Colombia

1771 miles, 34 days.

Sapzurro

Our little boat topped off our trip by dropping us off in a beautiful bay in Colombia, Sapzurro. The sea was as blue as the clear sky above, and the sands golden. The town was small, found next to the border to Panama. After getting our Colombian entry stamp, we enjoyed lazing on the beach and watching the world go by. The town was very chilled and dressed up for Christmas,  playing very loud music around the clock to celebrate. The abundance of power cuts enabled us to see the amazing starry sky at night.

Steps from our guesthouse.

We took a day trip to Central America, by walking up to the viewpoint of the town. This serves as the border crossing to La Miel, Panama. We got a lovely view over both countries (and continents!) before continuing on to the beautiful beach of La Miel (the honey).

View over Sapzurro from the crossing.

View over La Miel from the crossing.

Infinite blue sea.

Shacks on La Miel beach.

Capurgana

A 5 minute boat ride around the bay was a slightly larger community, Capurgana. Again, everything was cheerily decorated for Christmas festivities amongst the beach side seafood shacks and restaurants. The houses remained colourful and horse and carts transported fruit, fish, meat etc. around town. (We are also happy to be back in Mango season.) In Colombia the big Christmas dinner is celebrated on Christmas eve. We had a tasty prawn curry with coconut dessert with the family and guests of the hostel we were staying with. For Christmas day...we didn't do much different to usual; spent the day on the beach and ate seafood for dinner. Definitely one to remember.

The view of Sapzurro from Capurgana.

The sleepy harbour.

A typical street in town.

After our luxurious and relaxing week on the beach, we had to entail the journey onwards further north. Unfortunately,  this was not so restful; 16 hours travel entailing a scarily bumpy speedboat for 2 hours and 2 long buses. One of which broke down several times and the driver impressively fixed by finding blocks of wood to replace the suspension plate. However, parts of the lop-sided bus continued to fly off during the journey...

Cartagena

Therefore, we arrived in the city of Cartegena in a sorry state, soon crashing out. We awoke the following morning to the intense heat and business of the colonial town. The city has an inner area where you can find the old, historic section enclosed by a wall. The outer city is very modern and built up with sky scrapers along the coast.

Old town and surrounding residential areas were absolutely beautiful, leaving us satisfied to stroll around for hours. The houses are tastefully painted with canopies on flowers draping over the tiny roads. The architectural style reminded us somewhat of Havana, Cuba. The music here also seems particularly similar. 

One of old towns many pretty plazas.

Grand buildings and flowery balconies down every street.

During our time in the city, we made the most of the medical facilities. After Zara had been ill for a stretch of a few months and encountering some, frankly, awful clinic services, we decided to get tested and treated here once and for all. The tests were incredibly efficient and thorough, the facilities brand new. Within a day we had the diagnosis for treatment. We were seriously impressed with the service.

Taganga

Driving down from the cliff edge to the cove we were greeted with a Mediterranean looking town harbouring countless fishing boats. Taganga was small but lively, our guesthouse a little way up the hill in the peace and quiet.

A short walk around the bay guides you to a small but quieter beach where you get a great view looking both out to sea and back at the cove behind.

The bay enclosed by steep, desert-like hills.

It was in this town that we celebrated New Year's Eve with a great BBQ, Colombian Rum, and fireworks to then welcome the New Year of 2014 on the beach. It is going to be hard to beat 2013...

Palomino

An hour bus ride up the coast we arrived in the small beach town, Palomino. Here we instantly noticed the Kogi people in their baggy white clothing, knitted bags and wellies. Apparently they are depleting in population and being overrun by colombians buying their land. Kogis believe that they are responsible for the wellbeing of the world, with the Sierra Nevada area being the heart of it.

Seeing the beauty of the place, this all becomes entirely believable. In front of the snow capped mountains the blue river flows around the golden sands to meet the sea.

A little inconveniently, we spent most of our time here lacking both electricity and running water... so we washed in the river and ate by candle light!

Where the calm river meets the sea.

Kogi people.

Costeno Beach

Another short journey back on ourselves took us to a deserted beach in the midst of palm trees alone. Here we stayed in our own little beach hut and simply enjoyed being secluded for a few days. There were sandy stretches either side of our hut, running all the way up to the mountains at the end of the bay. Costeno had no shops or other residents around for miles, we were completely isolated. This felt like a fantastic alternative to the over priced and over crowded Tayrona Park down the road.

Endless stretch of beach.

Our cosy thatched hut on the beach.

Playa del Ritmo

For our last indulgence of the Caribbean coast, we spent two more nights in Playa del Ritmo before getting the bus inland. Our hostel was right on the beach amongt tall condomoniums on a private beach and so we had a couple of lazy days with lovely candle lit dinners outside. A great spot just a short drive from the busy city of Santa Marta.

Great swimming and steps from our hostel.

