Colombia
- Keegan Tudehope
- May 14, 2017
- 27 min read
Day 47
After spending the morning in Ecuador, visiting the equator and taking the hour-long trip to the airport, we arrived into Bogota late in the evening. By the time, we hopped in a taxi following an unsuccessful Uber attempt it was around 11pm. The taxi took a further 40 minutes so by the time we arrived at our hostel it was time for bed. Not the most exciting way to start a blog.
Day 48
When we woke in the morning after a nice sleep in we went out late for a breakfast and lunch combo. Ellie spotted a place called Crepes and Waffles and after that there was no choice in going elsewhere. She loves her crepes and these ones didn't disappoint. We both had ham and cheese savoury crepes before heading out for a walk around the city.
At 2pm, after some souvenir shopping (browsing), we joined a walking tour for the next 3 hours. The tour was good and we had a friendly guide who made it interesting. Over the 3 hours we heard a little about Pablo Escobar but he didn't want it to be the focus as there is a lot more to the history of Colombia. We heard a lot about politics, corruption and the government whilst visiting official buildings in the area. We visited some squares, main churches and The Cathedral, along with some museums and art galleries. We learnt about the most famous Colombia man, artist named Botero and saw some of his works. His style is over exaggerated scale, making people, animals and objects seem really obese. We both really liked his works and would later return to the museums to see more.
After the tour, we received tokens for a free tasting plate at a pub near to our hotel. We took up the offer and decided to have a beer in the nice pub, an Irish one. We joined some other members from the tour and stayed for a few drinks over a couple of hours and ended up eating there. By the time we left it was quite late and we had to walk home through the small streets of Bogota, which featured many bars and clubs but also dark and quiet streets. When we got home we simply went to bed in our cosy little room.
Day 49
With little planned for the day we slept in once again, then made our way for a nice breakfast. It was pretty good with huge servings and nice juices. Afterwards, we went back to the museums and art galleries we visited in the walking tour to have a better look at each of the presentations. Particularly, a really fancy jewellery room that you couldn't take photos in. The guide didn't tell us what it was and no information was in English, so we could only look at the fancy decorative pieces and move on.
After looking at some more of Botero's artwork and the Mint (money pressing) museum, we made our way across town to the Gold Museum. As the name suggests, a museum hosting lots and lots of gold. With a long history with gold in Colombia there were lots of displays explaining the uses of gold throughout different time periods - mostly for decoration and jewellery but at times tools and money as well. It was an interesting museum because it was different to other museums and also had some parts written in English.
Still full from breakfast, we decided to skip lunch and just walked around the city, perusing shops and wasting time before returning home for a rest. Having a bit of a lazy day was more representative of not having much to do in Bogota, so if you ever go there, no longer than 2 days is our recommendation. Later, we went for dinner at an Italian restaurant and both had some delicious pasta and a few Columbian Pilsners before heading home to bed past all the nightclubs and bars that had erupted in Saturday night revelry. But partying is not really our scene so it was home to bed once more.
Day 50
Our last full day in Bogota we discovered a few more things to do in another area of town. In the morning following yet another sleep in, I collected our laundry and got a cheap empanada breakfast. However, after some more time in bed relaxing, Ellie wanted some more Crepes and Waffles for breakfast and lunch. I ate from a supermarket to save some money but that venture wasn’t worth it. Unfortunately, it was raining heavily so after visiting a few churches in the city we returned home and watched a movie.
Later we took an Uber to the national museum in downtown and spent a few hours there before making our way back on foot. It was only lightly raining so we could manage with a few more visits to shops on the way and then again at a restaurant. We chose a BBQ grill that gave us a sample of meat that was delicious. The meals were good and again huge portions. We walked home afterwards and went to bed, the end of our time in Bogota, another capital city that was disappointing. Time to move on.
