From Bogota to Cartagena

Bogota to Cartagena

The last 5 to 6 weeks i have been lazy. Allready in Bogota (1) there was a lot of booze, party, getting late into bed etc. This multiplied itself for the next weeks where i had a great time in San Gil (2) doing activity sports, and later a lot of work on the plaza to keep up with the locals, as well as in Santa Martha and Tatanga (around 4). Next to that finally there was the beach with temperatures in between 30 and 35 degrees, lovely water to swim, and nice views. But i have been cultural again. First i went to Villa de Leiva (not on the map but 4 hours north from Bogota), I did one of the nicest tours you can do in South America to the LOST CITY (near 4), saw Barichara, another colonial town near San Gil, and finally ended up in Cartagena (5), yes another of those colonial city's, but this time with city walls, which made in special. The biggest sensation for me was Tayrona national park (east of 4) where the beach was stunning as wells as the landscape surrounding it. It is the perfect beach.

Tayrona National Park



I'm starting to write this story on Tyrona beach in northern Colombia. tayrona beach is the most incredible beach I have ever seen. Was 2 months earlier Tortuga bay on the Galapagos allready a memorable place to be, this beach beats all the beaches I have ever seen.


Waves Tayrona beach

You can stare for hours at the incredible waves storming in and tumbling over each other with roaring sounds,


Tayrona beach waves 3

Tayrona beach waves 4

or enjoy these waves in the water although you really have to take care, because the waves are so powerful they might break your neck. It is very spectacular when these waves toss a group of people over.


Big waves

Raging waves

And then there are the beaches in all varieties.


Tayrona Beaches

The biggest beach is ca. 1 km long with beautiful white sand, the smallest beach not more than 50 meters wide in a little idyllic bay, where coconut palms line the beginning of the tropical rainforest that starts immedeately here after.


Tayrona beaches2

Behind one of these beaches there is a little fresh water stream with tadpoles and you can see some big toads here every night like in Serere.


The most beautiful beach in the world

Behind the beaches you can see steep mountains with big boulders.


The most beautiful beach in the world2

These mountains rise up to 5700 meters, some 45 km further, and there are SNOWCAPPED PEAKS over there again. I allready started to miss them, but there they are.


the Sierra Nevada

Then there is the colour of the water that goes from blue to turqoise to green, and although the waters are fierce, in many places it is cristal clear. Outside you can see a reef about 300 meters away, where the first waves are born.


Big beaches


Palm trees and fresh coconuts

Palm trees

All around you can see big boulders lying around in the water, and sometimes a whole pile forms a little island, covered with lush plant life, and sometimes even palms.


Island made of boulders

Then there are the pelicans here. They fly in V shaped formations. It looks like a group of cyclists that are on a nice day cruising along the country side. It really seems they are enjoying this, because they don't have anything else to do. I never saw pelicans do this elsewhere!


Pelicans in v formation

The combination of all these elements creates an incredible scenic place, where i stayed for 10 days, not doing more than enjoying the surf, lying in hammocks,


Sleeping place

drinking rum and beer, enjoy the full moon on the beach, etc. etc. I enjoyed the company of some Aussies for the first 5 days (Don, Rob, and Charlie, with whom i played Shithead, a typical card game for english speaking travellers), and later i had a good time with Joan and Ben (Canadian and Kiwi), who like me like to kill some rum bottles from now and then. I met them all when i was doing the Lost City track.


A little turttle beach in Tayrona National Park, see the turttle?

The Ciudad Perdida


What Machu Pichu is for Peru, is the Lost City for Colombia. A must do 6 day trek for Gringo's. Nicky already wrote me last year about the beauty of this trek, and everybody else i met told me the same. It is not as touristic as Machu Pichu and not so expensive (150E), and because 2 years ago a group of tourists where captured and kept hostage by guerilla's for 10 months the amount of people that do this has dropped considerably. But not this time!


