Category: Colombia

It was a slow start as we had left Deryn’s iPad at the pub last night. The staff at 574 were really helpful with the owner’s dad driving me up to the bar just before opening to help me try track it down.  Thankfully it had been found and was safely returned.  We grabbed a metro to the northern bus station and for 8000 pesos each we were on our way to Guatape and its famous rock. 

It was a pleasant 2 hour bus journey followed by a 5 minute ride in the local tuktuk to our Lake View hostel and a lovely room with a balcony overlooking the lake.  We headed into town for some dinner (trout) before retiring to bed for an early night.

We hired a couple of bikes the next morning having decided to bike the 5 or so kms to the El Penon Rock. The rock is basically a bit of granite that has not been worn away – a bit like a mini Uluru.  It was first climbed in the 1950s.  Steps were built to get to the summit which now has several cafes and viewing platforms. Bike hire was 35000p each for the day.  The ride was not too bad – not as hilly as we had feared – until the last km.  We had to walk the last 300m because it was too steep to ride.  Tickets to climb to the top where 18000p each which is quite ‘steep’ in the local context. It was roughly 750 steps to the top with some lovely views on the way up.  Looking down on the circling condors was pretty cool.  

The views from the top were spectacular.  We both thought the views reminded us of the Bay of Islands with the multitude of watery inlets. Some of the houses looked very impressive.  We cycled around the town upon our return.  It was beautiful – every house was painted a range of different colours.  I wonder what would happen if you dared to paint your house white.  We both agreed that Guatape is a lovely little town that we both would have enjoyed spending a bit more time than the day and a bit.  Most of the tour guides suggest a day trip from Medellin which does Guatape no justice. 

We arranged for a taxi to take us to Medellin – 120,000p (about $55) as buses were a bit of a hassle involving several changes.  We arrived nice and early and before long we had landed in Santa Marta – on the northern Caribbean coast of Colombia.  The increase in temperature was noticeable. We grabbed a local taxi to take us the 30kms us to Minca.  We got dropped off in the town square and then jumped on the back of a motorbike to take us to the hostel Finca Bolivar. Thankfully it wasn’t too far because sitting on the back of a motorbike with a heavy backpack on driving on a bumpy dirt road is not easy.  

Our hostel was lovely, surrounded by huge trees and plenty of bamboo.  Simon, the Swiss owner, talked us through the many activities available in Minca. Waterfalls and walks a plenty.  It started to rain as he was wrapping up the intro which was a bit of a bugger as we were hoping to head into town for some food.  We waited a couple of hours but no joy so we had no choice but to don our jackets and head into town.  We stopped at the first place we found and both ordered garlic prawn pasta for 22000 each.  What we got was a little bowl with 6 prawns in garlic oil, 2 crackers and 2 halves of bread.  They obviously had no pasta!  We will not be returning. 

The next morning we had a bit of a wonder around the town and then spent some time chilling around the hostel, including having a swim (more of a dip).  We got chased away by the noise of the guy doing the lawn so decided to visit some water holes just a wee walk out of the town.  It was lovely.  We had an early dinner on the way home and then played some cards and had a few quiets in our hostel – enjoying the fact we were the only ones staying in the hotel.  We tried, reasonably well, to keep a lid on it as we had a big walk planned the next day.

We had our breakfast at the hotel with some granola, bananas and yogurt bought at the local dairy supplemented with fresh local mangoes grown at our hostel. Perfect.  We headed out at 10 with plenty of water and some sandwiches.  It took us over an hour to reach the waterfalls – basically climbing the entire time but at least it was on a dirt road.  The waterfalls at Pozo Azul were pretty cool with some nice water holes to swim in.  It was reasonably busy but thankfully not as bad as it could have been given the number of full vans that passed us heading down as we walked up.  We both agreed that there was no way we could walk the full circuit as the heat and humidity made it really challenging. So we headed back to the hostel and went into town for an early dinner at a local restaurant that made its own pasta – Santa Isabela. Magic.  

