Ciao, Colombia.

I picked up my last souvenirs yesterday from Bogota. A kitchy poncho, some soccer stuff, and a nasty head cold. Spent one more night in Zona Rosa with a group of Dutch guys and some Colombians who picked us up off the street and told us to follow them. I watched one of them get a bottle broken over his forehead and later try to explain to me that ¨This is why people love Colombia¨. I didn´t know what to say.

I´m going back to the States to consult with doctors and hopefully convince them to take the massive screw out of my leg. If all goes well my schedule could look like this-

Tax Day: Bogota-Boston
April 20th: Meeting with the surgeons
By 4/30: Getting the operation
May 1st: Walking without assistance
May 10th: This is my target date for getting on a plane to return to Morocco.

This is all very tentative and subject to my intense desire to have things move quickly.

I am not sad to leave Colombia because its on to bigger and better things. One of the things I find really exhausting about travelling is other travelers. Everyone has got the same stories, has been the same places, has the same complaints about Colombians, and convinces themselves that life on the backpacker trail is a test of mettle. I think my days of backpacking in a predictable destination like Colombia may be over. This is my 4th trip to Latin America, and each time I have spent 1-4 months. I expected Colombia to be a little more exciting and dangerous, more difficult to travel in, just crazier. In comparison to the rest of the region Colombia is super developed and a little vanilla.

No beef, though. If I have a chance to come back to Bogota I will not hesitate to do so.