The Caribbean coast !

---

First city in the Caribbean was Cartagena. I had heard a lot of great things about Cartagena and the city was indeed beautiful. The historic center next to the sea made it different from other cities I had visited so far ! Temperatures and humidity were very high. Fortunately our hostel had air conditioning. From there, we went to Isla de Rosario and Playa Blanca. We did this with an organized trip where a boat brought us to these places, but would have been better off doing this on ourselves. In the morning the weather was very bad and the boat was first not going to leave. After 1 hour waiting in a packed boat, the weather improved and we did eventually leave. Isla de Rosario was definitely not worth it, but Playa Blanca was beautiful. Only a pity that the locals do not give you one second of peace. The harassed us all the time with all kinds of products and services to sell. More interesting was our trip to the volcano Totumo. After our bad experience with the organized tour to Playa Blanca, I preferred to do this on ourselves. Not that easy to reach the destination with public transportation. The volcano was extraordinary ! I had never seen anything like this in my life. A bath of mud that is 2.300m deep in which you cannot sink ! We got a massage in the mud and got washed off the mud in the river close by. Only a little bit of a negative feeling when all the people who had given us services (without asking if we wanted this) came to ask for a tip.

From Cartagena, we went to Santa Marta. Santa Marta did not seem very interesting and a little bit dirty, so we decided to move directly to the more quiet fishers town of Taganga. This was going to be the basis for going to the "Ciudad Perdida" and the "National park Tayrone", for me the highlights of my tour in Colombia. Unfortunately, faith decided differently. On the first day of hiking to the Lost city, I slipped when crossing the river and fell in the rocks. I immediately something was wrong, because my stomach was upset right after my fall. I tried to continue for a few minutes, but had to take a mule to take me to the refugee. It was raining a lot and very cold. Because we had been told that we did not need warm cloths because we would be doing exercise, I did not even have a raincoat. I was freezing ! This experience reminded me of the movie in which a guy got kidnapped by the drug cartels/communist rebels and was brought to camps in the jungle. He was also injured, was also carried by mules and was also very cold. The landscapes were exactly the same. The next day, my leg was still hurting a lot and I could even walk anymore. I needed to abort my tour and to come back to Taganga. The tour agency (Magic tours) had arranged a car and they drove me to the hospital. Based on the X-rays, the doctor told me nothing was broken but that I had a severe inflammation because of the fall. I got injection with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory, needed to take medication for a while and was not allowed to walk for one week. Since it was quite a hassle to find crutches in Santa Marta, I was forced to spend a few days in the hostel only coming outside in a taxi to go to a restaurant. Next time, I will make sure I am wearing proper footwear and I will not try to avoid walking through the river in order to keep my feet clean when all the other people just go straight through the water...

After few days of rest, my foot was better and I was able to go the National park Tayrona. Fortunately, the owner of the hostel borrowed me a stick to help me to walk. The beaches in Tayrona and the walks were beautiful, but it felt a little bit touristy although the accommodation was only very basic (and very expensive). After 2 days on site, we decided to go to a place with a more healthy climate and with fewer mosquitos and we went back to Bogota via Bucamaranga. Not the perfect place to take some rest, but I needed to be there on time anyway to catch my flight to La Paz few days later.

Overall, I had a good time in Colombia but I think this is very much overrated by many travelers. The vast majority of Colombians are very nice and very helpful ! It happened a couple of times that people we did not know helped us to negotiate prices, find accommodation, etc. But I also had the feeling that many Colombians tried to rip us off, esp. in the places a little bit off the beaten track. Prices are never fixed and tourists always pay much more than locals. Sometimes the initial price we were asked to pay was 5 times more than what the service was actually worth ! Never had that feeling in Ecuador, and people are very helpful as well (at least if you have a decent level of Spanish) ! Additionally, Colombia is very expensive and accommodation for tourists is only basic compared to the price you pay. You can get much better quality for less money in other countries (again, at least if you speak Spanish). I had the feeling that Colombia is one of the few countries were you can travel and communicate with the people with only a very basic level of Spanish, because many speak English and because people seemed more "tolerant" to people who do not learn the local languange. Of course, only a personal opinion. I am aware if the fact that many travelers will disagree with my statements.

---

Comments

[kathy engelbos]

nice pics!
nice pics Bert!

[Annelies]

Where is Bert?
Is 't de bedoeling dat we je hiertussen herkennen?? :-)