We grabbed breakfast in town before negotiating for 2 motorbikes to take us to the Mirador at Los Pinos – 30,000p each.  We thought it was a lot until we spent at least 20 minutes traveling over incredibly rough roads to reach our destination. We were both glad to get off the bikes and thankful that we didn’t try walk it yesterday. Also being a weekend the number of vans at the waterfalls from yesterday  made us gla we did it then – everyone in Santa Marta must head up for a weekend drive.  The views across to Santa Marta wasn’t great thanks to the mist/cloud.  We then walked down to Casa Elemento with its famous large hammocks. It was 10,000 each to get access to the hammocks but we also got a coffee and a swim thrown in.  Amazingly we bumped into a couple of girls from the Lake View Hostel in Guatape.  Small world this backpacking fraternity.   

Next stop was the Cascada de Marinka, some more waterfalls about halfway back to town.  The walk was pleasant enough although after an hour or so we were both thinking ‘motorbike’ but soldiered on.  Again they were very pleasant without being spectacular. And thankfully not too busy.  We then limped back into town for a well deserved burger at my local favourite The Lazy Cat.  11.7km which took us nearly 3 and half hours. The heat and humidity made it tougher than the numbers.   After a well earned kip we headed down the enjoy the famous paella at Casa Antonio.  The hostel was lovely, we were very surprised that we were the only guests. The paella was everything we hoped. Another couple of episodes of Stranger Things before trying to get to sleep in our hot and humid room.  

I had a tough last night in Minca as I was hit by a nasty tummy bug. Deryn also started to feel a bit dodgy when we woke early for our 630am taxi to Santa Marta airport for our flight to San Andres Island.  We arrived at the airport at 715am to find the Viva Air counter not yet open for our 930am flight. More worrying was the fact that we could not find the flight on the departure board. We checked the tickets again – we had booked from Cartegena not Santa Marta!!  Luckily the Latam office was open so we managed to get a couple of tickets to San Andres via a 6 hour stop over in Bogoata.  Just what the doctor ordered when you’ve got a dodgy stomach. We let Roz know that she would be getting to the apartment before us. We tried to see if we could wrangle a refund from the now open Viva Air office but the girl behind the counter did not speak English so we flagged it. 

The time in Bogota airport was tough with no lounge available so it was iPad TV and reading with the odd dash to the loo for both of us. We finally arrived at our apartment – Tamarindo Centro VIP Apartment– in San Andres at around 730pm. 13 hours of fun.  Roz was there to meet us outside which was lovely. The apartment was right in the heart of the town at an incredibly busy intersection – the noise and heat were incredible.  

We grabbed a pizza and beer at a local pub before hitting the sack. Roz has arranged to go diving the next day while Deryn and I planned to try get over the bug.  Roz arrived home around 1pm with a lukewarm response to the diving. She felt snorkelling would be as good.  We headed off to see if we could find a boat to take us out to one of fhe islands on one of the next couple of days – to no avail.  We did meet a friendly local and Deryn arranged the hire one of the many Suzuki jeeps endemic to the island for the following day. We had a bit of a session that night teaching Roz the finer points of cribbage.  

We picked the Jeep up at 10am. 175k pesos for the day.  You pay for what you get.  It was basically an automatic with 1 forward and 1 reverse gear, had a top speed of 30 miles an hour (sounded like it was going to take off at that point), no review mirrors or seatbelts. However it did the trick and we spent the next 6 hours traversing around the whole island of San Andres.  We stopped at La Piscinita down on the west side of the island where for 5000p you could swim with and feed fish, dive off a diving board and also bomb down a water slide. It was fun but a bit busy although the water slide was a blast – Roz must have hit the water doing a 100km/h and was lucky to retain her togs.

We then drove to a beach a couple of kms down the road for some snoozing and sun bathing. Deryn and I were still struggling with our bug so we enjoyed the kip.  On the return leg down the east coast we headed inland to La Loma (a waste of time) and then stopped for some more kipping and sunbathing at the famous Rocky Kay – an island that you walk out to for cocktails.  We didn’t walk out there instead preferring to hang around the beach enjoying the recliners and shade.  It was a bit of a shame that the Colombians love of loud music made sleep a bit of a challenge.   We found somewhere nice for dinner (Peru Wok) and enjoyed a lovely seafood meal.

The next morning Roz and Deryn headed off snorkeling while I tried once again to sleep off the bug.  They enjoyed the snorkeling – there was only 4 of them and it was only a couple of hours so they didn’t suffer the usual ‘island challenge’ of hanging around for hours waiting. We played a few more hands of cards before sitting out on our deck enjoying a tropical downpour.  

