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South America 2025
  • David Clarke
  • David Clarke

South America 2025

Colombia, Ecuador Read more
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  • Trip start
    December 31, 2024
  • David ClarkeSouth America 2025Traveler

    Puerta del Sol, Madrid

    Dec 31–Jan 1, 2025 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    My new journey has just begun, on New Year's Eve I flew to Madrid, and on New Year I'm flying to Bogota in Colombia. I'll spend a few weeks there and travel the length and breadth of the country 😉
    Then I plan to cross the border with Ecuador in Ipiales, to spend the next few weeks in Ecuador. I only have a one-way ticket for now 😂 We'll see how it goes, for the first time I'll travel on a bit of spontaneity. All the best in the New Year 2025 🍾🥂    Read more

  • David ClarkeSouth America 2025Traveler

    Bogota

    Jan 1–4, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    I'm already in Bogota! 😎 I flew here on New Year's Day, around 5:00 PM Colombian time. The take off from Madrid to Bogota was supposed to take place at 10:55 AM. However, when I finally got to the gate, it turned out that in order to be allowed to board the plane, I had to have an exit ticket from Colombia. I heard that this sometimes happens in the case of some countries, so I prepared a link to buy a temporary ticket. It's actually just a 24-hour ticket rental and costs ten dollars. I quickly fired up my browser and paid for the reservation.

    Everything was fine, I was waiting for the confirmation and in the meantime all the passengers had already boarded. Only some latecomers were still showing up. Time was running out, and the confirmation didn't come 😬 So I quickly bought a real ticket from Bogota to Quito in Ecuador and changed a bit my plans, because I was supposed to cross that border on foot in Ipiales. Finally I managed to board, and after another 10 minutes, the now unnecessary confirmation came.

    Then a second unpleasant surprise happened 😱 The plane stood there for twenty minutes, then slowly circled the terminal and returned to its place. The captain informed us that there was a generator failure. After more than an hour, it turned out that restarting the computer and engines solved the problem. Seriously, it's like MS Windows, you restart it and everything works. I wonder if pilots have Ctrl+Alt+Delete on their keyboards 😂    Read more

  • David ClarkeSouth America 2025Traveler
    Edificio AviancaCable Car to Monserrate

    Bogota and Monserrate cable car

    January 2, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    My first day in Bogota was wonderful. At first I was a bit worried because the weather forecast wasn't very good. They said there would be light rain from 11:00 all day long and storms in the afternoon. Luckily it turned out that around 15:00 it only drizzled a little and then it was nice again. The temperature was around 20 degrees Celsius, so it was quite warm. Bogota is located at an altitude of 2640 meters above sea level, so nice weather is not guaranteed here. Despite the fact that it is summer here in January.

    I walked around the city, bought a SIM card with internet from Claro, exchanged money and became... a millionaire. Yes, 250 Euros gives you over a million pesos here 😂

    Then I took the cable car up to the Monserrate mountain located on the edge of the city. It is 3152 meters above sea level. It's only a little over 500 meters of elevation gain, but the views were still great 🤩

    I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the city. I also managed to book a full day tour to La Chorrera waterfalls, which I'll be doing tomorrow.    Read more

  • David ClarkeSouth America 2025Traveler
    The lowest step of the waterfall La Chorrera
    There are seven different plants growing on this rockPava Andina

    La Chorrera waterfalls

    January 3, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Today I was on a day trip to La Chorrera waterfalls. I left Bogota at 9am and after more than an hour of driving we arrived there.

    Our group was only three people, me and a young couple from Aruba. And our guide of course. We had to do five kilometers trekking through the mountains. The trail was very picturesque. The sun was shining at times, but the temperature was about 17 degrees Celsius. Since the walk through the mountains was a bit strenuous, it was not cold, just right.

    The main waterfall of La Chorrera is 590 meters high and consists of seven steps. On the way back we got caught in the rain, but after about half an hour it stopped. At the entrance to the park we were given raincoats, so it wasn't too bad anyway. At the end of our trip they drove us back to our hotels. Overall it was a very pleasant trip.    Read more

  • David ClarkeSouth America 2025Traveler

    Last day in Bogota - Museo del Oro etc.

    January 4, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    I'm spending my last day in Bogota walking around the city centre. At 22:00 I have a night bus to Medellin, which takes nine hours. Luckily, the weather was great today, it didn't rain, the sun was shining, and it was warm enough to wear a t-shirt 🤩

    I visited the gold museum (Museo de Oro), which presents the history of precious metals throughout the human history. There are many exhibitions, and many exhibits.

