Tag: San Andres Colombia

Motos and More: Travels to San Andrés Day 4

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Breathe in, breathe out, repeat.

After eating Dramamine with a side of eggs for breakfast (totally kidding, I only took two), we waited for Luis to pick us up for our second day of diving. After having made two successful dives the day before, I was more excited than anxious for this round.

After previously mentioning to Luis that we were interested in renting a moped for touring the island, Luis brought a friend with (I was not expecting this) to coordinate the delivery of a moto to our posada (lodging) the following morning. I discovered after the fact that Luis did not know this guy particularly well, but was trying to do him a favor by acquiring some business. However, said-friend, whose name was Ronald, ended up being a bit of a shyster. And I don’t appreciate shysters.

More on that in the next installment.

Divers gathering before making our descent

For me, diving was incredibly relaxing ­– especially after ditching the sea sickness and vertigo. As I breathed in, the air made a life-sustaining hiss as it traveled from the cylinder, through the regulator and into my lungs. The bubbles that rose to the surface as I exhaled made gurgling crackle-pop sounds around my face.

I had to make four open water dives to complete my certification, so on this particular day I only had two more to go. After arriving at a dive site, anchoring the boat and taking the plunge into the water, divers gather at or around the anchor line to make a descent. Depending on the current, certified/experienced divers can make a free descent, letting the air out of their BCDs (buoyancy control devices) and sinking slowly into the depths. Continue reading →

Motos and More: Travels to San Andrés Day 3

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Taking the plunge

What a stunner.

I’m not sure if I was thrilled or terrified, but the day arrived when I would scuba dive for the first time in a body of water that wasn’t a 12-foot-deep indoor pool.

The concept of diving sounds incredible, surrounded by deep, clear water and colorful fish. But when you think about being 60 feet under the surface with a small tank of air and a few hoses strapped to your back, it sounds more like pure madness. But I had already gone this far, and I wasn’t turning back.

Tarcila, our Airbnb housekeeper made us breakfast at 7:30 am so we would be ready for our driver from the dive shop to pick us up at 8. I left the researching of dive shops to my mom, and she booked with Karibik Diver – arguably the best decision we (a.k.a. she) made. The place is run by a German gentleman named Christian. While their rates were a bit more expensive than other shops we (a.k.a. she) checked prices for, they had a lot of positives going for them: Continue reading →

Motos and More: Travels to San Andrés Days 1 & 2

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I like big beaches and I cannot lie… And breakfast. I like that too.

Day 1 ~ Touch Down!

Completing tourist paperwork in the Bogotá airport

At Thanksgiving, I always say my eyes are bigger than my stomach, because I usually dish up a plate of food larger than my head, eat half, and survive off the rest for the entire week that follows. The same goes for the number of books, magazines, adult coloring books and podcasts loaded into my backpack and on my phone for a single trip.

Expectation: I’m going to read and listen to smart things and be super intellectual! Reality: Sleeping and watching movies is cool too.

Our route took us from Fargo to Chicago, Chicago to Miami, Miami to Bogotá, Colombia, and finally to San Andrés. By the time the plane touched down on the very short San Andrés runway around 11:15 pm – to the cheers of passengers, exalting at not having crashed through the barbed wire-lined airport fence and sliding into the ocean ­– I had flipped through a few pages of a book I meant to finish last year, and listened to half of a 30-minute podcast. #productive Continue reading →

Introducing… Motos and More: Travels to San Andrés

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Part 1 of 9 installments about traveling to San Andrés, Colombia

My view, beachin’ under a palm tree on San Andrés

Car rides with strangers can get you in trouble… I’ve learned that the hard way. But it’s also funny how you can meet random people at just the opportune time, know them for a few hours, maybe a day, and they influence an important decision later down the road.

Last year – it must have been in May – I went with a group from my university in Chile to go white water rafting at Cajon Del Maipo, a gorge near Santiago. The entire crew gathered outside of Museo Fonk, a museum dedicated to the Easter Islands, which served as our designated meeting spot throughout the semester. A little caravan of tiny cars pulled up, driven by our campus advisor and friends she recruited to go along.

I can’t even remember the color of the car I picked, but I jumped in a front seat and started making friends with the driver. She was from Colombia, and was in Chile visiting friends and heading to “bucear” along the coast of Chile. Initially, I had no idea what the Spanish word bucear meant, so when I finally looked it up and realized she was talking about scuba diving, we had plenty to discuss throughout 3 hours of driving. I had always wanted to become certified so I could dive with my mom, and she convinced me there was no better place to learn than the Colombian island of San Andrés. Continue reading →