CARIBBEAN COASTAfter a lovely overnight at the airport in Bogota (we arrived at midnight and left at 6 a.m. the next day so we just slept on some chairs in the airport), we flew to Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast. For the first time in my life, I was greeted by a hotel representative waiting to drive us to the Decameron, an all-inclusive resort (for about $60 more than the price of our plane tickets, we had 4 days at this resort -- so why not?). Despite our high expectations, this was probably the least favorite part of our trip. In fairness, we were excited to travel and not yet ready the 'lay on the beach and do nothing' part of our trip, and we didn't feel well so we couldn't even enjoy the free open bar. In the end, though, unlimited food, drinks, and beach-time wasn't really that bad!
Toward the end of our time at the Decameron, we began to explore the rest of the coast. We
went to Taganga, a tiny village full of scuba-diving centers and near Playa Grande, a lovely beach on a bay only accessible by boat. In the boat on the way back, we met four really nice Colombians who drove us into Santa Marta to try Colombian ceviche (tasty...but nothing next to Peruvian ceviche!) and then took us all the way back to our hotel. This was just the first of many friendly Colombians we met.
After storing our luggage at a hostel, we took a one-hour bus ride - with our daypack - to the entrance of Parque Nacional Tayrona. This national park includes jungle, forest, beaches and city ruins. After a couple hours of walking, we arrived at this mecca for camping, relaxation and beach. We rented a tent and went out for a walk through Arrecifes, La Piscina, and Cabo San Juan de la Guía. The next day we did a short trek to Pueblito, seeing nice 
tropical forest scenery and the ruins/remains from this once major town. From there, we continued for a couple of hours to Calabazo where we hopped on a bus back to Santa Marta. Even though this was a short trip to Tayrona, it was one of my favorite parts of the trip.
Next, we went to the well-known city of Cartegena. It is, indeed, an incredibly beautiful city full of colonial buildings, sea views, and ruins of the old wall which protected this city - once from the pirates and English ships which attacked the Spanish colony, and eventually from the Spanish themselves as the city declared independence in 1810 (although this wasn´t official until 1821, two years after Simón Bolívar´s troops defeated the Spaniards for Bogotá). The entire area has a definite Caribbean-feel, but especially Las Islas Rosario (or so I think, having never been to any of the islands). We took a one-day trip to the island and, finally, were in the crystal-clear-blue-green waters you see in postcards. It was a great end to our time on the coast.BOGOTÁ
At 2,600 meters, Bogotá´s 7.5 million residents enjoy hot, sunny days and cold, cold nights. We arrived expecting little and left with a wonderful impression of Colombia´s capital. We stayed in the ´old´part of the city which was filled with lovely, old, low colonial buildings. The famous gold museum was closed for renovations, so instead we went to the Botero museum. While I knew the artist Fernand Botero, famous for his extremely rotund characters, I was impressed with the vast collection (all donated by the Colombian artist). Our favorite was the Mona Lisa. We took the cable car up to the top of one of the beautiful mountains which surround the city, taking in the view and several churches and restaurants built at the top. We enjoyed delicious coffee, fresh juices, snacks on the street, some Middle Eastern food and were ready to go. However, before leaving, we had the outstanding privelege of joining in the International Peace March (against FARC) in Colombia´s capital. This was an amazing experience which showed the incredible power people can have - without violence, without money.
MEDELLÍNIf you´re like me, you might have only heard of this city because of Colombia´s cocaine cartels. Well, it´s time to revise this image in your mind. Pablo Escobar is dead, the city is incredibly safe, organized and is surrounded by green hillsides (so if you´ve seen the movie "Blow" it´s time to rethink what the city looks like - since it was filmed in Mexico, not in Colombia). We enjoyed a night out with an ex-client of Arturo´s, enjoying the area known as Zona Rosa in El Poblado. Our first tourist destination was to visit the two famous cemetaries in the area. By this time, Arturo was on his second or third book about the ´drug war´in Colombia and was mostly interested in seeing Pable Escobar´s tombstone (Weird? Yeah, I think so). To get there we took the Metro - the only in Colombia and an example for subway riders around the world. As it opened in 1995, the entire Metro is modern, clean and new...but the amazing part is that no one speaks loudly, plays music, sings, screams, pushes people, or gabs on their cell phone. It´s incredible. However, by this time, I not only had the flu, but also some serious stomach problems. I´d been able to push through the previous week of not feeling great, but in Medellín I had to finally give into my body. I went back to the hostel and
Arturo spent that afternoon, and several days following, touring the city while I mostly slept, read, blew my nose and ran to the bathroom. My two favorite things that Arturo did are:- Visit Pablo Escobar´s tombstone, a simple and plain stone which says: Cuando veas a un hombre bueno trata de imitarlo; cuando veas a un hombre malo examinate a ti mismo...When you see a good man, try to imitate him; when you see a bad man, examine yourself.
- Go to the once infamously dangerous area of Barrio la Francia is now improving. Arturo took the public transport cable car up to this area, now filled with schools, a huge library and even tourists. There, he met a lovely family who took him home to their house and fed him a feast.
After listening to all of Arturo´s fun, I admitted defeat and went to the pharmacy for some medicine. Arturo had cooked for me, brought me water, and been patient with my whining...but even someone to take care of you sometimes isn´t enough to get better. Our last day there, after I´d started to feel a little better, I joined Arturo for lunch at his friend´s house, followed by a party at the hostel, including a live vallenato band (this is my new favorite kind of music, by the way). Arturo then went out to a discoteca with his friend while I went to bed.
