Blogs from San Gil, Colombia, South America - page 7

I lived in Macondo Hostel for almost 2 months in the town of San Gil, Colombia. One of the reasons I stayed in San Gil for so long was because of how much I enjoyed this hostel, its very helpful, chill, and informative owner Shaun the Aussie, its lovely Colombian lady staff of Blanca and Gloria, and the MANY other backpackers from all over the world that I got to meet and sometimes befriend while our time overlapped in this hostel. I truly enjoyed my time at Macondo. Comfy, friendly, and had all you needed. Instead of feeling like just another backpacker who was paying for a bed for a couple nights in a strange hostel, it was like we were all just friends of Shaun and he was hosting us at his house for a ... read more

I arrived to San Gil from Bogota on September 10th. It is now October 23rd and I am still here! Originally, I wasn't even going to go to San Gil. Instead of coming here from the coast like most other backpackers do, I went from the coast of Colombia to Medellin. Then I headed to Bogota and was planning to go directly on to Cali. However, when on the coast, I met many backpackers with stories of San Gil and all the affordable adventure sports that they did here. My interest was peaked...especially when I saw all the cool pictures of my friends doing paragliding, rafting, and absailing down the waterfall. When I was in Bogota, I was cold and a little bored...so I decided to change my plan, not continue south and instead head back ... read more

Last week I went with a trio of Frenchies on a 2 hour hike through Cueva Vaca. It was loads of fun! We wore our crappiest clothes...which isn't hard to find considering we are all backpacking...put on the head lamps and helmets provided by our guide, and off we went! The best part was that I got to take pictures the whole time in spite of the fact that for most of our time in the cave we were crawling through mud, swimming through cave rivers full of mud, and maneuvering our way around rocks, stalagtites and stalagmites. I borrowed my friend Shaun's digital camera that is smash and water proof...perfect for this cave! At one point, we had to crawl on our bellies through slippery, we mud for a good 20 meters. The space was ... read more

Hi All, We just returned to Bogota after one of our most memorable weeks, travelling through various cities within Colombia. It’s difficult to know where exactly to begin with this entry; the experiences we shared with other travelers this past week were complex and beautiful. We met up with a few couples from England and Australia, and a few solo travelers from California, South Africa, Spain and Israel. Our week began embarking on yet another bus from Bogota to the city of Tunja. Tunja is riddled with gorgeous 16th century churches and museums depicting Tunja’s history. We visited a few of the churches and took a tour of the Founders house which still exists. The founder is the only founder in Colombia who after conquering Tunja chose to reside there instead of returning to Spain. All ... read more

I left Bogota to San Gil so that I could do some paragliding. I wanted to do it in Medellin the week before, but never woke up early enough. So here I came to this small town in the Santander region after a 7 hour bus ride north from Bogota. I arrived in the town...very well kept, active, but not overwhelming. It has a beautiful plaza with a fountain, lots of trees, and benches full of local families, couples, friends, and food vendors. The church is quite old, big, and well maintianed as well. The best part was that I stepped off the bus and was sweating again...I was soooo happy to be out of the cold in Bogota and back into warm weather...but not too warm, just right! I immediately got a taxi to the ... read more