Preparing for departure
It all starts end of January, as I was about to watch one of my favorite shows, The Grand Tour, spiritual son of Top Gear UK.
The three friends and hosts were broadcasting a special double episode, a road trip in Colombia, while having the challenge (crazy one ?) to never pronounce the word starting with "C"... In the end, the bet was won or not, it was an amazing window on the richness in terms of landscapes of this country which, I have to confess, had never attracted me so far. I didn't know anything about its location or history (excluding the rude stereotypes, which we will talk about later), not even its Capital City. And let's not talk about my knowledge of Spanish which is more near than zero than anything...
A few days later, I was curiously watching the prices of the plane tickets and I found a relatively affordable round trip for the distance, starting from Brussels to Bogota with a small jump to Madrid via Air Europa. I already had flown with this company in the past, so I was confident enough.
Two weeks later, it was settled ! I had my tickets in my hands, a big ball in the stomach and the challenge to announce to my family and friends that I was about to go in a country which still a few years ago was filled with unreliable squares and activities for tourists.
The chosen dates had fallen, it would be from 1st to 24th June. That is quite a nice and confortable window to see most of the country !
I won't hide that during the wait which preceeded the day of the departure I asked myself a thousand questions; what happens if I get lost, do people speak English, how can I escape unfriendly sollicitations and dangerous behaviours without speaking the language, what if I get sick...
Then I decided to acquire a paper guide to prepare my intinerary the best way; my choice went for the Routard guide (and I got the 2018 version while 2019 was available... Well.)
After several nights of intense reading, I had identified what I absolutely wanted to see :
- Arrival in Bogota, visit of the city, short stay
- Visit of Tatacoa desert and watching the stars
- Salento and its giant palmtrees
- Medellin, but most specially Guatape !!
- Tayrona National Park near Santa Marta
- Cartagena
Here is my final itinerary :
An old dream would have to be able to see the whales, only visible on the Pacific coast. I unfortunately had to quit this idea for many reasons :
- The observation season starts slowly around June, but it's only near the end of month and July that the activity starts to be interesting. I was taking the risk to go there and not being able to observe anything.
- The west coast is hardly accessible as the plane is the only way to reach it, with much less possibilities of sleep location compared to other regions.
- By extension, the flight dates from and to that coast are not constant. I would loose a lot of time during my trip.
- The massively expensive price of the planes (or I didn't search very well)
All these objectives were fixed almost the day before the great departure, by only booking the first AirBNB so that I could be the most flexible if an unknown event or destination occured. You will see that in Colombia it is relatively easy to move accross the country (excepted for this damned whales area ! :( )
Once the yellow fever and other vaccines injected, I was off !
The Europa - Colombia flights
Nothing to mention about Air Europa, very fast travel of one hour between Brussels and Madrid in 737 (like the Ryanair planes), then with the magnificent 787 Dreamliner which I took a couple of years ago on a way to India (in business class, heaven !)
By booking several months in advance, I was able to choose my eco class seats in the borders of the corridors, to be able to extend my big legs. We left Madrid, finally, after more than 2 hours of delay, but totally zen !
About the onboard food, nothing fancy. Pasta or chicken. But it allowed me to learn my first spanish words ! "Pasta o pollo ?" "Agua o cerveza?" Trust me, the two last ones, you will hear them a lot in Colombia and specially in Cartagena ! On the entertainement system, there is everything you could expect on the screen in front ofyou, which gives you many movies, french dubbed or original version (but without subtitles).
Quite funny too to see the first season of Narcos onboard... That won't help with chasing the stereotypes of this country ! A small word here, I refused to watch the show to have the most clean and 'virgin' mind as possible, to not take the risk to fall in some kind of fanatism. We are speaking about a man who killed tens of thousands of innocent people. We will see if later, the marks are still well present, although Colombia is proudly rebuilding its image and leaving its dark past behind.
Arrival and visits in Bogota
Bogota ! Capital city. Located at more than 2400 mtrs altitude, better to say that you can feel the weak density of oxygen compared to my "flat land" !
The arrival at the airport occured at night, after a landing on a slightly humid runway. No rain forecasted luckily. After filling in a customs form asking name, passport, local address, planned budget during trip (what ?), I receive the previous stamp in my Visa and proudly get my backpack. Tonight, my fear of loosing my luggage won't be executed !
And now come the first troubles. Yes.
I was getting down the terminal to get some cash, the famous colombian pesos. I was about to be a millionaire :D
That's what I thought until my debit card was refusing any transaction ! And I see you coming, François you morron, you needed to activate your card prior getting here for international use. Which I did by reaching my bank ! Except that the morron here was the banker, who activated this option on an old card of an old account which was now totally empty for months.
