Hey Hey Cartagena!

Just arrived in beautiful Cartagena via speedboat from the island of Mukura. The ride was painful in many ways- the slamming into waves did a number on my back and the fact that I neglected to put sunscreen on my legs has created ugly lobster-red strips of burnt flesh, but only on the tops of my legs. Very attractive. Speaking of lobster though, I enjoyed a fantastic freshly caught and prepared lobster dinner on the island. I´m becoming quite skilled at extracting the meat from whole carcasses of sea creatures, although I haven´t yet brought myself to eat fish eyeballs or suck the meat from the brains yet....All in good time I suppose.
Going back a few days to Carnaval- damn do these Colombians know how to party! The festivities are supposed to last for 4 days straight, however in true Colombian spirit the rumba (party) begins weeks in advance for the Pre-Carnavales. Luckily for my liver I declined to attend these, and 2 days of full-on Carnaval partying proved to be enough anyways.
It all started Saturday when we bought tickets off some hawkers for $90 for 3 days of seating in the stands (the 4th day is free entry). The day started off early by stopping at the liquor store to fill water bottles with rum, followed by pounding a couple of beers in the hot sun while trying to barter for our tickets. By 1130am the bottles of spray foam came out and the fight was on. Once in the stands, there was flour added to the foam, which made for a nice white paste. And then came the rum and whisky, flowing from the bottles of people in the stands via shot cups or directly down the throat.
Although the floats were really impressive and the costumes and dancing really phenomenal, our attention was stuck in the stands for the most part, where the party was taking place. Our group consisted of 6 of us from the trek and one local woman (Alba), who is a professional Carnaval partier. Before I knew it, the floats ad dancers had disappeared and it was dark out, signaling it was time to go for some food and more straight shots of random liquor. Saturday night was an early one, and no one had trouble falling asleep on the concrete floor of Alba´s apartment until the next morning.
Day 2 began with a breakfast of pork and deep fried pork rind (which I have never been able to eat despite it´s popularity in all Latin American countries). The events of the day followed a similar beat of the previous, only myself and Collette decided we had not been fully prepared garment-wise the day before. Everyone in the stands was dressed up but us. We hit the corner store and bought our supplies- a marker, tons of sparkles, tacky wristbands and hair-ties, lollipops, a jar or caramel, balloons, and for myself a child´s t-shirt of a popular cartoon which I later chopped up quite nicely. Oh, and shower caps, the hit of the day.
After the main Carnaval events, we again hit the streets for food but this time we stayed out until 4am parying hard. There was free entertainment including a theatrical act, a live band or two, professional dancing, fire-spitting, etc. Maxi talked his way backstage and we got pictures with all the performers. He even convinced the fire-thrower to let him have a try at it.
Aside from that, Isla Mukura was fantastic- super relaxed after all the excitement that came before. We stayed at a resort-type place that is in the process of re-opening but as of yet had no other guests. It had been abandoned when it was taken over by para-militaries a few years ago and is only lately being renovated. We had a couple hours of electricity the first night because it was the owner´s birthday, but the second night there was none.
Cartagena, where I currently am, is absolutely breath-taking. I won´t bother trying to describe it. but will post some pics soon. I plan on leaving here tonight for Medellin and would like to get down south to Ecuador as soon as possible.