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South America
  • Jesseandlauragowandering
  • Jesse Harris
Currently traveling
Jan 2023 – Aug 2025

South America

An open-ended adventure by Jesseandlauragowandering & Jesse Read more
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    South America

    Resting up in villa de leyva

    March 10, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    We’ve spent the last 6 days resting up and waiting for the anti parasite medication to kick in. We’ve both been experiencing fatigue , but have gone from spending the whole day being unable to move from the room and vomiting, to slowly eating 3 meals a day and finally feeling better today thank goodness!!!Read more

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    Ozzy the little puppy who kept us company in baricharaClearly feeling very well

    Illness descends

    March 6, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Laura was pretty ill with giardia for a good week and a bit , with Jesse being ill too but managing to stave off the worst of it. We’ve spent the last couple of weeks resting and recovering, based for the worst of it in Barichara and then a quick detour to Guadalupe, both of which we were not in comfortable locations or hostels which was a bit rubbish.Read more

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    Giardia + paragliding = bad times

    February 27, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    The next stop was San Gil, the ‘ adventure capital of Colombia’. We stayed in a really friendly hostel where we met a British guy called Thomas who we hung out with for a couple of days before he left to do a workaway.
    We spent 5 days here and visited the pescaditos, a series of five consecutive watering holes in the river, as well as the local botanical type garden which had some beautiful plants and provided some much needed coolness. We also visited the beautiful Barichara which we decided we wanted to come back to. We also visited a waterfall which after our trip to El jaguar, didn’t feel super impressive…

    Jesse took the plunge and got a haircut from a Colombian barber, which could have been disastrous but actually ended up being amazing. Jesse now has a typical Colombian mullet which they are rocking.

    The last couple days is where things started to go wrong. We had the most disgusting meal of our time so far which still makes me sick thinking of it. Through some language troubles, laura accidentally ordered a lasagne with spagbol. Rancid chicken and cat food toppings.

    The final day Laura wanted to go paragliding. What should have been a cool experience turned out to be not especially enjoyable as Laura immediately got motion sickness and then threw up her breakfast whilst she was in the air.
    Then the food poisoning truly kicked in…    Read more

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    Buca baby

    February 24, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    After our short stint in the Caribbean coast we decided to swiftly exit and headed on a mega journey down to a city called Bucaramanga. This unassuming city that was supposed to be a quick stop off turned out to be so wonderful, friendly and restorative. We stayed in a hostel where we met a lovely man called Robby who was doing a cycle from the uk to Argentina , via some sailing across the seas. It was really lovely to chat with him and left us feeling refreshed. The hostel also had a cafe attached with some banging coffee and waffles, Jesse had this amazing raspberry chocolate cold drink.

    Jesse also somehow found what we hoped would be a lgbtq+ night, complete with djs and a Britney drag show. Laura and Jesse had the best night ever dancing and feeling a bit of home that they are missing,in the shape of solid queer anthems and unapologetically proud and affirming people.

    One thing to say about Colombia is we have never felt so affirmed, celebrated and received with such warmth as we have done here. It’s really lovely to be asked if we are friends or partners, people don’t shy away from asking. We also keep seeing so many lgbtq+ couples which is so lovely.    Read more

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    The Caribbean: tayrona,palomino,exit

    February 20, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ 🌬 26 °C

    One of the most popular things to do in the coast of Colombia is to go to Tayrona national park, a protected coastal region with lots of different beaches. The pictures look beautiful and everyone we had spoken to said it was great. However we weren’t super impressed with it as there was so many people there and we all felt funnelled into this one walk way that you had to walk through. The walk was 2/3 hours and once we had arrived to the beach you could actually swim on ( as the Caribbean coast is mostly dangerous for swimming due to the strong rip tides), we felt a bit disappointed. There were rows and rows of tents pre re-elected which made it feel tacky. It felt quite uncomfortable too as this area is where indigenous people live and it’s clear that the massive income generated from tourism is not going towards supporting the indigenous people living there.

    We then spent a strange night inside the park at a hotel where I have never felt so unwelcome. needless to say we got out of there quickly.

    The next stop on the map was Palomino, a self described hippy town. And it certainly was, we didn’t feel super comfortable again as the disparity of wealth felt so stark. The main strip towards the beach was pretty fancy and bougie, but then you looked down any of the side streets and there was real poverty. We ate at a local restaurant and whilst we were there people were coming in to get drinking water from the restaurant. There were indigenous people begging too and it just wasn’t super comfortable so we decided to cut our losses and leave without staying the night.    Read more

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    The Caribbean coast: minca

    February 16, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    We flew up to the Caribbean coast im order to go to Barranquilla carnival. The vibe up there was very different to the warm welcoming vibe that we had previously only felt. We stayed a day in Santa Marta and felt very overwhelmed by the heat, the 98% humidity, the really loud and aggressive traffic and the unfriendly people. We decided to cancel our air bnb booking for carnival because Laura decided she didn’t really want to be in the heat of a city for a long time.

