The next 75 days in Colombia (Part I)

So I've been an extremely lazy girl the last 2 months and haven't updated our blog...so I'm going to try and condense our last 2 and a half months in Colombia into two entries...deep breaths everyone! After saying goodbye to Kim we swiftly got on a bus to Manangue (about 6 hours south of Cartagena...once again - see map!) where we needed to change for a boat and then a taxi (through extreme flooding) to get to our destination Mompóx (pronounced Mompos). It was like jumping into Huckleberry Finn world with baking heat, rocking chairs in every doorway and intense humidity. It didn't take long to see the entire town so we moved on after a couple of nights (and after being followed around the town by the only tourist guide trying to get us to buy a tour). It was more of a struggle to get out of there than it was to get in and we found out when we returned to Manangue that we'd have to pay an arm and a leg to get to our next destination Medellin...we considered our options and eventually hopped in a car with a friendly Colombian who brought us to the nearest big city, Sincillo, where we would be able to catch a bus the next day. Unfortunately we had to stay in the hotel of horrors next to the bus station...shtinky! We arrived in Medellin pretty hassle free in time for Halloween and boy was the city pumping! Before all the madness began we decided to get some sight-seeing done and visited Botero's art gallery which had me in fits of giggles (...he is truly obsessed with fat things) and then on to the cable car to take in the views the city. After some lame attempts at costumes and very sore heads we left Medellin to relax in the sleepy little colonial town of Santa Fe de Antioquia (a couple of hours outside) for a few days. We quickly bunked down in a gorgeous guesthouse on the main plaza in Santa Fe. There’s not much to the town – about 5 blocks by 5 blocks so it doesn’t take long to get around. We quickly got familiar with the town and enjoyed the laid back vibe and what was supposed to be a 2 night stay quickly turned into 5 nights. We spent a fantastic evening with the owner of our hotel and her friends (one of whom was a famous Colombian painter of about 80 and decided to draw me that evening) where Mitch got to practice his newly (fantastic) found Spanish skills. We reluctantly parted ways and hopped back on another long bus down to the coffee region to the town of Salento. We checked into our hostel which was actually built on a coffee plantation and the owner owns a coffee farm just down the road. We arrived late at night so were stunned to wake up to the beautiful sights all around the next morning. We quickly got the feeling that what was supposed to be a quick few days would turn in to longer…and so it did. We took a fantastic tour of the owners coffee farm the next day where we got to taste some delicious freshly ground coffee and found out some great coffee facts. In fact we enjoyed the farm so much that we decided to spend a night there and volunteer to pick coffee cherries the next morning…and got a free lunch out of it as well! We could only relax for so long until we had to haul our asses on another trek through the cocora valley to the valley of the wax palms about an hour from Salento. After the Lost City we thought we could conquer anything else that was thrown at us…apparently heat has a lot to do with taking away achy muscles! As it was rainy season in Colombia it didn’t take long for the rain to arrive around midday and last all day long. So we got up early and started trekking around 8am. It actually wasn’t as bad as everyone made out…until the rain came! Then we were sliding all over the place. But we made it to the top ok and turned around to see the fantastic sights of the wax palms only to be greeted by cloud, cloud and more cloud! Oh well! We made our way back down and managed to get some good glimpses as the clouds began to fade away. Roasting hot coffee was very welcome back at the farm that afternoon and it was with heavy hearts we said goodbye to Salento and hopped on a bus to Bogotá…

