<![CDATA[ALUSOARE - Colombia]]>

<![CDATA[ALUSOARE - Colombia]]>Wed, 16 Oct 2024 13:11:25 +0200Weebly<![CDATA[A weekend in Bogota]]>Tue, 12 Sep 2023 22:00:00 GMThttps://www.alusoare.com/colombia/a-weekend-in-bogotaThe capital of Colombia is a monster when it comes to it's size, thus it can get easy overwhelming. Despite not being the pretties city out there, we did put aside a full weekend as are lucky to have friends living there so we could get a bit of a more local vibe of the city

Getting there

Ok, this is straight forward independent from where you are coming, but as I am sharing my experience will put the details here.

We were coming from Salento, so we took the bus from Armenia at 23:00 and arrived in Bogota around 07:00 on Friday.

From there we got an Uber and went to our friends place :)

Day 1 - Friday

After we dropped our stuff we went for brunch at Mistral to gain some energy for the day and from there we took a Uber to the center.

We then visited the Botero museum. This museum is free and even if you are not a big art fan I found it totally worth our time.

From there we gave Selva Nevada Ice cream place a try. I love ice creams in Colombia s the flavors are so much different than the ones we are used to in Europe

And from there we walked to the Bolivar Square.

For the afternoon we booked with GuruWalk a free tour of La Candelaria neighborhood.

The tour was nice as you could sample several of the local fruits of Colombia and at the end we also got to taste some coffee.

In the evening we were already exhausted so we went for some pizza close to where we were staying and we ended our day with a cocktail.

Day 2 - Saturday

Museo de Oro - one of the must see museums in Bogota is the Gold Museum. Put aside about 2h so that you have enough time to go around.

Make sure to try several of the street foods you find in Bolivar Square, we tried the grilled corn and Arepas with cheese.

From there we went to Monserrate to get the views from the top. Make sure you take some time as especially if you are at the end of the day, the queues at the cable car to go down take a very long time.

If you are anyway there, check of the Black Virgen in the Santuario de Monserrate

This was also the day we went out to eat and dance, a great place, very traditional and touristy in the same time is Andres Care de Res. Prepare for a lot of Aguardiente and Reggaeton vibes.

Day 3 - Sunday

On our last day in Bogota and in Colombia we took it slow, woke up late, packed had some breakfast and went for one of the Sunday Markets packed with Souvenirs. It's actually impossible not to buy at least something.

Finished the walk with a coffee and off to the airport, 24 days flew by in a second.

]]><![CDATA[Coffee & Palms in Salento]]>Tue, 05 Sep 2023 22:00:00 GMThttps://www.alusoare.com/colombia/coffee-palms-in-salentoThe magic land of coffee and super tall palm trees.

Salento will be a very busy tourist destination as you get several categories of people coming here.
The ones that are basically interested in coffee, the ones that are interested in nature and the curiosity which is the national tree of Colombia, the ones that care for both, and the ones that just pass by as it's close'ish to Bogota and on the top things to do in Colombia.

We were part of the 3rd category namely, the ones that are interested in coffee and nature so we wanted it all.

Getting there

First I'll give you my route, this could be funny if you read also my previous post, if not just jump over this mini paragraph:
I left Providencia Island on Monday lunch time - took a plane to San Andres, then a plane to Bogota then a taxi to Terminal de Saltire, than a night bus to Armenia and then another bus to Salento arriving on Tuesday morning at our destination. It was looooong! But super happy we made it with no delays.

Now the details. You will likely get to Salento from Bogota (or maybe Medellin), less likely from Cali. From all these places you have the option to go by plane or bus + bus.

If you decide to fly, you can take the plane to Armenia or Pereira, most of the airlines fly and the flights should be reasonable priced. Once you land you need to get to the bus terminal and from there catch a bus to Salento. The bus takes about 1h and leaves frequently.

If you decide to go by bus, like us, you have several bus companies doing the routes. I can only tell you my experience from Bogota but you can also go from Medellin by bus (will be longer though).

Our approach was to save some time and travel while you sleep. You have during the night hours some double decker busses with comfortable seats at the 1st floor and luxury seats at the ground floor. If you aim for the comfortable seats, mostly you can just go at the terminal and get your seat same day, this is also how most Colombians will do. If you want to get the luxury seats, you need to book in advance as they are not that many.

