Blogs from Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia, South America

(Day 56 on the road) It’s been roughly a month since I arrived in Colombia, so now seems like a good time for a first recap. And to say it upfront, it has been a pretty good month indeed! After a two-hour flight (and a 3 ½ hour wait at the completely understaffed Colombian immigration), Medellin with its 2,5 million inhabitants was my first port of call. And despite of what image the city has as the former base of the infamous Pablo Escobar and its drug cartel, these days I found it to be an inspiring and forward-looking city. Gone are the days when Time Magazine called it “The Most Dangerous City in the World”, complete with its gang wars and the highest murder rate in the world. Nowadays, the whole city seemed to brim ... read more

Our Arrival Our bus from San Gil arrived in the Bucaramanga terminal at 11:55am. The bus terminal is quite far out of the town centre so we caught a bus in. The arrivals section in the bus terminal is a road in the middle of the terminal. Go up a level and out and there will be another road with taxis on. Go right and there is a bus stop. We caught a bus with 'Centro / CR 17' on the front. It cost COP$1,850 each, go through the turnstile on the bus and pay the driver as you get on. It took about 30 mins to get to CR17 and we got out when it reached about calle 30. Press the stop button above the back door to make the driver stop. Where We Stayed ... read more

As I have been slacking off for a while, I thought it would be a good idea to write something for you, my dear folks. And here I find myself entertaining the thought of depicting the city I am working at the moment, Bucaramanga, the capital of the Santander Department, a capital whose economy has been compared to that of some developed countries, by a local newspaper. According to them, this is probably due to the fact that its economy is very diversified and it generates a large number of jobs; since many of its businesses come from family enterprises, the rates of poverty would be very low compared to other regions in the country. Como me he encontrado perezeando un poco, pensé que sería una buena idea escribirles algo, mis queridos amigos. Y heme aquí, ... read more

January 3rd, my sister's birthday found me writing on this blog about the Chicamocha Canyon, which has been having lots of advertising on our Colombian TV stations lately, I hope you like it. The Chicamocha Canyon The Chicamocha Canyon is such an amazing place that it was nominated as a possible candidate within the group of 261 destinations to be named the 7 natural wonders of the world. The erosion was the culprit of this marvellous accident of nature that nothing has to envy the North American Colorado Canyon as ours is even deeper. Yeah, to be added to your trivial pursuit repertoire, the Chicamocha Canyon is the second largest in the world. The temperature is perfect for a day out: lovely breezes and a scorching sun; Fluctuating temperatures from 11°C to 32°C from day to ... read more

hey everyone! so i haven't had a lot of time to post our adventures thus far. in this post i'm going to jump back to only last wednesday and thursday... which were the days that we reached bucaramanga from san gil, and also visited matanza, the home town of carmen's madre, cecilia. on wednesday, we finished the trip to bucaramanga on a bus, another 2 hours or so, therefore getting in fairly early that day. we decided to stay at our first hostel here too. both adam and carmen have stayed in hostels before, but it was my first time, and it was a suprisingly fun experience! it's called kasa guane and we shared a dorm-style room that had six bunk beds. no other roommates on the first night, so we had the room to ourselves, ... read more