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Colombia

March - April 2018
Retro-actively entering the details of the Colombian trip from March/April 2018 so its captured before I forget the details Read more
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  • Colombia
    Day 1

    Bogota Day 1

    March 28, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    After a long day of flights, arrived in Bogota around 8pm. For some reason Canadians arriving in Colombia have to pay a special fee of $100 at customs. I didn't feel so special. And because if this, Canadians also have their own special line for customs, which was ridiculously slow and took well over an hour and a half. Very weird.

    Already had a private room in a hostel booked in the old section of Bogota called la candelaria. Location was ideal, price was dirt cheap ($17/night) and it said we would have a private bathroom. What a disappointment - no private bathroom and very sketchy room. Most hostels have a nice common area to relax and meet other travellers but that was lacking too.

    So dropped off our backpacks and headed out for some food and beer which landed us at The Bogota Beer Company which was two blocks away. That's not coincidence btw :)

    Shortly after sitting down, some Colombians at the table next to us took an interest in us and we spent the rest of the evening trying to understand their broken English while I'd throw in the odd Spanish word to show I was at least making an effort. Was a lot of fun actually and a definite clue to the friendliness we were about to encounter on a regular basis for the next 17 days. -SP    Read more

  • Colombia
    Day 2

    Bogota - Day 2

    March 29, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Got up after a terrible sleep because our second story room has pigeons outside our window and also what sounded like nests inside the walls. So noisy! Grrr.

    Wandered the cobblestone streets of the old town and found the main plaza Bolivar square which has the national capitol, a huge cathedral and the lievano palace. Found some breakfast nearby and then headed off to hike nearby Mt monserat.

    What we didn't realize was this day was a national holiday leading up to Easter and this mountain is a holy site and everyone does a pilgrimage up the mountain on this day. The hike up was steep and the city being at an altitude of 8660 feet made breathing tough during the ascent. The crowds had to be seen to be believed too. It was so busy that we couldn't reach the top as everyone got logjammed and couldn't move a single step for several minutes at a time. After about 30 minutes moving maybe 20 steps, we squeezed out of the herd and headed back down the mountain. Near the bottom of the mountain, a tv crew interviewed me about our experience haha, and same thing happened to me more recently descending down the mountain in Kotor, Montenegro.

    Spent the rest of the day and evening strolling the old town. Found an authentic Colombian restaurant for supper where we each had a gigantic soup that neither of us finished but was amazing. And also discovered a great craft beer pub. Original plan was to spend three nights in Bogota and then head into the interior but the forecast was calling for ridiculous amounts of rain so we spent the evening figuring out where to head next.... -SP    Read more

  • Colombia
    Day 3

    San Andres - Day 1

    March 30, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    With 30-40mm of rain per day coming towards Bogota and the interior for the next week, we decided to look into other options as that would have been awful. The amazon was seriously considered but the forecast there was bad too.

    Decided to fly to the balmy island of San Andres off the coast of Nicaragua. This island along with Providencia, belong to Colombia but also have some amount of autonomy. You can't buy a one way ticket there (well you can but they won't let you board it without return fare - which we fully tested), and there's a tourist visa card to pay to go there too. The islands also have much more of a Jamaican population and culture than Colombian.

    This island had beaches and was by far the most developed and populated with tourists but didn't really have any wow factor to it. Spent a couple of hours enjoying the beach and walking around and sorting out the next few days to come via purchasing tickets for transportation and tours. Had an awesome fish dinner by the water and called it an early night as we signed up for an all day excursion the next morning. Plus those damn pigeons kept us up the night prior again, and we were exhausted. -SP    Read more

  • Colombia
    Day 4

    San Andres - Day 2

    March 31, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Booked a full day excursion checking out a few small, nearby islands. Didn't realize there would be zero English and *lots* of instructions. Luckily we were sitting next to colombians Brian and Felipe who sensed our confusion and inserted themselves as translators and chaperones for the rest of the day.

    Landed first at Johnny Caye, a small palm tree'd island with incredible beaches and turquoise waters. And a huge colony of iguanas. Had a BBQ lunch here and a couple hours to enjoy the beaches and it's postcard views.

