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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Columbia - this post is over a year late but oh well

Crossed over from Ecuador into Itiapales which was easy. After the Colombia immigration me and 3 others split a taxi to the bus station for $1 each. They'll try charge you more. at the bus station we bought tickets to Popoyan on Bolivianos Bus for 28 COP (8hrs) but you can get it for 25. Bolivianos and Fronteras are the best buses and it had a bathroom and AC. The bus ride is beautiful, try to get a seat on the right side of the bus. There are lots of police road blocks along the way. We arrived in Popoyan just after 9pm and spent the night at the Hosteltrail Guesthouse (dm 16,000, free wifi, hot showers). Its a nice hostel with lots of common space and it would be a good place to stay if spending a few days in Popoyan. The next morning I caught a minibus at 10am to Armenia (6hrs) via Cali (2.5hrs) for 28,000. In Armenia we caught another minibus up to Salento (50min, 3200cop) they run every 20min until 8pm.

Salento
Is a really nice little mountain town with a lot of colonial buildings, pretty scenery, and coffee plantations. I stayed at The Plantation House hostel for 18000 for a dorm, they have a computer with Internet free to use. Its in a quiet spot on the edge of town and has a good travelers vibe. Jardin Hostel is also good and it's 15000 and gets fewer people. I did a hike up the Cocora Valley which has beautiful scenery and takes 5hrs to do the loop. Jeeps drive you out there for 3000 and leave the main square at 730, 930, and 1130 and return around 1, 3, and 5 or whenever they can fill a jeep. Filling a jeep means packing 8 people in, usually with 3 hanging off the back, for the 20min ride. There are lots of backpackers doing the hike so you end up naturally forming groups and meeting people, its pretty fun, however i met an incredibly obnoxious texan named Richard who is traveling around the world for 2 years. He's a lawyer. If you meet him somewhere, runaway. The second day I did a coffee tour for 5000cop at a place called Finca Don Elias which is an hour walk outside of town. It's a nice, small family place and the tour was in Spanish but we had a few people who could translate. Leaving Salento I caught the minbus to Pereira at 2:50pm from the main square for 5200cop (1hr). In Pereira we caught a bus to Medellin with the Flota Occidental bus company (32,000cop, 6hrs). Occidental is one of the better companies and has nice buses with bathrooms for the bigger routes.

Medellin

Stayed at Tiger Paw hostel (dm 18,000, fan, free wifi) tigerpawhostel.com which is in the heart of the Poblado district where there are TONS of bars and clubs. The hostel is nice and has cool staff and a small bar with a pool table and they have beer pong tournaments. If you stay 4 nights in the dorm you get the 5th night free.

The poblado area is nice and the nightlife is insane. There a tons of bars and clubs and lots of people meet around Parque Llarres. Up on the hill kinda above Poblado are a bunch of Chorizo stands that are open for dinner, are cheap and tasty and the place has great views of the city. It's a real locals place (zero gringos go there) and they only serve chorizo and arepa, which is a kind of round flat bread made from corn, and hot chocolate and sugar cane juice. The hot chocolate is incredibly good they make it by melting chocolate in sugar can juice and the put big chunks of fresh farm cheese in it which sounds weird but actually tastes good. You'll probably need a local to find the place though. Getting around Medellin is really easy as there is a metro which is also linked with buses and the place ask locals. Medellin has a cable car line that goes up a hill and is a good activity to do cause you get a good view of the city and it is included in the metro price of 1500 pesos. There is another gondola that costs 2500 and takes you up and over the top of the mountain to a national park that is all jungle and might have good hiking. To get to the gondola you transfer at the Acevedo metro station.

Leaving Medellin I took a night bus to Santa Marta with the company Rapido Ochoa (108COP, semi-cama, 17hrs). Medellin has two bus stations, a north and a south. The south is very close to Poblado and a taxi to the hostel is about 8000, the north is further away but you can take the metro right too it, or a taxi from Poblado is 12000.

