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South America

January 2023 - May 2024
An open-ended adventure by Jesseandlauragowandering & Jesse Read more
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  • South America
    Day 59

    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

  • South America
    Day 55

    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

  • South America
    Day 48

    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

  • South America
    Day 45

    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

  • South America
    Day 41

    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

  • South America
    Day 37

    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

  • South America
    Day 32

    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

  • South America
    Day 24

    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

  • South America
    Day 23

    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

  • South America
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    Day 21

    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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