Blogs from Colombia, South America - page 328

Alter finishing the shamanic healing session it was full steam out of the jungle as fast as possible. We were both a bit fed up of it by then, and decided the quickest route would be down the Amazon and though the jungle into Colombia. So we said goodbye to our new friends from the trip and bought tickets for a float plane (hydroplane that takes off and land on water) that went direct to a town called Leticia, which is in the heart of Colombian jungle and borders both Peru and Brazil. It also avoided an uncomfortable boat trip of 8 hours in a Rapido. After dragging Claire into the jungle again I could hardly argue could I !? (Claire says: NO) Next morning we were waiting beside the river at this muddy riverbank that ... read more

Despite now having nine mosquito bites on my right hand big toe alone (Not kidding, I´ll take a photo, and this toe is no rare exception), I´ve decided to spend six days trekking through the Colombian jungle to the Lost City. I´ve dumped all but a day of my time in Venezuela to do this. It should be good though. I won´t get back until, ooh, Saturday, so you´ll have to amuse yourselves for a while.... read more

Apropos of nothing in particular (apart from the fact that Bogota has been boring, cold and rainy so far and I´ve just been to a couple of art galleries and played some basketball), herewith the Liz Bates Official Ways To Make Friends With Foreigners: Americans: Litter your conversation with words such as "wicked, rubbish, bin, swimming costume, golly, plasters and gumboots". They find this hilarious, they never tire of it, and it´s much easier than thinking up clever jokes or amusing anecdotes that they probably wouldn´t understand anyway. French: Be as sarcastic as you can. Dutch: Nothing in particular. They´re just really friendly to everyone with their red cheeks and hearty laughs. Israelis: Tell them you paid a lot more than they did for exactly the same thing. Germans: You probably won´t want to bother. If ... read more

Cartagena is one of the most beautiful colonial cities I have seen. The old town is surrounded by a wall built by the Spanish to protect it from the many attacks from pirates. It was a main port to Spain during colonial times and goods from all over South America went through Cartagena, making it rich, but also a valuable target. Phil, Sjoerd, Paul, Eva and I left for Santa Marta after three days, Sjoerd was feeling much better, but Eva was giving signs of being sick, we were afraid that she had got whatever disease Paul had. ... read more

These ruins were set in the middle of the Colombian jungle. We had to climb 1200 steps to reach the hilltop ruins. There were carvings on the rocks that looked like a map, water channels, stone circles and would have been quite a construction job. Please click below for further details about my trip around Colombia http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/blog-490421.html... read more