Girls welcoming gringo's at the start of the track

25, many native english speaking gringo's, set of on a trail with steep green hills covered with lush tropical rain forest, refreshing streams, and little waterfalls in which you can have a refreshing bath after stripping off clothes that are soaked with sweat. Temperatures during the day rise to 30-35 degrees in a humid environment, and NOEL KEMPF certainly learned me that that means smelly clothes and dirty rags after a few days.


Vieuwpoints on our way to the city

And then there are my friends, the sandflies, those horrible little creatures that nibble your feet, your arms and everything else that is uncovered, leaving behind little red bloodspots, that start to itch intensely after a few hours, and they itch at least for a week, preferably just before you go to bed or just after waking up. As a result you scratch everything open and then the itching becomes unbareble.


Hills before CP


Bathing opportunities in first camp

Fortunately for the group, there was a girl, Jane, a very funny Aussie, who was particulary popular with the sandflies. Her bright white milk bottles were the central meeting place for those sucking monsters, and as a result after a week her legs looked like yoghourt with big strawberries popping up from the surface. I had learned my lesson in the Yungas in Bolivia and wore long trousers all day.


Gringo's and Cogi (the local tribe), Jane the sandfly mistress in front

The Ciudad Perdida was built by the Tayrona people, some 800 years ago. Nowadays part of their offspring is living in villages around the CP, and they are called the Cogi.


A local cogi village


More Cogi

The Ciudad Perdida is built in the hills that surround the highlands of the Sierra Nevada in a superb setting. As soon as you have climbed the 1200 stairs that leed to the central meeting terrace,


The Stairs to Ciudad Perdida

you can see that on one side the the ciudad perdida is shelterd by steep hills, where a single cascade is finding its way down in between the abundant rainforest, while on the other sides there are open views to several valleys. It is easy to understand why the Tayrona chose this place. It immedeately gave me a WOOOOOOW feeling, because of its beauty, and after that you feel safe and a spiritual energy flowing through you. The same sort of sensation I felt in Serere.


CP vieuw from the main terrace into the valleys


A part of the main terrace

The CP reminded me of KUELAP. Same sort of setting, high on a hill , the round terraces. The stone work done here is not for the construction of a fort, but in the construction of many stairways and also the base of all the terraces is made of stone.


Terraces under vegetation


More vegetation

Most of it is overgrown with ferns and mosses. About 25% of CP, discovered only recentely in 1975, when it became clear that graverobbers dug up gold artefacts in this area, is uncovered. The remaining 75% is overgrown by the jungle. The Cogi tribe that is living in this area, doesn't want further excavations which they consider unrespectful to their ancestors.


An old street

The CP was abandonded by the Tayrona around 1600 after Christ, because the shamen didn't want to live under Spanish rule, so they fled into the mountains where the Spaniards never came.


Ciudad peridia in the mist


Yes i was there!

Upon arrival we are welcomed by a shaman, who because of his birthday, is completely pissed from drinking some own brewn poison and because the guides gave him a bottle of rum. It was a wonder he didn't fall from the slippery stairs, but ok he is a holy man.


The Shaman

Next day during new years eve he visits us again with his whole family (2 wives and 12 kids). This time the shaman behaves respectable, but not two of his sons (12 and 16?) who are very amusing and naughty, grabbing all they can lay their hands on., mainly rum, cigarettes and marihuana, which results in his oldest sun (the future holy man) puking on the table, as well as in the face of one of my travel companions. Well (future) holy men are still men.

I by the way didn't make it until 12 O'clock. After starting drinking rum at 4 pm, I thought around 8 pm it was 11 O'clock, so i knew i wasn't going it to make it until 12. Only the three Aussies and Jennifer, an english girl I had met in Tatanga and who was absolutely indestructable, survived until the end. Still it was a memorable night with live music, made by Philipe, our Colombian gitarist, and Nicholas, one of the porters, the lead singer.


Nicholas on new years eve

San Gil



In my struggle against travel fatigue I'm trying to do new things. So I went to San Gil, about 9 hours north from Bogota, where there are possibilities to do rafting. I had wanted to do this earlier in FUTALEUFU (Chili), but alas Chris and I turned up too late in the season. Futhermore i met Shaun, the hostal owner in San Gil, in PLATYPUS (BOGOTA) and he told me that San Gil is starting to become a center for activity sports. So I sent Shaun, an Aussie again, an email, took up my backpack and went to san Gil, where I stayed for 6 days. Main reason, I had a wonderful time there!


