#but i have limited free time (i.e. my weekends are basically the only proper time i can catch up on stuff)

[drama-and-tv]

Emily in Paris was really a nice fun watch! I basically marathoned the whole entire season within a day last weekend. It helps that it was just a 10 half-hour episodes, making it very very easy to consume.

The show itself is very much the perfect type to consume at the moment, what’s with the fact that we are in the midst of pandemic now (though honestly my country is pretty much chilled with this) and how this show acts like an escapism with how Emily is living a pretty amazing life with her amazing outfits and cute love interest around her. Not to mention, she lives in an Instagram-worthy city, Paris. 

It was the dream! 

FINAL RATING: 8/10

[shadowsong26fic]

Some Stuff

Not a proper Coming Attractions post, that’ll come out on the first Monday of the month as always, but...a more general update on some projects (and also possibly looking for input?)

Basically, I’ve accepted the inevitable, that I’ve fallen back into ATLA in a big way. I haven’t actually rewatched the series yet, because my roommate was doing so and I kept popping in and out and I didn’t want to confuse myself by trying to do a straight rewatch while she was doing hers, but I have reread a bunch of old fanfic/RP logs, and have some plots I kind of want to work with again? Either as fulltext or as an AU Outline. Behind the cut are some more details, as well as seeking Opinions on which, if any, I should actually work on.

I am also Determined to not fall out of SW as this is going on, lol. More details about that behind the cut, as well.

(Also, I’ve talked about some of the stuff listed here on my writing discord, which feel free to come stop by and hang out! It’s basically an extension of this tumblr, only a little more interactive. Find us here!)

Star Wars Stuff:

I plan to take next weekend to bang out at minimum the next Precipice chapter, and possibly the next two (though I’ll stagger posting if I do manage to get both done). And then try and give myself a more active schedule to get the next parts of the series out.

I’m also working on a dragonshifters AU, which I’m enjoying a lot. I think OFLAM may be relegated to the back burner for a while, though I’ll probably kick it up again if I end up doing it for SWBB next year (unless I tease out enough of a Plot for dragonshifters to do that instead, lol). I’ve talked about some of the worldbuilding on my writing discord, too.

I also still owe some meme responses from way back, which I do intend to get to at some point I promise <.<

And I haven’t forgotten some other extant projects--Devoted!verse, the Ventress outline, Bail Unfucks the Timeline, Distaff, etc.--but they’re pretty back-burnered for the time being. If something Sparks in any of those, I’ll probably dive into it, but for now I’m not actively working on them in the way I am on dragonshifters and Precipice.

AtLA Stuff:

So, there’s sort of...four or five projects spinning around in my head right now, lol. One of which, if I do it, would not work as an outline so it would be fulltext. It’s canon-compliant, for the most part.

...well, I should interrupt myself here to say the following: I haven’t read a lot of the comics or tie-in novels, and my familiarity with more recent Word of God is limited. I’m basically operating out of canon defined as “it’s in the original show or WoG I’m specifically aware of, drawing in stuff from other sources as it appeals to me but otherwise ignoring it.” Where WoG contradicts itself (i.e., the timeline for Lu Ten’s death),I go with whatever answer I prefer.

In terms of worldbuilding details added in Korra--ehhhhh, it’s sort of held a little higher than the comics, etc. (in that, if I remember it, unless it Josses something I really, really liked/was foundational to something I’m doing, I’ll probably include it); but most likely whatever I’m doing will go AU enough during the first series for a lot of the other detail work/character-specific stuff to not matter.

Anyway! Back to the fun stuff.

There’s one story I’m playing with that’s not going to work as an AU outline. Depending on exactly what I focus on, there’s a couple different fulltext fics buried in it, and I’m not sure which I’d work on (or if I’d braid the two of them together). Basically, it deals with the siege of Ba Sing Se and Lu Ten’s death, and some of the fallout from that, focusing on an OC of mine and her daughter. I found a short fic I wrote for a challenge back in the day that ties into this concept, which is at the very end of this post. If I work on this, I’d probably change the names of the two relevant OCs and possibly how she gets her memory back (it was written specifically for a “what happened in the rest of the world when Zhao captured Tui” challenge; guess how many of them were Hama-related), but. Anyway, building on either the Siege portion of the story (which has a lot of West Side Story on its soundtrack in my head lol), or focusing on what she does after she remembers him. Or both! Both is also good.

The rest of the options are mostly Zuko-centric canon-divergence fics.

First option, Airbender!Zuko. This occurs because The Spirits Said So; he’s gotten very good at fake firebending using airbending. Probably to the point where he’s so deep in denial that he can’t even see the pyramids anymore, to stretch that analogy to the breaking point, lol. Basically, not much changes until the north pole, but there’s some ways for it to go from there...