Santa Marta

From the bus station in Santa Marta there are mini buses to Taganga for 1200 but they make you pay more for your bag, I ended up paying 2000 after arguing with the guy. The bus takes about 50min and drives all over the city. Taxis to Taganga are 10,000.

Taganga is amazingly overrated. It's a small fishing village with a big backpacker scene and lousy beaches. The beach in town is terrible- rocky, smelly, dirty. There is another beach a 20min hike away that is marginally better- it at least has real sand. The water wasn't clear when I was there and besides backpackers, the town was dead. I stayed at Hospedeje Playa Brava which faces the water (private room with fan and private bathroom for 20,000. The room was big and had two beds and wifi (but it didn't work the first day), staff is friendly but doesn't speak English. One restaurant that has EXCELLENT food is Bitecora. It's a gringo focused restaurant which I hate going to because they're usually overpriced and have lousy food but this place is a definite exception. I went with 7 people and every dish that was ordered was big and looked fantastic especially the filet mignon (20,000).

There are a TON of dive shops in town and rates are around 100,000 for two dives. I didn't go though because the visibility was mediocre due to recent rains inland.

Overall Taganga is not worth going to.

Leaving We shared taxis (10,000 for the car) to the Santa Marta bus station where bought tickets to Cartagena on Expresso Brasilia (20,000, 5hrs). If I went back to the area I'd check out El Rodadero which is a beach resort area popular with colombians and looks sweet in pictures and Parque Tayrona.

Cartagena

The bus station is a 50 min taxi ride outside of town. At the station there is a kiosk where you get a taxi ticket with the fixes price of 11,600 on it but it doesn't really work. The taxi drivers are all crooks and we ended up paying 15000 for the ride because it was at night and "baggage costs extra" there was nothing we could do cause no other drivers would take us. There is also a public bus (1200cop) that would be easy if you're solo. We stayed at Hostel Media Luna the first night (23000 in a 6 bed dorm with fan and wifi) the hostel is nice with a big center courtyard and a small pool. They also have a rooftop bar that hosts a big party Wednesday nights. Its a sweet place but it's expensive. Directly across the street is another hostel that has 4 bed dorms with bathroom inside for 15000. Staying at Media Luna the first night is good cause you get the wrist band and then can come and go whenever and use the pool and stuff. I moved to another place across the street called Casa Grand Villa Hotel Inn. It's a couple doors up across the street. At street level it is just a small stairway with a sign that says "hotel". I got a private room with fan, private bathroom, wifi, and cable tv for 20,000. Definitely a good spot but it gets hot. They have AC for more money. The area around Media Luna is packed with cheap places to stay and decent cheap restaurants. It's also in a good location.

Cartagena's old town is really cool. It is a walled city with lots of great old colonial architecture. The beach in Cartagena is mediocre but there are great sunsets.

Mud Volcano
A popular activity is to visit the mud volcano which is 50km away. There are tours from the hostel for 35000 but the mud pit isn't very big so if you do the tour it's packed. We took a taxi (120,000cop, 1hr) there later in the day. It costs 5000 to enter and then you have to tip everyone who tries to do stuff for you between 3000-5000. Leave all your stuff in the taxi. The guy who takes pictures is worth the tip since you're all muddy and he's really good at remembering who's camera is who's. Since we went on our own we had the mud pit just for our group of 10 for a while which was very nice. The mud is 2 kilometers deep and is heated by the earth. It's a really cool feeling because you are suspended in this mud. Afterwards you go down to the lake to wash off. There are women down there who are eager to help, for a tip of course.

leaving Cartagena I flew on Spirit Air back to Boston. A taxi from Media Luna is 8000 and takes 15min. Security is REALLY strict at the airport. Everybody's carry on bags get x-rayed and then hand searches twice. You also get patted down twice. But I was able to bring a big bottle of water through...