    I walked around the center of Bogota to feel the Colombian atmosphere and enjoy the place. I also met a certain metal singer, performing on the street. He had a t-shirt of the Polish band Behemoth. He was rocking out quite well (read: he was screaming like crazy). It was obvious that he was not a beginner. We talked for a while, I did a short interview with him for my YouTube channel. He sings in the Colombian band Zoser (they are on YT, Spotify, etc.). His name is Erickson Johnson and he's from Venezuela but he's been living here in Colombia for 9 years 🤘

    And now I'm drinking chicha, a fermented corn drink. I've had it in Peru, but now I drink it with ice, cinnamon and condensed milk. Yummy 😋    Read more

  • David ClarkeSouth America 2025Traveler

    Medellín - Comuna 13 and Aurora

    Jan 5–9, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    After an all-night bus ride from Bogota, I finally arrived in Medellin at seven in the morning 😃 I slept quite well, the seats recline to 160° so I was half-lying. I just had to turn from the half-lying left to the half-lying right and vice versa, because I got a bit numb in the half-lying one 😂

    I got to the hotel easily by metro, and I'm staying in the Estadio district, where most tourists stay. I'm glad that it finally got warm. Over twenty degrees Celsius 🤩 Medellin is on a much lower altitude than Bogota and that's why.

    So I left the hotel and took the metro to the San Javier district, from where the cable car goes to the Aurora district. There are four stations in total, but no one got off at the intermediate ones. And to get on at the lower station, I waited 20 minutes, that's how long the line was. By the way, this cable car is a part of the local public transport, it's not a tourist attraction. At the last station in Aurora, I looked at the city views from above and I went down with the cable car again.

    Then I walked to the escalator that goes up to the Comuna 13 district, the most popular place in Medellin. In fact, the entire San Javier district is called Comuna 13, but usually tourists call it only the upper part. The last 200 meters to the stairs, I walked in a dense crowd, moving at a dizzying speed of ten meters per minute 😂 No chance to overtake.

    The stairs had several stages, some of them did not work causing a jam. It's a very traumatic experience when you go up the stairs, and there is an almost stationary crowd in front of you, and you have no way to get off the stairs 😬 And people are pressing behind you. I experienced this twice today.

    I walked through the streets of Comuna 13. There were so many people that in some places the walking speed dropped to two meters per minute. It was also very loud, each stall had its own large speakers, and competed with the others in volume 😂 It was an absolute cacophony, as loud as a rock concert. I think I shouldn't have gone there on a Sunday afternoon 😃 But it was still a nice and eventful day.    Read more

  • David ClarkeSouth America 2025Traveler

    Guatapé and La Piedra del Peñol

    January 6, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    My day trip to Guatapé began early in the morning. This town is located a few dozen kilometers from Medellin and is famous for its huge rock called la Piedra del Peñol. This giant is 220 meters high and can be climbed by 708 steps 😅

    On the way to Guatapé, we stopped for breakfast, which was included in the cost of the trip. We finally arrived and, full of energy after breakfast, we threw ourselves into the step climb. The views from the top rewarded the effort 🤩

    The next stage of the trip was visiting the town of Guatapé. This is a picturesque and colorful pueblo, only a kilometer long. Of course, with access to the Embalse del Peñol reservoir and something like a marina.

    The last point was a cruise on a tourist boat on the reservoir. You could see Pablo Escobar's estate in ruins, which now belongs to the government. And now we are going to Medellin and I am writing this short report for you 😎    Read more

  • David ClarkeSouth America 2025Traveler

    Medellín - Parque Arví and Plaza Botero

    January 7, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Today I started the day without rushing and at ease. I took the metro to the cable car station that goes high up the hill, where Arví Park is located. It is a natural park that is recommended as one of the main attractions in Medellin. I bought the option with a guide because I was curious what he would talk about. It turned out that he was basically only talking about the plants growing there: anthuriums and orchids. The tour lasted over an hour, and then the guide suggested that we could go around the park on our own. I was the only one who decided to do so and I walked for another hour.

    Later I went down the cable car, but not to the very bottom of the ravine in which Medellin is located, I got off at the Santo Domingo station. It is a favela that has been civilized thanks to the cable car station. I walked around, had lunch and went down to the bottom metro station.

