Cartagena and the carribean coast

An overnight bus saw us in Cartagena with the carribean coast and heat. The bus was quite comfortable and almost like business class on an aeroplane reclining seats and leg rests. Once we reached the bus station, we had to take another smaller mini bus in to town as the main bus terminal was about 10km out of town. It got pretty crowded and with our packs sitting our laps, pretty soon neither Blake, Melinda or I had any idea when to get off. We'd all assumed someone else was navigating! So we got off somewhere and caught a taxi to the hostel we'd picked.

We arrived at the hostel that Martin and Fred said they would try first and it was full. We asked her if Fred and Martin were there and she said 'sorry chicos'. I noticed a few people were calling us 'chicos' which means 'guys' in Spanish. All I could think of was 'Chico babies', some lollies (sweets) we have at home like jelly babies...

Any how, we went around the corner to the hostel she recommended (and had rang for us) and as we checked in we saw Martin and Fred's name on the register! So we asked and the guy said that they had just checked out!! So we had no idea what they were up to so we dumped our gear and headed out in to town to explore.

Cartagena was the main port where all the gold and other riches of South America was sent to Europe on Spanish ships. This made it quite vulnerable to attack by pirates and so the whole place is a series of fortresses. Even the English had a crack at Cartagena and Sir Francis Drake managed to extract a hefty fee to leave them alone. Funnily enough the Spanish refer to him as a terrible pirate and the English seem to revere him. We saw a maritime museum and a castle as well as some lounging about in the shade to escape the heat.

The castle we went to was quite impressive and afterwards, we (Melinda, Blake and I) decided we would walk back to our hostel. On the way back we saw a bloke running towards us holding something in one hand and a knife in the other. We were walking over a bridge and he was heading for under the bridge. We soon saw a crowd come around the corner with bats and assorted weaponry! They were yelling at the bloke with the knife who seemed to be taunting them and daring them to follow him under the bridge!!! They obviously knew something we didn't as the weren't keen on following him. Anyway we didn't bother hanging around to find out what happened next and pressed on back in to town.

So with a final night out on the town, we were resigned to the fact that our time in South America was running out fast and we had to press on to Venezuela the next day.

Medellin, plastic surgery capital of Colombia

Paragliding, nightclubbing and no natural boobs in sight...

That's how you can sum up Medellin for us if you don't want to read on. We arrived in Medellin and caught a taxi to the area where we wanted to stay. We drove straight through the nightclub area and our accommodation was about 150m away from this area. Melinda and I had shared a taxi to the hostel and Blake, Martin and Fred shared one. By the time we got out of the taxis, even Melinda was impressed with the sheer number of very good looking people around! It seems that Medellin is the plastic surgery capital of Colombia. Fake boobs, liposuction, face lifts and even bum implants seem to be de rigeur in this town!!

We were hoping to stay at a hostel which seems to be quite popular with back packers called Casa Kiwi. Its know for being a party hostel and not the place to be if you want to sleep. When we got there, there were only 2 beds available. So the Dutchies stayed there and Melinda, Blake and I went around the corner to a recommended quiet hostel. This proved to be a good development for us as our hostel was only 100m away which meant we could come over to Casa Kiwi and party and then go back home for a sleep!

We put our stepping out gear on and headed out on the town. We visited a few bars before ending up at what is one of the most popular and most expensive nightclubs in Medellin. Blake asked for a rum and coke and was served a bottle of rum with 1 small bottle of coke!! So we all made do with some mouth mixed rum and cokes! I've never really been in to rum before going to Colombia but I seemed to be getting the taste for it.

The next day was a pretty lazy day with some looking around town and then doing one of my favourite things to do when in a non-English speaking country - get a hair cut! Blake and I ended up with Mohawks and Martin and Fred seemed to get away with some more conservative hair cuts. Out on the town again that night for some more rum...

The next day we arranged to go Paragliding. We turned up and all of us guys were keen to go but Melinda had decided to be photographer for the day. Soon Fred, then Martin and then Blake all took off on their flights. The bloke running the trips was looking around a bit stressed. He finally came over to me and told me he was waiting for a light pilot with a big parachute. Too bloody heavy eh? I was pretty disappointed and didn't expect to get a go. Finally he found a little fellow who could take me up! It was funny on take off as I was still running along the ground and the pilots legs were in the air!! The flight was great and we were flying alongside some hawks who were going around in circles enjoying the updraft from the side of the mountain.

