Oops
I didn’t read that anywhere
When I arrived at YVR (Vancouver International Airport) I wasn’t able to check in because I never booked a departure ticket from Colombia. I never booked it because I had no idea where I wanted to go after my two months in Colombia. But the only way to get to Colombia, was to purchase a cheap ticket on the spot, so I booked a ticket to Panama City with extra insurance just in case I needed to change it.
Upon arrival at the airport, the standard COVID procedures are in place, wear a mask and sanitize your hands and temperature checks. Now that I am checked in at YVR and said good bye to my luggage it’s time to go through security. As I approach security, they are all set up to take body temperature scan and I am good to go. They directed me to go ahead, but I say, oh I have a nexus pass so I will go this way and the security giggled at me and said, sure no worries but look at this place either line up works. And to that I laughed as well, because the airport is a ghost town. Now all there is to do is wait for my flight.
After boarding the plane in Toronto, I promptly fell asleep. I mean it was 3:30am after all. Then shortly after I fell asleep I was woken up by the announcement of the attendants saying we were waiting for two people who didn’t show up so they needed to unload their luggage from the plane, do a quick de-ice and we would be off. Then I fell asleep again LOL. Then I woke up an hour later and we still had not left. UGH! I only had two hours layover in Bogota. Finally, an hour later we took off.
How do you not know?
Touchdown in Colombia
Hello Bogota
I arrived in Bogota Airport…one more flight to go. We were greeted at the gate because we missed our connection flight so they had already printed off the new boarding passes for the next flight for us. WOW, first impressions are…Colombians are incredibly friendly people. So I had to hang out in the Bogota airport for a little over an hour which wasn’t a big deal because the entire airport smelled like fresh cinnamon donuts, and I was 100% ok with that situation. LOL
Something to note upon arrival to Cartagena. Now I don’t know if this is standard practice in Colombia or the airline, Avianca, specific…but since I don’t speak Spanish well, I couldn’t understand the announcement. When the seat belt light went off, I got up to get my bag from the overhead. Which is typical and totally normal….but nope. When people heard the compartment open I got so many evil eyes and head turns. But it was too late I had already grabbed my bag. Then the announcement came on again telling the first 3 rows they could get their bags, then the next 3 and so on….so standing up to get your bags in an organized and orderly fashion is customary on that flight and everyone knew it, except for me. It’s a brilliant practice and frankly should be policy for all planes. Obviously on my way off the plane, I apologized to everyone and said I didn’t understand, I am so sorry. Lesson learned! Avianca for Win!!
Once I arrived in Cartagena and picked up my pride after that embarrassing off boarding experience, collecting my luggage and grabbing a cab was easy peasy. Although the taxi charged 20,000COP instead of 15,000COP which really isn’t that big of a deal.
The cab driver, spoke very little English but that didn’t stop him from trying to have a conversation and ask me questions on the journey to my apartment. Driving in Cartagena is literally that craziness thing and also the most exhilarating experience. It’s chaos and I swear I am baffled how there weren’t any accidents. They must be telepathic, because how does 4 lanes from all directions come together in 1 lane at the same time, driving 3 up on a 1 lane street sprinkled with motor bikes. Holy crap bag! I said to the taxi driver, they were crazy. He said…with the most perfect emphasis on ‘relax’….”Just relaaaaax, it’s all good, crazy yes, but all good.” AND in that very moment, I remembered that I didn’t have travel insurance yet because I needed to wait to purchase it after I left the country. HAHAHAHA
Almost there…and the cab drops me off in the street which by North American standards is an alley and he takes off so quickly. I am standing in the alley, trying to turn on my roaming so I can message my host that I am here. All I can hear are the guys behind me say ‘Hola chica’ over and over and of course I ignore them because we are conditioned to ignore it. But sadly, they were actually trying to help me. Finally I turned around and said “I don’t speak Spanish” and they said, in English…”If you want in that house, I think you need to enter over here.” and then he walked over and rang the door bell for me. And to that, I thanked them several times and I was saddened by my North American conditioning a second time. First with the off boarding of the plane and second with my ignoring the ‘Hola Chica’ when people are just generally good.
My host arrived, I got inside the gate and then I needed to climb 4 flights of stairs to my rooftop apartment with all my luggage. This equals full fledged sweat factory. WOW!
Since my flight was late and I by the time I unpacked and showered, I was only 20 minutes away from curfew setting in at 9pm so dinner was a Coffee Crisp I brought from home. I slept like a baby. My apartment is on the top floor of a 4 story building that appears to be a Melrose Place type establishment. There is a huge fence surrounding the building which is locked at all times. Then I need to enter a metal gate to the staircase and on the 3rd floor there is another locked metal gate which I have keys to which leads to the top which is only my apartment. I would say, it is very secure. But from what I understand, this neighbourhood is extremely safe anyway.
The next morning, I woke up feeling great but realized that I left my Bench Waterproof Winter Jacket in the taxi cab. Luckily the pockets were empty with the exception of my car key.
Damnit. Good thing I won’t need either of those for a while. Still very sad to have forgotten it in the taxi. Sigh!
NOTE: I have an update since I wrote this post. Stay tuned for an incredible luck story. Have I said that I 
Cartagena?
Moni Candle & Co
A little comfort from home.