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08.07.2009
Zona Cafetera from a bird’s view
On July 7th, we reunited in Panama City, when Heidi arrived from Vienna. The following day we took a tiny plane to Pereira / Columbia, since it is this country we finally want to explore over the next seven weeks. Our first impression of Colombia was fascinating. We got a great view of the Zona Cafetera when the plane approached Pereira. The sheer beauty of the land beneath made Heidi immediately forget that she was in a small plane and really afraid. Only if you know how much she hates being in what she calls “these little tin...[more] Category: Colombia
09.07.2009
Salento - Gateway to the Valle de Cocora
Salento is a small village perched on the foothills of the Andes in the middle of Zona Cafetera. Apart from the scenic surroundings, the village’s particular charm stems from its picturesque “Paisa” architecture. The small houses are painted in bright white, but the wooden shutters that serve as windows and the doors come in all colours. Often a tiny balcony adorns the home. Especially the plaza around the village church features some impressive buildings, which all host a bar on street level. Now, do not draw the wrong conclusions...[more] Category: Colombia
10.07.2009
“Ojala que llueva café en el campo”
No, it does not rain coffee, as this popular song claims, but nevertheless there is plenty around here in the Zona Cafetera. Even though we visited quite a few coffee plantations in other countries, like Bolivia or on Atiu, Cook Islands, we could not resist joining Tim, or Don Eduardo, as he likes to call himself, our host, on a tour through his new “Finca”. No regrets, he explained with great expertise and enthusiasm every step of the process that it takes to finally enjoy a cup of coffee. To make it short, after the red or yellow...[more] Category: Colombia
11.07.2009
Valle de Cocora - Wax palm trees watching over the Cloud Forest
This out-of-the-world-scenic valley stretches to the east of Salento. Jeeps starts early in the morning from there and after 30 minutes drop you off at the trail head. The first hour of the hike takes you through a narrow valley with slopes and ridges dotted with mega-tall wax-palm trees. Although we started off on a very sunny morning, big clouds of mist floated through the valley hiding the palm trees, but soon setting them free again. The other part of the trek takes you straight through the cloud forest, the canopy immediately...[more] Category: Colombia
12.07.2009
Faces of Columbia
The bus trip from Armenia to Popayan first takes you through never ending fields of sugar cane. After Cali, the scenery becomes more diverse, a wild melange of banana, mango and palm trees, giant bamboo, sugar cane and once in a while a random, completely out of place pine tree. But Cali also is an obvious divide in the ethnic make-up of the population. The fair-skinned local breed in Salento and the neighbouring cities does not miss a chance to brag about their Spanish ancestors. But hey, not some “campesino” from Andalusia, oh no!...[more] Category: Colombia
13.07.2009
La Ciudad Blanca - Popayan
Our initial reaction, after we read about this city in our guide book, was “Yeah, another Ciudad Blanca / White City”. Did not Arequipa / Peru adorn itself with the same fancy title? Only to have its few white colonial buildings disappear in a madness of honking cars / busses and exhaust fumes that make you dizzy? What a difference! Popayan’s historic centre truly deserves to be called Ciudad Blanca! Literally every building is beautifully restored with elegant iron grills in front of the windows and massive wooden doors also...[more] Category: Colombia
14.07.2009
Popayan’s missing tourist infrastructure
In the previous text on Popayan we marvelled why relatively few tourists visit this city, despite its beautiful colonial centre and scenic surroundings. One guess is, travellers easily bypass what is not clearly marked as a high-light in their “bible”, the Lonely Planet and the number of other kinds of tourists is still marginal. Another reason could be the city’s lack of modern tourist infrastructure. A few examples: the tourist information is staffed with friendly soldiers who have no clue of what is going on. We asked them about...[more] Category: Colombia
15.07.2009
Silvia - Guambiano Indigenous Market
