Eating, Drinking and Dancing Our Way Around Bogota

Ten million people call the vibrant, passionate, sprawling, subtropical urban jungle of Bogota home. We are very fortunate to have two friends, Gustavo and Federico, whom we met while living in Australia, who call Bogota home! 

Bogota From Monserrate 

So, we started off our time in Bogota at Federico's home to pre-game before heading to the trendy Zona Rosa for a night of clubbing. Being the budget backpackers that we are, we turned up with the cheapest bottle of aguardiente (think sambuca in strength and taste) we could find in La Carulla. After being told by both Gustavo and Federico that they don’t drink that stuff, we proceeded to take enough shots to finish nearly the entire bottle before we left for the club. After  dancing the night away among a well-dressed crowd and buying a couple too many expensive drinks at the club, we stumbled back to our hostel in Zona Rosa.

Holy hangover-Batman was all I could think to say when I woke up, but the only word that came out was...WATER! After devouring a slice of pizza each from the place next to our hostel, we hopped in Gustavo’s car to head to his house in Ubate,  the countryside of Bogota. The drive was pretty, but as we continued to drive, my hangover continued to get worse. After stopping to get $10 bottles of Absolut vodka for the night's festivities, it took all I had not to spew right there in the back seat! We finally arrived and I made a beeline to the bathroom to expel last night’s fun! 

View Point at Ubate

After a great day, we were hungover party-poopers who fell asleep around midnight while the party raged on to the early hours of the morning. We felt refreshed the next day and started to tackle the neighborhoods of Bogota through our stomachs.

To say that we were getting tired of Colombian food, especially street food , at this point in our trip would be an understatement; so we decided to take advantage of the hundreds of eclectic and trendy dining hotspots that Bogota has to offer. Since we were staying at Federico’s we had about $20 / day extra to dedicate to food and drinks!

We were not afraid to do the Macarena, and ended up at the fabulous TAPAS Macarena for Spanish-style meat, cheese and wine one night. Another night we treated ourselves to Indian food at Flor. De Loto. While lacking in spice, the samosas and curries were good enough to satisfy our craving for some Asian flavors. Being that we met while working at Hard Rock Cafe Sydney, we always make it a point to visit the local HRC, but this time we splurged and got a delicious, huge Mac and Cheese burger. Our final night, we treated ourselves to desert and a drink at the spectacle the is Andres Carnes de Res. We went to the one in Zona Rosa, and it was definitely worth the visit! 

Clockwise From Top Left: Andres Carne de Res; Tapas Macarena; Hard Rock Cafe; Dessert at Andres  

In between all of our eating & drinking we busied ourselves with the cultural and artistic activities of Bogota. We spent a lovely afternoon strolling the streets of the old historic district, La Candelaria, taking in street art between El Museo do Oro and the Botero Museum. 

Clockwise From Top Left: Botero Museum; Garden at Botero Museum; Museo del Oro; Street Art at La Candelaria 

We spent another afternoon making our way to Tequendama Falls and seeing the old abandoned, haunted Tequendama Hotel. The Hotel is said to be haunted by the ghosts of the many guests who committed suicide during their stay there. Creepy!!! The mist from the falls adds to the eerie feeling. The falls are beautiful and definitely worth the trip, but it was really sad to see how the falls and river have been destroyed by pollution. At one point on the bus ride everyone (we were the only foreigners, so these were all locals) covered their mouths and noses because the smell is so bad! 

Haunted Tequendama Hotel and Tequendama Falls 

We took the cable car up to Monserrate on our last afternoon and stayed through sunset. The views are spectacular with the Bogota sprawl tucked into the mountains. At nightfall, the Colpatria (tallest building in Bogota) lights up and puts on a mini lightshow with its continuously changing colors. If you only do one thing in Bogota, a visit to Monserrate should be it! 

Views Of Bogota From Monserrate

While Bogota has a reputation of being a dangerous, former drug-war battlefield, we did not see this side. From the moment we arrived, we saw a hip bohemian city that shocked us with the kindness of its trendy residents. In fact, within our first 30 minutes, we saw a girl drop money while exiting the TransMileno (Bogota's bus version of a metro) and a young man run after her to give it back to her; we then felt the kindness firsthand as another young man allowed us to put credit on to his TransMileno card so that we wouldn’t have to purchase one for $3000 additional pesos ($1.35). Finally, on the night we went to TAPAS Macarena, a couple of policemen stopped us when we were crossing a bridge to get back to the TransMileno and warned us that it is kind of dangerous to walk at night in this area of the city, and then offered us to escort us back to the station to make sure we were safe.

