A brief stay in Bogota

February 19, 2017

To wrap up my trip to Colombia, I spent two nights in the capital of Bogota. I’d heard mixed reviews of the city, a lot of travelers I’ve met didn’t like it too much, so I didn’t allocate too much time there. Overall I enjoyed my short time in Bogota, though didn’t get to see much!

I stayed in a hostel called El Pit, which was recommended to me by a girl I met in Medellin. The beds were comfortable and it was walking distance to everything I wanted to see as well as some great restaurants, but for some reason I didn't love the vibe there.

I arrived in the afternoon, and headed over to the Gold Museum. They had a free English tour that I was able to join about 10 minutes after it started- it was interesting, mainly for some of the history of Colombia than information about the gold. The museum was definitely worth a visit. For some reason I didn’t take any photos, but here’s a photo from Viator.com of one of the cool things- an intricate little boat.

I'd heard a lot of stories of people being mugged in Bogota, even in daylight, so I wasn’t very enthusiastic about taking a stroll at night, so I hung out at the hostel for a bit, and then went to a nearby restaurant called Ocio, a nice little place with good Colombian food. I was definitely pleasantly surprised by the good food in Bogota, everything I ate was delicious, which was not always the case in Colombia!

The following day, I went on a free graffiti tour - the guide was awesome, she is a street artist herself so told us a lot of interesting anecdotes. We mostly walked through the Candelaria area, and saw a lot of different styles of art.

After the tour I went to a French/Colombian restaurant recommended by the guide called Sant Just, where I, for once, had some healthy food!

After lunch I went up to Montserrat, a church waaaaay up on the mountain (over 9,000 feet above sea level). You take a little cable car up there, of course as soon as I got in it, I remembered that I’m terrified of heights, so spent the short ride staring at the back of someone’s head instead of looking out the window. The view from the top is really impressive, and you can see just how HUGE Bogota is. There isn’t actually too much up there- a couple of nice restaurants, and some souvenir stores so it was a quick visit.

I found a cute coffee shop called Varietale (which might be a chain?) where I enjoyed some tea and cake after my sightseeing. There were tons of students there, so it felt like a nice little local hangout. I walked back towards the Candelaria area, but it didn’t feel super safe, so headed back to the hostel.

For my last meal in Colombia, I ate at a Thai restaurant near my hostel called Takrai Thai (https://www.facebook.com/takraithaicuisine/), which was super tasty. Then, it was time to pack up to head to Argentina to meet up with a group of friends from New York!

3 days in paradise (and one in San Andreas)

February 15, 2017

I was sad to leave Salento, I easily could have spent a few more days enjoying the beautiful mountains, but it was worth it to squeeze in some island time on the tiny Isla de Providencia.

Getting to Providencia isn't easy, which is one of the things that makes it great (no crowds!). Since I was coming from Salento, I took an hour bus to Armenia, then flew to Bogota, and from there to the island of San Andreas. From San Andreas you can take a propeller plane about 20 minutes to Providencia, or a 3 hour boat ride. Everything I've heard indicates that that the boat ride is horrible and almost everyone barfs. So naturally I opted for the plane. I wasn't able to get on a flight the same say, so I spent one night in San Andreas, which is a very strange place. It's surrounded by beautiful clear blue waters, but is full of duty free stores, traffic, and generally ugly buildings. I visited one beach there during my free afternoon, it was pretty nice, but also quite crowded. I also had a really really salty fish and a juice I didn't like. Boo!

Providencia: actually not that close to mainland Colombia

Providencia isn't like anywhere else I've ever been, it's super small, friendly, and everyone knows everyone- if you want to go somewhere or do something, someone will take you on the back of their scooter or on their boat. I stayed at the lovely Posada Enilda, run by a brother and sister who made my stay really wonderful (also it was amazing to have my own room after sharing dorms for a couple of weeks)

The most common way to get around the island is by moto. Given my recent accident, I wasn't itching to drive a motorcycle again, especially since nobody on the island seems to own a helmet. So, I opted to rent a regular old bicycle, and quickly realized I was the ONLY adult on the whole island using this mode of transportation :) I can see why- biking around the island is not easy!

The first day I went almost the whole way around to get the lay of the land, and there were a ton of hills. SoulCycle did not prepare me for this! I've always had trouble just laying on a beach and relaxing, so getting some exercise on the bike with beach pitstops was perfect.

On Sundays, locals head to Manzanillo beach and gather around Roland's Bar to hang out drinking and socializing. I biked on down to check it out, and enjoyed a pina colada right from the coconut and some fresh fish with some people I recognized from my hotel. The island is so small that I pretty quickly met or at least recognized all the tourists. There was an incredibly friendly Canadian girl at our hotel who was like the social chair of the island, she got a bunch of us in the hotel hanging out together.

