Colombia

More photos here: http://dulceandkai.blogspot.com/

Santa Marta
When we arrived in Cartegena, we took a bus straight to Santa Marta. We were a bit shocked at first...It has been a while since we've been traveling, and we forgot how chaotic everything can be. That night we shared a Cuban cigar for Kai's birthday. The next day, we took an all day hike through Tayrona Park. We went to an indigenous village and to Pueblito (a smaller version of Ciudad Perdida). Then we went to Cabo San Juan beach. There was a large camp ground there. Seemed like a fun, hippy spot. We ate lunch at the restaurant by the water and laid at the beach for while. On our way back, we walked along Arrecifes and Cañaveral beaches. Unfortunately it rained almost the whole 2 hours back to the bus. Then, because of the rain, our bus ride back to the hotel took two hours instead of one because of all the accidents and fallen trees. We weren't sure if we were really going to make it back to the hotel. There was a bar next to our hotel that played very loud music from 11pm until sometime in the middle of the night. It was very difficult to get some good sleep. We took a bus over to Taganga beach and Playa Grande. It was a very nice beach, and there were a string of shops and restaurants along the water.

San Gil
We took an overnight bus to Bucaramanga, and then on to San Gil. The night buses are freezing cold, and we had to dress for winter even though it was 30°C outside. We found a cheap hotel, but soon realised why it was so cheap...no hot water. :( We went whitewater rafting in San Gil. It was only 2 & 3 class rapids so it wasn't too hard. The water was freezing though. We went with a group of other Colombians on holiday. They were hilarious. At one point, everyone jumped into the water to go swimming...everyone except for me of course! I was getting a bit tired of the standard plate of beans & rice. I've been eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the past couple of weeks, but there really hasn't been much of an alternative. We took a day trip to Barichara, about 40 min from San Gil. It's a cute old town in the countryside...very quiet but lovely.

Medellin
Another cold night bus to Medellin. We stayed at a nice hostel (mainly so I could use the kitchen and cook), but we had the smallest room ever! It just barely fit a small bed in there. The city was huge, modern and fairly clean. We did stumble across a bad part of town during the day though. Just one block away from a main plaza, we found the red light district with junkies and prostitutes roaming the streets...scary. We found a great veggie restaurant called Govinda's. We loaded up on tons of food for only $3. We walked all over the city and went to the botantic gardens and to Cerro Nutibara, a hill with great city views and a replica of the old Colombian towns called Pueblito Paisa.

Salento
All day bus journey to Salento. We stayed at the best hostel, Ciudad de Segorbe. It was run by Luis and Enrique, and they were amazing hosts. We felt very much at home there. The next day, the rain finally stopped and we hiked the 5 hour Valle de Cocora trek (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocora_valley). The track was very muddy from the rain, but we had rented some gum boots from the guys at our hostel so we managed to keep our feet dry. We went to the Acaime house where dozens of hummingbirds were whizzing by our heads. Truly an amazing experience. In the afternoon, it rained a little bit, but we were still able to see the huge wax palm trees in the valley.
The next day, we had breakfast on our patio, watching the hummingbirds, then we did a self-guided walk to the coffee farms. We walked about an hour to the first finca (farm), La Brisas (owned by Don Elias). He was a cute little old man and took us around his farm, showing us how he grows the plants, harvests them, dries them and roasts them. It was great to see the whole process. At the end, we were even able to grind our own coffee and have a cup. The next finca was Finca El Ocasa. It was a bit bigger, but they basically had the same process, just with larger machines. A cute black and white dog had started following us when we left the village, and he followed us the whole day. When we got back, we found out that the roads to Bogota had been opened and closed a couple of time because of the landslides. Enrique and Luis found out from the bus terminal, that even if the buses went, they were taking 14 hours to get to Bogota instead of the usual 7. We decided to fly instead and be there in 1 short hour.

Bogota
We splurged and stayed at a really nice hotel in Bogota, our birthday presents to ourselves. :) We went to see the churches in the La Calendria area, and we visited the Museo de Oro (Gold Museum). We found 2 very delicious veggie restaurants where I could eat lots of food finally! At night, we went to the main plaza to see all the Christmas lights and Christmas tree lit up. The next day we went to the top of Cerro de Monserrate. There was a little church at the top, and it had great views of the city. We walked around the city a bit more to the Parque de Indepencia and to the Botero Museo. This museum was very unique. It had pieces from Dali, Renoir, Monet and Fernando Botero. Botero is a Colombian artists who likes to draw and sculpt fat people, cats and horses. Very strange.
This was our second trip to Colombia, and we loved it. Most of the people were very friendly, and whenever you spoke to anyone, they would always say "buenas" (hello) and "con mucho gusto". We had a great little trip, but I'm looking forward to Christmas with my family...and being able to ditch my bag of emergency food. :)