Day 51
Finally, we were leaving the big city of nothing. At least to us it felt that way. We have found in our travels that capital cities in South America, with the exclusion of Rio and La Paz, are disappointing. In a way, they are too big for you to take everything in, and more modernised to reveal some of the qualities of the past. Our flight left Bogota in the early morning, this time taking an Uber to the airport. We were excited both to leave Bogota and to be heading to Leticia, where we would enter the Amazon jungle.
When we arrived at the small airport in the middle of the jungle we were greeted by a guide, who ended up being our translator for the next few days. He took us to the office to pay and gather some resources from the city shops and to have a look around the markets. We looked around for around 45 minutes learning and forgetting the names of the fruits and different types of fish. Lots of them were foreign to us including piranhas and large catfish. There was even a fillet from one of the large fish of the amazon that was the size of a pillow. Of course, I don't remember any of the names of either but we were interested at the time. After our short tour, we stopped in for lunch that was included in the package; it was a choice of fish, chicken or beef with rice, lentils and plantain (a deep-fried type of banana). We would have to get ready for more of those dishes as that's all they seem to serve here in the north of South America.
Following lunch, we were taken to the port, where we would take a boat to Puerto Nariño on a river just off the Amazonia. It's unlike any port we have seen before with mostly all timber pontoons made from large trees that float in the water. It was certainly nothing compared to what you find in Australia. The safety checklist would have no ticks and all crosses next to each compliance item. Just to get on the pontoon you had to balance and cross 2 planks of wood that linked the shore to the platform, but we made it onto the boat. From Leticia, it took 2 hours as we travelled upstream through the fast-moving Amazon River. The current seemed strong, the water brown and full of debris, such as floating branches and tree logs. Often the skipper dodged them, but we hit a few including a really big one that shuttered the boat and made a large noise. Eventually, after a few stops in different villages we peeled off The Amazon into another river, much calmer and with much clearer water, then arrived at our destination.
The dock here was much better than that in Leticia, which was good as we would be using it several times during our 4-day trip. First, we met our local guide, Joaquin, who would be working with our translator as our private hosts. Joaquin is a 19-year-old with lots of stories to tell, just how many of them were true was the hard part to believe. He was good though, with plenty of knowledge of the jungle passed down from his parents. The knowledge and information is not passed on through text books or school but through time spent learning from parents and family. He started to share this with us after dropping off our bags and checking into our rooms. Once we had checked in, we met back at the dock and went for a drive on the river to watch the sunset and look for animals in the trees, on the shores and in the water. We saw some monkeys in the trees, lots of birds and pink dolphins frolicking in the water. This was cool and made Ellie very excited as she was looking forward to seeing them. The dolphins liked to swim and feed near the joining of the Amazonia River and the connecting rivers as a lot of food can be found there. It's interesting to see the meeting of the murky, brown water and strong current of the Amazonia with the calm, blue and clear water of the other. Neither seem affected by the other, where you would think there may be some change. Here, we took some photos and watched a beautiful sunset from the calm river and Joaquin and I had a nice swim in one of the lakes. The water was warm on top for about a foot and cold beneath that, making for a weird sensation on the body.
Afterwards we went for a night walk in the jungle to learn more from Joaquin and see some rainforest animals. We were gone for around an hour entering the jungle just outside of the small town. Here we saw a range of animals, including insects, frogs and a big tarantula. A poisonous spider as big as the palm of my hand. The frog was a green poison dart frog as well so it was also dangerous. Then there were several large banana spiders, which are really poisonous as well. Monkeys, grasshoppers, crickets, stick insects and more spiders were among the other animals we saw during the night walk. The jungle floor was really muddy on the trail; however, we had been provided with some big gum boots so it wasn't a worry.
After the night trek, we returned to the town and had dinner at a restaurant nearby. Similarly, to lunch in Leticia, we had a choice of protein (chicken or beef) served with rice, lentils and plantain, something we would have to get accustomed to more and more in the coming days. Later we showered and went to bed in our hostel room with a pedestal fan, running (cold) water in the sink and the same in the shower. While it is not a fancy hostel, it's much more than we expected in the Amazon.