    We escaped the heat of the coast and headed up to a mountain town called Minca, which was cooler. We were in the mountain range that is the highest coastal mountain range in the world. The hostel we were staying in was a 40 minute ride away from the town so we were truly in the middle of nowhere. The hostel was stunning and had amazing views out to the coast in the distance. It was so peaceful and we had a great time bird watching. We even saw a toucan that was yawning! We went on a walk to a cascada called el jaguar, which was so stunning and the best waterfall we have both ever seen. We had it to ourselves too. It was really great to use our grayl water filter using water from the fresh freezing cascada.    Read more

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    Spanish adventure!

    February 11, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    We spent a week at a Spanish school called Spanish adventure, in a small town a few hours from Medellin. We had lessons in the morning then adventures in the afternoon in Spanish, consolidating the language. It was a really fun week, we made lots of lovely friends including tony from Germany and Claire and Keiran from London. The school was amazing and very well taught.

    We stayed with a lovely lady called Beatriz who had a refugio five minutes from the school. Every day and night we had to walk across a very rickety bridge and in the night times we had to have a snake stick with us to protect us from any snakes.safe to say we didn’t meet any here.

    On the Saturday we had a big adventure where we chose to go river tubing… basically tubing down a white water river, which was interesting but we both only fell off once.

    It was such a lovely week full of Spanish and adventure. We were sad to leave !! On the Sunday Beatriz invited us to a community market, where her friends and like minded people gather monthly to swap and sell their wares. It was really lovely to be a part of it and we had a bring and share lunch.    Read more

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    San Rafael and the black pearl

    February 3, 2023 in Colombia

    We got the bus from Guatape to our next hostel Which was in the countryside on the way to San Rafael. It was pirate themed and called the black pearl.

    We went for a swim in the river at the bottom of the hostel which was super refreshing! Had a really tasty burger made from quinoa which was so delicious, I don't know how they make it so good.

    The hostel had a horse free roaming in the grounds and Laura got well acquainted with Paloma the friendly horse. The doggies were also lovely but unfortunately one escaped and wasn't found before we left 😭

    We slept in an eco cabin which was lovely.

    The next day Jesse wasn't feeling too good so we just chilled out in the hammocks and read our books. Later on we went for a walk to another local charco ( swimming hole) and it was so deep and gorgeous. There were lots of locals there enjoying a dip too.    Read more

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    Guatape continued

    February 2, 2023 in Colombia

    We headed to the second hotel/hostel in Guatape, not our usual vibe it was a budget hotel complex chosen solely for its good Wi-Fi reviews. Unfortunately, on arrival they had no Wi-Fi! The very smarmy owner was incredibly unhelpful and sent us on our way to Guatape to get Wi-Fi a their. After a very hot walk and as always entertaining ‘collectivo’ jeep ride. We went and did some practice in a cafe. Guatape was surprisingly beautiful for a tourist haunt with beautifully colourful buildings with depictions of the things the shop sold or images of important things to the family on the walls. My favourite was the cinnamon swirl shop with its cute cinnamon swirls on the wall. We headed home after a very Colombian… not, Breton galette.

    The next day was a heavy work day I did my exam in the morning, followed by an application to take a TESOL course and some work away applications too. We went for lunch at a super random Cuban restaurant with an overly friendly waiter.    Read more

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    Bacoa hostel

    January 31, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Onto the next destination of Guatape, which would serve as a base for Jesse to complete their situational judgement test as part of their genomic counselling application with the NHS. After being dropped off in the nearest pueblo, we took a jeep ride and a walk which led us to Bacoa hostel. This hostel was on the lake ,with a very chilled out vibe. As we checked in, I wondered if this hostel was a bit too chilled out and was the sort of place that didn't have WiFi...turns out my hunch was right, throwing a bit of a spanner in the works for Jesse's test which required stable WiFi. We decided to stay anyway as it was a welcome break from the city of Medellin and we arranged to go to a hotel after the 2 night stay we had at Bacoa.

