Once I left Ecuador I jumped on a bus to go to the Colombian border…luckily there were 2 other ‘gringos’ on the bus so we crossed altogether.
Big surprise on the Ecuadorian border, I met Tracy, my Aussie friend from Brazil!!! How cool!! She was on the way back to Argentina…
Once we crossed with the guys, we separated, and I went to see the stunning church that I have been hearing from since Peru called Las Lajas.
After the church I hopped onto a bus to go to Pasto (about 2 hours from Ipiales). The place didn’t particularly attract me but I wanted to avoid night travel in Colombia as everyone suggested. Now saying that I met a lovely girl who was travelling to Cali so decided to continue until Popayan which was meant to be nice. I arrived at 1am….that’s all about night travel 🙂
I went to the hostel that everyone recommended called Hosteltrail where the next day I met Corrine (EN), Mark (EN -with whom I crossed the border) and Vivien (US). We all went to a village called Silva to a market but the market was a bit crappy..still we had a good time.
Few pics on Popayan:
Next day midday we said bye to Mark and us girls were hitting the road to Cali..the Salsa Capital of Colombia!!! I was super excited about it understandably 🙂 We stayed in an excellent hostel called Pelican Larry…I loved it so much! The girls at the reception were beautiful and sweet..I had a motorbike ride to the centre too with one of them to buy shoes as my ‘going out shoes’ wore out. We went out 2 nights to Cafe de Madre Tierra, Tin Tin Deo..both salsathecas but you hear all kind of latin music from reggeaton, baciata, merengue and the rest…Needless to say the way how South American people dance gave me such a satisfaction that it’s not easy to describe…Cali is a full on passionate city..I learn some great moves however all my dancers thought that i learnt dancing in South America:)
After Cali I took the night bus to Bogota. I was very optimistic by just turning up at the Terminal at 10pm hoping to have a bus because it was a bank holiday weekend in Colombia so all buses were full for the day…
Here come my actress skills in the pic:) I had a flight from Bogota to Cartagena 2 days after but I thought the only way to somehow get on a bus would be to say it was next day (the bus ride is 10 hours)..so the guy was very nice and put me on the seat next to the driver…There was no way that I could sleep on that seat due to the position, the loudness of music and the full blast aircon.
So..arrived to Bogota at 10am knackered..went to Hostel Cranky Cranc, slept, went on a little individual city tour in the afternoon and in the evening FIESTA!
There is a place called Andres Carne de Res, just outside Bogota…an incredible place. You can have a massive asado (barbecue) or if you just want to party, the dance floor is waiting for you…I went with the hostel, we got drunk in the minibus, upon arrival we hit the dancefloor..superb night!
A little insight in the party (last song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTYqbQuIPas&feature=plcp
The next day I was fresh, no hangover from the famous Colombian drink called: Aguadiente..similar taste to Uzo and watered Sambuca.
My flight was at 3pm, arrived to Cartagena at 4 and took a bus to Santa Marta where my English grumpy friend Iain was waiting for me:)
Next day David arrived too (we had a cracking time in Rurrenabaque in the jungle and since then we have been in touch trying to catch up but we had to wait till here). So we booked the Lost City tour together for the next day (Guias y Baquianos agency is highly recommended).
The tour was quite tough walking in the heat and humidity but so so beautiful! The group was great too, a very nice girl joined us from New Zealand called Ali. We quickly realised that we are on the same page, so after the Lost city I continued travelling with her.
A few pics on the tour:
Upon arrival to Santa Marta we had a crazy night out with the group, then the next day we continued with Ali to Palomino. This little heaven is situated about 70km from Santa Marta and has very few tourists..and a beautiful eternal beach.
We stayed here 2 nights, slept in the La Sirena hostel in hammock right by the sea…so usual wake up time was 5.30am:)
Then we went straight to Tayrona Park..
Now here we met a few crazy people..one is him above…so funny and annoying in the same time!
When we got back to Santa Marta we spent a night in the Dreamer hostel (my all time favourite in South America) then Ali was off to Cartagena and I started working for the tour operator I went with to do the Lost City…
I should open a new blog with the title of: Working ethics in South America:P
Needless to say I am dancing more on the street then working in the office..I am supposed to do some marketing for them (which never existed)..but since my starting suggestion was to change the name and we all agreed that it was a good move the logistics of the process will take…..maybe 10 years. I am planning on staying here till end of June only 🙂
See how it goes..I am used to the thought now that my life and plans are changing on a daily basis…
It’s Saturday…time to Rumba!!!!!
alizroundtheworld 