There seems to be a fine line between a seedy, dangerous city and trendy, boho chic one; Bogota seems to have crossed over to the latter. So, move those hips to the music and feel the pulse of this metropolis through all it has to offer.

Note: We are by no means saying Bogota is a super safe, stroll about carefree and unaware of your surroundings kind of city. In fact, we heard several firsthand stories, including one from our friend, of robbery at knife-point in Bogota. We are simply saying that we did not have any situations in which we felt unsafe.

Guatape: Our Colombian Paradise

As I hopped off my bike to walk it uphill for the second time after leaving Guatape, I wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. We had been told that the 26 kilometer ride to San Rafael was mostly downhill, but in the first 7 kilometers it seemed like all we were doing was going up! Naturally, I had forgotten to take my inhaler; my lungs and legs were screaming! 

As I caught up to Gabe at the top of the hill, it all became worth it. The sweeping views were breathtaking! We sat there-sipping our water, catching our breath and taking picture after picture. We set off again feeling refreshed and then the downhill part of the ride started. We dropped just over 1,000 meters in the remaining 19 kilometers to San Rafael. We sped downhill laughing and stopping for pictures. This was what we had gotten ourselves into, and it was phenomenal! 

San Rafael isn’t much of a sight, but the nearby river is the perfect place to cool down after a hot, exhausting bike ride. After some ferocious negotiating between Gabe and the money collector for the bus, we headed back to Guatape; we both agreed that there was no way we could have made the bike ride back.

With ice cold beers in hand, we watched a gorgeous sunset from the balcony of Lake View Hostel. It was the perfect end to a perfect day. 

Originally, we had planned to stay in Guatape for only the weekend, but they were in need of volunteers, and we loved it so much that we ended up staying for 2 weeks! Guatape is a picturesque town located about two hours from Medellin. Guatape is a chain of lakes bordering a reservoir created by the Colombian government for a hydro-electric dam in the late 1960s. It is known as the Pueblo de Zócalos, for the beautiful, brightly-colored paintings of village life which adorn the lower half of most buildings in the town center. Although the town center is small, it has plenty of character. 

Mornings were spent volunteering (putting on coffee, cleaning the hostel, check-ins/check-outs, etc.. Afternoons were spent exploring everything Guatape has to offer.

We spent one afternoon walking to and hiking up La Piedra. La Piedra is the main tourist attraction near Guatape, and rightfully so. After walking the 740 steps to the top of the 200 meter tall monolith, you are greeted with spectacular 360 degree panoramic views. While many travelers only come on a day trip to see La Piedra (as recommended by Lonely Planet), Guatape is so much more!! 

We hiked to a secluded waterfall with Greg (one of the owners of Lake View) and our fabulous guides Amber and Sophia, the resident hostel dogs another afternoon. Another was spent kayaking around the lakes. Nick (the other owner) even took Gabe to play in the weekly soccer game of the locals versus the military. Nearly every afternoon was spent with a swim in the lake with Nick and Sonia (the other volunteer) or drifting lazily on tube. Guatape was the perfect blend of adventure/activity and relaxation, and is hands down our favorite place in Colombia. 

**Note: currently Lake View Hostel is located just across the bridge from the downtown area of Guatape, however, construction is underway and expected to finish in the next couple of months on a new and improved LVH in town. Nick and Greg are phenomenal, and we highly recommend LVH as your base for Guatape. Kayaks, bikes, fishing poles, etc…can be rented from LVH or can be used for free if you volunteer, and they are always looking for volunteers.