    Second stop was at Haynes Caye, a natural aquarium with several reefs teaming with exotic fish. Spent a couple more hours here snorkeling the reefs and enjoying a few beers in between.

    Third stop was in middle of open water/ocean but very shallow. Our guide dove in and within minutes had corralled a stingray for us. I jumped in and held it a few times before we sped off to visit some mangroves and then eventually motor back to San Andres.

    Finished the day at a seaside restaurant and an early night because our ferry to Providencia was early in the morning. We were told the ride there is in extremely rough waters and everyone throws up during the three hour voyage so we bought some dramamine in hopes it would help. Will be honest, anxiety about the next day's boat ride was fairly high. -SP    Read more

  • Colombia
    Day 5

    Providencia - Day 1

    April 1, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    With an early 6am start to the day, we made our way to Toninos Marina in order to catch a catamaran to Providencia.

    First, I should explain that getting there is no easy feat: the only two options are a rickety 20-seater plane or a rough three hour catamaran ride that has a reputation for causing passengers to keep their heads in sick bags the entire time. Plane tickets were already sold out, so sadly seasickness was our only option. As we tried to prepare ourselves for a rocky ride, other travellers started to arrive. This is when we met our friend Alejandro. We learned that he is an engineer in Cartagena, so we made plans to see each other again during the latter part of our trip, as our flight to Panama City was leaving from Cartagena.

    Upon check-in for the catamaran we were given tablets used to treat motion sickness and nausea, they really weren’t messing around! Luckily, as Sean already mentioned, we stopped at a pharmacy the evening before and purchased some Dramamine of our own, so we were ready to take on the sea! I am extremely happy to report that we were only awake long enough to feel a few whirls in our stomachs. The drowsiness had taken its toll and we slept for nearly the entire trip! Phew, what a relief! (Thank you Dramamine!)

    On another positive note, considering that Providencia is such a pain to get to meant that we only had to share this island paradise with other travellers who were daring enough as we were. And if Dubrovnik taught us anything, we definitely prefer to avoid the masses.

    We were officially on island time. We adopted the same “carefree” aura as the locals, we shared a delicious seafood platter for dinner, and we began to explore the beaches this wonderfully remote island had to offer. - KK    Read more

  • Colombia
    Day 6

    Providencia - Day 2

    April 2, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Happy Easter! After fuelling ourselves with a Colombian staple called arepa, (a type of food made of ground maize dough, served with cheese, cuajada etc.), we were all set to start our day.

    On our walk to Manzanillo Bay, it was very easy to see that the infrastructure is not well-maintained here. For instance, we’d be walking on the sidewalk, when out of nowhere it would come to an abrupt end and continue on the other side of the street, so we kept zigzagging back and forth. We also saw several unfinished buildings on our short 40 mins. walk to the beach. Of course the extreme heat and historical lack of investment play a role here. It’s not easy to get to, which on the one hand is why large-scale tourism has never taken root, but at the same time it’s also what allows Providencia to retain its astounding beauty and state of preservation.

    In addition to the copious amounts of bright blue lizards that we saw on our walk to the beach, there were also tons of hens and chicks clucking along the roadside. I should also mention that Sean was a bit like Snow White, if there was a stray dog around it was sure to be following him. One even cozied up to us and found shade under our loungers on the beach.

    We were completely off the grid. We claimed our beach space and enjoyed the better part of the afternoon soaking up the sun. The sand here was as soft as icing sugar (if you didn’t already know I like to bake, then I’m sure my sugary sweet reference was a dead give away). Sean also taught me how to play chess, which reminds me that we’ll have to play again soon so I can solidly the rules/kick his butt!

    As there wasn’t much night life here, we too adopted the slow-pace lifestyle of this rural paradise. We had a seafood dinner at a restaurant down the road from where we were staying (which we walked to there and back in complete darkness), and then we spent the rest of our night in playing rummy 500. - KK    Read more

  • Colombia
    Day 7

    Providencia - Day 3

    April 3, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Can you think of a better way to spend a holiday than going on a 4 hour hike?! Our mission of the day was to climb to the top of the Peak, the highest point of the island, and enjoy the summit. With a mere 2 hours up, and a little less than 2 hours back down, our tour guide Orleus pointed out lots of interesting plant life along the way i.e. clove leaves, mango trees, cotton trees etc. The view from the top was unforgettable, definitely worth the effort.

