Backpacking South America

We spent months in the mountains, often in chillier than expected temperatures. The promise was always that we will thaw out with good beach time in Colombia. Fortunately, we found the beach a bit sooner in Ecuador and Peru. But we knowingly saved the best for last – Tayrona National Park.

All along, it was our plan to end our trip at the beaches of Colombia – take some time to relax and enjoy our final days of travel in South America. All our expectations and hopes were totally fulfilled by our 3 day trip to Tayrona National Park.

We set off from La Casa de Felipe (recommended) in Taganga early in the morning. Unfortunately, our taxi kept breaking down, so the hour trip was about 30 minutes longer than it should have been. But we made it and we were soon walking on the trail to El Cabo, where we would spend the night in hammocks perched on top of a rock in a small bay.

After hiking 1.5 hours, we made it, but were slightly bummed that there was no room in the hammocks on the rock – only down below.

Have you ever read the book “Love in the Time of Cholera?” It is this amazing story written by the creative, artistic writer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, another brilliant Colombian. It is a story entwining, love, of course, and the deepness and sickness thereof. As a reader you’re made to believe of a hopeless romantic, but as an observer and an analysis of the story, you are drawn into the many facets of the story and their potential meaning. It is an extremely intriguing story to digest and supposedly many of the sights and inspiration came from Cartagena, Colombia.

I just knew, even before we arrived, that we were going to love Cartagena and I was not disappointed. With it’s cobblestoned streets, Colombian, African and Spanish infused heritage, rich and poor neighborhoods and a walled in city to bat, the history of this city runs deep. There are so many corners of this city that could be adapted to storytelling.

We spent the better part of one day exploring the inside of the old city. We climbed the walls and had a beautiful view of the ocean and Castillo San Felipe de Barajas.

While in Colombia we were excited about the fact that we were going to be able to see some Fernando Botero pieces of art. We have seen several pieces in other art galleries in our lifetime, but we’re in Colombia, it’s time to see some true Colombian art.

Fernando Botero is one of Colombia’s leading, contemporary artists, who I would say, is most famous for painting exaggerated pieces of large people or still lifes. He’s a bit of an abstract artist with a unique eye for color and wider dimensions. In Medellín, they have a whole plaza filled with Botero sculptures and several other sculptures scattered around the city.

So, we hopped on the subway and headed downtown to Plaza Botero one Sunday afternoon to see for ourselves. While downtown wasn’t anything special, Plaza Botero was quite impressive with its huge collection of large Botero sculptures – it made us feel as if we were something out of “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.”

After Plaza Botero, we headed over to Parque San Antonio, where we saw the ‘Torso Masculino’ and the ‘Bird of Peace,’ which was damaged by a guerrilla bomb in 1996.

Our first stop in Colombia was the heart of La Zona Cafetera – the coffee region. Now, it seems coffee can actually be grown in many parts of Colombia, but this just happens to be the most concentrated area.

We pulled into Salento, Colombia – a quaint, quiet town near coffee farms and the Cocora valley. Our first day, we walked around town, tried our first Jesus Martin coffee (delicious!) and at about 11 am, got our act together and caught a Willy’s jeep up the Cocora Valley to do a bit of hiking through the jungle.

The Cocora Valley is famous for its Wax Palm trees, which grow really, really high and stick out above everything. After hiking for about 2 hours, we reached our lunch stop at a home up in the jungle – after a quick egg salad sandwich and snapping a few photographs of the resident hummingbirds, it was on our way up to a Mirador.

After a bit of effort (and lots of sweating), we reached the top. At first, it was a bit disappointing, all we could see was across the valley and a big rock. Impressive, but not as grand as it had been built up to be.

While in Ecuador, we stopped in to visit an old friend from college. It was a good stop over. A little bit longer than expected, but that was a good thing. It was just what we needed, some home baked cookies, home-cooked food and quality time with friends. The question at hand is, when did we all grow up?

One of the things we miss most while traveling is the one-on-one time we get hanging out with friends and catching up on life. We miss the long-term relationships we have with other people. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve met some wonderful and interesting people along the way, but often times those relationships are short lived – a few days or weeks, then only via email and facebook. So, we spent most of our time just visiting and helping out where we could. It felt really good.

We had a wonderful time being able to see their home, meet their friends and just be a part of their life for a short while. Since we saw them last, they have had a baby, who is quickly growing into an active little boy.