After some research, we decided to travel with Expresso Bolivariano duobus. We could not book on their website and we could not proceed to the payment bit, but we managed to book our tickets with RedBus (it's an app, in case you did not hear about it). The only trick is that you only have the option to fill out your ID and not the passport, but we just removed some of the characters in our passport and filled out 6 numbers & it worked (actually nobody asked us for our identification).
The bus leaves around 22:30 and arrived next morning around 6:30 in Armenia.

From the same bus terminal just ask where the buses to Salento leave and jump on one of those buses which will drop you in Salento 1h later.

Accommodation

We stayed at Balcones de Ayer. The people there were supper friendly, but the rooms were very small and the breakfast very basic. Don't drink that coffee as it's a disgrace for the region, better go to Concreto Cafe and get yourself a proper coffee.

Salento for Coffee Lovers

If you love coffee and are going to Salento, you already know why you are going :).
There are several coffee farms you can visit to learn about the story of how the arabica coffee got into Colombia & how come it worked so well with the production as well as drink some coffee and if you have the time do also a actual a coffee tasting tour.

Independent on the coffee farms you will go and I'll give you an update on what we tried, your coffee farm visit starts in the main square where you can get your Willy (the old super basic but strong Jeeps that act as public transport to the coffee farms) ticket and be on your way :).
At the ticket office they might try to sell you also the entrance fees for the farms, but I would recommend you to but them directly with the farm.

We decided to visit 3 coffee farms to give us the option to understand everything very well. I will not get into details, as I do believe you should get your information from your source over a cup of coffee. Here what we visited & what we thought about it.

1. Finca Don Elias
This is one of the smaller coffee farms (even though they told us that they would aim to open a roastery in Paris or Madrid if all goes well).

One of the items I liked a lot here is that they actually explained very visual the hydration benefits of the banana trees that you will see in the different farms.

The rest was pretty standard, they would show you how the coffee is collected, how it is dried and then roasted.

At the end you get to taste some very traditionally made coffee.

2. Finca Buenos Aires
This is one of the bigger farms and the tour is also nicely structured and it provide you a lot of details.

After walking through the farm where they show you basically the same as they did at the Finca Don Elias you get to see the different stages of the coffee grains on a table, which is nice to be able to differentiate between them and of course your cup of coffee.

3. Finca Ocaso
Four our 3rd one we booked also a testing clase. On tope of the general info which would get in all other farms with more or less details here we also smelled & tasted the coffee both when it's just grained and when you have water added on top.

It's interesting that you get to understand that the aroma of the grained coffee is very different than what you would actually taste in the cup.

Valle de Cocora

Of course, the second reason why people come to Salento are the huge palm trees. These palm trees are called Palma de Cera which is the national tree of Colombia and can grow up to 60m. Unfortunately their reproduction is complex and they are at risk of dispreading.

The trail is decent with an exception of an uphill/downhill depending if you go clock wise or anti clock wise. We decided to go anti clock wise as both me and my friend have some bad experiences with downhills. I will not get here in details of the trail as there is already a lot of information online.

The only thing that I will say is, get good shoes (it helps) and make sure to have enough water and snacks :)

Casa de los Colibries
One of the detours you can do on your trail is to what they call the house of the hummingbirds.

I don't know if I should consider this a tourist trap or worse. You need to pay 15000 COP to get there and you get a cup of "coffee" or hot water with panela for this. they say it's aimed to protect the hummingbirds, but on the other hand they attract them to come over there buy giving them water with sugar in some containers that look like flowers, which can't be healthy.

You do get the see hummingbirds, but to be fair I would rather prefer seeing them randomly (and you can do this in a lot of countries including Colombia) without the need to tricking them to come to the same place.

Overall info:
- COST in Feb 2023: 6000 COP (passing through some private property) + 15000 COP (Colibri) + 10000 COP (the Cocora Valley itself) + 9000 COP (Willy return ticket) = 40000 COP
- DISTANCE: 12 KM
- TIME: started 8:45 finished 14:35 (with detour + snack brake)

What else to do in Salento

Salento is small, so you do not need a lot of time to walk through the colorful streets, take a lot of pictures, visit all the souvenir shops and go up to the Mirador de Salento

You can also go on a day trip to Filandia but don't bother if you don't have the time as it's very similar to Salento.

If you want to get something to eat and a delicious drink try them at Helena Adentro.