    The vibe at Bacoa was super chilled and there were some lovely people who we chatted with and got along with. We spent the day swimming in the lake, drinking beer and having the most tasty home cooked veggie food since we had been in Colombia. Whilst the place was really gorgeous, it seemed a little unloved under the surface, I noticed lots of uncared for plants and lots of things needed a paint job etc. Anyhow it was a lovely atmosphere and the first night we had a salsa class, something id been wanting to try. Safe to say I'm more of a natural when it comes to coordinated dances but we mastered the basic steps!!

    Jesse's Guatape outfit reached new levels when they found some sunglasses on the rocks and also picked us some orange crocs from the clothes swap at the hostel!    Read more

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    Medellin

    January 27, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    After the painfully long journey from manizales to medellin, we found our bougie boutique hotel in an area called Laureles,which was beautiful and leafy. We had an interesting first day ( if u know u know) and thus spent the next day recovering.

    Nonetheless we pushed through and went to the Memory House museum to learn about the history of Medellin which has been fraught with violence. We struggled through the chaotic centre back to the hostel, bumping into a friend from Sheffield... What are the chances?

    We headed back out for a bite to eat and ended up at a salsa bar with live music.

    The following day to Communa 13 for a tour. In recent history this was the most dangerous area of Medellin due to its position in the city for the narco trade, tightly packed housing and low income families. It was a very emotional tour by a woman who had lived in the neighborhood her whole life and had directly been affected by the conflict and violence. The area had been turned around after a horrific and conflicting operation by the military which took out many gang leaders but also killed many civilians. In addition to a huge amount of investment in social support and mobility. Communa 13 is home to the famous outside escalators which connect the steep hillside with no vehicle transport with the rest of the city. The graffiti and break dancers were a highlight. The main take away the tour guide wanted us to share was that Medellin and Colombia are so much more than Narcos and drug trafficking!

    We then hopped on the cable car for a beautiful view across the whole city, looping back down to the metro. The heat was unbearable so we decided to hit up one of Medellins roof top pools. By the time we got there we were very hot and bothered. Only to be met by a popping in all the wrong ways pool party. Lot's of Americans... And we were met with 'for the next half an hour there's a free bar for the ladies' we swiftly excited.

    After some sweaty enquiries else where we finally found a pool to suit us just as the sun set. We had a lovely time nonetheless and splashed around to our hearts content.

    We finally headed for dinner with Conner, our friend we had bumped into the day before.

    Our time in Medellin was interesting and we were excited to get back to the country side.    Read more

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    Teeny tiny bunny at the hostelGorgeous dog called cielo who constantly wanted cuddlesOops we have too much stuff1

    A random day in Manizales

    January 25, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    Laura: We got up and had a gorgeous breakfast provided by the hostel. we weren't sure what to do so we went for a wander in the local area. Jesse and I bought really gross ice creams from an old man who was so sweet and very grateful for our purchase. He held my hand earnestly as he gave me the change. We then jumped on a bus (transport of the day) and attempted to find some lunch. We stumbled across a restaurant in someone's garage and ordered some aluermezo (lunch) - soup, rice beans salad and some chicken. I ate as much chicken as I could stomach. It was super tasty though! Just not used to the 🐔

    Next up, we walked down the hill to the eco parque. With not a soul in sight,we went for a wander down the unkept paths. Soon enough we came across a snake. The second snake of our trip so far. Almost every walk we've been on, we've seen a snake. We had to run away and back track down the path we came. It took some time for Jesse's legs to stop shaking.

    (Jesse): Thinking that was the end of our day, we headed back to the hostel via the shop with the old man who sang a lovely song whilst we had a cold drink. Alas, we were so hot we needed to find somewhere for a dip. Back out we trogged to the bus into the centre of Manizales... Nothing to write home about. On to another bus and out to PNN Los Nevados, a beautiful national park, just past the cities recycling plant... Despite how it sounds it's gorgeous. We wandered up a dirt track and dip in the river, having a wee tinny, we are British after all. We then headed to the Termales, where we bathed in sulphuric water, to our hearts content. Much nicer than the previous ones!

    We skooted back by bus, ending the trip with our 6th of the day. Such a cool city, with 8 microclimates reminiscent of Sheffield, so close to the national park.    Read more

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    Termales!

    January 23, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We have spent a couple nights in Santa Rosa de cabal in order to go to the hot springs that the area is known for. When we arrived here it was super busy with people spilling out from every possible doorway.it was pretty overwhelming having arrived from a peaceful finca in the countryside to now in the middle of a small city, pollution very noticeable.

