Viva Colombia

Now this blog was written in two different parts so it may not make 100% sense in terms of tense (ie past/present/future) at this stage for example... i am not at the Bogota airport but am actually sitting in my hostel sipping cocaine tea ready to leave the peru airport but meh you will get the jist of it after a bit.

Ok so I am now at the Bogota Eldorado Airport waiting for my flights through to Cusco, Peru! Jess and I have just spent the last 8 days in Colombia and it was fantastic apart from the minor torrential rain and thunder storms every night. Yep…. We really planned our trip well. May is Colombia’s only month for their wet season and well Bogota does NOT have a drainage system so the streets soon became rivers to practically wade through. We still got a fair bit of sightseeing in despite the afternoon storms.

I arrived at the airport at 7pm and had to wait until 9.50 before Jess arrived from NYC. I didn’t really want to venture out in Colombia by myself…. Once in Jess and I hailed a taxi, showed him the address (no further communication could be exchanged) and then just hoped for the best. We did get there in the end but were a bit skeptical about the armless beggars approaching our windows at stoplights or corner streets. The next day we slept in a little then went up for breakfast at the hostel (pineapple and bread with some weird as jammy stuff but it was fine). We then went in search of money and jeans for me since my fat ass ripped a big hole in the only ones I packed on my last night in America…. (by now 5days on and I still haven’t found a pair that’s either dirt cheap or moderately tasteful). By the end of the day we had familiarized ourselves with “la candelaria” (the old part of the city where we were staying), walked through Plaza de Bolivar, visited the Botero Museum, the coin museum, visited the cathedral churches Iglesias de San Francisco, Iglesias de la Veracruz and Iglesias de la Candelaria where we accidently sat in the first part of a mass.

We also had lunch at this nice Colombian place where I had one of their national dishes which was basically chicken soup. It was very good.. At lunch, the chef and presumably owner came out hearing that we were “gringos” (insulting word for Americans/tourists) and offered for us to go up on the restaurant roof to get a better view of the city and take some photos.  By the end of the day we were pooped and went straight to bed after our dinner at the hostel.

Day two we decided to try and walk up to Cerro de Monserrate, which is a church on top of one of the surrounding mountains. Sadly, on Tuesday the walking track is closed for maintenance but no matter we caught the funicular up instead for $3,000COP (exchange rate is approx: $1USD to $1,800COP). Despite the mist and rain, we still had a wonderful view of the sprawling city.

Once back, we tried to wait for a graffiti tour of the city but the guide never showed up so instead we took a bike tour in the rain. Which apart from the rain was probably the better option anyway. We went all over the city, into the bullfighting stadium, through the coffee district, the European district, the abortion district and the red light district all the while learning about Colombian history (mostly the riots and political assassinations).

By the time we got back we were exhausted again but manned up for a few drinks with the other people that had arrived at the hostel.

Third and last full day, Jess and I decided to go to Zipaquira (50km north of Bogota) to visit the underground salt cathedral. Thankfully our new friend Simon (who reminds me so much of Nick Honey its not funny) joined us. I say thankfully because he can speak Spanish and well we would have been totally screwed if it weren’t for him regarding public transport and whatnot. Anyway it took us about 2 hrs to get there and maybe 4 to get home. Here are some pictures of the cathedral. It was pretty eerie and spooky with the monastery type music playing in the background the whole time.

I somehow missed out on getting Jess's pictures of this but i might upload them later because they are so so pwettty..

After the cathedral we caught a bus to Chia where this famous restaurant was. Sadly the main restaurant was closed but we went to the express one anyway (which was very expensive but very good again).

Now here is where it took us 4 hrs to get home. Instead of taking a bus back to Portal Norte (where the transmilinio bus service leaves from) Simon asked a local and they told us to go to Suba. Now I am yet to find Suba on a map. All I know is that it was wayyyyy out of the way in what felt like the opposite direction. But meh it was like paying for a really really cheap bus tour of the countryside. We got to see little farms and the rural aspects of the Bogota area. Once home, we still had to walk 19blocks or so to get home which is where I found in the street vendors some milo bikkies and milo nuggets! They were very good J I also found “milo lite” in the supermarket which I am very intrigued about. Since then, Jess and i have been buying bulk 24packs of the bikkies.

Again that night we fronted up for drinks with the new people that arrived (by this time we had 10/12 people at the hostel (which was a lot for the off season). We all ate dinner and went out after. Jess and I met another Jess from England who was travelling with a group. By the end of the night she had decided that she would buy a ticket to Cartagena and come with us the next morning! Sadly she couldn’t book a flight in time though.

Now for Colombia part two, Cartagena!

