Colombia

Colombia 🇨🇴

Only about 6 months ago, Leah and I had returned from our Europe backpacking trip. Since then, we had moved to Seattle. Leah had started nanning and had saved up a good chunk of money for another trip. I had started working at a small bagel cafe called Eltana and had just enough money to do a budget backpacking trip somewhere. Leah and I started looking for cheap international flights and had our eyes set on South America. Neither of us had ever been to South America before and decided it would be a great new place for us to explore together.

We managed to secure some super cheap flights from Seattle to Bogota, Colombia and so our adventure begins!

Bogota

After a couple of cramped flights and a rough overnight layover in Mexico city, our plane descended into Bogota. Bogota is the capitol of Colombia and is nestled up against a mountain range. It was a foggy and cool day in Bogota which was delightful as the majority of Colombia can get quite hot, even in February.

We were rocking the same huge backpacks that we trekked all over Europe in, so our first order of business was to drop them off at our Airbnb. After dropping off our gear, we set off into the heart of Bogota to check it out and keep our legs moving after sitting for a long time on our flights.

Our first order of business was to try some authentic Colombian coffee ☕. Coffee will certainly be a theme throughout this post as Colombia has some of the best (and freshest) coffee in the world.

First stop, coffee!

The business area of Bogota

A colorful set of buildings

After getting some coffee, we joined a walking tour that showed us a lot of different street art in downtown Bogota. We also tried a local traditional drink. Many of the locals drink this and especially farmers as it is considered “energy breakfast in a cup”.

A street we walked down with an abundance of street art

Two small cups which is a traditional alcoholic Colombian beverage

A collection of the dry ingredients that go into the traditional drink

We continued down even more streets that were just packed with street art and vibrant colors. So far, we were beginning to learn that Colombia is an incredibly colorful place in its architecture, people, and foods.

A vibrantly painting wooden window

Our next stop was to explore some museums in downtown Bogota. The first one we stopped by was a free art gallery with some pretty unique style of paintings… Leah and I thought they were pretty goofy.

After the art gallery, we walked around aimlessly to find food, and see what Bogota was like on the streets.

There was a lot of pigeons

We checked out the Museum of Gold which contained a ton of artifacts all crafted with or ordained in gold. It was super interesting and it was clear that the “El Dorado” legend was geographically fitting here.

We made yet another stop for coffee… This time, a brewing method that looked like science.

Science coffee

We hit one more museum that was known as the “emerald” or “mining” museum. It was dedicated to the mining of emeralds around Colombia and we both quite enjoyed it. The best part was the views from the top floor we got during sunset!

Leah in the emerald museum

The views of sunset

Another view of a few buildings in the sunset light

On our last day, we took a funicular up the mountain range that rests against Bogota. The view from the top were incredible. There were tons of flowers and windings streets at the top between old buildings and churches.

Medellin

We hopped on a bus and left Bogota to Medellin. While waiting for the bus, we were told an interesting bit of detail from other folks waiting for the same bus. Now, you should probably “fact-check” this information but this is what we were told…

• Me: “Wow the busses are so cheap here! Just a few dollars to go all the way to Bogota to Medellin!”
• Stranger: “Yes, that is because the busses are all operated by drug cartels and the government turns a blind eye because it provides affordable public transportation.”
• Me: 😮

Now it should be noted that both my parents and Leah’s parents were a bit concerned when we told them we were going to Colombia. Not too long ago (80s / 90s) Colombia was largely considered the “most dangerous place in the world” due to rampant violence from drug cartels and kidnappings. However, we read that it has since improved a lot in recent years and is very welcoming to travelers. Thankfully, we felt very safe so far on our trip so we hopped on the bus with smiles. Who knows if our bus was owned by drug cartels or not, but all the other passengers were welcoming and kind. We didn’t check under our seats though as a precaution 🙈.

