Conquering new highs - very high, and some lows, Peru part 1 // September 4 - 13, 2019

Leaving Colombia was tough. I wasn’t just leaving behind a country that I had gotten to know and love in the last 10 weeks, but familiar settings, familiar faces and places, the friendliness and openness and hospitality from strangers that I hadn’t experienced anywhere else. And a community that I got to discover Colombia with. Not just the Medellín community, but even when I was in the northern coast, I was always with people with whom I was able to share experiences with.

But onward I must go.

Lima

But first, some home comforts :)

If my mood wasn’t grey enough for leaving Colombia, the greyness of Lima seeped into my soul to paint it a solid shade of concrete. The Peruvian capital was so grey. Its sky was grey. The buildings were grey. The streets were grey. And…only because we’re on the subject of aesthetics, the people - bless their kind hearts - were not nearly as good-looking as their neighbours up north haha. And not as outgoing, but rather reserved - still nice people, but comparatively much quieter and less colourful. Perhaps the only thing that brought any form of delight these couple days in this city was the fantastic sushi rolls I had on my second night. (Is it a ‘quality’ of mine that I can almost always rely on food to bring a little light back to my life?!).

I went on one walking tour, and spent other time doing life admin - going to the doctors, sending documents to the bank, sitting in cafes watching the grey city tick by…and wait for my night bus to Huaraz (pronounced 'WA-RAZ') where things get very, very high...

Petronio and Paragliding, and the U-turn back to Medellín // Aug 15 - Sep 3, 2019

Cali - Just a couple of stories.

After a few amazing days in the mountains, I arrive in Cali, a somewhat unremarkable city by appearance, known for being the salsa (dance, not sauce) capital of Colombia, and home of what was once one of the largest drug cartels in the region.

It was hot, humid and polluted. I was here because I had heard about the salsa, but also because while I was in Medellín I had been told that there was a big music festival - a FREE music festival - being held here in a couple weeks' time.

I booked myself into an Airbnb, which turned out to be a big house built and owned by an Australian-Colombian family. They warmed welcomed me with coffee and snacks and showed me the city from their rooftop terrace. I knew I was in good hands.



I didn't have much expectations for Cali, other than to attend the music festival. Motivation to explore the city during the day dwindled as quickly as the rise in temperature and humidity each day. The only memorable daytime event was how I met my Colombian “uncle” Jorge (pronounced: hhor-hey)…

Colombian Countrysides - the views and the hues in the hills // 11-15 August

My journey through Colombia continues to possibly the most picturesque places I've visited in my Latin American journey so far.

I hadn't come across Jardin while researching Colombia, but I heard about it when I was out on that rad tour to the desert La Guajira, talking to a Colombian family from Medellín who were staying at the same hospedaje (I think best described as a camp). Unlike Guatape and Salento which were on every backpacker’s guide blog for Colombia, Jardin was much less talked about. I had only learned about it from the locals of Antioquia, and in fact every single Paisa said it was unmissable.

And it was definitely one not to be missed.

Giant rocks, big parties, much love - Medellín part 2 // 19 July - 4 September

Guatapé’s beautiful thousand-island view was so breathtaking
(...or it could have been climbing the 740 steps to the top of La Piedra Del Peñol)

But...isn't Colombia like super dangerous? 

I got that all - the - time - when I came back from my travels and told people where I had been. 

And not to mention the facebook or instagram comments I got making references to Narcos and Pablo Escobar and drug cartels whenever I mentioned Medellín.

Of course, crime still exists - as in any large city. And yes there used to be very dangerous and violent areas, and yes the wages here are relatively lower than other countries, and with the rise of tourism comes more opportunists and robbers. But it isn't nearly as dangerous as it used to be, or as it is portrayed in TV dramas, or it is imagined. But more importantly, it's about being sensible and exercising caution and being a bit smart - like not walking around with your phone in your hand, especially after dark, and not looking like you're clueless or lost, and not walking around at night by yourself if you are female. 

But I think I was also very lucky not to have lost a single thing during my time in Colombia - not even my phone, any money, watch, nothing. 

That said, there was one time when caution left us for a wee while, and cost us a bit more than a few more Colombian pesos...

Marvellous Medellín - 4.5 weeks here was still not enough, Part 1 // 19 July - 4 September

I don’t even know how I’m going to write this. No words can do justice to what was quite possibly my most enjoyable time of this entire Latin American journey. It’s such a highlight that it has almost all become a blur, a bright, colourful, high-in-the-sky blur, with flashes of scenes emerging from the mist of nostalgic contentment. But I made notes so here's an attempt to assemble those into somewhat meaningful sentences...