Our trip the next morning to Cartagena was uneventful – once again Latam and South American airports being a pleasure. We checked into our lovely hotel – Hotel Casa Lola–  very swanky and just outside of the walls of the old city.  The air conditioning was the most pleasant part as it was hot and sweaty.  Our Kiwi mates from NY, Dave and Jane Fanning arrived 15 minutes after us so we all headed up to the rooftop pool to cool down, downed a few Pisco Sours and have some amazing burgers.  The tab of 435k pesos let us know that it wasn’t going to be a cheap weekend. We headed out at dusk to explore the very cool city of Cartagena, first wondering around the old town, before heading to a local restaurant for some amazing food.  The girls were all in bed by 11pm but Dave and I kicked on playing cribbage until the early hours. 

It was off to the San Felipe de Barajas (Castillo San Felipe Fortress).  The fort was built in the 1500s and was meant to repel all invaders trying to get their hands on Cartagena’s slave based riches.  It was impressive although again the heat made it a real challenge. Even deep in the bowels of the fort, the heat was oppressive.  We stopped for lunch at a local pub and to watch the All Blacks take on Argentina. Deryn, Jane and Roz left early to look around the town and headed home through El Centenario plaza where they got to see monkeys, sloths and iguanas that live in the park. Next was a couple of hours to chilling in our air conditioned rooms. We found a well rated ‘local’ cafe on Trip Advisor.  Not sure how it got the rating because while the food was OK it was overpriced and the restaurant was totally lacking atmosphere. We headed back to the hotel and got stuck into our duty free vodka while playing 10&1.  It was past midnight while playing Ralph that a hand appeared at a window above us furiously pointing to their watch.  We had no idea we were sitting outside a hotel room.  So we snuck back to the party room (room 22 – Dits and my room) and continued chatting until past 2am.

It was a slow start the next day with none of us rising much before 10am, in time to get breakfast. With the heat and humidity it was simply a matter of avoiding it during the heat of the day.  Jomo did a bit of research and found a decent restaurant in the old town so we headed out around 5.30, stopped at a roof top bar to try grab some Pisco Sours but had to do with majitos as they were on special and they did not serve Piscos.  The dinner was really good although we over ordered with a fair bit of seafood casserole remained uneaten.  Dave was keen to kick on but he was alone on that front so we were all in bed by 10.

Dave and Jane were on a 1pm flight back to New York so we said our sad farewells to them about 11am.  We and Roz then headed into town for some lunch before we again sadly left Roz around 2 lying by the pool (her flight was 730pm) and we grabbed a cab to take us to the bus terminal for our 5 hour bus trip to Monteria.  Deryn had been in contact with the bus company so we intended to head to their office but never made it as we were intercepted and convinced to jump into a minivan.  It seemed like a good idea as it was cheaper, we could leave sooner and seemed comfortable. After 30 minutes of waiting and a few more passengers joining to van, we were thinking we had made a mistake.  We left at 330 (instead of the 4pm planned bus departure). The trip was slow going with loads of road works resulting in periods of waiting for traffic to pass.  We were then bundled out of our minivan into another far more crowded van for the last 90 minutes of the journey.  We should have taken the bus!!

We had booked into a hotel  – Hotel Florida Sinú– close to the bus station in Monteria as we had to grab another van the next day.  The hotel looked pretty flash although on closer inspection it was like many of those second tier Chinese hotels.  The shower drain did not work and the air conditioning only had one setting – full bore!.  However the hotel did have an amazing burger joint across the road which did as good a chicken burger as we have had for a long time.  We were woken in the middle of the night by an incredible storm – thunder like we have never heard before. It really did sound like explosions. We were back at the station by 10 the next morning and after an hour of waiting for the right number of passengers we were on our way to Necoclí.  It took just over 3 hours.  Necocli was a bit of a run down coastal town although after exploring the back streets we did find a lovely little square and some decent(ish) restaurants – shame we had already eaten some dodgy empanadas while purchasing some supplies for our trip to the San Blas Islands. 

