If you've been following this blog regularly, you know by now that I am loving Colombia. I wasn't planning on staying this long, and I should be close to Panama City by now on a sailboat, but instead I've decided to just fly to Panama tomorrow (making this my last full day in Colombia, which is mega sad) to take full advantage of this place. My friend Liam is here, which I might have mentioned before, and we decided that exploring more of "Locombia" would be a lot cooler than just sitting on a boat looking out at the water.
We spent a lot of time in Cartagena de Indias, which is right on the Caribbean. It's been spared most of the problems that have plagued this country over the years, since it's kind of on the margins of the country and away from the biggest cocaine plants (from what I understand). Cartagena is very "Pirates of the Caribbean." It's the city that pretty much every pirate movie takes place in. You take a lot of interesting colonial architecture, balconies with a ton of vines, a little cracked paint, and women of African descent walking around with big trays of mangos and passion fruits balanced on their heads, and you're ready for Red Beard to jump out from behind the next building any second. Meanwhile, there are a ton of 6-foot-tall Colombian supermodels everywhere, on vacation I guess, and lots of opportunities to drink ice cold beers while sitting in hammocks. In short: paradise. Plus it's totally safe--much safer than other parts of the country. If you ever have the opportunity to come to Cartagena, you should.
We also took a side trip to Totumo Volcano, which is more like a 10-foot-tall pile of warm mud that bubbles up from the ground. Supposedly it has healing properties. Liam actually dunked his head under the surface of the mud to see just how curative it was. For a second there I wasn't sure if I'd ever see him again, but we survived. So did my watch, by the way. Takes a lickin'...
From Cartagena we took a boat about 1 hour east to Boru, which is the first of an archipelago called the Rosario Islands. We stayed at a place called Playa Blanca, which was just the textbook white sand beach with warm, crystalline turquoise waters. Nothing like eating a salad of fruits like maracuyá, mango, guanabana, pineapple while overlooking the ocean (my stomach didn't even flinch...I am invincible to South American bacteria). We also took a snorkeling tour through the coral reefs of the Rosario Islands, and I wish I could have taken pictures of what I saw under the water. I had never gone snorkeling before, so it was like a revelation to me. I felt like Jacques Cousteau...or at least like Steve Zissou. There were fish that literally glowed in purples, oranges and blues that were really striking.
Last night we went further up the Caribbean coast to the city of Santa Marta, and today we went to Tayrona National Park, a huge protected area with wild beaches and some untouched jungle a bit further inland. We hiked through the park, past leaf-carrying ants, Audrey II-like flowers and tarantulas (Liam said they were crabs, but they looked like tarantulas to me), to a gorgeous beach. If we'd had an extra day on our hands we could have hung up hammocks nearby and fallen asleep to the crashing waves, but unfortunately we had to return to Santa Marta (a trip that included an interesting, and as-yet unexplained, encounter with the cops, who stopped our bus and used a knife to cut a hole in the upholstery of the roof of the bus...luckily they didn't seem to find anything) so that we could get back to Cartagena tomorrow morning and fly to Panama tomorrow afternoon. Where we will meet up with my Stanford friend Joris, who will be flying in from Brussels tomorrow evening.
If you've been following this blog regularly, you know by now that I am loving Colombia. I wasn't planning on staying this long, and I should be close to Panama City by now on a sailboat, but instead I've decided to just fly to Panama tomorrow (making this my last full day in Colombia, which is mega sad) to take full advantage of this place. My friend Liam is here, which I might have mentioned before, and we decided that exploring more of "Locombia" would be a lot cooler than just sitting on a boat looking out at the water.
We spent a lot of time in Cartagena de Indias, which is right on the Caribbean. It's been spared most of the problems that have plagued this country over the years, since it's kind of on the margins of the country and away from the biggest cocaine plants (from what I understand). Cartagena is very "Pirates of the Caribbean." It's the city that pretty much every pirate movie takes place in. You take a lot of interesting colonial architecture, balconies with a ton of vines, a little cracked paint, and women of African descent walking around with big trays of mangos and passion fruits balanced on their heads, and you're ready for Red Beard to jump out from behind the next building any second. Meanwhile, there are a ton of 6-foot-tall Colombian supermodels everywhere, on vacation I guess, and lots of opportunities to drink ice cold beers while sitting in hammocks. In short: paradise. Plus it's totally safe--much safer than other parts of the country. If you ever have the opportunity to come to Cartagena, you should.
We also took a side trip to Totumo Volcano, which is more like a 10-foot-tall pile of warm mud that bubbles up from the ground. Supposedly it has healing properties. Liam actually dunked his head under the surface of the mud to see just how curative it was. For a second there I wasn't sure if I'd ever see him again, but we survived. So did my watch, by the way. Takes a lickin'...
From Cartagena we took a boat about 1 hour east to Boru, which is the first of an archipelago called the Rosario Islands. We stayed at a place called Playa Blanca, which was just the textbook white sand beach with warm, crystalline turquoise waters. Nothing like eating a salad of fruits like maracuyá, mango, guanabana, pineapple while overlooking the ocean (my stomach didn't even flinch...I am invincible to South American bacteria). We also took a snorkeling tour through the coral reefs of the Rosario Islands, and I wish I could have taken pictures of what I saw under the water. I had never gone snorkeling before, so it was like a revelation to me. I felt like Jacques Cousteau...or at least like Steve Zissou. There were fish that literally glowed in purples, oranges and blues that were really striking.
Last night we went further up the Caribbean coast to the city of Santa Marta, and today we went to Tayrona National Park, a huge protected area with wild beaches and some untouched jungle a bit further inland. We hiked through the park, past leaf-carrying ants, Audrey II-like flowers and tarantulas (Liam said they were crabs, but they looked like tarantulas to me), to a gorgeous beach. If we'd had an extra day on our hands we could have hung up hammocks nearby and fallen asleep to the crashing waves, but unfortunately we had to return to Santa Marta (a trip that included an interesting, and as-yet unexplained, encounter with the cops, who stopped our bus and used a knife to cut a hole in the upholstery of the roof of the bus...luckily they didn't seem to find anything) so that we could get back to Cartagena tomorrow morning and fly to Panama tomorrow afternoon. Where we will meet up with my Stanford friend Joris, who will be flying in from Brussels tomorrow evening.
2 comments:
Carl,
Los saludos de los viajeros virtuales en 1771 Ridgewood Manejan. Cartegena es un destino de sueño para nosotros, su blog es tremendo. Su saysyou de la mamá son dirigidos a Tulum. Gastamos 10 días allí duran mes. Es un gran lugar. Esté seguro averiguar la Biosfera de Kian Saan. Queremos un informe repleto del viaje cuando usted llega a casa.
Mike y Elena
Wow, I don't blame you for sticking around that place an extra day...it does look like paradise! Way to show those S. American bacteria who's boss by the way. Just now taking the time to read your blog, such a great idea. I look forward to more vicarious adventure. c-lo
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