Reset search
ColombiaColombia
SatelliteEdit route

Colombia

March 2022 - April 2024
Crossed the jungle border and I liked it Read more
Currently traveling
  • 11footprints
  • 1countries
  • 780days
  • 99photos
  • 18videos
  • 15.0kkilometers
  • 12.1kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerColombia
    1

    San Agustin & the hell ride to Cali

    March 11, 2021 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    One night sleep over in the nice Masaya Hostel, wich looked more like a star resort but was again cheap af. It was located outside of the village in the middle of the nature with super modern furnishing and extra comfortable dorm beds where we could gain strength again.
    The whole property was so cool, that we didn’t even leave it.
    I only took a hike down the valley to the river I saw from high above. The trail was kind of steep, but I was feeling good and ran where it was possible. More down the path wich how i discovered was actually a dried stream, got smaller and smaller.
    Suddenly I was crossing different kind of Plantages like coffee, cacao, papaya, banana, oranges.
    I stopped by a man wich picked me papaya straight from the tree with the words: “100% organic” :) It was absolutely RICO, as the people here say when something is delicious. Probably my favourite spanish word.
    After 1,5 hours I was almost down at the river, I could see and hear it but I couldn’t reach it because it was surrounded by 10m high cliffs and high scrub 😒
    I accepted that after many more attends and took my way back up because it began to get dark.

    Back up again I was just right exhausted for our 10hour night bus ride to Cali. So I ordered myself a Ceviche at the exquisite looking hostel restaurant, had a shower and ate it full of enjoyment,
    Right after the last bite, I realised my stomach wasn’t feeling good…Damnnnnnn, really? Now??
    I decided not to stay another night and take the bus anyway. BIG MISTAKE!

    As we entered the fully packed and also the most tight one I’ve seen until here, my stomach began to turn around.
    Not only that the bus was shit: from the 10 hours drive, 7 hours where on an uphill and repaved dirt road with countless potholes, wich transformed the bus into a Low-Rider jumping thing.
    After 30 minutes I puked the first time into a bag with holes on it, so my trousers, seat and floor got messed up.
    After maybe 3 hours and 3 more bags I decided to go up to the front front, onto an uncomfortable folding seat with open window. It got better there and sometimes I even managed to fell a sleep for some seconds until the next wave of jumping or puking hitted on me 😅

    As we arrived in Cali at 7 in the morning, I booked a private room in a hostel to recover. Unfortunately it wasn’t free yet so I had to lay down in the lobby where I loudly screamed some more times into a bucket 😂

    Finally I could get some rest and after many hours of sleep the nightmare was over and I could go out to see the city…    Read more

  • TravelerColombia
    Day 1

    Frontera to Colombia / Mocoa

    March 9, 2022 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    Colombiaaaa!!! The country wich interested me the most before the journey.

    The frontier crossing this time was easier, though we chose the unofficially path through the jungle over the amazon river. It costed me 5$ for the 10min boat ride and another 5$ for the taxi to the next bigger bus station. There We changed money and continued the 3hour Bus journey to Macao were we stayed a night at a Eco hostel for 15.000 Colombian Pesos wich are 3,5€ 😋
    The Landscape was one of the most beautiful I’d seen so far. It was a mix of the mountains, jungle, grass fields, waterfalls and rivers.

    Next day we went on 4 hours to the village of San Augustin.    Read more

  • TravelerColombia
    Day 4

    CALI - the Salsa city

    March 12, 2022 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Due to the congress elections on Sunday, there wasn’t going on much in the city. They closed all the Bars and alcohol was forbidden, so the people don’t forget to vote.

    So I explored the 2mio big city by walking. If you were outside of the center, there was this super chill vibe. No skyscrapers no bullshit, only tiny colourful houses and many nice parks with huge old trees in it.
    I really enjoyed the strolls around.

    On monday I had a private Argentinian samba dance class by Angustina in the morning and a Salsa dance classe at in the evening.
    In between we went up the big hill to the 26m high Cristo Rey Jesus statue. Nice view over the hole city.
    The senora working there showed us a shortcut along the “crosses” to the city. From the beginning the path was hardly visible. Clearly nobody had walked there for a long time.
    We saw the crosses though and continued downwards. After 5 crosses with probably 300m in between, the bushes became to dense. We still tried to get through somehow, which made our legs suffer from lots of scratches. I’m the end
    we had no other chance to turn around again 😒
    Gracias senora!