Second option, Avatar Zuko. This one has been floating around in my head more lately. Reading old RP logs, my partner and I played through a bunch of different variants on how this all worked, but the one in my head right now is basically--a few months before he’s banished, they’re at Ember Island or something and he’s out on the ocean/fishing or something. Sudden storm, he stops the boat from capsizing through panicked waterbending. No other witnesses, for whatever reason. He initially decides he imagined it, something else must have happened. Except then, when he’s in the palace infirmary after getting his face melted, he does it again. At that point, he basically decides that his options here are “get turned into a weapon and kill A Lot of people, or get disappeared into some dark hole somewhere where I can’t cause any problems.” Neither of those is particularly attractive, so he decides to run away. He doesn’t know what his long-term plan is at this moment--if he’ll use the comet to regain favor/save his nation based on the context he’s operating under right now, or do something else. But he has about three and a half years before then. He figures he’ll spend a year at the Western Air Temple, looking for texts/mosaics/something to get him at least vaguely airbending; then go to the North Pole to learn waterbending for a year, then spend a year in the Earth Kingdom to learn earthbending. Planning, for the last two, to present himself as mixed and while he has a lot of his Fire Nation father’s features, he inherited bending from his other parent (or grandparent, when he goes to the North Pole). For those of you familiar with my original fic, this will also include the first iteration of a prominent secondary character from Feredar/The Farglass Cycle. Mostly so Zuko has someone to talk to at the WAT XD. 

Third and fourth options are a bit more nebulous, and both break off during the Ba Sing Se arc. First option, Zuko gets injured during the stampede when Aang moves the zoo (this will probably draw in at least one of my BSS OCs because I am pathologically incapable of not creating OCs, lol). Second option, Zuko leaves his mask behind in Lake Laogai, which means Aang will know he’s in the city. Not sure where either of those would go from that point but there’s some Significant Differences there, lol.

...anyway, that’s where things stand now. Which, if any, are y’all interested in seeing?

As promised, the clip from the Lu Ten story, originally written for a challenge back in...yeesh 2010 XD. Again, this is canon-compliant at least up until Iroh and Zuko arrive in BSS, and I’d possibly change the names and/or how she gets her memories back.

An Wei sat by the window, holding her little girl and watching the sky. Today had been one of Huai's bad days, so An Wei had her hand resting lightly on her daughter's neck, counting her heartbeats. The doctors had told her, back when Huai was a baby and they'd figured out what was wrong with her, to hope for seven years--but only to hope, not to count on them. So An Wei took special care to always, always watch. She never regretted her child, no. Occasionally, she wished she had never met Huai's father, but...well, she couldn't remember much about him, other than the kind golden eyes (false kindness?) that had taken her in so completely during the Siege. She didn't think about him very much. It was too painful--and dangerous. Above and beyond the dangers in thinking about the War That Was No War, her own father had... Well, he hadn't been pleased. She didn't remember the argument, but her uncle wouldn't have brought her to the Lower Ring midwife who had cared for her during her pregnancy if she hadn't needed to hide. Despite all of her vigilance, it was her own heart that skipped a beat when the moonlight filtering in through her window turned an eerie, dull red. She gasped and clutched her daughter a little tighter, praying that Huai would sleep until this went away, so it wouldn't frighten her. That is, assuming it would go away. She shivered and shifted Huai so the little girl was facing away from the window and watched in horror as the bloody moon failed to return to normal. "Please..." she whispered. "Please be normal when she wakes..." As if in response to her desperate pleading, the moon flared silver again after a half hour. But she barely had a moment to relax before it winked out completely. An Wei jumped and stifled a scream. "Don't be afraid of the dark, this'll light your way home." She jumped again. There was no one here in the room with her and Huai, but she could have sworn... The moon blinked back into existence and a pretty girl with long white hair rode in on one of its beams. An Wei stared up at her, still frightened, pulling her daughter away from the girl as best she could. The moon-girl bent down and kissed An Wei's forehead. "Remember now," she murmured, then faded out of sight. ** "Don't be afraid of the dark." He smiles and makes a little light in his palm, carefully transferring it to a bundle of sticks. "This will light your way home." ** She studies the hairpiece he wears in his topknot, turning it over and over in her hands. "There's something you should know about me, too. About my family." ** "We can make this work, Itsu." He's determined, hopeful, his golden eyes shining. "We'll talk to my father. He'll understand. We'll make it work. Meet me here, at the usual time." "I trust you." ** She waits and waits and waits, until long past dark, but he doesn't come. ** She hates speaking with her guardian, but she's scared and has nowhere else to go. "Please, help me," she finishes quietly. He nods. "I'll keep you safe, Highness. You and your child. I promise." ** The light spins around and around and around, and she forgets her name, forgets her lover, and in her place is An Wei, a young woman trained as a scribe, seduced by a nameless Fire soldier, rather than... ** Itsu let out a little sobbing breath. Huai shifted in her arms. "Mommy?" she whispered, still half-asleep. "It's okay, baby, everything's okay. Go back to sleep." "'Kay." Huai closed her golden eyes again and her breathing evened out as much as it ever did. Itsu held her daughter close. Twice over a princess, at the worst possible time, born with a broken heart. No wonder Long Feng hid us so deep.

