Colombia

39 days

After our 5 day sailing trip through the pristine San Blas islands, we dropped anchor for the last time in Cartegena, Colombia.

Cartegena

Most of everything we did was in the walled city…11081470_10207074739210876_303235854727266351_n

Eat:

  • La Mulata – AMAZING Colombian/Caribbean food! We ate here maybe 5 times while staying in Cartegena. Their limonadas are so refreshing to cool you down from the hot and humid climate. They had the best customer service we had on the entire trip through C. & S. America and all of their meals are to die for.
  • Frenchies
  • Gelateria – super cute gelato spot
  • La Diva – really delicious Italian food with a good pizza and wine special.
  • Nativo – bomb food
  • Crepes and Waffles – for dessert
  • La Cevicheria – we had to eat here if Anthony Bourdain did. Pretty good!
  • El Balcon – their plantain nachos are uh-mazing!! All the nacho toppings are put into little shot glasses and the plantain chips are on the side so that you can dip what you want and keep the chips crispy!
  • Montmarte – for dessert

Stay: 

  • Casa Escallon Hostel – Clean and quiet.
  • El Viajero Hostel – Lots of fun, daily activities and other backpackers to meet here

Love: 

  • Salsa class at Crazy Salsa!
  • Party at Media Luna Hostel in Gastimonti – the backpacker district! But you won’t want to stay here
  • Outside of Donde Fedils is a fun place to hang out in the walled city. There’s tons of tables where you can sit around, drink, meet people and people watch.
  • Casa Victoria
  • The Clock Tower at the entrance of the Walled City is a great meeting spot between the Walled City and Gastimonti where you can hang out before the night gets started.
  • Havana’s is a fun Cuban style night club with a full band that plays all night. Located in Gastimonti.
  • Café del Mar for sunset and wine 11059847_10207125606082516_707683137005083983_n

Santa Marta

There is not much to do in Santa Marta but this is where you would stay before you head out on the 4 day hike to the Lost City. We stayed at The Dreamer, visited Bahia Concha Beach and ate at La Perla.

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Palomino

This is a quiet little surf town to visit if you are looking to relax for a bit.

Eat:

  • Finca Escondido – loved this spot for happy hour and to watch the sun go down. Tables are on the sand or you can swing in the hammock if its open!
  • La Sirena for lunch – really delicious veggie options!
  • Sua for dinner
  • Tao – vegetarian food truck with an amazing dining experience. Go there and meet the amazing Carlito.

Stay:

  • The Dreamer (fun hostel with other backpackers)
  • The Tiki Hut (if you can’t get a bed at The Dreamer)
  • La Sirena (if you are not on a budget)

Love:

  • Yoga on the beach at La Sirena
  • La Sirena’s swing and hammocks – relaxing place to be a beach bum.
  • Tubing down the river. The Dreamer will arrange it for you. The hike to the river is pretty intense cause it’s super hot out but the ride down the river is long and relaxing. Bring beers for the ride down! 11167914_10207125034028215_2288584960991069490_n

Taganga

This little town is known best for it’s inexpensive diving certification. We stayed at Casa Moringa – this hostel used to be the house of a corrupt ex-Colombian governor. It has a great view of the beach, a pool to help you cool down and a big kitchen and balcony area to stay out of the sun. We ate at Babaganoush and Pachamama for good, fresh drinks and really good food. At night the Mirador bar is where it’s at.

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Medellin

Medellin is a perfect example of how the Colombians pronounce the double “ll”s. Rather than the double LL’s being pronounced with a “Y” sound, the Colombians pronounce it with a “J” sound. So it is Meh-deh-jean, not Meh-deh-yean…chicken is poh-joh, not poy-yo.

Eat:

  • Verdeo – AMAZING organic, vegetarian restaurant!
  • Flip Flop Sandwich Shop – great American food if you’ve been away from home for a while. The owner is so sweet and extremely helpful. She will provide you with a map of the city and good tips on where to go, how to get there and what to do.
  • Bogota Beer Company – ½ off pints till 5p
  • Medellin Beer Factory – good happy hour and really delicious wings!
  • Sattva Cocina Vegetariana – really great vegetarian spot for lunch
  • Café Peregamino – really cute coffee shop/cafe
  • Café del Tango – this is a tango show and dinner. Make sure you make a reservation to see the show. The costumer service was outstanding and their food was really good. Such a great experience and I think is a must see if you are visiting this city!
  • 3 Tipicos – one of our favorite lunch spots for delicious, traditional Colombian food. They are known for their traditional Colombian soups (cazuelas). You must try the ajiaco, cazuela del frijoles and the mondongo. Sancocho was also really good. 11225257_10207170393762180_136626159091685125_n
  • Hacienda 100% Tradicion – There are two locations. This is where you can get a good quality Bendejo Paisa (famous Colombian dish).
  • The Chocolate House – Chocolateria. Go here for dessert!
  • Naan – Indian food.

