Christmas in Colombia

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Ah Colombia! Long near the top of my list of places I wanted to go, and Vanessa and I were finally taking the plunge after finagling five precious weeks off work. Our trip this year is over Christmas (again) so it's high season (again). Like last year's trip to the Philippines, we're excited to experience the Christmas festivities in another country. The Philippines comes alive at Christmas, and we expect Colombia will have a similarly festive atmosphere. Travelling at high season can be tricky and requires a bit more booking ahead, but we were fine in the Philippines so we're hoping to do just as well in Colombia. Only one way to find out!

The first leg of our journey took us to Toronto. Unfortunately, due to the scheduling and availability of flights, we had to overnight in Toronto to make the flight to Bogota first thing in the morning. We'd booked a hotel at the airport, but after taking the shuttle and eating some dinner we had a pretty short night.

The 6 am hotel shuttle took us back to the airport and we helped ourselves to some complimentary breakfast in the Maple Leaf Lounge. Ah the perks of all that business travel are paying off now! We also used my priority boarding privilege to snag the precious overhead space for our carry on. I always feel like a bit of a tool when I use priority boarding, but it's necessary when you need the bin space.

This is the first long trip where we're travelling carry on only. We each bought 30 litre bags, pared down our packing list, and somehow made it all fit (thanks in large part to the miracle that is merino wool as well as modern high-tech synthetic materials). And man are these small bags light and comfortable! I weighed in at 6kg in Edmonton, less the clothes I was wearing. We'll see how it goes on the road, but I've already pretty much decided that I'm never doing it differently. The biggest challenge (for me) was the liquids restrictions, so I'll have to buy some contact lens solution when we get to Colombia.

It's a relatively short flight from Toronto to Bogota. Just enough time to watch a couple of movies, take a nap, and start to get nervous about travelling in Colombia.

The first thing most people think of when they think of Colombia is cocaine, and the second is the civil war. People are surprised when I tell them I'm going to Colombia. But travel has taught me that nowhere in Earth is anything like what I think it's like. And Colombia is a perfect example. After a decade plus of heavy crackdowns on the drug trade and paramilitary groups, safety has been improved dramatically in all but the most remote parts of the country. Colombia has worked to re-brand itself as a tourist destination, and people are going.

Why am I confident that it's safe? There are hostels everywhere, meaning there are backpackers everywhere, meaning that it's at least reasonably safe. There's also a Lonely Planet guidebook which is a pretty good indication that it's become a destination.

Why was I getting a little nervous? Lonely Planet, while it does stress how safe the country has become in many areas, also carries a lot of cautionary notes. “At the time of publication” is an important disclaimer, and the latest edition was published in 2012, so it's nearly three years old. Things can change quickly in a country where things... well, they change quickly. Things can get better and things can also get worse.

Fortunately, things are trending better, and right now the Colombian government is holding talks in Cuba with the paramilitary groups with the hopes of finally ending the civil war. At the same token, if you check the government of Canada website for travel advisories, most of the provinces are listed. But that has to be taken for what it is, which is a general warning. Our best bet is going to be to feel it out from within the country, and talk to people.

But in order to do that, the first step is to get from the airport. So I was reading up on that on the plane. Arriving at an airport is one of the worst parts of travel. It's crowded, it's the first time being there, and you look like tourist. Taxi scams for airport trips are common everywhere in the world, so Colombia is not going to be an exception. Add in the (small) risk of kidnapping, and, well, these are the things I was thinking about, and trying not to think about.

This nervousness, and pre-trip jitters is actually one of the most exciting parts. It makes the experience so much more rewarding when you realise you've figured things out, and you're completely comfortable. And this happens more quickly in strange places now for me than it used to. But this is “Colombia”...

Things normalized quickly once we landed. Bogota's airport is large and modern, and feels like anywhere else in the world.

Bogota's airport also features the world's slowest customs line. I'm sure of it. We were in line for an hour before being sent to another line, just for Canadians. Yup, we have the esteemed privilege of paying a reciprocity fee, that Colombian customs calls a “platinum” membership or something, but it's just a tax. This is, of course, because our government charges Colombians and makes them go through a rigorous visa process, so it's an understandable “Well, screw you too.”