    From there I went to Botero Square, which is one of the most beautiful places in Medellin. There is an exhibition of large metal figures there. The square is bustling with life and you can feel the Latin spirit here. The square is also home to the Palacio de la Cultura, the beautiful Palace of Culture.

    From Botero Square I went to the nearby Bolivar Park, supposedly the most beautiful in the city. I was hoping for some peace and quiet after the hustle and bustle of the city, but it turned out that the park is about a hundred by two hundred meters and is surrounded by busy streets and buildings 😂 But at least I got a little rest on a bench.    Read more

  • David ClarkeSouth America 2025Traveler

    El Poblado and Pablo Escobar district

    January 8, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    I had no plans for today, except that I had to move to another location for one night. I completed the task and then went to the city. I went to El Poblado, which is considered one of the prettiest districts of Medellin. There is a beautiful park there, Parque de El Poblado. Unfortunately, it is quite small and surrounded by busy streets. I walked around a bit, looked around, but didn't really find anything interesting there.

    There was a double-decker hop-on hop-off tourist bus standing by the park. It turned out that you can take a ride in it, and it takes four hours to complete its route. Since it was supposed to leave in two hours, I thought that in that time I would take a ride to the Mirador de Las Palmas viewpoint. The only transport is a taxi, or rather I use a local app InDrive here, a kind of Uber. So I ordered one and it took me there. Unfortunately, it turned out that it was some other viewpoint with a similar name. Before I knew it, it was gone. I thought I would walk back, six kilometers down, such a nice trekking. I won't make it for the bus ride, but I can do it tomorrow morning. And today I will go to Pablo Escobar's neighborhood. You probably heard about him, he was the famous boss of the drug cartel from Medellin, about whom the Narcos series was filmed.

    When I was already down in the city, I caught a bus going to Escobar's neighborhood, which is called Buenos Aires. The bus was going up like crazy on the serpentines leading up the hill. It was quite a traumatic experience, I had to hold on tight not to fall out of the seat 😂

    When I was already there, all that was left was to climb a few hundred meters up the hill, to the place where the Monumento a Pablo Escobar is located. It is a building with a large graffiti depicting him. There is also a museum inside. People in the neighborhood are positive about this character, perhaps because he donated several hundred apartments in this neighborhood to the poorest. Of course, they were built illegally and with dirty money. Now there are a few thousand houses there and they have been legalized. Generally, however, Colombians are ashamed of this history 🫢

    Later I went down to the downtown and spent the rest of the day there. I also went to the hairdresser, a Venezuelan woman who gave me a haircut. We talked a bit about the situation in Venezuela.    Read more

  • David ClarkeSouth America 2025Traveler

    Hop-on hop-off around Medellin

    January 9, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    This is my last day in Medellin, I'm flying to Cartagena in the evening. Today I planned a hop-on hop-off ride around the city. It was supposed to last four hours, so I thought I'd make it just in time before my flight.

    I took a taxi to the El Poblado district, where the bus departs, and we set off. Unlike the hop-on hop-off buses where you get headphones and can choose the language, here our guide Katerina rode with us. Throughout the entire route, she talked in Spanish through a microphone about the places we passed. But I have to admit that she's a chatterbox, she broadcasted for four hours non-stop, and still you got the impression that she wanted to say even more 😆

    Among other places, we went to the Parque de los Pies Descalzados, or the barefoot park. You walk there barefoot on paths covered in small stones. Supposedly, it cleanses and energizes the barefoot walker. It was inspired by the Japanese, as I learned from Katerina. There are also cork trees growing there, the bark is peeling off and they are soft and dry to the touch like a wine bottle cork. I also drank lime juice, the cup of juice was filled with limes cut into stripes, and the juice itself was terribly sour and sweet 🤪

    We also went up the Cerro de Nutibara hill, where there is something like a small open-air museum. There are old, colorful houses there and a city museum.

    And that's it, we returned to the starting point, where I caught a taxi to the San Diego shopping center, from where buses leave for the airport, which is 20 km away. A taxi costs 100,000 COP and a bus like that only 17,000.

    Before I got on the bus, however, I went to lunch at a local bar. The line in front of the entrance was inviting and I stood in it for about ten minutes. A basic lunch costs only 6,500 COP 😆 The basic version included rice, fried banana, a small arepa, boiled beans and a vegetable salad. Of course, everyone chose something additional, including me. I added two fried eggs and a fried sausage. With corn water, white as milk and practically tasteless, and a bottle of water, I paid a total of 12,000 😂 And now I'm at the airport waiting for my plane.    Read more

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