    The regular way back would have had cost us 2more hours and my salsa class appointment. We hitchhiked and luckily two motorcycles took us with!

    I was exhausted when we arrived at the hostel for the salsa class, but I joined. I didn’t know it is so intense 😅
    The salsa teacher gave us free entry tickets for a salsa club the same night, where I could show my learned skills 💃🏻
    The atmosphere was super nice in there, everybody switched after a dance so you could dance with pros and beginners like me.

    Next morning off to the Colombian coffee route through the mountains. First stop Salento.    Read more

  • TravelerColombia
    Day 7

    Salento

    March 15, 2022 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    A station two of my instagram-friends recommended me independent from one another.
    I heared my call and drove 3 hours from Cali to Armenia and from there 1 hour up the mountain. The temperature differences where big, so I moved from 30* to below 20* degrees.

    Salento is a picturesque village with colourful small houses in the Colombian coffee growing area.
    When I asked the locals what is the best thing in salento to do they answered:
    “Just enjoy the calmness and the hospitality of the people. Here are all friends”

    Indeed it was super safe and cozy with great nature around.

    I was again alone on the road. Agustina stayed back in Cali because she could earn there some money and give dance classes.

    The hostel with the two huge dogs was nice and I stayed in an 8-dorm bedroom with spacious cabins.

    I only stayed for a night and a day. So after spending the arrival evening pretty calm strolling around the city and having lunch at an vegetarian restaurant, suddenly i saw a Futsal court build up at the main square of the village where at daytime the market was.
    It was kind of an official match day, the teams had similar jerseys and there were referees.
    Since I couldn’t join them I played with the kids around the court, wich were also pretty good!
    After some hours it was 11pm, the teams kept on switching and playing, I left happy for bed 😴

    The next morning I went on a hike through the coffee mountains to visit an organic plantation.
    I learned about the cultivation and production and the different quality standards. At the end of the tour of course I got to taste the coffee. To be honest I didn’t like the espresso. It was super strong and sour wich comes from the high altitude. The stretched Americano was more enjoyable.

    Back at the hostel I did a longer fascia release session with yoga because my back wasn’t that good in the last days. Anyways it’s not easy to find a routine for working out while travelling. My bag is also way to big and heavy with 18kg.

    So I left the village to visit my old friend Miguel who used to be in the same social circle in Karlsruhe, like Antonio (Quito).

    We met in Pereira were he just landed after business negotiations in Panama. From there we drove together to his home in Manizales. Another coffee city.    Read more

  • TravelerColombia
    Day 9

    Manizales

    March 17, 2022 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    From the big temperature changes and a quite cold night in Salento I got a cold, wich I felt the first morning in Manizales the most.
    Around noon I could push myself outta bed though to go and see the city.

    I walked around without big plan or research, so I landed in a favela like area where I found a gondola wich brought me to the top of the city.
    The view was amazing because you could see all the neighbourhoods from above.
    Arriving the top and at the most commercial part, the city was pulsing there with lots of people, shops and restaurants.

    When Miguel finished work, we went for dinner at a market hall. Next morning I took the bus at 6 o clock to Medellin.    Read more

  • TravelerColombia
    Day 10

    Medellin

    March 18, 2022 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Twenty-five years ago, Time magazine dubbed Colombia’s Medellin “the most dangerous city on earth”. Drug lords lived like princes, judges and policeman were regularly assassinated, paramilitaries invaded neighbourhoods and ordinary people disappeared overnight without trace.

    Meanwhile the birthplace of Pablo Escobar has developed with an economy that is among the fastest growing on the continent, it is one of the great success stories of Latin America.

    I had the great luck to stay at Basti and his girlfriend Juliana. He is an old friend of Mario and me and lives in Medellin for three years now, so he could show me the best spots of the city.

    We went to nice restaurants, danced salsa, played soccer on a rooftop and visited nature parks around the city.

    Actually I wanted to be on the Caribbean coast for my birthday, but since Jasper, a very close friend from Berlin arrived in Medellin on the 22. of march, I extended until the 24.