Luckily I had my Visa with me; screw the extra fees, I had to reach my AirBNB in taxi !
By leaving the airport, it is living everywhere, full of sellers and people offering you all kind of transportations.
I see a bit on the outside a young guy who looked "nice" to me. He takes me to the taxi driver and proudly gives me its price after giving him the address, 50 000 pesos !
So yes, it's not "expensive" for us in Europe (there are 25 minutes of ride) and it represents around 14-15€. However, back there, it clearly is a scam and my host had warned me that I shouldn't pay more that 25 000.
I was somehow able to negociate the price for 30 000. Not exceptional but by not speaking the language at all I think I handled it pretty well to reduce almost by 50% the price :D
Late arrival at my host who finishes to prepare my room. Meanwhile I encounter a french worker who lives since a year there in Colombia. We exchange some words and advices, then direction el banos and well deseverd shower and sleep !
The night goes and I quikly start to observe the first effects of the Jet Lag. Then come the first bird whistles horn noices at 4 AM waking up all my senses. I push myself hard to force to sleep the most as possible.
A small breakfast with my host and his french friend, then I go make my first steps under the colombian sun !
This means, mandatory sun screen protection. Even though Bogota is famous for its rains and showers, this first day, only a few cumulus clouds are altering with a magnificent blue sky. Perfect for a gringo like me to catch sun burns at this altitude !
Every Sunday takes place the carless day. A good opportunity to visit the town on foot, but this means it is impossible to reach some parts in taxi or Uber.
This is how I took my first contact with the city, and unfortunately it was quite disapointing, specially concerning the street pollution; filterless diesel cars, black smokes, trashes, bref, not a very sexy background.
Fortunately, some parks are there and other parts of the city are much more clean. It's a capital, a big town, that was expected. And it's the same with Brussels or Paris...
After a typical breakfast (but how fat and full of calories based on fried bananas and eggs!), I turn myslef to Monserrate, which is a hill giving a beautiful view on the city. "J'aime les panoramas" as would say one of my favorite cinema characters ;-)
We have the choice between a teleferico or funicular, my choice went on the second option.
While queuing, I meet a Yankie girl, Angie, who sent her sister Lisa buy the tickets. Luckily she warned me, otherwise I would have lined for nothing, the queue for the tickets being in another location !
We had very good contact so we decided to proceed with the visit all together.
On the top, a couple of statues are repainting the cross path of the Christ, leading to ... a giant church where a mass is actually given.
From all the places I have visited in Colombia, I think this one has been one of the most crowded in terms of visitors and tourists!
A few exchanges later including a semi heart attack from Lisa (because apparently, telling American people that you don't like Game of Thrones is like telling the pope you don't believe in God), we share a taxi to go down the city and the presidential palace neighbourhood.
Our paths separate at the moment the taxi driver leaves my two freinds next to a "commercial center" which only had the name of it. I quickly understand from our chauffeur that he is telling me to be very very carfeul with my belongings there as this place is not really safe. His gray age and knowledge of the city will not give me the envy to play the local hero, that's why I left my Yankees in this dark and evil area, leading myself to the famour Bolivar place !
You can definitely feel that this place has been the set of many events. By looking at the different architecture styles, you see it is a central place where legit, religious justice and presidential powers are gathered.
We now are heading to the gold museum of Bogota, it is said that it is the public place having the most gold density ever exposed ! It's Sunday, and it's free entrance :-)
I didn't take the audio guide, as I prefered to just walk at my pace in the museum. The texts are translated in English too, that was really nice to understand ! A lot of pieces are from the pre-colombian civilisations, in perfect conversation. Truely marvelous !
Finally, I end my day by going in a street shop to buy a Sim card. Without speaking Spanish, it is very difficult to give instructions to a taxi driver to go where I want; Uber is therefore mandatory for my rides when I have to walk long distances or at night. Also, when traveling alone, it is also essential to be able to communicate with my close ones and send the pictures (and believe me you will take tons of them !)
But it is also mandatory if you plan to book a bus ticket online or a plane flight, to get the confirmation SMS.
I was using the app/site RedBus which was comparing online the various major bus companies. But it wouldn't let me proceed with the reservation without a proper local colombian phone number.
I take then the opportunity to book my first internal travel to Neiva, to be able to reach the red desert of Tatacoa.
A last glance on the streets surrounding my place, a magnificent sunset on first seats and it is the end of this first day.
To be followed ! :)
