26. Colombia Finale

I originally went to Colombia for 2 weeks and ended up staying 7...it stole my heart! It really was a kind of life therapy that is so hard to describe- the culture, people, skydiving and experiences really shook me alive.

The last part of Colombia was adventuring back from Playa Mendoza to Bogota. I didn't want to leave the beach but my leg had been injured and I needed a doctor in the city- that is a whole other story! The Xielo skydiving plane was headed from Playa Mendoza to Bogota so our friend Juan Fe offered Daniela and me a ride in it. We barely bade it out of Playa Mendoza because the airport is so small that they were doing runway repairs and lost electricity so they had to manually put gas in the plane.

Once we took off, awful weather came in so we got re-routed to Baranquilla instead of Bogota. The weather was so bad we were told we couldn't leave until 5 am the next morning. We almost slept on the benches in the airport but luckily a friend let us crash at his place- with cold beers waiting. 5 am the next morning we met the plane- it now had to get to the Flandes, Colombia drop zone that morning for skydivers there- instead of Bogota- so all of a sudden we were on our way to more skydiving! The leg doctor would have to wait - I could still skydive ;)

We were reunited with all the Skydive Xielo friends in Flandes - it was like being home. I had been there 7 weeks before for the boogie so it was amazing to be back with family. They let us stay in the bunk house with their staff. Dani and I wanted to save money for our future travels- so instead of of going out to dinner, we went to the grocery store to get food to make for the weekend- even though we had no kitchen. When we picked up our friends at the restaurant, sitting there for the bill, we realized we didn't have a knife to prepare all of the food. Dani looked at me and slowly grabbed the fork and knife off the table and put it in her jumpsuit. As we sat there laughing so hard about our gypsy life, she started laughing even more and said "ouch the knife is cutting me inside my jumpsuit!" The dinner we made that night on the ping pong table and then bottle of wine we drank in the bunk room will always be one of my favorite dinners.

That Sunday we caught a ride home to Bogota with the most famous producer in Colombia- with his body guard driving. Monday we worked at her jumpsuit office, recovered from the weekend and hit Crossfit. Tuesday it was my...30th birthday!! I woke up to Dani bringing me a beautiful breakfast in bed with Colombian coffee. Then to celebrate...we were off to a Colombian emergency room to finally get my leg looked at- I admit, about 3 weeks too late. Thank goodness for her since everyone in the ER only spoke Spanish. Really hurt leg that wasn't healing, foreign hospital, foreign language- but it all turned out perfectly. The doctor was a babe, it only cost $70 and he said to just keep letting it heal- the more working out the better. After that we celebrated the rest of the day!

Leaving Colombia was so hard- I knew it was time because I wanted my coach rating in Puerto Rico- but also it was hard to leave because it changed me in ways I can't even explain in words. I think it cleared that tension still left lingering in me from the toxic corporate life- the love there truly cured all. It gave me a sense of calmness about life- how family, love, simplicity and community are truly all that matter. I thank every single person that was part of that adventure. Weeks later I'm still realizing how much it impacted my life and I can only hope I get back there sometime soon.

P.S. I skipped a video on this one because recent travels has made life suuuper busy. I finally have a few minutes to relax - but am at a drop zone, have been jumping all day, super sweaty, tired and not getting in front of a camera ;) As I wrote this post though I think it was meant to be written. It made me really pause, be grateful and realize how truly lucky I am for the whole Colombian experience.

P.P.S for all of my moms- the leg completely healed and I did not miss out on any skydiving!

Traveling on our private Skydive Xielo plane:

Skydive Xielo at Flandes, Colombia weekend:

Back to Bogota: