..back on track..

phew.. so many things can happen in so short time?!?!

first of all.. the good bye with Myle was wonderful! went to a nice Hotel for 24hrs, having best treat and giving us best treat as well ;) hehe ;)) YESSS!! was totally unforgettable! :D there was a steambath and a swimming pool, lots of tasty food and even more alcohol that we brought along ;) hehe ;) *sigh* what wonderful times these were!!! ..then on Saturday we made it uphill to some party (I really loved it, after I was almost not to motivate to go there.. but thank you Myle!! :) sharing bed for a last night and then leaving on Sunday noon. It was really hard (as you could expect such a good bye after so many incredible times.. :`(
she begged me in tears to stay another day, but I really couldn´t.. wouldn´t have changed anything, but still had moments the next day, where I wished, I would have.
so I drove four hours to San Gil and looked for Shawns place that has been recommended by Myle (well.. he has been recommended). The place is not too impressive (and expensive) but popular because of Lonely Planet :P didn´t really feel as meeting people, but enjoyed the nice backyard terrace, where you can see the city and the circling birds in the sunset.. made some music (haven´t done this in a while) and enjoyed myself.. well.. no mostly missed Myle and went to bed very early. Felt emptyness through absence of this beautiful love and care.. but yes.. no Yin without Yang ;)
the ride by the way was very nice!!! sunny and through the Chicamocha canyon.. climbing up mountains with beautiful view, passing the National Park and over the tops of the mountains :) don´t have any pics of it, because I found just riding is worth it! :) ..and once more I got the impression, I know how to ride that bike after about 35 000km doing it! :) haha ;) had so many different situations and cargo on it.. so I got pretty much a feeling for it, since I mounted it first time in Anchorage ;)

the next day I went rafting.. was totally AWESOME!!! :) and worth the bucks it cost. We went down a level 4 and 5 river (maximum you can do with rafts) and it was really thrilling!! :D almost got swept out of the boat ;) but managed to stay inside for the whole ride (not all of us ;) and got the sweetest spot in the front, where you get it ALL! :) ..there are plenty of pics online in my picasa (sorry, put them all in, once I paid for pics to be in a boat with my friends, what finally wasn´t the case anyway ;) hehe ;)
haven´t done rafting before in my life and glad I started with the upper limit ;) all you need is a guy that nows what to do and screams loud enough: "left backward" "forward" "inside" "forwardforwardFORWARD" ..and some pawns that can row ;) hehe ;) got a crashcourse about rescueing people and how not to fall out or how to behave in the water.. what to do when trapped under the boat and so on.. ;) but went all pretty smoothly! :)
then I changed to another cheaper hotel with parking and TV and had a chill night in my private room.. got up the next morning early and went to explore a cave.. very, very wet and a lot of mud! ;)
the most thrilling thing is that you have to dive in and out.. through the more or less cold water, pulling you along a rope. all the light comes from small helmet lamps and you have to crawl a lot, sometimes through water that high that only 20 cm rest to breath :) some nice stalagmites and stalactites and the usual halls.. not the most impressive cave that I´ve seen, but dirtiest one ;) hehe ;) was a fun excursion for the morning.. it´s nice to go inside the earth from time to time :)
then I picked up my stuff and took off to Villa de Leyva, where you can do Canyoning, as I read somewhere.. it´s super beautiful to ride through the mountains of Colombia!! :) got to the highlands here and am staying in a nice Finca-Guesthouse with lots of space around close to the small colonial town but out in the green :) super peaceful here! :) once more.. looks like Switzerland.. so pretty ;) hehe ;)
well.. at the moment I´m freezing my toes off, because my shoes got wet through all my activities and it´s pretty chilly up here at 2300m.a.s.l. but got a nice private room for me with big bed and private bathroom with hot shower for about 20 USD a night (good treat ;)

oh yeah.. another story was that local kid that was bothering me in San Gil to give hime 2.50 USD (good ammount of money here) and I didn´t really like his vibe so didn´t want to give him cash (could even run off with more), but he kept following me and hasseling me until I felt really unconfortable.. not too many people in the street and the guy getting angry. But then passed some busses luckily and I stopped one of them and hopped on :) the guy was cursing me, but I was safe.. the driver didn´t even charge me for bringing me a few blocks down, where I walked back on another way to my hostal. Well.. this is what you can find in touristy places (where in Bucaramange, I was just fine!). and thought about to take my pepperspray along when being in such places.. just for the case :P

then today I went for grappling down 38 meters into a big hole and exploring a small cave.. then climbing up on a tree! :P was pretty exciting!! grappel down is easy.. learned that in Nicaragua, but climbing is still pretty tough for me :/ got better at it over the last years (through other trips) but at a certain point, the guy on the edge was more pulling me up than I could give force into it ;) but not that much fear of hights as I used to have ;)
then we went for a hike along a crest.. falling on both sides down to a river.. a really wicked hike!! there´s the "paso del angel" where it´s just very small and steep down on both sides.. a real leap of faith ;) hehe :) then checking out a waterfall from above and walking upstream one of the rivers.. really, really beautiful place!! (I hope the pictures show a little bit of it ;)
on the way back passed in a winery, but unfortunately they didn´t let my test their wine ;) ..the funny thing about the trip today was that I would have had to pay more, because of just me (and the boss of the agency coming with me and a helper for the grappling and climbing), but because I have a own ride, I got it for the same price.. but then I had to bring the along to the place ;) hehe ;) didn´t think that.. thought they would have their bike (instead of taking a car), but then I was the driver and at a certain point, there were to other men on my bike with grappling gear ;) (highest load I probably ever had.. prefer definitively girls ;)

well.. might add some other stuff later.. HAVE to go!! need food and moving my body away from this computer.. it´s almost 2 hours already updating online stuff and mails :P ..finally got my skydiving movie online in Facebook.. should check it out ;)