To the border / Geoff is back !

Took the most comfortable bus ever to Bucaramanga. The seats are wide, lean back very far, and with a special foot rest that you can almost lie down. There were also about half the seats as on other buses, it was a very enjoyable ride, except that it was on the most winding road ever, and I almost got very very sick, so I had to "meditate" and imagine straight roads and stable positions, and I got better :) At Bucaramanga at 1 am, we met Geoff !!!
There was nothing interesting happening in Bucaramanga, just a big city, but with lots and lots of fruits, so we decided to cut our trip short, go to another town for a day trip, and leave in the morning. Went to a colonial town Giron. It looked like just another town, and I think I already got enough of these Colonial cities. I also figured out that the locals just LOVE talking to tourists, help them out, and solve any problems that we might have. So I with almost no Spanish, barely get the words to ask them something, and then they are trying to explain me for half an hour where exactly I need to go or to be. So just for the heck of it I'm asking them questions for their entertainment :) One girl in the internet cafe was looking and looking at us, and started asking a bunch of questions which I'm so tired of hearing ... where are you from?? do you like Colombia ??? GRRRRR but I have to keep my patience, cause for them we're the first tourists they see in months, the last tourist was like half a year ago. So we invited her for coffee, and she ended up giving us a tour of the whole city. We went to a cigar factory where they make home made cigars, so quickly it's amazing. They also sell like 20 cigars for $3 !
Now we need to get way way north, and cross about a third of a country. So we decided to try and hitch-hike. We got on the road with all the bags and 10 minutes later a truck stopped by because a driver needed to make a phone call, Geoff quickly talked to him, and we were on the truck heading to almost our end destination! The driver was super friendly, and we talked all the way. Geoff said that when he hitch-hickes, he always gets stuff for the driver, pays for his lunches, and then gives him extra money. Well not this driver. He paid for everything, and insisted paying for us as well. We had to quickly pay for his lunch when he went to wash his hands. So we ended up getting paid to ride with him :) He also kept saying that his "house" is our house, and we could do whatever we wanted. So I was sitting with my legs on the dashboard, and did some yoga in the salon :) He also lives in Bogota, and since he travels all the time, he said that we could use his apartment whenever we want if we'll ever go to Bogota. I always thought that trucks were these humongous unmovable objects, but he maneuvered it so quickly, side to side, avoiding all the bumps on the road and passing almost all the cars, even small cars. It was very funny when we got to some stop, and he was taking pictures of Eva and me with his cell phone, so Geoff says, come with us lets take a picture of 4 of us, and he's like aha, aha, and keeps taking pictures only of us :) 7 hours later, we arrived at an already reserved hotel :) You have to pay for the roads in here outside the city, so every few kilometers there are toll booth with $3.5 price for a car. That's alot !!! The truck driver says that to drive from Bogota to Cartageta it costs $200 ! That's an average person salary in here a month !!
Got to Valledupar, again, nothing interesting. The noise pollution is crazy in there. An average car will honk once in 10 seconds. Beep - move out of the way, beep - hey, I'm coming, let me go through first, beep - do you think you're really gonna cross the street while I'm driving?, beep - hey, wassup??!!? I really was annoyed quite some time, but then learned to ignore it. Eva didn't feel that well, so she went into the hotel. After lunch me and Geoff found some police guys (surprise, surprise :) ) to ask what is there to do in the town. Eva meanwhile got better and went to the street to look for us. While looking, she saw some police guys, and immediately went towards them to ask for info, she saw the guys pointing their fingers in all direction ... hey, what's happening in here, there are more gringos beside us? that can't be ! as she got closer, oh, it's you guys hassling the police :)) we wanted to watch a movie, and went to a movie theatre, which was closed, so we sat beside it and people watched. There was a popcorn stand in there, and suddenly Eva gets a popcorn, I get a popcorn, and Geoff is sitting there with nothing :) "Oh, not again, you girls get free stuff while I'm left with nothing" :)) They even came a few times asking if we want salt or anything :) It's funny how Geoff said that he can't get used to this behavior yet, because when he travels by himself, it takes him a while to get to know someone, and it usually involves a free lunch, and then a person might be of some help, but with us around him we get all the attention, and we get free lunches and information, and without him trying to do anything. So now he uses us as his weapon :)