While on our bus ride, Leah had found a small travel blog that suggested an experience I will truly never forget… paragliding! It was run by a local man named Marlon and he was extremely friendly. He picked us up right at our hostel in his van named “La Cheque”. We learned that he has driven La Cheque all over South America and its his prized possession. Marlon drove us up a bunch of winding roads to a mountain top that overlooked all of Medellin. Without any wavers or safety talks, Leah and I were strapped into the paragliders with Marlon and his friend.

The view from the field where we strapped into our paragliders

Another shot of our take-off view with a few gliders seen in the distance

Up, up, and away! My feet dangling above the mountains of Medellin

Up in the air with all the other gliders

Our gliding tour was supposed to be about 30 minutes long in the air for each of us. However, after the last photo seen above, Marlon said that we needed to get higher. How they do this in their gliders was by doing a “corkscrew spin” to gain lift. I lasted about 3 minutes in this manoeuver before I felt violently ill. I said “Marlon, I think I might be sick”, and then promptly barfed all over myself, Marlon’s pants, and the many cows down below us.

Marlon went down to land and I ripped out of the harness and flopped down into the grass while everything was still spinning. I felt super bad that I blasted Marlon with my stomach contents and he felt really bad that I felt so ill. Leah landed shortly after and Marlon said he would take us to his favorite mountain coffee shop near by to cheer us up.

It turns out the coffee shop was actually a coffee farm and we got to drink delicious coffee while looking out over the very trees it was recently harvested from!

Leah sitting on a bench outside the coffee farm

One of the many dog friends we met

Marlon’s van “La Cheque”

Marlon driving us back into Medellin while blasting 2000s pop music

Later that day, we decided to checkout the gondola in the hills of Medellin. What is really interesting about this gondola, is that it is not for tourists to “soak in the scenic views” or to visit a great mountain top. Instead, it is a form of public transportation. It is relatively new and has been seen globally as quite innovative. The goal was to help people in lower income communities get into town better since they are located in the hills where it is not very walkable (especially for older residents). People use the gondola to get to work, go to doctors appointments, and bring home groceries. In Medellin, we also learned that the metro is source of great pride for its citizens. The keep it extremely clean and are quite proud of it as not too long ago it wasn’t all that safe to take public transportation in the city.

A view looking down the path of the gondola

A view out the window of the gondola looking towards the communities it services

We really enjoyed all the flora of Medellin (The City of Eternal Spring) so we strolled and checked out a lot more neighborhoods while we were there.

An area with botanical gardens that Leah really enjoyed

A shopping mall that was designed with tons of archways

A coffee shop where the price is determined by how politely you order

Another stop for iced coffee at Pergamino cafe - delicious

Residential buildings seated upon the hills of Medellin

Guatape

Our next stop on our journey in Colombia was Guatape. Guatape is a small area a few hours outside of Medellin and known for its extremely unique rock and water formations (you’ll see pics below). We took the bus from Medellin to Guatape and this one was certainly a little more “rough around the edges”. The thing that was unique about this bus is that it did not stop for its passengers. There was a guy who hung out the door of the bus looking for passengers. People would wave at him and the bus would simply slow down a bit as he pulled people onboard while driving past them. While this bus might have been a bit more sketchy, it would feel like luxury compared to one we would ride on later.

We got into Guatape in the afternoon and dropped our bags off at our eco-hostel before exploring the streets of the town and grabbing some food.

Flowers hanging out the windows of houses on our walk into town

Pops of color everywhere we looked

A doggo who looked surprised to see visitors

A piece of artwork on the side of a house that depicted the main church in the town

Leah and I getting food from a cafe owned by an older couple in the town. I think it cost $3 as seen on the table

A motorcycle parked in-front of a small pizza place. We would later go here for dinner and meet another man from Seattle who has been living in Guatape and working remotely

After food, we walked into the center of the town which was just packed with all sorts of vibrant colors and people!

We strolled the streets a bit more, got some dinner, and then headed back to our eco-hostel for the night. It was a wonderful place to stay and it overlooked a small coffee farm.

