Travel Within Colombia

Cartagena

Two of my best friends and I took off to the Caribbean coast (north) and visited Cartagena. We stayed at a luxurious Airbnb that offered an ocean view, marble floors, AC, and was only a ten minute ride from the airport.

We dropped our bags, changed into our swimsuits, and hit the beach.

Two-sided tents lined the seaside, and we opted to have fresh fish under a purple canopy with a view of the ocean. The menu was a platter of dead fish. Point and pick, and tell Manolo how you want it prepared. Prices were higher in Cartagena, so we had to be really careful not to get ripped off. Manolo’s brother tried to change the price, but we were able to regatear, bargain, and remind them what the deal was at first.

The warm, ocean water felt like heaven to my skin as I had been taking cold showers for several weeks. Where we were at, the water was cloudy and dark, but we didn’t have time to take a lancha, ferry, to one of the islands a little farther out. Goals for the next trip.

Sunset by the private resident pool (also with an ocean view) and a cat nap left us ready to hit the town.

We made our way into the older part of town, a colonial city surrounded by a protective wall complete with cannon windows. Music flooded the streets and we dined in the open air a couple of stories up overlooking the crowds below at El Balcón. We had ceviche, a dish of raw seafood and fish heavily limed and spiced, ropa vieja (literally old clothes), fried plantain topped with beef and cheese and ají (spicy sauce), and gazpacho, a cold tomato soup.

To see the majority of the old city at night without fighting off too many of the crowds, we took a horse-drawn carriage tour through the narrow streets. I feel like our driver/tour guide spent the vast majority of his words shouting out street numbers to us, but he did point out where Gabriel García Marquez had lived, so that made up for his wanting explanations.

We made our way up the steps at Café del Mar, a pulsing, throbbing rooftop with views of the sea and plenty of people-watching. The ocean breeze, music, and the dichotomy of a colonial city facing a cluster of skyscrapers made it worth the hassle of the crowds and hawkers selling neon, flashy spheres and imported cigars.

An early morning flight sent us to bed at a reasonable hour, and I will never fly Vivacolombia again after they charged us 30,000 pesos EACH to print our boarding passes at check-in. Here’s a sigh to low-budget airlines.

Salento

Road trip! We packed up Angelica’s car with our overnight bags and four of us went north up into the Valle del Cauca to the zona cafetera, the coffee region.

There are a couple of different routes to get there, but it’s worth it to cough up the pesos at the peajes, tolls, to get a great road with less traffic. Car karaoke and conversation are sometimes the very best entertainment; couple that with beautiful nature views and a handful of drivers worth laughing at and you have an epic road trip.

Night fell hard away from the city lights, and the winding offshoot road (the only entrance to Salento) got really creepy, really fast. Nothing illuminated our path other than the yellow headlamps of our car, and the forest reached out its spindly fingers toward us as we tried to navigate the zigzag curves. It was the perfect scene for a horror film, one of those situations where you’re like, “Now, why are these people out here in the middle of nowhere at this time of night?”

I’m happy to say no gremlins got us, and the hostel we stayed at was economical and only had one roach under Thomas’ pillow. High-fives to success!

Yerson and I rode in a Jeep-like vehicle several miles along a bumpy, dusty, sometimes scary, very narrow road. We toured the Ocaso coffee plantation and got to pick our own beans while learning about the planting, waiting, harvesting, drying, and roasting processes.

Several facts about all things coffee:

1. Coffee plants have a lifespan of 20 years and they are only producing 14 years out of that time.

2. The plants are home to a LOT of spiders.

3. It’s a good idea to have fruit growing in your coffee plantation to distract the birds.

4. It’s a good idea to have rotten fruit on the ground to distract the ants.

5. Hybrid plants can resist some diseases better than non-hybrids.

6. Picking coffee beans is tough. And it doesn’t pay all that well.

Bottom line. A lot of work goes into that little mug of joy we sip every morning.

After the coffee tour, we had a traditional bandeja paisa lunch of carne asada, plantain, chicharrón, avocado, beans, and sausage while being serenaded by a couple of Colombian country men with guitars.

Next stop, the Parque Nacional de Café, an amusement park in the heart of coffee country. Unfortunately, I picked up a little bug from market food in Cali, so spent the majority of my time laying low. Bumper cars, roller coasters, a swinging boat, and a teleférico (cable car) were some of the highlights of the park. However, I would have paid the 26,000 pesos that I paid for the entry just for a bathroom, so I felt like it was a real deal.

With an early morning red-eye flight back to the States the following morning, we made our way back to Cali in the late evening and caught a few zzzs.

With Angie’s wedding in the books, I headed back to Dallas, suitcases loaded with gifts of cigars and coffee. 18 hours in Dallas then back on the road to be followed with another experience as I’m spanning the crack!
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