The Hostel Life - Colombia

After Panama City the audience voted that we head to Baranquilla, Colombia. This was the only real option in my mind as Baranquilla is said to have the 2nd biggest Carnival celebration after Rio De Janero, Brazil. That, combined with the fact that we ended up getting hooked up with press passes made this an amazing place to be.

A big part of Carnival is the parades. With press passes we got bussed to the route and then set loose on the parade route. We could literally walk down the middle of the street and the dancers would just work around us...or with us. Anthony and I ran around with Mehdy getting drunk and shooting video all day. I got some amazing photos. Check em out here. And check out the video below featuring The Emergence track To Die By These Kisses. (now available on iTunes)



After Baranquilla we went to the cute little beach front town called Santa Marta. This video is pretty mellow. It features a track of mine called 'drift' that I put out on the Gods Own Drunk CD a few years back. (also available on iTunes)



After Santa Marta we were off to Bucaramanga and then to San Gil and finally Bogota. San Gil is known for adventure sports. It's a really cool little city nestled in the mountains. Anthony was still sick for most of this shoot, so the video below I shot, directed and edited; with Anthony yelling keyboard shortcuts to me across the room. I now know Final Cut Pro!!! (somewhat)

First we went white water rafting. I jumped in a boat with three guides. Mehdy and some friends we met along the way jumped in another. We would go through the rapids ahead of them and then immediately direct the boat into some rocks on the side of the river. I would jump out of the boat, scramble up the boulders on the shoulder of the river and set up the camera to shoot Mehdy's boat as it came through the rapids. Crazy, hectic and way too much fun.

The next day we went para-sailing. If I had less to do I probably would have been scared out of my mind. As it was I remember getting all geared up in the para-sailing outfit as well as with the HD video camera and my still camera. Next thing I know I'm filming Mehdy's takeoff and then people are telling me to 'RUN!!' off of the cliff in front of me.....and then I was flying. The guides did a some swirling diving stunts and really showed us around. I had Mehdy hooked up with a wireless lavalier microphone and I was wearing a headset, so you can hear me screaming to him at one point and him talking back through his mic.

You'll also notice what appears to be Mehdy swearing a lot in this video. Mehdy doesn't really swear that much. He does have a problem with the word little though. It became Anthony's mission as director to stop him from saying this. Any time we were looking at anything impressive or of stature Mehdy would say it was little. At times Anthony would carry around a handful of rocks to throw or a stick to hit him with every time he said it. Without Anthony there I had too many other things to worry about. But when Mehdy described the massive cliff that we were about to run off of as little, I couldn't let it slide. So I bleeped out all of his little's in this video.



Check out more of the pictures and videos on Facebook and YouTube. All but two pieces of the music that you here in the 15 or so videos we released is written, performed and/or produced by me. Maria Mulata contributed one song for the San Gil video above and the percussion you hear under the la Brisa Loca hostel walk through is something I recorded during one of the parades in Baranquilla.

All in all this was a wonderful, stressful, beautiful, weird, sickening, inspiring, erotic jaunt.

I hope to do it again some time.