Colombia - January, 2010

A last minute booking has found us in Colombia for 3 weeks. We flew into Bogota on January 12th and stayed 2 days in the city. There must be 50 museums or so here. We chose the highly recommended ‘Museo de Oro’ to visit, and despite our unsophisticated appreciation of art – we were not disappointed in the least. The artifacts of gold pieces were quite detailed and amazing.
Later on, we witnessed the 45 minute ‘Changing of the Guard’ – in actuality a ‘taking down of the flag’ as there was no change of troops throughout the ceremony. I wouldn’t say it was the most spectacular ceremony we’ve witnessed, what with military guards marching out of sync and the band a bit out of tune, but the patriotism and respect for the flag and country was clearly evident. It sure struck me how young all the men were – I don’t believe any were past the age of 25 – which holds true for the military personal throughout the city and country.

We completed our tour of the city with a 2 ½ hour walk to the upscale area of Zona Rosa. It is quite lovely with parks, bicycle paths and excellent restaurants and café’s. Any pounds shed walking there were no match the calories consumed at meal time.

Leaving the big city behind we rode by bus to the cobblestoned streets of colonial Villa de Leyva. First it was a 3 ½ hour ride in comfort to Tunja where we changed buses for the additional 45 minute ride to Villa de Leyva. That last 45 minutes seemed an eternity. There we were – all 11 of us packed in like sardines for a mini-bus van ride – one lady even declined to get in even though there were 2 seats (if you can call a wooden box a seat) empty. Chalk it up to good fortune but there were no potholes along the way – just the smell of burning brakes as we navigated the winding roads. The good news – we made it – no worse for the wear.

We stayed at an eco-lodge set in the Colombian Highlands – a hot and dry climate with beautiful scenery. Among our adventures was a hike to see the infamous ‘El Fosil’, a 120 million year old baby kronosaurus fossil, situated in the exact place it was discovered. I would have been just an appetizer for that baby. We cherished our first evening at the lodge – sitting around the comfort of a warm campfire, chatting with an interesting French couple while being overwhelmed by the brilliant stars in the southern night sky. It was idyllic. The only thing missing was, of course, the marshmallows.

The only incident to date – Gilbert locked me in the bedroom one morning, by accident, when he went out to make coffee. I tried for ½ hour to open the door thinking it was just stuck. You know the scenario – the guy mumbling away to anyone within earshot - where is his wife – women take so long to get ready in the morning – what do they do anyway. Certainly his tune changed when he realized he was the cause of the delay. We did enjoy a good laugh over this one.

From Villa de Leyva we flew to Cartagena. We decided to fly rather than bus it as we were forewarned the bus trip was long and arduous (13 hours), the buses have arctic cold air conditioning and the scenery is ok but nothing noteworthy. Arriving in Cartagena and stepping off the plane was like walking into a wall of heat and humidity – maybe the reason for the air conditioned buses.

The old city of Cartagena is warm and welcoming with balconies overflowing with flowers and buildings brightly painted in a myriad of colours. But alas, we have been spoiled with similar cities in Spain and found the oppressive heat and relentless hawkers more than we were prepared to manage – so we looked for a way out, finding respite at an ‘exclusive inclusive’ resort (Colombian style) on an island 1 ½ hours distance by boat ride.

The resort of Punta Faro is situated on the island of Mucura, merely the size of a football stadium. We quickly discovered that were one of only a handful of foreigners that ever visit this resort and most likely the first Canadians to set foot on the island. Fortunately, there was one person who did speak English and could explain the daily routine, a blessing as the local Spanish dialect was a whole new language for me. We were pampered with a lovely beach and warm and inviting water – a real Gilligan’s Island but with all the amenities.

A morning tour of the island revealed we were hardly alone. There had been another resort next door but from the looks of it, it had recently been abandoned. The inhabitants are now a group of local boys, about eight ‘rug rats’ in all, ranging in age from 10 on down to about 4. What can I say – they absolutely charmed me with their innocence – fishing, playing in the water and running through the bush barefoot. I know the future is probably bleak for them but for now they seem to have the best of this world where time and responsibility do not exist.

