Getting high on Oxygen

Today I went diving for the first time in my life with my good Colombian, dive instructor, friend Franco (as pictured below).



We saw squid, blow fish, rock fish and eels patrolling the ocean floor. While neon fish rolled across cotton candy colored coral hills.
As we were ascending to the surface a school of bright blue fish swam right through us.

slide show: Opening a Coconut

Adventures in Colombian Fruit: Part 6

This is Pitaya

By far one of the most refreshing fruits I have ever had.

It has a sturdy, bumpy, yellow surface but not much of a smell.

When you cut it open it looks great. It is a fruit that taste better raw than turned to juice, though they do both here.

The consistency is that of a snow cone or italian ice with out the cold. Its soft clear center, dotted with crunchy black seeds, melts in your mouth.

It taste like a non-sour kiwi, but is as refreshing as lemonade.
It is sweet to the tongue and was quickly consumed.

Very yummy.

Hotel Oso Perezoso

We have been doing a work exchange with this hotel for almost a month now. Needless to say, we have stayed so long because we love it here.

Here is a some work we have done pictured above:
1) Hotel sign
2) Mosaic entrance
3) Suspension bench with mosaic trim sidewalk
4) Full view
5) Friday movie nights at the hostel
6) Room signs with numbers
7) Roof construction
8) Paper mache lamp shades
9) Fake fish on lit grill

slide show: Carnival in Colombia

Adventures in Colombian Fruit: Part 5

This is Guama,

and it is freaking weird.

It is like holding a giant bean pod.

Then you crack it open and it looks like a bug or a spider has spun a web or nest all over the fruit inside.

Then you pick it up and still think maybe its an insect nest.

Then you walk outside to find a local and ask them if this is what the fruit is supposed to look like.

After an unconvincing 'yes',
you put it in your mouth and think, "Oh my God I just put an insect nest in my mouth."

But unless these insect babies taste sweet and the nest was spun around a giant black seed, you can safely assume you are just eating a very weird fruit.

It tastes a bit like edamame mixed with the flavor of kettle corn, all wrapped around a giant seed that isn't at all tasty.

The consistency is exactly what I think an insect nest would feel like to eat.

Once you get over that, it tastes pretty good and its fun to peel off the seed inside your mouth.

But if you think the consistency is shocking, no one here turns this fruit into juice!

It is always eaten raw.

slide show: Tayrona National Park

We just spent the past four days here.

Swimming naked at the nude beach, eating fallen coconuts and hiking in the jungle through an indigenous village.
While the monkeys howled at constant interuders.

Adventures in Colombian Fruit: Part 4

This is Kuruba

Soft to the touch and pleasant to the nose.
You peel it open like a banana and inside are tons of tiny orange jelly seeds.

Though not nearly as 'fish eyed' as fruit #1, it does bare some resemblance, with its inner white tentacles and crunchy seed center.

But its consistency is more 'wet, over cooked corn kernel', than 'eyeball'. Also the seeds, though crunchy don't taste very stellar.

As long as you tongue the fruit off the seed and spit, it has a pleasant sour citrus flavor.

And as always, blend it with milk and sugar and have it as a juice; because we are fairly certain that not many Colombians actually eat Colombian fruits any other way.

Water in a bag

General rule of thumb: if the locals drink the water, it is probably safe. If they don't, dont even think about it, unless you want to spend your whole vacation in the bathroom. In Taganaga, portable water is found in clear plastic bags, a lot like the cafeteria milk when I was in elementry school, only no straws included.
A bag the size of the one I am drinking in this photo is 100 pesos. That is about 5 US cents.

Finally Pictures!

I know that our descriptive ramblings about `this and that` paint a certian image of what we are doing and where we are, but nothing, really, is as nice as seeing it with your own eyes.
Here friends, enjoy!
Pictures taken without a broken viewfinder.

CLICK ME!

Last Health Update: hopefully...

I have been asked by various family and friends about my stomach issues and overall health. So this hopefully will be one of the last blogs about this subject.

I haven't gone to a doctor in Colombia, overall I haven't shown any signs to indicate that I need to.
However coming to Colombia did help heal, or at least point out the problem.

I'm almost 90% sure that I have an infected anal fissure.
Due to pain location and symptoms.

The other 10% of me thinks I may have swallowed glass or some random sharp object a few months ago.

I also think I have a dash of IBS, because I can randomly have a sensitive stomach.

Colombia helped because while I was in the rural areas of the caribbean, I tried drinking the water to see if I could handle it.

I couldn't.

The good news is, because of the structural change of my "movements", the pain stopped, and the bleeding stopped.
I have changed to purified bagged water,
(a phenomenon will write about later)
and as my "movements" return to normal the pain is nearly gone.

I guess 'infected' fissure, because normal fissures heal themselves after a few weeks, while my symptoms and pain had been active a bit longer.

The overall treatment of an infected fissure is simple.
Topical ointment (yes I'm doing this)
Salt baths (I swim in the heavily salted ocean almost everyday)
Naturally softening your stools (which the local water did for me).

So there you have it, if any doctors are reading and have other suggestions or still think I need a colonoscopy, please comment, and yes Doctor Moms may comment as well.

Final point, I am finally feeling better.
(For real this time.)
Everything looks normal.
And I think I am on the road to recovery.

- Jameson

Adventures in Colombian Fruit: Part 3

This is Lulo

Immediately, it smells wonderful, probably better than it tastes.
Its flavor is a mix between a slightly bitter kiwi and a tomato. Which makes sense because while it looks like an orange tomato, its rough outer skin feels like a kiwi without the hair.

Though it was refreshing it was a bit difficult to enjoy this fruit fresh. I thought it would taste great de-skinned and put on a sandwich. When this idea was mentioned to the Colombian house keeper she thought we were crazy and told us there is only one use for Lulo.

Turn it into juice.

We should have known.