It´s been a long time, and a lot has happened since.. Where to start?!

As announced I've been to San Blas with a bunch of awesome Americans! One had already been there and knew Robinson, one of the Kuna(indigenous people from the islands) chiefs. We took off around 7am at a supermarket in Panama! Around noon we arrived on the island. Suddenly a couple of guys decided to swim to another island at about 2km. I was walking around the island and decided to join them, so I ran straight in the water and we started swimming. Half way Justin decided to go back and he gave me his rubber tire in which he was swimming. I was exhausted from the nights before(acclimatisation)+the hot sun on my back+the rubber burns in my armpits from trying to swim with the tyre = it wasn't the perfect situation for an afternoon swim. I had for 1week ugly rubber burns under my arms, but it's ok now.

So after one night on Robinson's island sleeping in my hammock, 4 of the Americans decided to go to another island 2h away and I decided to join them. It was a deserted island and ours for 4 days! Max arranged it for us to get it for free if we took care of ourselves 100%. Normally you'd have to pay 10$/night. So off we went and set up camp underneath the coconut trees, the only vegetation on these islands. You might wonder: 'What do you do for 4 days on a deserted island?' You need to have done it to understand.. First of all you live with the sun, so wake up at 5-6am and go to sleep around 9pm. You can walk around the island, do a couple of push/pull ups to keep in shap, go for a swim, stand for hours on a spot and enjoy the sounds en view and think about anything or just hang out together and have discussions. During our boat trips we saw some flying fishes and dolphins. The exact name of the island we were on may not be shared, but it was as close to paradise as I ever got!

Once back at Robinson's island I needed to get to Carti(another island) where the boat would pick me up to sail to Cartagena (Colombia). I had to be there at 9am, but in the morning there was another tropical storm hiting about 10 beaufort and as Forrest Gump said, rain can indeed come from above, horizontal and beneath you with these tropical storms! So I couldn't leave the island and I was afraid to miss my boat! Finally the wind and waves settled, so we could go to Carti. Once there: no Windseeker.. In panic I went to the island in search of a cellphone to contact the captain.They delayed the departure with one day and I had to be on another island.. Really getting sick of all this and in no position to bargain I had to pay $25 to get there.. After another 45minutes I eventually got to the good island which was the 'airport' of the archipelago. The landingstrip was just long enough to make a little plane take off! Exept of the landingstrip there were only some concrete ruins of a hotel from the early 1930's.. This would be the place where I will spend the night. After some negociations I got to put up my hammock for $5 under a roof and take a fresh shower! The 4 other people were real toerists that came in by plane and spent $300 for their stay!We all had dinner together and the 2 dutch women had a bottle of champagne they wanted to share with me and the Colombian and Panamanian guys.

The next day the boat was there and we took off to other islands to do some scuba diving on a wrecked boat. The captain Mike smoked like a chimney and constantly cursed with the F word on his help and cook Mauricio which is half Italian and half Scottish. You couldn't understand a word of what he said, but he was a real cook, so the food we ate was delicious! I think I might have gained some weight on that boat.. The co-travellers were the 2 Aussies with whom I had visited the Panama Canal and a Dutch guy. We had some good times!

After 3 days we left for the big sea and huge swells! The boat started rocking as a rollercoaster, but our stomachs were all ok. The first night I got the shift from 12 to 2am and it was kind of stressy to constantly check for huge cargo-boats, but all went well. Last night we arrived around 1am in Cartagena en because Josse has to leave tonight we decided to go for a party with Mauricio! We dressed up and took the denge on shore. Because the douane was closed we were actually illegally in the country, but we decided to keep a low profile. We arrived at this amazing club where every girl could participate to the miss World election! NOT 1 was bad looking! We had so much fun! We tried to do our best in the Salsa room, but I still need a lot of practice before I can ask a girl for a dance in a club.. Eventually I started talking with this guy (21y old)about business and finance and he spoke a perfect english! At 4am the club closed and he invited us over to continue the party at his place. He lived just 2blocks away so we went and what we found there is too crazy for words. He owned, yes he owned a $26mln old spanish colonial mansion! The second most expensive 8 levels high house with 22 rooms, a swimming pool AND a rooftop jacuzzi.. The guy's father is a huge bigshot here in Colombia and probably one of the only that didn't got rich trough cocaine..

This was kind of it, tomorrow I'll visit Cartagena and arrange the 7-day trip trough the jungle to Ciudad Perdida. After that I might hit off to Venezuela for a couple of days.

Uptil now I met so many people with all different knowledge and stories! On a trip like this you learn more than in University!

Hasta la proxima amigo's! The landsickness is kind of kicking in and the screen starts to wobble around..

G. on the road