The next destination is Maicao which is a border city with Venezuela, we need to exit to get a new visa. While negotiating with the "middle-men" about which bus to take, a guy showed up who said that he'll drive us in a car for the price of the bus. We agreed thinking it was some company vehicle. But when we got there, it was just a regular car. We were unsure if we want to get in or not, it was kinda scary, but got in anyways, figured out that there are 3 of us, and 1 of him :) It turned out to be fine. In this area there are not a lot of taxis, so people use their own cars to provide that service. Another passenger in the car was way too funny. We stopped like every 10 minutes to get him 2 bottles of beer, and he got more and more drunk by a minute :) He started talking so loud, and get really emotional. Geoff asked him a question for which we got a 10 minute story out, and when he left, he repeated like 5 times that we're friends and to give him a call if we need anything. We got into a few cars like that, and of course the more people they have, the more money they get. So at any time there were anywhere from 5 to 10 people in the car. We started to have some strange kids on our laps, and in 40 degree weather with no a/c sometimes it wasn't too much fun... although it is fun to remember it right now :) Got to some coal mine which was on the way to Maicao, and from being "tourists" for 3 months now, I think this was the most touristic thing we've ever done. I'm not sure what was the reason, but we had to wear long pants, closed shoes, and we got a hamlet. And the only thing we did is a tour around the mining community in a bus, "here is the pool, here are where the executives live, here is a golf course" ... then we got like half a kilometer from the mine and looked over it for 5 minutes and went back :( Got to Maicao which borders with Venezuela. In the guidebook it says that it's a very dangerous city because there is a lot of contraband, illegal activity, drug trading, so we got really early to finish everything and leave before it gets dark, because "stores close at 4 and streets are dangerous after 5". Got a bus to the border. I have no idea how that bus still operates, but it doesn't have a door, it's all rusty, most of the people in the bus are drunk and having some sort of party going on. Everybody's cloths are dirty, they're picking their noses, spitting on the streets, scratching various parts of their body, the streets are just filled with garbage, and everybody tries to cheat us. There was one friendly girl on the bus though who wanted to help us get the visa. So she's like, you need that much Venezuelan money, you exchange it here from that guy. Now you give me your passports and the money, and I'll do everything for you. ummmmm .... NOOOOOO !!!! We were really tough with her, didn't give her anything, and followed her closely so she wouldn't be able to get away anywhere, and just gave her a hard time. But she really ended up helping us alot ! She got it done very fast, and we saved like 80,000 pesos because we left Venezuela the same day, and they have some 24 hour rule, that if you leave before, you have to pay a fine. We literary left our bags with Geoff, walked 200 meters to Venezuelan immigration office, got the entry and exit stamp, and walked 200 meters back to Colombian office. They give new visa anywhere from 30-90 days, with 60 being the most common and 90 being very very rare. We get to the office, and of course there are 2 guys sitting there. So me and Eva put the best and brightest smile on our faces. How are you doing today? We really loooovveee Colombia, and really want to learn Spanish and Salsa (yeah right), so can we please please please get 90 days :))))))))))) (that's our big smile) :) So they're very hesitant, don't really want to give it to us, asking too many questions, but we're still continuing with please please please method. And the thing is that by Colombian rule, you need to be out of the country for 3 days before you can get back in, and not only we're violating the rules by coming back after half an hour, we also ask for 90 days after our 3rd month in Colombia. They asked us how much money we have, so we calculated how much it is, and said very little so they'll be sure that we'll get out. They also asked if we promise to leave the country at the end of the period, and we promised, so we got our 90 days !! :)) I got mine, and before they got to stamp Eva's passport, casually they asked for our phone number, we kinda looked at each other, and gave them Geoff's number :) They also took us to the office, and started talking to us, asking what we're doing in the evening, and that they could drive us to the city, and this way we don't have to pay for the toll booth, and they have a place to sleep ... so annoying !!! but we had to stay there for a few minutes cause they kinda did us a favor with the visa. Not thinking twice about staying, we make some excuse, and quickly leave the town for Uribia. The closest city to our desert adventure.