[to clarify--Itsu is Kuei’s sister. I forget how I set the relative ages, but assuming, as seems to be the case in flashbacks, that Lu Ten is about 10 years older than Zuko, he’d be somewhere between twenty and twenty-two when he died, depending on which date you believe; Kuei is around the same age (possibly a year or two younger?) and Itsu within two years of them.]

[nexaeliya-blog]

STRETCH SPOT

PHYSICAL THERAPY AND RECOVERY

If you play sports or other physical activities, then you know that injuries come with the territory. Depending on the type of injury and the extent of your injury, you may need physical therapy. Physical therapy is the process of rehabilitation and recovery from your injury or physical ailment. Physical therapy works on recovery of your musculoskeletal system. Massage therapy is used as part of the recovery process. Some of the more advanced therapy clinics are starting to use massage chair recliners as part of their arsenal of tools to help people recover from their injuries.

If you start a physical therapy program, then you will be assigned a physical therapist. The therapist is a trained professional to help restore your strength, motion and activity. The therapist understands the mechanics of your body and will help design a treatment program for you. You will learn specific stretches, exercises and other specialized techniques to help your body recover. You may also use specific equipment that can address particular issues. Massage therapy has become an important tool in the recovery arsenal and many clinics are making use of massage chair recliners.

Your therapist is trained in different surgeries, treatments and rehabilitation techniques and goals. The therapist will design a recovery treatment targeting the areas of your body that needs greater flexibility or strength. If you are recovering from surgery, then the therapist will be knowledgeable about different surgical procedures. The therapist will help in setting goals as you work through the initial limitations of your physique. Some of the important physical therapy tools are stretching, exercises and massage therapy.

Stretching is important to help regain lost flexibility. The muscles may be tight, the joints stiff and you may have scar tissue. These reduce your range of motion and decrease flexibility. Stretching helps to elongate the muscles. This helps to stretch the muscles helping their elasticity. A frequent and continuous regimen of daily stretching helps to speed recovery. Your therapist will design a stretching routine which will help focus on restoring the range of motion.

Exercises are important to help rebuild strength. When we have an injury, we tend to protect that area. Protecting that area is usually to isolate and immobilize it. In other words, we tend not to use the injured area. This helps to prevent further injury, but at the expense of strength and conditioning. To help rebuild the body, exercises help to build up strength, endurance and agility. Physical therapy clinics have a wide array of exercise equipment from treadmills, stationary bikes, weights and more. These help you focus building up a particular set of muscles.

Massage therapy is important to assist the total healing process. The muscle tissue breaks down and its fibers become shorter. This makes the muscles tighter. Massage therapy starts where stretching leaves off. Massage therapy helps to penetrate deeper into the muscle tissue to help elongate and invigorate the muscles. This helps the healing process by restoring flexibility throughout the muscle and scar tissue. Massage is given either by a massage therapist or a massage chair. Massage chairs come with a variety of therapeutic massages, heat therapies and even traction. These not only provide effective therapy but also help you to relax and clear your mind.

Whether you are a professional tennis player or a beginner skier, injuries can happen to anyone. If you do find yourself in physical therapy, work on setting goals to recover. Find yourself an excellent physical therapy clinic. Make sure they have qualified people, proper exercise equipment and massage therapy. And if you need massage therapy, make sure a massage chair is part of your recovery plans.

Article Source: https://stretch-spot.com/

ABOUT US

StretchSPOT is a health and wellness studio based in Torrance, California. We came into being in September 2017 and have been helping people feel better ever since! Our focus is on improving body health and performance through stretching and movement. StretchSPOT’s goal is to help people move freely to the best of their ability and live a pain-free life without resorting to surgery. We welcome all types of people, from nine-to-fivers and weekend warriors through to elite athletes. Most humans can gain health and movement benefits from the ancient practice of stretching.

