In the meantime..

I write a lot about the trips, but there are some people who already asked me what I do in the meantime...
You could already read earlier in my blog that I graduated in november.

Graduation year 2011-2012

I am an exchange student, this is different from other students. I don't think there are many students who do first the last part of the schoolyear, receive their diploma and graduate to start in februari with another class the first part of the graduation year..? Well..., that is how I did it. You can see here the class I started with in februari.

Graduation year 2012-2013

I already had my diploma, so I searched for some other things to do. I did a course business management for three weeks. 

I also did a course where I learned a little more about the oil industry and the problems around it. The island where I live is a rich source of oil. Oil means money, but the island is a natural reserve. The people of San Andres don't want that the oil industry destroys this reputation. 

This problem goes together with the problem between Nicaragua and Colombia. A little history... if you look at the map, you can see that San Andres is closer to Nicaragua than it is to Colombia.

The part of the ocean of San Andres is very big, it reaches almost until the coast of Nicaragua. Nicaragua wants this part of the ocean to become part of Nicaragua. I already said, San Andres has oil, oil means money and money is good for the economy, I don't think I have to make a picture with this one..

I already mentioned in one of my blogs that San Andres has the third biggest coral reef in the world. I think that's a pretty good reason to leave the oil where it is so it can't destroy this. I supported the people of San Andres because I fell in love with this beautiful underwater world. That's how we come to the third course I did, my dive certification. 

I met spongebob in real life, I became friends with lionfishes (lionfishes are one of the most beautiful fishes, but also kind of dangerous), I visited one of the pirates their sunken ship, barracudas, waterspiders, little fish, big fish, small corals, big ones,...  

short: an amazing world that is for a lot of people still unknown.

There are also some exchange students who visited me here in San Andres, one of the things we did was visiting Providencia. More of that in my next blog. 

Greetings from a beautiful place somewhere in the Caribbean.

Manizales

Colombia is known for many things: its colorful flowers, juicy fruits, its delicious coffee,.... The rotary conference of 2012 was in the coffee area. We had the chance to attend this meeting and get to know this beautiful area.

Rotary meetings in Colombia means parties, lots of parties and all kinds of them.

Sadly, this was also the last time that all the exchange students were together...

Cartagena y Santa Marta

13 February I left the island, off to the coast of Colombia.

We spent our first day in the beautiful, historic, romantic city called Cartagena.

The day after we went to the islands in front of the city. It looked a lot like San Andrés: blue water and white beaches. Later in the afternoon we left to Santa Marta.

 On our way we visited a vulcano. It was not just a normal vulcano, it was a natural mud bath: very relaxing and amazing for the skin.

Simon Bolivar was an important discoverer in Latin America. We visited the museum where we learned a little more about his life.

Another thing out of the Colombian history are the Spanish people, they were here for the gold. We also visited this museum. The ones who used a lot of gold were the indian people, many pieces we saw were for their Gods.

Talking about indians, there are still some people who live in the traditional way, we had the chance to visit them.

We went kayaking in a river that comes together with the ocean at the same place, a beautiful place.

Tayrona is one of the biggest national parks, I also bet one of the most beautiful ones. Incredible how many diferent kind of beaches exist. The beaches are literly of gold, in the sand and in the water we could find some pieces.

We spent the night in the park, we slept in hammocks. To go back, we passed the 7 stones by horse.

Our last night was in a hotel in Santa Marta, time went really fast, it was an amazing trip.

I had to go back to Cartagena where I spent another night, I had my flight booked the 22 of february.

Back to San Andrés!

City of 7 rivers

After the carnaval in Pasto we went back by bus to Cali. I stayed there for 4 more days. Cali is the city of the 7 rivers. We went to one of the waterfalls, if there is a paradise, it would look like this.

Back on the island, time for a new school year. Since our old director became governor we have a new one. This one is a little stricter, certainly about the uniform. An example: the girls had to sit on their knees to see if the skirt touched the ground, a new experience for me. Hellooooo new schoolyear!!!!

Carnaval de blancos y negros

The 31 of December I went to Cali  to celebrate New Year with the other exchange students. After two days in Cali we went to Pasto by bus.
There are two big carnavals in Colombia: the most famous one in Branquilla and the one in Pasto. The one in Pasto: carnaval de blancos y negros is a more cultural festival. The first day we bought a poncho, a hat, sunglaces and foam, lots of foam, ready for carnaval! You may question yourself: why did I need this..? Well, in the first place carnaval is a parade of beautiful cars. After the parade, there is the war with flower, talk and foam. No one is safe for this war, NO ONE!  I can honestly say that I was really happy I bought these things to protect myself.

Like I already said, carnaval in Pasto is a cultural festival. It's called carnaval of the blancos y negros. They celebrate the fact that different kind of races can live together.

The people in Pasto prepare the whole year for this. There were several days, the first day some guys from our exchange participated in the parade. The next day was the day of the negros (black), when you walked in the street and you were white, you would go home black.

The last day was the most important day. Beautiful cars came by. Amazing how many imagination they have to build them. I was really lucky that I knew some people on one of the cars and I was able to enter it, I loved it!

Off to the next carnaval in Baranquilla!!!

Medellin

After the trip to the Amazone, I went for 2 weeks to Medellin with a friend from Belgium who lives there. Medellin is the capital city of Antioquia. The city is more known for Pablo Escobar, who was a leader in the drugs traffic. I know Medellin as a city of art, technology and beautiful people.
City of art: I visited the modern art museum in Medellin. A beautiful place where you can find art pieces over the whole world. One of the most famous artists of Colombia is Fernando Botero. He is known for his special technic: big!

It's almost Christmas and this is one of the highlights of the year everywhere in the world. This is not different in Colombia. They love to decorate their houses and everywhere you look, you can see lights, many lights. We went to see the lights with the chiva (partybus). The lights in Medellin are famous over whole Colombia and with reason, beautiful!

A loooonggg time ago, before lights and technology, a meteorite landed a little bit out of Medellin. I visited the Peñol, it's incredable.

We went all the way to the top. I can't describe the view with words...

I also visited pueblo paisa, this was the very beginning of the city. It is a beautiful little town where you can find the typical native houses from when the city was founded.

City of technology: Medellin is the first city in Colombia with a metro and a metrocable. When you go in the metrocable you have the most beautiful view over the city.

After 12 incredable days I had to go back to San Andres. Preparing everything for Christmas. Christmas was very cosy and very nice, but also a little weard to me, I've never been at the beach the 25th of december.
Merry Christmas!