The bump in the road and back to fun

I started feeling sick in Bahia Cinto, but thought that taking it easy and popping a few pills would do the trick. Well, how wrong I was... After the 4 hours bumpy bus ride back to Cartagena, I was in so much pain I couldn't breath. After taking all the pain killers I could at the same time, I got better after a few hours, if I stayed curled up in a ball without moving at all. The next day, Tuesday, I gave up around noon, I couldn't stand the pain anymore and asked Päm to go with me to the hospital. They hooked me up to an IV but told me I had to go and see a doctor urgently.

 I looked one up the next morning and made an appointment for Thursday morning. The pain was still hard to stand and not going away anymore by then. Well, after meeting the doc, it was pretty clear that I needed surgery asap. It was first scheduled for Saturday, but after my great insurance declined the surgery, it was postponed to Monday. In I went Monday morning, out Tuesday at noon. The next 2 weeks were spent recovering *and working way to much* at home.
 Recovery should have been 3 weeks but,I was asked to go to the GDC in San Francisco on behalf of a company, as a consultant. I would kill to go the GDC anyways, and being offered to go there for a company I love, well, saying no was not an option. I was a bit worried when I still couldn't walk 3 days before leaving, but I made it just in time. On the way to San Francisco, I had 8 hours layover in Miami and I decided to grab a cab to have a look at South Beach. Omg, that was a surreal experience. Arriving from Cartagena, it was a plastic and glitter overdose... Everything and everybody is just over the top. Drinks are served in bucket size, the smallest drink I could get was still half a liter. I sipped on that Mojito for a few hours, people watching, and decided to never ever go back to Miami.^^

The GDC was great, exhausting, overwhelming and fun, as expected. Apart from a weak moment one afternoon when I had to go and rest for a few hours, I made it, meetings and parties, the full thing. :) As usual, by the end of the week, I had no voice left and was pretty much done, but I wouldn't miss it. The week after coming home was pretty hectic, catching up on work, taking care of the follow up and wrapping everything up before Saturday, when I had to go to Bogota for Blanca's wedding. Waking up at 5 every morning, anybody? :)

Friday night, everything was done and I decided to go out with Rémy, Annabelle and her brother who was visiting. You do know what happens when you plan an early night because you have a plane to catch in the morning? Yeah, exactly:

I still don't know how I made it to the airport the next morning, but I did. Altitude sickness hit me bad again, but I made it to the wonderful wedding Sunday morning, before heading back home in the evening. Working at the airport, in the plane and back home, because I planned to go to THE island with the French bunch on Tuesday, so it was clear that work was coming in like crazy (I swear, they can smell it^^).

 But Monday night, everything was under control and beside having to take the laptop with me and stand up at five to sort something out on Wednesday, I was good to go. :)

Bahia Cinto

After spending a few days in Cartagena, we (the bunch with the addition of Alvaro and Christophe, my neighbor) were headed to Tayrona national park. We rented a house in Bahia Cinto,a beautiful secluded bay in the middle of the park. What sounded great on paper made for a very long trip: 4 hours to Santa Marta, an hour of shopping for food, ice and drinks, an hour on dirt roads in the park (sorry for those who had the crappy taxi, lol, some were lucky and traveled in the fancy 4x4 belonging to the owner of the place) and 20 minutes in a boat. A very small boat on a very rough sea... But it was all worth it! The bay was incredible, the house simple but nice and we spent two very relaxing days, eating fresh langousta, enjoying the hammocks and generally being lazy. :)

And back to Cartagena :)

January started in a whirlwind with me coming back on the 5th, to find that things had been stolen from my place (printer, external drive and mobile Internet stick), after allowing my landlord to rent my place while I was away. Blanca arrived the next day to spend the weekend, so nice seeing her after such a long time. I started preparing for my visitors : Flo, Päm, Stella and Julian, arriving for two weeks at the end of January. I wanted to make their stay so special they would come back for sure. The rest of the month was a blur of work, more work, occasional drinks with Alvaro, Patricia, a concert with Mari and more work. Finally, the day arrived and I welcomed the bunch. :) We started the first day with a champagne breakfast @ Mari, that ended up being more of a few hours of tasting the cocktails before heading to the Cafe del Mar for Sunset.

The next day, we were headed to Isla Grande, with a new addition: Annabelle and Rémy. We had a great time, I really enjoyed sharing this place with all of them.

Christmas time in Europe

Arriving in Vienna after a pretty uninteresting flight felt weird. I have been gone before, but Vienna was always home and this time, I felt like a foreigner, home was the place I just left. Thanks to Päm's warm welcome, the few days in Vienna were great despite the cold. Next, I took a flight to Nice and a bus to Gap, to spend Christmas with my family. Nice was awesome, I had a 6 hours layover and spent it in the sun at the beach, felt almost like home:

The bus drive to Gap is so beautiful, it takes three hours but I enjoy it every time. Holidays mood came up very quickly, setting up the tree and listening to Beau dommage while enjoying my mum's delicious food and French wine.

The actual Christmas day was a very French affair: the first time in many years that so many of my Dad's side of the family made it to spend it together, meaning they were about 20 of us for lunch. French family lunches for special occasions are to be taken seriously: five hours of eating and drinking, starting off with champagne and followed of course by a different wine with every dish. My uncle is an incredible cook, and with the help of my aunt, they set up a meal that will be remembered... :)

A few days later, it was back to Vienna for a great New Years Eve spent playing LA Noire and drinking champagne with Flo, after setting up my shiny new lap top.

Time flew by in Europe and 3 weeks seemed more like one, just enough time to meet friends, family and to get going again.

Still alive :)

The last months have been pretty busy, so I had to make a disappearing act on the blog, but I am back and since they are no travel plans until the end of June, I should be able to keep up a bit better. :) Will try to get a few posts out,starting with Christmas in Europe.

Rain in Cartagena

The last day, Cartagena decided to show me how sad it is that I am leaving:)

*All pics by Isa

Despedida

The last days... Wednesday, we decided to pay Cafe del Mar a last visit. The weather didn't look great, but we got table inside before it started raining. Mari and Alvaro joined in. The first (and last) drink I ordered was a gin tonic. When the drink arrived, I thought it was a joke. The glass contains only gin, the bottle of tonic is still closed:

Well, I asked for another glass and made 2 drinks out of it. ^^ The weather wasn't playing nice at all:

But we had this cosy table inside:

*All pics by Isa