Silvia, a village situated at 2.650 meters, about an hour drive from Popayan, is the centre of the Guambiano region, one of Columbia’s most traditional indigenous groups. The Guambiano still use their language and dress in colourful clothes, especially for market day. Then the men wear blue skirts, wrapped around their waste, thin hand-woven ponchos and a bowler hat. The women sport voluminous black skirts, large blue shawls around their shoulder held together by safety pins. They live in the surrounding villages and arrive in...[more] Category: Colombia
17.07.2009
Tierradentro - The perfect name
The name Tierradentro says it all - amazing underground tombs are scattered around the slopes of this most scenic valley. Scientists believe that between the 7th and 9th century these tombs, the only ones of this kind in the Americas, were dug out of soft volcanic rock to place urns filled with bones. Thus these tombs are secondary burial sites, which means the dead were initially first buried in tiny stone chambers and later moved to here. The minute we arrived we fell in love with the place and immediately agreed to stay for a...[more] Category: Colombia
18.07.2009
Market day in Inza - A chiva is never full
Chivas are old Dodge busses used for local transport in rural areas and look quite intriguing: the cab is painted in wild colors and so is the interior, which consists of five wide rows of painted wooden benches each sitting six people. There is no aisle and no windows, each row is entered individually. Thus the sides of the bus are wide open and airy. Sacks of merchandise and people pile onto the roof of these vehicles. On markets days, the number of people and especially the cargo takes on dimensions hard to describe. The loading...[more] Category: Colombia
19.07.2009
Travel in the far south - “Death Road” meets Indiana Jones
Until we reached Popayan, the roads we travelled were excellent. These conditions changed rapidly when we travelled from Popayan to Tierradentro and further on to San Agustin. These two trips, a few times, reminded us of the notorious “Death Road” in Bolivia. The main difference is that there is very little traffic here. The cliff is also “only” a few hundred meters deep, not one thousand. Chivas is one mode of public transport in rural Columbia. These old Dodge buses huff and puff up steep mountains roads, changing gear often...[more] Category: Colombia
20.07.2009
Checking out San Agustin’s hostel scene
Yeap we did it, arriving in San Agustin not knowing it was Columbia’s Independence Day! Naturally, any half way decent room was gone, considering that this is one of Columbia’s major tourist attractions. No, there are plenty of hostels, but very few meet the expectations of foreigners: access to reliable information on onward transport / sights / tours, Internet, laundry service and most important exchange of current information with other travelers. The use of a kitchen is a great plus, since “frijoles, arroz y pollo” gets a bit...[more] Category: Colombia
21.07.2009
San Agustin’s mysterious sculptures
Little to nothing is known about the civilization that chiseled these mysterious sculptures from volcanic rocks about 5.000 years ago, making it one the oldest cultures in the Americas. Unfortunately, as so many ancient civilizations in the Americas, it had no writing and had disappeared before the Spanish arrived. So scientists provide this or that hypothesis to explain the statues large and small. Nevertheless, the true meaning of them might very well remain a mystery forever. First excavations began in 1913 and 1914, and several...[more] Category: Colombia
22.07.2009
Still far from the “Gringo Trail”
Tourism in Columbia, apart from Cartagena, has been picking up slowly over the last few years, with the vast majority being domestic tourists finally daring to leave their cities and venture into rural areas. In San Agustin, Columbia’s main archeological site we came across the following statistics. In 2008, a total of 13.543 visitors visited the more remote site of Altos de los Idolos, of which were 11.680 Colombians (85%) and 1.683 (!!!) foreigners. The biggest numbers are German (279), French (178) & USA (173), with only 34...[more] Category: Colombia
23.07.2009
Three different ways of exploring San Agustin
Since it is quite a way to get to San Agustin, we decided to make the most of it, especially given the stunning landscape surrounding the town. Our first day in San Agustin we spent in the archaeological park, strolling through a lush forest where about 130 sculptures peek from around every corner. Some are really fine work, others look a bit weathered. Only a few were originally found in that area but most of them were taken here from the surrounding hills. The museum itself exhibits pottery, jewelry and some background information...[more] Category: Colombia