The first day in Cartagena was pretty unsubstantial. Jess and I walked around the old city, went to some museums, ate out, bought myself a new pair of slightly bigger replacement jeans and just generally got to know the city whilst enjoying the intense humidity for a change (and yes I do mean enjoy, I have been missing the Brisbane heat and storms). Apart from that walking around and doing the museum stints, there isn’t much to do in the old town. In saying that the buildings are really quite cute and overhand the narrow streets with their vine covered balconies. That night we decided to cook for ourselves in the hostel kitchen because we spent a fortune (in Colombian terms, still less than $30AUS) on a seafood feast the night before. Whilst cooking dinner we met some guys from a near by hostel who preferred to chill under the fans in our hostel’s communal room much b. After dinner and all acquaintances were made, we set out to Mr Babilla’s for a night of dancing in the luxury of AIRCON! Mr Babilla’s was quite up market and was host to a lot of the older tourists. By older I mean generally 40yr olds. But meh it was fun dancing along side them watching them get drunk and pretend they were 20 again J

Next morning we woke up and hopped on a bus to volcano Totumo. Totumo is a small mud volcano that looks a lot like a giant termite mound. Legend has it * duh duh duhhhhh * that it once spilled out fire every year but the local priest would come every day and sprinkle holy water on it, turning the devils flames in mud rich in healing properties. All I know was that it was super cool and fun to play in. The volcano is bottomless, but because the mud is so thick, you cant sink lower than your chest. Its also quite interesting trying to swim through… not as effective as you might think.

After the volcano and all the excessive groping and massaging is done, they make you go and wash off in the lake that surrounds it. Sound quite nice but no its not really. The lake would be at least 45c degrees and they only let you enter up to you shins where they then proceed to rip off your clothes and wash you like a baby infront of everyone. Yep don’t worry about privacy; lets just say you get to know the people on the bus very well, guys and girls alike. Luckily, after the lake there was another set of COLD showers to wash off in before we headed to a lunch of fish, plantains and coconut rice at a nearby beach.

Once home that afternoon, we didn’t have much time for anything else so Jess and I went for a walk along the fort to watch the sunset along with all the lovers.

Next day we woke at 4.30am to head to spend the night in Santa Marta and hopefully see some nicer beaches. We arrived around midday, took our valuables our backpacks and headed down to Targanga to check out the beaches.

Targana is beautiful. It is this rough as shanty looking town with no paved road and locals walking around bare foot (mostly hassling the tourists to get on their boats… but still). On the drive in, Jess and I saw a little cove beach near the main boat harbor that seemed much nicer so we decided to hike up around the cliff like a few others were.

This is where the drama comes in. We were originally with a group of people but stopped to take some pictures of the bay. On the way up a scrawny local guy passed us on the way to the beach but we took no notice of him because there were quite a few people walking along. Nek minnit we walk around the bend and he comes up to us and shoves a knife in our faces and starts talking jibberish Spanish at us. Well naturally we knew what he meant. A knife in the face is pretty universal for I want your money! I think Jess and I handled it pretty well though because despite his inclinations to Jess’s camera, he only got away with around 80-100,000COP between the two of us, which translates to around $50. A few minutes later the shock set in and we got as fast as we could to the beach. Yep you bet we got his picture! Not getting away this time buddy... :/

Once there we had the best day. We made friends with a bunch of local kids and spent the day giving shoulder rides, hunting for crabs, learning how to dance, playing hairdressers and having races, all with out understanding a word of each other.

The only downside to that was the little Colombian kids were all black and did not understand the concept of sunburn or sunscreen. So Jess and I got absolutely fried! Its 3 days later and I am still a tomato and waiting for the inevitable peel to begin…. Once the sun began to dip below the mountains though, Jess and I knew it was our queue to leave (we didn’t want a repeat of the mornings episodes, especially with the sun down).

Next morning was another relatively early rise. We got a local bus to the entrance of Tayrona National Park. Now I have to tell you, the local buses are basically decrepit old 12-15seater minivans that are decked out with this elaborate fringing on the inside. The drivers hang out the side of the moving van and shove as many people as they can (no maximum capacity obviously) into if hailed down. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of them but they were quite the sight. Anyway back to Tayrona. It took us about 3 hrs to trek through the rainforest to where we wanted to spend the night at El Cabo San Juan. It was crazy hot and out shirts and pants by the end were soaked through with sweat (the sunburn didn’t help much). The walk was worth it though.

We got to sleep in hammocks in an open walled hut on top of a bunch of roks surrounding the bay.

It was seriously unreal apart from the mouse/rat thing that decided to momentarily join me in bed (I was quite enjoying my leg massage until I realized what it was).

Unfortunately our little dream escape was over as the next morning was a 6.30 wake up call for a full on day of travel. First our 3hr trek back, then a bus to Santa Marta, then another 4.5hr bus to Cartagena, then a flight to Bogota, to Lima, and finishing at Cusco where I am right now trying to recover from the mass amounts of fast food consumed at the airports and lack of decent sleep.

Anyway next post will be PERU PERU PERU in about a weeks time! Hope you enjoy!

Dee