That night Fred and Martin decided to head to the Caribbean coast to Cartagena on an overnight bus. Blake was going to stay another night in Medellin to check out some more of the town. Melinda and I were going to go to the beach too but a migraine came on for Melinda which made our decision for us. We were staying another night and Melinda was early in to bed. The next day after a day around town the three of us headed to Cartagena on an overnight bus.

Santa Rosa natural hot springs

Melinda at Santa Rosa hot springs

We went to Santa Rosa and found ourselves a hotel room with 5 beds in it. There were now 5 of us travelling together as we were now joined by an American guy - Blake. We dumped our stuff and got a taxi out to the hot springs. We were greeted by a spectacular waterfall with some pools at the bottom which were steaming. So we all got changed and slipped in the hot pools. We kept ourselves cool with some cold beers which made the perfect contrast!

We lounged around for few hours alternating between the very hot springs and then standing under the cool waterfall. After the springs we went back in to the town of Santa Rosa and called in at a bar where there was a couple of flirty old barmaids playing what I can only describe as 80's Colombian music at full volume. The bar was pretty empty but there was possibly the drunkest man alive sitting in the corner, but the barmaids seemed to know him so I guess he is a regular fixture there.

The next day with our hot spring experience complete, we headed to the town of Medellin - famous for being the base of Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel.

Genuine Willys Jeeps in Santa Rosa

A stroll through the coffee fields in Solento

We arrived late at night in Solento and starting looking for the hostel we were recommended. A young boy appeared on the street and asked where we were going. 'The Plantation House' we said and he started leading us down an unlit gravel road on the edge of the village. I immediately got suspicious of this and hung back a little bit to see if there were any nasty surprises waiting for us in the dark...

It turns out that he was just a friendly boy and didn't even ask for 'propina' (a tip)! We got our rooms and settled in for a few beers with the other travellers there. Almost everyone had come from either Ecuador or Venezuela with a few who had made a boat trip from Panama. We met some Aussies for the first time since we were in the Americas too.

Walking to the coffee plantation with Fred and Martin

The next day we went for a walk down to a coffee plantation where the farmer takes people for tours around his farm. We were walking through the coffee plants and he could only speak Spanish. He also wanted to ensure that we didn't move on until we understood him. Martin seemed to understand what he was saying and after repeating a couple of words he was saying and some vigorous si, si, si's (yes, yes, yes's) we would move on. After a while I said to Martin 'whats he saying?' to which Martin replied 'I have no idea!'. We saw coffee plants from seedlings to full grown plants, the beans, the drying process, the grinding and then finally we drank some coffee.

The coffee plantation owner - if only we spoke more Spanish...

A refreshing cup of fresh ground coffee after a brisk stroll!!

From here we went on a good long walk through the countryside and along a river and back around to our accommodation. The next day after a lazy start we decided to head off again towards some hot springs further to the North.

Random donkey outside a church near the plantation

Chicken bits soup for lunch and on to Cali

On the way up to Cali we made a detour to a market town called Sylvia to have a look and for some lunch. We travelled there with our new Dutch friends, Fred and Martin. The locals were out and about in their traditional dress but there really wasn't much happening as we arrived the day before market day. We stopped in at a little restaurant and Melinda and I said we'd have chicken and the Dutchies had beef.

Lunch with Martin and Fred in Sylvia

Chicken bits soup?

The first thing out was a chicken soup in which the stock was made from many parts of the chicken that weren't required for eating. With running commentary from Martin and Fred like 'oh look there's a foot, there's a neck, are you guys enjoying this?' we soon both lost our appetite! When they brought out the main course of chicken, I had no desire to eat any more!! A bloke hanging around the table where we were sitting watched me for a while and asked if I was going to eat it. I happily handed him the food!

Locals in Sylvia

So after lunch we got the next bus to Cali. On the way, we had our first military check of our passports. An army guy came on the bus and got our passports...and then walked away!! Fred and I jumped off the bus and followed him but all he did was take it to his boss who looked long and hard at them and then gave them back.

Passports please!!!

I hope they give them back Fred!

We got to Cali and had to go to a couple of different places but finally we found a room (a four bed shared dorm room). We were just near a big strip of Salsa bars but it was all a bit dead being a Monday night. The next day we had a lazy morning and much discussion about what we should do next. We decided just after lunch that we should head to Solento in the 'zona cafeteria', an area to the North with lots of coffee plantations.

Drinks service on the bus

Crashing birthday parties in Popayan

We left Pasto and spent a few hours on the bus looking at some of the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen. It reminded me of the Himalayas in Nepal but instead of rocks and snow, it was grass and trees. The area we were travelling is regarded is some of the most dangerous sections of the Pan American highway with regards to guerrilla activity, so there weren't any unplanned stops along the way!

