Here I am enjoying my first week in South America and I haven´t taken the time to notify anybody about our wonderful trip as promised until now. Well here it is, our first week in Colombia has flown by. After a long journey to get here due to a cancelled flight in Mineapolis and a short connection in Texas (literally had 30 minutes to run from one end of the airport to the other - but we made it!), we arrived in the capital of Colombia, Bogota, at 4:30am Monday March 16. The time difference isn't bad, only 2 hours from Edmonton, but the lack of sleep caught up with us and we were tired. We managed to catch a bus into the centre of the city but we missed our stop by about 10 blocks so we ended up taking a taxi back and then walking about 4 or 5 blocks from where the taxi dropped us off. The language barrier is much greater than I imagined, but I'm slowly improving my Spanish and beginning to figure out how to overcome the barrier.
When we arrived at our hostel, being so early, our room wasn't ready but we dropped of our bags and locked up our important items and headed out to explore! Most of the things to see in Bogota are in about a 5 square block radius. It is a rainy city but I was grateful not to have snow! We did a lot on our first day including visiting a free art museum, drinking some (not so authentic nestea instant) coffee, walking toward Monseratte (a hill top with a church) before turning around due to heavy rain and time of day, and of course ending with a hot shower and long nap.
Day 2 we decided to leave the busy rainy city and head to a beautiful mountain town called Guatape. After a very long 14 hour bus ride and 2 hour taxi we arrived in the dark to our hotel, right next to "la piedre" - a giant rock in the middle of a town with 750 steps leading to a view of the valley! So, naturally, the following morning we headed up the rock as planned. Once we were out of the city we were so happy to be surrounded by trees and mountains. It is such a peaceful place we spent a few hours just walking through the hills. We also walked to the main town, rode on a water bicycle, explored an adventure park, and ate some not so authentic food in a very touristy area of the town.
Day 4 was another travel day, but since it was heavy rain we didn't mind so much. First we spent 2 hours on a bus to the main city near Guatape, Medellin, then took a night bus to Cartagena. We arrived in Cartagena 6:30am. This city was the first humid, warm city we arrived in. Finally, we have arrived to the beaches and the sun! After dropping our bags off at our hotel we went to the most famous tourist destination of this town, the old fort. It was actually quite a neat historical experience including an audio tour of the history of Colombia. We then took a long walk on the beach around the City and ate some authentic Colombian food at a local restaurant. One night in Cartagena was nice but our final destination was still a 4 hour bus ride ahead, Santa Marta.
Yesterday, Day 5, we arrived in Santa Marta in the afternoon. Checked into our beautiful hotel (including a pool!) and explored some lovely (yet busy) beaches in the Caribbean! By now, we have obtained a few sun burns, discovered the cheaper places to eat, learned a bit more Spanish, and even had a good time last night with 2 Colombian couples that introduced us to "Aguadiente" - a licorice tasting liquor.
So here we are, living it up in Santa Marta, enjoying the heat and the culture. Tomorrow we will explore the mountains nearby in the famous "Ciudad Perdida" - Lost city trek!
I do not envy those of you enjoying the snow in Canada, but I know that I will be back there soon enough. Feel free to email me, everywhere we go seems to have WiFi or computers to use.
As the Colombians say:
Buenos Dias
When we arrived at our hostel, being so early, our room wasn't ready but we dropped of our bags and locked up our important items and headed out to explore! Most of the things to see in Bogota are in about a 5 square block radius. It is a rainy city but I was grateful not to have snow! We did a lot on our first day including visiting a free art museum, drinking some (not so authentic nestea instant) coffee, walking toward Monseratte (a hill top with a church) before turning around due to heavy rain and time of day, and of course ending with a hot shower and long nap.
Day 2 we decided to leave the busy rainy city and head to a beautiful mountain town called Guatape. After a very long 14 hour bus ride and 2 hour taxi we arrived in the dark to our hotel, right next to "la piedre" - a giant rock in the middle of a town with 750 steps leading to a view of the valley! So, naturally, the following morning we headed up the rock as planned. Once we were out of the city we were so happy to be surrounded by trees and mountains. It is such a peaceful place we spent a few hours just walking through the hills. We also walked to the main town, rode on a water bicycle, explored an adventure park, and ate some not so authentic food in a very touristy area of the town.
Day 4 was another travel day, but since it was heavy rain we didn't mind so much. First we spent 2 hours on a bus to the main city near Guatape, Medellin, then took a night bus to Cartagena. We arrived in Cartagena 6:30am. This city was the first humid, warm city we arrived in. Finally, we have arrived to the beaches and the sun! After dropping our bags off at our hotel we went to the most famous tourist destination of this town, the old fort. It was actually quite a neat historical experience including an audio tour of the history of Colombia. We then took a long walk on the beach around the City and ate some authentic Colombian food at a local restaurant. One night in Cartagena was nice but our final destination was still a 4 hour bus ride ahead, Santa Marta.
Yesterday, Day 5, we arrived in Santa Marta in the afternoon. Checked into our beautiful hotel (including a pool!) and explored some lovely (yet busy) beaches in the Caribbean! By now, we have obtained a few sun burns, discovered the cheaper places to eat, learned a bit more Spanish, and even had a good time last night with 2 Colombian couples that introduced us to "Aguadiente" - a licorice tasting liquor.
So here we are, living it up in Santa Marta, enjoying the heat and the culture. Tomorrow we will explore the mountains nearby in the famous "Ciudad Perdida" - Lost city trek!
I do not envy those of you enjoying the snow in Canada, but I know that I will be back there soon enough. Feel free to email me, everywhere we go seems to have WiFi or computers to use.
As the Colombians say:
Buenos Dias
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