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Published: June 21st 2010
La Candelaria
Bogota's street view in the old citySo Colombia is our gateway to South-America. Before you got all theoretical about why Colombia (Is it Pablo, cocaine or the coffee...?), the actual reason is simple: it´s the cheapest entry point from the USA. And besides that it has beaches, culture, mountains, the Amazon and indeed: The Coffee Plantations.
The first thing that pops in my mind is Pablo Escobar, but he's gone for ages. Guess the only reason to go to Colombia because of Pablo is the police museum in Bogota and Medellin, and we haven´t been there yet...
¿Hablas Inglés?
I guess it's also the first time since China that the majority of the people do not speak English, which is pretty annoying, but added to our so-called 'misery' is the fact that a big chunk of the other travelers who come to Colombia speak at least some Spanish, therefore the kind people in the hostels do not always speak English.... problem. Agi gets by with her Italian, and I don't get by with my so-called French. Therefore: Spanish courses for Chris!!! Christ, and knowing how much I dislike learning languages, Agi is still surprised that I´m going for it. I´ll take courses and in
One of the best pieces of gold ever...
if not: The Best!!! The golden raft is max 20cm, but the details... the mean time she´ll play the beach bunny on Cartagena´s beaches.... Life is unfair, but let's keep the story going on.
Got an onward ticket?
We flew in to Bogota from the US and our departure from LA airport was not that smooth. The 'kind' people from Spirit Airlines did not let us check in without having a return ticket from Colombia back to the US or an onward ticket from Colombia to elsewhere. Auch, of course we only had a one way ticket, so we had a problem. But as it seemed, we are not the only humble backpackers with such issue as the guy at the check in counter immediately offered his help to get a very expensive return ticket for us, but luckily one of those that you can get fully reimbursed if cancelled. So it just took a swipe of the credit card and off we went... We got the 60 days entry visa without any questions whether we had a return ticket, so we were ok. Till we figured out that the Spirit Airlines (SA) office was in the customs area, which we had left at that time. The 1-800 free number of
SA didn't work, so approx 1300 USD lost? What do you do then? You'll find a cheap hostel and reconsider your options with a beer or two... We figured out that SA has a representative office downtown, so after some hagling there and playing the 'stupid' tourist who indeed do no speak Spanish we actually got the confirmation that the return ticket got cancelled and a confirmation was received the next day: We happy! This was our second encounter with immigration issues (you might remember the one in Bangkok), but as it looks like, no more or no más in Spanish!
Bogota
We had 5 great days in Bogota, we lodged in the area of Candelaria, which is the oldest and nicest part of the city. The weekend we arrived was a long weekend with Monday off, so the people were extra relaxed, some 'security patrols' were alert and we got chilled. Yes there are many patrols all around the city to ensure public security. As we heard from some locals, few years ago Bogota was really dangerous, especially at night. We felt secure now, had only one incident with a local boy trying to pickpocket Chris, but
A mummy
Amazing how well preserved... he tried with the wrong pocket (and the wrong person). So no issues.
In Bogota we walked around a lot, sucked up the atmosphere of the city and we did one touristy activity: Museo del Oro. This Gold Museum has a wonderful collection of prehispanic relics and art. As we learned, the indigenious people of Colombia used gold as we use iron before the Spanish explorers came in. Then the locals realised the gold has power while most of it was shipped to Spain, leaving many locals dead. What a loss. But there is still a big collection here in Colombia, amazing how professionally these people worked with gold and some other precious metals, most of today's jewellers would be envious.
We also did a day trip from Bogota to Zipaquira, which is a small town famous for its salt mine and for the salt cathedral inside. Indeed, a real cathedral had been carved out inside. We took a guided tour and learned that salt is actually grey and not white in its raw form and it only gets white when it gets oxidated or fluor is added (like our table salt). But no worries: salt indeed does
Nino Colombiano
Small boy on Plaza Bolivar playing with the birds... How cute!!!! taste like salt! Nice tour, but Chris was less amazed, as he had seen a salt mine in Poland before, near Krakow, and apparently that's more impressive, also with church, horses inside, etc.
Later on we met some really nice people in the hostel, which made us stay for a few more days than planned. We did not really mind though as the hostel was located in an old colonial house with beautiful indoor patio with hammocks, Colombian style old fashioned kitchen and bathroom, really neat. Anyways, after 5 nights spent there we were ready to move on so we took a bus to Villa de Leyva.
Villa de Leyva, part I: Rustic and Scenic
Saturday we took a bus from Bogota to Villa de Leyva. It took 3 hours to get there, no much event, but when we left the bus 2 local students approached us and offered to stay at their apartment for an OK price. So we took it. Apparently we were the first guests in their tax-free “new business”, everything was just recently refurbished, beautiful room with en suite bathroom. One drawback was though the fact that they did not have a 2nd
Agi with the local favorite snack
Chicharron: Fried pork skin, almost like at home-sweet-home... key for us, so our moving in and out of the apartment was sometimes a bit cumbersome. Anyways, we were so lucky to get to Villa on Saturday as there was a live concert at the main square and loads of people were hanging around, drinking rum or beer from black plastic bags, chilling out, enjoying the music. We joined the crowd, got a bottle of rum, some yummie pizza slices and relaxed watching the locals passing by and dancing salsa on the square. Agi couldn't get me though to join the crowd with salsa. She didn't really push for it, so I guess she'll push for a course in Cartagena...
