13 of April… We got up early. It wasn’t hard…. Somehow our luxurious camping spot outside the 24hr Super99 supermarket (neon lights, lots of people, 30 degree heat all night) didn’t give us the sleep we were hoping for. But we were also excited. 13 April = ferry day! So we headed to the dock just hoping that the ferry would depart. We joined about 20 other cars in a fun-filled 12hours of waiting, form-filling, chatting, doodling and more waiting until it was finally time to board the HUGE ferry (no wonder it was going our of business). The collective sigh of relief from the 40 roadtrippers who had many a sleepless night and aimless conversation about whether they would make it or not, was audible from Colombia as the ferry set sail.
Tiny Pepe and friends with a BIG boat
The sail was a fairly unadventurous affair and 20 hours later, we were in Colombia! But, we arrived late in the evening and a bit of a border cafuffle meant we couldn’t leave the parking lot of the port so our first night in Colombia was spent in style… Parked outside the port everyone dutifully raided their van liquor cabinet and we all spent the night merrily drinking rum and tequila with our new ferry-companions. Hola Colombia!
We awoke to: a bit of a gypsy camp (some of our ferry companions didn’t have campers so pitched their tents in the parking lot, much to the amusement of the local port workers in the morning), relentless heat and a few sore heads. So off we went to explore Cartegena.
This part of Colombia, its fair to say was a little agonizing – there is SO much to see in Colombia but we only had a month and the distances were huge and with roads often close vertical, so we were racked with indecision disappointed that we just could not tick every box. On top of this (yes, we know we’re not exactly tugging at your heartstrings yet), it was just so so hot and, although we really wanted to explore the North Coast of Colombia, we were just bloody hot (Oh the hardships of travelling) and we were quite keen on heading South for the cool mountain air. So this first week, we were a little bugged by indecision.
Cartagena
One place we knew we wanted to see was Cartagena with its famed colonial architecture and buzzing atmosphere. It really is incredible with its walled city and not just one street but streets upon streets of colourful colonial architecture. It is deservedly, one of Colombia’s most popular tourist destinations which adds to its buzziness but also means its packed with tourists and very expensive. After seeing the $6 price tag on beers, we made a hurried exit from the walled city and instead enjoyed the more sketchy Getsemani area of town which is much cheaper and more local. We loved hanging out in the huge square in the beautiful evening light, drinking cheap beers from the corner mini market, eating crazy Colombian street food (burger packed with just about everything you can imagine) and watching all the people go by, playing football and chatting in the warm night air.
Getsemeni area by night
Still racked with indecision, we decided the only thing for it would be to visit a friend and get her to help us make our minds up. And so it was, we went to Santa Marta (or just outside in Taganga) to visit a Saffa friend of Bridget’s who’d settled there. Santa Marta is a lovely busy seaside town but for us, it wasn’t really about the sights but about some hellos and some goodbyes. Hello to Jacqui and her husband Diego living in Santa Marta and goodbye to our Argentine friends, Nati and Lucas, who we had braved many an ugly camping spot with, and who were heading home via Venezuela. This resulted in some great catch-ups, one on the port of Santa Marta at sunset drinking tea and eating Jacqui’s home-baked goodies, another with Jacqui and Diego at their house and then another eating van-made pizzas from chefs Nati and Lucas enjoyed by us as well as Vincent and Sidonie sitting on the street outside Nati and Lucas’ van enjoying the warm evening air speaking progressively worse Spanish as more beers were drunk.
We had thought our friends might be able to solve our indecision but in the end, they only added a few more ideas, Such is Colombia! So, we decided to go with our gut and get out of the heat, stopping only briefly at Tayrona national park for a last bit of beach time. Tayrona is a beautiful park with white beaches strewn with granite boulders and a rough blue Carribean sea (so rough, they made us store our surfboards at the park entrance even though we had no intention of surfing in such awful conditions). We walked along the beach stopping for some delicious chocolate bread along the way (apparently the only place in Colombia which does this, which is a great shame as it was deliiiiicious!) and taking a snooze on the beach. The surroundings were incredible but we had officially reached the end of our tolerance for hot weather (Bridget NEVER thoughts she’d say that after 7 years living in London) so we stayed only the one night which we spent eating excellent noodles amongst even-more-excellent company – Sidonie and Vincent, our favourite Frenchies. We chatted the night away, spotted some singing toucans before sunset and some fireflies after.
The lovely Sidonie and Vincent
One overnight stop at an $8 roadside motel (you can just imagine what that was like) + many long winding passes (distance is not a measure of driving time in Colombia) and we were sitting at the table of the saints (well, the town is called table of the saints -Mesa de los Santos), a huge flat plateau looking down on the valleys below. And it really was quite heavenly, sunny in the day, cool at night, clear blue skies and just about as much climbing terrain as one could wish for at La Mojarra crag. Our climbing, after another long break was dismal, but the place was beautiful and we were lucky enough to be sharing it with a group of professional climbers (Katie Lambert and Mason Earl) who were filming there for a few weeks. The place we stayed, Refugio la Roca, had some beautiful architecture, desert gardens and the most spectacular and peaceful yoga room overlooking the canyon. We can’t overstate just how beautiful & peaceful place it is and we were inspired by the two young Colombian owners who had made a reality of their unique vision. We had lots of fun climbing, chatting, eating amazing fruit (it was the end of the mango season and we managed to pick up 3kg of mangoes, 2 kg avocado, bunch of bananas, passion fruit and oranges for $8) and watching the pros as the floated up the wall with ease. It was kind of comforting that they seem to struggle from the same fears that we do as we watched and listed to comments like ‘Ooh, this section is a bit scary’ or ‘There’s just nothing to hold on to’ or ‘Just shut up and stop giving advice’. A relief to see that we’re not the only ones saying these things! We wanted to stay forever but Colombia is big and there is plenty to see so we headed for the capital.
