Nathan & Missy's Adventures

I’ll start with yesterday! I started the day off with breakfast, and a goal to get to the exito. I was told to walk 10 blocks, then turn right, and walk 2 blocks. After about 15-20 blocks of walking, I flagged down a mototaxi and asked him to take me to the Exito (very large store). After about 10 minutes of riding, he pulls off to the side and tells me I’m there (which I’m clearly not). He’s rambling random spanish, and I just hand him my hotel address and ask to be taken there. About 5 minutes into the ride, he jets onto a side street. I ask him what’s up, and all I understood was “Policia” (assuming he didn’t want to be stopped). I made it back, paid him $2,000 PESOS for my 20 minutes bike ride, and went upstairs.

I explored some, tried some new food, and waited for Dan. Someone knocked on my door around 7:30, it was Dan! He flew into a city 4 hrs away. He had to take a taxi from the airport to the bus station, then catch a bus to Santa Marta, then a taxi to the hostel. I left a note with the front days that said: “Mi Amigo Dan Hovanac. Room 205″. He arrived, clueless, said: “Amigo” and they instantly brought him to my room.

As soon as he walked in, he said: “I have no idea how I got here, but I am here”. I replied with: “That’s how my week has been.. hahaha”. It was fun. We grabbed some food, walked the beach for a bit, hung out in the hammocks on the rooft top and crashed early!

We woke up with plans to find the exito (I got directions from some english speaking people I met). We tried to find it (I was trying to buy a cell phone). After 20 min of walking, we gave up, but found a cell phone store. I grabbed a prepaid phone, we stopped by the bank, and made our way to Taganga (10 minute taxi ride).

Taganga is MUCH nicer than Santa Marta. It’s a small fishing village that exploded once people found out about it. It’s tucked back in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

We found a really nice hostel. The coolest place I’ve been to thus far. Awesome rooms, breaksfast included, and a bar/hammock hang out on the roof (for $26 000 PESOS for a single room – $13 USD). And, there is a 10 year old and his mom (who run the place) who speaks English. She gave us all of the beta for this area. It’s such a nice place!!

Today, we visited all of the dive shops, and found a pretty good deal. 2 dives tomorrow, and 1 night dive tomorrow night for $150 000 PESOS ($75 US). We grabbed some food, had multiple fresh juice drinks, and hiked over to a secluded beach named “Playa Grande”. It was a nice hike, and an even nicer beach!!

I’m getting some work done, then we’re going to go explore!

After many weeks of preparation and anxiety, I made it to Colombia this afternoon. All of my posts won’t be this detailed, but I just got here, and want to remember this.

I started out in Cincinnati at 6:30 am this morning. I got through security (I was the ONLY person), did some work, and left on time at 9:10. I planned to work the entire time, however, I quickly fell asleep.

I slept until we landed in Miami. As soon as I stepped off the plane, it felt like a heatwave. I called my parents, did some work, and quickly found out the plane to Colombia was delayed. We were supposed to depart at 2:10pm, and arrive at 4:30. Long story short, the plane was delayed leaving Colombia. The weather in Bogota was horrible.

I met a friend, Randy, while we were trying to figure out where the plane was. We swapped stories over a beer (a free beer) in the bar. He’s ex-military, currently working as a Helicopter pilot (or air limo driver as he calls it) in Philly. He’s on a 6 day vacation to Barranquilla/Cartagena.

I made my way back to the terminal, did some work, met a few other people, and finally boarded the plane around 6:30pm. I sat next to a beautiful Colombian girl, my age, who couldn’t speak English. It just so happens that I can’t speak spanish, so our conversations were limited. As soon as we started taking off, her and her brother were holding hands and crying. I was trying to figure out what was wrong, but all she said was “No worry”. I think it was the flying that was bothering her.

The airplane was pretty cool. We had our own entertainment center. USB charger, game center and instant access to tv shows and movie. I watched some shows, did some work, took a nap, enjoyed a hot meal, and learned a bit of spanish. Everyone was really friendly and gave me tips about travelling around Colombia.

I got off the plane around 9:30 and scored a 90 day visa. They typically issue 60 day visas, but I accidentally booked my ticket for 67 days (before I knew they issued 60 day visas). My two options were to hope for a 90 day visa, or pay for it ($50-$60). The guy gave it to me, I made my way through customs, and on to a taxi.

I really didn’t know where to go. My plan was to get to Santa Marta (2 hrs bus ride) tonight, but that wasn’t possible since the plane was delayed. I withdrew $100,000 (yes, one hundred thousand dollars – only $53 US though) and got a taxi into town ($20,000 – or $11 US). The first hostel I went to was full, but the second one, Hotel SanFrancisco had room. I have a private room (leaky toilet, a water-hose stream for a shower, and a very strong fan) for a whopping $42,000 (or $22 US). It’s a nice room, especially for $22 US.

I’m just finishing up some work, and will probably make my way to Santa Marta tomorrow! Till then..

P.S. – It is humid here!

My Location

This is a short video called “The Dark Side Of The Lens”. I really like it. It’s inspirational, has awesome cinematography, and really shows his passion for both film and surfing.