It took a total of an hour and a half to clear customs. I was literally the last person through customs. They were seriously shutting the lights off as I was going through. It's a good thing we didn't bother with checked baggage, because they would have been on the conveyor belt forever waiting for us.

The positive thing about this extraordinary customs line is that we got to chat with a few people in line, including Daniel from Venezuela. Daniel had a tight connection and wasn't sure if he was going to make it. We ran into him again after we had got some cash and had a snack, and he had, in fact missed his connection. He was heading into the city to explore for a few hours before returning to the airport to wait for the next flight, which wouldn't be until early in the morning.

Our original plan was to take a taxi, but we were feeling pretty comfortable already, and having Daniel with us to do all the Spanish speaking meant we wouldn't have any trouble navigating the Transmilenio.

The Transmilenio is a neat idea. It's an extensive bus network that operates in dedicated lanes. The buses have high doors and pull up to platforms like a train. In fact, Bogota built the Transmilenio instead of light rail after evaluating the cost and realizing that they could build the same amount of dedicated bus lanes for a tenth of the cost. So they ended up with a much more expansive public transit system than they would have with the same money spent on trains or subway. It was pretty efficient on a Sunday afternoon too, and we made it to the centre in no time.

That's the good things about it, anyway. The negative things are that despite being laid out like a subway grid, there was no map at the station to figure out where we were going. We had to rely on Daniel asking which bus to take. And it's not as simple as just grabbing any bus headed the direction you want to go, and changing buses at a junction. Nope. There are several different buses with several destinations that stop at the station, so you really have to grab the right bus number. And without a map of the whole system, we weren't figuring that out on our own. Even knowing the bus number we needed, I even tried checking the bus schedule that was posted to see if I could make it make some sense, and I couldn't. I think pretty much you have to ask for directions the first few times you take it, until you figure it out. I'm not sure we will be able to figure it out in the short time we have in Bogota.

On the bus ride, I started to feel quite fatigued and had a mild headache. Having gone to the travel doctor before the trip, I realised that these might be symptoms caused by the higher altitude. Bogota is way up there, at 2600m. I started to think about the altitude sickness medication that I hadn't taken. Vanessa had, and she felt fine. Not that I was having any serious symptoms of actual altitude sickness, mind you.

I've never suffered from altitude before, but I've only ever been as high as 3000m. Actually, I felt fine by the time the bus ride was over, but I still popped a pill once we'd checked into the hostel.

Afterwards we went for a walk wiht Daniel to get some food. We walked past a place called Poutine & Poutine. So I guess they have that here too! It was closed, and actually most things seemed to be closed on Sunday evenings. We eventually found a place that was open and had some food and some beer and chatted with Daniel.

I got to practice my Spanish a little bit, but Daniel's English was so much better that we abandoned that. Afterwards, we said goodbye and he headed back to the airport to spend the night waiting for his flight. We went back to the hostel to take it easy and drink some water.

Actually, we were both surprised how comfortable we felt in Bogota already, after only a few hours. I really would have thought it would have taken longer than that, given all the cautionary tales. Bogota is nice, and the people are really friendly. A local helped us with the Transmilenio and let us borrow her card, and Daniel even asked the police for directions. They were really nice even, even though they didn't seem to know exactly where we were going.

Still, I don't think we'll be taking any chances late at night, and it will take a bit more time to get the full lay of the land. Instead, we stayed in at the hostel and chatted with some other guests.

We talked with Francois from Quebec, who had just started his trip a few days earlier and was trying to buy a motorbike to travel around Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. He's a seasoned traveller with some stories to tell. He was once held up at knife point on a beach in Guatemala, spend three days in a Moroccan prison for no reason that he was aware of, and had malaria. Serious traveller points.