Food & Drink in Salento

I'll start with FOOD. I would say there are 2 items you need to try:

1. The giant patacon, which depending where you eat it it comes with a different ix of toppings. I would recommended the one at Donde Laurita, ask for an extra portion of avocado, it will make it even better.

2. The Trout, it's actually a salmon taurt, which tastes more like a salmon than like a trout. It comes with different toppings and cooking styles. I tried 2 but can't say I was impressed (For those who know it, I love the Romanian trout)

Moving to the drinks version, here I was wowed by 3 things, you can find them all at Concreto Cafe:

1. The actual coffee - don't take it for granted, because you are in Salento it does not mean all coffee is good. From what we tried the best one is at Concreto

2. The Coconut Lemonade (Limonada de Coco) - this is a delicious drink made with actual coconut, lemon juice, sugar and water.

3. Canelazo which is made out of cinnamon, panela, lemon juice and water. At Concreto you can also add some alcohol into it and they pimp it with passion fruit (it's a must)

]]><![CDATA[Providencia]]>Tue, 29 Aug 2023 22:00:00 GMThttps://www.alusoare.com/colombia/providenciaKnown also as the sea of the 7 colors, the island of Providencia is the perfect place to take a break.

When you are on a full full travel schedule, a few days put aside for some time on the beach is like a blessing for batteries recharge. I am not a big fan of doing nothing but staying on the beach the full day but this weekend getaway was just perfect!

It's important to know that Providencia is currently going through a rebuilding after being destroyed by a hurricane in 2020.

Getting there

This is not an easy one. Providencia is an island in the San Andres Archipelago which, on the map, is actually closer to Nicaragua than to Colombia (you can imagine some territory discussions over this). Being an island and so far away you don't really have a lot of options to get there.

As a first bit you need to reach San Andres. This is actually not that complicated as you can fly from Bogota or Medellin in 2-2.5h. Before boarding the plane, keep in mind that you will need to pay an entrance fee to San Andres archipelago of about 125.000 COP (Feb 2023).

From San Andres you need to take a flight with Satena in an ATR (the small propeller flights) which will bring you to the tiny airport of Providencia. This bit of the flight is gorgeous as you have a beautiful view over the several shades of blues of the sea.

Getting around

The best way to go around is by scooter, but you can also call a taxi or walk. We did a mix between the 3 actually and worked out fine.

Day 1

We arrived in the afternoon and as soon as we dropped out our things at the accommodation we went to the beach (South West Bay).

On our way we ended up at Sony's, one of the diving centers on the island as one of my friends who is has and advanced diving certificate wanted to go the next day and see if he can swim with the sharks (friendly sharks).

Although in high doubt, I have been convinced to also give diving a chance but of course this was super beginner version.

After arranging everything for the next day, we continued our way to the beach, accompanied by some stray dogs which seem to be everywhere on the island.

We finished our day watching the sunset over a mojito and some bachata vibes, followed by a fish feast for dinner at El Divino Nino.

Day 2

The next morning, our friend went for his diving trip and me together with my other friend went to the beach (magical...as there was no one ... well almost no one) as we were going for our diving class at 13:00.

I don't have photos, mainly because the go pro of the diving instructor did not work, but it was for sure a very interesting & colorful activity.

From there we went to Manzanillo Beach to change the angle and By the time we went back we were literally starving and finished our evening with ... you guessed it .. sea food dinner at Sonny's Cave :)

Day 3

Our last full day in Providencia, we went to Santa Catalina Island (which is connected by a bride to Providencia) and spent a few hours on one of the tiny beach places over there

From there we went to Almond Bay and in the evening back for a cocktail to South West Bay.

We had fancy dinner reservations at Donde Martin so we had to go back to shower & change before going to our last restaurant for the day. Make sure to book, as the place gets packed especially during weekends.

Day 4

This was a super crazy day for us, and I am super grateful all ran smoothly as we were travelling all the way to Salento.

]]><![CDATA[Fairytale Village: Guatape]]>Tue, 22 Aug 2023 22:00:00 GMThttps://www.alusoare.com/colombia/fairytale-village-guatapeSo pretty, so so pretty. Anyway, if you are to only pick one day trip out of Medellin, this must be it. Let's see why.

