Travel Tips

Ah, Colombia, my favorite country in Latin America :). To understand my journeys through Colombia you have to understand how I reached this country. Some of the information below is also in my travelogue for Panama so bear with me. Enjoy :).

My first adventurous inclination was to enter Colombia overland via the vast jungle region joining Panama and Colombia. This region is better known as the Darien Gap. I didn’t cross the Darien Gap as I had plan, but I did go as far as El Real, Yaviza, and Pinogana. I guess I just didn’t felt comfortable doing it alone. After all, this jungle is filled with bandidos, smugglers, and guerillas from Colombia. To make it worse, the boats were so expensive for a one-person deal that it prevented me from continuing that route. In either case, here is what I gathered while I was there... The bus from Panama to Meteti took about 7 hours in good weather. From Meteti to Yaviza, the chiva (4x4 truck) took 2.5 hours through a dry road under good weather, but then it took 5 hours on the way back through the same rainy muddy road. From Yaviza I took a boat to El Real through this amazing river. From el Real I walked to Pinogana... the locals said it takes about 1 hour, it took me a bit over 2. The path was decent, but really muddy. I then attempted to walk to Boca de Coup, but I stop shortly after Pinogana due to a small river (at least the locals called it like that, it was huge in my opinion) that had developed... it was knee deep! At this point I just returned to Panama City.

Once in Panama City, I started researching other ways to reach Cartagena, Colombia. I was lucky to find a ride on a sailboat heading that way from Portobelo. I was the only one on the sailboat besides Captain Marcos and his two daughters so I got to commingle with them and learn how to sail a bit. We stopped on San Blas Islands for 3 days. The entire trip took 5 days, nights. It was a blast! The first night we were at sea sailing to San Blas. We arrive in Porvenir the next morning. We then went to Chichima, a group of islands that is often frequent by cruisers (sailboat owners). We then sail that afternoon to Carti, a group of islands with traditional Kuna towns. We spend two nights there. During the day, I walked on one of the islands and got to meet a few of the locals. That afternoon, we bought a few pounds of lobster and king crab for about $6.50. It was enough to feed us, and more! Oh, did I tell you about the fish! There 0are tons of good fish in San Blas: barracudas, groper, snapper, etc. We ate fish pretty much every day :). The next morning, we headed to the Swimming pool at the Holandes Islands. The swimming pool is a lagoon formed at the sea surrounded by a reef and a few islands. The saltwater is crystal clear here all the way to the beautiful sandy bottom. We went snorkeling on the reef that day. The snorkel here is amazing! The coral is beautiful. We saw tons of fish, a ray, and a few nurse sharks. After lunch, we took off to Cartagena. We arrived the next night at the harbor and anchored up around 4 AM. On way to Cartagena from San Blas, we experience a squall with winds of over 50 miles per hour. It only lasted 45 minutes, but the experience was amazing!

Anyway, I didn’t stayed long in Cartagena, Colombia. What little I saw convinces me that it is a nice town to visit on holidays. I spent most of my time on the old colonial town. A mighty powerful city wall surrounds the old colonial part of Cartagena. The other day I visited the Fort of San Felipe. The Spanish port is amazing! It has a series of humid and damp tunnels that make for a nice adventurous walk :). In addition, the view from atop is breathless. You can appreciate the entire old city from here.

I took a bus that same day from Cartagena to Taganga (near Santa Marta), a small fishing town near Santa Marta. I stayed in this lovely bed n breakfast called la Casa de Felipe. The French owner was very helpful in arranging tours and scuba dives. The town itself has not much to show, but the surrounding area has enough stuff to keep you busy for weeks.

I went to Taganga with one thing in mind: Diving! I took a 3-day advance open watercourse there and learned more diving techniques. This is truly the cheapest place on the Americas to learn how to dive (they charged me $133 US, including 2 free dives). The first two dives were just open water ones (no deeper then 18 meters). It really got me going again... jejeje. In the course itself, I took two deep multilevel dives to 30-35 meters. The view of the deep blue is amazing... plus you get a little condition called nitrogen narcosis, which is interesting to say the least. The best dive i've taken thus far was the current dive... on this dive we got to ride a sea current for a few minutes. You just let go and enjoy the ride unfold below your eyes... the fish and sea life just flashes within your eyes like a movie. The other dive was a navigation dive (compass and all). The last dive was an amazing night dive where we got to see the night animals: crabs, lobsters, etc. It is definitely different then during the day.