We got to Popayan and all of its chalk white facade buildings. We found a nice little hostel with a nice little old lady (who spoke no English - virtually no one does around there) running it. We got our room and wandered in to the hallway where we saw a couple of Dutch blokes Martin and Fred having a beer. We got chatting and since we were all looking for a feed we all went out together. Just as we were leaving there was a Canadian couple who also were heading out and had been in Popayan for a few days and seemed to know where to go, so we followed them.

Chalk white buildings of Popoyan

We went to a pizza place and ordered some beers and food. We got a little spiel from the Canadian girl about giving up meat one day a week because it has a large carbon foot print. I wasn't the only one at the table who found it ironic that she was telling us about this when we were sitting in Colombia. I'm tipping she didn't paddle a boat or ride a push bike there. Any how it was also the town's birthday that day and there were fireworks that night. We finished our food and headed out to watch. The Canadians shot away to get some pics so Melinda and I watched them in the street with Fred and Martin. We then went for a few beers and before stumbling in to a massive street party complete with salsa band and hordes of people drinking and dancing.

We walked through the crowd and suddenly there was a family in front of us. We barely talked for 10 seconds before they poured a little shot of rum in to a cup and held it out to me. I had all the thoughts of 'don't drink anything from strangers, you'll be drugged and they'll take your kidneys and steal your wallet, blah blah'. So I took the cup, looked at Melinda and downed it! It was surprisingly good. So we soon finished off their whole bottle so I bought another one, which we shared with everyone and anyone. There was some guys there who had an aniseed tasting drink called Aguadente. A bloke came up to me and pointed at the bottle and then did the crazy sign (twirling his finger near his head) and said 'loco' (crazy), before handing me a shot. I've got to say that I really liked it!

Soon enough it was 2am and the family were heading home - to party! We were of course invited and off we went towards their house. I started walking about 100m before Melinda and I realised how very, very tired we were (and possibly a bit tipsy) and decided to do a runner and go home. So if that family from Popayan reads this, sorry for bailing on you! Martin and Fred (we found out later) had gone of with some Colombian guys and went to about 4 different parties before arriving back at the hostel at 5.30am, somewhat 'tired' themselves.

Then next day I awoke with possibly one of the worst hangovers in my entire life. And to make matters worse, the Canadian couple had found an American couple in the hostel with a guitar and she was merrily singing away. I cant begin to describe how bad I felt. Finally at around 4pm, I came good and so we had an early night.

The next day we set off for the famous city of Cali.

Finally, the hangover is gone and time for bed at 'Casa Familiar Turistica Hostal'

Ecuador/Colombia border crossing and a night in Pasto

We crossed the border in to Colombia in to what is generally regarded as guerrilla territory. People told me before I left that we'd be kidnapped, drugged, robbed or made to work as drug mules. The first people we spoke to as we were in line at the Colombian border to get our passport stamped was a family from Bogota (the Colombian capital) who gave us their phone number and address and told us to give them a call if we came to Bogota!

Bus in Colombia

Even the money changer guys didn't bother you too much. One was asking me if I wanted to change money (they just keep on saying 'cambio, cambio, cambio') and I said no thanks, I'm finished. So then I asked him where to get an immigration card. I couldn't understand his answer and so after a few people all trying to tell me in Spanish, someone in the line spoke English and established that we didn't need one. She then turned around and told everyone (I presume) that we had come from Ecuador so we didn't need one. They all nodded their heads in agreement and then the cambio guy gave me a nod and went away!

Guerrilla Country!

One funny thing happened as we went from the last bus station in Ecuador to the border in a taxi. We were sitting in the back and the drivers in these parts of the world are pretty keen on overtaking, blind corner or not. So when the driver veered on to the wrong side of the road and stayed there for a couple of minutes with a sweeping blind corner ahead, our eyes nearly started to pop out of our head. The driver smiles and casually looks back and says 'Una via' (one way). Instant relief!

Anyhow, we made it to the town of Pasto which was nice enough. We found a hostel called the 'Koala Hostel' or something like that and dumped our gear to head in to the town. We ended up in a salsa bar where there were plastic chairs, tables and cups and the waitress brings you beer to the table and you pay her straight away. Not sure if I am alone here, but that seems like the sort of place which is prepared for trouble. There wasn't any while we were there so we had a few beers and watched the locals salsa away (and sit down at the end of each song).