Pirates of the Carribian! Sailing to Colombia.

"The Darién Gap is a large swath of undeveloped swampland and forest separating Panama and Colombia. It measures just over 160 km (100 miles) long and about 50 km (30 miles) wide. It is not possible to cross between South America and Central America by land without passing through the Darién Gap."

This left us with little options for getting to Colombia. We had:
a) Fly
b) Sail

Flying was a little cheaper, but we all agreed that the extra money was worth the expirence. So a sailing we must go! We singed up and had to wait many days for the boat to get to Panama. Before we left we found out we would be traveling with two Aussi blokes, and a Canadian guy. The boat didn´t come to Panama city, it left from a place 60 miles away. We were told the only way to get to this place was by jeep taxi. The morning we left we got in one jeep, and the other guys got in another jeep. The first 30 miles of the trip were on smoothly paved roads, I started to wonder why we had to take jeep taxi. My queries we´re soon answered when we turned onto a side road that was made out of mud and went straight up. It was then 30 miles of mud road and rain forest with signs saying "Beware of Jaguar", and "Warning: Rebal territory!" We came upon a clearing where there were many people, a river, and long wooden canoes called long boats. Quickly after our arrival the other jeep came in and we boarded a long boat. They gave us plastic table covers which I didn´t understand .... until we hit the ocean. Our long boat ride went from nice rain forest river ride, to insane wave and wind ride. Water was everywhere, and the table cover quickly became a good friend of mine. After an hour of this we came to an island where there were many boats anchored around. We were pointed out the ship we would be traveling upon, and brought to the island. Bob and one of the Aussi went with our insane first mate Maury (who had a mustache that curled on the ends which was the deciding factor on why we picked his boat), to help him load the bags on the ship. The rest of us hung out on this island, which like many we would be staying on was no bigger then a neighborhood block. We had lunch, met Captin Mike who was also an Aussi whose favorite frase was "F$%@ OFF!". We all got on the ship and Began the journey.

The next couple of days we´re sailing the morning, getting off on islands noon time, swimming, snorkling, party, setting up camp, bonfires, and beach sleep. The last day was none of this amazingness. In fact it was probably in the top 5 most misirable moments of my life. We sailed 28 hours straight with 10 foot waves rocking the boat like a KISS concert in Detroit. No one got out of their beds for much more then puke time. FINALLY! We made it to a small town in Colombia called Zap Surro. The only way to this town was by boat, or by foot. It had no imigration office, and our only option was to make an hour hike over a mountain to another small town with no access but boat. The hike was tiring but made me appriciate the intense training I´ve put myself through the last couple of years. We got our Colombia stamps, and tickets for a turbo boat to a town called ..... Turbo. Once in Turbo we met a really cool Colombian guy who helped us get bus tickets out of Turbo to the town of Medellin. 10 hours of bus later we arrived in Medellin, found a hostel and crashed for the night.

We´ve spent the last couple of days here in Medellin, which is a beautifully well cared for town that has insane amounts of culture, some of the most beautiful women I´ve ever seen, amazing night life, good shopping, delicious food, and amazing sites. I think we plan to head to the capital Bogota in a couple of days.