Cautiously Courting Colombia
We've been in Colombia for coming up two weeks now and the place is definitely growing on me. Our first impressions hadn't been great after we landed in Medellin which is a pretty uninspiring city. Transport has generally been a lot harder and a lot more expensive and the first few people we met weren't really what you would call friendly.
However, next stop was Cartegena and this is a great colonial town. It's the most touristy place we've found yet in Colombia but still the locals outweigh the tourists by some way. We spent four days here just chilling in nice cafes, going to nice restaurants and bars and exploring the city and the surrounding suburbs.
After Cartegena we decided to go off the map a little and headed inland. First stop was Mompos, a nice little town in the central wetlands, now past it's best days as a major port but still interesting in itself. While we were there they had a nautical celebration and also a march through the streets that we participated in as the only foreigners - quite odd!!
Next stop was Bucaramanga and a nice village called Giron, but we only stayed here a couple of nights before we headed off to our current location of San Gil. San Gil was the first time we had seen any tourists in 5 days but still we have seen less than 10 in the last 3 days. This town has a great location and is renowned for it's adventure sports so today I went and did some rafting on the local river with a very friendly group. It was my first time so I stuck to a Class 3 but I enjoyed myself and am already looking forward to tackling a 4 or 5 in Peru hopefully.
What's really changing my mind though are the people. Almost everyone we are meeting now is so friendly and also patient with my attempts at Spanish. The country has obviously had a pretty chequered history and the local people have suffered a lot because of this so the warm welcome is great. The current president seems to be doing a great job of cleaning up, the recent rescue of 15 people who had been kidknapped 6 years ago and the ongoing destabilising of FARC are contributing to a much safer and enjoyable atmosphere here. It is interesting seeing the country as it is now; I can't imagine being able to go a week without seeing another tourist as Colombia starts to show up more and more on travellers radars.
Tomorrow we are heading down to Villa de Leyva for more adventure sports, hiking and general fun!!
However, next stop was Cartegena and this is a great colonial town. It's the most touristy place we've found yet in Colombia but still the locals outweigh the tourists by some way. We spent four days here just chilling in nice cafes, going to nice restaurants and bars and exploring the city and the surrounding suburbs.After Cartegena we decided to go off the map a little and headed inland. First stop was Mompos, a nice little town in the central wetlands, now past it's best days as a major port but still interesting in itself. While we were there they had a nautical celebration and also a march through the streets that we participated in as the only foreigners - quite odd!!
Next stop was Bucaramanga and a nice village called Giron, but we only stayed here a couple of nights before we headed off to our current location of San Gil. San Gil was the first time we had seen any tourists in 5 days but still we have seen less than 10 in the last 3 days. This town has a great location and is renowned for it's adventure sports so today I went and did some rafting on the local river with a very friendly group. It was my first time so I stuck to a Class 3 but I enjoyed myself and am already looking forward to tackling a 4 or 5 in Peru hopefully.What's really changing my mind though are the people. Almost everyone we are meeting now is so friendly and also patient with my attempts at Spanish. The country has obviously had a pretty chequered history and the local people have suffered a lot because of this so the warm welcome is great. The current president seems to be doing a great job of cleaning up, the recent rescue of 15 people who had been kidknapped 6 years ago and the ongoing destabilising of FARC are contributing to a much safer and enjoyable atmosphere here. It is interesting seeing the country as it is now; I can't imagine being able to go a week without seeing another tourist as Colombia starts to show up more and more on travellers radars.
Tomorrow we are heading down to Villa de Leyva for more adventure sports, hiking and general fun!!
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