Getting there

From Terminal del Norte (you can get there by metro. Yes Medellin has metro and is the only place in Colombia that has it, so consider it a touristic activity) get on a bus from locket 14 to Guatape (19000 COP, Feb 2023). If you are planning to also visit the Piedra de Penol, than as your ticket till Penol as it will be a tiny bit cheaper. From El Penol, just get a tuk tuk to brig you to Guatape (15000 COP, Feb 2023).

El Penol de Guatape

The bus driver will drop you next to a gas station from where you need to walk a bit (follow the stairs) which will bring you to the entrace.

The entrance fee is 20000 COP, Feb 2023.

The stone managed to resist in time and became a tourist attraction after 708 staircase was built.

The view from the top is breath taking and so worth the entrance fee and the endless stairs to the top.

Guatape Village

Except the Calle de las Paraguas (or Carrera 29) which is the most famous bit of the little town there is not much to add to a list of what to visit, but it's a pleasure to walk the colorful streets and take endless amount of pictures.

We ate at Restaurante Mixtura Gourment and the food was very good.

If you have more time, you can do opt for a glamping experience on one of the small islands you see from the Rock of Penol

We did not have this option as another experience was waiting for us and had to go back to Medellin

]]><![CDATA[Comuna 13, Medellin]]>Wed, 16 Aug 2023 22:00:00 GMThttps://www.alusoare.com/colombia/comuna-13-medellinWe did not stay in Medellin as we are not big fans of cities, but if you are short on time, and you can only spare a few hours, make sure to visit Comuna 13, you will understand a bit better the struggles of this city.

I will actually not put too much text into it, as you can read a lot of this info online.

But what i would actually recommended, is to book a tour with someone local to bring you around and explain you their experience over the years.

We booked our free tour via GuruWalk and felt it was worth our time and money :)

Maybe 1 note, if you love streetart -- this place is a must must must, but you probably already know this

Make sure to go up the stairs, on one hand you will understand how complicated it is to leave up (imagine having to Cary a washing machine) and how much the electric stairs that cover part of the climb help) and on the other hand you get this view:

]]><![CDATA[Pacific Coast: Bahia Solano, El Valle, (Nuqui)]]>Tue, 08 Aug 2023 22:00:00 GMThttps://www.alusoare.com/colombia/pacific-coast-bahia-solano-el-valle-nuquiIf you read Lonely Planet, you will see Nuqui listed as the place to go between July & October as it's whale season ... but if you are not Colombian and you are not visiting Colombia during that period, should you still go?

The short answer is: YES!
If you don't live in a place that has a coast to the Pacific, than visiting the Pacific Coast in Colombia will be a very special and different experience. Let's see why :)

Getting There

Now it depends on the time you have and on the love you have for being a long time on a boat vs flying. It's not that I don't like boats, but I am afraid of being at sea. This is not to say that I don't take boats, I do, but with a Heart Rate high enough for my watch to consider that I am working out (oooops) ... way to burn calories.

Basically, we discarded the option of getting there by boat (about 18-24h) and decided to fly.
Given the remoteness of the area you will board into an ATR (if not familiar with aircrafts, it's a small airplane with propeller).

There are few companies (e.g., Satena & EasyFly) that fly into the area as they need to have in their fleet such an aircraft and most of them use bigger ones.

Our initial plan was to fly & stay in Nuqui, but about 1 week before our flight (this was the day we landed in Bogota) Satena announced us that the airport in Nuqui closed for renovations and neither they nor any other company was flying there. This of course posed a bit of stress as we still wanted to reach the area but he had mad no previous research on what other option we had.
Thanks to the jet leg we woke up pretty early the day after we landed in Bogota and researched alternatives and found that EasyFly was flying to Bahia Solano, a village a bit more up north from Nuqui so we "replaced" our destination with Bahia Solano .

We arrived at EOH Airport (which is the airport within Medellin) and took our 1h flight to Bahia Solano. We landed on a tiny airport where the arrivals hall is a tent :D and where you have to pay an entry fee. We picked our luggage and got on a tuk tuk to our hotel.

Where is Choco

The province of Choco is on the west side of Colombia with access to both the Pacific and the Atlantic Coast. The full Boarder with Panama is within the Choco province.
Choco is often overlooked by both national and international travelers for serval reasons between which:
- it is hard to reach (airplane or boat only)
- it's expensive (as you need to move around by boat, it will be a more expensive trip compared to other trips you can do in Colombia)
- it's a very poor area with only basic infrastructure
- it can be dangerous if you go out of the main points of touristic activities

What to do in Choco

Day 1 - Arrival day

After dropping our luggage at the hotel, they arranged for us a boat to pick us up and bring us to Playa Mecana to relax in the afternoon.

