Leaving Colombia

My plan was to stay away as long as possible. I worked as hard as I could all last summer taking any job I could find so I had enough money to support my travels and live in Colombia. I started off picking stones out of a farmer’s field with a bunch of elementary students. I would see friends from high school who I hadn’t seen in years and who are all now teachers. They would ask me what I do and well, I would have to tell them I pick stones. I then worked for my cousins business doing house restoration, landscaping and cleaning. I did a lot of painting and cleaning pubic hairs off the bathroom floor of the rich and disturbed. Eventually I found a waitressing job on a nearby Native reserve.

I saved up enough money to comfortably travel for six months then I would find work and a place to live in Colombia. As it happens though, an opportunity came knocking at my door. I received an e-mail from a cruise company in Ontario interested in me for a position in the 2010 summer season. I was in the beach party town of Monanita, Ecuador at the time and put the e-mail aside. The beach, $1.50 cocktails and hot Argentinean and Colombian men were waiting for me. It wasn’t until I got to Bogota and realized I should read through this e-mail and seriously think about it. For years I have been bouncing from one country to the next and from job to job wondering where the money would come from next and where was my next destination. I’m sure a lot of people make money from their blogs which enable them to keep traveling and enjoying this type of lifestyle but I get a bit caught up in traveling and let my blog slack too much. My fame and fortune as a writer won’t come from my blog but hopefully elsewhere(unless someone reading this somewhere wants to give me money and make me famous!). In the meantime this job is a fantastic opportunity to work in a unique environment save money and spend the winters how I please, exploring the world.

The only problem is, I have to leave Colombia. I had to battle with this conflict for some time now. I was excited to start this new job and all the doors it would open for me but now that it is close to my departure date, I am sad. I left Santa Marta on Saturday night and I have one week until I return to Canada. I have been mopey in Bogota and the rain and grey skies don’t help my situation. It feels like the end of a relationship. I feel like I am leaving a lover. I say I will be back but you never know what the future holds. I feel like this whenever I return to Canada after being abroad. I don’t feel like I am going home. I remember my last night in Panama city I was locked out of my friend’s apartment so I went to his roommate's restaurant, La Terreza a posh Japanese restaurant with the most amazing view of the city and the bay. I sat on a high stool outside above the city sipping red wine that Carlos brought me. I had the sinking feeling in my heart like I do now. It will go away I know this and I will see old friends and family. I will be in a bit of a culture shock with the country life in Canada but time eventually blends together. Spring will turn to summer and I will smile under the Canadian sun. Summer will turn to fall and just as the leaves are changing colour and you can feel the crisp cold in the air and the frost on the ground I will be packing my bags, booking a flight and leaving again.

Good bye my lover