The following day, still not feeling capable of just kicking back on a beach, I decided to tackle hiking "The Peak" for a view of the island. The hike isn't all that difficult, unless you take a wrong turn, like I did. At one point I was going straight uphill, pulling myself up using little tree trunks for support. I definitely did think to myself "Hmmm, nobody mentioned this part of the hike" - but there seemed to be a bit of a trail carved out, so I kept going. Until it was really clear that it went up no further, then I went DOWN, which was just as hard. Luckily, some guys were doing construction on the real trail, so they showed me the right way, and I managed to reach the top without incident.

Then, finally, it was time to eat some lobster, and lay on the beach!

Sunset views from my hammock on Southwest Beach

For dinner, I went with the Canadian and her friend to a restaurant simply called The Caribbean Place where I tried some local black crab. I thought maybe just their shells are black, but the meat is as well. It wasn't my favorite, but I was also just getting kind of sick of seafood by that point (clearly, I am not cut out for island life).

My last day in Providencia, I finally got around to doing some snorkeling. One of the highlights of the island is Cayo Cangrejo (Crab Cay). It costs 40,000 COP ($14) to have someone take you there and back on a boat, and it's easy to organize. One of the owners of my hotel just drove me down and asked a guy, and that was that.

The family on the right had the most annoying kids ever, one of them was crying at all times.

The waters there are so beautiful, it was nice to just sit on the dock and enjoy the view, but the snorkeling was also awesome, I saw tons of sweet fish. Sorry if you want a picture of said sweet fish, I don't have an underwater camera!

After a couple hours getting nice and sunburned, I went back to the main island,then got a ride over to Santa Catalina, another even smaller island that you walk across a short bridge to reach. There's a small beach there where some people let me borrow their snorkel to see MORE SWEET FISH.

My last night I enjoyed dinner at a place called Cafe Studio that is really known for their pie, so obviously I ate a giant slice of cappuccino pie on my own. Happy Valentine's day to me!

I was super sad to leave Providencia today, I could have easily spent a few more nights there, but I'm nearing the end of my time in Colombia, so had to get to Bogota; I have two nights here, then off to Argentina!

Hiking and coffee in Zona Cafetera

February 10, 2017

Beccy and I traveled to Salento together, a fairly easy 6 hour bus ride. It was a little scary at times (lots of curves, not many railings), but the driver played a couple movies to distract/entertain us.

Salento is a beautiful town surrounded by mountains in Zona Cafetera, the coffee region of Colombia. I was thinking about staying at a place a bit outside of town, but our new friend Jenna has just been here, and recommended her hostel, Luciérnaga. We ended up loving it, comfortable beds, nice views, live music every night, and the food is INCREDIBLE. Literally the best food I've had in Colombia. They even have kale, just like being back in SF!

Avocado toast with fried eggs and a view

Anyhow, there is much more to Salento than just good breakfast. The main attraction here is Valle de Cocora, where you can hike to see a forest of wax palms, which can grow to incredible heights. You load up into a jeep, and drive a quick 20 minutes or so to the trailhead.

The hike is about 4-5 hours, and parts of it were pretty hard. I'd like to think the altitude was making me tired, and not my out-of-shapeness. If you go the usual direction, you hike through a valley, and then up into the mountains, with an optional stop at a hummingbird house (not that impressive), then loop around for what is supposed to be stunning views of the valley.

Unfortunately for us, the clouds really came in as we reached the coolest part of the hike. In some ways it made it even more interesting, the mist gave it a dramatic feel.

It was not warm. We took off our jackets to look cuter in the photo :P

AND THEN it started raining and thunder-ing (and, I assume lightining-ing somewhere but we didn't see it). So we hurried up through the last bit of the hike, getting pretty wet along the way!

Having now been here a couple of days, the clouds always seem to come in in the afternoon, so if I were to do the hike again, I'd actually reverse the order (which is easy enough to do) to hit the view part in the morning sunshine.

Our second day in Salento, we did the other popular tourist activity- tour of a coffee farm! On the recommendation of some Canadian guys, we decided to go to Finca Don Eduardo. Thanks to Google maps being wildly inaccurate, we started walking about 20 minutes down the freeway until I decided to check out the coffee tour's website and found that it's actually right in town: 5 minutes, not 40, from our hostel.

The tour was informative, and the guide was the owner, a kooky Brit named Tim. We trekked down an extremely muddy path, and learned about different types of coffee and the process from bean to cup, and of course, got to try some of the coffee from the farm.

Required coffee farm attire: rubber boots

After the tour it was time for Beccy to head back to Medellin in time to party on the weekend. I walked around the town a bit- it's pretty cute, and there's a street with a bunch of little restaurants and souvenir shops. I picked up a little framed watercolor painting from a local artist, which is probably ill-advised given how packed and heavy my backpack already is.

Tomorrow, I am flying off to the islands for my last week in Colombia- I'll stay over one night in San Andreas before spending three nights in the super remote Isla Providencia.