24.07.2009
Desierto de la Tatacoa - Petrified phantoms
Some travellers we met along the way raved about this place and since it meant a nice break in the 9 hour bus ride from San Agustin to Bogota, we decided to check it out and we LOVED it. Located in the valley between the Cordillera Oriental & the Cordillera Central, it gets relatively little rain and being situated only 441 meters above sea level, means it is warm, really warm. What a nice change after the rather chilly evenings in San Agustin, Tierradentro and Salento. The sleep town of Villavieja sits on the edge of in the desert,...[more] Category: Colombia
26.07.2009
A tour de force through Bogota’s hostels
Everyone we met before arriving in Bogota had a very clear opinion of the very capital - so we were curious which side we would end up taking, especially since we never really enjoy huge cities, with a few exceptions, like Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, or … Hong Kong. Our first steps made us rather lean on the negative side. But all is not lost! A painfully slow approach through Friday evening rush hour brought us to the very centre. This was followed by a nerve-raking research for liveable accommodation. Like most backpackers, we...[more] Category: Colombia
27.07.2009
Museo del Oro & Botero’s “Goriditos”
Now let’s turn to the bright side of the city. The Museo del Oro leaves nobody untouched. Not only does it display an unbelievable 55.000 (!) pieces made of gold and other materials, but the museum is also very cleverly organized. A short introduction of mining methods and techniques as how the precious metal was worked by the different cultures, leads to the most impressive and exhaustive section: a display of the incredibly delicate and beautiful ornaments that each culture in pre-Hispanic Columbia produced. Although physically...[more] Category: Colombia
28.07.2009
Bogota from the inside
Equipped with several phone numbers we arrived in Bogota, relatives or long time “amigos” of Leonardo, our Columbian friend and neighbor in Vienna. One was Carmen, a friend from Leonardo’s studies at the Academy of Art. Carmen’s family owns the very cozy Restaurante Rosita on the Plazoleta del Chorro de Quevedo, the supposedly very place where Santa Fé de Bogotá was founded in 1538. At Rosita, an evening full of laughter, excellent food & wine received it final and perfect touch by two amazing musicians and singers. Claro & Obsuro,...[more] Category: Colombia
28.07.2009
Warming up to Bogota’s charm
On our last day in town, sunshine touched Plaza de Bolivar and the thousands of pigeons that ascend on Bogota’s most famous square to feed on the maize that children throw at them. The very same children then take great pleasure in running into the throve of pigeons making them fly off in panic. The plaza is surrounded by churches and official buildings underlying its importance. Another landmark, Cerro Monserrate with its huge white church, we also saved for the very last evening. The funicular took us up to 3.152 meters in no...[more] Category: Colombia
29.07.2009
Villa de Leyva - A colonial gem
Tell any Columbian you made the ancient colonial town of Villa de Leyva part of your trip through Columbia and you get raving descriptions of its beauty and nothing but praise for your good judgment. Located only 160 kilometers north of Bogota, it is a very, very popular weekend destination for city dwellers, who enjoy the clean air and dry climate in this charming town. Having visited countless “most beautiful colonial towns” all over Latino America, we immediately noticed this one was different. Who has ever seen a plaza 120...[more] Category: Colombia
30.07.2009
Argentine Folklore in Villa de Leyva
Small flyers all over town promoted the performance of a group of dancers from Cordoba, Argentina. In a small outdoor venue the show began with great pathos: Argentine’s flag was carried in, we all rose for the country’s hymn, the directors were introduced and the Columbian people praised and thanked. In the meantime, the young dancers waiting for their gig simply started to dance next to the stage. It kind of set the mood for what followed: a top performance of folkloristic dances from the Cordoba region presented in a firework of...[more] Category: Colombia
31.07.2009
Baby Kronosaurus & miniature Stonehenge
El Fosil is a must excursion from Villa de Leyva, which you can do either on horseback, as we did, or with a jeep. Here, a 120 million year old baby “Kronosaurus” fossil is on display, at the very place where it was found in 1977. Since its tail went missing it is “only” 7 meters in seize, making it the world’s largest complete fossil of this pre-historic marine reptile. This part of Columbia, like, Tatacoa desert, was an ocean at the time of the Kronosauraus’ fatal end. Even nowadays, small fossils are so common here that they are...[more] Category: Colombia
