I cannot express enough how long I’ve wanted to travel to Colombia. I did a project on Colombia in undergrad, and fell in love with the culture. I interviewed a Colombian woman who ran a business in Costa Rica while I was studying abroad there. She told me about the flower festival in Medellin with the desfile de silleteros (flower porter parade), the Salsa festival in Cali, the Alumbrado (Light Ceremony) in December, and of course the food like bandeja paisa, buñuelos, ajiaco, sancocho de pescado y arroz con coco, and tomal tolimense. My friend Emily, a fellow traveler, said she was going to Colombia and another friend from college–Laura– would be going too, so I decided I would join them and spent 6 days in Colombia, three in Cartagena and three in Bogotá.
Funny enough our travel schedules were wild and I actually only got to spend two days with Laura and didn’t get to see Emily at all. But, I learned that solo traveling is not scary, and I can enjoy traveling by myself and with people. Even though I was in Colombia for 6 days I’ll share highlights in 3 posts. In part one I’ll share my experience in Cartagena (places I went/things I saw); in part two I’ll share my experience in Bogotá, and part three will be all about food and beverages from both (heads up not a lot of variation because my gum was healing from a coronectomy performed on my wisdom tooth).
My friend Emily got me some standby tickets with JetBlue, and with standby a seat isn’t always guaranteed. So, I literally booked by hostel the same day–if not the day before– I’d be flying in to Cartagena. I booked it through Airbnb. It was called Casa San Benito-Sunny Room-Bohemian Neighborhood, and the host Lily was great. She even called me a taxi when it was time for me to fly out to the capital. The hostel had private rooms with a shared bathroom, kitchen, and dinning space.
Exploring the neighborhood with my friend Laura we saw lots of great street art. So, we took a lot of pictures with the murals.
If you learned anything about Spanish colonial city planning, then you know that exploring old Spanish influenced towns is easy because they are built around a central square. You couldn’t get lost even if you wanted to. You just have to know the name of the park, church, or square located in the middle and voilá you’re right back where you started. This mural was at the square closest to my hostel on one of the side streets.
I love spiral stair cases. I will say it was annoying that I had a rolling suitcase, travelers with duffel bags and backpacks wouldn’t be as worried falling down or tripping up spiral stair cases. Don’t worry though, I safely brought my luggage up and down.
This photo was taken outside another hostel. Laura was a trooper. There were people popping in and out and she was determined for me to get a shot without extras lol.
So, I’m pretty sure the photo above was outside someone’s home, but the opportunity was too sweet to pass up. The video below is a brief clip (20 seconds) of a dance performance we caught in the old town at night.
Still exploring the old tow, there was a museum nearby–but it was closed by the time we got there lol.
This castle was a bitch to get to because it’s on a steep hill. You better bring water or buy it from the hawkers at the entrance. You will not regret the purchase. Cartagena is hot and you will feel the sun beaming down on you. The view is totally worth it though! You’ll also hear the story of Blas de Lezo, the guy with the nickname Medio Hombre (half-man).
Again, Laura to the rescue, she drove with me in the cab to quickly take this pick before going to the airport. When I arrived at the airport the taxi driver asked me if I’d like to marry him lol. People are really out here trying to shoot their shot with a stranger. I just smiled, said thank you, and went to the Avianca counter to check-in for my flight.