Medellín: Part 3

February 10, 2017

I left Medellín a little bit earlier than I would have liked to, in order to visit Parque Tayrona before its closure. So after a couple of weeks on the coast, I decided to head back to Medellín to see some things I didn't have time for the first time around.

I checked in to the Black Pine hostel, which was in a quiet area in Poblado, with really helpful staff and where I met a couple of great girls.

First up for me was a day trip to Guatapé, an easy two hour bus ride from Medellín (the ride felt really long to me, and then I realized it's about the same as my normal commute!) The big attraction there is El Peñol, a huge rock. The cool thing about the rock is the amazing view from the top. After tackling 657 steps, you're rewarded with amazing scenery in every direction.

The town of Guatapé is also worth a visit- it's a UNESCO World Heritage site, and wandering it's adorable streets was a nice way to spend the afternoon. I also had a completely random and delicious lunch of Indian food at a restaurant called Don de Sam (or maybe Donde Sam, not sure). They offered Colombian, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, and Indian food, but given that the owner and chef was Indian, I decided to go that route. Yum!

All the houses have different paintings on the walls (sorry these ones are a little covered by the trash!)

That night, I met a Canadian girl named Jenna in my room at the hostel, and we then met another new German friend, Beccy, at breakfast the next morning. We all wanted to go up the metrocable so decided to go together. Oh, also this was my birthday!

The metrocables are part of the Medellín public transportation system, allowing more disadvantaged people living up the hills of the city to easily get into the city for work. It also offers a great view for tourists.

We rode the metrocable all the way up to Santo Domingo, and then transferred to another cable that's more for sightseeing than for local transport. At the end of the line is Parque Arví. For some reason even after more than two weeks in the city, I had no idea that there was basically a forest with hiking at the end of the metrocable! It was a nice surprise, and we all decided to go on a 45 minute hike, even though we weren't really prepared for it.

At the end is a tree and a sign about hugging it and breathing deeply and communing with nature, so obviously we did that.

Beccy, me, and Jenna. We didn't want to actually hug the tree because there was a lot of sap on it :)

After our little outdoor adventure, we took the cable back down to the Santo Domingo neighborhood and had a typically bland Colombian lunch.

Since it was my birthday and all, I decided to treat myself to a massage. It was....okay. It was mostly a leg massage, with a healthy dose of stomach massage (that was new for me), and about 5 minutes of back massage.

The other girls decided they wanted to cook dinner that night, so we made tacos (actually really tasty!) and I bought myself a birthday cake.

The next day it was finally time to bid farewell to Medellín for good :( ...and head to Salento!

Adventures in Alta Guajira

February 4, 2017

The very north part of Colombia was on my list of places I really wanted to visit. It’s extremely remote and hard to get to, but I’d heard the scenery was incredible, so I looked into how to go there. Going on a tour is the most recommended way to see it- and now having been, I don't think it'd be possible otherwise.

It was harder than I thought to find a tour there, but managed to join one at the last minute through Magic Tour, who actually outsourced the tour through Alta Guajira Tours. The reviews of most tour companies that go up there were bad, so I set my expectations low (and yet still the company managed to disappoint!)

The tour picked me up at 4:30 AM (ugh) from a hostel in Santa Marta, and continued to Riohacha for breakfast, and to switch from a van to a 4WD SUV for the rough roads ahead.

The first day we drove to Cabo de la Vela; I wish I’d recorded how many hours it took. I don’t remember, but it was A LOT. Once you get past a certain point, there are no roads. The drivers clearly have a lot of experience taking cars to the area, and they basically just follow each other’s tracks. It’s bumpy, curvy, and generally not a super pleasant way to spend 5+ hours. For anyone prone to car sickness, this would have been a nightmare.

Along the way, local kids hold up little ropes that block the car’s passage, hoping for cookies or candies in exchange for letting the rope down. Our driver brought lots, but not enough for everyone! Luckily they let you pass even if you can’t pay the toll :)

Paying the "toll" (these kids were actually super hard to get a photo of)

Our first stop was Manaure, a salt harvesting place? I am not really sure exactly what anything is, because our driver gave us literally no information! Anyhow, it made for a nice place to stretch our legs, and some cool photos. It looks better in photos than in real life. There was a lot of trash all over the place!

We finally arrived in Cabo de la Vela, whose landscape varies from Africa-looking barren dessert, to turquoise waters, to a coastal area that looked like Mars with an ocean, all within a 10 minutes' drive:

We stayed in the “town” of Cabo de la Vela, it’s a few rustic buildings, a few hostels and restaurants since the area is one some come to for windsurfing.

After watching an extremely windy sunset, we checked in to Happiness Hostel, where I paid an extra $7 to have a room with a bed, instead of sleeping outside on the hammocks. I felt a bit like a princess for this luxury, but I think it was worth it in the end!

Next morning’s wake up call was at 6 AM- never thought that would seem like sleeping in! We got back into the 4Runner and continued our trek through the dessert to the end of the world! I was not in an awesome mood on this day, I had a mild migraine and some stomach issues (not helped by the car drive) but tried to enjoy it anyway.

