There is an England football game this afternoon, Mateo and I rally the troops to go find a good viewing point. Many many people we have came across traveling are going to the World Cup, mostly São Paulo and Rio games. They are the biggest and most common cities to go to and most accessible. A few people are going to Manaus like we are. The most unique travelers are two brothers that have driven a land cruiser from North Carolina, shipped their car from Panama to Colombia and took the sail boat with us. I think they are crazy to have driven this far in two weeks. They plan to drive 12 hours a day, from Colombia to Ecuador, to Peru, to Bolivia, and then into Brazil they have two weeks to get there to meet ther mom for the opening game this mean the car must go on and have no break downs.

The crazy brothers even made t-shirts, you can see them in the side view mirror

What crazy boys, they make Mateo and I look sane. We have persuaded the boys to take us to Medellin after they pick up their Cruiser from the port, they are hoping to have it out by this evening and we will all pile in the car and leave tomorrow morning at 4:30am.They are more than happy to have us along for the ride and not have it be just the two of them for  a bit. It’s a 12 hour drive to Medellin through the mountains of Colombia. There is never any telling with google maps if that time is accurate. After the game we go back into old town and find the museum of modern art.

Musume Art

Museum Lady

A Church in Old Town

We find ourselves some coffee and have planed a farewell meet up at 7:30 at the hostel. Most of us will be parting ways from this bloody hot city tomorrow. What an experince in a short five days on a boat to meet so many great people from so many areas of the earth. We all met for a last supper and said our farewells just as planned, we will not be going out for the birthday celebrations tonight but going back with the boys to their hotel to leave bright and early. Getting their Cruiser through customs went smoothly so we will be leaving as planned. I’m excited to ride in a personal car, not a taxi or a truck or a chicken bus or a greyhound-like bus but a car where you can say ‘I have to pee’ then we find a place to pee or get refreshments!

Coffee again

We wake up early early, we no longer will be comforted by the air conditioning on the drive, we will be in an arm pit again. Yet we will be in car, ahh music and music that comes not from a headphone but stereo speakers. While we were walking to the Cruiser we found we were not the first ones awake in Cartagena. The coffee street venders were preparing their carts to sell coffee to people on their way to work. Many of them were posted on all the main corners as we walked. Mateo and I fell fast asleep in the back seat, I can’t explain why this back seat is more comfortable than any bus so far, the hum of the car put me fast to sleep, oh and the Cruiser has shocks, unlike the busses we have taken they feel like they have no shocks. I feel the brothers resemble Mateo and I in many ways, David is excellent at directions and Grant drives. I’m horrible at directions and need the map glued to my face while Mateo can glance at a map, orient himself, and be where we are going without another glance at a map. I like seeing the brothers together, I haven’t seen any travelers that are siblings.

Colombia

The Dirty Girl Herself

Scenes along the way

View from the back seat

The hill of Colombia