San Gil, Shaun's place

Christmas lights in San Gil

As soon as I got there, Shaun took care of me, showed me the most interesting pubs, bought me beer and introduced me in the local community. He really is a wonderful host and besides that a very nice guy! The people in SG were very hospitable as well. Every night there are hundreds of people drinking beer, aqua diente (a sort of raki, yes wouter that one!) and rum and they are always willing to talk and share their drinks in large quantities with gringo's. One night, Jason the local parasail instructor bought us all continously beer, because Morales has won the presidential elections in Boliviaand he was happy that for the first time in South America an Indian had won the presidential elections! So after Bogota SG was the second place in Colombia where i hardly could get into bed (out out of bed), and searched for excuses to stay a day longer.


Beer Plaza

Back to rafting, I spent an exciting day on the river Suarez and according to Kees and Emiel (two dutch kayakers who saw a lot of different rivers around the world), this raftng trip was the best they had seen around the world.


The river Suarez

Rafting

The scenery as well as the rapids were breathtaking, one rapid was too dangerous, according to our guide Cesar, a kayak champion of Colombia). When I said I wouldn't mind doing it, Josh, a dreamy Jim Morrison kind of American asked me if I really need this sort of kick to feel excitement. I am afraid he is totally right.


Too dangerous rapid


The end of the rafting trip

Another highlight of SG were the waterfalls of Juan Curi. yes another waterfall. I have something with falling water, whether it is fluid or it is frozen. This waterfall is multi level and it took me a day to discover and enjoy all the different levels, and to look for the righ angles. A lovely day.


The waterfalls of Juan Curi, lowest parts

Juan Curi, middle part

Detail

From above

The highest part

On another day i went with Shaun, Julia ( a 19 year old German girl) and Nathan, one of the most original and nice guy i have met so far, to Pescadito.


Pescadito

Pescadito is a place where local people swim and it consists of a set of pools interconnected by a stream and some tiny waterfalls.


One of the pools


The stream

A lovely place for a swim or just to relax in a cartube floating on the water.


Relaxe!

More pools

It was one of the nice things of the last month, lovely sunny weather, nice beaches and good opportunities to swim, booze, relax, a lot of good people, friendly Colombians and sometimes beautiful landscapes.


The countryside

One of these landscapes was near Barichara, 40 min. by bus from SG. Barichara is an old colonial town that looks a littlebit like Villa de Leiva (see further down), but it is not as pittoresque


Barichara

Climbing to the top of the village, there is a great view on the back country with a valley and a canyon, and although I can imagine that seeing this sort of pictures om my website for allmost a year is becoming a bit tedious, the live experience stays great, and I spent an hour watching it, and another hour sleeping next to it.


View from Barichara onto the village

The other side

Villa de Leiva



I spent two days in Villa de Leiva, some 4 hours away from Bogota. VdL is special because this is one of the last unspoilt colonial cities in South America, and when you walk around town it feels you step back in time at least 400 years with all the cobble stone streets, the almost absence of cars and the beautiful houses.

Spectacular is the plaza, which is big and gives an impression how Lima might have been 4 centuries ago.


Villa de Leiva, the plaza 1

Villa de Leiva, the plaza 2

Villa de Leiva, the plaza 3

Another pittoresk place is the church and monastery of Santa Teresa, that looks like it has escaped from a 18th century painting.


Villa de Leiva, Iglesia del Carmen

The other side

And like everywhere else in South America the setting is spectacular, and invites me to try my camera in as many different angles as possible.


I love clouds

Tatanga

A few days before Christmas I go to Tatanga, a 10 hour busride from San Gil and on the Carribean coast. It gives me mixed feelings. On the one hand, I really am longing for the beach after allmost 11 months mountains and fresh nights, on the other hand by reaching the coast I realise that my journey to South America is running to its end. After having seen so numerous incedible spots, it shall be hard to say goodbuy to this magnificent continent (allthough there is still Central America to discover).