Our walking tour continued along a path lined with a few Banyon Trees, a short walk through a Mango Forest, complete with termite nests and then, to our surprise, we emerged onto a public day beach – crowded with local Cartagenians enjoying loud and lively music with a Caribbean beat, selling a real mish-mash of local handicrafts and cooking up a storm of local delights washed down with beer. It was the antithesis of our peaceful and tranquil existence a ‘stones throw away’ on the other side of the Island.

Our first evening we couldn’t resist the lure of Happy Hour and after each downing a delicious tasty tropical drink we went for the resort special – a Coco Loco. As it name implies, it is a coconut concoction served in a coconut and believe me, it goes down very smooth. Within half an hour of sipping on that drink we were ‘Coco-Loco’ and feeling no pain, although we had difficulty making it to dinner time.

There was a rather large group of people staying at the resort which had their own agenda. We found out later that is was a boon-doggle get away for the top mattress sellers from a company in Colombia. They provided entertainment during our Coco-Loco fiasco – 4 teams racing to build rafts and sail them off the beach. It was hilarious.

After 3 days we left our ‘Life of Riley’ and headed back to Cartagena. The heat and humidity had not abated, not that we expected it to, so we spent another day at the beach under a cabana. The waves were perfect to play in but unfortunately, as we are novice beach bums, we forgot to reapply sunscreen – burn baby burn – a couple of red lobsters. With that it was time to head south to the cool and comfort of the mountains.

We spent 2 days in Medellin – the old cocaine capital of Colombia and the world during the 1980’s. They’ve since cleaned up their act so the local drug wars have abated – possibly the cartels have headed north to Mexico. Most notable is the fact that the entire population of the city seems to be outdoors. The streets were jammed everywhere we went – that was an eye opener – more like Shanghai. We broke down and took an afternoon bus tour for an overview of Medellin. It was all in Spanish which was fine for me but I had to keep nudging Gilbert to keep him awake, like a little baby in a car seat. Our first stop – a chocolate store – and then on to see the ‘fat statues’ – after that we didn’t feel bad about gorging ourselves on our chocolates. The statues are designed by Fernando Botero, a well known local artist. Our tour ended high on a hill, Cerro Nutibara, with wonderful views of Medellin and the valley.

And then it was a bumpy, six hour, 100 kilometer bus ride to Manizales. Set at one corner of the coffee triangle, the city and area is breathtaking, well worth the bumps and grinds to get there. The layout of the city is unique – it has one main street that runs along the ridge of a mountain with the rest of the city falling off to valleys below on either side. I think every house must have a view. We even tried the local commute, a chairlift, to take us from the bottom to top. But the real lure of Manizales is the coffee plantations in the surrounding hillsides. We spent a day at one, and as luck would have it, we ended up with a private tour with a young guide who spoke impeccable English. Normally a tour is about an hour with a coffee demonstration after. Our tour lasted for 3 hours, then a demonstration and then a late lunch with the guide. We did learn how to make the perfect cup of coffee, which probably takes about ½ hour. Given that I’m up in the morning for work at 5:45am and time is precious, I’ll just have to stick to my ‘made the day before, stick in the microwave and heat brew’ for now.

Our final day in Manizales, we took a local bus to Recinto del Pensamiento, a nature park set in a cloud forest. It had a little bit of everything; an herbal garden complete with marijuana growing, a bonsai area, a butterfly enclosure, a forest with a variety of orchids and a few llamas, deer and zebras thrown in for good measure.

With a short flight back, on a small commuter airplane that the pilot actually drove, we were back in Bogota, saying good-bye to Colombia for now. But I’m thinking of returning in the future to visit Manizales and the surrounding area again. In the meantime, we’ve got great memories and the telenovela, El Cartel, to fall back on.

For more pictures go to: www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfick/sets/72157623920463435/