A tour of Colombia
We flew Manchester to Cartegena with KLM via Amsterdam and our first adventure in the country was to a local clothes store to buy Richard something to wear since his suitcase didn’t arrive with us! Luckily we were staying in the same hotel for a couple of nights and his suitcase arrived the following day.
Cartegena is a vibrant colonial city on the Caribbean coast and we enjoyed wandering around the cobbled streets marvelling at the amazing architecture (plus sampling a local beer or two). From here we travelled up to Tayrona National Park where we hiked through a rainforest in 100% humidity before arriving at the most beautiful beach inaccessible by road. I have never enjoyed a swim in the sea so much as after that hike!
We could have stayed longer by the sea but we had to head inland to what unexpectantly became the highlight of the trip; the town of Barichara - one of the country’s most beautiful and best-preserved heritage towns. A pastime of the locals is a game called Tejo which we stumbled upon not long after arriving. This involves throwing a metal disc at a board which has a gunpowder target attached. The aim is to hit the gunpowder, and the first time someone was successful we almost fell off our seats!
Aside from hanging out with the locals we also enjoyed white water rafting on the Fonce River and a very scenic walk to the neighbouring village of Guane. If we hadn’t have been on an organised tour there is no way we would have found this fantastic destination.
Our tour finished in the capital city of Bogota which is a staggering 2,600 metres above sea level. It takes some getting used to functioning at this altitude, especially at night when it can feel like you’re having heart palpitations when trying to sleep. But if you acclimatise slowly you should have no troubles. I was worried about crime in Bogota but I felt really safe as we walked around the city. Coffee shops are aplenty and of excellent standard as you’d expect from a coffee growing nation. But they also have an excellent craft beer scene with lots of microbreweries and quirky bars. We particularly enjoyed the BBC – Bogota Beer Company.