But before we went to eat. Our boat driver brought us to his house to offer a local lunch with tuna, patacones & rice.

From there we spent the afternoon on the beach and made friends with a lot of cute crabs.

Your activities in this area will be defined by the tides which are very pronounced here. Similar to what you find for e.g., at the North Sea in Belgium & Cantabiran Sea in Spain. For this our boat driver picked us up around 17:00 and brought us back to Bahia Solano.

We took a walk through the village and finished our evening with a beer and some fried yuca

Day 2 - El Valle

We booked our tuk tuk to drive us to El Valle which is about 1h away from Bahia Solano (if you have ore time to research, not like us, or if you read the post, it's more convenient to stay in el Valle).

When arriving in El Valle we have been handed over to a motorcycle driver who brought us to MamaOrbe which is a turtle sanctuary on the amazing 9k long Playa Cuevita

At Mama Orbe we had breakfast

Followed by resting for some time on the black sand beach

And then we could release some baby turtles which were born the same morning. This was a beautiful but also sad experience.

Mama Orbe explained us the work that is being done in the sanctuary, the amount of plastic the washes on the shores and explained us how the turtles know how to return back to this beach to lay their eggs 18 - 20 years after having been released.

To support the place 50000 COP is requested per person (which is not really voluntary)

At 13:00 our motorcycle driver came to pick us up and brought us to Playa el Almejal to spend the afternoon.

This is a smaller beach but friendlier to beach lovers when it comes to the big tide difference. But don't relax too much as you can't be sure how fast the water grows.

Here we could also see a lot of plastic on the beach, and keep in mind that this does not come from the people in the village but most likely from people all over the world :(

At 17:00 our tuk tuk driver came to pick us up and bring us back to Bahia Solano.

Day 3 - Utria National Park

This was our last full day in Choco so we decided to go back with the tuk tuk to El Valle and take a boat trip in Utria National Park.

The boat was 300.000 COP (for 2) and the "captain" was with us the full day also acting as a guide in the Park.

The park itself, was for me not especially impressive but hopefully the entrance fee can help keep the park natural and clean.

After the visit we went to Playa Blanca which is the only white sand beach on Pacific (at least in the area).

It was very relaxing as there were super few people and we could enjoy the place almost only for us.

Around 15:30 where there was almost no more beach left, we took the boat and went back to El Valle and we spent some time on the beach with a beer before our tuk tuk driver arrived.

Day 4 - Departure

Unexpectedly we had to go to this tiny airport 2h i advance as their process is fully manual and they told us that we can risk being left behind ... not that we would have not liked staying longer in this area, but we had more to explore.

]]><![CDATA[Tayrona National Park]]>Thu, 03 Aug 2023 16:23:50 GMThttps://www.alusoare.com/colombia/tayrona-national-parkOne of the must visit places in Colombia is the National Park of Tayrona. Part of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range, the national park stretches over 30 square km of the Caribbean Coast.

After 4 days in the higher parts of Sierra Nevada mountain area, it was type to relax and let our legs rest at the Caribbean Coast and so our next stop on our Colombia Itinerary was the National Park of Tayrona.

Getting There

From Santa Marta head to the main square and get one of the buses that starts leaving as of 6:00 in the morning. After 1h you will get in front of the parks entrance.

Before adding the park on your itinerary, make sure to check the parks website as they close the park a few times per year so that the nature and animals can take a break from all the tourists.
2023 closing times:
- February 1 to 15,
- June 1 to 15
- October 19 to November 2
Another thing to consider is that only a certain number of people are allowed in the park per day, thus on weekends and right after re-openings long queues tends to get formed at the entry in the park.

The park opens at 8:00 and the entry price for foreigners (in Feb 2023) was 68000 COP (62000 COP entrance fee - can be paid by card or cash and 6000 COP insurance - can be paid only cash)

After the entry, catch a bus that saves you some waking time and then you get into a 1h walking trail. We arrived at our accommodation at 10AM

Accommodation

We booked our accommodation in booking.com. There are several accommodations which range from hummocks to bungalows, we chose the tent option which seemed the best option for us.