Stay:

  • Moloka Hostel – great location. Located next door to the Happy Buddha Hostel (the main party hostel). It’s nice to be next door so that you can party if you want but then go to sleep when you want as well. They serve free breakfast in the morning and it’s pretty good. All the staff there are very friendly and helpful.
  • Bambu Hostel – nice hostel with a great lay out of rooms and common areas. The dorm beds have lots of privacy and space for your belongings. They have fast wi-fi and really cheap laundry service.
  • Panela Hostel – cheap, clean and simple. Surrounded by good, local places to eat.

Love:

  • You MUST do the Real City Walking Tour! This is non-negotiable. If you are visiting Medellin, you can not leave without doing this. You have to make a reservation online and the tour is free.
  • Go to a futbol game if you can! Alcohol is not allowed in the stadium so don’t be fooled by the beer inside (there’s no alcohol in it!).
  • Pablo Escobar tour
  • Parque Llera – kind of like a town square. At night this is where everyone, all ages, gathers with a bottle of their favorite liquor and hang out. There’s tons of little Colombian bands out playing traditional songs for everyone and there’s lots of artists and venders out here selling their goods.
  • Tinto Tintero – live jazz music, tea and vegetarian food
  • Parque Arvi – fun gondola ride to get a good view of the city
  • Pueblito Paisa is a small, pueblo that shows how the Paisas used to live. This is a great place to go watch the sun set and get a great view of the city.
  • Paragliding! 11412219_10207280832443078_8139474555614099491_n
  • Rio Sur. Too much fun. It’s a mall with a bunch of clubs inside. 17187_10207276802422330_5033018940283604639_n
  • Visit the Botanical Garden. It’s free and there are giant iguanas walking around. As well as turtles, ducks, birds and butterflies.

Guatape

Seriously, this is one of the cutest little towns that we visited on the trip. It was a little scary at first because most of the people there do not speak English but once we got a feel for the town, we fell in love. Most people just do the day trip here to see La Piedra but if you have the time, stay for a least a couple of days!

Eat:

  • D’ Luigi – best pizza we had on our trip
  • Namaste – small vegetarian café
  • Thai Terrace – located on top of Lake View Hostel
  • La Vina – cute little coffee shop with yummy coffee cookies

Stay: Lake View Hostel. It’s the only hostel in this cute little town. It doesn’t seem like there’s much to do in Guatape other than see La Piedra but there is lots to do! We wished we had stayed a few more days.

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Love:

  • La Piedra – one of the most beautiful views you’ll see. Seriously looks like Neverland. 11377367_10207280829042993_5881989270044102749_n-1
  • We played paintball in Pablo Escobar’s blown up mansion
  • Biked 26 km up and down hill through the mountains to the small town of San Rafael
  • The people who live here in Guatape are so stinkin sweet

Santa Rosa de Cabel

This little town was a pit stop for us on our trek down south. We stayed at the Coffee Town Hostel, ate at Chorisanto and visited the hot springs.

Salento

Eat:

  • El Rincon de Lucy
  • La Fonda de los Arrieros
  • Brunch – the owner is American is serves American size portions and the food is UH.MAZING. Everything from the BBQ sauce to the peanut butter is homemade. I had, pretty much, THE BEST brownie and ice cream I’ve ever had in my life.

Stay: Finca de Estrella

Love:

  • The main street is so cute with fun little shops
  • Climb up the stairs to the city outlook
  • Valle de Cocora – the main attraction for visiting Salento. It’s a valley of tall, wax palms. It’s a fun hike with great sights.

El desierto de Tatacoa

We stayed here for two nights on our way down to Ecuador. We were with two other Americans and we had no idea where we were going to sleep that night we got there. Finally, we found a hotel-like place to stay the night. Luckily, they had cactus wine! SOO YUMMY. The next night we slept in hammocks on the front porch of the observatorio where that night we got to see Saturn, Venus and Jupiter through the giant telescopes.

Mocoa and Ipaiales

Mocoa is where there is a beautiful hike called the End of the World hike.11392958_10207332990066986_5049964764006729196_n

We stayed at Hostel del Rio which is pretty much in the Amazon and where I got bit the most on the entire trip. Along this muddy and rainy hike, we met a lot of locals along the way. Lots of them have never seen Americans before. So they all had us stop to take pictures with them on their little cell phones and they recorded videos of us talking to them – it was so cute and they were so, so friendly and sweet.

Our last stop was Ipiales before we could cross the border to Ecuador. It was freezing which was exactly what I needed because by this point I had over 150 bites all over my body. If you stop here, check out the Las Lamas church, built in a meadow valley alongside a river and waterfall.

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After Ecuador, we flew back to Bogota so that we could fly JetBlue back to America.

Bogota

Eat:

  • Nativo – try their sancocho
  • Mitho Café
  • Bogota Beer Company
  • Mega Burger – its ridiculous
  • Baum
  • Andres Carne de Res – you can reserve a spot on the party bus from the Cranky Croc for the best night during the week to go.

Stay: The Cranky Croc Hostel

Love:

  • Visit the Gold Museum
  • Take the free graffiti tour 1907488_10207393378736665_1389669564672172176_n

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