There was less driving today, luckily. Near Cabo de la Vela, we stopped at a super crazy place. It’s a big sand dune that looks like a desert from a movie, and then when you walk over it, there’s the ocean with red sand beach. It was like nothing I have ever seen, but it was so windy that it was actually painful to walk there- the sand blew up onto you at high speeds like tiny little bullets. Ouch!

The guide said we would be spending TWO HOURS there, but after about 30 minutes I think we had all had our fill, so we continued along to the most northern point of South America- Punta Gallinas.

People built little stone stacks at the point which were fun to see. I think they should make a sign for people to take photos with, because there isn't really much else here. I guess that might not be very eco-friendly though :)

The most northern point of South America

After taking a few photos at the end of the world, we drove a short distance to a super remote hostel. My guide book says that only about 100 total people live in this area, and I can understand why, it’s impressive they can get any kind of basic necessities all the way up there, and that they have a hostel at all!

Our hostel. Not sure why the military and their big trucks were there, but a bunch of army guys were eating lunch there.

After a nap in the hostel, we went to another viewing point to see the sun set on our final day in Guajira! The drive back to Santa Marta took less time than getting to Punta Gallinas (about 8 hours total, 20 minute boat ride and the rest by car). I never thought I'd be so happy to be driving on a paved road, but it felt like heaven after all the off-roading.

Overall I am torn as to whether I’d recommend this experience to other travelers. The scenery was definitely very unique but it was hard to enjoy due to the harsh weather, and required an extremely long and uncomfortable ride. And, as I alluded to earlier, the tour company was total crap. The guide didn’t tell us anything. I didn’t expect a bunch of knowledge about nature or local people, but he didn’t even tell us basic things like when we needed to be ready to go in the morning, or where we were driving to. I’ve read bad things about all the tour companies, so I don’t think there is currently one that does a good job with this tour. But they did get us there safely, arranged all the accommodations, and the included food was tasty and plentiful (and maybe made me sick).

I'm back for another layover night at The Dreamer in Santa Marta (nice hostel, terrible WiFi). Tomorrow I'm flying back to Medellin for two nights to do a day trip to Guatape, and then move on to the coffee region!

Magical Minca

February 4, 2017

After my accident, I needed to quickly make some alternate plans, since going to Palomino and Minca on a motorcycle was not in the cards anymore! Minca was one of the places I was really looking forward to visiting, and luckily I was able to get a bed at Casa Loma, which some girls in Tayrona told me about.

Minca is about 30 minutes up a mountain from Santa Marta, and a world away. It's lush, green, and peaceful. Being at Casa Loma was like being back at summer camp. I was in a cabin with about 6 other people, and there were some people camping in tents there, in addition to some private rooms.

Casa Loma- my cabin is kind of in the back in the middle.

The main activities in Minca are relaxing and enjoying nature. The hostel has "happy hour" with a great view of the sunset every night. The "bartenders" were both young girls volunteering at the hostel to save some money for their travels. They were both really sweet, and I ended up hanging out with them and another woman named Abby during the two days there.

My first full day in Minca, I ended up doing a pretty touch hike (and my leg was totally fine, thank goodness). First we hiked about 1.5 hours to a waterfall called Las Marinkas. The water was too cold for me to want to get in, but I did pose on a rock:

From there, the girls working at the hostel turned back, because they needed to work that evening, but my new friend Abby and I continued on another hot, sweaty 1.5 hours or more to a hostel called Casa Elemento. Lots of other travelers had told me about this place and how awesome it is. They were all booked up when I tried to stay there on late notice, but for about $3 you can hang out there for the day, enjoying their giant hammock, freezing pool, lunch, and drinks. There are two routes you can take to get there, we went on one that was more trail-like vs the one that is more road-like, and there were a few times we felt a bit lost, so I recommend sticking to the road.

It was a great place to relax for a few hours after the hike. We ended up hanging out with some other girls from our hostel who are both midwives, so I got to learn a lot of things about childbirth. Bonus!

Giant hammock at Casa Elemento! The view is actually better out of the hammock, but it's a nice place to relax.

New fraaaands at the top of the mountain!

We were exhausted from hiking up the hill, so, even though I wasn't exactly thrilled about getting back on a motorcycle, we decided to take moto taxis back down (a 40 min ride vs. a 3 hour walk. No regrets!)

The next day, I went with Jana (one of the girls working at the hostel) on a much shorter, easier hike to Los Pozos waterfalls. They didn't actually seem very large or impressive, and there were a lot of people there. We kept hiking on a trail along a stream (that we may or may not have been allowed on), and found a peaceful spot to cool off about 10 minutes away from the crowds.

I didn't really take any great photos, but here is one of the peaceful stream we dipped our feet into.

After the hike, I went into the small town to use restaurant Wi-Fi, and managed to arrange to join a tour up to Alta Guajira, and area I have been wanting to see. I really wanted to spend one more night in Minca, but the tour was departing at 4:30 AM from Santa Marta, so I had to take off that afternoon for yet another layover night in Santa Marta!

