Colombia in a nutshell

Well, it has been almost exactly a month since we left Colombia. While internet has been hard to come by, its mostly the time that it takes to write an update that is really annoying. However, we felt that it was necessary to update the blog now before we enter Peru. The next update will talk all about Ecuador and our general experiences.

Tayrona National Park
So we left our blog at San Gil. From this point onwards the weather go much hotter the further north we went. We spent sometime in a little place called Taganga, a small fishing village over run by tourists. While we didnt particularly like the sticky, humid, hot and scummy feel of the place, we met allot of people that loved it. Spending weeks on end partying and diving is not unheard of. However our next destination from Taganga is still one of our favourite places, Tayrona National Park.

Besides offering crystal clear blue water and white sandy beaches, it had amazing hikes and palm trees galore. To get to our camp ground we had to hike for an hour into the jungle with all of our camping gear and food.We stayed in a little placed called ¨Don Pedro´s¨, who we got to meet. We decided to camp and are still debating whether it was a good idea or not. The thing about Don Pedros is that the sleeping are is located deep within the jungle. It appears that a large meadow was cut out where a hut and a bunch of hammocks were placed. Camping was great meaning that it was quite and without distraction however the nature of the camp meant that there was not wind. The tent soon became an oven and quite unbearable to sleep in. While the hammocks sounded more appealing we found out later on that they played host to a number of flea colonies. Anyway, we spent allot of time just laying on the beach, soaking in the sun and eating delicious chocolate bread made at a local bakery. However, we did do some exploring. Deep in the jungle, just off the coast, an hours hike up virtical slopes, we reached an archeological site. The small city was built deep within the jungles and was well planned, with stone work and a large central road. The houses themselves were made from straw but the bases were all stone. In all, we loved our time in Tyarona; the people, the nature and the endless supply of coconuts simply laying around everywhere begging to be eaten.

Cartagena

From there our next stop was Cartagena. Arguably one of the most beautiful places in Colombia, it was also the best destination to go island hopping towards Panama. Our time in Cartagena was spent exploring the old town, a part of the city that had been walled in to protect it from further pirate attacks suffered in the 16th century. The walls were littered with cannons and towers. Behind the walls, away from the ocean was the tiny but quite tidy old town. Lots of churches, hotels and restaurants. On my opinion, it was one of the most  beautiful cities that I have been to. We stayed at a family ran hostel called Hostel Viena. It had air conditioning, a good kitchen, cheap and was only a few minutes walk from the old town and supermarkets. 

As part of our stay in Cartagena we had to take a tour to the mud volcanoe. It was literally a 30 meter volcanoe sticking out of the ground. The mud itself flowed deep in the earth, about 3km from the top of the crater. While laying there, not being able to touch anything solid underneath you, the occasional bubble from the depth of the earth would float up, exploding in bits of mud. It was an amazing experience, followed by one of the best lunches that Ive had in South America yet. Grilled fish with coconut rice  is definetly the winner so far. We did the tour through our hostel so we highly recommend it!






 Salento

While we heard many amazing things about Medellin, we decided to give it a miss because there were other things that we desperatly wanted to check out before our flight out of Colombia. So, the 26  hour bus ride eventually brough us to our favourite little town, Salento, deep within the Coffee Region.  We stayed in ¨The Plantation House¨, a hostel owned by a British guy called Tim. While totally fluent about all things coffee and Spanish, his Spanish accent itself left much to be desired. The hostel was great, a brand new kitchen and a working coffee farm to explore. The kitchen always had hot coffee that one could replenish their cafein needs on. Salento itself was a quite little town; a small central plaza and really nice people. We did a day trip to Cocora Valley, a 30 min drive from the main plaza. As it happens, a parade celebrating world war 2 era style jeeps is held in this town every year. The valley itself was phenominal; towering palms (reaching heights of 120m or 360 feet), rolling hills and an ever changing landscape. The day spent walking around and taking in the site was one of the most peaceful to date. The ride back to Salento involved squeezing in 12 people into a tiny tiny jeep where four of us had to hold on to the back of the jeep and sway with the corners. Salento was the perfect place to relax and break up our journey, not to mention become thoroughly addicated to coffee.

Buga

Our next stop was meant to be Cali, but the travel bug had other plans instore for us. We caught the bus to Buga, a small city not mentioned in the Lonely Plant (yeh, we´re going rouge). Buses didnt actually stop at Buga unless directed. As it happened our bus driver missed all the exits and upon our urging that that is where we wanted to go he dropped us off on the side of the highway, saying ¨Catch a taxi¨. The charm of Buga layed with our little hostel offering a break from all the sugary bread and weak tasting beer. The hostel owner, a cool German guy had owned the place for half a year. His specialty and what drew us to this place was the fact that he made his own sour dough bread. But not only that, he also brewed 3 different types of beer. The splurge was made all that much better by the fact that the day that we arrived in Buga was marked as the last day of a 10 day religious pilgrimage that occurs once every seven years. But not only that, that very same day, Colombia celebrated the day of ¨Love and Friendship¨, a South American equivalent of Valentine´s Day (which they also celebrate). So our trip to Buga proved to be very entertaining with lots of fireworks, jesus statues, love hearts and delicious bread.

Cali

Finally we arrived in Cali, the place that lived at night and was our way out of Colombia. We quickly found that Cali didnt offer many touristy attractions worthy of checking out during the day. Actually, the city itself felt rather gloomy and dirty during the day and not all that welcoming. Gladly, that is not the attraction of Cali. We stayed in a place called ¨Jovitas¨. A cool hostel offering free yoga and salsa lessons. Strangely or uniquely enough, it also had a gym. It was run by Adrianna, a really sweet Colombia lady that looks after all of her guests. Going out in Cali was an amazing experience. Watching the Colombians dancing quickly made me realize that I have a long way to go before I can say that ¨I can salsa¨. The footwork and the skill from all those dancing was outstanding. The music was also great, with a few breaks where the dj would play all the 90´s American favourites, strangely the crowd knew all of them and would sing along. For those that want to improve on their salsa or just have an amazing town meeting real Colombians, Cali should be the number one stop. So it wasnt that surprising when we met a whole bunch of people staying at our hostel with the same story saying that they were meant to be in Cali for only a few days which had turned into weeks.

That is a quick summary of our time in Colombia. It hasnt been proof read!

Our next update will hopefully involve more descriptions and will talk all about Ecuador!

Until then, ciao!