Day 52
Our first morning in the jungle began with breakfast in the same restaurant as last night’s dinner. We ate scrambled eggs with onion and tomato, exceeding our expectations once more. The juice we received was delicious with blends of tropical fruits from the Amazon that we hadn't eaten before.
Following breakfast, we returned to gather our gum boots and made our way back into the jungle. Today focused more on the plants and trees of the jungle as it's easier to see them, but also covered some more animals. Today we saw mostly different types of birds, more monkeys, spiders, insects and butterflies. We learnt about potions, remedies and poisons that come from different plants, trees and animals. It really seemed that everything fit into one of the categories, but the potions we couldn't trust through Joaquin's storytelling.
While I didn't find many trees interesting, there were some really large ones. One was 400 years old and would take 10 of me to wrap my arms around it and at least 50 of me, standing on top of myself in height. It was simply incredible and it wasn't the oldest or biggest. There was also the fat belly tree, which as the name suggest us a wider portion in the middle than at the top and bottom. This tree was used for making canoes, a representation of the knowledge and resourcefulness of the people of the Amazon. At numerous times, I found myself thinking that of the people and likened it to the knowledge and skills passed down by Indigenous people in Australia.
Following the jungle tour we stopped in at a ranch for lunch, once again protein and the usual sides and had a look around the site. They had a large colourful bird and a monkey that was very friendly and accustomed to humans. Not that we risked touching it and contracting some dangerous diseases. There was also a large lagoon with various large fish, birds and numerous caiman (small crocodiles). Here Joaquin began to feed a huge fish. It was at least 2.5 meters long and had a pink colour when it surfaced for food or made its way through some clear water. It was much bigger than the caiman, who wasn't interested in eating the large fish. In the end, Ellie and I were feeding them little pieces of fish until it all ran out.
Later, after returning to the town and collecting the boat again, we made our way out onto the river and on the hunt for some more animals, this time sloths and more pink dolphins. The first animal we spotted though was a large iguana, this time green and swimming through the water into some dense growth before we lost vision of it. By then we had spotted some more monkeys climbing in the trees and then were off to another location. When we arrived, the boat engine was turned off and I was tasked with steering us through some dense growth and large trees that protruded the river from the high tide of the wet season. Using a paddle, we made our way in through and around what now get like swamps, dodging branches and bushes
hanging from the trees. It was here Julian spotted a sloth resting lazily in a tree, as sloths do. We took some photos but he was aware of us and was pretty quick to camouflage himself amongst some leaves making it difficult to get a good photo. As we exited the swamp like section back to the river we spotted another green iguana, high up in the trees before heading out for a swim in one of the lakes. This time Ellie and Julian joined Joaquin and I in the water before taking in one of the most beautiful sunsets we have ever seen. This is supported by the fact Ellie took around 100 photos of just this.
The evening was made up of returning back to the town, taking some showers and heading for dinner. However, the night didn't end there as we were dragged to the house of the towns dance teacher and learnt salsa, Amazonian and Brazilian dance styles. None of which I was good at, and none of which I can remember how to do. It was good fun as it was just us, Joaquin and the dance teacher for about 30 minutes, I didn't like that I had to have another shower as it's so humid that just walking to dinner made you sweat, so dancing meant we were saturated. Still, it was a good end to an awesome day.
Day 53
Our second morning began the same way with breakfast in our favourite restaurant. Then we made our way down to the dock, where Joaquin had brought the boat after having breakfast with us. The first activity of the day was another trip into some swamp like area searching for more sloths and other animals. We stopped at a large tree with thick branches and went climbing into it. Here, Joaquin told a tale of the marital powers of the tree with its strong connecting vines and even made us bracelets, however, there is no engagement news coming from this trip. Something bad happened in the tree in an unrelated incident. Ellie, in her climbing of the tree managed to drop her brand-new sunglasses into the river below. With a depth of 7 or so meters, there was little chance we would find them again. Perhaps a caiman is now wearing a pair of Ray Bans and looking very snappy, I mean snazzy.