ARMENIAWe decided to include Armenia in our trip because Arturo´s sister-in-law, Emi, is from there. We thought we would go there for one or two day to see the city, meet her brother, and then be on our way. We got there, realized how amazing the area is and stayed for our last five days in the area. Although not, on the whole, beautiful, the city is quickly improving. The central plaza had a wonderful photography and art exhibit outside and the city converted one of the nearby main streets into a pedestrian-only walkway, filled with lovely shops and friendly people.
Our first day, we went to the incredible Parque Nacional del Café. According to Lonely Planet, the government´s goal was to build an "American-style theme park." It may be a theme park - the theme is coffee - but it is so much more. It includes a timber tower, museums with the history of coffee, an ecological path which includes coffee plants and stations with information and demonstrations, and a plaza surrounded by colonial-style buildings. If you wish to continue on, you can come to the typical amusement park rides, including a roller coaster, ferris wheel and 
more, or - like we did - you can just take the gondola ride back to the entrance, enjoying the sweeping views of the park and surrounding area. This is the department (sort of like a county) of coffee plantations and it was obvious from the view we had. After leaving the park, we went to visit Emi´s brother and his family. We met, said hello and then enjoyed lechona, pork mixed with rice, stuffed inside a pig and baked, at a local restaurant. After eating, we went back to the apartment and ended up staying and talking for the next several hours, making plans for lunch later in the week.
The next day, we left for Salento, a tiny, typical pueblo paisa. We looked around the main plaza a bit, bought some snacks and left for our final destination: Valle de Cocora. We had three options: pay for a jeep ride, pay for a horse ride, or do an easy two-hour walk. We decided to be cheap and see more of the countryside and walk. After less than an hour, a truck pulled up next to us and offered us a ride. We arrived in the valley with beautiful mountains all around us and, after asking around, found a señora working at a small shop who rented rooms at her finca (farm) up the mountain. We walked uphill for an hour and arrived to the farm, complete the cows, roosters, turkeys, and more. After relaxing on the hammock and talking to our host, the youngest son of the family (about 8 years old), the rest of the family came home, too. After dinner we went to bed and got up at 6 a.m. to go for a short trek. Of course, the rest of the family woke up at 4:30 a.m. so for us it was early, but for the finca it was late.
With our handrawn map from our señora, a big bottle of water and some delicious sweet fruit gel snacks, we left. After about an hour we came to the palm tree. This was one of the landmarks on our map - a big palm tree with nothing else around it. After the palm tree there should have been a gate which went into the forest and up to the top. We walked around for another half an hour trying 
every which way with no luck. There was no clear path, it was incredibly cloudy (we were at about 3000 meters - cold and cloudy!) and we couldn´t see anything, but we also didn´t want to get lost. Then, walking a bit in front of Arturo, trying to find a path in the thick forest, I heard "grrrr." It wasn´t that loud, but it was clear. The second and third "grrrr" came and, as Arturo says, "Ok, you win!" We went back downhill and back to the finca. Was it a puma or jaguar, both of which are a problem in the area? We think so...although our señora agreed with a bit of a smirk on her face so who knows. After the most delicious lunch of trucha, trout, from the local rivers, boiled with milk, butter, garlic and onions, we went back down to the valley and took the jeep into Solento and the bus to Armenia.
From there, we got some help from the tourist information at the bus terminal and went to a finca hotel in Montenegro. Here, for the last two days of our trip, we enjoyed tropical weather (hot, humid with rain showers in the afternoon) and ammenities which we didn´t have elsewhere -- a small porch in front of our room with a hammock, a pool and a jacuzzi/hot tub. We enjoyed cocktails in the jacuzzi, played a mean game of Uno (in which I sadly lost 3 games to 7) and went to a nearby canopy. I´ve seen friends´pictures of canopy rides in Costa Rica, but had never done one myself. It was a blast! We soared through and above the tropical forest, eventually getting comfortable enough to go upside down and hands-free. It was incredible and over way too fast (although it was about an hour of floating through the sky).Our last day was spent with Emi´s brother and wife for lunch, followed by a bus ride back to Bogotá, an overnight, and one final day before we left for Lima. It was nice to be back in Bogotá and sad to be leaving...but like all trips, ours had to end at some point...
OTHER FAVORITE MOMENTS
- Watching Arturo blow his nose and cough, immediately after saying "Yeah, I think I´m getting better."
- Explaining to one of the many women who wanted to give me a massage on the beautiful beach at Las Islas Rosario that we didn´t have any money...and the ensuing conversation - all while I was being given the most incredible massage - that we only had 2,800 pesos (about US$1.50) and weren´t trying to bargain down the price - we just didn´t have more money.
- Breaking the clasp on my bikini top less than a week into our trip
- Wrist bands! We had to wear a wrist band at the Decameron and again at Parque Tayrona. We were afraid that we were going to get a new wrist band from each new place.
- Enjoying the kitchen facilities at several hostels -- as Arturo went to the store, bought food,
and cooked while I rested and tried to get better. - Colombian Coffee!! And learning that Starbucks and Juan Valdez (a conglomeration of Colombian coffee growers) had a contract that excluded Juan Valdez from entering the café
market...and now that the contract is over, Juan Valdez cafés are around the world - I saw one in Times Square in January. The best part is that not only does the Juan Valdez Café offer only 100% delicious Colombian coffee, but the profits go more directly into Colombians hands. - Sitting in the jacuzzi during a terencial downpour and storm until finally convincing Arturo that the rain wasn´t going to stop anytime soon and it was dangerous to sit in a pool of water during thunder and lightening.
- Watching "The Hot Chick" on our final bus trip (one of the worst movies I´ve ever seen...but we were on a bus, so I watched it -- dubbed in Spanish!)
VIDEOS...you need sound to appreciate them....
"I really feel better!"
"No más FARC!" (The Peace March)
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