Day 49
This was the last day I spent with my host family. Since they asked me what I wanted as my last meal, my host mom had made me food I liked and it was the last lunch with host family :(. After that I hung out with Gerardo and Andrea 1 last time. We got our last beers together, our last fries together, it was a very sad day 😦 Then I packed my bags and headed off to Cali.
Day 50
I went to the stadium to watch IAAC, Cali 2015 with Juan, Daniel and Roberto. It was very interesting since I had never seen track and field events live. My favourite event was definitely the hurdles, but I was amazed how many people were at the stadium for an event that wasn’t very big. At night we went to Route 66 for beers…they literally played all my old favourite songs, it was just so nice to be able to sing English songs again :P. When we got home, Danny took us to McDonald’s, god damn fresh fries when you’re not sober might be the best thing ever ❤
Day 51
Went camping for the first time! We took a bus from Cali to Salento, with a stop in Armenia ❤ We met up with the interns from Cali in Cocora. It was so god damn beautiful there! Tall palm trees, lots of greenery, just stunning. It was a lot colder than I had thought it would be though 😦 At night we had to cook dinner and we really roughed it out with cooking sausages on sticks off the ground, but hey it was fun! However I did end up burning my knuckle because I’m not the smartest person.
Day 52
In the morning we woke up around 6:30am…it was still kinda chilly but it was really beautiful in the morning! Roberto and I just walked around and decided to get water because we had drank all the waterthe night before #badidea. But it was really nice to just chat about the previous night adventures. We ate breakfast with everyone else after and then went hiking in the valley! It was kind of annoying to hike there because people would be riding horses down the path and we would have to move over every once in a while and there was also a lot of horse poop.
We finally got to the waterfall and it was quite cold there but it was very beautiful! A lot of people decided to jump into the water or at least dip their feet into it, I chose otherwise. After we walked back, we got water again because damn, hiking after a night of drinking is a horrible idea.
We headed back to Cali afterwards and there was so much traffic everywhere. It took us a lot longer to get home than anticipated. But when we did get home we just chilled since we were all extremely tired.
Day 53
The original plan was to head up to Tres Cruces for the early morning, however when we woke up in the morning it was pouring rain 😦 But back to bed I went! Juan’s mom bought me all the ingredients I needed and I made pancakes for the whole family. It was so weird making so many pancakes, I felt like I was just a non-stop working machine, but it was fun! After that we went to the Cali Zoo. It was quite amazing there as there were so many animals that I had never seen before, especially birds. As I tended to describe them as “ugly but cool”. Then we went to a mountain with some monument, and it was my last beautiful view of the whole city. Literally an amazing view. My last dinner in Colombia would be, obviously at Areperia! I was so happy I got to go there, the food, sauces, potatoes….delicioso!
Day 55
My last day in Colombia 😦 We went to Tres Cruces in the morning and this time I didn’t hit my head and I improved my time by 11 minutes 😀
After Tres Cruces, Juan took me shopping for last minute things: coffee flavoured treats, Wayu bags, bracelets, lulo, maracuya and buñuelo mix. It’s a lot harder to find everything, especially at good prices too! Then we went back to the house for my last meal in Colombia and with Juan’s family. It was a nice, lovely, and sad all at once 😦
After lunch, Juan’s mom gave me her favourite book and inside it, the whole family wrote messages in it. It was so sweet of her! I gave them a postcard of Toronto with a minature Canadian flag as well. It was a very sad moment as I had to say goodbye to all the family members 😦
Then it was time to leave the house forever. Juan drove me to Unicentro to show me one of the malls, which was pretty gorgeous. I love the outdoor concepts of the malls in Colombia! We bought my buñuelo mix, and then went to a panaderia for more last minute bread, however it was so expensive! 😦 The one bread I couldn’t find in bakeries was buñuelos! 😥 I wanted it so bad and I felt bad that Juan literally drove everywhere looking for it; but we had no luck..
We then headed off to the airport, and it was so weird that you have to pay to cross a toll to go to the airport but it was a nice drive through a lot of open fields. I am so thankful to know Juan, have him take care of me so well and drop me off at the airport!