After 2 months of visiting family (including meeting our
newborn twin nieces J),
celebrating with friends, watching movies on our couch, sleeping in our own
bed, and over-indulging in virtually everything that we had missed at home, it
was time to get back on the road!
Colombia was an interesting start to South America, as most
of it has clearly not yet become a common tourist destination (we probably saw
less than a dozen tourists in our entire first week). While there’s something
refreshing about getting off the “gringo path”, it also has its challenges –
namely that very few speak any English (conveniently forcing us to work on our
pitiful Spanish), and simply figuring out where you want to go (let alone getting
there) can be a challenge. We were also
very surprised by how expensive everything was; food and lodging in the areas
we visited was almost on par with Canada.
In line with our new plan of slowing down the pace, we only
made 3 stops: Bogota, San Gil and Cartagena. Bogota was a success – fantastic
restaurants, great markets (our favorite being the Sunday flea market in
Usaquen), some beautiful neighborhoods (we stayed in Parque 93, which felt a
lot like a Europe), a vibrant clubbing district (Zona Rosa), and a trip up to Cerro
Monseratte for an awesome view of Bogota at sunset were our highlights. This
was another city that surpassed our expectations in terms of development, with
a strong transportation infrastructure (even bike and jogging paths) as well as
a high level of security. Well worth a visit.
San Gil, on the other hand, was a complete flop. A small
town in the countryside, it is advertised as being the ecotourism capital of
Colombia (really?!?). The rafting that supposedly “just might cause our heart
to stop beating” turned out to be baby rapids in a little 3-person dingy (check
the photos to see our rafting taxi getting setup!); the only “breathtaking
hike” that we found was a 20-minute stroll to a nearby waterfall; and the
waterfall that “only maniacs should abseil down” turned out to have… well… basically
the equivalent of a couple shower heads worth of water. On top of that, our
boutique eco hotel happened to have a whole class of school kids staying with
us. What can we say? Can’t win them all!!! Next J
Our last stop, Cartagena, was a much more pleasant surprise.
It’s easy to understand why this colorful walled colonial town with cobblestone
streets, beautiful churches and leafy plazas is renowned as Colombia’s most
beautiful city. We stayed for a week and a half, took Spanish lessons at the
local school, enjoyed the great variety of delicious restaurants (including
some fantastic seafood, sushi and artisanal popsicles), and best of all welcomed
our friend Pat to Colombia for a long weekend of the same. The only possible
complaint was our failed attempt to find any nightlife, although we got our
fair share of that at home over the holidays.
So that concludes Colombia. We had told ourselves that we
would do less planning on this last part of our trip, but in hindsight this
might be a country that requires a bit more planning (and budget) to experience
to its fullest potential. We have been told that we missed some of the best
spots such as Tayrona National Park and San Andres. Maybe that’s where the
secret jewel of South America that we were hoping Colombia would be remains to
be discovered…
Photos - February 20-March 11: Colombia
No comments:
Post a Comment