Farewell Colombia, we will be back!

Leaving Cartagena behind, we headed south towards Medellin via a bushcamp in the hills.  In the 1980’s and 1990’s, Medellin was the centre of the cocaine industry and home to Pablo Escobar, and was one of the most dangerous cities in the world.  But despite the recent history, Medellin is now considered one of the more accessible cities in Colombia, albeit with a more edgy feel than Cartagena.

Together with our hosts for the evening, we bushcamped next to their house high above the valley

Medellin is a very big city, and unlike Cartagena with its compact historical centre, Medellin’s major sights of interest are spread around the city, so a walking tour was out of the question.  Instead we took Ithaca out for a drive around the city with a local guide on board, pleased that being Easter Sunday, Medellin’s chaotic traffic was not in evidence.
To get our bearings in this huge city, our first stop was Nutibara Hill which gave us a panoramic view over the city, and where our guide started to explain some of the history of the city as well giving us a perspective on the city’s neighbourhoods and what it is like to live here today.

From Nutibara Hill we headed for the most unusual stop on the tour, the Parque de los Descalzos (Bare Foot Park).  Based on some principles of reflexology (yep, we thought it was a city tour too!), it started with a walk through a bamboo forest on (rather sharp) stones, the bamboo symbolising how families that work together grow stronger.  We were then guided to a patch of grass where we were told that all the static electricity from the appliances we all use would disappear from our bodies, and we were encouraged to hug a tree to reduce our stress levels.  The next stage was to walk along sandy paths with our eyes closed through a series of pylons forming a maze (designed to increase our self-esteem by giving us the confidence to walk with our eyes closed), and then over some more pylons (fortunately with our eyes open!  No explanation given as to why).  The final stages involve water – sitting with our feet in a pool of water we were guided through how to give ourselves a foot massage, and then finally we moved to the spa pool where the bubbles completed our relaxation process!  It was a little bit “new age” for some of the group, but our feet have never been cleaner!

In the bamboo forest

Step 1 - Walking on the gravel

Step 2 - Ken demonstrating how to hug a tree

Step 3 - Walking through the maze

Step 4 - Lisa balancing on the pylons

Step 5 - foot massage

Leaving our stress (and dirt) behind, our next stop was Plaza Botero which is described by Medellin Tourism as “a symbol and example of social transformation in the city, as the area where it is located was previously extremely underdeveloped and neglected”.  The tourism authority then goes on to say that the park is now a place for “fun and wholesome entertainment”.  As we parked up next to some prostitutes working the street corner, I am not sure it quite lived up to the wholesome part, but the plaza itself was great, a showcase for 15 sculptures by the region’s most famous sculptor, Fernando Botero.

Leaving Ithaca for a while, we hopped onto the city’s clean and efficient metro system before catching the cable car up to Santo Domingo.  Designed in part as a transport system for the poorer areas that reach up the hill, it now serves locals and tourists alike, and for the bargain price of about $2 we were able to ride the metro and the cable car, much to Heather’s delight!

Happy Heather!

Cable car up to the hills

Playing in the fountains

The city’s botanical gardens are well worth a wander, and many of the group headed there after the tour while others returned to the hotel to either recover from, or prepare for, a night out.  Despite it being the Easter weekend, several of the group sampled the city’s nightlife – after all, there’s always a party somewhere if you want to find it!

Big cities are great to visit, but most of us feel more at home away from the hustle and bustle – and our next stop was exactly that – a coffee finca (farm) in the beautiful hills of the coffee growing area.  Coffee is big business in Colombia and we could see the crop being grown on endless hills as we drove along the Coffee Highway.  Coffee tours, coffee tastings and free espressos kept our coffee-aholics happy, while the pool, hammocks, and walking paths around the grounds meant there was something for everyone.  Apparently espresso coffee has less caffeine than filter or percolated…  but we didn’t see much evidence of that as several of the group were pretty hyped for a couple of days!

Tents nestled in amongst the palms

A great location and relaxed stay calls for great meals, and a marinated roasted pork loin was the order of the day for our first night, with lasagne the following night (although slightly delayed by a huge storm that blew through just at serving time!).  Delicious.

It wasn't supposed to rain tonight!

A short drive took us to our next destination – and a new destination for everyone on board – after all, this trip is all about “exploration and adventure”.  The small town of Salento is a fantastic place to wander around or enjoy a game of tejo (sort of like boule, but with gunpowder and beer…), and also boasts stunning walks through the cloud forest and 60m tall palm trees, an incredible variety of hummingbirds, hospitable hosts and great food.  A wonderful spot and somewhere we are keen to spend more time in the future.