We followed up this dramatic loss with some wakeboarding from the lake to the dock. However, with my lack of ability it took much longer than it would have had I stayed in the boat. Ellie had a go as well but was unable to rise up out of the water, instead choosing to try drink all the water. I tried and tried and tried some more, eventually willing myself out of the water and cruising along for a good 2 minutes before crashing into the water. I had a few half efforts out of the water but none like the first one. Joaquin showed us how to do it, making it look easy and proving the wakeboard made from timber could work well. I'm certain he's 20kg lighter than me, which surely helps.
By the time we had returned to town it was lunch time, with another meal at the same place. Once again, the same food but at least the juice was good. In the afternoon, we checked out of our hostel and took the boat from Porta Nariño to a small community that live on the Amazon, where we would stay the night. The village was small with around 14 families totalling around 80 odd members. The houses they lived in we small and often looked like they had very little space. Our accommodation was a huge place in comparison, right on the water and was a large dorm style house with 2 additional rooms and an external toilet that flushed with a bucket of water. The ride to the small village in the boat had been absolutely scorching hot, so we opted for a bit of a break in the hammocks that sat on the balcony overlooking the river.
After napping, Ellie woke when it was time to head out for the afternoon. The activity this time was fishing, not just any fishing, but piranha fishing. First, we looked for more animals and visited a green lake, then made our way to Joaquin's favourite fishing spot. We had 4 sticks from a branch of a tree that is flexible, evidence of more intuitiveness. There was around 2-3 meters of fishing line on the end and some small hooks. The bait was chicken skin and flesh which the piranhas seemed to love. Joaquin caught the first piranha, it was about 8cm long but he kept it anyway. From that point on we caught around 12-13 in total, sometimes they fell off the small hooks when we plucked them from the water. Ellie caught a couple, I caught 8 and the rest went to the Julian. The 2 hosts didn't have much luck as both their hooks fell off the line, leaving them with little to do but spectate.
Afterwards we took in another breathtaking sunset in the boat and returned to the village in the dark. One of the families had cooked us a meal that had been supplied by the tour company. For the first time in 6 or 7 meals we ate somewhere different, although, the food was again chicken, rice, lentils and plantain. There was however a surprise, which was some fried piranha fish to eat whole, aside from the heads. None of the piranhas we had caught were bigger than 8-12cm so we questioned whether to eat them or how much meat there would be, but I confess they were pretty nice. Very salty, crunchy and overall- edible.
Following dinner, we had another night excursion on the cards. One of the men from the village was the Steve Irwin of the Amazon and was coming with us in search of caiman. This was exciting and a bit scary at the same time. It was so dark we needed torches to get from the house to the boat. Fortunately, the hosts had some big, bright torches and led the way. As we were hoping in the boat one of them spotted a snake in the water. The local villager identified it as poisonous and proceeded to take out his machete and kill it. We quickly got in the boat and out of the water as he then spotted another one, killed it, then found another and killed it as well. He said he wouldn't normally kill them, but as they were near where the children play he had to do it to keep them safe. We were not complaining as it was about 3 meters from our doorstep and the less poisonous snakes near us the better.
