Colombia and the cities

Medellin

Our bus to Medellin

We arrived to Medellin 4 hours late as our bus was held up in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t the FARC or some other guerrilla organisation blocking the road, no, it was a bicycle race which forced the road to close. How Colombia has changed! 

Tour de Colombia

We checked into the Pitstop hostel, which was an Irish themed hostel (not the last one we’ll see on this trip!). Medellin is set in a deep valley with slum like buildings rising from the more developed centre far up the mountains on either side. It was also a little colder here, so the jeans came out for the first time at night. 

The colourful slums of Medellin

Cora in Botero Square downtown Medellin

There was good craic in the hostel bar, and we spent a couple of nights here chatting to other travellers and taking part in any events. One night when we came back, one of the guys realised that his girlfriend had thrown all his belongings into the swimming pool, obviously upset he had stayed out until 4am when he was only “going for a couple”.

On another night, having taught Cora how to play poker only a few days previously, she was quick to knock me out first of a cash game and she finished in a respectable 3^rd place.

 The gravestone of Pablo Escobar

For me the highlight of Medellin was doing the Pablo Escobar tour. We got to visit his first home which was bombed by the Cali Cartel, his graveyard (where he was exhumed in 2004 to ensure he was actually dead!), finally we went to meet with his brother Roberto at his home where we shared a cup of coffee and took a few pictures. Totally surreal! Some interesting facts we learned about Pablo Escobar; at one point his cartel were making so much money that they spent $2000 a month on elastic bands to wrap the money up. Also he wrote off 10% of his money annually as it was eaten by rats in storage. Mad stuff!

Cora and I with Roberto Escobar one time "Accountant" for Pablo

We visited a water park on our last day Medellin. It kind of reminded me of Butlins 15 years ago. There were a few decent slides and some diving boards, which I was quick to throw myself off of. It was only €6 in and we practically had the place to ourselves. Apparently Colombians don’t think 27 degrees is hot enough for a water park!

It was also in Medellin that I got the damning news that my Iphone was banjaxed! After nearly 3 years together, I had to say goodbye to my oul friend. It was like losing an arm. Gone but not forgotten. RIP.

Bogota

After another bumpy, cold but this time punctual night bus we arrived in bleak Bogota at 7.30am and quickly got a taxi to our hostel. We had been here before but only for a night on our way to Santa Marta so this would be our chance to explore. Our hostel was in the old town where most of the tourist attractions are located but it is supposedly quite a dangerous area. The gringo trail is full of nasty stories about Bogota including people being mugged in broad daylight right outside their hostels. So we were on high alert (ie paranoid!) the whole time.

Bolivar Square Bogota

Cora caught some Zzz’s while I tried to stream the All-Ireland Semi Final between Dublin and Mayo on the laptop, we all know how that ended! We headed to the main square and visited the police museum which was pretty interesting. My favourite exhibit was a remote controlled helicopter that the police used to spy on football hooligans.

We decided to do a bike tour the following morning with some people we met in the hostel. Of course when we woke up it was pouring rain (we bring it everywhere!), so we did the bike tour in the afternoon. Cycling in Bogota is an experience in itself, with no one obeying the rules of the road or any other rules for that matter. We visited a local market and a coffee factory where they sold lovely coffee. We then rode through the red light district. Cora told me that this was where “Durty Women” apply their trade. I wasn’t quite sure what she meant by this, but the ladies certainly weren’t dressed like any tradesmen I’d seen before. Either way, Cora forbade me from returning here! On our last night in Bogota and Colombia we went for some expensive cocktails in the Zona Rosa (posh area) and even found an Irish bar.

Three weeks was a short time to spend in such a diverse and interesting country, but we both really enjoyed our visit and felt that Colombia is wildly different to common misconceptions. You can experience everything here, from tropical Caribbean beaches and dense jungles to massive cosmopolitan cities. It was a great place to begin our trip and get into the backpacking spirit, now vamos a Peru!

Colombia and the Caribbean Coast

Santa Marta

Still on Irish time, we awoke early in Bogota and set off for El Dorado airport to catch the short 1 hour flight to Santa Marta. On stepping off the plane in Santa Marta, the humid Caribbean air hits you like a brick. The cold and rain of Bogota was well and truly behind us now! We took a taxi to the Dreamer hostel, which would be our base for the next 3 days. Driving etiquette in Colombia leaves a lot to be desired, coupled with the fact that few cars have seat belts; this made every trip a bit of an experience.

