Blogs from Cartagena, Colombia, South America

Hola chicas Cartagena Seems like 2 cities- the old town which is a fortressed l, walled part of the city and the very new skyscraper filled sky (Bocagrande). Is insanely humid- around 31 degrees but I was sweating buckets and it’s really difficult to stay outside for too long because of this. Arrived from long flight in the morning, dropped my stuff off at the hostel and then went to wonder round the old town and Bocagrande, went for a dip in the beach which was ok but nothing in comparison to the other beaches in the islands. After this I went back to the hostel to check in and went on a walking tour of Getsemaní, this was cute and had lots of culture and murals. Then went for arepas with some people in a ... read more

(Day 86 on the road) Not further accelerating climate change can be hard. Faced with the choice between a 16-hours bus-ride for 20€ or a 50-minute flight for 35€, I admit that I opted for the plane. Thus, leaving Bucaramanga in Central Colombia, I soon found myself in the northern, somewhat shady city of Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast. It felt like being in a different country. For one, compared to the central parts of Colombia, the northern coastal area seemed poorer and less developed. Power cuts were frequent – if there was electricity at all. A number of places I visited relied entirely on diesel generators. Maybe counter-intuitively, prices for most things - especially accommodation & food - were higher (not just in some remote areas, but also in the bigger cities). The culture ... read more

Colombia is an enigma. Named after a man who never set foot in the country, it contains a greater wealth of biodiversity than any other country on the planet apart from Brazil, which is seven times larger. With coastlines fronting both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, it also boasts over a thousand kilometres of the Andes mountains (which split into three parallel ranges on the way north into Venezuela) as well as a separate mountain range in the north, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, that rises straight out of the sea to heights of over 5700 metres – making it the highest coastal mountain range on Earth. Add to that an enormous expanse of grasslands, known as Los Llanos, and a significant portion of the Amazon rainforest, and you end up with a natural ... read more

SECOND OF SEVEN COUNTRY TOUR OF SOUTH AMERICA My first (and last) blog ended upon our arrival in Cartagena from 10 days in Mexico City. Cartagena, the old town, is bright, alive and a magical step back in time. Horse drawn carriages on cobblestone streets, colorful colonial buildings with balconies dripping with bougainvillea and Passion flower, smell of Creole spice and coffee lingering in the air...and local women in traditional garb selling fruit from baskets they carry on their heads. Added to this mix are world class restaurants, luxury brand stores, little yellow taxis everywhere...people...lots and lots of people! It’s all a bit overwhelming upon arrival and it didn’t help that several cruise ships had brought hundreds of people ashore the next day. And, of course, with the arrival of cruise ships came the hordes of ... read more

Heute war voraussichtlich unser letzter Tag in Cartagena. Ich verbrachte einen guten Teil des Tages damit, endlich diesen Blog hier weiterzuschreiben um endlich wieder auf dem aktuellen Stand zu sein - seit Minka war ich stets ca. eine Woche, teils fast zwei, hinten gewesen. Inzwischen ist der Blog insgesamt schon über 24.500 Wörter lang und beinhaltet über 700 Fotos - alleine der Text wäre formatiert und in klassischem Romanformat gedruckt bereits um die 80 Seiten lang. Gegen Mittag aßen wir in einem uns empfohlenen Restaurant, dem "oh la la", es war echt lecker, dann gingen wir in die Stadt um Eis zu essen. Diesmal nahm ich endlich mal wieder meine Kamera mit - mir war aufgefallen, dass ich in Cartagena noch fast keine Fotos von der Stadt selbst gemacht hatte. Ich ging in ein Museum, das ... read more