¡Viva Colombia!

My friend Brahm called from Toronto asking me if I wanted to do a quick trip somewhere.  As I had the month of November off on vacation and had plans for the last two weeks, we decided on Colombia.  I had always wanted to go there. However, when I had travelled extensively in South America in the 80s, Colombia was a dangerous place with daily violence from either the drug cartels, communist guerrillas or paramilitary thugs.  The country has  changed since then and is well on the way of being the next 'it' destination of Latin America. 

Brahm lined up a few places to stay in Bogota and Medellin with Air Bnb.  I downloaded the Uber app and we were set to go.  Bogota was quite cool, as in temperature, and it was the season of heavy rains.  To get around, we took the "Trans-milenio" (a massive urban transportation system of buses in designated lanes, sort of like an above-ground metro).  The platform stops were a bit confusing but we figured it out.   The old 'centro' of Candelaria was interesting as was the museum of Fernando Botero, Colombia's most famous artist.  I was also impressed by all the street art in the city.  

After two days in the capital, we took a bus to Medellin.  It was  an 11 hour odyssey, albeit in comfortable seats,  sitting right below a screen that blared really bad Hollywood movies (5 in total) dubbed in Spanish.  Great practice though for your listening skills.  The countryside was a mix of high mountain roads and tropical valleys meandering from one mountain range to another.   It was my first time using Uber and I was sold with its cool interface and fast service. We arrived at our AirBnb in the evening which was a small condo on the 12th floor of a new tower. Cheap, clean,  great views and in the central part of the city. 

Medellin is not as high in altitude as Bogota and its climate is so nice that it's known as the "city of eternal spring." Walking around was indeed pleasant.  The layout of the city, sprawling upwards  from a narrow valley,  is quite the sight.  We took the metro to the 'teleferico', the cable cars that were the first in the world to get public transport to the steep shanty towns of the city.  This model has since been copied by various cities including Caracas and Rio de Janeiro.  Some of these barrios were the same ones that supported, in the early years, the Robin Hood type of antics  of Pablo Escobar, Medellins' most infamous son. 

tight stone-wash jeans are all the rage

More Botero bronzes in a plaza of his hometown, Medellin.

Next up, a flight on a domestic low-cost carrier to the Caribbean coastal city of Santa Marta. It was a  welcoming blast of tropical humidity stepping off the plane onto the tarmac.  We took a bus to the smaller  neighbouring town of Taganga and spent the night. It's bit of a tourist spot above a cove with a small beach.  Local fishing boats are at one end, restaurants and dive schools at the other and pelicans are constantly cruising over the water.  We then decided to rent a car for a week and drive up and down the coast.  Nice to be on the road and stop wherever you want to. Not so nice to lock yourself out of the car though, which we did at a roadside look out point.  We managed to get out of it with the help of another local driver. 

Rivers coming down from the lush mountains of the Sierra Nevada

Driving north-east up the coast we headed for the arid peninsula of La Guajira,  a region unlike any other in Colombia that still has many indigenous communities.  Most of these villages were very remote (and consequently dirt poor) until recently.  We stopped at several beach towns along  the way and noticed the changing geography from jungle to cactus and eventually to sand and bare dry rock.  The last couple of hours to our destination, Cabo de le Vela, could only be reached by 4x4. We therefore left our Renault rental in the town of Uribia for two days and took a colectivo cuatro - cuatro to the village.

Boca de Camarones

Young Wayuu mother 

room for rent in Cabo de la Vela

 la viejita con sus pulseras

hot winds and dramatic skies

It was a great hike out to the cape to watch  the sunset and then seeing the 'super moon' rise on the eastern sky.  Always a warm wind blowing. We stopped for beers at this German's hostel and met a few other travellers. I felt a little sympathetic for the lone American who was somewhat ashamed of where he was from,  given the election results of the US presidency had just shocked the world and made most of us extremely depressed.  Next morning, I woke up early for sunrise and got a kid to drive me out on  motorbike to some further dry rocky cliffs.

We hit the road again, returning to Uribia to get our car and drive back west towards Santa Marta.  We tried going to the town of Minca,  a popular town up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It had just got dark and was raining so hard that we turned around and went back to Taganga where it was dry and warm.  It hardly mattered though as we planned to leave early the following day for a somewhat long drive to Cartagena.

I couldn't help but be reminded how much travel has changed in the last decade.  Whereas once we had maps and guide books, now almost everything is done with your smartphone.  GPS, online bookings with Air BnB,  Uber app for taxis...   There is wifi almost everywhere.   Although I have a nice point and shoot camera that I brought,  almost all of my photos were taken from my phone.

We noticed that in Colombia, the Air Bnb scene is still relatively new.  Almost everywhere we stayed,  they had just started being a host. The last one in  Cartagena was in a bit of a sketchy part of town.  The woman who rented the apartment had a long blurb written on how to come back safely at night etc.  No one spoke English and I thought it would be a challenge for any foreigner renting these places without being able to understand much Spanish.  She was friendly and helpful and it was a clean apartment.  Her brother drove the car to a secure parking lot and we had the rest of the day and evening to check out the city on foot.

Cartagena was an important outpost in the Spanish Empire and the old walled city is impressive.  I remember reading about its prominence in a book on pirates, but seeing it made me want to read more on its history.  It sort of reminded me of old Havana  but much of the old city has been cleaned up  and gentrified so much that the original character and its inhabitants has changed.  What was once a small family run shop is now a boutique hotel or an upscale clothing store.   Not unlike many other cities in the world I suppose.

Just outside the walled city, we found one neighbourhood called Getsamane,  that was a bit more run down and had lots of character.  It was almost a cliché, but having a beer at a bar next to a seedy brothel with great salsa music blaring and people watching was probably the highlight of Cartagena.  The next day we left the  steamy tropical heat for one last cold night in the capital before flying home.  It was a nice introduction to the rich and diverse  country that is Colombia.