01.08.2009
San Gil - La Tierra de Aventura
This rather unremarkable little town chose this high-flying title “the land of adventure”, because it attracts lots of tourists who sign up the various adrenaline-pumping activities. White water rafting ranging from a comfortable class 1 to a frightening class 5 is high on the agenda, followed by kayaking, caving, paragliding, abseiling, horseback riding, mountain biking, paint ball, bungee jumping and eco-walks are others we can remember. Heidi chose a class 3 rafting tour down Rio Fonce and it was just perfect. For 1.5 hours she...[more] Category: Colombia
02.08.2009
Barichara - “El pueblito mas lindo de Columbia”
Nothing less does this colonial village claim to be. So after “the land of adventure” we set camp in “Columbia’s most beautiful village”. When we arrived on a Sunday at around 03:00 pm you could hear a pin drop: nothing, no cars, hardly any people, no music from bars or backyards, the town had simply shut down for the hot hours. Nothing we wanted more for ourselves! While Gilles guarded our luggage in the shady plaza, Heidi checked every accommodation in town, a task which can be accomplished within half an hour, given the size of...[more] Category: Colombia
03.08.2009
Barichara - “El Camino Real” to Guane
Well, there is one more major activity to do in Barichara: hiking the old “Camino Real” to the tiny village of Guane. From the viewpoint behind the cemetery, the path descending down the canyon and across the plateau below can be seen, as well as the Rio Suarez in the distance. What a great walk! We left shortly before 09:00 am, because then the first part, which takes you straight down, is still in the shade. Later it got really hot and there is only one little farm along the whole 9 kilometers trail that had a sign outside: “Se...[more] Category: Colombia
04.08.2009
El Canyon del Chicamocha
The road between San Gil and Bucaramanga partly follows and even descends into this majestic canyon, providing a stunning vista with Rio Chicamocha snaking along more than 1.000 meters below. The area is desert-like, with lots of thorny shrubs, cactuses and even more goats climbing with ease through the steep terrain, tugging at twigs. Halfway between these two cities is El Parque Nacional de Chicamocha, the baby among all Columbian National parks, which only opened in 2006 and popular it is. Within the next two weeks the millionth...[more] Category: Colombia
05.08.2009
Bucaramanga - KGB’s cooperation with the Country Club
The “Bienvenido” sign at the bus station in Bucaramanga announced another “Ciudad Bonita” and we simply grinned at each other: we had to stop here for the night to catch a flight to Medellin. What a nice surprise to find a strikingly clean and very modern city. This positive image certainly was enforced by the welcoming Kasa Guane Bucaramanga, best know here as K.G.B., full of cozy corners and a very helpful staff. Lot of the guests set camp here or at the sister hostel out of town to take lessons in paragliding. So far, this is the...[more] Category: Colombia
06.08.2009
“Hostel Hunting” - During the Feria de Las Flores
Being two persons among 400.000 visiting Medellin for the “Feria de Las Flores” between July 31st and August 9th puts your abilities to find a liveable accommodation to a test. Gilles succeeded in getting a “pre-reservation” for a private room at the Palm Tree Hostel. They would not confirm it during such a busy week, so we were relieved to find our misspelled names on the board in the reception area. But when we saw the “room”, our heart sank: smaller than a prison cell without a window. A few minutes in the room and it was stuffy...[more] Category: Colombia
07.08.2009
Medellin - The “City of Spring”
Who does not have a pre-fixed image about this former violence ridden stronghold of Pablo Escobar and its drug cartel? Well, reality could not be more different! Medellin is a very modern city with lots of quiet, beautiful neighborhoods down in the valley and up on the hills. Its moderate temperatures year-around and an excellent infrastructure make it a great city to live. An ultramodern metro system zips through the valley and allows tourists to explore also the outer barrios. The most fascinating means of transport are the two...[more] Category: Colombia
08.08.2009
Feria de las Flores - Si o No?
