Colombia 2009

Tuesday, February 16 - 17, 2009 Cartagena

We left Salento on Monday morning 7:30 Feb. 16 with sunshine after a rainy afternoon, evening and night. The first trip was one hour by small bus to Perera a large town with a big bus terminal, there we changed to a van which toke us to Medellin (a 5 hour trip). In Medellin we waited one Hour until 4:30 PM and toke a bus to Cartagana, a 14 hour overnight trip. This bus was very comfortable with reclining seats and air conditioning and did not make frequent stops to pick up passengers as we are used to with other buses. At 6:00AM on Tuesday morning we arrived at the terminal in Cartagena. Went by taxi to our hotel (hostel) and walked the beautiful old section of the city. It is hot around 85 here but windy so it feels OK.

Wednesday we decided to stay in town and go to the beach in Bocagrande, fresh fish right on the beah taste great. Will be here three nights then to Togonga to the beach.

This is no longer the Colombia we have seen in the South, what a change! You are at the Caribbean and it shows, everything is even more colorful, poorer (what we see), and the people look and act different.

It looks MUCH MUCH better than it is, the hostel Casa Viena where we wanted to stay was full. Seija and specially Rocio would NOT stay here.

Cartagena is an unforgettable city which was once the main Spanish port in South America. Surrounded by a wall built to keep out pirates seeking native treasures snatched from the Indians to carry back to Spain, Cartagena looks every bit the part of the fairytale. Protected within the walls of the old city is a maze of cobbled streets and grand colonial houses as well as former slave markets, plazas and churches. It's exciting and colourful history is well documented not only through the sights of the town, but in the excellent museums in the old city. 

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 Taganga

Taganga is our next destination and we have reservations at Casa Blanca:
Tucked into a sheltered bay between Santa Marta and Tayrona National Park, Taganga is a relaxed fishing village popular with backpackers due to its chilled atmosphere and cheap diving opportunities.  Little more than a beach dotted with fishing boats and a shore lined with hostels, restaurants and dive schools, this relaxed spot makes a nice break from the trail. 

Friday, February 20, 2009 Taganga 

Arrived today in Taganga -the paradise!  What a difference from the cities, we have a great hostel (Casa Blanca) on the beach and overlooking the bay. One step out the door and there is the beach with white sand and blue water. Here is the view from our room ($25 / night).

Saturday, February 21, 2009 Taganga Saturday

Day two in Tagango, toke a long hike to several remote beaches.  Sunday planning a trip by boat to the National Park.

Tuesday by bus up East to La Guajira and Cabo de Vela a very remote area that is a like a desert and inhabited by Indians.

Tayrona Park - The Boat Ride to Hell ...but a beautiful Park

We visited the most beautiful Park but to get there was a Hell Ride we will never want to repeat. 2 Hours in rough waters to get there with 18 people in an open boat that should probably carry no more than 12. Waves over the boat all the time, everyone and everything was soaked, out of the 6 passengers only one returned by boat (Helmut) the others walked through the park (2 hours) and toke busses or taxies (1 more hour) (Meinhard), some had planned to overnight at the park. There is much more to tell but that later. It is not a park to visit for one day, one must stay several nights.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009 Trip to La Guajira and Cabo de la Vela

On Tuesday morning we left early at 6:00AM for La Guajira and Cabo de la Vela by Bus and Jeep.

After arriving there at 1:00PM we realized there is NOTHING but a beach and a collection of houses and restaurants, no activity. Maybe a place to Chill-Out but hot and sandy. It can only be reached by Jeep, there are no roads so one has to drive through the dessert for 1 hour to get to this last town. Very few natives to see. We had lunch with the driver and payed him to return us. We ended up at the same place we were at around 9:30AM on a street corner waiting for a bus or collective taxi.

Our first ride from the street corner was a taxi that toke us more than a hundred miles South to a small town where we stayed overnight. At times we were 6 in the taxi, no wonder the tires did not last Feb 24.

Our Hotel ($8.50 room/night) in a small town Feb 24.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009 Trip South from La Guajira toward San Gil

The morning of Feb 25 we left with a real bus South and decided to stop after about 6 hours at 2:00PM in the city of Aquachica.  Our Hotel Feb 25 in Aquachica, it looks like the Honeymoon Suite. 3 more beds upstairs, Airconditioning and a Pool and Spa in the hotel ($30 the Night for the room).

Thursday at 11:00 we plan to leave by bus to San Gil, a 6 - 7 hour bus ride.

Friday, February 27, 2009 San Gil

Arrived after a great and beautiful bus ride at 6 PM in San Gil, again high over the mountains, landscape changed from dry to lush green. Walked to the hostel Macondo run by an Australian. We had a reservation but were not able to get a private room, only one single room was available, I gave it to Helmut and opted for the dorm room with 4 beds bunks. My first night in the dorm and I slept well, maybe it was because I was on the bottom and had a women on top.

Today we changed to a hostel across the street with a private room but not a private bathroom. 

Went to the park in San Gil and planning on rafting on Saturday, the #2 difficulty. On Monday back to Bogota. 

San Gil is a great stop on the 'Bogota to the coast stretch' where you could happily spend a few days taking in the town and its surroundings. Within the town of San Gil itself, there are several worthwhile attractions. Parque El Gallineral is a beautiful spot by the river with an amazing variety of plant life and the Colonial streets and the leafy plaza with it's beautiful cathedral should easily provide a couple of days entertainment.

San Gil's real treasures however, lie in the surrounding area. Fast becoming Colombia's adventure tourism capital, the rivers Fonce, Suarez and Chicamocha offer excellent adventure opportunities and the the surrounding area is dotted with caves, waterfalls and canyons waiting to be explored! For the true adventure seekers among us, there's also a number of 'extreme' activities on offer including bungee-jumping, caving, abseiling, paragliding and the most popular activity - white-water rafting.

The beauty of this area is that there's a wealth of things to do independently. The town of Barichara is less than an hour away and is a classic, colonial village well worth a visit and several treks to waterfalls and swimming holes can be made directly from San Gil.

Saturday, February 28, 2009 Salento
Introduction to a new game called Techo - Helmut

A halfmoon solid 5 inch disk is thrown against a target roughly 50 feet away. The target is a 4 feet by 4 feet plattform placed in an upward angle. The plattform is filled with clay. The game plays similar to horseshoe. Each of two to four players has one disk to throw. The target, instead of the stake in horseshoe, is throwing the disk into a square of the plattform. Two triangular shaped objects, each site measures 3 inches, are placed in the middle of the square, spread vertically about 4 inches apart.These objects are loaded with an explosive substance. If a player hits either of the two triangle objects, it will explode, sounding like a firecracker.

Scoring

1 point Disk lands within the square

2 points Disk lands, explodes and stays on top of one of the two triangular objects

3 points Disk rests between the two triangular objects

6 points Disk explodes one of the two triangular objects and rests between the two triangular objects.

21 points to win the game. The losing team pays the winners a beer.

We tried the game and it was actually fun.