Colombia - New York

After World Games in Cali I stayed one extra week in Colombia to explore more of the country. I was traveling together with the four Czech runners the whole week, and also the Norwegian coach Petter Thoresen the first days.

It was difficult to decide what we should do since Colombia is a huge country, Cali is not the most touristic part of it, and we only had 6 days. I could have liked to go to some of the high mountains (more than 5000 m.a.s.l.), but it was a bit complicated and dangerous. It could also have been nice to go the the Caribbean coast, but then we needed to fly some hours North.

The day after the relay and closing ceremony we decided to head West to the Pacific coast, and took a bus to Buenaventura. The plan was to continue directly with boat one hour North to a beach resort, since Buenaventura is seen on as one of the most dangerous cities in Colombia because most of the cocaine is shipped out from there. But the last boat had departed when we arrived, and we had to stay in Buenaventura for a night. That went fine, and we felt totally safe.

The next day we took the first boat to Juanchaco/Ladrilleros. It was a nice place, even if it's not the same standard as we have home, and I found it quite similar to Kenya and Zanzibar, where I was two years ago. We took it quite easy and enjoyed life. I tried wave surfing, that as expected was difficult. We also went for whale watching.

After two days we took the boat back to Buenaventura, and bus to Lake Calima, that is the best place for wind surfing in Colombia. I tried kite surfing, and learned how to handle the kite after two hours with a guide.

After two days with Lake Calima we headed back to Cali, and stayed there the last night. The city was now more quiet when during World Games. All people we meet in Colombia was very friendly and more open mined then I'm used to from home. But before I go back to South America next time I will try to learn some spanish, because that makes it much more easy to communicate with people. Pictures from the holiday in Colombia.

On my way back to Europe I had a two day stop in New York City. I have never been there before, and found this a good time to take a stopover, since I anyway had to change flight. New York was as expected a fascinating city, with a lot of opportunities. I was staying on central Manhattan, and tried to see  the most famous tourist attractions like Central Park, Empire State Building, Central Terminal, Rockefeller Center, the Statue of Liberty, Broadway, Times Square and Maddison Square Garden.

I did also two long runs in Central Park. The first run was more sightseeing and I took a lot of pictures. During the last run I did a 10 km long orienteering course. I could of course spent more days in NY, but I will save that for next time I'm coming back, then hopefully not traveling alone. Pictures from New York.