I was planning on rushing out of Colombia after the dive course, but I just got drawn into the beautiful Colombian scenery and culture. Sure it is known that Colombia has the largest drug manufacturing operation in the world ... in addition to the threatening guerillas and paramilitary forces. Regardless of the danger though, it was well worth the time I spent in Colombia.

From Taganga, I took a daytrip to the Parque Tayrona. I did the circuit in one day. Started in the entrance, then made my way past Cańaveral to the Carribean coast...after crossing the camps of Arecife and Cabo, I made my way up the mountain to the archeological site of el Pueblito. It is a nice hard walk uphill. I got lost once, but only because I stray off the beaten path :). Once in Pueblito, I enjoyed a walk around the terraces, which once housed a wooden house for the local Indians. Now in days, you can see a family of Indians in the sight... I think they are more like actors though...jejeje. From el Pueblito, I walked back to Calabazo, where the main highway passes... I took a bus back to Taganga from here. All in all it was a nice 7-hour walk, however, if I had to do it again, I will start in Calabazo, go up to el Pueblito, down to the Coast, and exit through the main entrance. All Colombians I met followed this route.

From Taganga, I arranged to take a six-day tour to the Lost City (Ciudad Perdida). The trek was amazing! As a fellow backpacker put it, the six day trek is a childhood fantasy turn true... you go through rivers, waterfalls, Indiana Jones type cliffs, tropical vegetation, ruins, more ruins, and more. The first three days are easy. We walked for 4-6 hours to the next camp. The third day was the best since you walk in the river and stop at points for swimming brakes. We found this kewl place were we could go with the current in a natural slide. Everyone kept sliding through like little kids :). That same day, you climb the 1,200 steps from the River to the lost City... from the entrance of the city; you climb another 800 steps to the camp. We spent two nights here. On the fourth day, we took a tour through the lost city. It’s an amazing place. The Tyrona Indians constructed this city with terraces... as in Pueblito; they built wooden houses that haven’t survived the passage of time. In addition, there is one family of Indians here as well... again, I suspect they were paid actors :). The return to Taganga is through the same path in a shorter time. Oh, lets not forget the groovy ride. The colombians have taken apart an old land cruiser and put in a funky makeshift truck. It sure gets you in the mood :).

From Taganga, I took a bus to Bogotá, the capital of Colombia. I was really impressed with the cleanliness of the city. The downtown area, especially around plaza Bolivar is really nice. I saw the governmental buildings of Colombia: congress, Supreme Court, presidential palace (tours of the inside are available so bring good clothes and shoes), etc. all from outside only. You can arrange a tour to the national palace, but I didn’t felt like waiting a day for that. That night I met up with an Australian friend I met on the Lost City Trek.

Together, we left Bogotá and headed to the archeological region of San Agustin by bus. The San Agustin culture inhabited this region in pre-Colombian times and build amazing Statues. One day, we hiked from the town of San Agustin to the archeological park... it has useful info on the region and has several sites with nice statues. There is even a path through a forest with statues. From there, we hiked the rest of the day across four other sites: el Perutal, la Pelota, la Chaquira, and el Tablon. All of the statues are quite nice, but the best one for that day in my opinion was la Chaquira, which was carved in a rock off a cliff... they have build stairs leading to it and the view off the canyon from here is amazing. I parted away with the Aussie the second day. That same day, I took a jeep ride to some of the far away attractions in the area through what they call el Anillo Touristico. This was an amazing day... got to see two beautiful waterfalls: Salto de Murińo and Salto de Bordones (the largest waterfall in Colombia, and according to the guide the second largest in South America... I took the last part with a small grain of salt though). We also visited the towns of San Jose de los Isnos and Obando... along the way; we stopped to see more status at Alto de las Pierdas and Alto de los Idolos (my favorite archeological park in the area). Our last stop of the day was in el Estrecho, were the infamous Colombian river, the Rio Magdalena is at its narrowest (less then 2 meters). The river just moves through this amazing rock formation at a fast pace... some dare to jump the river here, but many have died... I just enjoyed the view...jejeje.

From San Agustin, Colombia, I took a series of buses to Quito, Ecuador.