That time I got hit by a car

January 30, 2017

When traveling, of course things don't always go as you expect. Up until now, everything has been really great, and almost every experience I've had has been seamless. Yesterday was one of those days I knew would come, where things went pretty badly.

I was really excited to try something totally out of my comfort zone, riding a motorcycle to some destinations along the coast. I came across a great moto tour company that had some of the best reviews I've ever read, so I booked a tour with them to Palomino and Minca.

I went to their office on Saturday where I learned how to drive an automatic motorcycle, which was a little scary, but rewarding once I got the hang of things (it's like a mix of riding an electric scooter and driving stick shift). The next day, I met the guides and about 6 other guys for our tour. First stop: Palomino.

The ride there was amazing- getting out of town was a little tricky with the traffic, but once we were on the open road we passed through jungle, farms, and amazing views of the beach.

Amazing lookout point over crystal blue water

We turned off onto a dirt road to head to lunch - the best pizza in Colombia (according to the guide)! Getting a little taste of off-roading was bumpy and fun...until a car turned out from a perpendicular street and knocked right into my motorcycle. The bike knocked over and I flew off. As they say, it all happened so fast, so I don't know exactly how I fell. But I don't think the bike fell on top of me, and also luckily, I fell on dirt road and not pavement. I keep replaying things in my head, and feel extremely grateful that the accident wasn't worse. If I'd been driving faster, or it had been on the highway, or if we were on a different road, I could have gotten injured really, really badly. I guess I understand now why motorcycles have a bad reputation.

The guy behind me happened to be wearing a Go Pro on his helmet, so he caught the whole thing on video. I'm waiting for him to send me the actual video, but here is a video of the video.

It was definitely the scariest thing that's ever happened to me. At first I wasn't sure if I was seriously injured or not, but realized pretty quickly that nothing too major seemed to be wrong. A few English speaking locals/tourists gathered around the scene and helped me get some ice on my leg (the most injured part of me, where I think the car may have hit me), and checked to see if I was okay.

Disappointingly, the guides of the actual tour seemed to have no idea what to do in the situation, and seemed more concerned with whether the bike was broken than whether I was okay. They're pretty young guys, and maybe this has never happened before, but in one of the most terrifying moments of my life, I felt like nobody knew what they should be doing to help. They suggested that I just go to the Palomino hostel and rest, but when I tried to put weight on my foot, it REALLY hurt, and I wanted to go to a medical center to make sure nothing was seriously injured. The tour guys didn't know where the closest medical facility was, and ended up putting me on a bus back to Santa Marta (~2 hours ride) on my own, to meet up with the other company owner, who was still in town. I probably looked like an insane person on the bus because I couldn't stop crying from being generally shook up, injured, feeling abandoned, and also being super hungry (low blood sugar people, it will mess with your emotions!).

I made it to the urgent care center in Santa Marta, where the fun continued. To make a long story short, I was there for about 6 hours, mostly waiting for someone to look at my X-Ray to see if anything was fractured. The good news was, nothing broken! They put an extremely giant bandage around my leg scrapes, and gave me some pain killers and antibiotics. To leave the hospital, you have to have certain paperwork, such as the ownership card for the motorcycle (WHY?) which I didn't have, but the moto tour company did. So I had to wait at reception until the company emailed it to them. At one point I just started crying again because I was SO CLOSE to being done with the situation, yet unable to leave the hospital. And also, still really hungry!

I have to admit, I enjoyed looking slightly badass in my giant bandage :)

Luckily, I was able to easily get a large private room at the hostel where I'd left my bags, and FINALLY got some food (two sandwiches and ice cream) and had a beer while trading war stories with some Australians: their bus literally burned down...not sure if that's better or worse than getting hit by a car!

The tour company is also going to refund almost the full price of the tour, they're keeping about $30 (out of $250) which seems fine to me since I got some lessons and part of a day with them. Also- way too exhausted to argue over $30 at this point.

Today I am going to head up to Minca by taxi, NOT motorcycle, which is an area up in the mountains with hiking and relaxation. I'm not sure if my foot is up for hiking yet, but it will be a great place to chill and rest in some cooler weather.

Let's hope this is the last kind of blog post about getting injured, and that there are only happy stories to tell from here on out!

A visit to Parque Tayrona

January 30, 2017

When I first decided to go on Sabbatical, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to travel, or just take it easy in San Francisco for a few months. I had dinner with my amazing, inspiring friend Jess in New York just after deciding to take a sabbatical, and she said to me "PACHER! Leave the country the first day you can and don't come back until the last possible moment." If Jess told me to jump off a bridge, I'd probably do it, so here I am, partially thanks to her insistence.

Jess was the first person who told me about Tayrona National Park during that same dinner, sparking my interest. Thanks to a chance encounter with a Colombian at my work holiday party, I learned that the park was closing for a month beginning Jan 28. So that meant I had to arrange my trip a bit around visiting before its closure.

When I checked in to my hostel here in Santa Marta, they were not very optimistic about my chances of getting in. A ton of people obviously had the same idea as I did about visiting the park before it closed, and the hostel said it was all booked up in advance. I didn't even know you could buy tickets in advance, I think it must be a new option (available on their website here)

To maximize my odds of getting in, I woke up at 5 AM to take the first bus to the park- an easy $3, one hour ride on public bus. In the end, I had no problem getting a ticket, or a tent (see more below on campsite for anyone planning a visit).

With the worry of not getting in behind me, I could finally relax and enjoy the park! I did what most people do there, hiked a couple of extremely hot and muggy hours to a beautiful beach. I expected there to be slightly better directions, but signage was lacking at the entry to the trails. But it was easy to just ask a few people who seemed to know where they were going, and follow them. The hike itself was pretty flat and easy, though with some pretty muddy spots. People were doing it in bikinis, crocs, or even barefoot, and carrying tons of stuff like blowup mattresses and thermoses of hot water.

The scenery on the hike ranges from tropical to boulders and beaches

After about an hour hiking, you reach Arrecifes, the first beach and first possible campsite, which I’ve heard described as a little more quiet of the two main options. You can stop in there for a pretty clean bathroom, restaurant, water, and beach (I actually never ended up seeing that beach).

After a short stop there to rest my feet, I hiked another hour to Cabo San Juan, the most popular beach and campsite in the park. It was as pretty as the pictures, though seemed really crowded- I’m not sure if it was because of the impending closure or if it’s just always that crowded. There were some less crowded beaches easily reached with a 10-15 min walk through the jungle, so that’s where I spent most of my time.

If you've ever seen a photo of Tayrona, it's probably this one! This is the beach at Playa Cabo San Juan. There are hammocks up in that little hut- they're the most sought after accommodations in the park, but I opted for a tent.

The campsite was more robust than I expected: it had rustic showers, (dirty but usable) bathrooms, and even a restaurant and place to buy other essentials like water and beer :) And, best of all, it was pretty easy to meet other travelers to hang out with. I ended up hanging out with some American girls for the evening (really immersing myself in the culture, haha).

Tents packed in tightly at Cabo San Juan

The tent came with a little mattress, so my night of sleep wasn’t terrible. I woke up around 6:30 and after a good breakfast at the restaurant, decided to go on a hike that started from the campsite, called the Pueblito hike (since I didn’t think I needed another 6 hours on the beach!)

I’d read about the hike, but it ended up being a lot harder than I expected. There were a couple of parts that required some scary jumps up rocks, the only way I made it was there happened to be a strong Czech guy ahead of me on the trail who helped me up. Naturally, I later saw people doing the same hike in flip flops…I have no idea how they didn't slip and die. The end point of the hike is a small indigenous village where people are living, and some ruins from ancient peoples. The journey was a bit more interesting than the destination, in this case.

An interesting tree along the Pueblito hike (it was hard to get pics showing the crazy rocks we had to jump onto)

The village at the end of the hike- people live in those huts!

After 3 hours of hiking in hot, sticky weather, it was time to jump back in the water! I went to La Piscina, a popular beach for swimming, and cooled off and relaxed for a couple hours before hiking back to the entrance of the park.

Super hot and sweaty, but happy with my Tayrona adventure! Shoutout to my nerdy hat that kept my face mostly un-suburned.

I checked in for another couple of nights in The Dreamer hostel, and then ended up going to a movie with a couple of new friends. We saw Lala Land in a super nice theater with big comfy seats for only $5!

Today is a relaxing day in Santa Marta, and tomorrow I’m going on a tour to visit a couple of other areas in the Caribbean Coastal region!

A LITTLE KNOWN FACT ABOUT BOOKING THE CAMPSITES (for anyone planning their own trip)

There are tons of great blogs out there if you want to plan a visit- here is one I found super helpful. However, I learned something that I hadn’t read anywhere else online: you can book a tent or hammock at the entrance to the park and skip the long lines at the campsites.

There isn’t an official stand, you just talk to the guy with a hat and microphone at the entrance and he steers you to a guy who you can make a booking with. I was worried this might be a scam, but ended up being legit, and a great decision. A lot of people weren’t able to get accommodations at the popular beach (Cabo San Juan) but I got to go right to the front of the line and had no problem getting my tent. I still tried to get to the campsite pretty early, to make sure they didn’t give away the tent I’d booked.

Views, art, and beaches in Cartagena

January 28, 2017

Hola from somewhere in between Cartagena and Santa Marta! No, the bus doesn’t have Wi-Fi (not back at Google just yet….) but drafting this for later posting!

On Sunday, I flew a quick hour from Medellin to Cartagena, a totally different Colombia from the one I’d been living in during my time in Envigado. Cartagena is hot, beautiful, and packed with Colombian and international tourists. Usually I don’t love super touristy spots, but Cartagena is so pretty, you can’t help but be drawn in by its charm.

Beautiful buildings like this on every street in the historic center

I started by going to the wrong hostel. Mine was hostel Santo Domingo de Vidal, but I went to Hostal Santo Domingo. Apparently this happens all the time, and was easily resolved with a $3 cab ride. I had a nice private room, and the staff were friendly and helpful, but it wasn’t a super social hostel, so I didn’t make any new friends like I’d hoped to!

My first day I just kind of wandered around the historic center, which has photogenic buildings at every turn, and many cute boutiques to pop into. I had a drink at El Baron, a nice cocktail bar with seating on a main square, and then found a place for dinner. I don’t mind eating alone, and enjoy it when I’m traveling for work, but this ended up being a little awkward. The restaurant was super romantic, and I felt like I was eavesdropping on dates (I wasn’t….my Spanish isn’t that good). I also ordered WAY too much food and wasn’t even hungry when my entree came. Obviously I ate it anyway.

Lychee spritz, great end to a day of wandering around!

The second day, I didn’t really have a plan but ended up visiting a local market, Mercado de Barzuto. I read about it in my guidebook and quickly Googled a tour and managed to join one that morning (through Cartagena Connections). Local folks from Cartagena think the market is smelly and gross, and…I kind of have to agree. They sell everything from clothes and toiletries to fruits, veggies, fish, and all parts of various animals. Even though it’s not where I’d choose to do my grocery shopping, I really enjoyed seeing a part of Cartagena that wasn’t just for tourists, and it was worth the price of the tour because I don’t think I could have found my way around alone.

Our lunch at the market- fresh fried fish. It tasted better than it looks.

That evening, I met up with some people who were on my tour for a couple of drinks and mediocre pizza at Plaza de la Trinidad, a spot right by my hostel where everyone seems to converge at night, from locals to backpackers and performers like rappers and dancers (who ask for tips, of course!).

Coming to Cartagena, I knew that a popular day trip was go to nearby beaches by boat (the beaches in Cartagena itself are not very nice) but was not quite sure what the options were. I’d heard of Playa Blanca, but it sounded terrible- tons of visitors and harassment by people selling you stuff. What I learned while there is that many hotels on the islands have private beaches, and you can visit one of them on an easy boat ride. The market tour guide was super helpful in recommending and setting up such a visit for me. I went to the beach of Gente de Mar hotel on Isla Rosario. There were about 50 of us on the tour and the beach was private, calm, and beautiful, with towels and lunch included. I’m not much for a party scene so it was just perfect for me (cost was about $70 for the day). I also opted to do snorkeling from the beach (about $15) which was super worth it- saw a lot of interesting fish and coral reef.

Yay! The beach! (tan is still a work in progress)

After my beach trip I cleaned up and did some more wandering around the historic center. I ended up finding a cool little art house/courtyard where I was able to chill out a bit with my book. Then went to La Mulatta for a tasty seafood dinner.

My third and final day, I joined a free tour of the street art in the Gestemani neighborhood- there’s tons of vibrant murals with interesting history behind them (images below are a little slideshow you can click through if so inclined)

After that it was time to grab my bags and wait for the bus! I am taking the Marsol bus to Santa Marta (easily booked by my hostel)- should be about a 4-5 hour trip. So far it’s been 4 hours and 45 min and we aren’t there yet! [update: took almost 7 hours door to door. Whew!]

Cartagena is a great place to visit, but I’m not sure I’d put it at the top of my list for solo travelers. It’s kind of romantic so I think it draws many couples. Maybe it was just the hostel I was in which was not super social, but it was a bit hard to meet people there. Regardless, I enjoyed my time there!

Tomorrow I’m heading to Tayrona National Park, to hike to a beautiful beach and camp out (been a very long time since I've done that!)

First week in Medellín

January 16, 2017

I arrived in Medellin at about 11 PM last Saturday from Mexico City, and my awesome AirBnb host Marco picked me up from the airport for about an hour's drive to his apartment in Envigado, a neighborhood at the south end of Medellin.

The next morning, I woke up, looked out the window, and the anxiety of being alone in a country where I know no one and don't speak the language really hit me. I considered curling up on the couch watching movies on my computer until Tuesday, when my Spanish school commences.

But then I went to the kitchen to get some water, where I met Emil, the other guy staying in this AirBnb apartment. He is from Sweden, and has been traveling for THREE YEARS. He's been in Envigado on and off for something like 3 months, doing a lot of volunteer work. He offered to show me around town a bit and help me find a place to get some food. I was really glad to be with him, since he knows the area and speaks fluent Spanish. We stopped at a small place near the main plaza where I had a traditional Colombian lunch (soup, meat, rice, beans, plantain) and then he showed me some of the other main streets.

