Colombia Part II

So from the fun of Medellin, it was time to head to the coast, the Caribbean coast that is. A part of the world that I only ever dreamt about visiting when I was a kid, it was too exotic to imagine me ever reaching such a place. Yet after a long overnight bus ride accompanied by a pretty long taxi ride through the "favelas", here I was, in the coastal city of Cartagena. Its an incredible place. I had been told by a few backpackers along my journey that they were starting to get bored of colonial town after colonial town. I was not quite of that opinion, though there is a lot of them in South America. Cartagena though, is certainly one of the best. On my taxi ride in, the driver pointed out some of the more beautiful apartments (worth $1m USD each) and stunning mansions (worth up to $6m, according to my driver anyway) with their wonderful colours and hispanic architecture. My driver also told me that I would be mad to leave on Sunday as I had planned as their was a Carnival on this weekend and Sunday was the big day. It transpired that all of next week was festivo as the 11th of November is Cartagena's independence day and it also staged the announcement of Miss Colombia next weekend...my how I wish I had timed my trip a little later. Anyway I digress, Cartagena is, as mentioned wonderful in its Colonial spendour. The tight streets lined with houses of various colours that remind you a little of the meditteranean, with overhanging balconies are a picture, as is the Plaza Principal and the Catedral which stands on one corner of it. The main feature of the city is the defensive wall that rings it way around the old town. It was built by the Spanish as a means of keeping out the Brits, Dutch and later pirates that attempted to sack and raid the important port. It was the most important city of South America at the beginning of the Spanish conquest as this was the gateway to the continent and all goods exported made their way through the city. As well as building a wall, there was a couple of forts built also, the most impressive being the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas. Its a cool fort, not quite Fort George in size but it has cool underground tunnels that were designed to amplify sound. The tunnels were tiny though, up to my shoulder when originally built and Im not exactly tall!! The sun goes down over the Western Part of the wall, obviously, and what a sight a Caribbean sunset is. The most stunning reds as the sun disappears into the sea. There is no real beach in Cartagena, there are areas of dirty sand but thats all. To get to a real beach requires a 45min boat ride to Playa Blanca and thats a real beach. Considered one of the best in Colombia, I would disagree, it has white sand and the most gorgeous turquiose blue water that is nice and warm. The only thing holding it back is that it is lined with vendors trying to sell you stuff. A full day was spent there with a couple of Aussies and it was lovely to be back on a beautiful beach with sun sea and sand. What more could you want. That night a large group from our hostel partied with Aquardiente and cervezas and a really good night was had. Its nowhere near as intense as the nightlife in Medellin but it stands up well. And so Sunday rolled around and after nursing a slight hangover, the festivo soon took over. What a mad, wonderfully crazy experience that was. The streets were full, chock a block with people and they were having a great time. There was foam and flour and blue paint being thrown around and I soon realised I had to arm myself with a bottle of espumar (foam) to make sure I didnt get destroyed. Along with two guys from the hostel we, managed to make our way to a main plaza where the chaos was more intense. Along with the foam and flour, people were throwing fireworks and noisemakers at each other...it was absolutely insane!! It was what is known as a riot back home and how the police, who wandered idly through the crowds, allowed it to happen is just as mad as the action. You wouldnt belive it unless you saw it and sadly I didnt take any pictures. Again, Colombian hospitality was well exhibited with Aquardiente, rum and whisky being freely passed around. We somehow managed to make enemies of a couple of girls, who were relentless and highly accurate in their spraaying of foam, my eyes stung for hours. It was total chaos and went on long into the night...my how you could never get away with this kind of madness back home, though it would be excellent fun. From Cartagena, I made my way along the Caribbean coast to Santa Marta a large disappointment. There is no real appeal about the city, it has history in that it is where the great Liberador, Bolivar died and Im sure that on the weekend the nightlife can come alive but for me there is nothing to keep you in the city. However, Santa Marta is the launching pad for trips into the excellent Parque Tayrona. From here you can visit Ciudad Perdida, a five day trip that I did not have time for, or simply take a hike through the park to the best beaches in Colombia. I spent three days in the park, lying on a horseshoe bay of glorious water and wonderful sunshine beating (and burning) my back. The trek into the park is cool in itself but I ventured with a couple of Dutch guys, another