Our next day in Guatape, we set off early to climb El Peñón de Guatapé which is a huge “egg shaped” rock which has stellar views in all directions. You have to ascend a crisscross pattern of stairs all the way to the top and it is quite tiring.

Our taxi driver that took us from the town to El Peñón de Guatapé

The view looking up El Peñón de Guatapé with the stairs we would be soon ascending

The “crisscross” stair pattern on our way up

A photo showing the sheer angle that the rock sticks up out of the ground

Leah taking a break partway up before her legs fall off

The view from the very top

Leah striking a pose at the top

G + L

The stairs going back down - I’m not sure if these pass any sort of safety inspections

Leah channeling her inner monkey 🐒

These two dogs represented our moods after climbing all the stairs

A picture of the church in the town center on our way back

Two guys who really wanted me to take their picture. They also insisted I take shots with them but I gladly declined given the heat

We walked back through the town and out the other side to get to our eco-hostel. It was a long and hot day in the sun so we went back to hangout in some hammocks for a bit.

A few houses on the path to our eco-hostel

G + L strolling back to our place

Arriving at the eco-hostel

After hanging out for a bit we remembered that we didn’t have any more bottles of water and I felt a bit iffy about the tap water at the eco-hostel. It was already dark and around 10pm but I figured we would need water before going to bed. The nearest shop with water was only about a 10 minute walk away so we figured it would be fine. We put on our shoes and began to stroll back down the path into town. About 2 minutes into our walk the sky begin to rapidly erupt with lightning. It was really beautiful but a bit concerning given it came out of absolutely no where. We got into the shop and bought a few bottles of water. As soon as we headed out of the shop I felt what may have been the largest drop of water land on me in my life. We both looked up to a sky of pure lightning and saw massive drops of rain coming down towards us. Leah yelled “RUN!” and we both started sprinting back down the path. Each raindrop was like getting swatted with a roll of newspaper and within seconds we were drenched. It was seriously the most intense rain I have ever been in. It was like the rainstorm in the first Jurassic park movie when they are trying to escape the island.

We completely gave up on trying to be dry and jogged back to our hostel laughing and yelling in the rain while completely soaked.

We ran out of water and went out to get some… and boy did we get some.

Our last day in Guatape we strolled through the town once more to checkout a few more side streets and get some tasty coffee before heading towards our next destination, Cartagena!

Cartagena

Our last stop in Colombia was Cartagena which is a costal city know for its beaches and sunny warm weather ☀️. When we first got into Cartagena we were hungry so we stopped by an empanada street vendor to grab a snack. Looking back on this, eating random meat pastries from a cart on the sidewalk might have not been the safest bet, but its what you do when traveling and we survived.

Street vendor with some tasty ham and cheese empanada

After dropping off our bags, we strolled around Cartagena and saw so much diversity with the people, foods, and wildlife.

We saw a single grove of trees with three very different animals 🐿️ 🦥 🐒.

A sloth hanging from a tree in the park 🦥

A deep red chipmunk / squirrel having a banana snack 🐿️

Some kind of monkey 🐒

Another sloth

We went back to our hostel afterwards as we had a big day ahead of us tomorrow as we had to figure out logistics for getting to the beach.

The Playa Blanca Story

The beach we chose to go to was “Playa Blanca”. It wasn’t too far away but this wasn’t a place you could just “plug into Google Maps” to get you there. We first started our journey by hopping on a local bus that took us down the coast. Holy shit was this bus a safety hazard… Now at this point, Leah and I had been traveling around Colombia for nearly 10 days and were feeling pretty comfortable, but boy was this bus a culture shock. This bus had a windshield, but there were no side windows left as they had all been smashed out. The seats were a various assortment of chairs that had been bolted to the floor or welded together. I think my chair was a beach chair and Leah’s chair looked like it came from an airport. The driver’s chair was literally pieces of bent metal and paracord wrapped around it to make a mesh net to sit on. It should go without saying, that this bus did not have seat belts. This bus had no apparent route or schedule but we were pretty sure it was going in the direction we wanted.