Next day we went for a horse riding trip outside town. It was a 4-hour ride with some touristic sites on the way. We were a group of 6, nice people, very good horses and guide and gorgeous weather. First we stopped at a lake where the men went diving and swimming and took some photos, which they will never forget... Naked bottoms in the leather chaps and use your imagination :-) Our next stop was at El Fossil which is an archeological museum with some fossils, most
Angel
Sculpture in the Salt Cathedral of them bones, shells, but the biggest attraction was a 7 meter long dinosaurus fossil. Remarkable, but a bit dead. From here we gallopped further on our trek and the next stop was the Muisca archeological site and observatory or as it is more popularly called "Penis Park". This is an old indigenious site where the major sight is the solar observatory, made of stone columns in an East-West direction, but around this spot there are at least 50 stone phallic rocks pillars, some of them are small but also a few over 2 meters. You can guess that a lot of photos had been taken here too... We finished up our trip at a local winery. Nice setting, but the wine was bad, so we did not stay there long...
With 2 guys (1 Ozzy and 1 Colombian) from the horseriding trip we decided to do rapelling down a 40 meters hole in the ground. The Colombian one never did it before and was scared... But ok, there we went and actually all went fine. Looked in the cave itself, saw some lovely, cuddly sleeping bats so close that the camera lens touched them while zooming in... A
Villa de Leyva
In the centre of Villa de Leyva there are no modern buidlings and only ankle-breaking cobblestone streets. bity too close then. But the bl##dy part was to get out of the hole. The Colombian guy was once more scared like hell, but we had no choice. Basically you have to climb up a vertical wall, but you're also pulled up, which was definitely needed. But this Colombian guy: he's monkey in disguise. Within seconds he did the steepest part and the guides had to slow him down, cause the security rope for pulling him up was too slack....
All survived, we had to say goodbye to our Colombian friend, as we didn't have to work the next day, but he did (sounds familiar to you...?). The Ozzy and us checked in a nice quiet hostel up on the hills with some hammocks. Had a nice veggie dinner and relaxed, all peace and quiet.
Villa de Leyva, part II: Can I see your Pictures?
In the hostel we met some other travellers and in the morning we headed off for an easy-going hike in the hills. We made it to the look-out point and all were happy. The plan was made to have a group BBQ in the evening, so shopping had to be done.
The square during the day
Whitewashed walls, no modern architecture. Beautiful. At the shop the biggest issue was to find out the number of bottles we should get: 8 persons, so 3 or 4 bottles of Aguardiente (Colombian liquor, a bit like Greek Ouzo. FYI: the name Aguardiente means something like 'boiling water'). Discussion, discussion, so we ended up with 5 bottles. We got in the mood and had our first 'pit-stop' on the road back to the hostel, more followed, so on the road a new bottle was purchased. Ok, to make a long story short: The BBQ was a huge success, other travellers joined in and more bottles were arranged and the next morning everybody went 'Can I see your pictures?', as memories had to be retrieved/restored.
During the day the hostel owner mentioned that pizza can be made in the outside wood oven: everybody ok, and 2KG of flour and loads of other goodies were bought as well. Perfect pizzas, and just 3 bottles of Aguardiente. So all ok, party time again, and at the endl the host got some
cartons of Aguardiente. The result: Can I see your pictures?
San Gil
Great fun, but time to move on: San Gil. We got there by
Sunday night on the square
Locals entertaining themselves with music, singing and Aguardiente, the local devil's drink! bus, slept early, and relaxed the next day. Hanged around in a park and did nothing. Ok, it was election w-end in Colombia (the run-off elections for president), so no alcohol was sold between Friday 6PM and Sunday midnight. Funny, I had some drinks with 2 other guys at 17:30, and indeed we saw quite some locals in the park enjoying their last public beer.... At 18:30 the park was much more quiet.
San Gil is a small town, but known for its outdoor activities: paragliding, rapelling down a 70 meters high waterfall and rafting the Rio Suarez, a grade 5 river in current season, so rafting we went... Agi wasn't sure whether she wanted to go, but after the safety instructions and switching off her brain she joined as well. And ohh my god:
IT WAS FANTASTIC!!!!. I loved it and Agi as well, guess she just got a bit too stressed in her mind before hand, but during the ride and afterwards she was fine. We did some grade 4+ and grade 5 rapids and all was ok. Nobody fell in the water and the guide did a really excellent job, much better than the guide in
Having a rest
Horseriding in a beautiful afternoon Nepal, where we did our first rafting.... So back to the hostel, where we enjoyed our clandestine beer.
The next day: grey and rain, so we packed up and headed off to Cartagena. I'll do a 1-on-1 Spanish course, while Agi will probably play the beach bunny. Life is unfair....
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Winnie
non-member comment
Wauw!
Hallo! Wat ziet dat er allemaal weer prachtig uit zeg! Ik wordt er stiekem een beetje jaloers van dat jullie nog steeds met geweldige avonturen bezig zijn terwijl ik alweer saai moet werken... Zo te zien moet ik ook een keertje die kant op reizen! Weer veel plezier verder, geniet ervan! Groetjes, Winnie