3rd May to 11th May 2017
Day 9-17
Bogota
First stop Bogota. Our hotel was in the Business district. Not a tourist area. One hour taxi ride took us to Zipaquirain, a beautiful town just outside Bogota and the Catedral de Sal, an underground Catholic church built within the tunnels of a salt mine, 200 metres underground. Still used for mass and weddings. The acoustics are excellent.
This was not what we expected. The Cathedral was carved by the miners and is a working salt mine.
Architects and engineers won the opportunity to produce the plans.
The small town was beautiful with a large square.
Our dinner was an empanada bought of the street for 75 cents. Scrumptious and filling.
Lashed out and had Vino Tinto in the 12th floor bar.
On the lookout for a Panama hat. Apparently they have always been made in Equador and it was Teddy Roosevelt who coined their name because he saw them in Panama. Such confusion.
Came across a speakeasy type bar called the Blind Tiger and drank the most beautiful Colombian Club Red beer. The store front was a false bookcase. Very cool.
The altitude is still quite high in Bogota – 2650 metres above sea level which is 400 metres higher than Mount Kosciusko.
There are so many little bars facing the street with 3 or 4 chairs. The “men only” past time is the soccer. Every bar and restaurant has a television or two with the soccer on.
Most noticeably are the straight queues for the buses. No crowding, just orderly lines. It looks like Colombia is in a better financial situation than Peru. There are less traffic jams ad better roads.
Medellin
4 nights
Uber is available in Colombia but is still illegal. A passenger is required to sit in the front seat to avoid detection by the traffic police.
Our accommodation was a shock but you get what you pay for. We hiked our bags up the 2 flights of stairs to come across a woman sitting behind bars. The room consisted of 2 bedrooms, a kitchenette and a bathroom. Bet you are thinking – that is OK. So were we until it rained and the kitchenette flooded. The flat had no windows, no chairs or table, a dodgy hot water system and a front door that didn’t reach the top of the frame. There was a bar underneath so we went to sleep listening to a group of drunk Colombians singing until 2am. It was great. The landlady took all our filthy Amazonian washing and washed it for nothing.
The cost for this was $200 for 4 nights. Entertainment was free.
Luckily we could enjoy Nicks (Val’s son) spacious apartment in Laureles. He has been living in Medellin as a digital nomad. His rooftop deck was quite enjoyable.
Comuna 13 was a very dangerous place in the era of the Cartels as it was controlled by the urban gangs. It is extremely steep and the houses look like they could all come crashing down with the slightest earth tremor. The people are friendly and it is very safe now.
The Graffiti all over the community depicts the struggles of the people and now encourages the kids onto a different path. The Government installed covered escalators to encourage and make it easier for the residents of this community to go to work.
Walked 8 kilometres in the morning from Lleras Park in Poblado. The roads are closed on Sunday mornings and there are hundreds of people walking, running and cycling along a 5km route. We just walked with them then back to where we started. Quite a hike.
Pablo Escobar was an infamous resident of Medellin. The people of this city are in two camps. He was a crook, we know that – but also a fierce campaigner for the poor people building houses and football fields for communities in the poorest areas of Medellin. These people then became his lookouts.
The Pablo story has become famous through NARCOS but the story has a few major enhanced discrepancies. It has however, increased the tourism to this city.
Our final day in Medellin was a coffee tour. These can be all day trips but a friend of a friend organised a trip to a closer coffee plantation.
We walked up the steep muddy paths to pick the berries then put them through the depulper, washed them and watched the inferior coffee beans float to the top. We learnt about the three different grades and were shocked at what inferior beans go into instant coffee. No more instant for us.
After all the bug spray we doused ourselves in while in the Amazon, we forgot to do it before the coffee plantation. We look like we have the measles!
Cartagena
Pronounced Cartahayna
2 nights
What a difference the temperature is from Medillin and it was only a 1 hour flight north. We are 10 degrees north of the equator. Hot, hot, hot.
We are on the 16th floor of a highrise that overlooks the Caribbean Sea.
Everyone dances here. As soon as music is heard everyone starts doing the Salsa. Incredible and so happy and friendly but so bloody hot!
The old town is fascinating. It is a walled area where cannons are placed at close intervals both north and south facing the sea and the bay. This was to stop the French and English plundering the Spanish ships that were plundering Peru and taking their treasure back to Spain.
Cartagena was an importer of slaves and the main square was the auction room. It is a fascinating place. In the old days, the wealthy people would lock the poor people and their slaves out at sunset.
The front doors of the older houses have two front doors. One for the slave to enter and one for the master on his horse. The Spanish would not enter the same door as their slave. The door knockers denoted the status or profession of the owner.
Colombia is famous for coffee, chocolate, cloth and you know what else. It also makes delicious sweet treats and has the most curvaceous women we have ever seen.
By the way, leaving the purchase of the hat until Equador which will be a different trip. Too many fakes and one cannot have a fake Panama hat!
Bon Voyage as we are leaving for out Trans-Atlantic voyage to Lisbon. Off the air for 15 days.
Two Travelling Bags 