Month 2 Recap

Where We’ve Been  

• 3 days in Medellin

• 13 days in Guatape

• 7 days in Bogota

• 5 days in Cali

• 3 days in Popayan

Highlights

• Real City Tours-Medellin with Pablo as our guide provided an entertaining and insightful look into Medellin

• Bandeja Paisa: a heaping, delicious plate of rice, beans, dried meat, sausage, t

• EVERYTHING Guatape(Guatape post to come later this week)

• Going out with and staying with friends in Bogota/Ubate(Bogota countryside)

• Culinary treats in Bogota: TAPAS Macarena, Flor de Loto-Indian, Hard Rock Café, Andres Carne de Res

• The Haunted Hotel at Tequendama Falls outside of  Bogota

• View of Bogota from Monserrate

• Celebrating Ga’s birthday in Cali

• La Semilla Escondida-Popayan: seriously best food of the trip! We ate here 3 times in 2 days

Not So HIGHlights…

• Parque Arvi in Medellin-too touristy/need guide & group to see what we wanted

• The hangover after drinking too much aguardiente

•Being totally overcharged for not so good champus and lulada in Cali

•The snoring, really stinky Aussies that we had to share a room with in Popayan

Those dolla dolla bills y'all(The Budget)

Despite splurging big time on food and drinks this month, we kicked ass on being under budget thanks to 2 full weeks of free accommodation though volunteering and staying with friends in Bogota. We came in $305 under budget for the 5 weeks that fell during month 2.

Coming Up...

We will spend another couple of days in San Agustin and Mocoa, Colombia before crossing the border into Ecuador. 

Medellin: A City of Pablo(s)

“Passport, please.” I hand the immigration agent my passport. He looks at it, then cocks his head to one side and looks at me suspiciously. “So you’re from Colombia?”  I confirm, and the agent opens my passport; he now looks even more suspicious. “From Medellin?”  I confirm with a nod of my head.  I wait patiently, but I know what is coming… “and your name is Pablo?”.  “Yes, sir,” I reply politely. “So, Pablo from Medellin, Colombia, what do you have in your backpack?” “The usual, clothes, shoes, a book.” “What about drugs, do you have cocaine in your backpack?” “No, I do not have any drugs or cocaine,” I say. “Well, we are going to need you to come this way for a moment,” he says sternly. 5 hours later, my bag has been repeatedly searched, I’ve been questioned again and again, and my flight is long gone.

This is a story that our guide, Pablo, from Real City Walking Tours in Medellin recounted as we marveled at the old Ferrocarril de Antioquia, the train system which once symbolized the ingenuity, work ethic, pride and prosperity of Medellin and the paisas. However,  most people do not know about that Medellin; they only know of the Medellin which was considered the most dangerous city on the planet. They know of a Medellin ruled by Pablo Escobar and the drug cartels. Despite the fact that Escobar has been dead for over 20 years, he still, unfortunately, rules the world’s view of Medellin.

Pablo, Real City Tours guide                                                            Old Ferrocarril de Antioquia                                                                                                                                               

The Medellin that we experienced was so much more though! Medellin is a city which has been reborn. Medellin has become a modern city; a city filled with new buildings, public spaces and a transport system which boasts Colombia’s only metro system and MetroCable cars that run up into the mountains. These types of improvements create inclusion and mean that people living in the poorer neighborhoods are still able come to Medellin to make a living, get an education and try to improve their lives. They also provide  great views of the city from above.

MetroCable Medellin                                                                           Medellin Metro                                                                                                  

Plaza Cisneros

One of the central plazas in Medellin used to be a particularly dangerous area filled with drug dealers, homeless, prostitutes and thieves. To the people of Medellin, it was a place that represented all things bad in Medellin. It was a place of crime, drug abuse and fear. On one end of that plaza sat Edificio Carre, a building which housed all of the aforementioned. Now the plaza has been renovated and renamed, Plaza Cisneros; it houses 300 poles lit from within; it represents a place of light and hope. Also, that same dangerous and dilapidated building has been renovated and is now the city’s Center of Education.  On the other side of the plaza sits EPM Biblioteca, a massive library where the residents of Medellin come to read, learn or simply use the internet for Facebook.

The Old Quarter of the city was also given a facelift. The Museum of Antioquia was renovated in 2004. At that time Fernando Botero, a famous artist and sculptor from Medellin, donated 23 of his sculptures worth millions. The pieces are scattered throughout the Plaza Botero and around Rafael Uribe Palace of Culture for the viewing pleasure of all.

Fernando Botero's Sculptures and "Palacio  de Cultura Rafael Uribe"

Through education, city planning(democratic architecture) and improved security Medellin has flourished. In 2012 it was named the “Innovative City of the Year” by WSJ.

