Bogotà/ Santa Marta-dealing with bedbugs

After Tatacoa desert I went back to the place where my trip to Colombia started - Bogotà. As I only had a layover the first time I really wanted to go back to the city and also I wanted to pick up my friend Johanna who was going to visit me for almost 3 weeks here in Colombia. As I traveled through the south of Colombia on my own I really wanted to do the northern part with her which also includes the Caribbean Sea!
But.. for some reason my initial days in Bogotà did not go the way I planned them.. I stayed in a very nice hostel which also had good reviews.. i booked this hostel because 3 girls from France which i met before in Medellin also were in that hostel and we wanted to see each other again as we had such a great time in Medellin :)
But.. the bed I slept in was contaminated with bed bugs.. I already felt it during the night as everything got really itchy and it was worse than a mosquito bite. Bed bugs can always be there when lots of people change beds and usually it is not a hygienic problem. It can happen to 5 star hotels as well as hostels. And the girls from France also had the same problem.. their skin also had many bites.. crazy! But if you have ever had the chance to read about bed bugs they are extremely resistent and it is difficult to get rid of them once you have them. Some people even through their clothes away because they don’t get rid of them.
The hostel did not do anything of course and said it was all our fault. This all happend only 2 days before Johanna arrived. So in a short amount of time I had to figure out a new place to sleep (obviously I would not stay in that place), and I got a new set of leggings and tshirts in order to be able to chemically wash everything twice including my backpack, camera gear and all the small bags I own. Even Pingu got a 2nd wash.
I just needed to make sure they are all dead. On top of that I also sprayed my whole bag beforehand with desinfectant and bug repellent just to make sure!
But those days were stressful. Luckily I reacted quickly and I was able to get rid of them just in time so Johanna would be okay.
We only stayed in Bogotà for a day to look at the city and meet my new and amazing friend Anna who I met when I was stuck at the airport for 24 h in Sao Paulo. She showed us this very nice place where you can drink: eat a real speciality which is hot chocolate with cheese. Yes it is basically a mozzarella stick that you dunk into the hot chocolate so it gets melty.. I liked it. Would I recreate this in Germany probably not but I‘m always open to new tastes and I think it was for sure worth trying. Especially because it is apparently really Colombian.
The next day Johanna and I left for Santa Marta which is nice city at the coast of Colombia. After the 3 h flight we were still able to walk around town and even watch the sunset which was nice - just a perfect preparation for what awaits us the next 4 days!! The biggest adventure so far for Johanna and for me just another crazy hiking tour - how many times did I think back to Torres de Peine. But it was again so worth it!Read more