Travels – Colombia: Day 7

Wake up late, well rested, washed clothes and told lady at hostel I might have picked up fleas but I’m not sure, Spanish word for fleas is “pulgas,” look on lady’s face is hilarious and she almost attacks me with some type of spray, drink an orange juice from street vendor and a jugo de guanabana, why does fruit here taste so fucking good? I mean fuckkkkkiiinnnnnngg goooood (it would be worth it to move here solely for the jugo).

Spend some time yapping it up with some locals at a cultural center, nice people, people in ValleDupar have a bit of costeño accent (notice this at cultural center – note to self: Costeño is a type of Spanish that I never learned in school), meet some brothers who have traveled to Valledupar as a part of a band, take walking-vallenato tour with lady for Jamie’s project, go to museum, hear the birth story of vallenato (fallen cargo, river, accordions, music!), stop at school where headmaster and little girl sing a couple of songs for us, dude is jamming on the accordion (great moment, tear up a bit).

ADD out midway through the tour because it’s a bit hard concentrating after more than an hour and there’s chaos in the plaza so I just pretend I’m paying attention but really I’m just watching the people, there must be 150 people enjoying the action in the plaza during this sunset, head to grocery store and then cook a truly delicious pasta dinner for everyone back at the hostel, talk with Alex about Colombian culture and language differences and dialects, Alex gives Jamie and I necklaces for good luck on our trip, he’s a genuinely interesting human being.