Aussie (honestly, everywhere in the world) and an American to a small lost town, Pueblito. This trek was excellent, climbing through small tunnels, over massive boulders and through rivers and rainforest. The small town is not exactly wow! but the walk in and out is amazing. If the Ciudad Perdida trek is five days of fun like that then I will have to return to do it. Sadly from Parque Tayrona, it was back south and away from the Caribbean Sea, only for a short while, I will see it again. It wasnt too bad as I was heading to the adventure capital San Gil and on to the Capital Bogota to finish. San Gil is an ok little place but its the things to do in the surrounding area that make it so cool. There is rafting, paragliding, rapelling, kayaking, and all other kinds of adventure sports. The rafting was sadly off as the river was too high and had been for a while. I booked myself up for paragliding the next day and was pretty excited about that. Near San Gil is the colonial town of Barrichara (another one) and from there you can take a walk to the neighbouring town of Guane. Barrichara is lovely, reminded me a lot of Paraty in Brasil with a beautiful Plaza and the stonewashed buildings with their mix of red, green and blue door and window frames. The walk down to Guane is nice too through a valley surrounded by mountains and forest. That evening I watched Colombia throw away a victory against Venezuela, needless to say the crowd wasnt best pleased. The next day, the date of paragliding, it managed to pour with rain all morning. We waited to see if it would go off and set out up the mountain in the hope that it would. Eventually the rain did go off, whilst we were sitting waiting at a petrol station, however our guide told us that there was not enough thermals to make it safe, or even worhtwhile to jump. Now I aint no meteorologist but is it not highly unlikely that warm thermals will ever follow a rainstorm? Slightly gutted that the one adventure sport I had signed myself up for came to nothing but such is life and Ill just have to jump somewhere else. The final destination on my South American tour awaited and man has it come round fast. Bogota, disliked by a few (seems to be the case with capitals in Latin America) and completely missed by many is, like Lima, Quito and La Paz before it, an excellent city. It caters for everything you wish. Sure the weather sucks, it rained everyday I was there and rarely got above 17C, but what a place. It lacks the coolness, nightlife and intelligence of Medellin, the looks and coast of Cartagena and is even lacking in serious historical significance, but for some reason, I cant quite put my finger on it, Bogota is awesome. There is over a dozen museums and art galleries to cater for every interest. I am not really one for art galleries but I have been told the ones here are amongst the best in the word. The Museo de Oro also is a must visit. The collection there must make it the most valuable building in the world and some of the pieces are simply stunning. The golden raft from Lago Guatavita is incredible as are some of the smaller pieces which have the most incredible detail and makes one wonder how that kind of craftsmanship was possible. The police museum contains Escobars bike and jacket and I was unable to visit the History Museum which chronicles the Indigenous of Colombia. As well as museums theres excellent restaurants galore in the very upmarket barrios in the north of the citry around Calle 75+. French, Italian Swiss, Thai Japanese, the list goes on. In a small town outside of Bogota, Zipaquira, known as Zipa, is the Catedral de Sal. A huge church carved into the salt mines in the town (which also has a really nice plaza and old train line with old locomotives) is the main attraction and what a wonder it is. Everything bar a few sculptures from an Italian artist is carved either out of or into the salt and the way that the lighting has been used makes it a sight for the eyes. The church is awesome and I would highly recommend it, the only downside is they have blasted away some more tunnels near the church and these are now filled with shops and a cafe and they are considering installing a spa as well...I would not be surprised to see McD's in there soon. For my last night in South America, I met with a friend, Juan Carlos, whom I had met in Parque Tayrona for dinner and some drinks in the expensive Zona Norte. I had heard lots of stories about a restaurant, Andres Carne de Res and so felt I had to check it out. Its unbelievable, hard to describe actually. Its a bar/restaurant split across 3 levels, hell, purgatory and heaven, with each level having its own decor and own style of music. The decor itself is wonderful, all made in a shop owned by Andres and all totally original. There is bottles covering the wall and the tables are made from the corrigated iron found on the floors of the buses. Thats just an insight, its an awesome place and clearly somewhere that the "somebodies" of Bogota go on a Friday night. After enjoying a couple of beers and a tequila in Andres, we headed for one last party in the coolest barrio of Bogota, Zona Te. It was a school night, so it was quiet but the bar was class, the music great and the chicas wow!! It was a wonderful end to a most wonderful adventure.