We also talked to Corey, from Montana. He had also just started his trip and was planning on doing some bicycle touring. I say “was” because he had his bike stolen earlier that day on a test ride. He was riding up the mountainside when a few guys started running along side him, laid him down gently, took his bike, his money, and his passport. They got everything. He had a really good sense of humour about it though, and told the story with a smile. A pretty big bummer though I'm sure. Funny guy though.

We also heard about a guy in the hostel at the end of his trip who was feeling ill, so he'd gone to the doctor. He found out he had both malaria and dengue.

Craziness! What is this place?

We slept in a bit the next morning to recover from our long travel day. I got up at 9:30 and showered, and Vanessa was still asleep. I finally went back into the room at 11 to wake her up, and she had been awake for some time but thought I was still sleeping on the lower bunk and was waiting for me to get up.

So we lost a bit of time there, and didn't make it down to the cafe at the end of the street until just after they'd stopped serving breakfast. No problem, they were also a bakery, and so we had some cheese bread and chocolate croissants. Vanessa had her first Colombian coffee in Colombia and it was ok. They export the best beans for the most part, so Colombian coffee is generally better outside of Colombia.

After eating, we went and signed up for the afternoon bike tour. The tour set out at 130, and at 135 it started raining. Hard. Very hard. The morning had been beautiful, and now we were trying to go on a bike tour in a thunderstorm. We pressed on anyway, and our guide continued to explain the sights and the history in Bogota. We'd stop under a tree or an awning and wait for it to clear up every now and again. And every now and again it would let up. Fortunately we'd brought our rain jackets, but that didn't keep our head or legs dry.

The bikes themselves were alright, but each bike had different quirks. Some wouldn't change gears very well, some had very soft brakes, and mine had a rear derailleur that would happily change into a higher gear upon request, but to get it to downshift, I had to take my right foot off the pedal and reach back and push the derailleur in. This is a skill I've acquired by riding my commuter bike at home, which I have also not always maintained in the best condition. So I feel a kindred spirit with the tour operator.

Our tour took us around to the main sights in Candelaria, the main tourist area in town with the most colonial buildings, and also the neighbourhood where our hostel is located and the bike tour begins. We took a break at a park with some food stands that also sold fruit juices made from fruits that only exist in Colombia. We had some guanabana juice, and it was pretty tasty. Crazy looking fruit too. We hid under the awning of the juice stand for a while before continuing on through the rain.

We rode way out to La Universidad Nacional, which is a hotbed for socialist political movements. Every semester gets covered in socialist graffiti, and at the end of every semester it gets painted white again, and the cycle repeats. There are frequent protest marches and riots at this campus. Our tour guide pointed out that the students are protesting a government that gives them a free education at the university. There's definitely a strong political divide, but the majority seem to be against the extreme left wing which make up many of the paramilitary groups in Colombia.

By then the rain had stopped, and we rode to an enormous memorial to all the people who have been killed in the civil war that has been going on for decades. The irony of it is that the mayor of Bogota is actually an ex-guerrilla. Many Bogotanos would agree that it's completely crazy that an ex-guerrilla could be the mayor.

Afterwards we rode to a cafe with excellent coffee. I'm not even a coffee drinker and even I could tell it was amazing. They definitely keep the good beans. And they roast them in house.

The tour continued through Santa Fe, which is a rougher neighbourhood that houses the city's red light district. Prostitution is legal, but it still comes with all of the skeeviness. Definitely not a neighbourhood to venture into outside of a tour.

By this time, rush hour traffic had hit. And it was thick. There was a lot of careful weaving through the stopped cars and pedestrians. A thunderstorm was also rapidly approaching, and the thunder was very loud. I guess when you're at 2600m already, the lightning doesn't have to travel too far to the ground.

The last several minutes were through pouring rain. We returned our bikes, and headed back to the hostel with a story to tell. We weren't disappointed we'd done the tour in the rain. It made it extra fun. We were a bit wet, but not too cold.

Corey joined us for dinner, having successfully been wired some money from home, and we went to the Mongolian grill across the street. The food was good, and we met a retired Canadian couple from Cooking Lake. Small world. We were not expecting that in Bogota! They have a sail boat that they've been taking around South and Central America, and had parked it for a bit and were just travelling around.

