Coro, Venezuela
Sorry about the time between our last post. Internet wasnt as plentiful in Colombia as we had hoped, and were a bit lazy too. First of all Colombia was great. We flew into Bogota and met up with our friend Dan who will be joining us for the remainder of the trip. Bogota was suprisingly modern city with a ton of bike paths running throughout the whole place. We only stayed there a night and headed out to the Zona Cafetera or Coffee District. We knew traveling right after christmas could have been an issue because of the holidays and tons of Colombians were traveling. At the bus station we were first told there were no tickets to go to Salento or any nearby city... They were simply all sold out. After hanging around for a little while a guy came up to us and said he had three seats on his bus that was leaving right then. So in typical south american fasion we were whisked away from Bogota on our way to Salento.
In Salento we stayed at a good backpackers hostel run by an english guy Tim, the Plantation House. This hostel had more typical backpackers than the hostal in Bogota who seem to be the 2 or 3 week long vacationers vs the typical long haul backpacker of 3 to 12 months. First day in Salento we toured a small organic coffee farm where got to learn the ins and outs of coffee. The owner was very proud of his farm and his coffee beans and since his beans were organic he could sell them for US dollars in the market vs Colombian Pesos, which he was very happy to report. There was no coffee in season right then so we bought some passion fruit and called it a day. Next day we went for a hike in the National Park. All the short range transportation (less and 2 hours) is by a old army jeeps where they pile in as many as 14 people. Need less to say this is perfectly safe because at anytime i could have out ran the jeep. The hike ended up being a good day hike in the mud with finishing up at a hummingbird sanctuary. The Colombians in the highlands are back breakingly nice and also want to talk. On our trek up the mountain i think we stopped and chatted to about 3 different families.
The next day we headed back was New Years day were we headed back to Bogota for the New Years celebration or lack there of. It started good with dinner at the hostal but once we took to the street we notice that there was was no one out. Infact most of the bars and clubs were closed too. Not till later did we learn that New Years is a family holiday and people dont celebrate it in bar. We did end up finding a bar just as the ball dropped and celebrated the New Year listening to Salsa music. Not really my cup of tea but as they say... When in Rome.
Next we pushed North to National Parque Igauque which was a nice camp ground which supported a day hike. We actually thought there was more to do there but there wasnt so we had to blow out of there early and head to Jess´parents´ friend Theo´s friend Nico´s friend Christina (i know thats difficult to understand). She owns a nice resort in the hills where we camped out for 3 days and explored the area, and caught up on some reading time. We also learned that our next 20 hour bus coming up was only a little cheaper than a flight, and in my book 1 hour flights beat 20 hour bus rides anydays of the week. So we backtracked to Bogota to hopped our flight to Cartagena.
Cartagena is the oldest city in Colombia used by the spanish to hold their gold. After it had been sacked a half dozen times in the 16th century they erected massive walls around the whole thing to make in an impentrable fortress. Now it make for a nice tourist area, and where we spent most of our time. After 3 days we headed out to National Parque Tayrona which is where we camped on the beach for 3 nights. This is beatuful place where we had to hike in a 45 minutes to a camp ground with extra full packs but it was well worth it. Here we set up our tent just 100m from the ocean and enjoyed ourselves in the sun for 3 days. There were endless number of coves with beaches at each one, the further you walk the less the people (and clothing being worn).
Crossing the border was interesting to say the least, and is not done by any travelers besides backpackers (although we didnt even run into any other backpackers). We couldn´t get on the bus that ran allong the coast of Colombia straight to Caracas, so we had to catch a bus at the border and take it across. The bus itself was nothing more than a short school bus that had been painted and decaled in the typical South American fashion. It turns out all Colombians need a visa to cross in Venezuela except most do not get them, hence why this is an interesting bus ride. On this bus of 20 people we had about 10 people with passports and legitimate papers, 9 no visa'ers, and 1 straight up illegal crossing the border. People that elect not to get the visa just pay "a fee" to bus workers to make sure they and their bags dont get checked. The only problem is "the fee" only covers the border check and maybe 1 or 2 extra check points. So after 7 checks people were a little upset when the workers were coming around for more money. This story does thicken and if you buy any of the three of us a beer im sure we be more than happy to tell the whole thing. All and all the 5 hours ride went fine and i felt like everyone in the bus was in it together.
Now were in Coro Venezuela another old colonial town. We´ll post pictures soon but now i need to head out to the beach. Enjoy the snow!!!
Best
Justin