San Gil

A long day's journey, 17 hours total, got us to the surprisingly lovely town of San Gil. We couldn't quite put our fingers on why we liked this town so much. It could have simply been a mixture of the laid back, welcoming atmosphere, great views across the red roofed town, friendly people and great food. The bakeries were always a great rest stop too. It should be noted that all Colombians love a form of caramel condensed milk called Arequipa. Seriously, they put in on everything, inside everything and simply eat it out of bowls as a snack. It is tasty... we have also succumbed to buying a lot of the stuff so we can, well, put it in or on everything.

A day trip we enjoyed was to Cascadas de Juan Curi. A half hour hike up got us to the first waterfall, then another half hour got us a perfect view of the upper half with a height of 180m. Unfortunately, it freezing cold to swim in.

The upper half of the 180m high Cascadas de Juan Curi.

Lower half of the falls.

Another day out was to the small, traditional town of Barichara, out in the green hills. By strolling through the quaint and perfectly maintained streets, you encountered various miradors looking out to miles of farm land and mountains. Barichara was a truly lovely town, perfect for a peaceful stroll and picnic.

Barichara's pleasant streets and beautiful setting.

Bogota

Colombia's capital city was actually more interesting than anticipated. Whilst we usually avoid big cities, Bogota offered a great atmosphere and a cool vibe in the streets between the grand plazas.  The architecture in some areas almost resembled the 80s, with retro signs and colourul walls. Impressive graffiti also covered the walls, adding to the arty appearance. We enjoyed strolling through the back streets trying new snacks and cheap, yet seriously good set lunches (almuerzos).

Yes, that is a llama ride in the bottom left.

An entertaining visit to the Botero museum also got us laughing...the artist, Botero, specialises in painting 'chubby' things such as people and fruit. Very unique! Coombians are extremely proud of Botero's work, frequently displaying his plump statues in the centre of parks. Other amateur artists often sell their own attempts at copying his style on street corners.

Duncan's portrait of Zara after too much Arequipe.

Immediately next to the area of La Candeleria is Monserrate, which we got a little cable car up to the top of. The sacred church is set up at 3150m looking over the third biggest city in North and South America. It continued as far as the eye could see!

Never ending Bogota from Montserrate.

Salento

From city to nature, we appreciated the serenity of the coffee region, just outside the small town of Salento. We found a truly beautiul house to stay in, hidden in the hills and overlooking the valleys below. Here was the best place to relax and rejuvenate,  getting lost in the feeling of being completely separated from the world.

Our little hostel tucked away in the top right.

We took a "Willy" jeep to Valle de Cocora, a huge area with various trails leading you around and up the mountains and rivers. Again, we enjoyed venturing out into the countryside, soaking up the beauty of the coffee region as we went. The famous wax palms stood on spindly legs up to 60m high and towered above us as we hiked through farm land. We wound around fields until we encountered a way up the river, crossing rope bridges as we went. Being in the dense forest, we managed to see a great deal of colourful wildlife en route too. We spent all day exploring the area and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Wax palms in Valle de Cocora.

Hiking around the valley.

Popayan

Feeling refreshed, we set off towards Ecuador and stopped in a town called Popoyan. It is famous for all architecture being white, and is surrounded by small indigenous towns. We therefore got great views of the local Guambianos in their traditional outfits whilst overlooking the central plaza from our room. The town had a friendly atmosphere and was conveniently close to Sylvia, a small town to which we easily caught a bus to walk around the Tuesday market. Sellers were all in their Guambiano outfits, making the whole market bright and colourful.

The heart of every town - Central plaza.

Beautiful dress. Men had blue skirts and black ponchos.

We absolutely loved our time in Colombia and appreciated each individual place visited. Every area had something unique, whilst Colombian citizens consistently made us feel welcome in their country. After a long day of travelling with an overnight stopover in Ipiales near the border...we crossed over to Ecuador.

Practical Information

As of January 2014.
£1 = 3100 pesos.

There are no entry fees, taxes or troubles to stamp into Colombia.

Capurgana is a 55,000 peso, 2.5 hour ride to Turbo. From here it is 90,000 pesos to Cartegena, Changing in Monteria taking a day.

Cartagena is 5 hours and 20,000 pesos to Santa Marta.

Creatures are more nasty here with scorpions, snakes and big spiders.

Bus fares can be negociated, particularly if it is not high season.

Long distance buses are like coaches and very comfortable, but come at a hefty price. Also remember to add 20% to the time they tell you that it will take.

Santa Marta to San Gil can cost around 100,000 by bus.

Bogota to Salento buses cost around 30,000 pesos.  Bolivariano is a quality service.

Northern colombia is significantly more expensive in general, compared to the rest of the country.

Silvia market is on Tuesdays.

Border crossing to Ecuador. Take a collectivo from Ipiales terminal to the frontera 1500p, queue on the Ecuadorian side for a stamp, no fees or fuss. Hop in a 75c collectivo to Tulcan terminal for onward buses.

Average accommodation costs - $25 a night.

Complete budget example - £17 and up, per person, per day.