Heading to Bogota

So, Saturday night was my last night in Cartagena. I am now in Bogota. After speaking with other students and hearing their itineraries, I decided to change mine. The school I’m enrolled with has three schools in Colombia - Cartagena, Medellin, and Bogota. I strategically chose Cartagena since it’s a coastal city on the Caribbean Sea. Other students did a better job of planning and utilized the different schools as an opportunity to see more of the country. There are two teachers from Atlanta, Billie and Janice that did one week in Cartagena and one in Bogota. Leigh did 2 weeks in Cartagena and one in Bogota, while Felix is going all out and doing one month in Cartagena, one in Medellin, and one in Cartagena. My original plan was to take 4 weeks of classes in Cartagena and then have 10 days to visit another nearby country. Well, that has all changed now. Colombia has a lot to offer, so I’m going to stay in the country. Although, it would be great for me to add to my countries visited list, I’m only going to get a chance to see one country on this trip. I’ve spent 3 weeks in Cartagena. Will spend one week in Bogota taking more classes and then will travel to Santa Marta for a week. The last week will be my vacation! :-) Every person that I’ve run into traveling through Colombia stated that Santa Marta was the highlight of their trip. It’s actually the first city founded by the Spaniards in Colombia. Today it is a small town of about 300,000 that is a 3 hour bus ride from Cartagena. It’s big draw is Tayrona National Park, a mix of jungle and beach that has been described by one friend as the closest thing to paradise there is! I will spend my last weekend back in Cartagena before returning to the states on the 14th of July. That will be a very sad day for Da Kid!