Sep 2008

After leaving Tagana for a second time we got a night bus to Medellin, Colombia's second largest city. Medellin is set in a valley and is surrounded by beautiful hills but the city itself is not the most picturesque of places. Medellin is perhaps best known for the conflicts between rival drug gangs during the 80's and 90's which resulted in it having the highest murder rate in the world. Fortunately things have calmed down considerably since then and Medellin is now no more dangerous than other cities of similar size in Latin America.

After we had dropped off our bags at the hostel where we were staying we spent an afternoon exploring the city. The first thing we did was take the Metro to a stop where there is a cable car that takes people up one of the largest hills. The cable car is there for pracitcal reasons and is mostly used by locals to save themselves the strenuous walk up the hill, but tourists also use it to enjoy the view. Maybe enjoy is the wrong word as you mostly see slum housing but it is still an interesting experience.

We then took the Metro into the city centre and wandered around there for a few hours. It is a typical hectic South American city centre with lots of market stalls and street vendors but doesn't have many places of interest for visitors. When we wanted to get back to our hostel we realised we were only one Metro stop away so decided to save a bit of money and walk. This wasn't the best of decisions as we ended up passing through some pretty dodgy areas and walked past a small park full of junkies. At one point we were walking across a bridge that crossed a busy road when a guy started shouting at us in Spanish. We couldn't make out everything he was saying but heard 'Run gringos, run...'

The following day we left Medellin and got a bus to Armenia which took about 7 hours. The journey was quite enjoyable as the route was scenic and took us through vast and spectacular mountains. We did have the customary distruption though of the bus being stopped and searched by Colombian military. We spent the night in a cheap hospedaje close to the bus station in Armenia then travelled the short distance the following morning to the village of Salento which is in the heart of Colombia's Coffee region.

Salento is quite high up in the mountains and therefore has a much cooler climate than the other places we've been to on this trip. It actually gets quite cold there, especially at night. It is a really idyllic place though and is perfect for a period of relaxation. The hostel we stayed in is a converted country house with a homely feel, large kitchen and amazing views from the garden.

One day when we were there we went to a place called Cocora so we could walk in the cloud forest and look at the 60 foot palm trees that are unique to the region. It took 40 minutes to get there in a small jeep. They somehow managed to fit 15 people into the thing. We were both standing on the back with two others and someone else was sitting on the roof!

On another day we went on a tour of a coffee farm that is owned by an English guy called Tim who also owns the hostel (and incidentially looks very similar to Jim Royle from The Royle Family). It was interesting to learn about the coffee making process and see the other fruits on the farm such as oranges, strawberries, pineapples and bananas.

That afternoon we went to the village plaza as they were having a food festival. This involved a number of stalls all with almost identical menus: sausage, trout (which is the local delicacy) in various forms and patacones (deep fried plantain in batter). There isn't much to do in the evenings so we have been taking it fairly easy which has been a welcome change.

We arrived in South America by plane and not by boat as we had hoped but were immediately impressed by the colonial city of Cartagena. The flight itself was an interesting experience as the plane was tiny (for a commercial plane), and only had nine rows of seats.

Cartagena is an easy place to spend a few days and we spent a fair ammount of time exploring it. The old walled town is particularly pleasant to wander around with its relaxed pace, 15th/16th century architecture, cobbled streets and plazas where you can get a game of chess with some of the locals. There are also a number of beaches close to the city on the Caribbean coast that are worth visiting.
On our second day in Cartagena we went to Volcan de Lodo el Totula which is basically a mud bath at the top of a small volcano (which looks more like a huge mound of earth than a volcano). It was the first time that either of us had been in a mud bath and we both found it a fairly surreal experience. It feels as if you are in a giant pot of honey as it is really hard to move. When you are standing your head always stays above the surface, with no risk of sinking, despite your feet not touching the bottom.

Cartagena is also famous for its night life and we had a good night out with some people from the hostel we were staying in. We found a strip of clubs near the old town, all of which were free entrance, so we spent the night stumbling between these.

After Cartagena we went to Taganga which is essentially a fishing village although it is now more developed than it used to be as it is quite popular with tourists. Taganga has one large bay set in a valley of green hills so is quite a spectacular place. Despite being on the Caribbean coast it has a strangely Mediterranean look and feel.
When we were in Taganga we did another ten hours of Spanish lessons that we split across four mornings. On one of the afternoons we walked across some of the surrounding hills to Playa Grande which is a slightly nicer beach than the one in Taganga. In the evenings we generally went for dinner with an Australian couple, Clint and Jaz, and sometimes sat on the beach drinking rum with them until the early hours.

We left Taganaga on a boat with Clint and Jas that took us to Parque Nacional Tayrona which is a large unspoilt tropical area with lots of jungle and white sand beaches. There are hardly any cabanas so almost everyone stays in either tents or hammocks. We arrived late afternoon, found a place to stay, and had dinner and some drinks on the beach.

The following day we walked along the coastline and went swimming in a few choice locations. We had our lunch at one of the camping areas then set off on a trek to Pueblito which is an indigenous village in the jungle that you reach by following a path uphill for about 90 minutes.