I’ve been very fortunate this year. I didn’t realize it until I started thinking about it. This year has been full of ups and downs, but here are some of the highlights:

A 4 month Road Trip: Early last year, Sarah, Missy & I packed up and headed east for 4 months. We visited my mom in Canada, my family in Ohio, her family in KY, spent a month in Florida with Glenn & Rhoda, and went on a cruise. I got to go out of country for the first time (to 3 countries), get my scuba diving license, and scuba dive in the Cayman Islands & Cozumel. We ziplined in Jamaica, toured Cozumel on scooters, and ate five star meals as we floated the atlantic.

Baffin Island: Going to Baffin Island was a 4 year dream for me, and I got to spend 30 days up there earlier this year. It was such an amazing experience, and I hope to go back!

Landing an awesome job: When I got back from Baffin, I essentially had no job and hardly any money. I was in debt from the trip, and didn’t really know what to do or where to go. I applied for some jobs, and lucked into the position I still currently have. I am the web programmer for DailyClassifieds.com. I work from home (or remotely), and work with some fun people.

Business: I’ve also been able to pick up a few clients that has allowed me to have a bit of extra play money.

Living at the Point Of The Mountain: My whole motivation with moving to SLC was to be able to fly as much as possible. I landed a room on the North Side of the Point; 2 houses down from launch. I can walk out my door and fly my paraglider and speedwing. It’s beautiful. I’ve really got to build up my paragliding skills, and have got to do a TON of speedflying.

Sarah: Although we are no longer dating, we are great friends. She was involved in a pretty bad accident shortly after we broke up (which I believe ultimately kept us close as friends – otherwise we definitely wouldn’t interact to the level that we do). I feel very fortunate to have her in my life. We hang out almost every day, and surprisingly, get along great.

Paragliding from the Dragons Nest: Ever since I first jumped it I wanted to paraglide it. I launched my paraglider from it this past weekend. I waited for almost 2 years to build up the skill necessary to do it. It is a very technical launch, but such an amazing flight.

Colombia: I’m leaving in 15 days to spend 2 months in Colombia. I’ve always wanted to travel around South America, and I was lucky enough to work my way into being able to work while I’m there. A planned 2 week vacation has turned into a 2 month remote working trip. Colombia is a mecca for adventuring (scuba diving, paragliding, climbing, caving, etc).

So yes, all in all I have been extremely fortunate this year. I wonder what adventures next year will bring? Thailand? Malaysia? Europe? We shall see . . .

I haven’t posted in a while, and I need to catch up. A lot has happened in the past few months. However, I’ll catch up later. I’m going to write about this past week.

I’ve been trying to get Tyler to come visit me for almost 3 years. Well, this past week, he did. Right when he stepped off the plane, we went to REI, got him some climbing shoes, and went climbing up in American Fork. We only got 1 climb in before lightning moved in, but it was a good time. We went back the next day. Ty learned how to lead belay, and we did some swimming.

We did a bit around Salt Lake. We went slacklining, swimming, hit up the flow rider, and Ty did a paragliding intro lesson with Jonathan! After a couple of days, we decided to head down to Moab, the adventure capital of Utah!

Right off the bad we did some climbing at the Ice Cream parlor, and Ty did his first lead climb (5.7). My friend Jill just moved to Moab, so we hung out with her some too. I took Ty to Welchmans, setup the rappell, and let him go over the edge and rap 200′ down. Once he got about half way down, I jumped, then waited for him to get down. We hiked out, and he did another one. We did some swimming at Mill Creek, and jumped off the rocks.

We decided we wanted to spend some time up in the mountains. I took him up to camp at Warner Campground, right below The Gold Knob. We setup camp, met the camp host, then did some climbing at Mill Creek. Ty led a 5.8 there, and cleaned/rapped down himself!!

After returning to the campsite, the camp host came to hang out for a bit. He was 62 years old, had a dog Missy liked, and seemed to be a nice guy. After a while, he started making really creep comments, and started to become really “touchy feely”. His “creepiness” kept increasing, and I quickly became very uncomfortable. After him trying to take us to the meadow to look at the starts, and him trying to get us to take shots of tequilla in his van, we finally got rid of him for the night.

We both agreed that it was extremely creepy, and that we were both creeped out. We decided to leave all of our gear, and get out of there as fast as possible. We quickly grabbed our sleeping bags/pillows, and left everything else (tent/food/cooking equiptment/fire/etc). We hustled back to Moab, and slept on picnic tables at slickrock campground.

We got up early the next morning, took down camp, and moved to Ouwa Lake (about 5 miles south of the campground we were at). We re-setup camp, then headed back to town to pickup our raft.

Patrick, Missy, Tyler, Mary & I went rafting down the daily. It was fairly uneventful until we reached the last rapid, White’s Rapid. Long story short, we taco’d the boat, and all of us ate it. After doing a front flip under water, I surfaced, swam to Missy, and floated the rest of it holding her. We all got back in the boat, made it to the take out, and got out of there! All in all, we collectively lost $500+ worth of gear in the flip!

Ty got some pretty bad poison ivy or poison oak, so we headed home a day early. He had a blast, and is flying out today!

I’m going to try to post more often!