Colombia - Medellin and South

17 February 2010

Wow, haven't updated in a really long time. Sorry!

I ended up staying in Medellin for over two weeks! It's a really huge city and known for it's "eternal spring" climate. Don't be fooled into thinking this is like April in Scotland though! It's hot during the day, cooler in the evening, and rains (heavily) most days for about an hour or so. I took Spanish classes almost every day in Medellin with a really sweet Colombian girl called Yadi who's based at a Kiwi owned hostel called Black Sheep. I was staying in Casa Kiwi which is owned by an American and frequented by a lot of bikers, but not your garden variety bikers, the ones that think a good holiday is riding from Alaska to Punta Arenas.

The hostel is in the El Poblado area of the city which is the posh bit. Lots of nice restaurants and bars and the like (including some rather fab pastry shops!). I was pretty well behaved in Medellin though as I had class every day.

I said hello again to my new Aussie chums, Lee and Tanya in Medellin, only to say goodbye a couple of days later. And I met really sweet girls from Devon who I may meet up with again in central america at some point soon.

Other than spanish classes I really didn't get up to much in Medellin. Mick's friend Ricardo met with me a couple of times and bought me lunch, gave me a tour of the Botanics and pointed me in the direction of the acquarium. There's a great metro system in Medellin which includes a couple of sections of cable cars which is pretty cool just for sightseeing. And there is a plaza where there are quite a lot of Botero sculptures. So, all in all, a nice place to hang out, but not a whole lot to see!

I realised at some point that I was nearing the end of my visa for Colombia (60 days!) and either had to make a move for the border or pay to extend my visa. So I decided to head off south towards Ecuador. I was heading for a wee town in coffee country called Salento which seemed to involve taking a bus to a place called Armenia and changing. Only instead of going to Armenia I was chucked off the bus at the side of a motorway at about 530pm (sunset is at 6pm!) and told to wait for another bus. I stood by myself in the middle of nowhere as the sun rapidly went down for an anxious 20 mins before my bus came!

In Salento I stayed at a place called Plantation House run by an old, slightly mad, British guy and his Colombian wife. Met tons of people and went horseriding, on a coffee tour, on a long walk up a steep hill, and ate a lot of rainbow trout. Was a good few days! Really beautiful countryside - wax palms, mountains and coffee plantations.

I met three other souls who needed to cross the border too, an Aussie called Tristan and two lovely girls from London called Abi and Hannah. We got up at stupid o'clock and got a bus to Cali, and changed to a minibus for Popayan. It's a lovely little colonial place. Stayed in a hostel run by lovely Scots (!) and had a nice wander around all the churches and a wee feed.

Off again early in the morning for another major bus ride to Ipiales on the Colombian side of the border with Ecuador. Arrived there after dark so went off for a pizza and an early sleep. It's a bit of a strange little town and the weather was bad so didn't mind not seeing too much of the place!

In the morning we went to Las Lajas, an amazing church built out over a ravine because someone saw the virgin's face in the rock (or summat similar!). See my pics (on fb or kodakgallery) to truly understand the place!

Our taxi driver to the border got a little over enthusiastic and drove us over the bridge into Ecuador so we had to walk back to Colombia in the rain to wait for an hour for our exit stamps. Oddly there was no physical check at the border.

And that concludes my first visit to Colombia! (Second and third visits this year are already planned.)

I'll try to be a little less tardy with my Ecuador posts.

Colombia - Carneval and Cartagena

6 February 2010

So, headed south with the Australians to a town called Valledupar which is a local capital. We stayed at the only hostel in a town that isn't so much small, as quite off the tourist trail.
The first day the hostel owner, Miguel, very kindly gave us a lift to a river about 40 mins drive away and we spent the day messing about at the river and watching the local kids jump off very high rocks into narrow and shallow sections. Completely crazy, but amazing. There was also a river in town so that's where we spent the majority of the rest of our time. The water was really cool (the town was pretty hot!) and on my first day I wore a beige bikini which along with my very fair skin and the lack of gringos in town attracted quite a lot of attention. I had to be saved by my Aussie friend bringing me my sarong! We met a lovely family at the river and despite not being able to communicate at all we managed to take lots of photos of each other and I was even forced to kiss a baby for a photo!!

