Come to Colombia!

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Colombia was one big surprise.

After hearing all the terrible, horrifying stories about Colombia from the Venezuelans and Brazilians, we prepared ourselves to drive through Colombia in as little time as possible. We were pretty excited to leave Venezuela and Chavez behind, but were also worried about what would happen to us in this country that has such a bad name, and which is so full of criminals, drugs and guerillas. Well, as we should know by now, not everything you see on the TV news, or hear from the mouths of people who have never left their own country, is always true.

Colombia surprised us first with its excellent roads, then with its unspoilt, super-clean beaches, beautiful mountains and lakes, colonial towns, and its intriguing history of pre-hispanic civilizations and profound wealth of ancient, breath-taking, golden works of art from this time of the Indians. This country really has got the best of everything, and because it is not that big, it's possible to see so many different amazing things in a short space of time.

The irony of this country is that once we entered Colombia we haven't felt this safe since starting our trip through South America. Security is on every street corner in the big cities, and the smaller towns are basically crime-less. Whilst it's true that dangerous guerillas are still around (even though more than 80% have disarmed), they are in such remote, hard-to-reach places that you really need to be looking for trouble to find it.

But the greatest thing of all about this fantastic place has to be the people! We thought no-one could beat Brazilian's fun, hospitality and care, but the Colombians are serious competition. It is hard not to feel good just being around them. And it isn't just the way they treated us -by seriously going out of their way to help with even the smallest of things - but also the way they are to eachother and their attitude to life. Anywhere we went we met friendly people who were just enjoying their lives. It seems they live each day as if it was going to be their last. Perhaps they learnt this in the era of Pablo Escobar, whose name they are still trying to forget. Whatever the reason, there is definitely lots to learn from them.

Take our word for it, you can certainly believe Garcia Marquez when he said "five Colombians in a room invariably turns into a party!"


Odometer at start: 33 900 km
Odometer now: 46 846 km

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Photos

Hoover and the Gang
A close call with the engine screws (again) forced us to stop at this tiny town on the way to Bogota, where Hoover the mechanic and his friends kept us smiling. He told us that his mother liked the brand's vacuum cleaners so much that she decided to name him after it. The craziest thing is that we were told that in that tiny town of 400 people there were 5 others more with same wacky name!

Dead Meat
We were advised (somewhat falsely) by the Colombian Embassy in Venezuela to drive without stopping through the first 300km in Colombia (due to dangerous assualts and possibly guerilla encounters), so we pushed that little red Ferrari of ours to its limits (80km/h) and made it all the way to Santa Marta without stopping, except for important things like buying compulsory car insurance and taking a photo of this little kid on his way home to cook his freshly snatched iguana, which he said he killed by throwing a stone at it.

Pyro
Our first camping experience in South America.We Set up our really mini tent and cooked the first meal on our mini stove, which Tom is trying to light here.

Holy Smokes!
No, this was not Tom's work! Apparently an electricity fault got this fire started at this small village by the beach. Whilst the locals were doing their best to control the fire, the tourists were just watching them as if this was the post-dinner entertainment. How typical. We were momentarily
impressed when we saw one tourist brave enough to get closer to the fire as if he was going to help, but then he just used one of the burning pieces of wood to light his cigarette, and then left to light the rest of his friend's cigarettes too!

Colonial Cartagena
Full of hispanic architecture and magic made us feel we
were walking in the streets of Madrid.

Zipaquira Salt Cathedral
The only cathedral in the world made entirely of salt. It used to be a salt mine and the workers decided to make it into a place where they could pray. It is 160m underground at its deepest point and is just huge. Each chamber is dedicated to one of the scenes from Jesus's crucifiction path.

Salt Cathedral
Our new Colombian friend Jenifer that we met in Zipaquira and joined us in our travels for a while.

Tamales!
Typical Colombian food - rice and chicken cooked in banana leaves.

The Best Coffee in the World
In Colombia´s Zona Cafetera

Oro!
The famous museum of gold in Bogota. We have never seen so much gold in our
lives – over 40 000 beautifully created pieces made by the precolombian indians, but still probably only a small fraction compared to what was stolen and then, sadly, melted by spanish conquistadors. Still there is lots of undiscovered gold, and Jenifer´s friend recently found a big treasure box under his house while doing some reconstruction!

Comments

[Nat]

hey Tom, I finally understand why you call it Life is Beautiful. Not because it's smooth and easy and comfy but throughout all the nice-to-weird experiences you have put in your effort and let your eyes opened to new horizons (including the cocaine business). Geez I'm in a philosophical mood tonight.

[Ajoy]

Great blogging guys, a real eye opener. The coke lab was a classic.. and must really suck to have your folks name you hoover! Take care, Aj