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I came to Columbia to get some nice stories, like how I once got kidnapped by FARC terrorists, or how I once got framed by the police for smuggling coke and thrown in a dingy jail. Unfortunately nothing of the sort has happened, it's all been far too pleasant.
We'd heard of a festival due to happen in Medellin, the ex-drugs capital of Columbia, so we decided that would be a good place to start looking for trouble. On arrival we found out it was actually the annual flower festival, which is considered one of the best in the country. I wouldn't normally consider myself to be into flowers, but some of the displays, particularly in the televised orchid competition in the botanical gardens were very beautiful. In addition to the flowers, there were loads of free music and comedy shows, old car displays and other bits and pieces around the city. Unfortunately we'd not planned it very well and left before the main parade/party. But we had a good night out beforehand including an impromtue get together with a bunch of columbians in a square, playing instruments and dishing out rum and whisky like it was water.
We then took the bus up to Cartegena on the Caribbean coast, I was looking forward to some 'Romancing the Stone' style wall climbing, crocodile wrestling, and giant emerald hunting. Disappointment again as I found out the film was shot at some place in Mexico. Still, it contained a nice colonial centre, with huge walls and forts to protect it from the naughty English pirates. We stayed in the more run-down area outside the main walls, where the prices better suited our budget, we got friendly with a couple from Lima (Peru), and they've invited us to come and stay with them when we're nearby. We did a couple of trips out of the city, one to some beautiful islands and beaches off the coast, the other to a mud volcano. The mud volcano is a small wierd looking mound of mud at the side of a lake, which contains a column of thick mud heated from the magma deep below. Without any effort you just float in it, but you can swim slowly, or with a push you can glide along the surface. The idea is to get covered in the stuff and let it work its beautifying magic, then waddle down to the lake and rinse off, I can't say I noticed any change, but it was definately an interesting experience.
Staying on the Caribbean coast, we moved along to a small fishing village in one of a series of bays called Taganga. It was a good base for relaxing on beaches, eating seafood, scuba diving at nearby coral reefs (which Siobhan wimped out on), and more importantly getting to the starting point for a trek to a lost city in the jungle. The 6 day walk involved dealing with a lot of very steep mountain paths, loads of mud, river crossings, large rocks, and vicious mosquitos & ants. I managed to get sick during one of the hardest and longest sections of the trek, and felt completely drained by the time we reached the next camp, and on a separate day Siobhan slipped between two rocks on a river crossing, getting a temporary lump that made everyone think she'd broken her leg initially. It was all definately worth it though, the jungle and sights were stunning, and we went with a great group of people.
Taking a cheap flight back down South to avoid a 24 hour bus journey, we went to the 'Zona Cafeteria', which as the name suggests, is the major coffee growing region in Columbia. The cooler temperature was a refreshing change, along with the hot showers. We visited a coffee plantation just outside of a city called Manizales, where we were shown around and taught about the processes, as well as sampling different coffees. We'd heard from a few people about a hostel in a small town nearby called Salento, where people ended up staying considerably longer than expected, and where a travelling chef was currently putting on 9 course meals for very little money. We headed there next. The place was extremely chilled out, a little away from the town in the countryside, with a small farm attached. The chef was from Barcelona, but had spent the past 12 odd years travelling the world experiencing different cuisines. He would put together 8 or 9 courses on a theme, all based around traditional columbian meals or flavours. Not many people passed up on the opportunity, and it was great to sit around the tables in a big group chatting, eating, and drinking. In order to break up the inactivity a bit we did a horse ride through a nearby valley, and visited some thermal pools in front of a large waterfall (not too active really).
Although we'd decided we probably wouldn't bother with the capital Bogotá, we ended up going there for its travel connections. Some friends had recommended a bike tour to see the city, so we donned some stupid looking helmets and entirely uncool trouser protectors and headed out. Our guide took us to some interesting areas and told us about a number of political and social issues. At one point he took us round the back of a train station where a guy was busy getting high, and our guide explained how some druggies use the brick dust of the station along with coke, as it has some interesting chemicals in it. On our second and final day there, as well as a general wander around, we visited the gold museum for several hours. The museum has a huge collection of pieces from cultures all over south america, and the displays talked about the processes they used, their lifestyles, and gold's significance to them. We had booked another cheap flight to the amazon region a week earlier, so after running out of time, we left for Leticia.
On the flight we got our first view of the amazon, trees off into the distance in all directions, and the river winding its way through. Leticia is perched at the edge of the river in the most south easterly point of Columbia, bordering Brazil and Peru. I was expecting a more primitive place, with lots of thrown together wooden shacks, and while a few places we've seen have been like that, the town is quite modern and well equiped. Wanting to get more into the true wilds, we decided to splash out a bit and head 100 odd kilometres downriver into Brazil, to a remote area on the Yavari River with a lodge and research station called the Palmari reserve.
The lodge is located right next to the river, with jungle next to it on all other sides. They employ a large number of locals as guides in order to help any scientific expeditions, and to look after the tourists who go. The owner, Axel, is a German who emmigrated to set up the reserve after visiting the area on several scientific expeditions. He had a very infectious interest in all aspects of the forest, and would happily share his knowledge of anything we wanted to know about. In particular, his stories about his visits to strictly protected indiginous tribes during expeditions were fascinating. One involved the crazy female leader of a tribe, who after seeing a male member of another tribe who she felt would make an ideal additional husband, decided to raid the tribe at night with hers in order to drug and kidnap the man. He told us how starting from fairly nearby to where we were, there are vast sections of the brazilian rainforest where nobody has explored, and anyone who tried to get deep into the area came back in body bags.
While at the reserve we did a lot of pretty cool stuff, walks through the jungle, canopying 40m up, fishing for giant fish and piranhas, kayaking, caiman hunting at night, swimming in the river, visited a local community, and general animal watching. We'd have stayed longer if it wasn't eating into our budget so much, we left after 4 days and headed to Peru. (I've been a bit more organised with the blog recently, currently only 4 days into Peru)
Columbia's an incredible place with a huge number of different things to see and do. The people have been extremely friendly and eager to please... it may sound like I'm writing this with a gun to my head, but I can't recommend it highly enough.
- comments
Paulo This all sounds cool Mike and I must say I'm pretty jealous! But I also like having my adventures by proxy as I sit here in Ripley eating my Friday fish 'n' chips. Can't believe you got out of Colombia without a spell in jail or something. Bang goes my country in our 'Where will Mike get into trouble' office sweepstake. Safe journey.