Info & Must Knowns

Most of the accommodation have wifi on site, but keep in mind that there is no 4G connectivity in the park.
Bring sunblock more than you would usually do on the beach & mosquito repellent.
Have cash with you, although some places (restaurants next to accommodation) do accept cards, most of the smaller places only accept cash.
Avoid having luggage, you can carry them by horses, but by would you. Leave most of the things on your previous accommodation & get only what you need for the time you will be in the park.

What to do

We did not investigate what things you can do, as we came with the sole purpose to relax. While checking in we asked what are the best beaches to visit and so we decided to visit 2 beaches on the first day and send the second day on a closer beach as we had to leave around 16:00 to make it in time to our flight to Medellin.

Follow the instructions when it comes to the flags you have on the beach, red means no swimming (and it's actual no swimming not like in other places) and back means, that at least over 100 people died there.

Day 1: Playa La Piscina

Our first stop was Playa La Piscina, with it's calm waters, I would say, it was my favorite beach.
We spent a few spent a few hours there and enjoyed the sun and warm water.

Day 1: Cabo de San Juan

This is supposed to be the jewel of Tayrona, but although very pretty, it was very crowded and I could not enjoy the place that much.

Day 2: Playa Arenilla

As mentioned, we could not stay till very late, so we decided to leave the closest beach for the last day so that we spend as much time as possible on the beach.

Two things I recommend you to try in the park

1. Fresh cut coconuts :)

2. Arepa Huevo - don't think calories, think it's something local which you need to check out.

My overall opinion

Even though I would still consider it a must, for me, Tayrona did not raise to it's fame. I am happy that we decided to stay only 1 night, which felt lithe the perfect amount of time to spend in the park.

]]><![CDATA[Lost City Trek]]>Thu, 27 Jul 2023 22:00:00 GMThttps://www.alusoare.com/colombia/lost-city-trekOne of the main highlights of Colombia was the Trek to Ciudad Perdida. This of course deserves a dedicated post to give you an idea if this is something you would like to include or not in your itinerary.

Which Company to Book with

Maybe to start with, you can't do this on your own, you need to go with a guide.

The general answer would be, any as the price & route are the same, the accommodation and the food will be similar or at times the same. The difference will be in items such as: level of English of the guides/translators, payment/size of group.

After reading about each and every company (main ones being: Expotur; Magic Tour Colombia; Turcol Travel; Wiwa Tour Colombia) we decided to book our trip with Wiwa Tour, because the guides are all from one of the 4 indigenous communities that can be found in the Sierra Nevada Mountain area.

Payment Experience with Wiwa Tour.
Ok, this was not great but here what we managed to do.
When you book, you pay 10% of the price via PayPal. The rest is to be paid in Cash or if you are Colombian you will also have the option to transfer money.
We wanted to avoid to carry over 3mil Colombian Pesos for 2 people) with us and so we asked one of our friends that lives in Colombia to do the bank transfer & we sent the proof via WhatsApp to the tour company. If you don't have someone who can help you with that, you can still pay by card but there is a fee on top of the tour price.

Difficulty & What to Pack

I am a regular hiker (nothing extreme, but I have done a few moderately challenging treks such as Trolltunga in Norway, Ben Nevis in Scotland or the Tour du Mont Blanc, Base Camp of Aconcagua, Argentina etc.) so from my perspective this should be a doable trek for everyone that has a decent fitness level.

You can chose between 4 or 5 days trek, but I would recommend the 4 days tour as on the 5 days one you will not really cover a lot of less km per day, but on the way back you simply take a detour to visit some waterfalls.

You will also be with a group of different hiking levels, so there will be people in front, people in the middle and people at the end (obviously) but the guides will make sure there is at least 1 in front and 1 in the back so even if you are slow you will not be alone and you can take advantage of this beautiful trek.

When it comes to packing, when in doubt leave it at home/in the luggage that you store at the tour company office/previous accommodation.

I used my Osprey Tempest 20 (which counted without problem as personal item on all planes I took in this trip). The 20 L offers enough space for all you need to take with you and has a great back support for a long hike.