We went for a while cruising in the dark with 'Steve' shining his torch into the distance to guide us in the dark and looking for a reflection from a pair of eyes in the reeds on the edge of the river. As we drove along little fish were jumping alongside the boat and at times even into the boat. Twice, Ellie was hit by jumping fish that kept landing in the bottom of the boat. As we continued along the river, it wasn't long before we spotted some and headed towards them. As we got nearer, Joaquin steered the boat right at the caiman from 'Steve’s' directions at the front of the boat, then they shut off the engine to not scare it away. Soon enough we crashed into the reeds the boat stopped directly where the caiman had been. Then, suddenly, big Steve Irwin spins around with a crocodile in his hands. Granted it was a 3-month-old and only 40cm long it was still a frightening and at the same time, exciting thing to see. Through our translator, Steve gave us some information and then allowed me to hold it saying to grip it tightly without strangling it. I'm sure the poor caiman’s eyes nearly popped out of its head, as I gripped it tight. We continued this process, minus me holding them a few more times, each time it seemed like Steve missed when going in for the croc but each time pulling out another. Every time he did they got bigger as well, so we decided to stop when he pulled on one close to 1m in size. Any bigger I would have kicked him off the boat. While this was a cool experience, the best part was something completely unexpected. As there were no cities, towns or even villages near us and very little light pollution in the sky, the result being something spectacular. It was the sky, the most beautiful display of stars we had ever seen. In comparison to the northern lights it was up there for me personally as there was not a cloud in the sky and no light to spoil the beauty. Most of the time spent on the boat was looking up at the sky in awe of its magnificence. Photos don't do it justice and hardly captured anything but it is up there with one of my most favourable experiences to date. Something that I hope many people can see somewhere in the world, in a place void of clouds, pollution and light (maybe in outback Australia it is possible). This was the end of the evening as we returned home to the village and quickly got out of the water in case another snake was seeking revenge for his friend’s earlier deaths.
Day 54
Our 4th day of the jungle package was a little disappointing as we had to leave the small village at 5am to return to our favourite restaurant for breakfast before catching the early ferry back to Leticia. There were other ferries back later in the day but for some reason they put us on the first boat. Getting back was much quicker as it was heading with the flow of the Amazon River. When we arrived, we were picked up by the tour administration lady and taken in a taxi with a volunteer translator around for a tour. This was the '4th' day of the package, which included crossing the Brazilian border (no checkpoints), visiting a chocolate shop, a view of the river and not much else before finally taking us to our hostel outside of the town.
Our hostel was an ecolodge on the edge of and sheltered in the jungle. The hut wasn't ready at first so we went for lunch over the road at the lunch restaurant and convenience store. We could have pulled hair out when the menu was fish or chicken with the usual sides. Once we had checked in we went for a walk to the nature reserve a short way up the road. We went on the 1 hour long nature walk on our own but found it difficult to locate many animals compared with our last few days. It wasn't exactly deep in the jungle so it was understandable, but it gave us something to do for the afternoon. We also went for a walk-in search of a river to have a swim, Ellie was adamant it was just a little bit further. She said that around 30 times before I asked some locals. When they responded in laughter we knew it was a long way away so we turned around and walked home. There wasn't much to do by then but relax, with no Wi-Fi and no TV we had a nap in the hammocks and blogged as per usual in our downtime. Later we went for dinner at the night-time restaurant which unfortunately served the same food. Resulting in a lack of interest in the 'typical' cuisine options, something we would try to rectify in the next few days. Bed wasn't long after as we listened to the noise of the rainforest from the safety of our insect net draped over the bed.
Day 55
Our time in the Amazon was up, so we bused into the city and gathered some supplies as we had a long travel day in airports and on planes ahead. We ate yoghurt for breakfast and took a Tuk Tuk to the airport but had to walk the last section as he seemed scared of the police up ahead. We checked into our flight following a disastrous check in queue in which no one was observing the roped off areas and just crowded the counters like a mob. We flew first from Leticia to Bogota, then later from Bogota to Medellin, arriving really late at night. By the time our speedy Uber driver had passed over the mountain and down into the valley, we arrived at our hostel at 2 in the morning, desperate for a bed better than the reclining aeroplane seats.
