My first 48 hours in Colombia

Hola!  Wow it has been an incredible time in Colombia so far.  The first night I was here - Craig's friend Molly had her 29th birthday celebration. The party was in full swing - with solo cups set up for beer pong and flip cup. The first time I played beer pong was on July 4, 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya with Americans, and this Friday was my first time playing flip cup. There were Americans, Colombians, a lone Mexican and a lone Australian at the party.  At about 2 a.m. and nearly up for 24 hours, I had to call it a night.  Honestly, I couldn't believe that I was still awake and drinking at that point.

The next day - 9 of us set off to a lovely farm owned by a Colombian woman named Maria outside of Chia, Colombia.  Today (Monday) is a national holiday in Colombia, so everyone was taking advantage of the long weekend.  We ended up buying probably an entire cow worth of meat and the boys set off BBQing.

After drinking and eating the entire afternoon and early evening, we were hoping to play Tejo - a Colombia sport which apparently involves gunpowder -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tejo_(sport).  (I hope to play this game before I leave on Sunday).

We made it out of the gate, and then the thunder, lightning and rain started and so we all retreated back to the compound.  Of course, the Americans brought the solo cups, so it was on to another game of beer pong and switching between listening to American and Colombia Reggaeton tunes.

An American Hapa channeling his inner Juan Valdez.

After the rain stopped, these kids wanted to go out still - so we all headed to a place called Andres Carne De Res - which has the reputation as one of the craziest clubs in Colombia.  It is sort of like a dance club merged with a T.J.I.F. restaurant with workers in crazy outfits dancing around.  It apparently was a slow night when I was there, but it was pretty busy.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hLbf2nX0Js (YouTube video I found of the place).

It was another late night, and by the end, I had a terrible headache, which I had since I arrived due to the altitude.  I longed to have my body vertical for a bit.

It had been a crazy few days, but it wasn't over for me yet.  Apparently on Sundays at 2 p.m. in Bogota, Craig and some of his workmates get together to play soccer.  Well I hadn't played soccer since sophomore year in high school, and I just don't know how to play.  There were 9 of us - 7 men and 2 ladies.  I ran up and down that field and thought I was going to pass out.  I mean, honestly, I had been out drinking and dancing for the last two nights, so physically I wasn't in the best shape.  We played for an hour - alternating from running around the field and playing goalie.  Well I do get into whatever sport I am playing and so at one point I was attempting to block the ball from coming into the goal - I was successful!  Unfortunately, it was my face that blocked it :(  When you see those players taking a hit to the face from a soccer ball - it's as painful as you imagine it to be!

Today - my body has finally caught up to all of the excitement and events since my arrival and I am taking it easy.  Craig is at work, and so I have the day to myself.  I booked a flight to Cartagena for Wednesday and ventured outside the apartment to grab lunch and successfully made it back to the apartment.  It's been so fun and I can't wait to see how the rest of the trip goes!