Exploring Colombia one city at the time: Bogota, Cartagena, Medellin
Exploring Colombia one city at the time: Bogota, Cartagena, Medellin.
What comes to mind when you hear about Colombia? Drugs, cartels, Narcos, etc. Honestly, it is a shame because Colombia is much more than that. It is an amazingly beautiful country with kind and warm people. You should absolutely visit it, especially since lately it is becoming more and more of a popular destination.
Colombia is located in the northern part of South America. Its terrain is covered by mountains and forests, and it stretches from Pacific ocean to Venezuela and Brazil, from Caribbean Sea to Ecuador and Peru.
Colombia has a well developed network of airports in all major cities with numerous daily flights from many US cities and other destinations. Most of the cities are located in the mountain valleys, so if you’re planning to travel around the country, it might be easier to fly as opposed to ground transportation. Although don’t be surprised — flights are frequently delayed.
After some research and planning, my itinerary looked like:
- Flying into Bogota
- Heading out to Bucaramanga and visiting Chicamocha Canyon
- From there flying over the Caribbean coast and exploring Cartagena
- Finishing up in Medellin and flying back home from there
Bogota
Bogota
Bogota is a capital of Colombia and a city of more than 10 million people. Its El Dorado International Airport is the third largest airport in South America after Mexico City and Sao Paulo. Unfortunately Bogota suffers from the common problem of South American cities: traffic. The city doesn’t have a subway and mostly relies on a combination of rapid and local buses. Your best option is to take an Uber around but expect to spend quite some time on congested streets. Also Uber cars tend to be newer and more comfortable than traditional yellow taxis.
Colombia’s geographical location and close ties to the US allowed it to become one of the cultural and financial centers of South America. They get a lot of visitors from other Spanish speaking countries but not as much English speakers yet. Once you’re outside of major tourist areas it gets difficult to navigate without knowledge of Spanish language. The good thing is that most people are very welcoming and will make an effort to communicate with you, even if they don’t speak English. Spanish is not that difficult so you can pick up some basic phrases fairly quickly in preparation for the trip (for example, Duolingo app).
Generally, northern and northwestern parts of the city are considered safer and more developed. You can stay in La Candelaria — a colonial neighborhood popular with tourists. Other options are Teusaquillo (central location), Zona Rosa (nightlife) or Chapinero (food&location).
One of the Bogota’s highlights is Museo de Botero. Botero is one of the most famous Colombian artists, who’s known for his unique “Boterismo” style of over exaggerated sizes of people and animals. You definitely came across some of his works before and will see them all over Colombia. In addition to his art, museum also showcases Dali and Picasso. Another interesting options are Gold Museum and Botanical Garden. If you’re looking for a funky place to go for a dinner or/and late drinks, check out Andrés Carne de Res. Rated as one of the Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants, Andrés offers a totally crazy restaurant-club-art-gallery kinda experience. Although the place is huge and has several areas, I would suggest to make an advance reservation on their website. Keep in mind that it’s about 45 minutes north of the city center.
I have to warn you: you might not ever eat more fried and baked food as you would find in Colombia. Pictured above is fritanga, which is a traditional family style dish of fried meats (chicken, beef, pork, sausage, and pork cracklings) with corn, arepas, and plantain. One of the most typical breakfast foods is an arepa (a numerous types of the flatbread, made mostly from corn or wheat flour), cheese, and chorizo sausage with a cup of coffee. Coffee is a separate topic/deserves a separate discussion. At some point I went on the quest to literally find a bad cup of coffee, but even small roadside shop in the middle of the country had served freshly brewed delicious coffee. You can comeback to your healthy salads and gluten free diet afterwards, but I’d suggest to forget about it while in Colombia. In terms of alcohol, Colombian national drink is sugarcane/anis-based Aguardiente (or guaro). It’s a popular ingredient in cocktails or drunk by a shot.
Salt Cathedral
While in Bogota you can take a day tour to Catedral de Sal de Zipaquira about an hour outside of the city. It is a salt mine turned into the Roman Catholic church. It goes 200 meters underground and consists of numerous tunnels, halls, sculptures and architectural decor — all hand carved in halite rock. It is both tourist and religious destination for visitors from all over the county and the rest of the world. After visiting the Catedral, you can try some good local cuisine at the neighboring town of Zipaquira.
Chicamocha Canyon
Chicamocha Canyon is considered one of the main treasures of Colombia and was nominated as one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. It is the second largest canyon in the world after Grand Canyon in the US. The easiest way to get to it is to fly to Bucaramanga (a capital of Santander region) and take a day tour from there.
The canyon is administered by Chicamocha National Park, which sits on top of one of the mountains and offers breathtaking 360 views of the area. The tip of the mountain hosts the colossal monument to Santander culture. Pro tip: take a zipline and enjoy the views.