Salento's main square

Old US jeeps built the town, and still remain

Is it for making coffee?  or time travel?

The traditional meal is quite a plate of food!  Beans, rice, sausage, pork belly, plantain and avocado.

Tejo court - at the end is a clay bed with four small white paper parcels filled with gunpowder  - if you hit them with the large chunks of metal you are throwing from 15 feet away, it goes bang!

Robin, with Jeanne watching intently in the background - it is definitely a sport where you stand behind the person throwing!

Outside Brunch, an American-style diner that was a firm favourite with the group

Keith, Heather, Ange, Francois, Lisa and Neil hiking in Salento

Keith

The hummingbirds "money shot", courtesy of Lisa

Continuing our journey south, we had a couple of nights in the city of Popayan, known as the “the White City”.  Churches and colonial buildings were the order of the day in the city (as well as an incredible cheese fondue or two!), while the surrounding hills offered hot springs, mountain-biking and strawberries and cream.  A free salsa lesson provided endless entertainment for the receptionist at the hostel, and some of us later headed to a nearby salsa club to show off our moves (or, more realistically, to try to remember the steps and not step on each others’ toes!)

Popayan's main square

Heather & Tony braving the rather smelly hot springs

Geoff and Pete demonstrating how they ride...

On the home straight

Salsa class

Vanessa, with Steve, Keith and Geoff in the background

Francois & Kirsten

Keith & Jeanne

Colombia is certainly a very hilly country, and even the Panamerican Highway (a rather grand term for the road in some places!) saw our average speed reduced to around 30kmh for some sections where the road wound around the hills and overtaking opportunities were few and far between!  Plenty of time to enjoy the stunning scenery enroute to our final stop in Colombia, the town of Ipiales, located just a couple of kilometres from the Ecuadorian border.  The Las Lajas Sanctuary is just a short distance from the town, and a few of the group headed off in taxis early the next morning to wander the sanctuary, made spectacular both by its location and its architecture.

The surrounding cliff walls are covered in plaques giving thanks or asking for family and friends to be kept safe

And then it was time to say farewell to Colombia.  It is a country that has surprised and impressed, and somewhere we felt very safe and welcome.  We are looking forward to bringing many more groups here in the future.

Colonial splendour and beach paradise in Colombia

Hello and welcome to my country. Hello, where are you from? Do you like Colombia? You are welcome, and please tell your friends about my country so they can visit too!

Colombia may well be the friendliest country we have visited on any of our expeditions around the world, and it has become a serious contender for our favourite country in South America.  A far cry from the preconceptions of many about Colombia - land of drug barons, cocaine wars and sky high crime levels, and far too dangerous to travel to – our experience of Colombia was a country realistic about its past, enthusiastic about its future, and open and welcoming to those who visit.

Where to start? Well it must be said that our time in Colombia didn't have the most auspicious start as we enjoyed (endured?) our longest border crossing to date, and certainly the most hectic! We arrived at the border to find cars parked up in every direction, buses queuing in front of us and people everywhere! It was busy and crazy, more like an African border crossing than anything we had experienced in South America so far (memories of the calm borders between Chile and Argentina, and of course clean toilets at a border faded fast).  It took us 7 hours in total to clear the formalities to leave Venezuela and enter Colombia.  But don't despair, those hours certainly weren't wasted! Heather took the opportunity to put the truck library into alphabetical order. Steve taught a child how to gamble. Many of the group including Robin and Karen made friends with a heavily armed policeman and had their photo taken with him. We ate, we wandered, we speculated on how much longer we would be there, we talked about experiences new and old...  And finally, when we were on the truck rolling through the first (of many!) police and army checkpoints, we cheered at the prospect of exploring our 5th country on this epic expedition.

Karen and the police

Robin

Immediately we crossed the border we were able to see a change - vegetation changed, becoming sparser, drier and more desert-like.  Traditional dress, and evidence of a more traditional way of life was visible along the roadside.  Cars changed, becoming more modern (goodbye old rusty American saloons from the 1950s, hello Kia, Chevrolet, Hyundai and, disappointingly, Ssangyong!). Police and military checkpoints dominated our first 80km, but as with the police and army that we have experienced all around South America so far, they were curious more than concerned, and their inspection of the back of the truck was really just an excuse to have a sticky-beak inside the big blue and orange truck.

The long delays at the border meant that we weren't able to get quite as far as we had wanted, but here Colombia started to work its magic as we ended up at a campsite we hadn’t visited before - having arrived in the dark it was only the next morning that we were able to wander down to the river, and see what a beautiful spot we had managed to find!  It had been a long day, so after a delicious dinner which Mikkel had volunteered to cook, we headed to bed.

