Dueling Backpacks

Colombia is one of the world’s best kept travel secrets. We’ve traveled fairly extensively over the years and Colombia remains one of our all-time favorite countries to visit. During a one-week vacation in 2017 we traveled to Colombia’s Caribbean coast, visiting Cartagena, Santa Marta, and Tayrona National Park. It was only a week, but as soon as we got back home I already knew that I wanted to return one day. When thinking about where we wanted to go on this year-long trip, we thought of many places, but the one place that I knew for sure we needed to go back to was Colombia.

Day 86 (September 22, 2018) - Pereira, Colombia Pereira is probably the biggest city in the coffee region of Colombia, but it is seldom visited by tourists. Our guide book said it's not really a tourist destination at all, but it's a good place to visit if you're looking for a fast-paced, friendly city with a throbbing nightlife that is off the tourist trail. While many tourists pass through the bus station on their way to Salento or other towns, not many stop. We decided to visit Pereira for six nights, mostly to relax after our somewhat tiring visit to Salento, but also because our flight to Quito, Ecuador was departing from Pereira. We did test out the offerings of Pereira and can certainly attest to its lack of tourists, throbbing nightlife, and cosmopolitan feel. 

Day 83 (September 19, 2018) – Salento, Colombia We left Salento too early. Like most places in Colombia, whatever time we set aside to be somewhere, it never seems to be enough. We always want more.

Day 74 (September 10, 2018) - Medellín, Colombia After our trip to the small towns of Colombia, we were (and I especially was) ready for a big city again. We had heard that Medellín was a good city for restaurants and nightlife, and it lived up to that description. We stayed in a section of the city called El Poblado, which has a high concentration of restaurants, bars, and clubs. Unlike in Bogotá, where we hardly saw tourists in the area we were staying (Chapinero), the Poblado section of Medellín was absolutely full of them. Everything was also extremely pricey in this area, probably because of all the tourists and the somewhat fancy restaurants/bars.

Day 70 (September 6, 2018) - Mongu í and Iza, Colombia We wanted to break up the long trip from El Cocuy back to Bogotá, so we spent a couple days each in Mongu í and Iza. Similar to El Cocuy, these are small towns with a very strong country village vibe. In theory, these towns should be a lot more touristed than the very far-flung El Cocuy, but during our stay we still managed to rarely find other visitors.

Day 64 (August 31, 2018) – El Cocuy National Park, Colombia We had one more hike planed in El Cocuy National Park, up to Ritacuba Blanco. We were supposed to do this hike the day after our first, but with our change in plans and having to head back to El Cocuy, rather than stay in a caba ñ a at the trail head, we decided to delay the hike for a day and take a day of rest.

Day 62 (August 29, 2018) - El Cocuy, Colombia El Cocuy is an extremely different town than anywhere else we've been in Colombia. Since the town is so small and secluded, there's just a different vibe here. Everyone in town knows each other. Everyone says hello to one another, even to us. It is extremely safe, since it is so far removed from any major city, and only locals (and some tourists) are present. Shops open and close at the whim of the sole shopkeeper: if they had to run an errand or something, or go to church, they'd close. Even shops with posted hours would sometimes be closed during their open hours, which was a little frustrating when we needed something from the pharmacy. Everything is extremely cheap: a "tinto" (a small cup of somewhat watery coffee served in a plastic Solo cup) was only $500 pesos (about 16 US cents). Nobody really tries to rip you off like they sometimes do in big cities (though one grocery store here did seem to charge us a G...

Day 61 (August 28, 2018) – El Cocuy National Park, Colombia We got up in the freezing cold in Hacienda La Esperanza at around 4:15 in the morning, while it was still dark out. We freshened up, packed our day packs, applied some sun screen, and had breakfast at one of the outdoor tables. I ate as much of the fruit, eggs, bread, and cheese as I could manage, knowing that we had a long walk ahead of us. The coffee also helped to warm us up a bit.

Day 60 (August 27, 2018) – El Cocuy National Park, Colombia We had an early morning start, eating a breakfast of fruit, eggs, bread, cheese, and coffee at our hotel before leaving at 6 AM for the town square. One of the cheaper ways to get up to the cabañas at the start of the trail heads is to ride on one of the local lecheros, or milk trucks. As we waited in the square, there were at least a half dozen milk trucks that drove through the town. Some stopped and others just drove straight through. Travis was vigilant in asking each one that passed if they were going to Esperanza. With some help from the other lechero drivers, we finally found ours, which would take us up to the start of the trail head and to our accommodation for the night.

Day 59 (August 26, 2018) – El Cocuy, Colombia El Cocuy is a very small, quaint town that sits on an Andean hillside. The main draw for travelling to El Cocuy is to visit the nearby El Cocuy National Park, where we hiked for a couple days among glacier-capped Andean mountains. Our trip to El Cocuy started in the early morning from Villa de Leyva where we caught a van that took us to Tunja where we changed to a very large coach bus that would drive us through the mountains to El Cocuy. We knew this was going to be a long trip and, indeed, it was about 8 hours later when we finally arrived.

Day 57 (August 24, 2018) – Villa de Leyva, Colombia Colombia is full of surprises. We travelled from Bogot á to Villa de Leyva, about 3-4 hours northeast by bus. We chose to stop there to help break up the long trip to El Cocuy National Park, but Villa de Leyva was also supposed to be a very picturesque colonial town worth a visit.

Day 54 (August 21, 2018) – Bogot á , Colombia We spent nearly two weeks in Bogot á and could have easily spent more time there. It was the perfect city at the perfect time in our trip. We had been running around Costa Rica the past few weeks and Bogota felt like a modern oasis. Very comfortable, very easy to get around, and we had a great apartment where we could rest and relax. Admittedly, the cold weather did make us a bit lazy, but we were happy to be in a place where we didn’t need to run around and see all the sights in just a few days. Rather than list all the things we saw, here are three short stories from our time there.

Day 46 (August 13, 2018) – Bogot á , Colombia Bogot á is the reason why we continue to travel to new places. Every once in a while, we come across a place that completely surprises us. Bogot á is a city that I admit to not giving much prior thought. I knew it was the capital of Colombia and that most flights into the country will land you there.