Our hotel – Hotel San Sebastián De Uraba– was a shocker. There was no blankets on the bed – I had to get up in the middle of night to go grab some from the front desk – plus the cafe next door blared music out until past midnight when I again went downstairs and asked the front desk guy to have a word.  Colombians have this thing about deafening music.  We were up early to grab our boat across to Capurgana – it was a 90 minute boat tide versus 1000km by car.  The boat was a large speed boat with 3 300HP engines.  Fully loaded there was about 30 of us on board and the boat did not mess around. The journey wasn’t too rough so Dits go to Capurgana without any serious sea sickness.  We then had to grab another boat to take us to Zapsurro and our tiny little hotel called Hilltop Zapsurro.  We didn’t get the name as there was not a hilltop in sight.  Zapsurro was a sleepy little town with very few backpackers.  We felt we were really integrating with local life.  We struggled to find a place to serve breakfast or dinner outside of the official eating hours. 

We spent a leisurely day exploring the village and catching up on sleep before getting an early night sleep.    Once again we were woken by an incredible storm around 2am – the thunder really is scary sounding. We now know it is wet season in Central America this time of year.  We grabbed a boat back over to Capurgana for our midday briefing from San Blas Tours. There are about 17 on the tour with a majority of women and a lot of them Irish.  Deryn and I are of course older than anyone by at least 25 years.  US$450 for 4 days of back to basic on these isolated islands with the local Kuna people. I can’t wait!

We had a nice relaxing morning sampling some of the local coffee, wondering around the village and then booking our horse ride up the river.  We got picked up at 1.10 and driven about a kilometre to the stables just outside of town (close to the Paremo trek office).  Both our horses were amazing (compared to the older horses we usually get).  There was only the 2 for us, 3 with out guide.  We set off on the road for a fairly steep decline to the valley floor below.  Our guide only had to make a noise with his lips (much like calling a cat) and the horses would break into a trot.  It was quite hard work going down the steep road – I could feel the blisters building already where my thigh was rubbing against the saddle.

We reached the bottom of the valley after about 30 minutes and then headed into the river. It was a lot of fun riding up the river, at times heading into quite deep water. The horses were incredible – they obviously know what they were doing.  After about 30 minutes walking up the river we started to head back to town,  however this time it was up stone and mud paths.  It was amazing how the horses coped climbing the very steep and slippery paths and before we knew it we were back in Salento, although on the opposite side of town.  My horse was keen to get home so any opportunity and he was off.  We were back at the stables in 90 minutes of a 2 hour ride, but that was great as our guide could see we could ride so he sped it up.  Damn, my legs hurt when I first got off.  Dits was a lot better.  Our legs were taking a pounding with the hiking and now this.  Best we go book in our mountain biking ride!

We went back to Salento Bikes and told the guy we were in for the single track downhill – he had spent some time trying to talk us out of it the previous day when we popped in.  He even showed us a video. However he piped down when we showed him a video of Manly Dam.  150k ($A70) pesos each for ride.   W e turned up the next day at 1.10 (after another fantastic feed at Brunch – my soup was a 3 course meal).  The ride to the start of the ride was interesting, mainly because the van would suddenly lose all power.  Our driver had to turn the car off and wait a while.  The exactly same ailment befell our taxi on the drive up to the Teleferico in Quito.  Weird. 

We arrived at our destination – La Alegria single track.  Rated hard and as a black diamond track by Trailforks.  Nothing like a challenge.  The first part of the track was on pine needles through a pine forest – with a smattering of eucalyptus trees.  It was slippery!! Things were made a lot more difficult as well as the brakes were the opposite  side to what we were used to.  It was challenging but sort of fun.  We both came off a few times so our guide knew what to expect. It was just so different to anything that we had ridden. After about 20 mins the terrain changed to paddock which was a lovely reprieve. We cycled through a fair bit of farmland with plenty of animals. It was the clam before the storm.  The last 2 kms were slipping clay on tracks that were v shaped crevices.  I went over my handle bars twice (the brake issue) but still loved it – it was the old story of ‘speed is your friend’.  It’s just takes a fair bit of getting used to going sideways all the time.   We made it to the bottom in 46 minutes, over our target of sub 40.  They had a championship here a month or so ago in which the winner did 17 minutes. I have no idea how. Starva says I was the second fastest of all time (in the 55-64 age bucket!).  