The way up was fine, as was looking at the site at the top, but the way down turned into a bit of an ordeal for the two of us. We had split up from Clint and Jas then got confused at a point on the trail where you had to go through a cave. We eventually figured out the way then almost immediately took a wrong turning and followed a path for about 15 minutes until it ceased to be a path and was just dense jungle. It was getting dark so we found our way back to the place with the cave as quickly as we could. The situation wasn't helped by the fact that it was raining quite heavily, there was a thunderstorm, our flip-flops were broken and we didn´t have a torch. With light rapidly fading we still couldn´t work out the way until Ellie eventually spotted where the path continued. By the time we met up with Clint and Jas it was pitch black so we were very relieved to be out in time. The prospect of a night in the jungle wasn´t appealing!

We then had a further 45 minutes to walk along the coast back to our campsite which wasn´t easy with two head torches between the four of us. Walking along the beaches in the dark was made difficult by the number of large crabs that seemed to be everywhere. After we were back we had some well deserved and much needed showers, beers and food.

We had a fairly early night then went to sleep in our hammocks. Despite putting on lots of repellent, wearing long sleeves etc we were eaten alive by mosquitos, sand flies, ticks and fleas. We woke up the next morning covered in bites and any thoughts of spending a third night there were abandoned.

We returned to Taganga, this time by road, and have been relaxing here since then.

We got an overnight bus from San José in Costa Rica to Panama City. This left at 11pm one day and arrived at 3pm on the next so was a long journey. We stayed in Panama City for 3 days. Much of this time was spent unsuccessfully trying to track down a boat to take us to Colombia. Quite a lot had left the previous week, the ones that were leaving at the time we wanted were full and the ones with spaces were too far in the future. Bad timing!

We did also manage to fit in a bit of sight seeing; we looked around the old town and went to the largest shopping centre in Central America. We had previously been to a shopping centre in San Salvador that also claimed to be the biggest but the Albrook Mall in Panama City really is huge!

On another day we went to see the Miraflores Locks which is part of the Panama Canal. They have a museum that provides information on the history and workings of the canal. We also saw a large cargo ship pass through the lock which was quite interesting to see but there is no hiding the fact that it is a long, drawn out process!

After spending 3 days in the city we decided to go to Isla Taboga which is a small island about an hour from Panama City on the Pacific side. We didn't want to go too far from the city in case we got good news about a boat via email. We didn't!

Isla Taboga actually turned out to be quite a strange place. Despite being close to the city it is really remote and seems cut off from the outside world. The only hostel on the island closed down making reasonably priced accommodation hard to come by. We ended up having to settle for rooms in people's houses that they rent out. It was a similar situation with restaurants - some had closed down and others hardly opened meaning that we ended up eating in the same place every night, always at the same table!

However, it was a nice place to spend a few days and save a bit of money. There was a sand bar sticking out of one side of the island that connects to a smaller island, which, during low tide provided a nice place to relax.

When we left Taboga and returned to Panama City the best date we had found for a boat to Colombia was 3rd September (5 days away at that point). We decided that this was too long to wait so booked flights to Colombia and booked transport to the San Blas Islands (the best part of the boat to trip to Colombia) for the following day.

The San Blas Islands are a group of around 400 islands populated exclusively by indigenous people known as Kunas. 40 of the islands are inhabited, with the smallest ones home to single families living on narrow sandbanks. Some of the islands would just have 1 or 2 coconut trees, a bit of sand, and nothing else.

We were picked up at 5am in Panama City and taken by jeep to the Caribbean coast where we got a small boat to one of the islands. This was home to approximately 400 Kunas and the group we were with were given a circle of huts in one corner of the village. It was 2 to 3 in a hut and each would have a couple of hammocks and possibly a bed.

We left our stuff there and then set off to an island further out where we spent the afternoon chilling on the white sand beach. There was a shipwreck close to the island that we could snorkel around.

Back in the village we were staying on that evening we were given a feast of lobster and king crab for dinner. Some of the local children then put on a show of some of the traditional Kuna dances.

The next day we went to another smaller island that was far from the main one. We spent the day relaxing on the beach and playing games of poker and drinking beer with Greg, Liz and CC from New Zealand. That evening the 5 of us had decided to stay on a deserted island for the night in hammocks. Our plan of setting off back to the village early to pick up our stuff so we could set up camp before dark didn't go smoothly as the boat ran out of petrol! It was a long, hard row back using the wooden seats from the boat as oars!

It was just getting dark when we eventually made it to our desert island. We quickly ate our dinner that was brought on the boat, set up the hammocks and made a camp fire. We had a lot of wine, rum and beers between us so was quite a drunken night! We were told we would be picked up the next morning at 7:30am, but this turned out to be 12:30pm (with breakfast delivered at 10am) which was a lot better as this meant we could spend the morning sleeping in the hammocks.

That afternoon we were taken to the same island as the day before, and then back to the village in the evening. We had a really good 3 days on the islands but had to leave the next morning to get back to Panamá City as we had our flight to Colombia the following day.