Ola amigo’s, ¿como esta? Everything okay on this front! It’s been a while ago sinds my last update from beautiful Ecuador. But I left Ecuador behind me and headed up north to Colombia!! And wauw what an amazing country so far.. I crossed the border at Ipiales, a small town just across the Ecuador / Colombia border and famous for the Las Lajas Cathedral. The cathedral is built inside the canyon of the Guaitara River between January 1, 1916 to August 20, 1949.. a really new church. It’s an amazing church because it’s build on a bridge. There are many walking routes around and under the church/bridge which gives some great kodak moments. But we didn’t had much time because we were on our way to Cali!
From Quito to Pasto
After a very good last night in Quito - yes another fusbol night at Finn McCool’s :) - I got up at half past six! Together with Mark we headed to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Tulcan from where we had to take a taxi to the border. After the exit stamp we walked over the bridge to Colombia were we got our entree stamp - valid for 60 days. We continued by taxi to the bus terminal in Ipiales and after the short side trip to the Las Lajas Cathedral we took a bus to Pasto. We couldn’t travel much more because we were advised not to travel at nighttime in Colombia. Although many travelers do travel at night and it’s properly relative save we didn’t take the chance. In Pasto we checked in at hostel Koala Inn. A nice hostel in the middle of the city. We headed into town for diner and a well deserved cerveza. But Pasto doesn’t live during the week so with a six-pack we headed back and chilled in front of the TV.
From Pasto to Cali
After a good night sleep we continued our journey to Cali, Colombia’s third largest city. We set our base at hostel Iguana, located in a very good area of the city. From there we did a short exploration of the city, but I discovered quickly that Cali was too boring for me.. whilst Cali famously claims to produce the most beautiful women in
Colombia! ¿Really? Well during our shopping round at Centro Comercial de Chipichape (Calle 38N No 6N-35, Granada) - an upscale mall just north of the main drag along Av Sexta with all overpriced shops - we discovered enough beautiful girls but all with too perfect breasts.. no wonder why this shopping mall has the nickname Silicon Valley. So maybe here are a lot of very good looking girls but I believe it’s getting better up north! :)
So the next day I had to say goodbye to Mark - who wanted to stay in Cali - and headed up to a very small village called Salento!
Salento
I took some local buses to get from Cali to Salento, which was pretty fun because I was the only gringo on board :) I had a reservation at the Plantation House, ran by an English man called Tim. He started with one hostel but has now a second building with dorms because his hostel was full all the time. And next to his wonderful hostel he had a huge coffee plantation! He runs a tour every day for people who are interested in how a coffee plantation works (costs 4000 CHI pesos) and takes about 2 hours. I really recommend this tour because it’s in English and you will get a hole lot of good information.
That night I met some people in the hostel and went with them to a place were the locals are playing Cancha de Tejo.. a game were you have to throw a metal piece across 15 meters into a basket of clay.. and in this basket full of clay there are three pieces with gunpowder.. so if you hit one it goes off. And that’s it. Really fun to play but pretty hard to hit the basket.
The next morning I met with some other backpackers from my hostel at the plaza to manage a jeep ride to the Cocora valley. From here our trek started and went up into the mountains, and up into the cloud forest. On our way back we saw a lot of Ceroxylon quindiuense, or wax palms. They grow as high as 50 meters!! It’s a really amazing view! We walked the hole day and took a lot of photos. I even inspired my new friends with great photo creativities. :)
Parque National Los Nevados & Hostel Monalisa
After two fantastic days in Salento I joined Victoria & Justin from Australia and Kate & Bella from the UK to a small town called Rachel where a little nice hostel is located calles Monalisa. With a large garden, swimming pool, Jacuzzi, BBQ and a nice kitchen. We wanted to stay here two nights and to make a day trip to the national park Los Nevados where we wanted to climb the 5125 meter high mountain Nevado del Ruiz. But after one night we had to leave at half past 5 to catch the first bus/jeep to Manizales because our trip would start here. And because Manizales is about an hour away we decided to stay the next night there.
We booked our tour though the hostel and got a pickup from the main plaza in Manizales. Together with three other backpackers we had a wonderful day. We drove all the way up to about 4400 meters and had to walk the last 700 meters. I was really positive about the weather and didn’t bring anything with me, just shorts, a nice shirt, a fleece and my jacket. No one knew that it was fucking snowing up there!! Anyways we made it all to the top and after some quick photos we all headed down as fast as possible because we were all freezing!
So that´s my first and last 5000+ mountain in Colombia :)
Manizales
After the hike we settled in at the Mountain House Hostel. We went all out for diner to celebrate the 5000+ victory :) The next day the ways spitted, Victoria and Justin went to Quito, Kate went to Medellin and I and Bella headed up to Bogota!
Bogotá
The trip to Bogotá was loooong! The journey should take about 9 hours but under way we got stuck behind an accident. So we waited for about 2 hours. We arrived in Bogotá around diner time and I was tired as hell. I had a reservation at hostel Fatima which I really wouldn’t recommend. It’s not save, noisy and somehow doesn’t feel like a nice place. A much better choice is hostel Sue! I switched to this one and it’s absolutely wonderful! They have two locations; the one I am staying at is Sue Candalaria. Great location (just around the corner of Fatima), great staff, relative save inside, breakfast included and a nice setup (chill area, tv room, garden).
One of the great things to do here in Bogotá is going up the Teleferico. From the mountain you have an excellent view over the city. You can also go to a small place about 1,5 hours away called Zipaquirá, where a famous salt cathedral is (Catedral de Sal de Zipaquirá). It has 14 chapels and is located 200 meters inside a mountain! Well it’s great to see but it’s not really spectacular.
Villa de Leyva
A trip that is defiantly worth doing is going to Villa de Leyva! A really small colonial town about 40km away from Tunja and has a population of about 4,000 people. Villa de Leyva is considered one of the finest colonial villages of Colombia, and was declared a National Monument in December 17, 1954to preserve its architecture. The city center has no asphalt streets but street with huge stones - which makes walking here a little harder than normal. Villa de Leyva is a perfect place for photographers! With the right inspiration you can make wonderful photos here!
Ciao Colombia!! Ciao South America!!
Yes it’s true, I am going to say goodbye to Colombia already :( I had a really really great time here in Colombia and recommend it to everyone!! It has become a save country to travel in and is not more dangerous than any other country in South America. So if you have the chance, the time and the money, come to Colombia!!
¿Qué sigue?
Tomorrow morning I heading off again, leaving Colombia and South America behind me. Up to a new adventure somewhere else. Thank you very much South America, me gustas mucho!
Photos
02 September 2009 | Colombia
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