    Although Providencia felt distinctly more Carribean than Colombian, we would both agree that it was one of the highlights of our trip to Colombia. We met a bunch of other backpackers at Roland’s Roots Bar on our last night. The reggae/dancehall beats were booming out of the beachside speakers, and before we knew it, it was time to fly back to San Andres and continue on with the next leg of our trip. This was definitely a unique, once in a lifetime experience. -KK    Read more

  • Colombia
    Day 8

    Travel day (to Santa Marta)

    April 4, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 39 °C

    After a late night hanging out with other backpackers at Roland's rustic, yet stunning beach bar, we got up at 5:45am to get a taxi to the ferry port. Ferry left around 7am and got us back to San Andres island at 11am. Had 4 hours to kill before the flight back to mainland Colombia so grabbed some lounging chairs at nearby beach bar and enjoyed some cold ones. Pretty sweet way to kill a few hours before flying. The beach bar was literally a 10 minute walk from the airport.

    Unfortunately we had to fly all the way back to Bogota and switch planes to Santa Marta which meant we'd be flying past our destination on the way to Bogota. Booo.

    With two hours layover, it should have been loads of time, but our flight was a bit delayed and then eventually we figured out we had to switch terminals.. but how? There was no signage and everyone we asked gave us a different answer. Literally 8 different answers. Once we found the bus and switched terminals we didn't expect to have issues finding the gate but once again nothing was marked for us to go upstairs for that particular gate so we ran all over the place looking for clues like we were on the amazing race. Seriously, it was pretty frantic.

    On the second flight, Kristin was sitting next to an incredibly friendly and chatty Colombian guy .. while I caught up on sleep :). On arrival, we had nothing booked and our plan was to get downtown and ask the taxi driver for a safe area to stay, near or in the old town.

    Appropriately for our day, our driver spoke zero English.. but he was incredibly kind hearted and spent a ton of time driving us around to find something and understand what we wanted. I think we walked into the hostel around 10pm? Looong day. 1 boat, 3 taxis, 1 bus and 2 planes later, we were finally there. Btw super cool hostel with cabanas on 4 levels and a pool and bar on top level. Ventured out for a bit of food and some beer to unwind after a somewhat stressful series of transportation switches. Probably doesn't sound like much fun but I swear it's days like this that sometimes puts the bigger smile on your face later on. All part of the adventure. -SP    Read more

  • Colombia
    Day 9

    Minca - Day 1

    April 5, 2018 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Today we were off to the mountain village of Minca. We followed the lonely planet guide's directions through santa Marta's chaotic, bustling streets to where a bus could take us there. But we never found it and instead hired a van to take us. Only about an hour drive, but all of it winding up twisting mountain roads through dense jungle high above the urban center of Santa Marta.

    The night before we booked a really cool looking tree house hostel, but we didn't realize there was no road to get us to it. Our driver dropped us off at the bottom of a trail going up the mountain. So with backpacks on (this is where you truly realize you packed too much), we tredged up and up and up like mules with supplies.

    After checking in, we found some recommended hiking trails to waterfalls, picked one and headed off. You'd think hiking to a waterfall would be downhill towards water, but you'd be very wrong in Colombia. We were on a dirt road most of the way, but the thick jungle all around and exotic bird calls felt more like the Colombian adventure we were looking for.

    Along the way, a local who owned an organic coffee plantation invited us to join him for a cup. Never had coffee like that before - black and zero bitterness. Amazing.

    The waterfall itself was ok, but perhaps a bit underwhelming. But the trek was a good start to future treks in northern Colombia. We hiked back to Minca, and back up to our treehouse in time for a fantastic sunset. Then back into town for some food and back up the 236 stairs again to bed. -SP    Read more

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