Blogs from Guatape, Medellin, Colombia, South America

Tuesday 11th March (Odyssey Day 123) We were having a very late start today, planning to leave at 1200 and have lunch on the road. So we had our eggs for breakfast before spending some time catching up on the internet and packing our bags. I have too much stuff at the moment, and really need to do a bit of a clean out of my luggage. No point in carrying things around that I won’t be using any more (or that are broken). I’ll make time for that at the next hotel. Kelly and Eamon decided to remain in Medellin for another week and meet up with us in Cali, while Joanna and Ann decided to spend one more day in Medellin and get a bus to Guatapé tomorrow to meet up with us there. ... read more

I slept most of the way on the plane from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, due to the lack of sleep that I had got in the Airport.... that goddamn floor polishing lady! The flight to Medellin was really nice, flying out over the Florida coast and across the Carribean, then crossing over Colombia on the Northern coast. The final part was the most spectacular however, flying amongst the mountains of Colombia. Looking down with good views of the smaller villages, the massive mountains and the insanely big rivers. This was when I started to get pretty excited. Even better was the two people that I got to sit next to. An amazingly friendly couple from Colombia originally that now worked in Florida, Hoorico and Sandra. We got talking on the plane and pretty soon they were ... read more

Nun gut: Auch im Paradies gibt es Menschen. Insbesondere Backpacker. Und gegen Schnarchen und die Herr der Ringe-DVD auf Kinolautstärke im Wohnzimmer kommen die Grillen dann auch nicht an. Irgendwann wird der Film jedoch von einem Gewitter übertönt – passend dazu gibt’s Blitze überm See und den Bergen. Der anschließende Stromausfall macht das Ganze dann noch ein Stück romantischer. Der nächste Morgen wird standesgemäß mit einem Bad im See bei eitel Sonnenschein begonnen. Wieder oben am Haus steht das Frühstück auf dem Balkon – inklusive frischem Mango-Ananas-Saft. Man wähnt sich am Set eines französischen Liebesfilms. So viel convenience ruft nach Kontrast: eine körperliche Grenzerfahrung muss her. Mit dem Mountainbike 70 km durchs Umland von Guatapé? Klingt nach einem wunderbaren Plan. Der Hostelmitarbeiter mustert mich denn auch kritisch als ich ihm von meinem Vorhaben erzähle. E... read more

Hola! We made it to Medellin, Colombia! It was a direct flight out of FLL to Medellin via Spirit Air. Customs was very easy and painless to get through. We stopped to exchange money for the cab ride to the hotel and were excited to learn that we were charged less than a $1 for the fees. Colombia uses the Colombian peso and currently we get approx 1800 pesos for $1 USD. The cab ride took us down the mountain into the city of Medellin. The views were beautiful and full of red brick buildings thoughout the city. The experience of riding in a cab was very scary and interesting. Dogs roamed freely and knew how to evade the vehicles. Motorcyclists swerved in and out of traffic and the cars were constantly watching their side view ... read more

It easy to get a bad name, but it is not so easy to get rid of it. Colombia has a bad name in the world, but it is absolutely fine. We travelled here more than a month and everywhere we meet friendly people. What a difference with Venezuela, where we came from. They should have a bad name. Santa Marta Santa Marta is a nice city to take a rest. And we need that. We made a loop from Colombia, via Venezuela to Trinidad, from there to Suriname and French Guyana and via Brazil and Venezuela back to Colombia. It made us a bit tired. Here in Santa Marta we can stroll a little along the Caribbean Sea, cook for ourselves in Hotel Familiar, go to the barber next door, drink a beer at one ... read more