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PREVENT INJURY WITH AT-HOME PHYSICAL THERAPY

At the ripe, young age of 24, I have already gone through two stints of physical therapy - once for my lower back and most recently for my shoulder. My lower back was weak and felt sharp, excruciating pain therefore I was required to perform an odd muscle contraction exercise followed by extensive electrical stimulation combined with the muscle contractions. Regardless, my back actually became stronger although it still aches occasionally. My shoulder was abused for 20+ years by throwing baseballs and ski crashes. It resulted in bone spurs and a partially torn rotator cuff. The treatment: at-home physical therapy. I have to thank my orthopedist for being honest and saving me money by providing me with the necessary exercises immediately following my diagnosis. It also saved me from surgery and I ultimately got my shoulder strength back, although I still have to perform the exercises to this day.

What I concluded from my two "therapies" was that physical therapy can be performed at home. That being said, I still believe a physician should be sought first if the pain is unbearable. However, I learned numerous exercises that I could complete in the privacy of my own home after being diagnosed with these so-called injuries.

What I also concluded was that injuries could potentially be prevented before they even occur. This of course is not some newfound conclusion by me, but physical therapy is in fact not just a way to rehabilitate, but an opportunity to prevent injuries. If you have the dedication, basic physical therapy-like exercises can be performed during your workouts or in your spare time. Many do not even require the use of equipment let alone a gym membership leading back to my previous conclusion.

Rather than taking part in physical therapy, we can perform workouts and exercises routinely to prevent injury. As you progress through your workouts, you can begin participating in more advanced exercises that may involve physical therapy equipment, often weights or exercise balls.

Below I will explain a few physical therapy exercises that you can perform at home, without equipment, whether you are feeling pain or just want to proactively to avoid common injuries.

Knee Exercises

Common Injury: Many people for pain around and/or under their kneecap - this is known as patellofemoral pain syndrome.

Targeted Treatment: Stretching and strengthening exercises that target the soft tissues around the knee, including the hamstrings, calves, and quadriceps.

The Exercise: The straight leg lift involves lying on your back with your injured leg (or targeted strengthening leg) fully extended forward and elevated several inches, 6-12 approximately, off the floor. Hold this position for five to ten seconds, lower your leg back to the floor, and repeat five to ten times.

Shoulder Exercises

Common Injury: The shoulder experiences a number of conditions, including bursitis, arthritis and tendinitis as well as ligament and muscle strain and shoulder separation.

Targeted Treatment: Improve/restore joint function and treat conditions listed above.

The Exercise: Stand with your unaffected arm closest to the back of a chair, lean forward and hold the chair lightly for support and balance. Let your injured arm hang below your chest and gently swing it back and forth several times, then side to side multiple times and finally in small circular motion, both clockwise and counterclockwise. Progressively increase the range of motion each time.

Lower Back Exercises

Common Injury: Lower back pain.

Targeted Treatment: Stretching and strengthening the abdominals and erector spinae.

The Exercise: Perform basic crunches or situps to strengthen the abdominal muscles. The bridge exercise exercises the erector spinae muscle group, which is in your lower back. To perform the bridge, lie on your back resting your head in your hands, with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Elevate your hips your torso and thighs align diagonally and hold for 5+ seconds.

Hamstring Stretches

Common Injury: Hamstring pull, or strain, which can occur when muscles and tendons beyond their conventional limits.

Targeted Treatment: Stretching your hamstrings may help rehabilitate hamstring pulls or strains gently.

The Exercise: One method of stretching involves sitting with your legs extended forward and reaching toward your toes until you feel a light stretch in your hamstrings. Emphasis on light, you do not want to feel excessive pain by reaching too far and too fast. Hold the stretch for 10 to 30 seconds and try to increase the distance of your reach gradually. Article Source: https://stretch-spot.com

WHAT IS MYOFASCIAL RELEASE IN MASSAGE THERAPY?

Myofascial release is a highly specialized stretching method utilized by massage therapists to treat patients with various soft tissue disorders.

To know what myofascial release is and why it works so well, one must know something about fascia. Fascia refers to the thin layer of connective tissue that covers all organs of the body. This tissue covers every muscle bundle as well as every muscle fiber inside each bundle. All muscle stretching really is stretching of the fascia and the muscle, collectively known as the myofascial unit. When a person injures his muscle, the fibers and the surrounding fascia become short and tight; i.e. muscle spasm. This imbalance of stress can radiate through the fascia and ultimately to other parts of the body, thus promoting pain and various other symptoms in places you normally would not expect. Myofascial release addresses these symptoms by releasing the uneven tightness in the injured fascia.

To put it in other words, myofascial release is the stretching of the fascia. The stretch is guided by the feedback that the massage therapist gets from the patient's body. The therapist can gauge how much force to use, the direction of force and for how long to maintain that force. Small areas of muscle are stretched at any one time. Occasionally, the massage therapist uses only two of his/her fingers to stretch that part of a muscle. The feedback that the therapist receives from the patient allows him/her to determine which muscles are stretched and in what particular order.