The pro – Katie Lambert
And, the not-so-pro
Refugio la Roca at La Mojarra. Yoga room, top right with the glass.
On the way to Bogota, we stopped at the beautiful town of Villa de Leyva, a small colonial town with white buildings and terracotta roofs and a beautiful square where we watched a thunder storm in the distance over the cathedral (there always seem to be thunderstorms in the distance in Colombia). Unfortunately, the city which buzzes on the weekend was a bit quiet (read: completely dead) on a Monday night but it was beautiful nonetheless and situated in the most gorgeous valley. One of the tourist attractions of the area was ‘El fossil’ – yes a fossil of a 10,000,000 (or something) year old something-osaurus which has been left in situ and a museum built around it. I’m not sure we felt ‘the powerful dinosaur energy’ around it, as promised by a circus performer we met in our hostel but it was pretty cool as fossils go.
Thunderstorm in the distance from Villa de Leyva
We don’t usually visit capital cities – they’re usually stressful, accident territory but we have a friend who lives there who, is incredibly generous (in a country of already extremely generous people) who gave us his flat and a parking spot for a few days to explore.
Bogotá street art
Gold Museum
Botero museum
Rafa and friends – thank you!
We weren’t expecting anything amazing but we actually really liked Bogota with its vibey atmosphere, museums, coffee, amazing street art and of course, some friends. We walked around a lot, eating delicious guava-filled croissants (Bridget was addicted for a while) enjoying the hussle bussle. The gold museum was a particular highlight and provided a fascinating history of gold in the region which was important to indigenous cultures long before the Spanish arrived but, interestingly, was not seen to be valuable, rather just decorative. We also took a trip up the teleferico to the mountains surrounding the city for beautiful views, gardens and humming birds. We also took a trip out to the cathedral built in the disused salt mines on the outskirts of Bogotá which is a great example of Colombian’s creativity and really was quite other-worldly. You can’t quite get a sense of scale from the pictures but it really was huge (our guide dutifully informed us that the main cross is ‘the largest cross made of salt and situated underground in the world’ – we weren’t really aware that there were many other underground salt crosses or indeed, any crosses made of salt at all but there you have it folks, the largest underground salt cross in the world for your next pub quiz).
We bid farewell to Rapha after 2 really great days in Bogotá and couldn’t have been more thankful to him for the generosity.
But generosity, openness and an innate desire to help is something we found in abundance in Colombia, and not just from friends. We had countless interactions with people coming up for a chat to ask about the car, about us, about why we were here and welcoming us to their country – from the guy who came up to us on his scooter and tapped on our window (whilst driving) and proceeded to have a chat over the next three sets of traffic lights; to the people in the supermarket parking lot taking pictures of our car, one thing we knew for sure – after only 2 weeks in Colombia, it is the country of the craziest drivers but the friendliest people in the world.
Afternoon Street Scene – Cartagena
Scruffy, colourful but very stylish – Cartagena
Street fruit vendor – Cartagena
Vibey Getsemani neighbourhood, Cartegna.
Burger cart Getsemani neighbourhood, Cartegna.
Plaza Trinidad Getsemani, Cartegena.
Plaza Trinidad Getsemani, Cartegena.
Plaza Trinidad Getsemani, Cartegena.
Taganga, Caribbean Coast
Parque Nacional Tayrona – Colombia
Parque Nacional Tayrona – Colombia
Choclate bread bakery inside Parque Nacional Tayrona
Choclate bread bakery inside Parque Nacional Tayrona
Beachside snoozing Parque Nacional Tayrona
Parque Nacional Tayrona
Our favourite frenchies -Sidney & Vincent – and their ’85 Type 2 VW Bus.
Pepe really is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Refugio la Roca at sunrise – the setting, architecture, vision and ethos is inspiring.
La Mojarra Crag – Colombia
Pro climber Katie Lambert on a crazy overhanging route
View over the valley from Refugio la Roca
We want a great dane!! They fit perfectly in pepe.
Ultimate roadside shopping – 10 Mangoes + 10 Avocados + Bunch of Bananitos for under $6
Post yoga in the stunning yoga room Refugio la Roca
Unkown in the middle of a beautiful but gnarly route – La Mojarra crag
Main building of Refugio la Roca
There is some beautiful and creative architecture in this part of Colombia
Pepe taking a breather after another long moutain pass
One of Colombia colonial jewels, Villa de Leyva, by night.
We saw some amazing lightening in the highlands Colombia – Villa de Leyva
Main square of Villa de Leyva
Desert Garden – this whole area is arid mountain desert.
Road works, Colombian style.
Golden Conch, Gold Museum Bogota. Easily the best Museum we have visited so far.
Bogota
Street scenes Bogota
Street scenes Bogota
The Colombian know how to do a mean soup
Botero Musuem
Botero Musuem
Salt Cathederal
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