Tatanga, playa grande

Tatanga is a little fishermens place colse to Santa Martha, where I stayed in the Casa de Felipe, a lovely hostal where you can sit outside all day and night, enjoy a snore in a hammock and it is possible to cook! That I do often. If there is one thing negative to say about south america, it is the food. It certainly is not haute cuisine, and there is not much variation.


Tatanga


Girl enjoying the sea!

Wim enjoying the sea

Carribean sales woman

Tatanga is a place where you can dive cheap, so i joined a german company (Poseidon), and made two dives outide on the reef. The diving howver was not very spectacular (low visibility and not as many fish and corals as i hap hoped), so i skipped my plans for making a diving cruise of 5 days. For the rest I didn't do much in Tatanga. There are some nice views to enjoy but i was glad that i did Tatanga before Tayrona, otherwise i would never have enjoyed it so much. Tayrona is so devastatingly better!!!


Near our diving spot

In Casa de Felipe i met new friends, for instance Jennifer, the indestructible party animal, and old friends Harriet, Don and Christophe from Platypus. With Christopher and Don I spent Christmas eve in the Garage until 5 O'clock, one of the local dance joints in town, where it is stimulating to see the colombian girls doing Salsa! It is certainly better than DE KLOMPENDANS (a dutch folklore dance, imagina dutch women on wooden shoes in a sexy farmers outfit). And those Colombian girls are horrible. They are just too beautiful!


Tatanga fishing boats

After the lost city I spent a few days in Santa Martha, close to Tatanga. There is not much to say about SM, it is a rather dirty city, although Colobians go in huge amounts to this town in their summer holidays. The beach is also crap. One night i went with Patrick, an American i had earlier met in (again) Platypus to the beach, when a police patrol car stopped close to us with sceaming tyres. They put us against the wall as if we were dangerous criminals and started to search us very brutally. It made me ver angry. The guys were searching for drugs, and on Patrick they found a quantity hardly enough fo one joint. After more intimedation Patrick gave them 80000 Pesos (about 40 dollar) and then they left, giving him back his marihuana. It was clear, these suckers were only looking for bribe money, and presumebly that night more tourists would fall into the hands of these corrupt assholes. It was the first time I encountered corruption in S.A. It felt worse than when i was robbed in Guiaquil.

Cartagena

Finally I managed to get to Cartagena. Presumably my last spanish colonial town in South America. Cartagena, they say is one of the best and most beautiful. One thing is sure, it is special because there are walls around the old centre of Cartagena.


Cartagena, the old center

Cartagena is also a very touristic city, and one where groups of Americans in buses are seen frequently. Therefor there are a lot of crap selling people, and they are more aggressive then elsewhere in Colombia. And there are the beggars again. You don't see them in Colombia elsewhere, but here there are many. Cartagena is like Santa MArtha not very clean. The locals like to drop there stuff everywhere. The city walls are nice, and give me again an excuse to try to make some pictures. Here we go.


The walls of Cartagena

More walls

And more walls

Sometimes there are not only walls but also some fortresses, the highest is Fortress Tenaza and its walls are 17-18 meters high.


One of the fortresses (Tenaza)


Fortifications

Outside the city walls there are some little and dirty beaches where the local fisherman clean there fish, and share it with the bird that are waiting patiently for things to come.


Fishermen in Cartagena

Inside the walls are some nice coloured houses and tiny plaza's.


One of the plaza's

Plaza de los Coches

The fortress de San Felipo is the biggest fortrees in South America. It looks impressive from the outside. Inside there is however not much to see, so only some pictures to give an impression of its magnitude.


Cartagena, the fortress of San Fernando

Nice textures

A lot of stonework

Ok i hope you liked my story and my pictures again. There were a lot, but i promise one thing next story won't be from South America. I will leave in less then a week, and then up to Panama. I finish this story with a few special pictures. Most of them from devastating Tayrona!! Ciao Wim


Tayrona at night 1

Full moon at night in Tayrona

Tayrona at night2

Los Endos