    Jesse really wanted a coca cola and I offered to go get one,but it was pretty intense out there so we headed out together to round the corner,passing many different bars with people playing pool and everyone out and about. January is the Colombian summer holiday so it's pretty busy at the moment.

    The hostal we were staying in (like a guesthouse) had a little dog called pumba, who was the most scared dog I've ever met. Very nervous boy.

    I made us some gross buttery pasta (trying to recreate a Meera sodha recipe with only half the ingredients), sorry Jesse.

    We had many lovely interactions with locals. On the way to the thermales, we met a man called Jackson who sells coffee products and plants, he wanted to open a business with us where we would sell his products in the UK. He gave us some gorgeous coffee nougat! He asked if we were together and reassured us it's fine in Colombia,it's normal . We tested this out at the thermales later, but got a lot of stares!! It might just be that we were also the only gringos there.

    The termales were interesting. We caught a bus up to the site and got flustered at the reception when the lady asked us for our passports and we didn't have them. Luckily we had a pic of them so that was enough. We were hungry so ordered a veggie hamburger and then went into the pretty murky waters of the termales. There's 4 pools and a waterfall, it felt like going into a big bath with lots of people. It was hot and sunny ,so it felt weird sitting in a hot pool. There were loads of Colombian families there who were enjoying themselves.

    We had a good few hours there then decided to come back down to Santa Rosa. The buses here are very relaxed, often half an hour late. There's lots of waiting around but it's part of the relaxed culture I think.

    We popped into the veggie shop on the way back and got very confused about prices; we thought the lady said 70,000 and we only had 60,000 on us. We were confused and unsure and then the lovely lady said it was 7,000 not 70,000. Oopsie. ( For context around 5,500 is £1)

    We had a better dinner that night, with guacamole and arepas. Arepas are a maize and pancake-esque. Nom.    Read more

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    Cocora

    January 17, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

    We went on a hike in the cocora valley. We got a jeep there and Laura had to stand on the back which was thrilling. It was a big long muddy walk and we climbed the same height as Snowdon! We went to the hummingbird sanctuary which was so so lovely. We got to the top and a thunderstorm started. We stumbled upon a cafe where a man was playing pan pipes and had a coca cola. Then we jumped on the back of another jeep,this time both of us on the back. It was uphill and long. We went to a Venezuelan cafe which was lovely and the waitress was so nice. they had a pride flag and we had a lovely chat about Venezuela, equality and ate delish Venezuelan food. We then scooted home back to the hostel and another thunderstorm set in so we watched encanto amidst some power cuts!Read more

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    #diginomads, bad pizza and Tejo

    January 16, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Our time in Salento started off a bit rocky as we were awoken at 5am by someone in the hostel screaming. Jesse went out to see what was going on and this girl was having some sort of psychotic episode / having a bad time on San pedro. We decided to get up and out as it wasn't very nice to hear. Turns out nothing is open at 7am in Salento, so we wandered around until a cafe would let us in. We then spent the morning pretending to be digital nomads as Jesse had a job application to do.

    Jesse had their worst meal so far, a veggie pizza that tasted of literally nothing.

    We went for an explore around Salento, with it's beautiful coloured houses and miradors. In the evening we played our first game of Tejo, the Colombian game that involves throwing a lump of metal at some gunpowder.    Read more

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    Day travel to salento

    January 15, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Big day of travelling today. From Bogota to Armenia,to Salento. The views were incredible on the bus to Armenia and we were impressed by the infrastructure. Not so impressed by the annoying traveller chat going on behind usRead more

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    Art art art

    January 14, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    We went on the Bogota graffiti tour in the morning. It was amazing learning about all the symbolism in the art and the ways in which graffiti is used as a means of political expression.

    We had the best lunch at a restaurant recommendes to us by a barista. it was amazing.

    In the afternoon we went back to MAMU and looked at the rest of the mapa teatro exhibition    Read more

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    Day uno

    January 12, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Today was jetlag central. We got it together enough to grab a SIM card and head to the museo del oro ( gold museum). So much gold. Jesse really liked the dancing men and I really liked the necklaces. We had to have a few sit downs to ease our jetlagged bodies and then decided to head back to the hostel for some much needed rest.Read more

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    The journey to Bogota

    January 11, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    The journey to Bogota Colombia was loooooong. Added with a splash of uncertainty as to whether we'd be allowed in to the country.
    I (Laura) forgot to download my COVID pass and couldn't get a new one as my phone number was wrong and it would take up to a day for my new number to be accepted. I had to use an old COVID pass which luckily the airport staff didn't check the expiry date.Read more

    Trip start
    January 11, 2023
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