Colombia Part 5: Bucaramanga and San Gil

After a little wait I met up with Mayra and Yenny. I noticed straight away that Mayra was really cute. We got speaking a fair bit of Spanish on the first night there and we drove round to Sergio's place. He is a friend of hers and the ex of Yenny. Yenny did not want me to stay there, but Mayra insisted. They asked me my plans and I said I was moving on the next night. They suggested I stay two and come with them to San Gil on wednesday. As that was going to be my next destination I agreed. Seemed like a decent plan and I can be easily persuaded at times. We went out for some drinks after we dropped off the stuff at Sergios and later on Mayra and I got chatting till about 4am on anything and everything. She had a fiance from Germany which was a little odd given her age and we discussed that. I demonstrated my absolutely sucky salsa skills and my moderately passable for a gringo merengue. We talked on Uribe and even though he had made the country safer, he had failed to benefit the vast majority of farmers who had been displaced from the conflict. Three days later this would have greater significance for me. Mayra had also said she wanted to have some fun before moving to Spain and I took that as a tacit invitation to try something. That night we just chatted though.

It felt kind of odd, because it was the first time in two months that I had physically couchsurfed. Not since Lago Atitlan in fact. If messenger fails to load for the fourth time I am going to break this computer. Well whats left of it thats not already broken. Mayra had uni in the morning and I came to the conclusions at the end that this meeting had not turned out quite as she had expected and that maybe she had seen me as someone to set up with her friend Yenny. After her uni she met me at the flat and we headed out to the town's water park but it was closed. Then we went to a very pretty flower park and walked and talked. Though her directional skills were awful. I kept teasing her as to whether she actually lived in this city. The company was very easy and we headed to the colonial town of Giron to get some lunch. We did not see that much of it and the time flew over lunch. We almost missed her afternoon lessons at uni from the effortlessness. I sat in on a couple of university lectures. The first was on social movements and went too fast for me. I tried to hang on to some fragments of the debate, but my fingernails are not strong enough. There was a big debate about giving blood in the middle of the class, because here it is donated for free, but you have to pay if you want blood after an accident. Afterwards we had an IT class and I just played around online. Following this we went and got some arepas and then took some beers to the roof of Sergio's apartment with his girlfriend Lily. They cosied up with each other and Mayra and I got chatting under the stars on the roof. Soon we were kissing and playing on the roof. Was quite good fun and a nice end to the evening. We had to turf in around 2am as we were off to San Gil in the morning.

I woke up and it was Darrens birthday so I sent him a happy birthday message. Still need to grab a phone number to call him from. We all met up at the bus station. It was Mayra, Yenny, Jenny and me. Jenny was quite excited to get to Sean's birthday party (he's the Australian guy who runs a hostel in San Gil. She had hooked up with his cousin last time and was hoping he would be there this time). Mayra and I chatted and played all the way to San Gil. Its very comfortable in her presence and I seem to have developed an ability to make people very calm around me, even if I am a hyperactive ball of energy. Did not really get to see anything and I had to book into a different hotel to the others as needed a private room. San Gil is a pretty little town, what I saw of it and Bucaramanga is a biggish modern city with some prettier parts. As you can tell I did not do loads of traditional sightseeing here. I had found out on the way that Sean was obsessed somewhat with Mayra. She seems to have a strong affect on guys and seemingly has never actually liked someone who did not end up liking her. Its a nice record to have. When I eventually met Sean he was a little coldish with me. Unusual for an Aussie. Only afterwards I found out he had declared his undying love for Mayra and asked her what relationship we had. She had told him we were flirting and he had then asked if we could refrain from flirting that night. As Tim once said so gracefully while hammered 'thats like telling people you can't have christmas cards at christmas'. Its funnier when you watch him say it before jamming a broken beer bottle into his forehead, trying to avoid cutting his mouth. One day I will incorporate some of the funnier stories from home into this blog. Its going to be amusing if I get into politics in any serious way and all this stuff comes back to haunt me or at least humanise me a bit. So this night had elevated from awkward to excruciatingly uncomfortable. I was handicapped in my personality, which damages any contributions I can make, Sean's cousin did not make it so Jenny was disappointed and the party was in some pretty gardens in town but failed to really ignite. I was bored and awkward. Then the girls decided to go and work on their university presentation. That's always a bad sign at a party when work trumps it. We headed back to their sort of hostel to pick up their stuff and it felt good to be out of the pressure cooker there. Mayra and I got hammocks while the others worked and tried to perfect the art of timing swings with kisses. Its a harder practice than it seems, so I just grabbed the other hammock and pulled them together for ease. I asked Mayra if she wanted to head back to the other hotel, but she could not on moral grounds, her fiance and Sean's feelings. Hmm a three way rebuff is quite the achievement on my behalf lol. In the end we went to the abandoned place where Sean was letting them stay for free. He had said there was no additional space which was not true and clearly said to scupper me. I stayed for a bit and then left. Sean came round later on and he and Mayra had another chat where she said she was thinking of just being single to end all the stress. Possibly a wise decision as my time in San Gil felt like a very awful soap opera or maybe one of those telenovelas.

