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Published: April 17th 2008
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San Agustin
Paul's first horse ride! San Agustin - Cali - Medellin - Bogota - Santa Marta (Taganga)
Colombia is awesome! The landscape is stunning, the people are so friendly and well, they just seem to have a bit of everything! We started our trip in colombia convincing the bus people to sell us a ticket to travel the lesser known route to San Agustin (ie. the local route!). It was basically driving in a bus along a very fine ridge that was situated very high along a mountain side in the colombian rainforest. An awesome view, however a little frightening at times, like when the bus would drive over dodgy makeshift repairs on the dirt road/mountain side, or when we would have to pass another vehicle!! I'm telling you, this road was thin and oh so high!! But after staying a humid night in Mocoa, and having the bus stopped at least 4 times to have the men frisked and id's called in, we finally made it to San Agustin! This is the site of Colombia's main ruins.... NB the pictures.... they were really cool! We decided that Paul needed to have his first horse ride, so we hired a local and went on a
tour of the area and to see the original sites where they have dug out various statues! We also got to see various coffee plantations and finally got to experience the brilliant coffee we had hoped to have experienced throughout our sth american travels, but until now hadn't come across at all! We stayed at a cute little eco/organic finca (farm property) where the owners made there own organic yoghurt and bread. We stayed in a cute cabin which had an ensuite bathroom, mezzanine, balcony and hammock.... luxury for us for about $14 each a night! And the town served the best food we had tasted in a really long time! I did not know that pork steaks and vegetables could taste so good!!!
From San Agustin we caught a mini van for Cali... passing by a burnt out van just our size along the way! The 7hr journey squashed in the back amongst adults, children, babies and luggage was interesting! But by the end of it we had most of the van trying to talk to us and even buying street food for us to try.... cheese and quince type square things on a stick tasted alright! We stayed
in Cali for a few days.... trying to explore the city whilst heat pressed down on us and we struggled to walk up and down hills... sweat patches drowning us! Needless to say, we didn't end up doing much dancing.... which is why most people go to Cali! We did however go to the local pool which was a fantastic sight! All the Colombians trying to fit into the wave pool and wearing their flourescent fishnet bikini covers and little bather skirts!
After Cali we headed to Medellin and met up with a friend we made in Sucre, Paul. It was humid and raining for a couple of days, so we mainly hung out in the local area or at the hostel for a couple of days! Feeling a bit lazy we decided to do a day trip to La Piedre. An amazing gigantic rock surrounded by a man-made lake district. Yep, it was cool!
Anyway, whilst all this was happening, Paul was deciding how long to stay before heading to Europe. He had a couple of job offers from London, so decided to head there. So, I organised some volunteer work at a Kindergarten and we headed to Bogota.
San Agustin
Paul with our guide Pacho Paul and I explored Bogota together for a few days and then Paul went to Europe, via Cartagena in the Nth, whilst I settled into Bogota, my home for the next couple of months. I stayed in an area called La Candelaria, which is considered the student area of the city, or old part of the city. It was full of character, right next to downtown of the CBD and it seemed to be the part of the city rained on the most!!! It rained just about everyday I was there!! I must admit, I got used to it and it didn't phase me too much after a while. Although the sudden downpours were a bit more annoying when a tourist stole my umbrella!! But you learn to find the nearest shelter and wait it out! Lucky the Colombians don't mind if you're a little late!! But put the rainy season aside and Bogota is a fantastic city. I really don't get along with many big cities, and the thought of living in one with 10million people did worry me a little! But it was great! The military presence and being frisked at the entrance to bars, government buildings and
concerts made me feel more secure than the other way around. The local buses, although a bit suffocating sometimes, were always convenient as they pulled up where ever you wanted them to stop. And the bars were so much fun!!! I danced so much.... I wish we had a dancing, friendly social culture like the colombians! And the huge free 3 day outdoor music concert was awesome! Volunteering at the kindergarten was definately challenging... the language gap was huge to start with and the staff in general not so accepting at first. But with time it became easier and I became very attached to the kids! They were adorable! It was really hard to leave in the end. But, leave I had to do as Paul was waiting for me in London.
I spent a week up north in Taganga which was beautiful. Warm and sunny everyday! I stayed at a brilliant new small hostel (it was still being developed) and we had some hilarious nights filled with Ron and coke.... then some recovering, relaxing days at the beach! Unfortunately though,this is where a tourist stole my bag 😞 Which meant my passport, visas, credit cards, camera, film and memory
cards were all stolen a week before I was due to leave Colombia. The Australian Embassy couldn't do anything to help me leave without a 1-2mth wait so I had to get a UK passport to leave the country. I unfortunately spent my last week at Embassies and in phone booths trying to sort everything out before leaving. But one bad incident did not dent my opinion of Colombia.... So many people came to my aid.... rewards were offered, a mobile lent to me so that I could organise things, a stranger helped to interpret for me at the police station, also offering me a place to stay if I needed it. The people of Colombia are generous, helpful, friendly and absolutely welcoming. There are too many stories to tell and fun times to describe...and I am trying to write this account 4mths after leaving there. so I think I will leave it here! Colombia is awesome!!
Some photos from Bogota
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Frankardenas
Frank Cardenas
Hi, glad you
I am glad you enjoyed the visit to my country. It's not very often that you hear good things about Colombia; for one thing, everytime the media publishes an achievement of a Colombian person, they taint the news at the end of the article by 'warning' people of the number of murders we have every year or the amount of cocaine we export. For another, people are sometimes satisfied with the superficial image they have of a country and tend to always make assumptions. As every nation, we bear our own cross but we, Colombians, are making the best of our life there; our very entrepreneur, happy, and friendly people deserve to be also regarded for their assets. Sorry about the bag, though, but thanks for writing sth good about my country. Enjoy London!