crazy times and slowinternet so posting is quite difficult. the space bar also sticks but whatever,its colombia. that is right folks, I am currently in Colombia. We went to Tobago for a week of diving and waterfall hunting. We then took a ferry to Venezuela and took a por puesto to a town to catch a bus. A por puesto is supposedly a taxi like car that will take a bunch of different passengers going to the same place. In actuality it is a car that has been through a demo derby. ours was a molester van which none of the doors shut, which was convienent since the driver kept vomiting. From this van we were also forced to give a "collection" to the Venezuelan army. no worries-when in Rome.. .from the bus ride,we slept in the airport in barcelona and took an early flight to Maricabio. Spent 1 night and then took a local bus to the border with Colombia. The bus ride was supposed to take 2 hours as it isonly 100 kms to the border, but we were stopped by the police 8 times. We think this is because everytime an officer gets on the bus driver collects a bribe. Consequently, every officier that can stops the bus. The ride took 5 hours. Then the border crossing took 2 hours- it was quite ridiculous. Suprisingly, we were only stopped by police 3 more times on the colombian side and they never asked for money. Now we are chillin in a costal town called Santa Marta-don´t know where is next but will try to keep everyone updated.

peace & grease

Don't let the bed bugs. . .

I have been quite bad at posting lately, but I will quickly tell everyone what is going on. I went to the Galapagos about a week ago with mom and dad and had a really good time, despite being sea sick. We swam with turtles, sea lions, and penguinos. and of course, no one will forget all the boobies. So after a week at sea and a night in Quito, I met Mr. Flames in Caracas. We stayed 2 nights in Caracas, one of the most uninteresting cities I have ever been to. Not to mention that Venezuela is currently really expensive. The official exchange rate is $1 USD=2500 Bfs. However, the black market rate is $1 USD=5700 Bfs. You guys can all guess which rate we chose. After hanging out in caracas, we decided to go to the beach town of Puerto Colombia so we hopped on a bus to Maracay. The bus to Maracay is supposed to take 1.5 hrs, but with caracas traffic it took 4 hours. We then drove around in a taxi looking for a place to stay and they were all booked. We got into a hotel which at the official exchange rate would cost $100 USD. There were prostitutes using the hotel's hourly rooms for their business and it had bed bugs.

I have to make a long story short. I am in Trinidad & Tobago at Ada's house (we met her at the airport in caracas) and using her computer. It would be nice if the strangers she brought home last night didn't monopolize her internet. I think we are going to Tobago to dive for a couple of days and then we may be headed to Colombia.