If you like sharing a city of 2.5 million with 400.000 visitors attracted by the festival with little or no information available for the foreign visitors, continue reading! Here are a few tricks and tips, learned the hard way, to make a stay in Medellin for this busy festival enjoyable. Start with making a reservation for accommodation early, some budget hostels will not even except one and makes sure to define what your room should look like. Any crevice is used to accommodate visitors during that week. The festival lasts for 10...[more] Category: Colombia
09.08.2009
Bizarre prelude to the “Feria de Las Flores”
Santa Elena, an hour’s drive from Medellin, high up in the hills, is the center of the local flower industry. It is also there that the “Silletas”,” are skillfully assembled at various fincas.” The silletas are artistic compositions of flowers attached to a large oval piece of plywood. On its back is a kind of harness that allows it to be carried in the “Defile de los Silleteros This parade is the highlight of the “Feria des Las Flores Again, only by accident did we discover that tours are offered to watch the artists in Santa Elena...[more] Category: Colombia
10.08.2009
Unexpected highlight in the barrio of Santo Domingo
The event during the Feria de la Flores we liked best, we literally stumbled upon! Not really surprising considering the complete lack of information for tourists, foreigners and Colombians alike. Trying to get a last good view of Medellin at sunset, we took the cable car up to Santo Domingo and bumped into a great party in the middle of this poor barrio. On the plaza a local, obviously famous band was playing incredible music from different parts of the country. Nevertheless, all songs had an Andean influence because pan flutes...[more] Category: Colombia
11.08.2009
Barranquilla - A depressing arrival on the Caribbean Coast
All those misinformed people, who still consider Columbia a scary and dangerous place to be or travel, would find their image justified in the town of Barranquilla. We arrived at midnight and the taxi to our hotel took us through kilometers and kilometers of deserted, spooky areas. Only a few ghostly figures were going through the garbage or sleeping on the concrete. Hotel Colonial Inn, though a bit faded, proved a safe heaven in this abyss, quiet, a modern aircon and we even had a fridge to cool down our water bottles. The trip to...[more] Category: Colombia
12.08.2009
Riohacha - A quiet hub on the way to La Guarija
After a short night in Barranquilla, we immediately continued by bus to Riohacha, a 4 hour ride straight east. This laid back little town serves as a gateway for those few tourists who head out to the desert-like Guajira Peninsula. We did not expect much, but were pleasantly surprised to discover a town with a breezy “Malecon” lined with people selling Artesania and seafood restaurants. Even the beach is quite nice, anyway a lot nicer than the ones at such popular places like Taganga or Santa Marta. At our hotel “El Castiallo del...[more] Category: Colombia
13.08.2009
La Guajira - Columbia’s wild, wild east
La Guajira’s reputation as a place beyond civilization is easily understood when looking at its past and modern history. A place where centuries ago pirates attacked Spanish ships loaded with precious cargo and strong-willed Wayuu never surrendered. Modern days see different kind of adventurers: large scale smuggling is so widespread, extensive and above all, so obvious that it is almost beyond belief. The desert-like peninsula on Columbia’s northernmost point is still the home the Wayuu, “Indeginos” who have inhabited this...[more] Category: Colombia
14.08.2009
Sal y carbon - The riches of La Guajira
Before heading to Punta Gallinas, the very tip of the Guajira Peninsula and the northernmost point of South America, we turned north to the salt fields of Manaure, the biggest “Salinas” on the peninsula. There, the salt is collected in artificially made pans. In the nearby plant it is cleaned from sand and then piled up in a huge pure white mountain, a majestic sight. It is finally scooped into bags of approx. 50 to 60 kilograms and then heaved onto trucks. At noon, in scorching heat, a team of young men was doing this...[more] Category: Colombia
15.08.2009
Deserted beaches & starry nights in Punta Gallinas
Who has not been to one of the many “Ends of the World”? Ushuaia claims that title as many other places, but here on the tip of La Guajira, at the northernmost point of South America, it feels absolutely real. For seven hours our fourteen year old Land Cruiser swayed and jolted through the rough terrain, following this or that track. The landscape is wild, nothing but cactuses and green low-growing trees, called “Trupio”, the only vegetation that seems to survive in this hot, very dry land. Every now and then a single hut could be...[more] Category: Colombia
16.08.2009
Cabo de la Vela - A place to chill out
From Punta Gallinas, we headed southwest again. After a four hour rocky ride, we stopped for lunch in Cabo de la Vela, a fishing village that has become a popular destination for travelers to chill out. It is best described as two long parallel rows of wooden huts running along the ocean. Lots of simple cabanas for rent, restaurants, and even Internet has found its way here. Although we had planned to stay overnight here, we opted against it. Worn from the rough journey, it was extremely hot and after having the deserted beaches and...[more] Category: Colombia
17.08.2009
Things to do in Taganga - Scuba diving and Spanish lessons
Taganga is a good place to get a diving license or do a refresher, since there are some decent dive sites around there and prices are unbeatable. A two tank dive costs 36 Euro and a PADI Open Water Diver license a mere 200 Euro. Unfortunately, those extremely low prices obviously have led to a lack of investment in modern material and several people in the group, including both of us, encountered unpleasant technical problems during the dives. Equally cheap are Spanish lessons at a language school that cooperates with Hostel...[more] Category: Colombia
18.08.2009
Tayrona National Park - On a “Puente”!
