Advertisement
Published: March 9th 2018
Edit Blog Post
12 to 20 March
San Gil - Villa del Leyva - Bogotá
San Gil - Explored some natural pools of the local river to escape the Colombian heat and walked to a waterfall the next day.
Took a bus to Barichara, a lovely small colonial town and hiked to Guane, which according to the sign was only 5km away. It took us almost two hours as we walked in the midday heat and the path was uneven. Happy to find an old lady selling water bottles on the way.
Enjoyed one of the best pineapple juices and a homemade ice cream (we did deserve that). Had a good time playing Yahtzee with other hostel guests in the evening.
Villa del Leyva
A teeny Kronosauros is about 12 meters long with a 2m long head and 25cm long theets. Thanks for us they are extinct. The most complete fossil was found in the region and displayed in the Fossil Museums. Very impressive .
Hitchhiked back to town in the coolest old Jeep ever and had a walk around town. Had some pasta for lunch as we start to miss European food. I (Vanessa) was presently surprise as our gougeous
hostel served moulded wine. Left to Bogotá the next morning.
3rd March - 11th March
It's lazy-tourist time
After almost 4 months of travel we were looking forward to a more relaxed time. We booked a hostel in Santa Marta and spent the fist day at the pool and relaxing. Relaxed some more at the beach with a friendly Canadian guy we met in the hostel. After all the pool and beaches we decided to book a trip to Tayrona national park with beautiful nature and wildlife. After two hours of hiking we found,you guessed it right, another really beautiful beach. Somehow we were a bit sad that we didn't book a hammock to spend the night there, but after reaching the exit of the park with a mixture of sweat, suncream and saltwater on our skin, we were happy to be able to take a shower and sleep in a decent bed. Also took a day trip to Minca, where we visited a coffee farm and enjoyed the amazing Columbian forest landscape.
The day after we changed hostel to palomino where we had a tropical style hostel with direct beach access. Had a good
time at the Caribbean coast with cocktails, music and talking with other travelers. Met a girl who told us about Tubing (floating down a river in a big rubber tire) and decided to go together. Most relaxing thing we could have done that day. Like Aareböötle but in the jungle and with a shallow and slower river. At some point we even had to lift our butts in order to avoid hitting the sand and getting stuck.
Enjoyed the last two days with a morning walk on the beach and some relax time at the hostel pool. Now we have enough energy for the next adventure. San Gil here we come 😊
But before we have to take our last long bus ride, not sure if we will miss that.
28th February - 3rd March
Cartagena is a place neither of us thought we would ever visit, but here we are. And again, really happy the plan changed =)
Arrived in Cartagena early in the morning and after a crazy taxi ride (traffic rules don't seem to apply here) we arrived at the hostel.
It's really easy to like this city if you have a
chilled hostel, walk around the old town, try some exotic fruit and the weather is top. I know people in Europe will hate us for that, but we have to say it was almost too hot these days. Between one beautiful colonial house and the other we saw a guy dressed a Charlie Chaplin who was making commercial for a free movie later that day. After the beautiful sunrise and a beer we went to the port for the movie. Not only it was outside during a gorgeous night and the guy working there thanked the people for coming, we also got free popcorn and a soft drink. Colombia you really make it easy to like you.
Colombia puts a lot of work and effort in tourism, with great results. Some people still think it's a dangerous place as it had some dark hours in the past, but nowadays its a great country thanks to the friendly people who make their country a beautiful place you definitely want to come back to.
21st - 27th February
Leaving a country should be simple, sometimes you don't even need an exit stamp on your passport. Not so
in Ecuador where we had to wait in line for over 5 hours just to get an exit stamp.
At the end of a very long afternoon a traveler told us that he had to wait 3 hours in the Colombian border as well. Of course we where not happy to hear that but had no other choice that go through that as well. Crossing the bridge and entering the border control we found 2 guys in line and our waiting time was less than 3 minutes. To resume, Colombia started well. And didn't disappoint us so far 😊
The next pleasant surprise was the hotel we booked who, despite being simple, was a luxury for backpackers. After enjoying the minibar and a good sleep we headed to Popayán the next morning.
Popayán was just a stop before heading to Medellín but even if the town isn't big we enjoyed our time there. Of course we didn't miss the free walking tour after breakfast. We where surprised to find ham and cheese in the croissant we ordered. Colombia isn't different than the rest of the continent in this: meat is everywhere!
Arrived in Medellín at 6am and
had the luxury of an early check-in who allowed us to sleep some more. Trying to find the mercado campesino (farm marked) we landed in the hipster part of the city, full of cozy cafes, nice restaurants and cute shops, where we ate 4 time in 3 days. Spend the rest of the time in the botanical garden, the modern art museum and the explora park (interactive museum).
Advertisement
Tot: 0.067s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0373s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb