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From my own experience and hearing from others I have met who have travelled in Colombia, it is all good! The Santa Marta area on the
northern coast, the small fishing village of Taganga and Tayrona National Park to the east of Santa Marta is a great experience! The city
of Cartagena surrounded by a wall of stone and narrow streets has a lovely character, you can get fresh fruit salads on the street!
In total I have now spent 1 year traveling and living in Colombia. I spent 1 month in Colombia in September 2008 mainly in the Santa Marta,
Taganga and Tayrona areas, I have also been in Cartagena, Medellin, Barranquilla and all around the country. In 2010 I was in Colombia for
6 months, mainly in Medellin but in other parts of the country also. In early 2011 I returned to Colombia and am still here after 5 months.
Here are my experiences and story.
Barranquilla to Santa Marta:
When I arrived in Barranquilla late at night it had been a very long day of 4 airplanes with 3 different airlines to get here, La Paz to Cusco to Lima to Bogota to Barranqilla. A taxi from the airport took me to a hotel somewhere in the center, a man in the lobby who was another guest insisted many times to me that he "was the doctor" while I sat there having a bite to eat and a beer, I didn't understand what this meant at the time, I needed to sleep. More
Santa Marta:
The extremely hot city of Santa Marta on the north coast is Colombias oldest city, founded in 1525. I have been here 3 times now, in 2008, 2010 and 2011 and have spent over 6 months living and having fun in nearby Taganga, just 10 minutes away. At the hottest times of the year from June through to August/September it is usually around 33-35 degrees in the day and drops to about 29 degrees at night, it's not a place that you struggle to keep warm in. More
Taganga:
I have been in Taganga now 3 times and have spent over 6 months here in total living, playing, relaxing and in general having an easy-going life. I spent 2 and a half weeks in Taganga in 2008 and had an excellent time enjoying a holiday after being on the road for a while, it's a small fishing village just 5 - 10 minutes from Santa Marta. More
Tayrona National Park:
Some friends and I took a boat from Taganga to Tayrona National Park, it takes only 40 minutes and is a real fun ride! We had stocked up on non perishable groceries the day before at the big supermarket on the main street of Santa Marta, cans, liquid and packets of things. More
Colombian Border to Ipiales:
Crossing the Colombian border from Tulcan in Ecuador is a straight forward process, very easy compared to crossing the border between Peru and Ecuador. From the bus terminal in Tulcan, I got a taxi to the border town of Rumichaca for $3USD, I then went to the immigration office on the Ecuadorian side for my passport stamp and walked across the bridge into Colombia for more passport procedures, very simple and safe. More
Pasto:
I arrived in Pasto from the south through amazing terrain from the border with Ecuador. Outside Pasto's bus terminal I could see quite a few hotels over towards the right, a few minutes walk away, I decided to go check them out. Most of these hotels were cheap, ranging from 12000-20000 pesos ($7USD-$11USD), I went for the cheapest option and it all seemed ok, until later that night. More
Popayan:
I arrived in Popayan on an overnight bus from Pasto in the south, it took less than 5hrs because of the way the bus driver drove, overtaking at any opportunity. The journey was not that much fun, the roads have many curves so it was like some kind of rally race, I was not feeling well by the time we got close to Popayan and needed to hold a plastic bag near to my mouth incase I brought up my stomach. More
Cali:
I travelled 3hrs from the southern city of Popayan to Cali by bus, the views from the right side of the bus were breathtaking. After arriving at the terminal, my 3 travel buddies and I found a hostel about 15 minutes away. Cali didn't look like anything special to me at this stage, to be honest Cali is not that attractive in many parts of the city, but it did slowly grow on me over the next few days. More
Armenia:
After the big city of Cali I headed by bus about 3 hours north to Armenia where I wanted to see Colombia's coffee country. The bus ride was an easy one, with flat and open countryside to travel through, we travelled towards the towns of Palmira and Buga. More
Salento:
I took a local bus for 30-40 minutes from Armenia to Salento into the heart of coffee country, I sat in the front with the driver for the journey so that I could take some pictures out of the window more easily. The countryside along the way is beautiful and green, with rolling hills and lots of trees. More
Cartagena:
This was my second time in Cartagena and I was here again to enjoy myself and take lots of photos. As we came into Cartagena past the beaches, fishermen and a little bit of ramshackle, I could see the new city in the distance, my destination was the old city, I was one of the first to be dropped off at a hostel I had found located inside the old city near to the sea, perfect! The weather in Cartagena was warm and humid but not as hot as where I was before in Taganga and Santa Marta, I chose a dorm with air-con so that I could be cool when I wanted to be, an Exito supermarket was just around the corner and a nice peaceful plaza was opposite us. More
Magangue to Mompos:
In the latest edition of Lonely Planet a new destination in Colombia has been added, a place called Mompos, it sounded mysterious and was off the beaten track, I was definitely interested. Someone in my hostel in Cartagena had just been and described the journey to get there as horrendous and the blogs I read on the internet about this journey said the same thing but as I was to find out for myself this was not the case at all, getting to Mompos was actually half the fun. More
Medellin:
I arrived in Medellin for my second time in the middle of July 2010 for a few weeks at the most, nearly 5 months later in early December I am still here! After 5 weeks up on the coast in the hot weather, when I got to Medellin I felt a sense of the climate being perfect enough to be able to live here for a while. More
Universidad EAFIT Medellin:
I wanted to improve my Spanish while living in Medellin in 2010 so I checked out some universities. I visited 3 universities to see what they offered in language courses and decided I would enrol at Universidad EAFIT which is in Poblado and close to where I was, it was also the nicest looking university of the three I looked at. More
Medellin to Bucaramanga:
After close to 5 months in Medellin I decided it was time for some more travel, I wanted to head to Venezuela, so first I made my way to Bucaramanga. It is early December 2010, I had heard the road between Medellin and Bucaramanga was in bad shape which it was and probably will be for some time, many mudslides and lots of debris half covering the road in many places, the journey took about 8hrs but was quite scenic passing through beautiful countryside and through many small villages and towns. More
Bucaramanga:
It took 8hrs from Medellin to Bucaramanga, the road at the Bucaramanga end is having problems with mudslides this year (2010). Bucaramanga bus terminal is located at the bottom of the valley, but the center of Bucaramanga is at the top of the valley so I had to catch a taxi back up, maybe it is possible to be let out of the bus near the center rather than have go down then back up the valley. More
Bucaramanga to Cucuta:
You wouldn't think it would take 6hrs to travel 200kms, but with the condition of the road between Bucaramanga and Cucuta it certainly does, much rain in Colombia in 2010 has caused many mudslides and problems on this road. The problems with the road are mainly at the Bucaramanga end and the Cucuta end, the middle part is fairly OK and offers some spectacular views, sit on the righthand side of the mini-van. More
Cucuta to Venezuela:
From Bucaramanga on a rough road I came to Cucuta on my way to Venezuela, I stayed in a budget hotel right across the road from the bus terminal, in the afternoon I went into the center of town to find a branch of Citibank because their ATM machines allow you to withdraw larger sums of money than the other banks, I wanted to change this Colombian money for USD the next morning to take to Venezuela. More
Leticia:
There are only really a couple of ways in or out of Leticia, either by plane from Bogota usually or by boat from the Amazon River from Brazil, Peru or Ecuador. I came to Leticia from the Brazilian side of Tabatinga where I had just spent 6 days and nights traveling by boat up river from Manaus. More
Carnival of Barranquilla:
In early March 2011 I spent a day at the carnival in Barranquilla, I was staying in Taganga and went on a bus as part of a group, the cost was 60,000 pesos ($33USD), I went with the tour organisers Leticia and Ursula who have an office next door to the police station in Taganga, it included the return trip and some fun and giveaways on the bus on the way there. More
Bogota:
I spent 1 week in Bogota in May 2011, I had passed through the airport several times before but this was my first time seeing and doing things in the city itself, the primary difference from the other places in Colombia that I have visited is that it was much colder with only 1 or 2 real days of sun the whole week. More
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