Dangerous, beautiful Colombia!

21 juli 2019 - Colombia, Colombia

What do you think when I say I’m going to Colombia?

Drugs, cartels, violence and murder. Yeah, isn’t it? DANGER! 

From those people who never visited Colombia the fact is there- I am not gonna return alive.
It is kind of right but in an other way people would think!

I start my trip in Bogota, because the worries from home of being murdered I don’t dare to walk on the street on my own. Which is stupid if you notice all the students come to you to help in every way they can, or the artists on the street or the cosy markets where locals sell their goods.

After a day I get used a little bit and I’m not afraid anymore. Discovering Bogota with a bicyle tour is a perfect idea. Meet new friends, see some culture, do something active, have some chats, try local food. YES I AM BACK!:) 

Tatacoa Desert
In  the hostel we go well along with eachother and cook together. My next stop is Neiva- a place 4 hours south of Bogota. They say you can go to the 330km2 Tatacoa desert from Neiva. Arriving in the early morning means a early depart. So I use the time to discover some daytrips to the desert, go to the local market, visit the local gym and make some new friends to do my tour with. 

Marjon is a Belgium girl who wants to do tour a daytrip to the desert. I found my buddy. Let’s do it. The Tatacoa desert is immense. Not a lot of people make a stop in this place which means no tourism, so no crowded places. Hiking under the milkyway in the middle of a moonlandscape. You can comparise it with Grand Canyon but officially it is too wet to be called a desert. 

Anyway, we enjoyed it! We hiked around, saw crazy rock formations, got a view from the milkyway which was so clear wow! Here is no polution and it is undiscovered what means one of the clearest milkyway for yourself. 

San Augustin
Marjon and me move on to San Augustin. San Augustin is well-known by her archaeological park. Personally it’s a little bit boring. Way more interesting is the qiuet town in the mountains where people still live as cowboys. Horses tresspass you multiple times a day. Lovely local town I do feel home! We’re staying in beautiful Casa de Nelly where I meet a special friend. Harrison welcomes us warmly. Becoming friends so fast is incredible. In this town we ride a horse in the mountains, which is the scariest thing ever. My horse was so dominant, and liked it to run all the time. Without having control I’m screaming for help that this horse should stop. I guess the guide left me alone screaming on this stupid horse, because it must by hilarious.

Harrison has a beautiful farm in the mountains about an hour from town. He takes us to his place, without electricity or streaming water. The only thing we got is some food from the market & red wine. Some locals prepare a fire on a selfbuilt outside kitchen where our diner get prepared. There is no breakfast, but there is a lake. Whoop, fishing time! One by one trying to get some fishies out of the water. I must say it’s not our biggest talent. I lose some fishes on the shore, but am too scared to touch it. Happily Harrison is our lifesaver and get us the fish killed so we got some breakfast. 

 

That night we slept on the balcony on a matrass which we put outside with the view over the valley. From there you watch over the sunrise, the valley with the river in the middle and even over the clouds (which was really low). By far this is the most beautiful place on earth where I slept. I think about my feeling of pure luck in life that moment… The following days in San Agustin I try teach myself some Spanish and take my time to hang out for a while. 

Salento
Salento is undeniable beautiful. This colonial Colombian town still has its old world charm. It is another way of life. All the streets are colorful, people are friendly and happy and the atmosphere in this town is laidback. 
On squares you’ll find salsamusic everywhere. Happy couples dance completely free on the street. 

Walk half a kilometer away from the center, find yourself on a winding dirt road, and inhale the many scents of Salento. Dew on lush grassy pastures, an earthy musk of fertile soil, cows, horses, and dogs going about life as the morning mist slowly burns away under the embrace of the sun.
The hostel where I’m in is full with music instruments, it’s located in the middle of the mountains, a ‘Pippie Langkous’ horse is following you around wherever you go. In town there’s no lack of parties- I find a technogarden and enjoy (ofcourse as an Dutchie) from the Western party after being away for 9 months now. 
 

Valle de Cocora
To get from town to the valley you’ll need a ride in a Willy. Willys can hold about 7 people comfortably. But, it can also hold 11 (somewhat uncomfortably) if 4 people stand on the back bumper while holding on to the roof rack! A bit sketchy, but fun. 

The wax-palms are about 60 meters high and with this length the highest kind of palms on the planet. It is pouring rain when I’m hiking, the palms dissapear in the grey clouds and it is slippery as hell. Full of mud my companions and me wait a bit till it clears up a little bit. Guess what?! It doesn’t. Anyway it was an adventure, the experience is good enough for me. 