We did originally have plans for doing 2 runs but they amount of physical activity we take undertaken over the last 5 days just made it a bad idea.  We would kill ourselves if we tried it again.  So it was a quiet night ahead of our early departure to the airport and our flight to Medellin. 

We caught the 750am bus to Pereira airport for our 11.55am flight to Medellin via Bogota. We arrived at the airport just after 9 so we got put on the earlier 10.30am flight which meant we got to spend 3 hours in the Avianca business lounge in Bogota. It was lovely – good internet and unlimited good food.  Medellin was a lot greener and a loft wealthier than I was expecting – as it turns out it was just where we were staying – 574 Hotel in the Astorga area.  The hotel was lovely with the guy at the frond desk being really sweet. 

I had my Ayahuasca experience booked for the next day so I had to go meet my guide Orion, at a coffee shop at the Estadio Metro Station at 730pm.   We decided to grab the metro there until we bumped into Maya (of Bogota fame) who said to avoid it.  The line of people waiting was incredible.  Most office people do a 730 to 5pm shift so starting out our journey at 530pm was not a good idea So we started walking until the rain forced us into a taxi.  And traffic.  We made it with 15 minutes to spare.  Orion was there with his nurse partner – he is a doctor that does Ayahuasca experiences on the side.  He believes completely in its healing properties.  He asked what I was hoping to get out of it – a lot of people do Ayahuasca to treat mental and even physical issues.  Mine was simply about going on the journey.  He questioned Deryn a bit as to why she was not doing it, telling her it would be good for her.

I met Orion the next morning at 8 at the North bus stop (off Caribe metro station) and after a 40 minutes drive we arrived at our location. It was an incredible experience for so many reasons and I would happily share the note I wrote about it. Just reach out and ask. 

I was back home by 3 and met Deryn who had been on a city centre walking tour with Maya and friends.

I’m sure exactly what I expected from Medellín but it is a noisy, chaotic South American city. After meeting the doctor who was taking Sean away for his Ayahuasca treatment I was comfortable he was in good hands so I signed up for the Free Walking Tour. 

It was excellent. It gave me better understanding of  Medellin and it’s Paisa people. We visited many of the attractions in Downtown Medellín – Botero Square was my favourite with all his statues in one square, but the most interesting part was learning about its transformation.  Medellín has gone from one of the most dangerous cities in the world (economic suffering, crime drug trafficking, civil unrest) to being recognised as one of the most innovative. Poor and high crime areas have been revamped and transformed into beautiful areas. Low income neighbourhoods boosted with library, parks and community centres. The guide asked how many of us had family who were happy for us to be here. Several of us put up our hands. He said 3 years ago no hands would have been up.

  Taylor had told us about a great local she had met when she travelled through Medellin 2 years earlier so we decided to meet up with him.  He was a blast, so full of energy.  We could see why Taylor enjoyed him. 

The next day it was off to the famous, previously infamous, Comuna 13. Once one of the most violent spots on the planet. Now its a massive tourist attraction.  I do wonder how the locals cope with not being able to move most of the year as the place is packed with walking tour groups. Like ours.  Our guide was terrible so we bailed out once we got to the escalators (HK is the only other city in the world that has them).  The upper levels were great. Plenty of buskers, food sellers and atmosphere. On the journey down we passed our tour group so had to take evasive action to avoid detection. 

The next day we decided to take the gondola from the Acavdo Metro stop to Arvi and the national park up there. The metro in Medellin really is amazing. It transformed the city when it was built in 1995.  It is a breeze to navigate with basically 2 lines – a north and south and an east to west.  The gondolas run off various stops and head into the hills.  Medellin won the worlds most innovative city in 2012 for the work that it is doing to integrate the different social classes and hence reduce crime.   We had a brief walk around the park looking for a lake that was meant to be nearby. After 45 minutes of walking we gave up – nothing was signposted with a maze of paths making it impossible to find the lake.  We headed home and wandered up to the funky Lalinde area for an early dinner and some cards in one of the many bars.  For once we were the last to leave (it was a 10.30pm close!).  We were off to Guatape tomorrow.  We both felt like we had not really given Medellin a fair crack.  It was probably because of the location – a wee bit from the city center and the nightlife spots and also because we were shattered from all the physical activity in Salento.

And, finally a dog …