Despite all of the change and progress, the past must not be forgotten. As we came to our final spot of the tour, this point was made clear. Pablo tells us that in January 1995, this spot held a plaza, like the many others in the city. It was a place filled with people, a weekend market and where children came to play. One January morning, someone left a backpack on a sculpture of a bird, and it exploded. The bird became a dangerous weapon. It sent shards of metal across the plaza, injuring many and killing twenty-three, one of whom was a 7 year old girl named Lina Marcela Taborda Herrera. Pablo states, “I was the same age as her, but I wasn’t in the square that day, so I’m alive and she isn’t. Such different lives, only because of where we are at a given moment in time.”

Plaza San Antonio

After the explosion, people stopped visiting to Parque San Antonio. The government decided to tear down the bird sculpture because it evoked bad memories. However, the sculpture’s creator was not going to let this happen. Fernando Botero told the government that the sculpture should stay where it was; he would create a new, duplicate sculpture of the bird to sit next to the damaged one. Botero did not want the people of Medellin to forget this event.  Now,  the two Botero birds sit side by side, one torn to shreds, the other sitting happy and whole.

“This is my Medellin, right here,” says Pablo, “the broken and the new. You are my Medellin. A Medellin filled with hope, new life and visitors.”

Bandeja Paisa

And what wonderful Medellin it is! It is a city filled with pride, culture and delicious food!! You simply can not visit Medellin without trying the Bandeja Paisa, a heaping dish of rice, beans, dried/shredded meat, sausage, blood sausage, pork belly, fried egg, plantain and avocado. The perfect way to cap off our perfect tour of Medellin. 

Month 1 Recap

This first month has both flown by and dragged on. It’s hard to believe that it has been a month since we first landed on Colombian soil, but we spent a good bit of time killing time on the coast so that our schedule would align with our friends and allow us to meet up in Cartagena. It feels great to be back on the road again after nearly a full year of hard-work!

 Where We’ve Been     

• 5 days in Cartagena

• 7 days in Taganga

• 3 days in Tayrona National Park 

• 4 days in Palomino

• 4 days in Santa Marta

• 4 days in Minca

• 4 days in Medellin

Highlights

• Picking coffee fruit from the plant and seeing the entire process from start to finish at La Candelaria in Minca

• Experiencing the daily life of a family on a coffee farm; enjoying the company, food and coffee away from modern conveniences

• Tubing down the Palomino River

• Seeing the snowcapped Sierra Nevada from Palomino Beach

• Seeing Cartagena’s colonial architecture and charm for the first time

• Revisiting Cartagena to meet up with friends from Brasil and Australia

• Soaking up the sun early in the morning at Tayrona

• The Dreamer Hostel in Santa Marta---a hostel with a real hostel feel…and a pool!

• Friendliness of Colombians

• Cable car over Medellin… seeing the city from a different perspective

• All kinds and variations of arepas…the staple of our Colombian diet!

  

Not So HIGHlights…

• The hike up to La Candelaria in Minca with all of our gear in tow in 100+ degree temps

• The cost of the bus from Cartagena to Medellin

• Mama Waldy Hostel in Cartagena---we had planned to store our bags here while we spent a couple of days on Playa Blanca and Islas del Rosario, but they didn’t store bags! Also staff was either not there or extremely unhelpful!

• First stomach bug of the trip (post to come)

• Colombia beaches---reality didn’t live up to expectations

Those dolla dolla bills y'all(The Budget)

We were slated to be $200 under budget for month one, but $70 per person bus tickets from Cartagena to Medellin killed that. We still ended up slightly under budget for the month, but we will definitely have to save on accommodation and do some volunteering to stay under budget so we can afford the big ticket items like Machu Picchu and Salar de Uyuni….oh yeah, and that small event known as The World Cup. 

Coming Up...

We are planning on spending the next couple of weeks in central and southern Colombia before heading into Ecuador. We will meet up with friends in Bogota, and hopefully Cali as well.

Pic of the Week 3 Winner

The winner of pic of the week 3 is picture #3, Sunset Over the Mountains, Minca. This pic happened to be our favorite picture from the last week as well! We spent several nights enjoying that beautiful sunset, and this one captured what we saw perfectly! Thank you to everyone who voted! Feel free to share your favorite photos that your captured over the last week with us on Instagram, #theunamericandreamers. 