The same components are used when a therapist utilizes myofascial release. First, the therapist locates the area of tightness. Then a light stretch is applied to the area of tightness. When the tissue begins to relax, the massage therapist then applies greater force to increase the stretch. This process is repeated until the entire muscle is fully relaxed. Then, the therapist addresses another area to be stretched.

The massage therapist will be able to locate sore spots just by light palpation. Many times, patients are unable to show the therapist where the sore spots are or have grown accustomed to them until the massage therapist palpates them. These myofascial trigger points as they are called will disappear with treatment.

Many patients are amazed at how gentle myofascial release really is. Some of them doze off during a massage therapy session. Others go home and take a nap. Most patients find that myofascial release can be a very relaxing form of massage therapy.

Keep in mind that myofascial release is not massage therapy entirely. Myofascial release is only one of many techniques used in massage therapy to equalize muscle tension throughout the body. Uneven muscle tension can put pressure on the nerves and muscles and promote pain. Progress is determined by an improvement in overall posture and the decrease in the patient's pain. Article Source: https://stretch-spot.com

CONTACT US

location:3855 Pacific Coast Highway # 2

Torrance, CA 90505

phone: 310-933-3123 e-mail to: info@stretch-spot.com

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[cornersofthew0rld]

Colombia; Vol. 3

And now to commence my segment on the northern Caribbean coast! Again, bits and bobs were written on the day and the rest was written post-travels, so apologies for any confusion with tenses/lack of cohesion.

Tuesday 29th – so we arrived to the bus terminal in Cartagena at about 1pm (an hour or two later than planned), and I took a taxi straight to my hostel, through lots of heavy traffic. After dumping my stuff I walked around the entire centro histórico (incredibly beautiful colonial buildings) and bought a coconut on the street filled with its yummy water. Had some dinner in the only cheap traditional restaurant where I had a chat with the owner who told me about his life in Cartagena (where he moved to from Medellin). Got back to the hostel in the evening, and was about to have a shower when I saw a HUGE cockroach crawling along the floor! So naturally I ran out screaming and had to use a different bathroom. Had a beer and a chat with the guy working the night shift who told me about his life, and went to bed at about 12:30am.

Wednesday 30th – I wasn’t sure what to do today at first, whether to do something in Cartagena or go elsewhere; but since the historic centre is quite small so I had already seen all of it, and the majority of the city is poorly constructed residential areas, I decided eventually to take a bus and then a mototaxi (a ‘taxi’ which is really just a motorbike; I had a helmet but of course no biking leathers, yes parents I was fine but yes I was also pretty worried about injuring myself!!) to la Playa Blanca, on La Isla Barú. Right now I am sitting here typing this in my hammock on the white beach before the crystal blue and very calm sea, where I am going to spend the night. I have to keep reminding myself not to get carried away with how much time I spend in each place, as I don’t really have that much time to travel most of the north coast! Only two or so weeks! But this beach is really incredibly beautiful, even though it’s sometimes annoying that I have no running water/wifi/electricity apart from one hour when the sun goes down. Oh and rats chewed massive holes in my lovely tote bag overnight because I left a few bananas in there. Gross!

Thursday 31st – I decided to stay another night on la Playa Blanca since it’s so beautiful, and the rent of my hammock was a mere £4 a night. I woke up accidentally at about 6am and witnessed the sun rising, which was beautiful; at which point the food sellers started walking the beach and I bought egg arepas, watermelon and papaya. During the day I decided to pay for a boat ride to the Rosario islands, a collection of tiny islands about a 20-minute ride from where I was staying. I snorkelled around the coral reefs and saw loads of weird and wonderful fish! Returned to the beach, got an amazing 40-minute whole body massage from a local lady for about £8, chatted to loads of the locals and guys selling things on the beach, and the very hippie Argentinian couple who were pitching their tent on the sand near my hammock. Lovely chilled out day overall, though I did manage to get sunburnt, classic English style.