What made it so great - In a short word-vomit summary - were the people, the city, the climate, the classes, the landscape, the school, the salsa bars, 3-weeks-of-staying-in-a-home-and-not-needing-to-pack, the magnificent stories of the city, the food, the affordability, the festivities…

I was lying in a hammock in Palomino one day in mid-July, recovering from the long arduous journey to La Guajira and back and I realised I was not at all satisfied with my limited Spanish knowledge and was thirsty for more. I also realised - shockingly - I was getting tired of travelling. But I was also really looking forward to visiting the legendary city of Medellin - the city made famous in the Netflix series Narcos, but the overwhelmingly positive impressions I got from fellow travellers and blogs. So I came up with the idea of marrying rest, learning and exploring, and decided sign up for Spanish school there. I brought my laptop back to said hammock and started researching schools in Medellín that I could start attending in 2 weeks' time. Googled ‘Spanish school in Medellin’, opened a few tabs on my browser of different schools, read one, when a friend Nicola messaged me to go hang out at her hostel, where I met Steffie, who had just done 4 weeks in Colombia Immersion (CI) in Medellín and who then managed to persuade me in the space of 2 minutes to sign up. 2 weeks later, I was sat in a CI classroom ready to devour more Spanish. 

The lifestyle I had for those wonderful 4.5 weeks was exactly what I needed.

The long trip inland - from coast to capital // San Gil, Bogota, 13 - 19 July

1. Palomino to Santa Marta - 1.5 hours (note to self / pro tip: the availability of bus snacks are dependent on the time of the day. Daytime buses have more variety - like chips, nuts, popcorn, whole fruit or fruit nicely cut in cups - like sliced mango in cups with lemon juice and salt! But on this evening bus we only had ONE lady selling banana bread and brownie, which turned out to be pretty dry even though when she asked how it is Nic and I both smiled and…didn't say it was bad.)

2. Santa Marta to Bucaramanga - 8 hours, overnight, freezing cold (tip: buses in Colombia are usually cold, but not always, but quite often. Always be prepared.) I also realised here that I sleep better with a podcast on.

3. Bucaramanga to San Gil - was supposedly 3 hours but delayed by an hour because they oversold the bus. But I made a Colombian friend on the bus who showed me photos of his toddler and his own music videos on Instagram. 

San Gil - conquering fears!

II wasn’t actually planning on coming to San Gil at all. San Gil is often labelled 'the adventure capital of Colombia' and honestly I didn't have that much interest in adventure sports, but Nic told me about beautiful towns that are easily reachable from San Gil by day trips, and Nic and Stef were going to San Gil on their way to Bogotá, and I had time to kill before starting Spanish course in Medelliín, so rather than being a loner again I decided to join them. Because it’s (almost) always better to travel with people, especially when you have the time.

(Nearly) Nothing gone to plan // Tayrona, Palomino, Punta Gallinas, 6 - 12 July

This was the week where nothing really went according to plan.

Well, my plans were so vague and flexible (it was pretty much just 'go from north to south, with some detours'), that it was so easy to alter or interrupt. That was the beauty of this trip - that I had the capacity to decide on the go. This was completely new to me, since whenever I went on vacation in the past it was never more than 10 days, because vacation days were so limited, so pretty much everything was planned weeks beforehand to maximise the use of time.

But with much more time on my hands, priorities are different. Seeing places is fun, but rest is also important. And even more so, people. In fact, people has been the number one reason for changing my plans.

And the beauty of this place is you'll always be able to find somewhere to stay.

Firstly, I wasn't intending on staying in Minca for 6 nights, as I mentioned in my last post.

In Minca, the Germans (Uli and Jana) and I decided to travel together for the next few days as we were heading in the same direction. So I joined them on a sailing trip they had found on Airbnb Experiences, and we travelled to Tayrona together.

Wasn't planning on going sailing

This is where I wish I had actually made use of my super-underutilized GoPro and taken some footage to capture the day. The short video that I could have compiled would have looked something like this: excitement as we hop onto a sailboat on a fabulously beautiful day, relaxing, eating, chatting, lying in the sun in our swimsuits and sunglasses and straw hats, a bit of being tossed around by the waves, a bit of captain-Sam-attempting-to-sail, jumping off the boat, swimming to and from the beach (one of the beaches in Tayrona), and finally ending with an unbelievable sunset as we head back to the Santa Marta Marina.