Medellin Living

I guess I’m not getting out enough, becasue this is all I’ve got for the photo of the week.  I think the Venz trip took too much out of me.

Post by Holly. Currently living in Medellin, Holly is getting to know the Colombian culture through music, language, and base jumping!

So, after finding all of the correct offices, getting my stamp out of Colombia and into Venezuela, and having a super relaxing lunch, it was time to finish the process.

The stamp out of Venezuela was easy, but interesting.  To receive a stamp out of Venezuela you must pay 55,000 VBF.  I went to the office, filled out the same paper I had to get the stamp in, and then had to go buy a postage stamp type thing from across the street.  I turned those in with my passport, told them I was going back to Colombia, and that was it.  No wait and very little fuss.  I did get a little comment from the lady at the desk.  She said, “Divertirse en Colombia.”  (Have fun in Colombia.)  In the cutest little snide tone.

JD and I then returned across the border for one last time.  This time we stopped and took a few pictures and acted just a little silly.  We were so glad it was all almost over.

I went into the DAS office for the last time, and asked for a stamp back in.  JD and I decided it would be better for me to not have a translator because we didn’t want to have to get into deep details.  They sure did ask a lot of questions.  the guy at DAS was curious why I would want more time in Colombia.  He wanted to know exactly what I was up to and why I needed so much time.

I shrugged it all off by explaining that I have friends in Medellin, and I really love it here.  Eventually he got frustrated and gave me another 60 days…with two underlines under the number!  Finally, I had it all completed.

Our next task was to get back to Cucuta.  We hopped on a local bus and headed on the 20 minute ride back.  During the ride we saw a lot of really interesting people on the bus, and because we were speaking English we got a ton of interested looks.  It was all super fun.

Back in Cucuta, we bought tickets for the ride home.  These tickets were even a little cheaper, but it seemed like there were more stops.  One place we stopped for a few minutes in was Pamplona.  It was a super cute town, and JD said that there are a few Universities there.  If I had the time I would have stayed for a few days there, because it was amazing.  If you are every traveling that way, give that town a night or two.

We finally got home to Medellin Tuesday morning, and all seemed right with the world again.  It was a crazy bus journey, but well worth another two months in Medellin.

Post by Holly. Currently living in Medellin, Holly is getting to know the Colombian culture through music, language, and base jumping!

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After a crazy long bus ride to the border town of Cucuta, and a nice traditional breakfast, of course the next thing my friend JD and I had to do was get on a bus.

JD asked around about what bus we should take to get my visa stamped, and it all seemed easy enough.  We rode the bus for about 15 minutes before actually crossing the border.  As we approached, and I saw the sign, I thought, “Sweet, we’ll get of when they need to check everyone’s passport and I’ll be stamped out of Colombia and into Venezuela.”  WRONG.

We crossed the border and nothing happened.  No one stopped us, no one cared that we just crossed the border with lord knows what in our bags.  We were just in Venezuela.

So we asked some more, and it turned out we had to go to a town over to get any sort of stamps.  So we got off the bus and onto another one to San Antonio.

Once in town we had to find the bridge that went back into Colombia and walk there so I could go to the DAS office and get my stamp out of the country.  They asked my final destination and my occupation, and I was officially out.

We walked back across the bridge and to the office to get my Venezuela stamp.  Here they had me fill out a small form with my passport number and occupation.  I was then issued a stamp for 90 days in Venezuela.

Done with half the adventure, JD and I changed some Colombian Pesos for Venezuelan Bolivars (I got 95,ooo VBF for 35,000 COP), and we  settled down at a small restaurant for lunch and some rum that I had brought from Medellin.

Post by Holly. Currently living in Medellin, Holly is getting to know the Colombian culture through music, language, and base jumping!

Ok, I have no idea why I’m obsessed with pictures from around the Parque Barrio station.  Probably it’s because I spend a lot of time meeting people there.

…and for something new, we saw this at the Venezuela border:

Post by Holly. Currently living in Medellin, Holly is getting to know the Colombian culture through music, language, and base jumping!