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Colombia
is in top gear - 23/07/05
Entering Colombia slightly nervously the first thing I thought
was that my sarong had been stolen. It had however been taken
care of by a friendly Colombian family who I then chatted to for
the remainder of the journey. A great introduction to a
country that has a fairly dodgy reputation. Slightly less
enjoyable was arriving in Cartagena in the dark but I found
somewhere to stay pretty quickly, although it did mean imposing
myself on a Singaporean guy who had his own room in the hostel
with a spare bed. If you don't ask, you don't get. I was then
looked after by a lovely old woman outside the hostel who sold
me a delicious bowl of fried rice with chickens feet and liver
whilst advising me on the towns safety.
Cartagena is as you would imagine, a well-preserved colonial
town built on the Caribbean coast. As a result it is
packed with shiny buildings, churches and plazas, and surrounded
by bulwarks and battlements. It is also very touristy and I
would estimate that one in every two tourists in Colombia is in
Cartagena. It was a relaxing introduction to Colombia though and
the hostel was full of backpackers, though some of them more
interested in the darker side of Colombia than others. I
did come closer to harm in Cartagena than anywhere else in
Colombia. Not from guerillas or thieves but from a giant
palm branch falling from the sky. Scary stuff!
Cartagena old town
Prior to arriving in Colombia
I had planned to travel by day only, due to the scare stories
one hears. This plan was soon abolished as I found out the
night buses are safe and very comfortable, for example the trip
from Cartagena to Medellin was air-conditioned with almost fully
reclining seats and viewings of Spiderman 2 and Kill Bill 2 to
boot! They also have powerful strobe-style lights on the roofs
that flash constantly in case of a problem with guerillas or
bandits during the night. Its actually probably better to
meet guerillas as opposed to bandits because the guerillas don't
rob or harm you they just burn the bus whereas the bandits are
only out to pillage and plunder.
Medellin was another very friendly city, certainly not appearing
the drug capital of the world, though perhaps the suburbs would
be less welcoming. Its not a particularly pretty city, with the
exception of the collection of Boteros sculptures spread around
the city, and the main highlight, for Colombians at least, is
the Medellin Metro system (the only Metro in Colombia).
They are incredibly proud of this feat of engineering and as a
result any photo, postcard or article regarding Medellin has a
picture of the Metro on it!
From Medellin it was another night bus on to Bogota, again very
comfortable but unfortunately we got a puncture en route and
arrived five hours late! The scenery in the early morning
crossing the Andes was pretty spectacular though.
Bogota is probably the most relaxing/tranquil/peaceful city (let
alone capital city) I have ever visited, during the day time
anyway. Part of the town is deserted old cobbled streets
and rickety buildings (those of you au fait with Norwich, think
of Elm Hill). The streets are deserted because everyone is
in the plazas, especially on Sundays, eating and drinking all
manner of hot and cold treats. The atmosphere did change
somewhat at around 5pm as the homeless guys who had been
sleeping in the parks started waking up and everyone else
started leaving. I went out for a coffee at night and as I left
the cafe witnessed a group of Guardia setting upon a homeless
guy with their batons. People I met seemed to think that
Colombia was not as poor and didn't have the social problems
imagined. This unfortunately isn't true, they just deal
with hiding it up in an effective but perhaps unethical way.
From Bogota I took a final night bus through to Cali, the third
major city in Colombia (all three being notorious for drug
trafficking). Centro Cali is very compact, though not as
pretty and perhaps felt slightly less safe. I was there on
Independence Day however and most of the shops were closed and
there was a military parade in the park. On the same day
Colombia (the holders) also played Argentina in the semi-final
of Copa America and got humiliated 3-0. Needless to say
the city (And country) was quite depressed! The best way
to remedy this seemed to be to go to a Salsa club, which I
thoroughly enjoyed. I didn't dance but sat watching with
this Dutch girl called Eva who had been dancing for years and
analysed every pair of dancers in the club. It was useful
to know a). the technical know-how and also b). they weren't as
good as they thought, but it was a bit like watching a virtuoso
guitar performance and being talked through it by John Squire.
Old friends, sat on the park bench like
bookends, Cali
My final stop in Colombia was
the southern city of Popayan, another famous example of colonial
architecture and very pretty, safe and friendly. From there I
made a break for the Ecuador border and directly on to Quito
which involved a variety of buses, minibuses and trams, finally
arriving in Quito at 10pm last night, having left Popayan at
5:30 in the morning. The scenery coming through the Andes was
again spectacular and I could of used a whole roll of film.
Unfortunately my camera was lost/stolen at some point in the
morning so I have no pictures. I would like to blame a
sneaky Colombian but I suspect I left it on a wall in Popayan
whilst searching for my passport. Just call me stupid. On
the bus I sat next to a Colombian girl on the bus making her way
to Guayaquil for an artisan market so I waited in the station
with her until her bus left at 11pm (the station being full of
unsavoury and drunk characters) before crossing Quito in El
Trole (the trolley bus service) amongst many drunk Ecuadorians
(I think Thursday is the big night!) and finally collapsing in a
hostel!
I didn't spend too long in Colombia, rather due to saving three
days by travelling over night, and I missed perhaps the four
highlights. I am most disappointed to have missed Ciudad
Perdida (the lost city) in the north. Its a six day trek
to the lost ruins and includes a visit to a guerilla plantation
on the way. I really wanted to do it but you need at least
four people and including getting to and from the jumping off
point at Santa Marta it needs a minimum 8 days. Bum.
I also missed the coffee region around Armenia which was
supposed to be one of the milestones of my entire South America
trip, but I just passed it by, and regretted it after.
Finally the archaeological sites of San Agustin and Tierradentro
near Popayan fell victim to my time constraints, again requiring
over a week. I think Colombia is the first country I have
visited (except India) that I really must return to!
I have kept this missive short so now I am going to talk about
cheese. Colombians are obsessed with it. A Bogota
specialty is Chocolate Santaferenico which is Hot Chocolate with
a slab of cheese on the saucer to put in and all around Colombia
you find fruit salads topped with mountains of grated cheese.
So far Venezuela impressed me with the hottest chili sauce ever
and Colombia has impressed me with its use of cheese and as most
of you are aware these are two of my favourite foods. What
will Ecuador have to offer?
Ok, that's it. So far Venezuela and Colombia have
impressed greatly. South America has so much to offer and
all that remains is for me to limit the damage in the other
countries!
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