Cartagena
My next stop was Cartagena, a colonial port city on the Caribbean coast. It’s famous for its walled Old Town part right by the sea shore. Cobblestone streets, colonial architecture, small family restaurants and bars — make sure to have at least a couple of days to walk around and truly enjoy the local vibe. I would recommend renting an Airbnb or a room at one of the smaller boutique hotels right there, so you can walk out of the door in the morning and right away into its colorful life without wasting your time on taking taxis around the town.
After a walking around for a while, stop for an afternoon drink at one of the bars in Plaza de Santo Domingo as you might need it before heading to Palace of the Inquisition — a place of torture in XVII century. Take a break from all fried food you’ve been eating before with Peruvian-Colombian food at La Cevicheria. Watch sunset at one of the cafes right on the wall and go to Plaza de la Aduana or Getsemani for late night bar hopping and salsa dancing.
Now let’s talk about salsa. Everybody knows the Capital of Salsa is Cali, which is located in the southwest part of Colombia. Unfortunately, I did not have time to visit Cali at this time. However, there was plenty of salsa everywhere I went in Colombia, you see, in order to understand what I want to say about salsa, you need to understand Colombians in general. They are one of the most energetic, fun loving and positive people you’ll ever meet. They like to dance, they like to sing, and do it all the time. It’s a part of the culture. Somebody told me once that a girl cannot bring a guy to meet parents, if he can’t dance (not sure how accurate it is, but I haven’t met a Colombian yet who can’t dance, so… l don’t know :). I’ve never been a big dancer myself and always looked at salsa dancers as cosmonauts: technically it’s possible, but practically it’s not going to happen to me. Well, I had no other choice in Colombia. It started with several shots of tequila, and by end of the night I could do 2–3 types of steps and a basic turn. Now I would recommend to learn it beforehand. Yes, everybody will know that you’re the beginner, but it will be just enough to start the conversation and make friends.
Castillo de San Felipe is the fort that started being built in 1536 in order to protect the harbor. It’s considered one of the most sophisticated Spanish bastions in all of the colonies because Cartagena was the most important port for their colonization of Carribeans. It is open to public, and you can climb and walk around most of its territory.
Gatsemani is one of the oldest parts of the city, which lately has become popular among local artists, musicians and tourists. It’s about 5–10 minute walk from the castle. Some people described it as a hipster/Brooklyn neighborhood, so you’ll have to test it out yourself while getting lost in old curvy streets and colonial houses covered in graffiti.
After spending a couple of days exploring the city we wanted to take a break and enjoy the the beach time. While Cartagena has several city beaches, I would recommend to spend several days on one of the neighboring islands: Isla de Baru or Rosario Islands. You will find less people, cleaner water and more relaxed atmosphere there. There are several big chain and some boutique hotels on the islands, so you should be able to find something for your taste.
Medellin
Medellin was the last stop of the trip. It is the second largest city of Colombia, and probably the most mysterious due to its recent violent history. Medellin was a homebase of Pablo Escobar’s cartel and one of the most dangerous cities in the world several decades ago. Luckily for you and me, it is all in the past, and now it’s one of the most vibrant and fun cities to visit in South America. The city is pretty safe and as long as you follow basic common sense rules, you should be fine.
El Poblado is one of the most popular and wealthiest areas of the city. The neighborhood is popular among travelers, so you will be able to find a lot of hotel or airbnb options. It is also a center of city’s nightlife with a lot of restaurants, bars, and clubs.
The most famous Medellin’s attraction is El Penol, literally “the rock”. It’s located about an hour and a half outside the city. The rock is huge and rises 200 meters above the surrounding area. Your hotel will arrange a trip for you or you can find a vendor who will take you there. It will take you 750 concrete steps to climb to the top.
Once there, you will find the actual prize: a 360 stunning view of Guatape Valley. The valley was flooded to create a hydroelectric dam in 1970s. It created a network of small islands and bays, all within the boundaries of the lake. It’s a popular area for summer or weekend houses (fincas). You can take a boat tour, and they will show you mansions, which back in the days belonged to the heads of the cartel.
If you’re lucky, try to visit Medellin during Feria de las Flores (Festival of the Flowers). During that time entire city is decorated with statues made out of flowers, and their Botanic Garden is a place to be with the rarest ones presented on the display. Another notable attraction is Plaza Botero, where you will find 23 of Fernando Botero’s sculptures. You can also visit Parque Arvi and Museo de Antioquia.
Medellin is a well organized city, and its residents take a lot of pride in coming from there. It felt more organized and better run than Bogota. If you’re interested in urban planning, you might want to read how building the Metrocable car revitalized one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the world (Comuna 13). Right now it’s a model that other South American cities are trying to copy in order to combat the unregulated settlements within the cities borders, for example, Rio de Janeiro with their favellas.
In a Nutshell
- Colombia is an amazing place and is pretty safe, no matter what somebody might be telling you (you can suggest them to watch Narcos less :).
- Everybody I met there were extremely nice and friendly, and they went an extra mile to help out me with anything.
- You will need some basic Spanish to travel there.
- You will absolutely need some basic salsa skills to travel there.
- Book your trip soon as Colombia becomes more and more popular.