We rode the bus for about an hour and a half before getting off with a two other woman who also looked like they were going to a beach. We found ourselves with all our gear standing on the side of a dirt road in the middle of no-where. At this point we probably realized we had messed up. The women who got off with us were nearby climbing into the back of a covered pickup truck. I shouted “Playa Blanca?!”, they nodded, and so we dove into the back of the truck. We got lucky as they were going to the same beach and we managed to hitch a ride. No one spoke any English and they probably thought we were lunatics but we made it to the region where the beach was. However, you could only go so far in a car and you have to ride on dirt bikes the rest of the way. So we went from the trunk, to the back of two kid’s dirt bikes (with all our gear), and rode on the trail until we popped out on the beach.

We were staying in a little shack on the beach that was quite nice. It was a straw shake with beds and that was it. No running water, a single lightbulb, and a towel. It was right on the beach and had an amazing view of the sunset. We saw in the beach, soaked up the sun, and had fresh fish from another shack nearby for dinner. After the sun had set, we hopped in a boat and drove up the coast with a few other people to checkout a lagoon that was full of bioluminescence capable plankton. It was one of those experiences where you feel like you’re on another planet and something you never forget. As our boat drove into the lagoon, there was a glowing trail of neon blue in the water behind us. Once we got into the center of the lagoon, we hopped in the water and got to swim around under the moonlight. As you kicked your legs, moved your arms, or dragged your fingers through the water, a glowing blue trail would follow. Any movement activated the plankton and they let out a trail of light. It was honestly so incredible that words really won’t do it any justice.

The next day, we ran into a bit of a snafu trying to leave the beach. It turns out that since most of the beach doesn’t have electricity, there are no ATMs. We had run out of money and didn’t have anyway to pay for our dirt bike rides back to the pickup point. The teenagers could kind of understand what we were saying and suggested that they just take us all the way into town when they did a “cooler run” (for food) and we could go with them. They would even take us to an ATM. So a little while later, we were flying through the trees, and then on roadways on the back of two dirt bikes driven by teenagers with all our packs.

We made it back into the city of Cartagena in once piece (surprisingly) and we gave the boys some cash for the ride.

They were incredibly kind and willing to help us out when we got into a pickle. They didn’t know us at all, we couldn’t speak the same language, but they understood we were in trouble, and they went out of their way to give us help.

Moments like these are really what I think traveling is all about. Whether its missing a train, getting off the bus at the wrong stop in the middle of nowhere / climbing into someones car, or running out of money and flying through the costal jungle on the back of some kid’s dirt bike… travel is always an adventure. The best part of that adventure is when you inadvertent get yourself into some shit and you have to figure your way out either with your own cunning, the help of strangers, or a little bit of each 😉.

Back in the city of Cartagena…

The city of Cartagena has a history of being a costal defense city with large walls and even an old fort. Today, you enter through the walls of the old city and enter winding streets with all sorts of street vendors, fresh fruit, and art shops.

Starting to walk into the old part of the walled city

Shops, restaurants, and more - just on the other side of the wall

All sorts of different fresh fruits

Leah with a wide assortment of fruits that we tried

Leah standing on-top of the old defense wall

A manual “key copy” machine that is still in use by a shop owner

After strolling all up and down the old streets of Cartagena, we walked over to the old fort to explore it. We found our way into the tunnels of the fort and it was the perfect acoustics for me to be a goofball. I echoed into the tunnels “Doooory, I think I found your daaaaad” (Finding Nemo), and Leah almost fell over laughing.

The view of Cartagena from the top of the old fort

Conclusion

Backpacking and traveling around Colombia was a whirlwind of adventure. The people, food, and vibrant colors all around were spectacular. Colombia has so much to offer and showed us a great time. So far, Colombia was our first country to visit in South America and we will certainly be returning in the future to see more of what this beautiful continent has to offer. 🇨🇴