Vanessa and I have discussed that our version of a sailboat is a car that we just drive around. The ocean is too scary... for us praire folk, anyway. Well, the two of us. Obviously people form Cooking Lake managed it. But, you know, they had a lake and everything... Never mind.

We followed up dinner with a couple of beers at the Bogota Beer Company around the corner. Not bad! Corey still hadn't got his bike back, or his passport, and it's looking doubtful. Francois still hadn't managed to buy a motorbike. We hoped for better luck for them the next day.

After eating breakfast the next day (we made a point of waking up early enough) we headed over to the cable car station to take a ride up Monserrate to get a view of the city. And it was quite a view, for sure! We spent about an hour or so up top enjoying the veiw. There's a church on top that had an animatronic Christmas scene, and a row of shops and food vendors. We spent a bit of time exploring before heading back down.

I was only in the sun for about an hour, and I was nice a red by sunset. I guess after a few months of winter at home combined with the strong equatorial sun at an elevation of over 2600m, and, well, it doesn't take much time to get a sunburn. Noted. We're going to need more sunscreen.

Then I embarked on a first time travel adventure. I bought a SIM card. All I had to do was hand over some cash (about $10 altogether) and I got a card. No signing up, no waiting. That's not bad. The hardest part was figuring out the Spanish I'd need to use to ask for it. I'm not sure how much we'll use it, but for the low cost, I'm sure we'll get some mileage on it over five weeks to make it worthwhile.

And right away I called my old friend Mauricio. I met Mauricio and Ricardo at University. In my second year, they were my next door neighbours in residence, and they were awesome. They were the kind of people that everyone liked. If everyone in Colombia is as nice as these two, Colombia will give the Philippines a run for it's money in the race for “nicest people on Earth.”

Unfortunately we won't get to see Ricardo, since he now lives in Mexico, but I was very excited to see Mauricio. I called him with the help of my fancy new (ok not fancy) SIM card and made plans to meet him for dinner.

With those plans made, we grabbed some lunch at a place called Crepes and Waffles. We weren't expecting too much, but it was delicious! And it gave us the sustenance we needed to spend a couple of hours in the gold museum.

Yes, Bogota has a gold museum. It sounds pretty fantastical. A whole museum celebrating gold and the lavish things that have been made from it. But the history of Colombia is rich (see what I did there?) with gold. Gold is and was abundant. And it was easy to get at, so the natives have actually been crafting things from gold for thousands of years. Clothing, necklaces, masks, and other ceremonial pieces. The way the museum tells it, it seems like everyone was wearing gold all the time.

So you can now easily imagine why the Spanish were so excited when they showed up... and took over.

The museum has many examples of this craftsmanship, while also explaining the history. And it's built like a vault. The rooms have enormous steel doors, at least as big as a bank. I guess when you've got rooms filled with gold, you have to keep it secure.

Having decided to head to El Cocuy the next day, we took out some more cash and bought some groceries to get us through the long bus ride. Then we navigated the transmilenio (after asking for detailed instructions from our hostel reception) to Zona Rosa, where Mauricio would meet us later for dinner.

Zona Rosa is in the northern part of Bogota and is definitely more upscale. We parked ourselves at the Bogota Beer Company location just across from a mall with a bunch of high end stores in it, and waited for Mauricio to join us. Unfortunately he was running late because his mother has been quite ill and he was with her at the hospital for an appointment.

But he did meet up with us, and it was so good to see him. We walked to a nice restaurant and had delicious ceviche while Mauricio asked me for updates on everyone we lived with in residence. It was great catching up, and we had ten years of catching up to do! What a great guy!

We had a bit of trouble finding a taxi afterwards, but Mauricio used his Uber app to help us out. I guess Uber is officially banned in Bogota, but it still operates anyway. We got back to the hostel at around 12:30am, which was going to make short night sleep before our bus to El Cocuy at 5:10am. Oh well. It was worth it to spend extra time with Mauricio. We'll sleep it off on the bus.

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