Go Big or Stay Home

After spending more than a month back “home” in Ontario, one thing has become abundantly clear. Ontario is not where my heart is (well, if I actually had a heart – but you get the idea). Of course, the problem is that I’ve yet to find a place to really call home. Quite the dilemma. With “staying home” not really being much of an option, I was left with “going big”. A plan was needed – and subsequently found. Sadly, my new plan isn’t all that big compared to my last crisis but it’s better than nothing – and who knows what other adventures may come out of it. Anyway, big or not, my next destination is Colombia. And no, my bike would not be coming with me. At least, not this time. Side note: To say this was a last minute excursion would be a bit of an understatement as I booked my flight on Friday (a mere five days ago).

My arrival in Colombia – Bogota, to be precise – was on Sunday afternoon. A short connecting flight later, I was in Bucaramanga. Although, the act of getting to my connecting flight was a bit more of an ordeal than I anticipated. More on that in a moment.

My accommodations in Colombia is at The Nest – a hostel in the mountains that also happens to be a paragliding site/school. It’s been almost five years since I last flew a paraglider and so this seemed like a good opportunity to return to South America as well as return to the skies.

With this being a last minute trip, it was pretty much inevitable that I would forget something or miss some helpful information on my destination. And I did. I didn’t really know what to expect from Colombian immigration/customs but it turns out there was a special line for Canadians. I suddenly had a sinking feeling I was going to need a visa (which I clearly didn’t have). On the upside, a visa was not required. On the downside, this line for Canadians would cost me 160,000 Colombian Pesos. I’m still not entirely sure why but clearly not paying wasn’t an option. After they took my money, there were no problems getting into the country. (Update: I just did some research and it turns out the 160,000 entry fee is in response to Canada’s entry fee for Colombians).

From immigration, I made my way through the terminal in search of my connecting flight. After showing my boarding pass to anyone who would look at it, I was eventually pointed towards a series of hallways which led me to a shuttle bus to the next terminal. By this point, I was starting to get a little bit concerned about making my connecting flight as time was slipping away.

The shuttle eventually came and I was on my way to Terminal 2. This was a somewhat odd experience. I exited the shuttle and proceeded to follow the “Conexiones” signs through the terminal. This included finding out which gate I needed to get to as well as another security check. Once through security, I continued to follow the signs only to find that they led me back to where I exited the shuttle bus a few minutes earlier. It was déjà vu all over again. Fortunately, my fears of entering into an endless loop in and out of terminal 2 did not come to fruition. Where I previously turned right to enter the terminal, I now turned left to go to the gates. Whew. But it still begs the question, “What was the point of that security check point?”
With Terminal 2 successfully navigated, I was on my way to Bucaramanga (which was a very short flight). I think it actually took longer to take the taxi from the airport to Las Aguilas (the paragliding location) than it did to fly to Bucaramanga from Bogota. Of course, this was partially because the taxi driver had more than a few problems finding the location. I later found out that this was not entirely uncommon for this particular location.

Fast forward three days and I’ve been pretty productive with my time here. I’d go into more details about my paragliding experience so far but then what would I include in my next update?

For now, I’ll just say, “So far, so good.”