Day 56
On our first full day in Medellin, we wanted to do a walking tour but for the first time in over 2 months the city tour required registration. However, the tour was booked out and we couldn't attend, another first. Disappointedly, we found a city tour plan and made our way around the city. The first stop was the Memory Museum. Although most of it was in Spanish, the little we received in English was fantastic. The memories were highlighting the victims and incidents of Colombia’s violent past from rebel armies, corrupt politics and the narcotics industry. Many of which Ellie and I weren't fully aware of. The city of Medellin was a very dangerous place until recently and we learnt a lot about it in the museum.
After the museum, we visited main squares, churches, shopping malls, stopped for lunch, continued with more monuments and finished with the Botero Plaza. The plaza was named after the famous Colombian artist whose work we had seen in Bogota. The area was full of huge statues of his famous pieces of art.
We found a few shops as well, making use of a hair dresses for me and phone store for Ellie to get her cracked phone screen replaced for cheap before returning to Australia. By the time the phone was fixed however, it had turned evening and we were in a very unfavourable area. We could sense it and wanted to leave earlier but had to wait for the phone. While we waited, we were informed by a local that the area was very dangerous and to be extremely careful. We did that as soon as we got Ellie's phone, using the stores which Wi-Fi to order an Uber to return home.
When we got home we got changed and headed out for dinner at a restaurant nearby. We ate much nicer than previously at a semi fancy Asian restaurant. It was really good and returned Ellie to a happy culinary state following the consistent protein, rice, lentil and plantain diet we had experienced. Safe to say the time away from home or from more common western food has caught up to us. We are certainly looking forward to some home cooking and seeing if we remember how to cook ourselves after having only cooked 2 times in 3 months. We will have to remember to drive again as well, because Ellie hasn't driven at all in a year and a half and I have only driven on a few road trips. Hopefully, it's just like riding a bike. We returned home satisfied with a tasty dinner, with Ellie even finishing mine as I wasn't feeling well and went to bed for our last night in Medellin.
Day 57
After being sick a few times through the night I wasn't sure how I would be feeling in the morning. I took some medicine to block me up and Ellie stepped up to do the packing, allowing me some extra rest. After a while I felt better and trusted the medicine enough to get me through the tour we had planned. The tour was a walking tour of an area called Comuna 13, which is well known for its violence and for previously being one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods in the world.
The tour started at a metro station and travelled to a cable car that took us to the top of a mountain where we could see much of the valley below and the large area of the city. One of the stops was the original neighbourhood that linked the distant coffee plantations to the city. It also housed rebel or guerrilla armies as it was difficult for police and military to access high in the mountain. Gradually, the guerrillas took control of the area and gradually grew across the area all the way to Comuna 13, which is where we went next after returning down the cable car and then taking a bus to another area up a different mountain.
Here we viewed lots of graffiti and met one of the graffiti artists who paints them. The guide told the story of the graffiti, which was the story of the area and the struggles that went on there. One struggle was the separation of 2 communities that lived side by side and were shooting at each other all the time from their side of the neighbourhood. People couldn't safely cross into the other, even if they had family living there. We visited the location near the road that separates the location were a woman found her daughter shot on their balcony and begun to wave a white sheet to find people from both sides joining her until the whole area was doing the same. From that point on the violence stopped and the place is now proud to have tourist come as it shows how far they have come. This has only been the case for less than 10 years. It was an interesting tour with a side of Colombia revealed that we knew little about. We only associated the violence with Pablo Escobar, the famous narcotics trafficker, but it extends well beyond that.
After the tour finished we transported the same way back to the meeting point and from there Ellie and I walked home from there. We stopped at a fast food Mexican store but it took an age, so when we returned to the hostel we quickly ordered an Uber and made for the airport. Time was going to be tight so we said to the driver, "Rapido por favor" to which he obliged until we ran into a massive traffic jam running over the mountain to get to the airport. We easily spent 40 minutes longer in traffic before being close to the airport road, only to find the police blocking it off. Therefore, we had to take the longer route ensuring we would miss our flight, the first time ever. The road had been closed due to a landslide overnight during a thunderstorm and it would cost us an extra fare on the spot.
