Three Is Quite The Charm

The city of Cali Colombia, home to 2.5 million people, is known as the Salsa capital of the country. It is located in the west of Colombia, making it conveniently on my way out. I must say right now that I have been fed up with my somewhat lacking skills in spanish. This language to me is at a point where I can speak to someone about the weather, where I'm from, how to get somewhere, and how hot the guy down the street is. But to speak about more complicated things pose to be a problem. This simply will not do. As a result I had a 2 hour rendez-vous in Cali with a delicious looking Colombian spanish teacher named Leandro. How convenient for him to be single as well, no? I also visited the Cali Zoo, said to be the best in South America. My companion for this extravaganza was a charming young Londoner named Sean. Him and I were both a little let down when we realized there were no giraffes or elephants. What, are you so under budget that you can afford tons of bimbo butterflies but not one pachyderm? There was a space there for a bear but I didn't see it. Were you lying about having one of those too, you fibbing circus connoisseurs? I want my pesos back. I deserve a free stuffed lemur as well for this traumatic downfall.

There is a certain etiquette which I did not realize once you have crossed the Colombian-Ecuadorian border. You must be on time for your bus. In Colombia I have learned that 5 minutes is not a precise 5 minutes. It is more like 10, maybe even fifteen. But in Ecuador, time is money and they are very punctual when it comes to their bus schedules. So when myself and a few germans arrived in Ecuador and left our bus for a quick snack, we were told we had 10 minutes. I'm not sure how much time we took, but it became quite apparent that we took more than the allotted when we found ourselves watching, our mouths open, as the bus with everything I possess (as well as the germans) cruised right past us full throttle. Had we not ran so hard we nearly vomited, this would have left me with nothing but a few useless Colombian pesos and a hot dog which was now all over my front. It's a good thing only the germans understood english, I may have cursed once or twice at the driver as he let us all back on the bus, breathless and with mustard and pop all over us.

And so, with all my possessions intact I arrived In Quito, Ecuador. The elevation of this city is 2, 800 metres above sea level. Coming from Cali, which was 1, 000, I felt a little lightheaded. "Ecuador" is spanish for the word equator, and the city of Quito extends to within about 1 kilometre of zero latitude. This means it's pretty much in line with the middle of the world. Just outside the city is the monument, "La Mitad del Mundo" (The middle of the world) as it was thought to be in the 1980's. However, as of late it was discovered the actual equator is located about 800 feet north of this monument. Nice try, Latitudians. I was not in Quito long enough to have the pleasure of going outside the city to visit this monument. I did however, have time to visit the downtown and one of the many churches entitled the Basilica tickled my fancy. This breathtakingly beautiful church is the most important architecture of its style in all of Ecuador and one of the most representative on the continent, built for the Ecuadorian State to commemorate its consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Yes that's all fine dandy and interesting, but it's 35 more metres I had to climb to get a good picture. I needed bloody oxygen at this point.

Onwards and further downwards, I am now in Lima, Peru. This means that in the span of 5 days, my presence has been made known in 3 different countries, traveling by land transportation only. Are you aware of anyone with those kind of immediate credentials? I think not. And if you are, unfriend them immediately on facebook. They are crazy.

Which would bring you to ponder, why the rush? What's all this? I'm not sure quite how to respond to that. Maybe I feel my travels are not exciting or fast paced enough for my audience. Maybe I enjoy permanent lodging on a bus. Or, maybe I heard pre-tell of a certain form of company that wishes, at a specific place, on a specific date and for a specific reason to occupy the time of a specific girl who's name is that of an irish liquor. Hmm. Let's let the viewers decide.

In case anyone would like to know roughly the kind of distance I've covered in these past few days, all you fellow Canadians, I just went from Vancouver to Regina. Everyone else, I went far enough to question my sanity and purpose of life on this earth as I know it. If you think I am going to keep this up then you are horribly mistaken; I just tried to give the taxi driver Colombian pesos and he asked if I was on drugs.

You will see me in my cocoon at the Cali Zoo, and myself at the top of the Basilica church in Quito. So far, everything I know about Lima is that it's chilly. However I will most definitely keep you informed about this massive metropolis.

A specific Irish Liquor-named girl.