With only a short distance to cover the next day, it was a relaxed start with pancakes for breakfast before we loaded onto the truck.  Stopping to buy food in a small village along the way gave everyone a chance to have a wander while the crew picked up some fresh meat and vegetables.
On our drive we got our first glimpse of Colombia's Caribbean coast, and we liked what we saw! Stunning blue water fringed with white sand and palm trees, it was the stuff of postcards.  We were able to get a much closer look when we arrived at our amazing campsite right on the beach amongst coconut palms.

Tents were put up, the kitchen set up and then we all set about the serious task of relaxing.  Walks along the beach, swimming in the surf (quite an adventure) or the lagoon (much calmer!), drinks at the bar, beach bonfires, eating fresh coconuts, watching Terry surfing and Anthony and Francois body boarding, sunbathing, snoozing in hammocks, taking photos, chatting to local Colombians abut our journey and why we travel, updating blogs ready for our next Internet connection, putting the world to rights while watching the sunset over the ocean...  It was a busy time!

Sandmatting our way into camp

Parked up under the palms

Not a bad campsite...

Tents with a view

Ithaca getting a bit of beach time

Putting the world to rights - Colin, Jane, Lisa, Vanessa, Tony, Geoff, Steve & Karen

Funky decorations in the bar

Beachside cook group - Francois, Lesley, Terry & Heather

Pete opening the coconuts for delicious coconut rice

Who doesn't love a beach fire?

Steve, Karen & Geoff

Geoff & Tony

Sue and Jeanne

Lisa & Francois

Simply stunning

It was a somewhat reluctant departure after our couple of days here, but perhaps many would not have been so reluctant if we had known what was coming...
Cartagena - Colombia's second oldest city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a city that can lay claim to being one of the most beautiful we visit on this expedition.

Cartagena was founded in 1533 and became and important trading point for gold, emeralds, silver and slaves.  As a result it became a very wealthy city, the downside being that it's wealth ensured everyone wanted a piece of the action, and so it was regularly attacked, successfully and unsuccessfully.  Finally, the city decided to build another line of defence, and constructed the thick walls that still encircle the old town.

Today, the old city is a wonderfully preserved and restored town, with remarkable colonial and post-colonial architecture.  Our hotel was located only a 2 minute walk from the old town, many rooms having views over the old fort and the monastery high on the city's tallest hill.  We arrived (after a short battle with the city's one-way system) in time to watch the football (a World Cup qualifier between Colombia and Venezuela) and crowds had started to gather in front of small TVs set up in restaurants on the square and on street corners around the hotel, sitting drinking beer while waiting for the game to start.  Sadly the game didn't go Colombia's way, but the atmosphere was great, very friendly and relaxed with everyone just enjoying watching the game, applauding and appreciating good moves on both sides, with none of the aggro we often see in the UK.

For those not so keen on football, it was time to explore the city's many restaurants and bars - Cartagena is a culinary gem with fantastic food available to meet cravings for almost every world cuisine - from ceviche (raw seafood "cooked" in lime juice), to a Thai curry (courtesy of a great new Colombian-British owned cafe bar), to massive Argentinian style steaks and cheap and cheerful set menus with soup, meat and rice and dessert.

Delicious!

Cartagena has some amazing hotels - inside the courtyard at the city's top hotel, the Santa Clara

Now THAT's a steak!

Music to dine by

To make the most of our time in Cartagena, we headed off on a guided walking tour of the city, with our fantastic guide Jose who gave us plenty of in formation about the city, but also about Colombia and what it is like to live there - he proudly told us that Colombia now has the second strongest economy in South America (Brazil leads the way), low unemployment, a strengthening currency and increasing foreign investment, and a democratically elected president with a 2-term restriction. Jose’s enthusiasm and positive outlook for his country is something we have experienced from everyone we have spoken to here.

Jose explaining the history and architecture of Cartagena

Dunc and his shadow (a mime artist) doing Gangnam!

Robin

Modern art on the streets of Getsemani, a neighbourhood outside the old city walls that is now a popular spot for artists 

Cartagena is also home to some great museums – the gold museum, inquisition museum and maritime museum – as well as markets and churches, so there was plenty to keep everyone busy. 

Inside the church of San Pedro Claver

Tony led the charge for a diving trip to the nearby Corales del Rosario marine reserve, with Francois, Kirsten, Heather and Pete all joining in on a great day involving multiple boat trips and a lot of laughs.  Oh, and some great diving as well!

Tony, the diving ringleader

Heather hiding her ears from the wind

Francois & Kirsten

Tony & Heather, a bit windswept!