Another tick on the UNESCO list which I’m not keeping. Cartagena. It was one of the storage points for merchandise sent out from Spain, and for treasure collected from the Americas to be sent back to Spain. It was also heavily fortified and the remains of some of the forts can still be seen and visited. We spent a couple of nights here and had a very nice day walking around the old city, getting properly rained on and enjoying the sights.

The rainy season really is a thing. It lashes down for anywhere between 20-40 minutes and then clears up, usually accompanied by lightning.

We visited Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, a very significant fort back in the day. Riddled with tunnels they still haven’t finished exploring. Maaike wasn’t that impressed when the lights went out while we were in them..

Stunning sunset. This place needs a timelapse ;) Seriously, I’m considering putting a little bit of effort into making my little timelapse website more accessible and then making it into a public geek-art project. It’d be awesome to see timelapses from around the world, especially from groovy views like this one!

We also went for a swim in the sea. Not sure if it’s technically the Caribbean or not, but it was really really warm, even I enjoyed it ;)

I wussed out for Medellin. We’d met some girls in the hostel in Salento who told us that they’d been robbed at gunpoint, at 11am, by the bus station. Also, the hostel owner in Manizales told us that he’d been robbed at knifepoint (though I’m not sure when)… so I wasn’t that keen to go at all, let alone stay a few nights. We did basically have to pass through though, but I negotiated Maaike down to just 1 night.

In the event, Medellin was fine… I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say it was a “nice” town, but it was fine enough. A few years ago it was the most dangerous city in the world (when the drug cartels were more in power), but they have really cleaned up the place. A lot of tourists go there to see where Pablo Escobar had one of his houses, but we didn’t go. Part of the reason for not visiting was the aforementioned wanting to get the hell out of dodge, and the other was that Colombia is (understandably) wanting to move past the drug image.

Anyway, we did the walking tour, it’s great, would recommend. It’s also where Fernando Botero is from, and he has donated a lot of art. Below you can see two birds, one partly destroyed. A bomb was placed there and several people (including children) killed. The authorities were about to take it away when the mayor got a call from Fernando basically saying “don’t you dare take that away”, and he then donated another bird to go beside the bombed out one. A powerful reminder of where they were and hope for a better future.

One of the actions which spurred positive change in the city was electing a new mayor back in early 2000’s. He was a maths professor and prioritized a couple of things.

1. He installed artwork in dodgy parts of town. So, places that had been historically bad areas were rejuvenated.
2. He prioritised libraries. So anyone in whatever part of town had (free) access to libraries.

The other thing was the metro system they have. It connects across the city, from the poorest areas to the richest, and all tickets cost the same, regardless of distance. So this means that no matter where you live you can get to work in the city if that’s what it takes. There is no damage / graffiti to be seen, and from talking to people, it seems like it’s one thing they all agree to look after.

So, I was probably wrong not to give Medellin a longer stay. They really have turned the city around, and while muggings & theft still happen, it’s unlikely that you’ll run into it. Just keep your valuables out of sight (preferably in a money belt), don’t use your smartphone more than necessary walking in the street (snatchings happen), keep things in zip pockets where possible, have a small lock for your bag to prevent opportunistic thefts (thanks Myra for the combination lock!), and once you’re checked into your room, leave most stuff there and only go out with enough cash for what you need. That should do it. Oh, and cover your ATM combination when typing it in!

And yes, it used to be the murder capital of the world.. but no more!

I loved Manizales. Specifically I loved our hostel – if you’re looking for somewhere nice and relaxed (i.e not a party hostel), then definitely go there. The food was amazing, and the place just super relaxing. There are things to do in the area, but we pretty much just chilled. We did a walk down the hill to the stream/river, and completely failed to properly look for the waterfall, however, a nice walk, even in the heat (and that at nearly 1500m ish?)

The owner, a Canadian (of Iranian? extraction?), has a small hobby farm/animals there. It’s the sort of place he couldn’t afford to have in Canada, but way easier in Colombia. Maaike got her animal fix.

I also got the Raspberry Pi out again (I can hear the collective sighs of relief, this blog was getting a little slack on the timelapsin’ front). They gave me an extension cord and all was well. The camera had actually broken on the trip, but I just pressed the sensor back in again and all seemed to be well. There was quite a bit of cloud in the morning – so there’s a good 20 seconds of quite white footage here.

Anyway, loved our stay, would happily recommend.

I did like Salento. And quite a lot of Colombians like it too, it’s #2 or something on their most popular places to visit. We stayed at a nice hostel that our friends Isidor and Michelle recommended. Great spot, run by a Canadian couple who I suspect are quite shrewd in their investments. Tourism (or was it GDP?) is growing at 15%/year, so it’s a good time to get in.

We visited a coffee farm. Apparently Colombia is the third largest producer of coffee in the world. We certainly learned a bit about how the process works, the different varieties they use, blight, shade (they like it), how many times you can use a plant/tree (3 – chopping it back each time)

We also went to Los Nevados. It’s a large national park, but we just went to one small part, mainly to see the hummingbirds. Nice walk though.

Finally, I must mention “Brunch”, a wonderful wonderful wonderful diner in Salento. Probably the best thickshake I’ve had in a very long time, possibly even since Eddie Rockets in Dublin, and just phenomenal peanut brownie with homemade ice-cream. If you’re in the area go!

Well, very pleasantly surprised by Bogata. Colombia seems to have changed in the last few years, at least, every traveller we have met has spoken very highly of it. There are still robberies (snatching iPhones seems to be a favourite), but on the whole it’s not a nest of thieves waiting around every corner.

Anyway, flew in at night, took a taxi to the hostel… our guidebook was quite specific about only taking yellow taxi’s from the registered stand. My driver didn’t know where the hostel was.. but Open Street Maps to the rescue again. Worked out.

We went on a couple of free* walking tours. Free as they always ask for a donation at the end. Fair enough too as they were both great.

First up was a “generic” walking tour. We certainly got a flavour of the place, learning some of the unfortunate history. People getting assassinated etc. Plan Colombia seemed especially nasty, and, according to our guide there’s a “Plan Mexico” going on at the moment. To quote:

The plan awarded monetary compensation for the dead bodies of guerrilla members and therefor incentivized the murders of hundreds of people, including innocent civilians.

Anyway good tour, including the trip to the gallery of Fernando Botero. Quite fun.

The second tour we did was a graffiti tour. Some of these buildings are worth quite a bit now. E.G. the gate with the fish on it is worth 10-20K! I did like the Ronzo pieces especially, will have to keep an eye out for those. He goes around and puts up little signs to blend in with the surroundings. Very neat.

Finally we took the tramway up to Monserrate for the view. We would have walked but there has been so little rain lately that erosion is a serious worry. I’m not sure it was worth the money to go up, but as a walk it’d be a fine option.