Only an idiot travels to South America for 1 week and I am that idiot. Such a long way to go and such an expensive flight…did I get to see the best of Colombia? I think so.
I didn’t get as much time to sight see around Bogota as I arrived in the evening but managed to meet the group and have dinner with them. We ventured to a local café for the usual steak plate, a real Colombian meal. My guide was overly enthusiastic and very full of herself. She is obviously the best guide we have ever had and how lucky we were to have her. She quickly became annoying. Why did I book a tour?
After a very short stay in Bogota we headed to Medellin. This city used to be the most dangerous city in the world. In 1975, a local Medellin drug lord named Fabio Restrepo was murdered, reportedly on the orders of Pablo Escobar. Stepping into the power vacuum, Escobar took over Restrepo’s organisation and expanded his operations. Before long, he controlled all crime in Medellin and was responsible for as much as 80% of the cocaine transported into the United States. In 1982, he was elected to Colombia’s Congress. With economic, criminal and political power, Escobar’s rise was complete. We got to visit the not so safe house he was hiding out in, where he was eventually killed.
From Medellin we visited Guatape which is the home of Zocalos. Each home is adorned by a Zocalo representing the family that lives in that home. It can be a painting or sculpture of their choosing. Every home has its own Zocalo. They are beautiful works of art, some of them quite cartoonish and very quirky. It was an interesting little town.
Just outside Guatape we went to the "Peñol Rock" (La piedra del Peñol) that borders the lake is a rock formation, that formed along the Antioquia Rock Base (batolito de antioquia), 70 million years ago. With 2/3 of its height below ground, the exposed vertical face is over 200 meters high and visible from throughout the surrounding countryside. We climbed the rock via a staircase built into one side, a path that includes 740 steps to the top. Great views when you get to the top.
Colombia is also known for its famous fat sculptures. Cities are filled with Botero statues. Big, voluptuous images of men and women and horses pepper the streets. I loved these statues.
Some cities have favelas which they call Comunas in Columbia. They work the same way as the favelas in Brazil although there seems to be more services available for these comunas. Hillsides are covered in little houses and corrugated roofs but they seem to be more homely but still not as inviting. People from the comunas don’t appreciate visitors gawking at them. If I were them, I wouldn’t either.
After our city trips, we headed to Tayrona National Park to relax on the beach and sleep in hammocks for 2 nights. We had a very long walk to get to our resort. As it was so cheap we hired horses instead and got there in half the time. Our horses were a little bit on the wild side but the mules that carried our luggage were downright mad. They kept kicking at our horses and caused an accident. Luckily I had Emperio who was calm and looked after me well. He did poop a lot though. The horse handler strangely looked like my brother in law. The resort was well maintained and not too busy. Although our beach was not accessible due to strong currents and caimans in the surrounding area, there were still nice beaches about 2 km walk away. I soaked myself in the sun and got totally burnt and I achieved my goal of going home a lot darker than I arrived.
We ended the trip in Cartagena. This was my favourite place of all. I had heard so much about it and had always wanted to visit this little town. As I found out it wasn’t so little. It wasn’t anything as I expected. I didn’t see a local fishing town but a thriving city port full of life and very cosmopolitan.
The nightlife was amazing. We managed to get on a Chiva which is a bus. This must be a Colombian affair as I had never been on anything as bizarre as this party bus ride. You get on the bus after paying for your ticket. You get unlimited rum and coke and a very greasy snack all the while the bus is driving around the city at night. They play very loud music and games while sitting on the bus and they take you to a clearing on the fort walls for some salsa dancing. When that’s all over, they then take you to a local nightclub to finish the night off. I reluctantly danced after some cajoling by a local lady who insisted I danced with her. We ended the night trying to get into the famous Havana Club without success and then ate Dulce pancakes from a local street van. The best pancakes I have ever had.
The next morning it was a long journey back home. I started in Cartagena to Medellin to Bogota and then onto Madrid and finally to London. During this long trip, my face began to peel from the sun burn. I noticed I had rather strange looks from people at all the airports. The strangest still was at London Heathrow when the border control guy asked if I needed assistance. I got home and looked in the mirror only to see an example of a burn victim staring back at me.