    The evening before my birthday we drove home from a day trip at the mountain. The guys had to work the next day and I was thinking what I could do to enter my 32 year on this planet.
    We drove by a huge Casino, when I asked the guys to stop over, so I could ask if there’s any poker tournament soon. Apparently it started in 30min, so I went out to tell the others I would stay and play.
    The buy in was 100.000 Pesos (~25€) and around 18 colombianos took part.
    Clearly I had my birthdays fortune on my side, but also played my best poker in a long time, so I was leading the table after a short time.
    When we came to the final table I took out two players, so we were only 4 left. The third one would get 300.000, the second 600.000 and the first 1.500.000 Pesos.
    I was very close to winning when I called an all in with my A,K against K,K and lost half of my stack. From there on the game turned against me and
    in the end I became third place…

    At 0:00 I went to the roulette table put some money on the 22 and the 3. Without luck 🍀 but with lots of fun.

    Next day I had a nice brunch, went to the barber for a fresh cut and went by metro to the famous district of Communa 13.

    The area is no longer known for gang violence, police raids, cartels and illegal trafficking.
    These days, Comuna 13 is more readily associated with graffiti, street art performances and walking tours. New infrastructure, including a cable car system and six outdoor escalators, has made life in Comuna 13 a whole lot easier for residents and opened the area up to tourists.

    After taking the cable “gondola” to see it from above I chose to walk parts of the huge area by myself and without a guide.
    I felt a lot safer than I expected and the people were as mostly everywhere in the country extremely friendly, greet on the streets and are happy to help.

    In the evening I met Jasper with his old guest family at a local pub. Basti and Juli also came there and we ordered Greek food wich was delicious 🥳

    Jasper lived in Medellin for some time and decided to buy a property outside of the center in the nature, where he’s building a house on now, so he flys over from time to time to check the progress. The guest family wich he met in Argentina helps him with the building and the paper work since they’re neighbours.

    That night they invited me to their house after the greek food and I slept there to see Jaspers property and the area the next day.
    The father made us a huge breakfast + a even bigger plate for lunch later on.
    It is a beautiful place in nature with a little spring and waterfalls running through.
    We spend a really relaxed day there and even took the opportunity of their “turkish” steam bath.

    In the evening we visited the football game of Medellin against Bogotá where we met Basti and some other friends of his again.
    It was a burning atmosphere and a good game where Medellin won 1:0 with a player less.

    I feel so happy to have had such great hosts and had the chance to dive that deep into the citys heart.
    Basti even drove me with his car at 5 in the morning to the airport. There the flight got delayed 3 hours because of bad weather.

    I arrived at 12 noon in Barranquilla where carneval would take place on the weekend. I was there two days before so I decided to drive 4 hours to the hippie village of Palomino on the caribbean coast line 🤩    Read more

  • TravelerColombia
    Day 16

    Palomino

    March 24, 2022 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Driving along the again very different landscape at the sea I had to changed the bus in Santa Marta to Palomino.

    Arriving there a moto-taxi took me to the Tiki Hut Hostel next to the beach. I checked in and went directly dipping into the rough sea. It was already dark an the waves were strong but warm.

    After showering I run into my roommate Jonas wich was from berlin too. We connected instantly and went out for dinner, before going to bed early.

    Next day I woke up in this paradise, had breakfast and walked along this gorgeous beach until a spot where I was alone for miles. I sat down under palmtrees, drank a coconut, went skinny dipping and did yoga.
    I’m Greece there is a saying: “There is non like Chalkidiki” and despite the beach conditions with the different sands, palm trees and nature, the sea itself in Greece is still the most clear and beautiful I’ve seen so far 🙂

    At noon I met Jonas with two danish, one german and one swedish guys for tubing in the river.
    We got driven to a spot up the mountain where we jumped on a rope into the lake.
    We got our tubing tires and started the 2 hour drive down the river.
    We felt a little pranked when we found out that the river won’t get any faster because there was barely water in it 😂 We approximately drove with 5kmh and lots of laughter, in beautiful nature though.
    The highlight was when Jonas somehow lost his GoPro “Action cam” in non existing action.
    We searched it without success.
    Well no, the highlight was when 2 women ran from the sand beach into us like pirates capsizing and demanding 5.000 Pesos for creating at least some action.