The garden at the dreamer hostel

The Dreamer hostel was nicely designed, with a central pool and hammocks surrounding a garden area. They had a little outside bar and also a pool table, which was a great place to meet fellow travelers  We were in a 10 bed dorm as they were pretty full when we got there, and unfortunately there was no air com, just one very noisy ceiling fan.

The following day we headed to the town of Minca where we were shown around the local coffee plantation or “Finca”. The coffee was really nice so we helped ourselves to a cup or 6. While we were there, the heavens opened up, trust us to bring the rain everywhere! After the tour we stopped for lunch in a small little town, this was our first insight into how the local Colombian people lived, and it was quite a culture shock.

Cora admiring the rain at the Finca

The next day was my birthday, the big 27, so feeling a little depressed (only kidding!); we took a taxi into Santa Marta town itself for some dinner and a few drinks. The town of Santa Marta is a bit run down so we were both glad to be staying out in the burbs. It has a large promenade and beach where lots of locals where swimming. The water didn't look too clean, so it wasn't that inviting. We treated ourselves some fantastic steaks and some cocktails!

Happy Birthday to me

Our room at Yuluka

The following day we checked out early and headed for Parque Tayrona (Tayrona National Park), taking one of the local buses, which was not easy when you have a bag the size of a small wardrobe on your back (cue dirty looks from the locals). Our next hostel was the Yuluka Eco Hostel, from where we would explore the park the following day.

First sign of water

From the entrance, it was a tough 3.2km walk to the first beach of Arricifes. Along the way we saw lots of wildlife including crabs, butterflies, spiders and even a monkey! We were knackered by the time we reached the beach, and unfortunately couldn't swim here, as the rip tides were too strong. We walked on 30 mins to La Piscina and finally got to swim in the lovely Caribbean Sea. Then it was on to Cabo San Juan beach for some lunch and a siesta under a coconut tree (probably not the smartest thing to do given all the fallen coconuts we saw.) At about 4pm we started to make our way back to Yuluka. We needed to go fast, because after dark the track can become home to some poisonous snakes!

Siesta Time at the beach

Once we were back in the hostel it was time for a nice shower and a couple of cold beers. I also taught Cora how to play poker, and we played a couple of games. She even beat me in one of them! More on Cora’s poker skills later!

After Tayrona Park we stayed a couple of days in Taganga to relax. It’s a small hippyish town by the beach, popular for scuba diving. We just chilled for a couple of days and went swimming in a nearby bay. While there we arranged for a bus to take us to Cartagena which was about 5 hours away.

Taganga beach at sunset

Cartagena

Cartagena is a lovely walled city, with many large brightly coloured colonial buildings and flowers everywhere. It was a nice place to wander around, even at night, so we did this quite a bit. This place was more like what we were used to; we forgot we were backpackers for awhile and even visited the Havana club for a night of very expensive mojitos and some salsa music. It was here in Cartagena that we sampled the “Menu del dia” or set meal for the first time, only €4! (More about these later).

We also got to listen to some Colombian rap music, as there was a youth festival on at the same time as we were there. We hadn't a clue what they were singing about, but some of it wasn't that bad and having a drink while listening to free music was cheap too.

The mud volcano great for the skin

While in Cartagena we took a day trip to a mud volcano, which was exactly like it sounds. It’s a massive mound spewing thick smelly grey mud, which you dunk yourself in. It was very weird and very hard to stay upright. When we got in we were manoeuvred over to some locals who were also in the pit and they treated us to an impromptu massage, but it only cost €1.50 so couldn't complain. We then had to wash the mud off in a nearby lagoon, which took forever, the mud gets EVERYWHERE! We could have paid a local woman to do it, but I thought that was a bit awkward so didn't avail of her services. After lunch at a nearby beach we arrived back to our hostel in Cartagena, where we took part in a dance class, cue desperate lack of coordination from Cora and I.

On our last day in Cartagena we decided to go sea kayaking. We met our guide at a nearby beach and after a few stretches we set off in our kayaks only to be called back moments later by the Colombian army. They were doing some sort of training exercise in the bay and we were sailing right into the middle of it. After a change of course, we made for a deserted beach some 5km away. Once there we were treated to some fried plantain. It was really nice; we had the whole beach to ourselves, and had a swim after lunch to cool down. On sailing back I realised I may have been a bit stingy with the sun cream, given the strength of the sun.

That night we boarded our first night bus in Colombia, which was a 12 hour trip to Medellin. We had heard horror stories about freezing buses, bad driving and on-board thieves so we prepared ourselves for the worst! We left Cartagena at 10pm...Late of course! Next stop Medellin. The bus was freezing, but this didn't bother us, as we had both suffered 3^rd degree burns while out sea kayaking that day. That would be the last time we do an activity before a night bus!