Hello!
I’ve been horrible at keeping up with this the past few weeks. I’ve only spent a bit of time on my computer, and it’s only been to get work done! If I don’t catch up before next week, I’ll write about everything when I get back to Salt Lake (I leave next Wednesday.. AHHH!))
-Nathan
Ok. I’ve been pretty bad about keeping up with this. Here is a recap of the past few weeks:
Ty arrived safe and sound on Christmas Day. We went caving, white water rafting, and then decided to do a last minute 6 day back packing trip in El Cocuy. 2 others from the hostel decided to join us.
20 hours of bus riding later, we ended up in El Cocuy. We rented gear, found a hostel, and made a plan for the next day. Long story short, we took a wrong turn on the first day, and wasted a day of hiking. Two of the people in our group decided to head back, and Ty and I decided to trek on. I was outvoted on bringing a tent, and it ended up being quite an experience.
For the first 3 days, Ty & I rocked it out. We had great weather, and made really good time. On day 4, we got a ton of rain. We ended up setting up a crappy tarp shelter, and huddled under it in a sleeping bag. The next day it started snowing, and a group of Colombian kids invited us in to crash in their tent. We hung out, made a ton of food, and got a 5:30 am start the next day. We hiked for 5 hrs and finally made it out.
It was a pretty interesting experience. It was both mentally and physically tough for both of us. Once we got out, we took hot showers, and hopped on a bus to Bogota.
We arrived at 4am, and the first two hostels we went to were full. Luckily, we found one that had room. We love it here. The hostel is really nice, and has an awesome social scene.
Today we are just relaxing and recovering from the backpacking trip. We are in Bogota until Tuesday, and then we fly out to Letecia (The Amazon Jungle). We are there for a week, and then we fly back to the coast to get Ty scubafied!
Well, with a plan of leaving on Sunday, it’s Wednesday night and I’m still in San Gil. This place is so much fun.
Yesterday, on the way back from breakfast, Marie and I chose to checkout a new hostel, Sam’s VIP hostel. For the same price, it’s 100000x as nice, has a pool, 2 balconies, a big screen tv, faster wifi and HOT showers! Instead of heading out, we both decided to check in to here. Just our luck, it was the 1 year anniversary of the hostel, and the owner provided free food, live music and dessert. I hung out with everyone, had some traditional Colombian food, and went to bed semi-early.
Marie left for Bogota tonight! She’s off to visit her friends there, then back to Denmark! We became good friends, and it was really awesome getting to know/hang out with her.
Today, Thursday, I had my first spanish lesson. We went over basic pronunciation, inflections, and the alphabet. I really like the teacher, and am going to book more time with him.
He was also able to answer a bunch of my questions about living around San Gil. For a cheaper apartment, with all utilities, it runs about $200 US / month. For a nicer apartment in a nicer area of town, it’s about $250. (Or $300 for a 2-3 bedroom). My jaw dropped when I heard the prices! Groceries are about $25 US/week here too!! It’s so cheap, and so beautiful!!
I had two really cool experiences this evening. While I was out grabbing some food, I ran into my friend, Leila, that I met at the other hostel. We ended up hanging out for a bit, and it looks like we’re off to explore a waterfall tomorrow! .. Then, on my way home, I was stopped by a group of colombian girls/guys. I ended up talking to them for 30+ minutes in english/spanish. They spoke very little English, and I spoke very little Spanish. It was a cool experience!
I’m really enjoying all aspects of this. I could get use to it for a while!
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!