In the morning I was woken up by Mayra in my room with a kiss. Not a bad way to start the day. The others were heading back to Bucaramanga to work on some stuff and I stayed in town but would head back to meet Mayra for one more night before I headed on to Bogota. I had written that I needed some downtime before my head exploded and was going to see Jopke tomorrow. Was good, because we can talk freely on anything really as we know what the other one has been doing around this country. Dom informed me he was coming and I said I would see him in Bogota the next day. I walked around the central park in the morning. Its really pretty and covered in Spanish moss like Savannah. It reminded me of the south and that always cheers me up. I even went for a walk into the hills and found an old theatre in the wilderness and a rope bridge over the river that I sat on to reflect for a while. I think this country must have been creeping on me steadily by this point to pick somewhere where I eventually want to settle for a few months. I had put my washing in with the hostel and that was where I would lose my jeans. Ended up picking up some multivitamins and the worlds smallest pair of toenail scissors. Then I did some writing. It was one of those practical days. Mayra had suggested I go and do some sports with Sean, but I did not want him in charge of any safety harness of mine. I got talking with Laura (the Finnish girl) and her friend will let me stay in Merida for free in a nice place on the hill with a swimming pool. Seemed like a good idea and I suggested to Mayra she come with me for a few days and depending on visas she may well come along. Will see.

I took a bus back to Bucaramanga and was running tight on time when I checked into a cheap place downtown. I met Mayra at the cathedral and we went for dinner and cakes. Bumped into Sergio on the way and he seemed upset I had not stayed with him this time. I suggested that it was just easier for me to get a place as had not planned on coming back. Meant I did not see Villa De Leyva, but I will go this sunday when I eventually finish up with Bogota. We went back to her place afterwards and had to keep the noise down. Ended up watching some of her youtube performances and a documentary she had made about the displaced people of Colombia. She said she was surprised that I had been interested in her and on the roof the other night had reckoned I hooked up with everyone. The latter is not true and I believe the former may have been a fishing for compliments. But either way how can you not fail to like someone who is charming, good looking, good company and who shares a scary amount of traits and interests. Both of us even want to run our own countries. Bilateral relations should be greatly improved. We hung out on the roof and chatted some more before I walked back across Bucramanga to my hotel. For no discernible reason I satyed up watching 2 Fast Too Furious until half past four in the morning (I had seen it before and its not that good, but it does contain Eva Mendes). I got up later than I should have done unsurprisingly and sent Mayra a letter. I got a bus to Bogota for 45,000 pesos which seemed to be the cheapest on offer, I then ate the worst hot dog I have ever eaten (and there are some good candidates in there). It was a very long bus ride but I slept for virtually all 8 hours of it. Needed that shotgun sleep for the night to come. It was Bogota and the place I may call home for 2-3 months.