Friday 1st September – did a bit of swimming around the Playa Blanca, drove a jetski for the first time to another little coral reef off the Isla Barú and had a look at the fish with a snorkel, before showering, eating ‘pan de coco’ (coconut bread – delicious!) and getting my stuff together to catch the mototaxi back into Cartagena, where I then took a normal car taxi to the bus station. Having spoken a lot to the Spanish girl who ran my hostel, she had put me in contact with a man in Taganga (a tiny beach town on the outskirts of Santa Marta) who runs what I thought was just a normal hostel but is actually an Airbnb (I suppose it got lost in translation) and would give me a private room for only 20,000 pesos a night (i.e. ridiculously cheap, about £5.50). There was loads of traffic on the way to the station so I missed the 3pm bus I wanted to get by about 20 minutes and was told the next one was at 5pm, so was sitting around sweating all the liquid out of my body and with very little nutritional food on sale in the station. I arrived quite late to Santa Marta, so had to take a taxi from Santa Marta bus station to Taganga, where I met with José, my host for the weekend. He showed me the house and I played with his gorgeous spaniel Toby, before settling in for the night – I don’t know what it is about long journeys, but it just tires me out so much even though all I did was sit down!

Saturday 2nd – since José had no plans for the weekend he offered to show me some of the cool stuff around the area! We spent the day on la Playa Grande, where we had lunch and did some snorkelling, ate dinner at home and then drove to Santa Marta to check out the port and walk around the old town centre, had a drink in a bar that was playing reggaeton! Then we went back to Taganga as I was still really tired from the previous day. It’s also impossible not to wake up early in this extreme heat, so I couldn’t have had a lie in if I tried.

Sunday 3rd – we drove up to Minca, the cloud forest a little way into the Sierra Nevada mountains, and hiked up to the set of waterfalls with Toby. José initially was not in a very good mood as he received news in the morning that his friend in Cali was in a serious car accident, but we managed to have a nice time nonetheless. We went home and cooked there and just chatted – spending time with José really helped me practise my speaking skills! His English is very limited which I really appreciate haha, as it forces me to explain difficult things in Spanish rather than reverting to English.

Monday 4th – José left very early in the morning to go to work in Bogotá, so I decided to take his advice and do the mini diving course available at one of the dive centres on the seafront. I got there at about 9am and ask to join the group for the day, and immediately got on with the instructors there. Even though I did snorkelling on Isla Barú and at la Playa Grande, it was a shame as clearly a lot of the corals were bleached and there just weren’t that many to begin with. And of course I wasn’t able to go down very deep. But this was without doubt one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had! Being able to dive down and coexist with these creatures even for just 40 minutes at a time is just wonderful. You can easily find statistics on the biodiversity of coral reefs and how despite the fact they cover a mere 1% of the earth’s oceans, they contribute about 20% to the fauna and flora species – this was apparent even on the short dives I did! I loved it so much I decided to stay in Taganga until Friday in order to take the 3-day diving course (which also allowed me to pass the NAUI diving test and become a certified scuba diver)!

Tuesday 5th – started the 3-day diving course this morning, which involved learning about all the kit, diving theory and doing underwater exercises with the ventilators and mask. We did most of the boring stuff (!) today, and did proper dives again on the following days; but of course it was still lovely to just hang out in the sun and have a laugh with the instructors. I moved into the very basic hostel of the dive centre (where they have cockroaches!!) to stay until I left Taganga, as it was free since I was already paying the fees for the course.

Wednesday 6th – 2nd day of the diving course – did two dives today; the one in the morning was to a little shipwreck off the point of the bay, and the other to the other side of the bay. Like the first day, I saw lots of morays, a squid, sea urchins, these weird lizard things that run around on the sand of the seabed, and of course plenty of fish of all different colours; and on this day I actually witnessed my instructor Yarith spearing a lionfish with his harpoon! This was made into ceviche later on that day, which looked incredible but alas, I of course did not eat it. Lionfish are the only species of fish that they are allowed to catch, as they were introduced to the Caribbean by humans (I think?) and are affecting the populations of basically all other fish on the coral reefs.

Thursday 7th – final day of the diving course, and today we went to Tayrona national park for the day – totally beautiful. Completely secluded white sand beach, crystal clear blue waters with visibility for like 15 metres underwater, and there was absolutely no one else around! The corals started a mere 3 or so metres from the shore, so I could see them just from swimming around on the surface! Loads of tiny hermit crabs about ½ of the size of my little fingernail, countless species of fish swimming in shoals, and all the other things I listed before. I took the boat back to Taganga with a couple of the instructors (the others were staying on the beach all weekend as the bogotanos who started their courses that day were spending their whole course there!) where we had a few beers before I turned in for the night.