Scenic white sandy beaches, framed by palm trees leaning into the emerald green water, you could not ask for more. This all Caribbean image has made Tayrona to one of Columbia’s top tourist destinations. Actually there is a string of beaches, Playa Arrecife is the first one to arrive after a 45 minute walk from the bus drop off. A long impressive playa, cheap accommodation and a restaurant invite to stay for the night or longer, but most people move on, since the beach is without shade and unsuitable for swimming due to deadly...[more] Category: Colombia
20.08.2009
Cartagena - The Walled City
The old town of Cartagena is a maze of beautifully restored colonial houses, churches, plazas or convents turned into luxury hotels. A characteristic of these colonial houses is an overhanging wooden balcony covered by a tiled roof and one or more shady patios inside. All houses have underground reservoirs that were used to store rain water before modern piping arrived. Evenings are the best times to explore, when temperatures become pleasant and buildings are illuminated. In the late 16th century, the 13 kilometer long massive...[more] Category: Colombia
21.08.2009
Cartagena’s many faces
Even during peaks of “La Violencia”, Cartagena remained a major tourist destination, domestic tourists as well as international travel groups, especially cruises ship, continued visiting. In the last few years the numbers have risen dramatically. In 2008, one million visitors wandered the historic center making it Colombia’s tourist destination number one, by far. But the historic center is only an itsy bitsy tiny part of this city with one million inhabitants. Convento de la Popa, on top of a 180 meter high hill, provides the best...[more] Category: Colombia
22.08.2009
Drug bust at Cartagena’s airport
Our farewell to Colombia did not lack a certain dramatic touch, almost a manifestation of what the country so often is associated with - drugs. All 15 passengers booked on our tiny plane from Cartagena to Panama City were searched before check in. We mean SEARCHED, every single item inside the luggage was taken out and checked meticulously, then the luggage itself examined, the toiletry, medication, everything! We had bought lots of “Artesanias” made of wood, each was carefully wrapped. All this was undone; every piece was wiped...[more] Category: Colombia
01.09.2009
Colombia - Budget
Colombia was actually not as cheap as we hoped it would be. Travelling there is more expensive than in many other countries on the continent. We spent on average 37 Euros per person per day, not much less than we had spent in Brazil (41 Euros) & much more than in Peru (33 Euros), Venezuela (30 Euros) and of course Bolivia (29 Euros). Differences are huge between the very, very cheap south of the country and the pricey Caribbean Coast. In the south we managed with 25 Euros per day, but we needed 43 Euros per day on the Caribbean...[more] Category: Colombia, Budget
02.09.2009
Colombia - Summary
During our Round The World, we travelled to Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile & Uruguay but bypassed Colombia, since we were not sure about safety travelling overland. We deeply regretted it, when we listened to the first enthusiastic reports from travelers arriving from there. So we used the next possible opportunity to make up for that mistake and traveled Colombia intensively for 45 days in July and August 2009. Our main destinations were: Pereira & Salento - Popayan, Tierradentro & San Agustin - Neiva & the...[more] Category: Colombia, Summaries
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