    After that adrenaline rush we went out for dinner in the cute village of Palomino, where we heared live music and even a small rave with a Berliner Djane.

    The accommodations in Barranquilla for carneval got extremely expensive and you would even pay around 50€/night for dorms.

    The danish guys knew another Canadian guy wich rents out mattresses at an Airbnb.
    So right know Jonas, me and Mikkel are only a few hours away from the great carneval. Let’s see how long we will stand this…    Read more

  • TravelerColombia
    Day 18

    PHONE STOLEN - Barranquilla Carnival

    March 26, 2022 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Pretty annoying that i have to do the whole getting a new phone thing, with all the TAN-Generator shit and insurance fuckup. BUT i was now longer comparing the thought:

    "Would you instead of having had these experiences there, change into not loosing your phone?" I´d say no - fuck this phone.
    You can reach me very good via e-mail:
    nino.tsavalos@web.de - I´d be happy to hear from any of you.
    You can also reach me with the same e-mail adress via iMessage or facetime.

    Arriving at the apartment wich rented out mattresses, around 20 people from all over, slept into hammocks and mattresses in the acomodation where usually maybe 6 people find place.
    Our room with –15m2 had 4 mattresses on the floor and one hammock above :D

    The hole city turned into a gigantic street party. Every corner had their own loud music playing and selling drinks or food.
    We were really happy that me made the decision to come, so the three of us went to the main parade with hundreds of different trucks and dancers.
    Also there were probably hundreds of pickpockers. On the way to the toilet i first noticed a women, trying to open my purse...

    We continued walking down to the end of the parade, were the local people were standing in line to take fotos with us gringos :D One gave me her –3 year old daughter for a picture in my hands :D awkward but hilarious!

    We walked the street on were we came to the first party in and outside a bar. Great music, suddenly amazing disco classics got us dancing like crazy.
    I danced with all different kind of people, some were getting really close and by the time we went on to the next spot, i grabbed into my pocket where no more phone was...
    We tried to locate the phone immediately from the other guys phone, wich didnt work because i somehow couldn´t log in to my icloud... dont ask...
    There was no other chance of finding it, so i accepted it dejected.

    Somehow I managed to get over it and continue the crazy night with Jonas, Mikkel from Denmark, Alain from france, Jun from Berlin and Laura from Munich. We had a blast and moved from party to party until 5 in the morning.
    Back in the packed accommodation, my matress was already occupied by Mikkel and Alain wich left a bit earlier, but slept deep. I tried to search again with my laptop, but the device was shut down.
    First i tried to sleep on the floor, wich was to hard, then i squeezed onto the 1m wide mattress with Mikkel :D in the room without windows but ventilator. I immediately fell asleep.
    Next morning the guy who run the place organized breakfast (eggs, bread, coffee and fruits) for everybody. He made the business of the year, demanding for each mattress or hammock 100.000 Pesos... I heared from 5 more people who got rubbed this night. I got lucky not having felt the assault. One got first thrown flour into his eyes (with all the kids were throwing around) and than got sprayed at with a foamy spray, when they took his phone.

    Must sound weird but it still was such a great time in Barranquilla and I wouldn´t want to miss this.

    After breakfast, Jonas and me decided to take the Bus back to Costenho beach, to chill and calm down.
    We are now staying the second night in this BEAUTIFUL Bohemian Beach hostel, directly located in at the beach in between palmtrees, with only super chilled people (aswell as a couple from Karlsruhe :D )
    Many people stay here for months and work remotely from here, because it feels like paradise.

    Tomorrow morning we leave our big bags here, to explore the Tayrona National Park for a hike, with one night inside.