Friday 8th – took the bus from Taganga to Santa Marta, got off at the stop and walked to the bus station, wading though torrential rain and ridiculous puddles up to my knees which led a truck driver to take pity on me and give me a lift to the bus station. Took a coach to Palomino, where I stayed at a very nice ‘hostel’ which was basically a hotel, it was so nice. Palm trees all over the area, a swimming pool, gorgeous huts for dorm rooms. Had a walk down to the beach and a little swim, then went back up to lie by the pool and swim there. Then a storm came down at about 4pm and it didn’t stop raining for about 5 hours so just hung around the hostel, had some dinner there and got chatting to the Colombians working behind the bar. When it stopped raining and they finished their shifts, I ended up going out to a salsa/bachata bar with them and having a dance! It was a nice place to chill out, but really I didn’t think the town was that interesting, there wasn’t a lot to actually do or explore and the beach wasn’t nice enough to just hang out there all day (although I suppose now I am a little biased, having already been to what I consider not only the best beaches in Colombia but the best ones I’ve seen in my life). Maybe if I wasn’t travelling solo and had chosen a better hostel (where people weren’t there to just chill out) I wouldn’t have got bored so easily.

Saturday 9th – checked out of the hostel by about 11am and then took a bus from Palomino to Riohacha, the biggest city (though still small compared to what I’m used to) in the department of La Guajira. Had a walk along the sea front, which was pretty dead by the time I got there as it was nearly sunset, bought a small dinner at a stall there before going back to the hostel, as there wasn’t much else to do and not many people staying at the hostel. Caught up on Game of Thrones after avoiding the internet for so long in case of spoilers! And had an early night, ready for the next day.

Sunday 10th – I was able to leave the bulk of my belongings at the hostel for the next few days, thanks to the kind hostel owner, as I knew I wouldn’t need much of it and lugging it around in the extreme heat would have been a pain. I took a shared taxi at about 9am from the hostel in Riohacha to Uribia, then took a mototaxi on a little tour around the Manuare salt flats (still very cool, but not as impressive as I was expecting them to be) and the flamingos that migrate to Musichi at certain times of the year. The driver of the mototaxi actually wasn’t as good at Spanish as I was expecting, as he mostly speaks the language of the Wayuu people who live in the region since there aren’t many people of European/other foreign origin there. He then took me back to Uribia, and as I was getting off (on the wrong side of the motorbike) I badly burned the inside of my calf on the exhaust pipe of the bike; the wound of which did not heal into a proper scab (it was just open flesh and pus haha, probably because of the humid environment and the fact I couldn’t properly disinfect it for a few days after it happened) for 2 or 3 weeks, and the scar of which I still have about 2 months later. I got onto the big jeep taking about 15 people to Cabo de la Vela through the desert, which basically just bumped over a dirt track for about 2 hours; this really is the middle of nowhere. If someone had a heart attack or something out there they would definitely just die; I think the nearest proper hospital is in Riohacha. I got chatting to a lovely hippie Spanish couple sitting next to me in the jeep, who said I could borrow their hammock to sleep in while I stay on the beach in Cabo, as they would be using their tent! This was so nice, I only had to pay about £2 for the two nights I was there to the rasta guy who owned the kite surfing centre, and also the thatched hut roofs which kept us sheltered from the sun during the day and the tree trunk ‘poles’ of which I tied the hammock to. We ate dinner all together at one of the beach restaurants that was next to our pitch, and settled in for the night not long after as there were basically no lights and it was pitch black by about 7/8pm.

Monday 11th – spent the middle 4 or 5 hours of the day hidden in the shadows of my hut, as the sun was so strong I was afraid for my skin and could hardly function in the heat anyway. This was a shame, but I had a dip in the sea every now and then, played around with one of the indigenous kids throwing sand with the consistency of a sort of clay-mud at each other, and later in the afternoon I had a walk through Cabo exploring, and met a Mexican guy who was also travelling by himself. Had some beers with him and the Colombian guys (not sure why I found this strange but they were all from Cartagena? I wondered how they all ended up there) who ran some of the kite surfing centres, before going to bed by about 1am, as I had a verrrry early morning the next day!

Tuesday 12th – got up really early, around 5am, to get my stuff into a jeep and travel a long way to Punta Gallinas, the most northern point of the whole of South America! This required a 2 hour long jeep through the desert again, to Puerto Bolivár, where we took a speedboat for 2 hours to Punta Gallinas. So we arrived a little after 9am, at which point we had breakfast in the little covered ‘restaurant’ (it was just a 50m2 platform off the sand with a thatch roof over it to cover us from the sun). We were shown to our hammocks, and then I took a short walk through a bit of the desert with a German girl to see if we could find something other than sand and cacti (we didn’t), at which point it was too hot to continue and I could feel myself starting to burn, so we headed back to the camp. The other boats had arrived from Puerto Bolivár (we had been the first) and so we set off in jeeps to see the Punta Gallinas landmark, a few photo opportunities at different sand dunes and bays, and then headed to a gorgeous beach where there were about a hundred pelicans floating around. I started talking to a hilarious German couple, Olga and Felix, who were just a few years older than me, and we had a lot of laughs together than day; I recommended the diving course to them if they had never done it before, and they said they might make a detour to do it. The Wayuu people living there had brought a cool box of beers and water, which were gladly received at this point as it must have been 40-45 degrees. I got chatting to a lovely Brazilian man called Biano who was doing yoga on the beach and of whom I was very jealous (I am not at the point in my practice where I can do headstands or handstands haha), and sat with him and the German couple for dinner, which was a huge meal and delicious. Those who ate fish probably had the best lobster of their lives – along with all the trimmings of rice, patacones, salad and other things, they had two enormously fat lobsters caught that day each, for about £10. I was still very pleased with my meal, which was the same except instead of lobsters I had some delicious green lentils and a fried egg. We stayed until long into the night just chatting and looking at the stars – we could see the Milky Way so clearly, it felt like a weirdly spiritual transcendent experience.

