is this the bus to cartagena?

it is saturday(sabado)... and i am in bucaramanga...
the plan is this... and more likely to change than stay the same...
i am leaving for cartagena on the bus this evening... john will travel with me... and help me get established in cartagena... i should arrive sunday (domingo) midday... and then on monday check out the school where i plan to study spanish... and hope to find a place to cash my travelers checks... but dont worry. cause i can use my creditcard to get money out of atms.... so i am not helpless...
things are going well... and never as expected...
the heat is noticable... and although i packed almost nothing.. i STILLL brought too much. it is a tiny bag, but it feels like i have rocks and water ... very heavy.
i am having lunch with johns family and then wandering the city before we hope the bus...
i hope that all is well with each of you... you were in my thoughts on my birthday... and i take you with me as i go ... into more of the inviting unknown.

I Am in colombia...
i have to keep reminding my self... not that it is not obvious that i am not in the US... but... it is still hard for me to grasp the depth of that reality... i am in colombia.. and it is not anything like what i imagined ... try to imagine a combination of china and mexico... where cars dont stop... you can make a phone call on the street cause people are selling minutes on their cell phones...and there is a constant chorus of car horns... taxi, bus, motorcycle.... horns.. like an orchestra warming up or a conversation... between automobiles... nearly an arguement...
that is the colombia i know... so far... and bucaramanga is like the shijiazhuang of colombia. city... but not major metropolitian... just a city... maybe bakersfield... or sacramento... without the national capitol.
it is just a city built up in and among the mountains... the lush jungle grows on the side of the road and where it is too steep to build anything.

so the journey with in the journey begins... almost as normal as any other day of life... it feels normal. it is... i am just in colombia.