Day 65 12/30/2021
Odometer 31,050—— 0 Miles (8350 Miles Total)
Panama City, Panama – Bogota Colombia
Country #39
Country #37 Via Motorcycle
I didn’t get much sleep last night along with half the other people in my dorm room. I’m actually kinda thrilled to see that other people my age are up in the middle of the night on their phone. I thought I was the only one with sleeping issues. I learned a while ago though if I wake up in the middle of the night to absolutely not touch my phone or it will make it way harder to go back to sleep.
Today was my day to fly out to Bogota. My flight was at 6pm. I just needed to kill a few hours this morning and stay out of the heat since it was brutally hot. I went out for breakfast and worked on the blog. I really milked my time there. I took care of some more stuff online bank wise. Worked on lining up some 0% balance transfers on my credit cards to throw the money In the stock market. I’m hoping I can make a 25% return on the money in the next 4 months to help cover some expenses from the trip. Hopefully that will all work out and it would make me pretty happy! Once I was done with that I went back to the hostel to shower and pack all my stuff up. It barely fit in the backpack and I was hoping I wouldn’t get banged for $100 to check my backpack since it was pretty big at this point.
Once I was done packing I went out for an açaí bowl and then decided I would get an uber to the airport at around 1pm. Super early but at least I’d be hanging out in the AC at the airport and I could work on my Spanish lessons on Duolingo. A girl I met in town yesterday was flying out around the same time so we could hang out as well once she showed up.
I got to the airport and did exactly that. My Spanish is getting pretty good with the small basic stuff. I barely get anything wrong during the practice and lessons on Duolingo. It feels good! I’m slowly getting better with understanding people and talking back to them. I’m excited to learn more. At about 3pm I went to check in which took me an hour because I had to fill out an immigration form for Colombia but it wasn’t working on my iPhone or laptop. Luckily I tried to do it on google chrome on my laptop and it worked. Another lesson learned. Have google chrome on my phone as well for situations like this. After that Ana got to the airport and we went through security together. She got through and then they called her back. She said she’s had this issue her whole life. She’s from Panama but lives in Miami. They held her up for about 5 minutes and then they let her go. I was up next. I have anxiety about anything to do with my passport after the last few border crossings. The guy let me through and then he called me back as well. He took my passport and disappeared for about 15 minutes. He came back to show another guy what it said on the computer screen and I read something about the Russian Federation. I said whoa i’m not a Russian guy, I’m Serbian. He yelled at me to not look at the screen and made me get on the other side of the computer. He walked away and I took a few shots of the screen. See for yourself what it said.
They let me through after a while and I was fucking relieved. I don’t need to be missing this flight. I just want to get to Colombia and be on my bike. Ana invited me to the bougie part of the airport at the lodge she had access to. We ate some snacks and drank some wine and chatted for an hour before we both had to catch our flight. I got on the flight without paying the $100 fee they asked for online for a carry on. Thank god.
The flight was only about 75 minutes and we landed in Bogota. I got through immigration pretty quick and off I was to get an Uber to Daniella’s house. Nick, her boyfriend, brought me a care package which I’ve been looking forward to. He dropped it off at her apartment 10 minutes from the airport and they both went to her family’s house in the mountains for New Years. So I got to her place and the doorman gave me the bag, I called another Uber and went to my hostel. As I was checking in two weird shady guys walked in and one of them gave me a pound. There’s something off about them. I had a lot of cash in my backpack with my camera and laptop and I was pretty worried they were going to try something. I kept them in front of me the whole time and when I had to pay for the hostel I pulled out about $600 in Colombian money and the girl at the front desk got weird about it. I think she felt the same vibe about the guys. Good thing I was about 40 pounds heavier than each of them and a foot taller. After I paid I put most of my things in my dorm room locker and came back out to go through what Nick brought.
A new tool bag for all my tools to get them arranged nicely, some tools, the free camping stove the company sent me for free after finding out it was stolen from me on my trip. A speedo, two pairs of shorts, two new Smartwool socks which I was so excited about. $1200 in my 20’s, $500 in Colombian Pesos Daniella exchanged for me, bead breakers so I can remove my tire when I get another flat and a solar lantern for camping.
I haven’t been this happy about any gear since I left on the trip. I was so so so happy to have all these things, especially the wool socks since all of my thin running ones have holes in them. I rearranged all my new toys I got and then I went out for some food. FINALLY!!!!! Finally I can eat cheap delicious food. I’ve been sick of the food since the minute I left Mexico. I got a huge plate of rice and chicken that I couldn’t even finish for $6. My hostel I got tonight was only $7 as well. Beats paying $20 a night like I’ve been paying the last month along with $20 breakfasts and $30 dinners. I’m so excited to be in Colombia. I’m loving the vibe here. It feels so good. Anyway after I got food it was about 9:30 and I decided I would go to bed early since I had a long day ahead of me tomorrow.