellass I was hanging out with told mt that the EU was spending money on a marketing campaign to try and get people to eat insects and bugs as a healthier, more environmentally friendly alternative form of protein (next hipster cuisine.. u heard it here first!)
Anywhose, after dinner we headed to the square (again) where I even found a liquor storeee that was showing the Mayweather and Pacquiao fight (whattt?!) I was obviously disappointed with the results because I think Floyd Mayweather is a huge douche nugget so I drankkk my sorrows away. There was also a very drunk chick who kept trying to trade me a bunny for a beer and tried to stuff it down my shirt... ONLY IN COLOMBIA. We tried to go to a karaoke place (sooo #Asian... no it was not my idea!) but unfortunately it was packed so we sat outside and drank some moreee... I left around 2AM, since I was planningggg on rafting Rio Suarez the next day, which is about a level 4-5 river.
UNFORTUNATELY, the river was tooo intense (it was above a level 5) so it wasn't safe to raft in it. I was with a group of Americans and we discovered this key piece of information after the hour long bus ride in the morning :( We made the best of it though, and took the more calm (and cheaper!) rafting trip.. which was still pretty fun cus we had an awesome guide who actually kept trying to get us to fall into the water. All in all, a good day, despite the change of plans :) The dude who took pictures hasn't sent them to be yet, but i promise i'll upload them soon :)
I wanted to go to rappelling down the waterfall today, but unfortunately not enough people signed up so i caught a bus to Bucaramanga (favorite new word to say!) which is a small, university town 3 hours away from San Gil. I'm only here for a day before I fly to bogota for my final days in Colombia.. EKKKK!!!