MUNDO PEQUENO!!

This world is so unbelievably mind boggling small! When coincidences happen in life you just cant help but believe that you are doing something right; that you must be on the right path of life. For instance when walking down a trail in the heat of the day sweating balls and you announce that you want a cold cerveza, so out of no where someone comes marching down the trail with a cooler full of cold beers and offers you one for free. Those are the moments when you know something up above is smiling down upon you, reminding you that there is no where else in the world you are soppose to be but right there in that moment.

In my two weeks in Colombia I have been struck by many of those random and beautiful coincidental moments. The first coincidence was my second night in Cartagena, the main city on the northern carribean coast.

Side note/travel recomendation: NEVER EVER IF AT ALL POSSIBLE should one bus all the way from the Colombian Ecuadorian border to the north of Colombia in one day. Go on a plane. I had decided to zoom through all of Colombia to get to the north coast in one swoop, and so spent 45 hours on 4 different buses from the ecuadorian amazon to cartagena. imagine 45 hours in 2 and a half days sitting on your ass staring out the window and eating greasy shit food. I felt like i was in another planet and arrived to Cartagena having forgot how to interact with people. It took a while for my social skills to come completely back.

anyways back to the coincidences. After spending my first full day in Colombia getting day drunk and walking around the old town with two Canadian chicks, I came back to my hostel to shower and change into my favorite traveler shirt i have (which is not that hard to choose since i only have 4 shirts in total). I found this shirt 2 months ago in a hostel becuase some girl had left it behind and the cleaning women was just going to throw it out. So, conveniently I took it. It is nice comfortable shirt with cool designs on it (i love asking travelers what they think the design is cuase i always get different responses). It has also been perfectly cut so it hangs off my shoulders just right. so anyways, i put this shirt on, head around the corner to a restuarant/bar/hostel to grab a bite to eat. As i step into the restaurant I got super overwhelmed cuase at one table where these 2 dudes i had hiked to machupichu with 2 months ago (coincidence numero uno), and at the other table i hear this girl yell "Thats my shirt!" (coincidence numero dos). I was tempted to run out the restaurant and book it down the street so i wouldnt have to own up to the fact that i stole this girls shirt. However, she said the shirt fit me better (cuase she didnt have the boobs to hold it up and it always fell off her shoulders) and said i could keep it. turns out too that she went kite surfing with this guy i met a couple days later and traveled with (coincidence numero tres). we have also decided to travel together on the sail boat to panama.

Shortly after this crazy moment, coincidence numero cuatro took place. I was standing outside a bar and out walks my old next door neighbor from mexico, Sandro!! Sandro and I used to live in the same apartment complex in Oaxaca and became pretty good friends. But I have not seen sandro in like 4 monthish, and here he is in colombia partying at the same bar as me. fucking wierd shit.

the next day in my hostel i ran into two dudes who i graduated with at UCSanta Cruz. They had recognized my voice (apparently i have a really loud and distinct voice), and came to find me. one of them remembers having a long conversation with me at a party last year about my necklace. Coincidence numero cinco.

The last and craziest coincidence was when i was in taganga (a small beach town close to cartagena). I was tanning/burning on the main beach reading my book when this girl comes up to me and asks if i know how to get to the other beach near by called playa grande. i had wanted to go there as well, so we both helped each other get there. after about 5 minutes of introductions we realized that we had about a million parellels in life. She grew up with, lived in the same neighborhood with, and went to college with one of my best childhood friends, miera. Rachel´s (the girl i met) family is best friends with Miera´s family, who my parents are best friends with. Since Rachel lived in minnesota and my sister went to school in minnesota we are pretty sure that my sister has met her and her family before at passover dinners and the like. Rachel is also moving to SF in a couple of weeks! I cant wait to show her around my city and have my parents become her adopted family in sf. she also has led outdoor adventure trips in costa rica for organizations like the ones i have worked for. we shared lots of stories about our mutual friend, laughed tons, and generally had a blast together. i love finding people in this world that are like your twin.

Coincidences on the open road are fucking great. i have been running into other travelers all over that i met other travellers that i already know. its like this little community of people up here that quickly forms a tight net. you meet people so quickly here and since everyone is generally really open and fun (minus a couple debby downers), you create this little family. you get to know people much faster when you travel becuase you are constantly with them. at home it would take months to get to know someone on the level that you get to know them while travelling with them for 3 days.

so moral of the whole coincidences thing, is that i really feel like i am doing something right in my life. that everyone just always works out for me. it feels really good to know that i am able to create such good things for myself and meet such awesome people. like the glass is always half full kinda shit.