Locombia

If I were to name my favourite country so far it would be Colombia. It is absolutely amazing. In part, because there are virtually no tourists, except for places like Cartagena and Bogotá. Even so, the people who do make it to Colombia are different. It takes a special state of mind to break the Colombian stereotype. Actually, it is impossible to do until you enter the country.

There are many things in Colombia that are fascinating. The nature (I have never seen the grass as green in my life) the lakes the rivers the Caribbean, the flowers and butterflies, I could not take my camera off them. The food, oh god, finally after often painful, stomach-struggling Central America I could really enjoy my meals, along with incredibly cheap and good bread and croissants (I gained about 4-5 kilos within 4 weeks in Colombia). The colonial architecture of Colombia is better preserved then the in C.A. (less earthquakes and riots) and absolutely spectacular. The plazas, cathedrals, white-washed streets full with pleasant people, the people of Colombia are extremely nice, they are unbelievably sweet and lovely (with the only exception of Captain Freddy, it is a shame that he is Colombian). Because the tourists and backpackers are few the locals are very much interested in foreigners. That alone made conversations pleasurable and improved my Spanish a lot. Let me tell you a little about my 4 weeks in Colombia.

After enjoying Sapzurro I went to Cartagena, where I spend over a week because of the rain, migration problems and nice people I met there. I did not want to leave, in fact, I did not want to leave from ANY place in Colombia, I had to drag myself out of the towns I was currently in. The reason for that was that I was only allowed one month in Colombia and I wanted to see as much as possible. Cartagena was very nice a little too touristy and there were lots of Israelis (well, they are everywhere in S.A. I’m afraid of going to Cusco, its their capital in S.A.) but after all it was a Caribbean port and after a week of sailing I did not mind that at all. Before making my way south to Medellin I went to La Baqulla, an hour away drive from Cartagena to the abandon beach. The coastline starched for miles and miles there were hundreds of little tents with empty hummocks. Nobody went there, I don’t know why. I spent all day there, watching the sea and reading Kurt Vonnegut’s “Galapagos Islands” in the hummock, eating Caribbean chicken soup and a plate of rice with meat an vegetables for breakfast, a fish soup and fried mojara fish with plantains for dinner, plus 2 beers. Then I was taken on a tour through the mangroves to see pink flamingos. The ride was cool (there is a video) , however I did not see any flamingos, but for $13 (for everything I have just described) that was more than anybody can ask for. That was my saying farewell to the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean; I don’t know when I’ll see it again…

Medillin is famous for its increasable parties and I was advised to go there on Thursday or Friday night. I went there on Monday or Tuesday, everybody said that it was useless. Huh, hell with parties, it was a very nice town; it is located in the beautiful valley between two mountain chains. Very modern and developed but very clean and with efficient transport system (it has an elevated metro, plus cable cars going up for several miles). By the way it is one of the very few countries in Latin America where people care about their environment, simply said, don’t litter on the streets or throw garbage out of the window of the bus. From there I went to Bacaramanga. There were several reasons to go to that funky named town. Bacaramanga is the capital of Santander region, this region is famous for 3 things: Colombian cigars, large mountain ants, which they fry and eat, and my favourite (I found this out much later) the Santander chocolate.
Also, I did not want to take a 16 hour bus from Medellin to Bogota, so instead I went to a bunch of littlie Colonial towns. I’ve seen a local fiesta with Adam, Eve and a little devil (Giron), smoked Colombian cigars in San Gil, enjoyed the lok of the best colonial town I’ve seen in my life, I mean it, it was absolutely incredible – Barichara, then off to Tunja (3000 m above the see level) to prepare myself for Bogota (2600 m). It was crazy cold there, so I went to Villa de Leyba to see another fiesta and a cool “military” parade.
Bogota was a lot of fun. I did discover that I had an altitude sickness (it went off in several weeks). I accidentally ran into Ruth and Kevin (see previous post) in a club. After that I went to San Agustin, an absolute delight. I stayed in a cabaña, on to of the hill overlooking the canyon with several waterfalls. The region is “completely occupied” by guerrillas so there was only 3 foreigners in town, plus some people from Bogota. We drank lots very, very cheap “Chicha”, and had a lot of fun.

There are many other things I’ve done of course went to museums and parks, met many nice people and ate many good things, but my time in Colombia was running out (I had only a month, and I almost spent all) So. There I was, all upset about leaving, but very much open to new experiences in Ecuador. I have taken a very not traditional rote – I went to Macoa, a capital of Putomayo, the only true indigoes region in Colombia where Indians still make Yaje ceremony. From there I took a 5 hour jeep ride through the mountains, the altitude sometimes reached 4000 m, the road was not paved, and there were literally hundreds of waterfalls. It was pretty scary, especially after the sun set…

Anyways, I’ll be back, I’ve never said it before but Colombia is the best country I have seen so far and I want to be back… But for now, listen to this people:

I am flying to GALAPAGOS tomorrow!!!