The Pink Panther visits Rio Negro

Today Juan Pablo took me to see Rio Negro, a town of about 5,000 people 30 minutes from Bucaramanga. As the name implies, there’s a river there, which we went tubing on. Unfortunately we had to walk pretty far to get to the river, and we had to do it barefoot over sharp rocks, plants with thorns, and random broken glass. Juan Pablo didn’t seem to mind any of this, in fact he loved watching me wince in pain, and he nicknamed me La Pantera Rosa (The Pink Panther) for the way I walked.

Anyway, below you can see some of the finest coffee in the world….lying on the street with random candy wrappers and other trash strewn in it. The big bag is cocoa, which is made into chocolate and smells delicious.

Then there’s a picture of me holding the most glorious invention ever devised. It’s a mini tennis racket thing, except it has an electric current running through the metal strings. It is used to electrocute mosquitoes and hearing the sizzle and watching the little electric charge flash as they fry is incredible. I desperately want one, but I’m afraid if I get one I’ll just stay in my room all day every day hunting the little bastards and giggling like a school girl.

One final note, and I probably should have known this, but for the record, basketball practice is ALWAYS cancelled when Colombia has a futbol game on TV.