At the airport, we were certainly not the only ones who had the same issue. We ended up on a flight almost 2 hours after our scheduled flight with a different airline. It cost us an extra $75 each, which wasn't too bad and we had to do it. We arrived and took a taxi to our hostel just on the edge of the historic centre of Cartagena. We went out for dinner to a restaurant very close to our place. It was a Japanese kitchen so Ellie loved having sushi and I had a tasty wok before returning home to pack our bags for a few days on an island.
Day 58
Today was exciting as after breakfast at our hostel in Cartagena we hopped in an Uber to begin making our way to Casa El En Agua, which is a hostel in the Caribbean Sea. Not on an inhabited island in the Caribbean, but an actual island itself. Ellie found the place when researching Colombia in her planning days back in the U.K. The place is extremely popular and only allows bookings 1 month in advance so we had to be on the ball to get in. Fortunately, we were able to do so the night before leaving Wi-Fi for Machu Picchu otherwise some of the readers of this blog would have been asked to book it for us. Whilst the booking was smooth sailing, getting to the island was not.
Usually a boat operates from Cartagena to the island, although not on Sundays. Of course, this was the day we were going. The other option was a taxi to a bus terminal (45mins), then a bus (2 hours) followed by a moto taxi, which would mean we need 2 (30mins). Insert unknown cost as we didn't take this route because we are terrible budget backpackers when faced with such challenges. Instead we ordered an Uber. He at first accepted and drove us around the corner, then realised how far it was (less than the 3-part trip mentioned before, but still a long journey). He said no, then yes for cash, then we said no it was too expensive, he dropped his price we still said no but eventually gave in for the ease of transport. I repeat, terrible budget backpackers but the positives of early arrival, more time on the island, direct route, less time in unknown places all weighed heavily in our minds.
When we arrived at Rincon Del Mar, a beachside town with small boats running from the shore to the island 45 minutes away we found beautiful blue water and clean sandy beaches. We also found some eager boat skippers who ushered us around town to get food supplies and a sarong for Ellie. They were friendly, but very pushy to get us on the boat. Probably because they were excited to make 150,000 pesos for the journey. This would have been the same price with 6 people but as it was only El and I we paid the lot. Not a very cheap 24 hour we have had. If it was the start of the trip we wouldn't have done it but we are at a stage of 'whatever, let's just do it' with the end of the trip in mind. Poor credit card.
Forgetting about that, we concentrated on enjoying our time on this beautiful place.
It would be hard not to, and someone must. Therefore, we did. Settling into the Casa with a welcome tour, a swim and relaxing for the afternoon. We met some friendly people and had some drinks throughout the evening in the sea, or up on the deck. Dinner was an octopus pasta, however, as we heard it was always fish I had chosen the vegetarian option. Luckily, I got some off another Aussie, who didn't like seafood (other than fish).
Day 59
Waking up in a hammock was interesting, as you are normally not too steady after waking up, it was difficult to get out of the 'bed'. It was even more difficult during the night when needing to use the bathroom but neither of us fell. Instead we later came downstairs to begin the day of relaxing. Little else was planned. The idea to move between breakfast, lunch and dinner with a swim, a beer, a cocktail and not much else in between.
Breakfast was extremely basic, disappointing for the price of the hostel but this made lunch even better. Today's lunch was a snail and octopus seafood rice with salad and banana chips. It was delicious and returned us to a happy eating place. We had a few swims and lounged around reading books, writing blogs and diary entries. In the afternoon, we continued the relaxing and consumption of some happy hour drinks, Ellie had a cocktail and I had some rum. In the evening, we ordered for the first times in our lives, crab and lobster for dinner. It was freshly caught and at a price that we wouldn't find in many other places. As it was our last night we treated ourselves. Once again terrible budget backpackers but the end is near. The food was delicious and we were happy, the crab could have done with less sauce as it was prepared with all the meat taken out and put inside the shell. Ellie didn't like it that much so she ate most of the lobster and I ate the crab.