I will not get in detail of all the items I took with me (if you need such info send me a msg on my IG @alusoare), but items that I truly believe are a must are listed below:

- a good small backpack
- hiking shoes (that you are comfortable with)
- trekking pole (1 is enough & you can rent it at the tour company office, make sure to ask it early as they don't have a lot)
- sun screen & mosquito spray
- toilet paper/soap
- ibuprofen (and if you know you have bad knees, a knee band)
- super fast drying clothes
- sleeping sleeve
- dry sacks or garbage bags (it's extremely humid)

Day by Day Info & notes

I will describe here my day to day experience, but based on the weather, tour company, group you travel with my experience will be different than yours.
Remember there is no 4G network in the area but some camps offer wifi against a price (I would recommend to take the opportunity to disconnect, you rarely have the chance)

DAY 1

We met at the Wiwa Tour office around 8:00 where we all had to register and some people still had to pay. We then left with 2 small buses (we were a group of 22) to the trek entry point (La Aguacatera) where we got some bracelets and we continued our bus tour for another hour or so and the bus dropped us at El Machete where we had lunch.

This "map" will depend on the company you travel with

After lunch and a few words from the guide we finally started our walk. The first day is relatively easy as it's only about 6km till the WIWA accommodation. On the way you will get some watermelon which is out of this world in terms of deliciousness.

Once you reach the accommodation, you shower (prepare for cold water) and then around 18:00 you have dinner and you are in bed by 20:30.

DAY 2

Your day will start with a wake up call at 4:40 (that is AM, yes), you get a quick breakfast and then walk for 7-8 km to your lunch break.

This night you will sleep close to the last part of the trek before getting into Ciudad Perdida. When we've been there we stayed at camping Lorenzo as the camping which was a bit further ahead was closed due to a landslide. This camping hosts over 200 people so it will be busy and cleanness is nit their highest priority. Also to avoid having too many people sleeping in hummocks they are pairing people together in the same bed. You can opt out, but might end up in a hummock.

Day 3

The wake up is early and this is actually the day you will reach Ciudad Perdida, but not before climbing 1200 steps (it's quite a stretch). Here you can get a stamp in your passport, bring some extra paper with you as the stamp does not dry fast.

1200 steps

You get the story of the place both from indigenous and archeological perspective and of course a fruit break.

If the guide can arrange it, you can meet the Mamu (one of the wise and spiritual guides of the indigenous communities - each community has it's own Mamu).

You spend about 3h at Ciudad Perdida walking around and taking photos.

Coca Leaves

On the way back, you have lunch in the same place you slept the night before and on this day you walk a total of 15 - 16 km.

At the end of the day, we had the opportunity to discover some of the WIWA traditions, listen to local music and learn a few dance steps.

Day 4

Maybe being the last one, this day feels like a stretch while you walk back to the starting point where you have lunch. From here the buses that dropped us and brought us back to Santa Marta

Keep in mind when you pack, if it rains this is how the ground will look like

The total tour is of about 60 km (my Apple Watch should 52km). Keep in mind that if it rains (at it will very likely rain) the whole road becomes a mud bath. Be careful as it will slide and at times you can have difficulties getting your sneakers out of the mud.

This was a beautiful experience as it gave us a great combo: hiking in nature, seeing less seen places, fining out more about the local history & meet new people that share your same interests.

]]><![CDATA[Should you stop in Santa Marta?]]>Mon, 10 Jul 2023 22:00:00 GMThttps://www.alusoare.com/colombia/should-you-stop-in-santa-martaThere's an easy answer to this: depends :D .. ok, not that easy.

For purely touristic purposes, Santa Marta is better to be skipped, for my personal preferences it has nothing special to offer, but it is key if you plan certain activities in the area, plus it has an airport with connectivity to the main cities of the country.
Also, I heard, in case this is something that interests you that Santa Marta is a good place to get your scuba diving certificate as it is very cheap and convenient... just saying.

How we "used" Santa Marta

We arrived around 15:00 in the city and went to our accommodation.
We stayed at Puerta Aqua by La Puerta Hostels.
The Hostel is well located close to the center and to the different activities you would like to do.
The staff is very friendly and helpful, we could leave our luggage even over a few days over there which was great.

From the accommodation we went to grab something to eat at Lulo Cafe Bar. The food was good and interesting to try some different kind of Arepas.

As dessert we tried the ice cream from Gnam Gelateria where a lot of their flavors are made with fresh fruit .... a deliciousness ... must try.

As in Cartagena we decided to book a free tour, which was a big disappointment as we learned nothing new and I can't say I saw anything particularly beautiful ... the guide was also a disaster despite the good reviews on GuruWalk.

