I spent the last few days in the famed colonial city of Cartagena. Indeed it was beautiful as advertised. The pastel building colors reminded me of Puerto Rico, but most of the buildings had wooden bars over the windows, not quite sure if that’s left over from the colonial period though.
 Some people come to Colombia for its sights, people and culture. Others come for its cheap drugs as I would soon find out. I stayed at a hostal and was hanging out with a few Aussies and a girl from Ireland. Later in the night, I found myself sitting in a corner bar and before I knew it, they were buying. On the surface, it seemed like an innocent looking bar in touristy area. Some people were having drinks and others were dancing.  But really there were two separate person trying to sell to the Aussie. The bartender was taking half full bottles away so that patrons would need to buy more beers. Some of the not-so-great-looking girls sitting at one table were looking all too friendly. A few drunk Colombians were chasing the Irish girl all around the small dance floor. Everybody wanted something at the bar. This would make a perfect hectic opening to a “Training Day” type movie. I didn’t feel like being there any more. What did I get myself into? I stuck around. The night ended uneventfully. Maybe it was better that way.
 Next day I left for Teganga, a small fish town near Santa Marta, with Lucy, Carrie and David, all from US. The laid back atmosphere of the town was pretty contagious. We went to the beach and ate sea food by the bay.Â
 Also near Teganga is the Tyrona National Park, which is thought to have Colombia’s best beaches. For one, it’s one hour hike from the parking lot of the park to the first site. Yes, that’s right. To visit the park, you have to walk at least one hour. That would never fly in the US.Â
 Cabo, one of the beaches one hour farther along the beach, had incredible fine black sands. There are huge boulders on the beach, lined with palm trees. The boulders are broken into many pieces but still held together. In the distance, I could see ship that have long wrecked on the boulders about 100 meters out in the sea. Locals say they are wrecks of drug smuggling ships; I believe them.Â
 I picked up a bunch of coconuts on the beach and began trying to open them. It would be too easy with a machete, so I decided to do it the natural way — throwing coconuts against the huge boulders. My arms and shoulders haven’t gotten such a good work out in a while. There are two layers to a coconut. Once the fiberous outter layer cracks, there is another inner shell which cover the coconut meat. I must have opened close to 10 coconuts. Woong-Kyo, a Korean from Chicago whom I met earlier, took a bunch of pictures of me flying through the air throwing coconuts at the boulders. Well, those pictures will have to come later.
 After many swims in the warm Carrebean water, we trekked back to the entrance and took the bus back to Santa Marta. Tomorrow I fly to Bogota. I will have Sebatian, my Colombian ex-roommate, to show me around the city. There is a salsa festival in the Bogota city park this coming weekend. I can’t wait!