We had a few beers with some friendly and funny Irish lads, whilst a deck dance party started. Ellie went to bed while we had a night swim under a moon lit night before retiring to bed also, slightly later than our usual grandma and grandpa time, but not by much.
Day 60
Before leaving our hostel island we had most of the morning there, eating breakfast and relaxing in the sun again. We read books and chatted with some new friends from Ireland and elsewhere. At close to midday the boat arrived bringing new guests to the island and soon after began taking us and other passengers to Cartagena. The journey was around 2 hours across some rough seas, towards the end of the journey we passed some beautiful coastline, covered in hotels and resorts. We also passed a huge cruise ship that made our boat seem like a matchbox before arriving at the port.
From the port, Ellie and I walked to our hostel and checked into the same place as a few nights ago, it was nice to have a better room and all our bags we had left behind already in the room. It was seamless, unlike lunch, which proved a difficult task. In the hostel area, it was a mostly low income area, which meant the food was the protein, rice and lentil type. This made it hard to choose somewhere that met our growing expectations. In the end, we ate a paella off the street, which wasn't very good and to supplement that we had some fries from the chicken shop then rested in the hotel room with the air conditioner on high.
When it got cooler later in the afternoon, we went for a walk around the historic old town for a good while. We went up and down many streets that were really picturesque with the wooden balconies and decorated entrance ways. Eventually we stopped for dinner at a Thai fast food restaurant, which ended up being nice. It was extremely filling as well but there was of course room for ice cream for Ellie. She got a freshly made ice cream using liquid nitrogen to freeze something, somehow, we didn't really know but she said it was great. We walked home as she shared a little with me and went to bed for our last sleep in South America.
Day 61
In the morning, we took an Uber to the airport after having breakfast at the hostel. We flew out of Cartagena to Miami and farewelled South America. Firstly, to summarise Colombia: a difficult task based on the varied experiences we had. Bogota was dull, while the Amazon was incredible, as was the island hostel and the waters around Cartagena. Medellin was interesting and the history of Colombia in general was the same. With the positives outweighing the negatives I can say we enjoyed Colombia, hopefully, a country with improving societies in which will attract more tourists as they prove consistently that it's a safe place to travel.
To summarise South America and our journey will probably take an entire blog and maybe I will do that, however, I will attempt to do it briefly here. Some readers would prefer that. South America is a continent with numerous nations that all share large similarities in history, culture and language. They also have minor differences in the same categories that shape the countries culture to make noticeable differences when looking in more depth. We have enjoyed some more than others for various reasons. Some of those reasons were our saturation with big attractions and new things. It made it easy to dismiss lots of aspects that make a place great, but when you travel for so long the little things don't stand out as much as when you’re on a short trip. One day, we will look back and remember those little things from the photos, the stories and experiences and think just how amazing that 500-year-old church was, or, how interesting the life of a small community was. The bigger things will always be a highlight, they attracted us to different parts of the world and left us impressed. From Christ the Redeemer to the colourful neighbourhoods in Valparaiso, the Uyuni salt flats to Machu Picchu, the Amazon and the Caribbean Sea. It's amazing to think we have done all those things. We were so lucky to have this experience coupled with our time in Europe. I feel I have a better grasp of geography, different cultures and a growing passion for world history and its connectedness. Linking information from walking tours in Europe and South America, with a little from North America, and piecing it together in a timeline has been one of my favourite parts of travelling. The food has been great at times and it has been terrible as well, just the same as things have been cheap at times and other very expensive. It goes on like all life, there is a good and a bad, and thankfully, in our blessed lives, we have much more good than bad in our lives. In this way travelling, has made me appreciate just how lucky I am, that we are, but first we have a short trip to Miami and another to the Bahamas before flying home to Australia.
Seeya later South America...
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