Colombia

14th - 24th December 2010

We arrived in Cartagena and got to our hotel in the 'Zona Rosa' (Red light district!!) - the hostel was actually quite nice apart from everytime it rained,which was often, our room flooded! We learnt to keep everything off the floor pretty quickly and thankfully nothing got ruined!
Cartagena's old town (the area we were staying) is still pretty cool with lots of narrow cobbled streets interconnecting with each other and still has elaborate walls circling the town with fortifications. We spent our first day walking around the town dodging thunder storms and checking out the area.

From Cartagena we went on a tour to a mud volcano (Volcan de Lodo El Totumo) which stands 15m high but is over 2000m deep! We climbed to the top of it and jumped in! It was strange and difficult to balance in because of your buoyancy, one wrong move and your legs were sliding out in front of you! Apparently the mud has some theraputic properties and minerals contained with in it......we just thought it was good fun!!
Once in the Volcano you were grabbed for an 'optional' massage which of course wasnt really optional at all, but felt quite nice as....ahem.....men rubbed their hands all over my mud slathered body!

At the bottom of the Volcano

Enjoying the therapeutic benefits!!

Like a pig in......

Unfortunately the weather didnt improve much while we were in Cartagena so we decided not to go to Santa Marta (a couple of hours down the road) and were unable to go to Playa Blanca - diving was also not an option due to poor visibility and the sea being too rough for some boats - and headed to Bogota instead!
After a thoroughly enjoyable 27 1\2 hour bus journey (5 hours longer than we were told) we arrived in Colombia's capital, 2600m above sea level, and collapsed in our bed!
Bogota had quite a good vibe to it and although we were apprehensive about safety in the city, we didnt feel threatened at anytime and enjoyed the big bustling streets and elegant style of the city.

Catedral Primada - Bogotas largest church.

Capitolio Nacional (Christmas styley!)

It has an impressive gold museum with many pre-Hispanic artefacts which is touted to be the most important gold museum in the world. Some of the pieces are amazingly delicate and well crafted given that the goldsmiths were using very basic methods to develop their craft.
We also went out and hit the town in Bogota. We started in the hostel bar and met quite a good crowd of fellow backpackers before heading to the only nightclub in town open after 3am nicknamed 'The End' (because everyone goes there at the end of their night) situated on the 30th floor of a highrise building. The views were amazing and had the music not been so bad (mainly early 90's trance) and the drinks so expensive (same as being at home but after you've been spending $1-$1.50 a beer, thats expensive!) it would have been an amazing place to see the sunrise!
Behind the city and only a terrifying cable car journey away is the Cerro de Monserrate mountain crest on which sits a church (and a few restaurants) which overlook the city. On a clear day you are able to see for miles but due to its height, these days are few and far between because you are quite literally sitting in the clouds - amazing in its own right!



The church



The terrifying cable car ride



A view over Bogota

 After Bogota we decided to go to Cali on the overnight bus with the intention of going on to Popayan (meant to have Colombia's best museums and be the countries most stylish town) and then cross the border to Ecuador. On arrival to Cali however we were informed that the road between Popayan and the border had been closed due to landslides and was unlikely to open again until after Christmas.....as long as there were no other slips.......bugger! We could either chance the roads and fall behind schedule or fly at vast expense to Quito - we let the fates decide and flipped a coin - flying to Quito it was!We had a couple of days in Cali before we left though and were staying a really nice hostel (Pelican Larrys) with a great owner and good group of people. Unfortunately Cali doesnt have all that much to offer apart from tours outside the city (all running on other days!!) so we amused ourselves by chilling out, having a great BBQ with one to many beers at the hostel and visiting Colombia's best zoo.

We both wish we had read up a little more on Colombia before we left and designated more time to this country. We met people who have been travelling here for months and it has plenty to offer. There is the jungle, lost cities, extreme sports, beaches, beautiful towns and great people, maybe something to think about on the next trip, for the time being its 4am Christmas Eve and we're off to the airport!

Feliz Navidad!