The real reason why we stayed in Santa Marta was to have a place where we could store our luggage for:
- our 4 days hike to Ciudad Perdida which I will cover completely in a different post
- overnight stay in Tayrona National Park which I will also cover in a separate post
- Flight to Medellin

]]><![CDATA[A weekend in Cartagena]]>Tue, 04 Jul 2023 22:00:00 GMThttps://www.alusoare.com/colombia/a-weekend-in-cartagenaOur adventure started in a perfect place. Colorful, with a super vibrant night life and loads of history, Cartagena is a must visit in Colombia.

Getting There

If you are getting into Colombia via Bogota, the easiest & fastest way to get into Cartagena is by plane. Most of the airlines fly to Cartagena so it should be easy to get a good connection.
Once at the airport you can get a taxi into the city. We paid 16000 COP to our hotel in Getsemani (when we asked the hotel, they advised it should not be more than 20000 COP)

Where to stay in Cartagena

The best areas to stay in Cartagena are within the walled city or in Getsemani. These are also the safest areas so you should have no issues to move around. We stayed in Getsemani and I am very happy we did so, as you could see how this neighbourhood transforms itself from day to night.

What to do in Cartagena

For this part, of the post, I will tell you what I did and explain why I did it like this.
We arrived on Friday mid day and this was also our first actual day in Colombia, that meant we also needed to cover some admin.

Before I start, I would like to tell you that maps.me will be mostly better than google maps, as it will help with the number vs. names of streets. Goggle will give you numbers, but the streets are named in Cartagena so at times you will end up in wrong locations or you will simply not be abe to find what you are looking for. This is not always the same, so if you do chose to use Google, make sure you go into the map (not literally like Joey) and see if the destination is where & what you expect.

1. Buy a local sim card - this will help you a lot while in Colombia, the company with the biggest coverage is CLARO (we paid 51000 for 30 days, 30GB, unlimited calls in Colombia + the number and the sim card). My friend did face an issue with CLARO as it did not work on her phone so she ended up getting Tigo, which overall was fine as well)

2. Change Money - Cash is important in Colombia, which in some areas is the only option of payment. Check a few casas de cambio to get your the best price (obviously do not change simply on the street as you can end up getting fake money).

3. Plan time for sunsets - We went on Friday (first sunset) to Cafe del Mar. You don't need to queue and have a drink if you are there only for some pictures, just go to the exit and ask the security to allow you to enter for a photo, he will likely allow you :). On Saturday we went to see the susnet at Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas (which was pretty nice)

4. See Getsemani by day & night - this vibrant neighborhood changes a lot as day goes by so it's really worth it to pass by twice (actually I would recommend to stay in Getsemani as like this you will for sure end up passing by both during the day and night hours.

5. Take a Free Tour - we booked via GuruWalk (Freetour Centro Historico y Getsemani (Ciudad Amurallada) by Nexperience) and we were super happy with the tour and the information provided.

6. Try Arepas - At Quiero Aprepas or we got the recommendation (did not get the chance to try this one) to eat on of the street posts that would "open" after 5PM close to the Townhouse Boutique Hotel & Rooftop (details we got on how to find it was that it's on the second street after Badillo)

7. Food - we tried 2 restaurants + 1 ice cream place as per recommendation we received.

La Cocina de Pepina - it's a more original type of restaurant, go late or super early as they only have 6 tables and it's without reservation (they just also opened one in Bogota, there you can make a reservation)
Cobildo - we went only for some patacones and a beer, but it was nice as they had live music
Gelateria Paradiso - and go nuts on the fruits flavors

8. El Centenario Plaza Park - The cool part about this mark is the amount of animals you find inside, from iguanas to monkeys to sloths. Pay attention on where you find groups of people, it's an indication of some animal movement

9. Calle de la Inquisicion - if you are there on a Saturday (not sure if it happens on Sunday's as well), you can get the chance to see weddings passing buy and women dancers dressed all in white that are great example of the love that this country has for dancing.

10. Streetart - and laods of it, can be found all over Getsemani

How to get to Santa Marta from Cartagena

When it comes to getting into Santa Marta, if this is your next destination, you can take a bus which usually leaves from the Terminal de Transporte which is pretty far from the city or get one of the combi buses. we used Marsol and had a good experience. They go Cartagena - Baranquilla - Santa Marta (in Baranquilla is just a break basically).
I have reached out to them via Whatsapp to reserve our spot the day before.
Phone # is +573197601810 and we went there with an Uber.

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