We are back! Colombia is only 2 hours ahead so it was so strange to fly all day and end up in a place with no jetlag. It was awesome. Anyway, Colombia was absolutely awesome. I would say it's like an urban jungle (Medellin), jungle (Minca), beachy quaint colonial charming (Cartagena) and soooo lively. The people are very nice, and the food is really good and cheap.
Funny items to note:
Colombians always say "buenos" for hello. No matter what time of day and where you are going (store, restaurant, anything) they always say hello before talking. Our guide Sarah said it's considered impolite to just start asking a question without saying hello first.
Lots of "Mucha-Gracias" instead of muchas gracias.
Renault Clios everywhere. Maybe 80% of the cars in Cartagena and 40-50% in Medellin
All the car windows in Cartagena were tinted so black (including front window) you literally could not tell if there was a driver inside.
They never said "de nada" for you're welcome. They always said "con gusto" or "mucho gusto"
License plates are on the sides of cars as well as front and backs.
The kids experienced roll down manual car windows for the first time this trip! The backseat car windows were often manual.
Very few locals spoke English.
Their kids get November - February as their long school holiday.
These photos are unfortunately in completely reverse order, so the last part of our trip in Medellin is where we start...
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| Tired boy relaxing in the Medellin Priority Pass lounge |
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| Street vendors are everywhere and juggling seems to be a popular one. This man juggled while balancing on this slack line! |
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| Mom in back |
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| Yummy local fruits. A lot of them had these seed-like insides which is what you eat |
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| Day trip with our guide Sarah (Medellin Day tours) to this tiny, charming coffee roaster in the mountainside of Medellin in the Sabaneta area. It was called Cafe Marquesina. Here is dessert of plantains, guava and covered with cheese. Turns out everything is covered in cheese here. haha. |
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| Chemex. One of four coffee preparations we did |
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| Sorting the good beans from the bad beans (she kept saying the bad ones would go to Nescafe instant coffee. We also confirmed that it would go to Nespresso pods. haha) |
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| How plantains grow. With this beautiful large purple flower underneath. |
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| Picking coffee beans. We aim for the red ones. |
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| It was so much fun being on this coffee farm |
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| Olin did the second coffee preparation - a Japanese form I can't remember the name |
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| Christian did the first preparation - also can't remember the name of this but we ordered one on Amazon and it's called Clever Coffee |
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| Lunch was so beautiful and delicious. I was starving. Rice, beans, ground meat, pork, pork belly, sausage, plantains, egg |
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| We went paragliding over Medellin, and it cost about $60 per person for 20 minutes. I was so nauseated from about minute 1. I even asked the guy "esta possible retorno". hahaha. He said it was not possible and then showed me that I could throw up down the left side if I needed to. When I reconvened with the family members they had all had an amazing time! especially Babz and Olin who weren't sick at all. Christian was a little bit nauseous, poor guy. |
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| Cable car is part of Medellin's vast metro system. The cable cars are so cool because you get to see very closely the different Comunas (districts) |
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| Notorious Comuna 13 which has completely revived itself in to a tourist spot among what used to be lots of poverty and violence. This place was a huge maze of homes on a hill. I can't imagine living there! |
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| Yummy popsicles in a cup. Mango biche is a very popular flavor. I think it's green mango. |
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| Arepas were also everywhere. Corn patties, these were stuffed with meat |
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| We didn't realize we were in a really sketchy area, even though it felt really sketchy. I got mangosteens. Score! $4 for 1.5 kilos. This was an area we later were told was Comuna 10. Our guide Sarah said "you guys went there by yourselves without a guide?!" oops. haha. |
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| More Comuna 10. TONS of street vendors selling all sorts of very junky items |
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| Amongst Comuna 10 was the "Palacio" which used to be a city hall/courthouse type building and now houses, strangely, tons of fake shoe stands, clothes, and art on the top 3 stories. |
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| Plaza Botero! |
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| Stuffed, and I mean STUFFED, in to the Metro Line A going north to Parque Berrio stop (for Plaza Botero). I have never been this stuffed in my life in a subway. I actually thought for a moment I can now see what happens when people get trampled or squeezed. |
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| Urban jungle which I loved. This is in the El Poblado neighborhood which was where we stayed. Our guide told us that there are 6 types of Estradas which are neighborhoods. How much you pay for everything (utilities, school, TV) depends on the level of your neighborhood. El Poblado was a 6. Comuna 13 is a 1. |
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| Enormo avocados |
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| Cute street near our airbnb where we had dinner |
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| Our hostel in Minca called Masaya Casas Viejas. It was so cool. I can't even properly describe it but you drive 1 hour from Santa Marta and then another 30 minutes by very, very bumpy jeep to this little slice of jungle paradise in the middle of the jungle. They said there are 100+ species of hummingbirds here, but we didn't see any (except a dead one one morning on our balcony!). It was absolutely gorgeous. |
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| The last, vertical portion of our morning hike with the hostel. We visited two waterfalls, a river, and a coffee farm. This last stretch was very, very steep. |
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| Stick bug! |
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| Pretty plants everywhere |
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| Our place was amazing, considering it was a hostel. Somehow they have a sweet 2 bedroom accommodation with two bathrooms that we can rent amongst the hostelers. $165 per night! We played lots of card games and had a great time for two nights. |
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| Our ride to the jungle. All cars here that we sat in were stick shift. TONS of Renaults because apparently there are factories here. |
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| Farmotodo was our favorite little store for water and Vitamin C tablets that we all ate tons of. |
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| The many colors of Babz |
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| Popsicles and much needed A/C at La Paletteria in Cartagena. Cartagena was so warm, vibrant, lively, beautiful, and very hot and humid. Not as bad as Taiwan but surprisingly close. |
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| Colombia's starbucks |
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| The tunnels of Castillo de San Felipe. These were cool. |
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| Castillo de San Felipe, the fort on the edge of Cartagena |
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| Getsemani, the district that 10-20 years ago was very dangerous and is now charming and quirky and filled with art and graffiti |
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| Our fun guide Isaac |
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| Another amazing hotel we had in Cartagena - Casa Claver Lofts. 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms were awesome! |
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| Olin woke up cold, went to the balcony to thaw |
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| Celebrating Babz' actual birthday in several Priority Pass lounges. haha! Here we are in Houston. |
