Colombia

Benefits: Safe; few tourists, Cartagena old town, Coffe

Concerns: Police control (maybe it is really needed but when you are asked to get out of the bus more than once on the same trip just for identification, guns and drugs control, it is easy to get upset)

Places visited (& days): 14 days from 6 Oct. till 19 Oct – Cartagena (5 + 1), Taganga & Parque Nacional Tayrona (3); Medellin (2); Manizales (1), Bogota (2)

Transport (time or distances): Flight from San Jose (Costa Rica) to Cartagena via Panama (50 min & 1h); bus from Cartagena to Taganga (8h due to a strike); Taganga back to Cartagena by bus (4h ); Cartagena to Medellin by Bus (15h); Medellin to Manizales by bus (5h30), Manizales to Bogota by bus (7h30)

Currency: 1 Euro = 2847 COP (Colombia Pesos)

Funny Experiences: Strike on the way from Cartagena to Taganga – Teachers which seemed to be not well paid decided to cut the road for some hours. I thought it was just a small strike but when I left the bus to get some food, the strike was already on TV (live!!!). Of course it took us much longer to take an alternative road.

Macaw

When I arrived to Cartagena, I fell immediately in love with this city (the old town which is the historic part). The colonial buildings, the houses with their balconies, flowers and different colours, the churches and plazas, make this city a really romantic place.

Cartagena

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I stayed in the neighbourhood of San Diego at Hotel Puertas de Cartagena, run by Nerys. The main sights that I visited in the old town are Plaza Santo Domingo, Plaza San Diego, Plaza de Bolivar and the museums around (my favourite one the Inquisition museum).

Puerta del reloj - Cartagena

Local ladies relaxing at Plaza de Bolivar - Cartagena

Outside the old town the Castillo de San Felipe and the Convento de la Popa are also interesting spots to be visited.

Sunset from the Castillo de San Felipe - Cartagena

 

With Deisy & Gena, drinking, at Plaza de Santo Domingo

Around the old town, Bocagrande and El Laguito are Cartagena´s main beaches where the big hotels are located – Honestly I didn’t like it since there is nothing compared with the charm of the old town
 

 

Time to cut my hair again at Barberia Jaramillo - Cartagena

From Cartagena I went north to visit Parque Nacional Tayrona and to check if there was still a possibility to do a trekking to visit the Ciudad Perdida which is one of the largest pre-colombian towns and was discovered just in 1975.

To visit the Parque Nacional Tayrona I decided to stay nearby at Taganga, a small village (2500 population). I stayed at the best hotel in town La Ballena Azul (nice, friendly and has a huge terrace to enjoy the sunset).

Taganga village

Sunset at Playa Grande - Taganga

The beach is not so good, but just 15 min walk around the hill is Playa Grande which is much better. Here I met a lot of local and nice people (the best, my friend Victor) I was surprised when I learnt that he had already 7 children and he was just 30 years old. But I learnt then, that it is quite common situation in other South American countries.

Victor and (part) of his family

There was no way to trek to La Ciudad Perdida - the lost City, for less then 5 days. Therefore I gave up since I didn´t have enough time.

So, during my stay in Taganga I visited for one day the Parque Nacional Tayrona. I joined a tour but was really worried since it was a huge family with some children, the guide and me. At the end of the day I got very close to the family since all of them were very interesting. They were from Bogota and told me to call them when I was there.

Parque Nacional Tayrona

With the Cortes family (Carlos, Caterine, David, Alba, Lorena, Julie) & the guide (Frank)

Then, I came back to Cartagena for another day visit and then went to Medellin. The bus trip was horrible since it took us nearly 15h! Like some of the Middle East cities that I visited, the contrast of the rich (El Poblado) area and the poor one was remarkable.

Metro Cable - Medellin

I visited the Antioquia Museum which is the main attraction. In and outside are the paintings and sculptures of Fernando Botero. Interesting sights especially to get a good view from the city are the Cerro Nutibarra and new Metro Cable from Acevedo to Santo Domingo.

Botero's figure

Cerro Nutibarra

Funny way to make celular calls

Before going to Bogota I went to Manizales, one of the coffee towns of the Zona Cafetera. It is really worth a visit. I really wanted to understand all the coffee production process so I booked a tour with one of the farms near Manizales - Hacienda Guyabal. It was like a private tour since I was the only customer that day.

Coffee tour with Gabriel (the guide) at Hacienda Guyabal - Chinchina

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Colombia vs Ecuador (soccer) on TV at the Terminal de Bus

Last stop was Bogota. The weather at that time was terrible, raining a lot and therefore not suprisingly I found Bogota very dark. Anyway, the Plaza Bolivar is impressive and I enjoyed walking around this area.

Raining all the time in Bogota

Plaza de Bolivar - Bogota

Although far from Bogota (it took me roughly one hour by car). I had an incredible experience going to the restaurant Andres Carnes de Res . A lot of people had recommended me this place so my expectation was very high. I was not disappointed, since the restaurant is the right place to party, have a good meal and meet people. The food, the music, the atmosphere, and the waiters - everything was excellent. I spend much of the time dancing with a Colombian and Brazilian group.

With Mariana at Andres Carnes de Res

The next day, obviously I had an incredible headache. I was almost ready to leave and decided to call the family Cortes (my friends from the Parque Nacional Tayrona). Alba then invited me to have lunch at one of the best restaurants in town. Very bright and with a remarkable business record, she now owns a company which operates on the petroleum industry. It was a pity that I had to leave that day since I would have loved to know her much better.

With Alba, just before leaving to Peru