Wednesday 13th – left Punta Gallinas really early in the morning (though I was tempted to stay longer just to be in peace and quiet and enjoy the wonderful beach, Biano had already been there for 2 days by the time I arrived), got on the boat at about 5am to Puerto Bolivár, where the jeeps were waiting to take people back to Cabo de la Vela. My jeep back to Uribia, as I was supposed to be going directly, did not arrive at all and I was worrying that I would be stranded in the desert alone with no internet or phone service…another driver offered me his spare seat in his jeep to go back to Cabo de la Vela for free, which obviously I greatly appreciated, but was really annoyed as that had added another hour or so to my journey. I found the same Wayuu lady I booked the trip with in Cabo, and had a go at her for not sending someone to pick me up, as I had paid extra to go directly to Uribia; she apologised and said that since I was the only person going to Uribia from the port that they would not be able to set me up with a private jeep, so she put me straight on another jeep from there going to Uribia. I was of course still very angry, but there wasn’t really anything to be done at that point and I was tired, so I appreciated that at least I was getting my own jeep back to Uribia and went straight to sleep. Once I arrived in Uribia, I took a shared taxi back to my hostel in Riohacha to have a shower (this was amazing! I hadn’t showered since Saturday!), collect my rucksack and get the bus to Santa Marta; where I then shared a taxi to Taganga. I arrived in Taganga at about 8/9pm and went straight to my hostel to get some much-needed sleep!

Thursday 14th – got down to the dive centre at around 8am ready for my final dive in the Tayrona national park! And the lovely German couple I met in Punta Gallinas had decided to come too, so I had friends in them and the dive instructors, it was great! It was the same setup as the previous Thursday; boat to the national park, where we spent the whole day and ate freshly cooked lunch right on the beach, with absolutely no other people around. These dives were particularly special as I saw a manta ray!! I tapped on my oxygen tank to get the attention of Michael, my instructor, and the other girl I was diving with, and they were also both over the moon about it; my instructor told me when we reached the surface that even he hadn’t seen one before as they usually stay far away from the divers, and he’s been working there for a year or two, diving nearly every day! I feel so lucky to have witnessed that. We got back to the dive centre at about 7pm, and I was really sad to say goodbye; Gabriela (the 11 year old daughter of the owner), who seemed to have taken quite a liking to me, was also upset that I had to leave haha. I rushed to the bus station in Santa Marta as I had arrived later than expected and didn’t have much time to get ready to leave, but managed to make the 8:30pm bus back to Medellin.

Friday 15th – the night bus was really late arriving to Medellin, so as soon as I got off the bus in the station (about 2pm) I went to buy my ticket to Guatapé as I didn’t make it there the last time I was in Medellin. I had just paid to put my rucksack in the storage area of the station when the people at the ticket desk started shouting for me, saying the bus was about to leave; I rushed to go through the security and get my bag scanned, and was just approaching the bay when they told me the bus had just left. I was understandably very gutted about this, but accepted that I would have only been able to spend about an hour there anyway, which just wouldn’t have been enough time to fully appreciate it and see all the landmarks there – so I have vowed to myself that I will be returning at some point in the future. I went to find my hostel, where I relaxed a bit and started chatting in Spanish to a German girl (whose English was surprisingly not very good) who had arrived a couple of days before and was looking for an apartment; she said that she was going to be living in Medellin for the next year as part of her university degree! I was obviously very jealous! We went to the supermarket to get some food (where I also ended up spending about 30,000 pesos on a pair of trousers).

Saturday 16th – ate almost an entire watermelon and some granadillas and bread for breakfast, before sadly saying goodbye to my hostel in Medellin and getting to the stop for the ‘colectivos’ (shared taxis to the airport). Luckily these taxis take an amazing route up and around the mountain, so I had some wonderful views of my favourite Colombian city as I said goodbye.