Food in Valledupar involved a lot of icecream and there was a BBQ so the Aussies grilled stuff on a couple of nights. We also managed to find an amazing seafood place (most of the food was grilled chicken) which was great.

From Valledupar we headed up to Barranquilla on the coast. It's an industrial city and home to Shakira and not much for tourists to do EXCEPT when it's Carneval. The Carneval is UNESCO listed, is the biggest Carneval in South America outside Rio and goes on for the 4 days before Lent. On the first day there was a massive parade with all sorts of floats and dancers and famous Colombians and we got foamed and floured a little (it's a tradition apparently!!). In the evening we went to a Daddy Yankee concert. He's a big player in the Reggaeton music scene. It was really good, and we bought into a "beach bar" by buying a case of beer with some other people so we could sit and had a good view of the stage.

On the second day I was a touch hungover so didn't make it out to the parade (it's really hot and sweaty in Barranquilla and there's no point leaving an air conditioned room if you're not feeling up to it!). Luckily the parade that day wasn't that exciting according to all my new chums! Though they had the excitement of an attempted pickpocketing on them, facilitated by foam being sprayed in their faces. Luckily the police noticed and hauled the culprits away with no harm done.

On the third day there was another big parade but this was more about dancers than floats. The police were great and ensured we got a good spot. We ended up speaking for most of the parade to a young policeman called Ricardo who had lived in NY and spoke great English. He even arranged for us to be escorted to a taxi as one of the Aussies had a big expensive camera.

That night we ended up in a bar with a Swedish friend, his new Colombian girlfriend and her parents! Her parents were so kind and they invited all of us to their house for the last day to have a massive water fight. We arrived in the neigbourhood (looked poor, but quite clean and safe) at about 11am and started in on the beers. It only took about 1 min before the local little kids ran up and soaked us through. The rest of the day was spent having water fights, being given mud baths, being taught how to dance (it's impossible!) and generally larking about. When it got dark we thought we were being offered a lift home by the family, but instead they took us to another town where there was a massive stage set up and a big party going on. It was fantastic! I think we were given our lift home eventually at about 2am! It was absolutely the best day of the trip so far - just so great to hang out with a Colombian family and take part in all the madness!

After recovering I took the bus by myself to Cartagena, another town on the coast, but this one with ancient defences including a fort and city wall. I checked into a hostel called Media Luna (half moon) purely for the fact that it had been held up at gunpoint only 3 weeks earlier and therefore was guaranteed to be the safest place in town!! The robbery turned out to be an inside job and there were police about outside all the time so it was absolutely fine. The hostel had a rooftop terrace and a pool so I managed to stay almost a week there without getting bored! Managed a touch of sightseeing but me and my fellow members of the "rooftop gang" (mainly Swedes) figured that you could see all the main attractions from the roof so there wasn't much point venturing too far in the sweltering heat!

I've just taken a flight down to Medellin (it was the same price as the 14 hour night bus) and will probably take language classes here, but it's a little cool (just 18 degrees!) and apparently there's not a whole heap to do, so might head back north again and just hang out on the coast. My tan is coming along nicely and it would be a shame to give up on it....!

Currently thought is that I might head north from Colombia. Two reasons - might want to wait until Argentina decides what action it's going to take over Las Malvinas, and if I head south now I'll reach the bottom in the middle of winter which is no fun.
Thinking therefore of heading north through central america, then possibly take a road trip through some of the southern states (or head up and visit Nancy, Mick etc) and over through to Florida. Then fly back to Bogota and see what bits of south america I can do before the money runs out. South America is just such a vast place and I'm not sure I want to spend my life on a bus!

We'll see. Plenty more investigating and thinking to be done!

Colombia - Bogota and to the coast

19 January 2010

It's been really hectic so far. Kerstin and I spent a couple of days in Bogota which is a really nice city. There's a cable car and funicular railway that run up the side of a mountain so you get views out over the city, plus there's a big gold museum and quite a few pubs, clubs and restaurants to keep you occupied! The weird thing is that all the xmas decorations are still up including the christmas tree on the central square - G&G should invite the country to their 12th night party next year and explain the rules!!