Charming Cartagena

After trekking a few hours in the midday heat we arrived at our bright and cheery hostel equipped with a pool and sun loungers...perfect. We decided to check out the old town first as we'd heard how beautiful it was...it didn't disappoint. Cartagena is actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site so not many things have been done to the city itself keeping it's charm and beauty. It's quite easy to get lost in the city but a pleasure to as well. You could stroll around the beautiful colonial streets for hours and not get bored. We spent the first evening in Cartagena Colombia-style with a bottle of rum, a bottle of coke and planted ourselves on the edge of the main plaza, Plaza Domingo, people watching and chatting to some locals, once or twice having to take shelter from the pounding Caribbean rain. We spent the next few days taking refuge from the midday heat in our hostel pool and spending the evenings taking in the delights of the city. We'd read and heard some interesting things about the Volcán de Totuma so Kim and I decided one morning to venture out there to see what it was all about. The Volcán de Totuma is a mud volcano located an hour outside of Cartagena - it's a natural phenomenon of "hot mud" from under the lagoon "spraying" out the top. We were looking forward to relaxing for a while in the warm mud, maybe getting a massage and a facial. We arrived in a bus with another 20 people and took a look at this volcano and just burst out laughing. It looked like an oversized ant hill. We reluctantly stripped down to our bikinis and head up the side of the volcano to the mud baths. At first sight we were terrified at what awaited us...the bath was about 4m by 4m and was completely full with just 15 people in it...as they were all lying down on their backs while they got "massages" from these random Colombians. At this point there was no turning back so I closed my eyes and dunked into the extremely weird feeling mud and tried to relax while screaming to the men trying to massage me "don't touch me, don't touch me", while Kim wet herself laughing from outside the mud pit! After our 5 minute mud fest we were guided into the nearby "lagoon" i.e. a swamp, to wash off. At this point the trauma reached it's peak when the women proceeded to whip our bikinis off to wash them out...once again, we were thrown into a fit of giggles when a poor misfortunate boy next to us couldn't speak Spanish and just held onto his pants for dear life! Altogether though it was a funny experience...and one to remember. Unable to think of the prospect of leaving my sister once again (twice in one year is too much!) we kept ourselves busy for the next few days...lounging in the pool in the heat of the day, taking in the fabulous beauty of the city and topping the evenings off with oodles of rum and beer. But of course the inevitable day arrived upon us and we said our teary goodbyes until 2011 and Mitch and I packed up our rucksacks once more to head south for further Colombia exploring!
(Pic 1: Kim & I traumatised in the mud pit; Pic 2: Cartagena)

Celebrations in Taganga & some beach time in Tayrona Park

After a gruelling 5 days trying to make it up to the Lost City some celebrating and relaxing on the beach was in order. Once we reached our hostel in Santa Marta we grabbed our bags and we all squeezed into a taxi to Taganga...unfortunate for those who didn't do the Lost City trek...quote from Aoife "guys, I'm sorry, but you absolutely stink!" (as she gagged out the taxi window!). So we quickly checked into hostels, showered, put on our glad rags and hit the town. The Lonely Planet describes Taganga as "a relaxing fishing village where you will be lured by sun and sand"...this it is not! But it was a nice little town to chill for a few days. After a fantastic slap up meal we managed to sniff out the dodgiest bar/club in town where you could only order rum by the bottle and shake your booty to salsa all night long. Being the only gringos in there we stuck out like sore thumbs but, as with all Colombians, they welcomed us with open arms (literally...as I was swung around the dance floor by a big Colombian dude teaching me some salsa moves!). Anyway, we did some good celebrating. We woke the next morning with sore heads to explore the town and quickly booked a boat to Tayrona National Park, a boat ride away, to search for these white sandy Caribbean beaches I heard so much about. It certainly didn't disappoint, We arrived in the early hours of the morning and grabbed some hammocks looking over the beach and lay our bums on the soft sand under some palm trees to do absolutely nothing for the next 2 days. It was a great couple of days and with burnt bums, legs and patchy tummies we said goodbye to Tayrona Park...for a few weeks anyway! So we jumped on a boat again to head back to Taganga for one more night...not before having another yummy slap up meal and dubious rounds of happy hour Maracuja Mojitos for the road. Our next stop would be Cartagena and we couldn't wait to see the beautiful city we heard so many amazing things about...we were hoping the Lonely Planet wasn't lying to us this time!!
(pic 1: Kim & Mitch having a swim on Playa Grande; pic 2: Kim & I in our hammock cabin)

