Colombia

After our time in Salento we got a bus back to Armenia then took an overnight bus to Petilito followed by a collectivo to San Agustin. San Agustin is very laid back little town surrounded by beautiful rolling green hills.

The main tourist draw of San Agustin is a pre-Colombian archaeological site where there are hundreds of monumental stone statues which are the work of a mysterious civilisation of which little is known. We remain ignorant of even what little information is known about the stones and their origins as we didn´t have a guide when we visited them but we still enjoyed taking in the sights.


The countryside around San Agustin is perfect for walking and this is something we that we took advantage of. On one of the days we tried to follow a route that had been recommended to us by using one of the crudely drawn maps they hand out in the town. The farcical lack of any kind of scale on the map and complete lack of signs meant we walked a very different route than planned but still managed to see some beautiful places and find our way back to San Agustin without any problems.

After a few days in San Agustin we decided to leave and head for Cali, the nearest big city, in order to be somewhere with a bit more life for the weekend. Getting there involved a six hour bus ride to Popayan along an unpaved road with more or less continous potholes which was a bit of a nightmare. We then took another bus for three hours to Cali which, fortunately, only involved normal roads.

When we got to our hostel in Cali (after getting dropped off by a taxi driver who told us he had been in prison in England for five years for 'the drugs') we bumped into an American couple, Nick and Liz, who we had met in Salento. We went out to a Chinese restaurant with them and some people they had been hanging out with in the hostel.

We then came back to the hostel and ended up going out to the Zona Rosa with some English and Japenese guys. We went to a salsa club that was free to get into but you were obliged to spend a certain amount at the bar so we got two bottles of rum between us. We made some fleeting attempts at dancing salsa before going to another bar where we drank a few beer towers.


It was a good night and this set the tone for the rest of the time we were in Cali. We spent a lot of time with two English guys, Alex and Tony, often in a pub where beer cost 30p a bottle. It was more of an off licence with some seats outside than a normal pub but was still a quality place to sit and drink. On the evenings that we were there we introduced a drinking element to an Israeli card game called Janiv that we have been playing which made things get quite messy. On one of the nights we got through a bottle of Rum, a bottle of Aguardiente (a Colombian drink similar to Ouzo or Sambuca) and a fair amount of beer.

Probably the most productive thing we did in Cali, apart from going to a Colombian steak house, was go to a football match. We saw America Cali play Millonaires Bogota. The game itself was OK (America won 1-0) but it was the atmosphere that made it. It was particularly intense in the south end of the stadium where the hardcore Amerca fans were standing. They had all sorts of flags and banners and were jumping up and down whilst chanting for almost the entire game.

After spending five days in Cali we went to Popayan which is a colonial city with a fairly relaxed pace. We stayed in a hostel that is run by a Scottish couple from Kinross. We were there for a few days but didn´t do a huge amount. We wandered around the town and a bit and spent time in the hostel relaxing and generally recovering from Cali.

We left Popayan and got a bus to Ipiales, a town in the south west of the country. We arrived in the evening, ate dinner then had an early night so we could get up early the following morning to visit Sanctuario de Las Lajas. Sanctuario de Las Lajas is a gothic church that is spectacularly postioned on a bridge that straddles a gorge with a river running underneath it. Unfrotunately for us it was a Sunday morning and mass was in full swing making the whole area much busier than we would of liked. After a short time admiring the church (from the outside) we returned to Ipiales and made our way to Ecuador.

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.