Then it was off to a v small colonial town called Villa de Levya which is all olde-worldy with a massive central plaza and lots of low stone buildings with balconies and stuff. We stayed at a gorgeous wee hostel in the hills with hammocks everwhere. But no rest for the wicked - off cycling up ridiculously steep hills in crazy heat to see a dinosaur skeleton and ancient stone archaelogical site. It was pretty hot and dry with olive trees and goats and really did just look like Mallorca. You can see why the spanish would have felt at home!

Then off again to another small town further north called San Gil. This was more of a "real" town in the sense that it wasn't so beautiful, but the hostel (about 7 quid a night) had a rooftop pool and a balcony over the main square, so not exactly slumming it! San Gil is all about white water rafting and parasaling and stuff. However, the last rainy season didn't happen so there didn't seem to be much point.... We went up to a waterfall with an amazing pool at the bottom for a wee swim and off to another couple of wee towns in the hills another day.

On again on the night bus to the Carribean coast. Buses here are air conditioned to freezing point so you need a jumper and trousers even just for short journeys then when you get off you're stepping into temperatures in the high 30s - it's all v strange! Ended up in a tiny town called Taganga which is all about hippies and drugs and hanging out on the beach. Local police are as corrupt as hell and set up some aussies for coke possession when we were there - they had to pay a massive "fine" to get released. Luckily the police station is beside the cashpoint.....

However, it was also all about diving, so I did a couple of refresher dives, and Kerstin did her PADI course which was good. Met a couple of great Aussies who I'm now travelling with (Kerstin only has a week left so has raced on down south now whereas I've got more time to kick about). There's a national park just next door called Tayrona which has the most beautiful beaches. Whereas Taganga is all dry and scrubby, Tayrona has rainforest running right down to gorgeous beaches with massive granite boulders everywhere.

And then onto the more exciting stuff. We left the gringo trail completely and went into the Guijara peninsula. Kerstin and I and the 2 aussies caught a bus to a town called Riohacha then organised a taxi for another hour to another small town near Venezuela called Uribia, and from there we managed to get a ride in the back of a supply truck for another 2 1/2 hours out to a place called Cabo de la Vela. It was absolutely amazing. We were right out in the desert with cacti everywhere, and endless horizons as it was so flat. It took us all day to get there so the next morning we walked out across the desert for an hour to a brilliant wee beach where you could swim. It was unbelievably hot. No running water with the family we were staying with, though there were beds and bucket flush loos so it was fine. We managed to hire a driver and 4x4 for a drive the following day to a place called Punta Gallinas which is the northernmost point on the continent. We stayed overnight with a really sweet native Wayuu family who managed to get us fresh fish (and rice and fried plantain) for tea. We slept outside in hammocks which was really cool (literally!). Then the next day we were driven out to this amazing sand dune which is near vertical and runs straight into the bluest sea! I don't know if our photos will capture just how amazing it really was!

Everywhere you go in Colombia there are police, customs and military roadblocks. Mainly they're looking for draft dodgers and ensuring that the rebels are kept at bay. There's little corruption (apart from in Taganga!) and therefore little for us to be worried about and they're quite a welcome site. All over the Guijara peninsula there are also roadblocks. However, these are ropes strung across the road and are manned by Wayuu children who demand sweeties before you can pass! It's the funniest thing!

We're now back in Santa Marta on the coast in a great hostel in a colonial house with a pool in the middle. Never has a shower felt so good when you've not washed in 4 days and you're covered in sand and your hair is full of salt! Free beer every time you check in. Which is now three times as we've used this place as a bit of a base to leave our stuff for the expiditions to Tayrona and Guijara.

We're probably heading south tomorrow for a few days, just killing time really before we hopefully go to carneval in Baranquilla. Baranquilla is home to Shakira and the second biggest/best carneval in South America according to all the locals! After that I'll probably head west to Cartagena and then south to Medellin where I'm going to try to organise language school. The people here are really lovely so it's def a country worth hanging around in for a little while longer.

Food has been ok. Mostly rice and fish, or eggs and sweet bread (EVERTHING here has tons of sugar!) but lots of fresh juices which are fab. I know enough spanish to ensure that I'm not ordering meat or chicken which is good! The local booze is Aguardiente (fire water) which is Anise flavoured which puts a lot of people off. The beer is ok but a bit wimpy, like Corona but with less flavour!!