First steps in the Carribean Sea & Ciudad Perdida

After a very pleasant flight into Santa Marta (broken in Bogota with some yummy Barry's tea and many Cadbury's chocolate bars courtosy of my amazing sis!) we got our manky, sweaty selves checked into a hostel and dived into the pool with some cold beers. The heat of the Carribean hit us hard! We celebrated our first proper night together with some yummy Mexican food, numerous rounds of beers, shots of whiskey (?) and some interesting games of pool. It was an interesting first night! The next morning we rose bright and early to see the most we could of Santa Marta and book our trip to Ciudad Perdida (the Lost City). Unfortunately the heat prevented us from such crazy enthusiasm and it took us an entire day just to book the Ciudad Perdida. Luckily we found a reputable company for a good price so we booked it for the next morning. Unforunately the packing for the trip wasn't so easy. As it was rainy season we really had no idea how much we would need and as we had to carry all of our stuff we didn't want to weigh ourselves down...so we decided to be wet and smelly for 5 days and be dry in the evenings and one spare set of clothes if that all went to shit! And boy were we wet and smelly for 5 days...I don't think there's ever been a time where I've been so repulsed by my own odour. But we started the trip with open minds and massive enthusiasm. As we had already done Machu Picchu a month or so before we weren't expecting the same wow factor...but the journey itself was AMAZING. We had an extremely interesting journey getting to where we would start the hike...the bumpiest ride on earth! The first day would be the latest we would set off of all the 5 days and we soon found out why. One hour in the heavens opened and it didn't stop all day and all night. We were drenched and felt a little foolish for beginning the trip by tip toe-ing our way over rivers. Everything we were wearing was soaked to the bone...and even though we had covers on our backpacks, my sleeping bag got soaked through and Kim's book too...which she had balancing under her cover between her back and her backpack! Not good! But we felt like new people once we'd changed into dry clothes and out of our shoes...which were now just portable pools (and would stay that way for the next 4 days). We were very lucky the next couple of days...the rain didn't hit until about 12pm when we had already landed to the next camp so all we had to bear were wet feet and trousers (from wading through thigh high rivers) and damp tshirts (from the inability to dry with the humidity mixed with litres of sweat...imagine that smell!). Day 2 was a pretty tough steep climb but our surroundings were amazing. And we made in record time to our third camp so we made a group decision to keep on going to Ciudad Perdida that day (which otherwise we would have done the next morning) so that we could spread our energy over the next 2 days. We climbed the 1,200 steps to the Lost City and it was an amazing sight that greeted us. We were pretty much the only people there (apart from the soldiers that protected it) which was awesome and the city is pretty much untouched. It was incredible. We took our time strolling around and we were cursed that the rain didn't hit until we made our way back to the camp. We spent the evening playing cards and celebrating with a few beers before we collapsed ready to take on the next 2 days hike back (which consisted of the first 3 days we already did). We powered through...stopping in the evenings to launch ourselves into rivers to cool off and then running for cover when the rain hit to change into our dry gear and pull out the cards again. What was most amazing on this trip was meeting the descendants of the Tayrona people along the way. It was certainly something that has stood out for me, not only on the trek but the year so far. The Cogi people are still very much present in the mountains around the Lost City and their culture is still very strong. It was fascinating to see them go about their daily lives as we passed by. Once we reached the town where we started once more we were very tired but happy people. It was an amazing 5 days with an amazing group and amazing guides! One of the best experiences so far for sure. So we all packed ourselves into a van to head back to Santa Marta, grab our rucksacks and head to Taganga where we were going to chill out for the next few days. But first things first...showers!!!
(pic 1: Kim & I bunking down our first night; pic 2: Trekking across one of the many rivers along the way; pic 3: Mitch & I on another of the many rivers)

The long way round to Colombia

Unfortunately we didn't leave ourselves a lot of time to enjoy Quito. We hadn't heard great reviews about the city but what we saw of it we really liked. We hadn't anticipated how awkward it would be to get to Colombia so we had to spend a whole day running between bus stations to get a route in place...of course my sister was arriving the next day so I was hopping with excitement! After we had our tearful hello we pretty much collected our bags straight away and hopped on a bus to the border (unfortunately our plan of getting a bus direct to Cali didn't work out). Once we got our stamp out of Ecuador we strolled across the border to Colombia where we got our entry stamp and then hopped in a cab to the nearest town (you don't want to be hanging around dark border crossings in Colombia for long). From there we tried to get a bus to Cali but as we'd heard it wasn't a good idea to take that road at night and the people selling us the tickets were also not too keen on it, we just hopped on a bus to Pasto ready to get an early bus the next morning. After a very bumpy, cramped and sweaty 8 hour bus journey the next morning we arrived in sunny Cali. We checked into the cutest little hostel on one of Cali's many beautiful Colonial streets and set off to explore and unwind. Cali is a beautiful city with the most beautiful café's and restaurants...so we didn't waste our time gulping down a few coffees and beers! We spent a lovely evening and morning in Cali before we had to catch our flight up north to Santa Marta on the Carribean...super exciting stuff!!
(pic: Kim and I entering Colombia!)

