For the many friends worried about us being kidnapped, don´t worry! We are not being held hostage! We landed Friday morning in Cartagena as planned, checked into our hotel in Bocagrande and got some breakfast. I had forgotten about all the different kinds of exotic juices they have in central and south america and Colombia is no different. My new favorite is mora (blackberry). That morning, I had mora con leche, kind of like a blackberry milkshake. There is also mora ice cream and juice. Yummy! Next, we hit the beach. Bocagrande is like a third world Miami Beach. Take the [View Full Entry]

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Another update...we are in Taganga, which is about 5-10 minutes just outside of Santa Marta, which is on the northern coast. To recap the last week or so, in San Gil, we decided to just go white water rafting, and do the paragliding in Medellin. We did a full day of white water rafting and went through numerous class 5 rapids. Due to the water levels, we were told that the water was as severe as it could be for unproffessional people to travel on it. The whole day was a blast, and it was perfect weather for it the [View Full Entry]

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So another big city, and to be honest I have started running out of energy for this traveling lark (finally). My theory is that to properly get a feel for a city you either need friends there or at least 3 weeks. I had neither in Medellin so after a cursory look around the sights like the plaza de esculpturas.....actually that was it, there are lots more sights but I couldn't really be bothered....I took a trip up and down the metro instead. The metro in Medellin is elevated so you get a great view of the city without doing any [View Full Entry]

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So I arrived in Bogota's El Dorado Airport today! Alone. My friend was coming to pick me up, outside the airport. But first, I had to get through the hectic, tumuluous, somewhat cramped El Dorado International Airport. For anyone who is going to Bogota, or Colombia for that matter, be warned that when you land, you don't just walk off down a ramp and into customs! You walk out the door, climb down a steep flight of stairs, get on a packed bus, and ride about half a mile to the airport. This was very different for me, but my friends [View Full Entry]

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Eens even kijken. Terwijl Joost zich ligt op te fokken omdat hij geen Youtube kan kijken (een echte junk) ga ik maar eens een update erop gooien. Het is iets van 30 graden buiten, maar ik ben natuurlijk weer verbrand. Dus even schuilen voor de zon. Het vervelende is dat het alweer twee weken geleden is eer ik de laatste update erop gooide, en er daardoor teveel verteld zou moeten worden om alles te omvatten. Het makkelijkste is om dan maar gewoon niets te tikken, maar daar ga ik niet mee wegkomen, dus dan maar een paar dingen eruit vissen. De [View Full Entry]

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Wow I´m supposed to be partaking in a game of cards at the moment but I feel I should tell you a tad bit about my time in Columbia. It´s been great from start to finish. The thing that I noticed most is how nice and helpful the people are. My first day after crossing over from Ecuador I had some troubles finding a bank where I could withdraw money. So the cleaning lady from one of the banks just left work and took me around to all the banks in the area until we found one that worked. I appreciated [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone, Today we just arrived in San Gil, which is about a 7 hour bus ride north of Bogota. I think the road was more twisty than any road I have been on in Vancouver. Tomorrow we are going to go white water rafting in the morning, and paragliding in the afternoon. Then we will be heading to the North Coast to spend time there. While in Bogota, we wandered around the city center the first day. The second day we went to a Salt Cathedral. It was a huge cathedral dug out of the side of a mountain, and [View Full Entry]

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Popayán y Ipiales/Santuario de las Lajas [View Full Entry]

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My next stop was in the lovely little town of Salento, an hour east of Armenia. The town is a typical pueblo paisa and full of colourful fronted houses around the main plaza and lots of people milling around with their ponchos on. I stayed in the Mountain House hostel which is in one of the nicest settings I have stayed in here, with lovely gardens and an annex down across a field with the best views from my dorm room. From here I took a jeep with some others from the hostel to the Cocora valley famous for its wax [View Full Entry]

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After a 10 hour daytime busride from Cali we arrived around 8 PM in Bogota. Our Footprint travelguide recommended a good hostel in the Candelaria area, called Platypus. What a shithole this was!!! We got put up in a house next door which is best described as a hangout for squatters. No door to the patio, a cat following us around everywhere and a room full of dust and that smelled awful because of the dampness and the cat. To finish it off, outside there plenty of glue sniffing junkies hanging around.... To make us feel even more welcome the hostel [View Full Entry]

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