Traveling has been the best thing I have ever done for myself.  With that to say, it’s not always perfect, although I would say as far as lifestyles go, it’s pretty close.  With traveling comes it’s challenges, whether they are easy or hard challenges – they are challenges all the same.  Traveling constantly pushes you out of your comfort zone and as hard as it can be at times, it is an incredibly beautiful and rewarding thing.  Being thrown out of your comfort zone is needed in order to grow.  I would say that because of how much time I’ve spent over the past 7 plus months out of my comfort zone, I have grown in to a stronger person – a different person.

The past few weeks have been challenging, constantly teaching us how much we appreciate the simple things in life.

In mid-March, we spent 4-5 days searching Rodadero and Taganga for a place to live for a month.  We had two of our amazing friends flying in to Cartagena and coming to visit and we needed a place in between all of the great spots of northern Colombia to explore ourselves and to show them when they arrived.

Finding a place for a month is different here than back at home because you have to do it all by word of mouth, without the internet, walking around calling numbers on signs or knocking on doors and all in a very short amount of time.  You also have to speak Spanish.

We looked at several places, many of the ones we liked were overpriced because of a huge holiday we were unaware of until we got there, Semana Santa.  Many places were not even available on a monthly basis at that particular time because of the holiday and others were lacking furniture, clean space or just something of what we were looking to find.  We also always like to go at it with an approach that there’s no reason to settle when you know that the perfect little spot is out there waiting for you.  After 5 days of walking around in the heat and starting to get ancy, hangry, impatient and frustrated, we found it.  I remember we had looked at a few really crappy, dirty places before “the one” and I was starting to feel like we were running out of options.  Mike, however, knew there was something great in our future.  He’s always so positive.  I love him for that.

We walked in to this house on the upstairs floor of a “hostel,” (really just a big house with three apartments on the bottom floor and a bigger apartment on the top floor) by the name of Casa Jaguar.  As soon as we walked in to the doors of this place, we tried to hide our excitement, but we were obviously both immediately sold.

There is a nice sized kitchen with everything you could need and beyond the glass doors that separate the kitchen from the patio is a large little terrace with a couch, a few plants, a couple brightly colored hammocks and the most killer view of the tiny “downtown” including mountains, the ocean and colorful fishing boats: a view that’s beauty, regardless of the dry mountains that have been caused by El Nino, simply cannot be captured with a camera.  There are two rooms in the apartment, one filled with four bunk beds and the other, which we chose, that is ginormous with a king size bed and more than enough space to spread out the items within our backpacks.  After much time, we had finally found the perfect spot and it felt like a well deserved success.

Happy ending for the month, right?  Not entirely.  I believe that you should never have regrets and I don’t.  The place is still stunning and we don’t regret what we got ourselves in to, but the situation we have dealt with here has been unlike anything I have ever had to experience before.

If you know Mike and I both, you know that we are very laid back, calm, patient people.  It takes A LOT to get me to the point where I am truly angry.  We are both that way.  However, Daniella, the lady who owns our apartment, has successfully pissed me off on more fingers than I have to count in our almost three weeks of staying here.

We could deal with the fact that our breaker was broken and that the electricity would go out several times a day for the first 2 and a half weeks – causing the fridge and all of our food to be spoiled numerous times and our roommate to not have electricity any time we left the house.  We could deal with the fact that some days we didn’t have water, because we were “waiting on the water truck” which I know now was clearly just her trying to buy time.  We could even deal with her craziness (the first couple of times) allowing random people to come knocking on our door and come in our kitchen on numerous occasions to cook potatoes because their gas had run out.  Weird things happen in South America and we’re the kind of people who are pretty chill over just about everything, BUT yesterday morning when she came over to our house to tell us we had been using too much water and she wanted us to pay in order to get more water, I had had enough.

We paid a good amount of money to live in this place – a lot of money in Colombian pesos.  On the day of move in we had agreed we would pay 1 million pesos to live here for a month, all services included (water and electricity).  At least four of the days prior to yesterday, we had had no water and we were very tranquila (calm) and patient about it for the time being.  We were tranquila about the fact that there was a new issue at the place every day.  But after all of that positive attitude we threw her way in a not so great situation, she had the nerve to come accusing us of using too much water, which was undoubtedly not the case.  We had barely had running water consistently and when we did, we only used the water to take showers, flush the toilet and wash the dishes.  On a side note, we’re huge on conserving water after traveling in places with such problems with water over the past half year – so if anything, we use less.

In the other room of our apartment lives a girl from Russia, Elena, – very nice, very chill, quiet and keeps to herself.  She doesn’t speak Spanish, so I am the one that has had the pleasure of dealing with Daniella’s obscenities on a daily basis.  Imagine being really angry, worked up and having a hard time expressing your frustrations in English, (or your native language).  Now, imagine feeling that same way and having to express yourself in Spanish (or not your native language).  Regardless of if you can speak the language, it’s harder to speak it when you’re dealing with the unreasonable and illogical. It is one of the most challenging things I’ve ever had to do – especially because I don’t like to deal with situations where I’m having to argue in the first place.

So, as of yesterday, early afternoon, after our conversation, we have no water.  I went down to talk to her this morning and she refuses to give us water unless we pay for it.  She told me that she has no money to pay for it.  I had to argue in Spanish today with a lady who is unreasonable, rude, and talks over me because she doesn’t want to listen to what I have to say – because she knows that she is in the wrong.  In Colombia (and South America alike), when you rent a place for a month, in some cases, you have no control in situations like these.  You can’t go complain to a higher authority (because there isn’t one) and going to the police will most likely not do a damn thing.  It’s unfortunate, but most likely true – speaking from a previous experience we had in Ecuador.  So in our case, our option is to see what happens and go with that flow – as much as that option blows.  Based on the principle of the situation, we’re not going to give her more money even if we have to use 5 liter bags to shower, use the bathroom and wash our dishes for the next 10 days – she’s not getting another peso from us.

If you didn’t know how much water you use on a daily basis, here’s an idea of what we have gotten from the experience so far:

• Flushing the toilet:  5 L (more or less)
• Doing the dishes after cooking for four people:  10L if you are really conserving as you use it
• Showers: yet to be determined

 

Mike says in a couple of weeks, it will be a good story to tell that we can laugh about over some beers.  As frustrating as it is to experience now, I know that he is right.  Earlier I was shaking in fury (I know some of you who know me well are laughing as you read that) and my adrenaline was pumping and I can’t remember the last time I was ever that mad – because there is simply nothing I can do about this situation.  However, this journey has taught me that some times you just have to let it go.  For that reason, I am now sitting in the hammock and looking at this stunning view, taking in the fact that this experience is to better me, to make me stronger and to appreciate the little things in life even more than I did yesterday.  I’ve also got to smile at the fact that 7 months ago I had a hard time communicating in Spanish and was too shy to speak what I was able – to my potential.  Fast forward to almost 8 months later and I am having conversations with people on a daily basis and even now, confronting for us and sticking up for us – so to speak – in Spanish.  It’s so cool how things have changed.

There’s no doubt I grow every day from these experiences and I learn more every day to appreciate everything that happens along this journey and in our future to come.  There is always an opportunity to learn from your experiences and there is always, ALWAYS something to be thankful for.  A good piece of advice given to me the other day from a good friend of ours, Cassie – “Enjoy every moment, even the shitty ones will make amazing memories!”  And they do, every single one of them.