From Mancora on to Ecuador

After a bit of a hiccup trying to get out of Trujillo we eventually arrived in Mancora - a small surf town on the northern coast of Peru. We set up camp again on the edge of town and made our way towards the beach. There's not much to Mancora but it's a nice place to balm out on the beach for a few days...which is exactly what we did. Lazing about by the pool in the campsite and balming out on the beach for hours on end watching the surfers (the waves were bigger than Huanchaco so we didn't attempt another surf) until the sun set. We took advantage of the cheap seafood again and stuffed our faces with ceviche and prawns to our heart's content. Sadly we could only stay for 2 days so booked a bus out of there pretty quickly. After packing up our tent and belongings we rocked up to the bus stop only to be told we didn't actually have a reservation (even though we'd paid for it) and would have to come back tomorrow. Lovely stuff! So we carted our asses back to the campsite and having no energy to pitch a tent again we checked into the room hopeful that we'd be able to leave the next evening. To be fair, there are worse places you could be stuck for a day! So we rocked up again the next day at 8.30pm to be told our bus wouldn't be arriving until 1am. Eventually we were on our way to Ecuador at 2am. We arrived in Guayaquil the next morning and quickly hopped on a bus to Montanita (another little surf town). We made it there pretty quick only to discover that our camera was stolen on the way. I was not impressed - a destroyed iPod and stolen camera all in the space of 2 days. Not a happy camper by any stretch of the imagination. But anwyay, we quickly checked into our hostel and tried to forget about it. Luckily we transfer all our photos onto the laptop regularly so we had only lost the last few days of photos. As we were in another small town it didn't take much time to stroll around and take in any sights. The next morning the weather was pretty rubbish so we didn't waste much time there. Unfortunately we had to go to another town an hour or so away to get a police report for our insurance company. After a bit of tooing and frowing between police stations, we finally got our report and were en route to Quito!

Sandboarding in Huacachina/Surfboarding in Huanchaco

After a tiring week in Cusco we moved westwards towards Huacachina for some sandboarding fun! Having skipped this activity many times in Chile already we were keen to get on the boards. Huacachina is an interesting little town set in the middle of a desert of sanddunes with an oasis in the middle. There are literally sand dunes as far as the eyes can see and tiny little town plonked in the middle of it. We were definitely glad we waited for Huacachina for sandboarding. So we didn't waste much time. After another long busride we were picked up that afternoon in our hostel by a sand buggy and brought on a rollercoaster ride up and down the sanddunes (and I mean rollercoaster)! Everyone we've spoken to about sandboarding here failed to mention that the buggy ride is absolutely terrifying...well, for wimps like us anyway. We stopped at various locations to take our boards out and board down the dunes...starting out with a little 'un and then moving on to monstrous mountains...at least that's how they looked from the top when you're lying on your board. It's quite difficult to stand up on your board (snowboarding skills don't seem to help much) so we spent most of the time lying on our fronts racing down the slopes. With smiles on our faces and sand literally EVERYWHERE we pulled out a cold beer and watched the sunset before another rollercoaster ride back to the town. There's not much else to do in Huacachina so we moved on quickly the next morning to make our way to the coast...our first time on the beach since Brazil we were very excited!! Our plan was to rough it with a local bus 6 hours to Lima and change buses there for an overnight bus straight to Trujillo...but unfortunately I fell ill again so we had to fork out for the "fancy" bus to Lima which arrived there a lot earlier than expected! So I lay out in the bus station in pain with Mitch stroking my head to put me to sleep while other passengers staring at us strangely. Anyway, we made it through the night and eventually found a place to stay in Trujillo and took off to explore. We quickly found out there is nothing to do in Trujillo and were glad we were moving on the next morning. A quick 15 minute ride the next morning and we arrived in Huanchaco - a little fishing/surfing village. We found an awesome little campsite looking onto the sea and bunked down for a few days...although we could have stayed for weeks. Huanchaco is definitely one our favourite places so far. Nothing spectacularly beautiful about the place it just had a buena onda (good vibe!). The next morning we grabbed boards and wetsuits and hit the beach...what a disaster that was! 2 very amateur surfers caught in very big waves...not cool! But we had fun anyway and it was certainly an experience. We spent the next couple of days filling our tummies with seafood and the most epic hamburgers we've ever had (from the cutest old lady in the world for 2 soles) and lounging around the beach until we reluctantly hopped on a bus to move northwards to warmer climates and more beaches!
(pic 1: Sharon & Mitch on the sanddunes; pic 2: us with our surfboards in Huanchaco)