Short stop in Colombia

Colombia is definitely a nice country, one where you could get stuck in a few months or even years. There is just too much to see, from the burning Caribbean coast, to the cold mountainous Andes where Bogota is, via the Coffee region or again the huge Amazonian basin. And that is just a quick overview really. So you can understand my frustration when I realised how big South America was and that I wouldn't be able to see everything in Colombia given the amount of time I had, roughly 3 weeks....

• Cartagena

From the moment we set foot on land, after having sailed from several days from Panama, we got welcomed by the buzzing life and burning sun of Cartagena. Trying to walk around the old city in the afternoon was virtually impossible, you would end up sweating buckets just after a few minutes... So I didn't do a lot of things there, but mainly exploring the city sights which included the old spanish forts, a covent overlooking the whole city, a bath in the mud-volcano nearby (more a tourist trap really), enjoying the night life with my sailing companions and a few days recovering from a bad cold I had caught from the air-conditioning of the hostel I was staying at.

• Santa Marta

Same coast, and same story concerning the weather: suffocating... Santa Marta has not much to offer itself but its location makes it a really good starting point for the nice beaches around, for the Lost City trek (which I didn't do) or for the Tayrona national park nearby.

Aidan impassive when a thunderstorm suddenly appeared

• Tayrona National Park

Tayrona National Park is located on the east side of Santa Marta, and is a wonderland to watch wildlife (mainly birds), enjoy some of the best beaches of the country, even though swimming in some of them is not allowed, due to the very rough seas and under currents. There is no road access there, at least not direct so the way to access these beaches and the few managed camps is to trek for a few hours and rent a hammock or tent (or bring your own) and then relax for a few days with the sound of the waves in the background... When we were there, beginning of the low-season, it was not too much packed. However I can imagine the same camp with hundreds of tents around and I think the place will lose a bit of its charm. Anyway, this was the perfect place to relax after our boat journey, but 2 or 3 days were sufficient as it is easy to get bored after a while...

Just before leaving though, we decided to go for a little "walk" inside the park to an old Indian village. A path made of loose rocks takes you to their ancient ruins. It was designed thus by the Tayrona Indians of old, as a warning sign of outsiders approaching their habitat. The trek to the ruins takes a couple of hours and is pretty arduous as you have to crawl your way through hand-carved tunnels and negotiate huge boulders, the whole thing whilst the sun burns every inch of your skin...

Monkeys into the wild...

• Bogotá

I could not have ended this Colombian tour without paying a visit to the capital and therefore after 2 weeks spent along the Caribbean coast, I decided to reach the high and cold Bogotá and take the opportunity to meet again with my friend Lars with whom I had done the El Mirador trek, back in Guatemala a few months ago. As every capital city, Bogotá is big, noisy, some areas are a bit dangerous but it doesn't stop this lively city to offer to the tourists many things, whether you want to visit the museums, the different parks, do some sightseeing, enjoy the night life or explore the neighbouring villages like Zipaquira and its salt cathedral, Guatavita and its quiet atmosphere near the lake...

The Salt Cathedral in Zipaquira

Find the mistake...

Lars and Johanna in Guatavita

The Lourdes church in Bogotá