Pic of the Week 3

We'd like to apologize for this post coming a few days late, but between being out of Internet range, overnight bus trips and our first stomach bug of the trip, we didn't quite get to it! This past week found us picking and drinking coffee, enjoying beautiful sunsets and a quick trip back to Cartagena to meet up with friends! Hope all of you in Chicago(and the rest of the bitterly cold US) enjoy some coffee and these photos from the warmth and comfort of your couch! Just vote for your favorite and we will announce the winner on Wednesday. 

#1: Freshly Roasted Coffee, Minca

#2:  It's a Bug's Life, Minca

#3: Sunset Over Mountains, Minca

#4: Street Art, Cartagena

#5: Sierra Nevada, Palomino

 

Minca: The Trip that Nearly Ended Before it Started

“Why would they do this to us?!?” I yelled back to Gabe. “SERIOUSLY! I can’t do this anymore!” I whined.

We were about an hour in to what we were told would be a 45 minute hike, after the mule that was supposed to meet us never arrived,  to reach La Finca Candelaria, a working coffee farm and our accommodation for the next couple of nights. We were supposed to be heading up to the mountain side town of Minca to decompress and chill for a couple of days. Some chilling this is!! 

We were both dripping sweat and covered in dirt as we attempted to reach La Candelaria, a steep 400 meter continual ascencion  into the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 100 degree heat with ALL of our possessions strapped to our backs and fronts.   

Finally at the top

After another 45 minutes, we finally reached the sign reading La Candelaria. After  another 15 minutes uphill on the property, we finally decided to leave our large backpacks on the ground and come back for them later. Not since my college preseason 2-3-a-days have I been that exhausted!!  FINALLY, we reached the top of our climb and arrived!

After a refreshing limonada(lime, water and sugar drink), we went back and retrieved our bags. That is when the nightmare ended and our vision of Minca started. We watched a beautiful sunset and ate a delicious, home-cooked dinner by Ana, one of the owners.  

Being that this is a working coffee farm, we awake early to a crowing rooster. After another delicious home-cooked meal and some fresh, organic coffee, we set out with Eugenio(the other owner) and Soleil and Fernando(a lovely Aussie couple volunteering there) to learn about the entire coffee making process.

Coffee Picking

We picked coffee cherries off the trees growing in the mountains, gathered them in our buckets and headed back to the farm. From there we put the cherries into a machine which separates the skin from the bean. From there, the beans were washed, sorted according to quality, dried, sifted and finally we removed any “bad” beans. Then the boys took turns roasting the coffee beans. Since we like our coffee strong(like our drinks) we opted for a dark roast. After the coffee beans cooled, they were ready to be ground.

Eugenio Sifting the Coffee Beans

Dark Roast Coffee

Grinding the Beans

The really ironic thing about the coffee farmers that we met in Minca is that they are super passionate about growing the coffee, but they don’t really know how to prepare it for consumption! Imagine that! So we used a coffee grinder which looked to have been produced during the industrial revolution to grind our beans. Fernando, who has extensive experience as a barista, hand-filtered our coffee. Finally,  it was time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. The coffee was among the best we have ever had.

Sunset from the Finca La Candelaria

The next couple of days were spent getting back to basics. We enjoyed our home-cooked meals, freshly prepared coffees, good books, great company and AMAZING mountain sunsets. Our stay as the first guests, not volunteers, was perfect. It was the authentic Colombia experience we have been craving. 

Thanks Eugenio, Ana and Luna

 After all of the relaxing, it was time to head back to Santa Marta for the New Year…but not before hiking back down that mountain that nearly killed us the first time! Going down was much easier, and only took us an hour from start to finish. Our resolution for this New Year, get rid of some of our 

**Travel tip: to get to Minca, you need to go to the market on Calle 11/Cra. 12, to catch a rideshare in an old car or jeep. It will cost 7,000CP per person and will not leave until there are 4 people. Since we were staying closer to Minca, we thought we could catch a collective to Minca and avoid backtracking. No such collective exists. We ended up having to hail a taxi halfway to Minca for $30,000CP.**

Pic of the Week 2 Winner

And the winner is... picture #2, Cabo San Juan del Guia, Tayrona National Park. 

Tayrona National Park is a protected area nestled into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada along the north Caribbean region in Colombia. It covers approximately 150 square kilometers (58 sq mi) of land, and features an amazing range of biodiversity including howler monkeys, iguanas, sea turtles, wild pigs and jaguars. 

#2: Cabo San Juan del Guia, Tayrona National Park