Medellin & Guatape
In Medellin is the capital of drugsworld. It’s a city with 2,5 million habitants. Multiple small areas with industrial art, colorful small streets, shoppingmalls, salsabars everywhere. If you wanna party and have some good cocaine you should stay in Medellin. My Medellin experience was different because I’m gonna meet up with my travelfriend Felipe who I met a couple of months ago in Thailand. Together we stay in the area El Poblado, also called  Gringolandia, because of the mix with expats, tourists and some locals. The same time wherever you go, you’ll find locals in the bars. I feel safer than I expected after watching Pablo Escobar. Still we’re curious in what kind of areas he lived, his gangs, how the cartel worked. 

The walking tour trough town is perfect. A guide is telling all the history from Pablo Escobar’s period and shows you around where the cartelactivities happened. Besides that for socializing a guiding tour is perfect to meet new people in this big city. That’s what we do. As always we end up with some new friends to meet up in the salsabar that night. And the day after discovering Medellin from the mountains in the cable bar.

Wow! This city is immense. In our mind full of gangs, cocaïne, corrupt police officers and robberies. Real life is that you’re able to walk safe in the daylight, in some areas you’re not recommended to walk after sundown. There are some no-go areas, just don’t go there. And easy, don’t bring any valuables with you. Enjoy the corrupcy of the officers if you need something and just embrace the charm of being careful. Think about that the country where we live in is just too safe and we lost our natural caution in this big wide world. 


Guatape 
With a bustrip from only two hours  we’ll find ourselves in real Colombia again. A small colorful hilly town without tourism developing. Here you experience what everyday life is like in Colombia: houses are repainted here and there.People climb the hills with their shopping bags on their way home.An old couple walks hand in hand along the water.Children are already giggling in the street in their school uniforms.

The hostel we’ve booked is on the lake and next tot he big rock. It’s again a place I felt like home. We climb the big rock, a steep hike from an hour. The view is incredible! You’ll see all the small islands from Guatape, some of these where owned by Pablo Escobar. AND at one of these islands is still a milion dollar hidden under the ground from the Pablo Escobar time. Our hostel is amazing- Hostel Galeria. Some guys in the hostel are well singers and other guys well guitar players. A big jamsession is the following fact and that’s how we spend our days here. Chilling at the lake and jamsessions with guitars. It this life real!?

It’s time to say goodbye to my good friends Felipe, Ellen and Daniel. Time to go to Jardin and then the North of Colombia! 

On the way tot he North I try to make a chill stop the wonderful nature place Jardin. Again an adventure in the mountains on the motorbike, driving trough the banana fields and the coffeeplantations. Discovering with new friends from the hostel a waterfall coming out in a cave far into the jungle. Everybody goes in underwear into the water of the cave, enjoying the fresh water under the waterfall and in the middle of a rainbow.
We live basic- in underwear being together with the nature. This is how magic exist in real life.  The waterfall into this cave in the middle of the jungle is just incredible. 
 

Ready for the North. The trip tot he North is about 18 hours busdriving and by far the most terrible way to travel. It’s slow, nobody speaks English and there’s no stop to buy any food. That means living on some water, be patient and sleep, and fasting for about 20 hours. 
 

Cartagena and Isla Grande
Cartagena is beautiful I  must say. But SO touristy, it’s nothing for me. Ofcourse I try to make the best of it. In the hostel I meet only people who wanna drink non-stop, fuck around and get high on cocaine. But I would love to see some local stuff, something I wanna remember as pure Colombia. So a couple of days later I book my boat to an island not too far away. In the jungle on the island I find myself a cozy bedroom all for myself surrounded by nature, playing children en happy locals. They play salsa all day, there are no restaurants (*just one little restaurant at the corner from the white sand beach, two expats who live from local fish. The food for that day depends on the catch). I eat twice a day fresh fish, have good talks and laughs with them & meet new people on the beach. In the night it’s quiet, finally time for my book and be in the moment! 

Later on I find my way back to normal life, touristy Colombia. But directly on shore I’m on a bus to Santa Marta. Santa Marta is cozy. The hostel Republica is beautiful. I meet up with a friend for my birthday and enjoy a good diner with wine. It’s the end of Colombia but last but not least National Park Tairona is on the schedule. 

One of the highlights from Colombia! It’s a three day trek, trough jungle next the clear ocean. On the way I make some friends, we book a hammock halfway the trip. To enter the place for hammocks you should cross a small river. In this river lays down an big alligator, ALIVE! He’s calm and always watch us patiently to cross the water. In the night I make my decsison to pie in the bushbush because NO way I am gonna cross this water with the alligator in the night. 

A big adventure you can imagine. The next day we trek further into the jungle. This National Parc is so incredible, with plenty of streams, monkeys in the trees and nothing else. 

I started my 29th year very well! Thank you Colombia for your beauty!