    Not having the ability to take pictures sucks...    Read more

  • TravelerColombia
    Day 19

    Playa Costeno / Tayrona Park

    March 27, 2022 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 27 °C

    After breakfast we took moto taxis to the back entry of the great great nature reservatory of Tayrona, because we heared its better to start from there to have the harder walking part first.
    So we started the four hour tour through the jungle to the first beach spot were we had the possibilty to sleep in hammocks. We had lunch there, it was only 3/4 pm and we had enough power to continue 2.5 hours to the next spot were we could have slept in a tent on the beach.
    The map we had was a joke. After an hour we came to a split path with no shield or direction. We pulled up the compass compared, discussed and made our decission to the right. Wrong decision.
    It started to get dark and there was still nothing but deep forrest around us when we started becoming a bit nervous.
    The jungle noices started to become louder and louder and there was one significant and ongoing roar, wich we thought is a Jaguar, because we saw many signs with "here lives the Jaguar" and so on.
    After ~2 more hours walk in darkness we found a tiny eco hostel were we found refuge. It was a local family, wich gave us two tents with mattrasses and even cooked a dinner for us. We played with the three sons a colombian game were you try to hit into a frogs mouth with metal rings and had a great sleep surrounded by the jungle symphony.

    We found out that we walked in a circle and almost been back to were we started 😅 great indiana Jones skills! The roaring was no jaguar but the scream monkeys. Still it was jaguar territory, though they are very shy and don't show off often.

    We woke up at 6 in the morning, the mother made us breakfast and we had almost the whole 7 hour hike ahead.
    Here is to say that last week the universe tested my patience because also my shoes got stolen in a hostel in Palomino, so I walked the most barefoot and the steeper paths with my flip flops. Everybody here thinks flip flop is such a funny word, also nobody else than the germans use. Great exercise for my foot 🦵!

    After half the way we finally came to the main beach were suddenly hundreds of people were chilling. We had lunch there and continued the way until we found a private beach were we had some rest and also tried the drone of Jonas! Great footage will come soon :)

    From there 5 different beaches in 15min distances were following. The most beaches there you weren't allowed to swim because the waves and current are too strong and many people already have drowned there. One playa was called piscina (pool) because it was surrounded by rocks wich broke the waves. There we could easily swim a bit.

    It became dark again at 6pm and we still haven't seen the exit, but didn't wanted to stay another night in the park. Finally we found some guys on motorcycles wich drove us back to civilization and our hostel.

    I enjoyed this bohemian beach hostel that much I extended two more nights. The days were perfect: beach, football, volleyball, ping pong and good company = happy phone- and shoeless Nino 🥰    Read more

  • TravelerColombia
    Day 24

    Santa Marta

    April 1, 2022 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Back to a bigger city to manage to get a new phone and maybe even some shoes :)
    After renting a bike driving around the city I was bargaining on the street on again stolen phones, but I made the decision not to support what harmed me. So i went on to some official shops were after comparing and comparing I found a brandnew Motorola smart phone with acceptable camera, double sim and good battery for 400.000 Pesos ~ 100€.
    I stayed at Casa Avelina Hostel with pool and good internet to manage this pain in the ass of relaunching everything on Android. WhatsApp still doesn't work because the number can't get approved...
    While I was working there on my computer a salsa class started wich I joined immediately. Class 2 ✓

    Uplifted by dancing i went on to discover Santa Martas nightlife. The city was quite dirty. Trash everywhere and many homeless. The center was a bit cleaner but still on some streets I felt unsafe.
    I went to see the nice but more expensive Masaya hostel (the one I started my hellride from San Agustin to Cali) where a guy opened me the door. Jakob from Berlin *lol*.
    We went to the rooftop where we met his brother and some french girls. After a while we changed to La Brisa Hostel where a proper party was going on. A huge rooftop place with 2 floors and hundreds of travellers mixed with locals. Reggeatón, Salsa, Merengue, Bachata etc was played and we danced for some hours.

    After a while we wanted to see more of the city so we continued on the streets were many bars and clubs were open, but nothing attracted us.
    The guys went back and I went for some food, where I met a local wich helped me find a way and "protected" me for some money in exchange. He brought me to a small place where a grandmother prepared a rico sandwich for me 🤤.

     It was 3am and a taxi brought me home safe where I booked a recommended hostel in Cartagena for the next day.
    Now I am on the bus to there. Unfortunately the bus where I already parked my main luggage in, just drove away while I was getting a water 😳.

    The people there called the bus and he will hopefully drop it at the station in Barranquilla were I can get it back.

    Vamos a ver (let's see). I'm now 5 minutes from the station...

    GOT IT 😃😃😃

    Now off to Cartagena, in the first row as in the good ol days.

    Oh wait I have some random pictures...    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English