After our stroll around town, Emil was going with Marco and Marco's mom to Olaya Herrera, a very poor area of Medellin where Emil has been working to help build a house for a family there. They invited me to join them, and since I literally had nothing else to do, I decided to tag along. We took the subway and then a bus to get there (so I also got a primer on how to use the public transportation which is very clean and safe here), and it was a world away from Envigado.

Emil and Maria Ceclia walking to the site of the new home

The family Emil is helping is a young family; the mother is only 18 but has twins, and the father looked just as young. The homes in the neighborhood are all small shacks; a few are made from bricks, but many out of wood planks, with tin roofs. We climbed down a muddy hill (among a bunch of chickens) to get to the site of the house, which is almost finished. It's smaller than my SF studio apartment for a family of four- talk about a great way to get some perspective on your life!

A neighbor girl shoved one of the twin babies into my arms and I spent the next 10 minutes hoping I wouldn't drop him, because the only thing worse than an awkward gringa is one who drops your baby on the ground. Since the cement was still wet, the group decided they should put the twins' footprints into the floor.

One of the twins leaving his mark! (That's Marco in the background with the other baby)

Happy with the progress on the house, Emil and Marco decided it was time to go. Maria Cecelia really wanted "fruits salad" so we headed back to Envigado to satisfy her craving. We went to the fruits salad place, and spent a long time trying to figure out the differences between the choices on the menu- there were about 20 different fruit drink/salad/ice cream things and in the end I just copied what Emil ordered.

Turns out, "fruits salad" in Colombia is ice cream, with a little fruit. I'm not complaining!

To try and learn some basic Spanish before the rest of my trip, I'm doing classes at a Spanish language school, Colombia Immersion. The school is a bit of its own world here in Envigado. It has about 20-30 students across different levels of fluency and aside from us, there are no other tourists or foreigners in the town. In addition to 4 hours a day of classes and extra 1:1 coaching, the school organizes tons of activities, from local tours to movie nights and salsa lessons, so it's easy to spend all of your time wrapped up in activities with the school. The students are all different ages, many are in their 20s and traveling until their money runs out, without plans for when they'll go home or what they'll do when they get there. Then there are some older folks like me who are just taking a shorter break from real life :)

It's so different to be back in school again, and liberating to know it's not for a grade or paycheck, so I can put in exactly as much effort as I want to. I'm working hard at it, but it's hard to be confident enough to strike up a conversation with any local people. This weekend I took a bunch of Uber rides, and the drivers were always very chatty, so that was a good chance to pratice

I took a group class last week, but want to move a little more quickly than I think is possible in a group environment, so starting today I'm going to be doing 1:1 lessons so I can hopefully make faster progress.

I'm staying with a local woman on the same block as the school- my commute is one minute which is a nice change from the usual 1.5 hour bus ride to Google! Fatima is from Spain, has a huge smile, and is constantly smoking (as is pretty much everyone here, including most of the students in the school- not my favorite). The first night she took me and the other student in her home to play a game called "Tejo" which is a little bit like cornhole...but with low level explosives. You throw a heavy metal stone at a mud target that has two small explosive triangles in it. The goal is to explode the targets. Hard to describe- just watch the 5 second video below from our outing.

There's an amazing public track here which I'm trying to work into my routine to get a bit of exercise while I'm here. In the morning, the weather is perfect for a jog or a few pushups in the grass.

My local track (in the morning it's packed with locals taking laps around the field)

During the week I was so busy with school activities that I didn't ever leave Envigado to see any other parts of the city, so spent the weekend exploring a bit more. I went on the most popular tour in Medellin, the Real City Tour, which took us to some sights in "El Centro" and provided some interesting background on the turbulent past of Medellin, and its recent transformation.

After the tour, I went to check out the botanical gardens, more like a big park than gardens, but a great place to relax with a book or have a picnic with friends (I only had a book, no friends, ha)

Part of the gardens where they sometime hold events.

I met a Swiss guy on the walking tour, so we decided to meet up for dinner in the neighborhood he's staying in, El Poblado, It's a very popular area for tourists to stay - so many people recommended I stay in this neighborhood. The streets are lined with TONS of restaurants, bars, and clubs, and on Saturday night it was totally insane. It definitely felt much more western than Envigado, and I can see how it would be a really fun area to stay in if you were visiting Medellin for a short time. The food and drinks selection was much better and much much more expensive than what we have in Envigado. I am glad I got to check out Poblado, but for my longer stay, happy to be in a more calm and local area.

Yesterday was a bit lazier, but in the evening I went to a hostel where one of the girls in my class works, where they had a great Colombian Irish band playing- who knew there was such a thing!

This week, I'm gearing up for more Spanish, and some more interesting activities with the school. Then it will be time to leave Medellin :( and to Cartagena and the caribbean coat for more exploring!

Welcome to my blog!

South America...and beyond!

In early 2017, I took a 3 month sabbatical from work to travel in South America, and blogged about it along the way. Since then, I’ve taken a few more noteworthy trips, and am sharing my experiences with you here!

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