Armenia, Colombia, South America I did almost nothing today, and it was great! I got a good night’s sleep at my hostel, which was inevitable after such a big day of hiking yesterday. I went downstairs in the hostel to the cafe below and had a really good breakfast, at a very reasonable price. The people working there are really friendly too, so it was a nice place to relax for a bit. I spent the rest of the day…
Armenia, Colombia, South America I had a great, and exhausting, day of walking around the Valle de Cocora! I went with Laura (English) and Spencer (Oz) from my hostel at 9am and walked into Salento to get a jeep out to the Valle de Cocora. There was basically a convoy of these “Willys” going to the valley at the same time. By the time we got there, only one seat was still available in the jeep, so Laura took that…
Salento, Colombia, South America I got up this morning after a pretty good night’s sleep in the dorm, and had a great breakfast to start the day. The breakfast was included in the room rate at the hostel and included scrambled eggs, bread, fruit and coffee. It was really good, as expected. This hostel is great! A group of seven of us left the hostel at 9am and headed off for our walk to the coffee farm. Our group consisted…
Salento, Colombia, South America I had a really nice day today, even though I didn’t get to see everything I was hoping to see. I had a great breakfast at the hostel of scrambled eggs, toast and jam, and fresh strawberry juice. It is always surprising when I find a hostel that serves cooked breakfast instead of just bread or cereal. I also had my first cup of coffee EVER this morning! It was brought with the breakfast and I…
Manizales, Colombia, South America I left the hotel in Medellin this morning, and as much as I liked the city, I was pretty happy to not have to walk through that neighborhood again. It was rough! I got to the south bus station and found a bus to Manizales, that was leaving in about 10 minutes. I was pretty lucky I guess. It was a direct bus and took about five hours to get here. The ride was beautiful, with…
Medellin, Colombia, South America I had an unbelievably awesome day today! I got up early this morning and headed up to the Terminal del Transporte Norte to catch a bus to Guatape. I was lucky and caught one that was leaving in just ten minutes, so I grabbed an empanada and a juice for breakfast and hopped on the bus. It only cost 12,000 (£4) for the bus that took about two hours to get up to Guatape. It was…
Medellin, Colombia, South America I had a very nice day of sightseeing today around Medellin. I can see why people say this city is so much nicer than Bogotíç. I started out by taking the metro to the cable car up to Santo Domingo, which goes straight over the ghetto area of the city. It reminded me of the favelas you see in Rio. I’ve never been there, but have seen it on tv, and this reminded me a lot…
Medellin, Colombia, South America I woke up this morning after getting about six hours of sleep on the bus. For me that was a good result, because I wasn’t sure what the ride was going to be like, but it was actually pretty good. The temperature was comfortable for the whole ride, and it wasn’t as bumpy of a ride as I had expected it to be. The road system in Colombia is a lot better than I had anticipated…
Cartagena, Colombia, South America I chilled in Cartagena today with my new Aussie friend Kim. We led the hostel to check out the castle on the hill just outside of the old town. The mistake that we made was that we didn’t start heading to the castillo until 11am, so it was hot as hell outside. We first stopped at the post office so I could ship my guayabera back to the United States. I’m assuming I won’t be going…
Cartagena, Colombia, South America I got to go diving today!!! I was so lucky! I showed up at the dive center in Cartagena at 8am sharp, and luckily someone had already called to cancel. I paid for the day, which was about twice as expensive as the dives in Santa Marta (281,000 pesos compared to 130,000), but it was worth it. The owner of the dive shop, Andres, brought me and three others to the dock to catch our boat….