I Can See!!!

The operation yesterday went smoothly, I got to wear some cool protective eyewear for the night and I woke up to the weird sensation of things being blurry and clear at the same time. My vision is definitely better and I went back for a quick checkup today and they were amazed at how well my cornea had slotted back together. I have another checkup in a week and then a month which means I'll be spending more time in Colombia, which is perfectly fine by me. The bummer is that I have to wait 2 months before I can go diving again, which messes up my plans for diving in the Galapagos Islands, but maybe I'll pop down to Peru and then back up into Ecuador when my eyes are ready.

On a sadder note, my USB key is definitely dead which means that, with my iPod gone, I've lost all of the work I did on my game, not to mention my rivetting tales from Cartagena and Medellin, but, well... life goes on. I was going to rewrite the game in C++ anyways and I pretty much summed up Cartagena and Medellin in the earlier post.

Luego!

Wish Me Luck!

Tomorrow a bunch of strangers who I barely understand are going to cut through my cornea, peel it back and use a "laser" to change the shape of my eye... What fun!

Hopefully I'll be able to complete the rest of my trip sin glasses and won't have to return home to start training with a guide dog.

A Quick Update From Bogotá

Things have been pretty busy since I left Santa Marta, and I've done a proper blog entry, but it's on my USB key which I don't have with me right now and may or may not be working due to the wonders of static electricity.

After Santa Marta I visited Cartagena which was beautiful, then Medellin where I went paragliding and am now in Bogotá, which I absolutely love. I'm staying with a Columbian guy I met during the Ciudad Perdida hike and he's been great at showing me around and introducing me to his friends. Last weekend and this weekend have been long weekends so there have been plenty of parties, but we haven't been limiting ourselves to weekends, with our best effort lasting from Wednesday to Friday morning. We of course went out last night (Friday), this time to a Brasilian party complete with live Samba, which was amazing and enforced the yearning in my heart to return to Brasil. We're understandabley tired, so I'm looking forward to resting a bit next week.

Next week will definitely be more relaxed as I'm having LASIK surgery on Wednesday. The place I'm going, Optilaser, is nice and clean, the staff and doctors really professional and I'm looking forward to the operation. This time next week I'll either be seeing fine without glasses or blind, so if there aren't any updates after Wednesday you'll know why.

¡Luego!

New Photos!

Amigos y Sunset
Originally uploaded by Phil Chan.

Here in Cartagena I finally have access to some real internet, so I've been able to upload photos from the last month, including Maracaibo, Ciudad Perdida, Parque Nacional Tayrona and Taganga.

This link takes you there.

Enjoy!

Remeber The Time...

Today is my last day in Taganga after 3 great weeks. Everyone else left a couple of days ago… with the exception for Gabby, who tried to leave but keeps finding reasons to stay. I’m off for Cartagena, up near Panama, for the start of the World Cup and a mud bath in a volcano before heading down to Bogota via Medellin.

I’ve been doing lots of diving here, and finished the PADI Advanced Open Water course yesterday, which included diving at night, diving to a sunken cocaine traffiking ship (I am in Columbia after all) and getting down to 30 metres where we saw incredible “fish highways” and a baracuda. I think I’ve got the fever and as well as diving in the Galapagos Islands, am thinking about diving in the Barrier Reef over Christmas and Antarctica in November… though Antarctica might be a little too crazy.

The last few weeks have been full of fun mad-capped adventures, so I thought I’d share a couple here, like…

Remember the time… we all got really drunk on rum and fruit cocktails at Parque Nacional Tayrona, went skinny dipping and Gabby lost his glasses to the sea? Sure we searched drunk and ineffective for them for a half hour, but… well, I think there is a fish wearing my thongs and his glasses somewhere having a great old time.

Or remember the time… Verena was sleeping, felt something crawling in her hair, flicked it out, got bitten by it… and then found out it was a scorpion? Ah yeah, those were good times. Gabby and I lept into action of course, catching it and getting ready to take her to the hospital. Somehow we lost Gabby on the way down to get a taxi but we made it ok. Waiting for the taxi, sitting alone on the beach in Taganga, bathed in moonlight with the stars shinning, Verena and I started laughing, realising this was the most romantic setting either of us had been in for a while… despite the fact her arm was going numb and I was sitting with a boxed scorpion. By the way, Verena ended up being fine.

Yeah, remember the time that Gabby and I went to get his new glasses (see above) adjusted at the optometrist? We were, as usual, running a little late, so the optometrist was closed but they opened up for us since the optometrist and receptionist, Cristal del Mar, are completely in love with Gabby. We ended up drinking a few beers with them and having a great time getting the plans in place for Gabby and a blushing Cristal del Mar’s wedding the following day. Odd that he’s still here isn’t it.

There have been loads of great times in the last few weeks, before that in Maracaibo and before that too, so today I look forward to many more as I finally break the spell of Taganga and hit the road.

Hasta Luego!

The Life Aquatic

The diving course has started and we’re done our first two real dives on a coral reef , in 12 metres of water in the Parque Nacional Tayrona. Needless to say, it was absolutely amazing down there. We saw about 8 Morey Eels, a weird lobstery crab thing, huge "brain" corals and thousands of fish. It really is another world down there, and my first steps into it have been incredible. Breathing with the scuba gear is a lot easier than I thought it would be and it's really relaxing swimming around checking out the world below. The instructors are great as well, and if you’re ever in Taganga, Columbia I highly recommend checking out the Poseidon Dive Centre.

Life hasn’t all been diving though. We've still got the apartment and continue to have a great time together. Jenn left yesterday though and the others are leaving on Monday or Tuesday for home or other countries while I stay a few more days and do the advanced dive course, so I can dive in the Galapagos Islands. It’s been great hanging out with these guys, so it will be sad to see them leave.

I’ll be leaving the day after I finish the course for Cartagena, a busy colonial city in the north which is supposed to be breathtakingly beautiful, before heading to Bogotá for eye surgery and to hangout with a local guy I met on the Ciudad Perdida hike.

Everyone I’ve met during my travels who has visited Columbia raves on about it, and so far they are spot on with how great it is here. If anyone is traveling in South America I heartily recommend coming here, you’ll love it… and Venezuela too... definitely go there :)