Playa Blanca, Colombia

Playa Blanca is a popular short trip from Cartegena. The beaches in Cartegena are not very nice, or clean, so people travel here by bus or boat for its promised crystal clear turquoise water and a relaxed atmosphere. Since I had some free time, I decided to stay a night in Playa Blanca. 

I expected a very relaxed and disconnected couple of days. I knew there was minimal services and a rustic way of life at this beach - there are no normal fresh water showers and internet does not exist there. But I met some great people, and there was more on the peninsula than I expected. 

 It was a nice beach, but it is not very wide. 

Restaurants and cabins stretch down the beach for a couple of miles, one right after another. It was more crowded with buildings than I imagined. 

There are a lot of locals hawking hats, massages, jewlery and fruit. But later in the afternoon, after all the day trips leave, it's easy to be left alone. When the beach clears out, it's super peaceful.

Accommodations were rustic, as expected. After checking out multiple places, a group of us decided to stay at a place on the beach we felt had the most infrastructure, Parador. There were proper beds and it was as clean as you could imagine for being right on the beach. The rooms were made of plywood walls and a thatch roof. Booking in Playa Blanca is best done as you arrive - you're able to negotiate and look at the places in person. I checked out places online prior and some were not as pictured (other places we checked out had dirty mattresses piled into large rooms, or stuffed into small rooms), and much pricer than going rates (I saw one place online for $30/night and it was 25 pesos when we talked to them - which is less than half). A lot of people rent hammocks to sleep in outside as a cheap option (like $8 USD). 

On the bus to the beach, I befriended a great crew of guys - four Americans and one Turkish. It turns out I had met one guy in Medillian (after my friends and I made a bunch of noise coming home one night from a bar crawl and waking him up. Whoops.) and another guy and I had friends in common from Miami. With these guys, my relaxing beach trip quickly turned out to be a lot more fun!

We spent the day swimming in the clear water, eating fresh fish and drinking mojitos. We rented a banana boat and were thrown into the water several times.

We watched an amazing sunset, danced merengue and salsa on the beach, and went for a night swim in phytoplankton which was so freaking cool! They light up when you move and I kept making "snow angles" and wooshing my hands like a wizard.

The second day was a lazy beach day- staring at the water and wondering how it can be so pretty and blue. It was a nice break from the city, but I was pleased to get back to Cartegena and have a proper shower!

Cartagena, Colombia

Cartagena is a wonderful city and one of my favorites from the trip. It has a reputation for being too touristic but I did not find it annoyingly so, or more so than most other well known cities. There were parts that were catered to tourism, almost as if putting on a show. But the true Colombian life is prevalent in the city.

the clock tower and main square

It is hot there - a different kind of hot that isn't humid or dry. Just unbearable. There is barely ever a breeze and never enough shade. And you sweat the minute you walk outside. Finding air conditioning, and making plans around that, is a consideration.

The town is very colorful. The old town is historically colonial, painted in bright pastels, and the balconies of the older buildings are over flowing with flowers and vines. 

The Getsamani area has a little more grit, with winding streets, more decaying buildings, and graffiti. The local way of life stands out more in Getsamani with gatherings in the park and food stands.

I was in Cartagena for a week (a little longer than is necessary for the sites but it's an enjoyable city to spend extra time in). For half of my time I stayed in Old Town, and for the other half, I stayed in Getsamani. They are only separated by a major street and a park. 

the fruit ladies who dress up in the old historical uniforms (which for whatever reason makes the fruit from them more expensive)

I started my tourist activities with a Free Walking tour the first morning. This is a theme of my travels and a travel tip I recommend - I like to start my time in each city with a walking tour if offered, to see the highlights, learn the history and get my bearings. I then go back to sights I want to explore more. This wasn't the greatest walking tour, but I still learned something that wasn't in a guide book, so it was a successful use of my time.

On the walking tour, the guide pointed out an interesting detail of the Cartegena architecture. The door knobs are very decorative and ornate, but they also told the status and profession of the family who lived there (mermaid = fisherman; lions = officials and politicians; lizards= nobles)

After the walking tour, in the afternoon, I visited the Museo de Inquisition, which exhibited the cities history dating back to the invasion of the Spanish. It was ok, and it probably would have been better if I felt like reading the plaques of information in Spanish. But it was a beautiful building. It was also where they used to prosecute witches and they had all the torture equipment on display.

I also visited the Gold Museum. It was nice to see another part of the city's history. Plus the building was air conditioned (I said it was a consideration!) and entrance was free. 

Another morning I walked the walls of the city, that used to be used as a fortress. 

That afternoon I took a trolley tour to see the Baraco area and other areas outside of the old town. In reality, I didn't need a tour to see any of this and the additional areas I saw were passable. The Baraco area was reminiscent of Miami with tall waterfront condo buildings, but it wasn't as new or nice. We also went to the convent which was located just outside of the city. It offered nice views of downtown. And we went to a fortress on the outskirts of Getsamani.  

Another popular excursion is to the Totuma Volcano and mud baths. I went with my two Canadian friends Dorothy and Andi - and thank goodness I had them with me. I did not like the mud at first! It was just so unnatural to want to be neck deep in mud - not at all like a spa! When you enter, the local people start massaging you. Eventually I relaxed and got used to it. Then we had some good laughs getting used to the buoyancy and keeping ourselves afloat. You are in the middle of the volcano's crater, so there is no ground to stand on. 

Cartegena's nightlife was also really fun! My favorite was going to the salsa clubs. Cafe Havannah was the most well known, and while it is also the most touristic, it is awesome!! They had a live 7 piece band and amazing mojitos. We went there several times to dance. It really exemplified Cartegena's Carribbean and Cuban influence. 

After a few days in Cartegena, as lovely and enjoyable as it was, I was ready for a change. But going to another area (5 hours away) would be rushed and a lot of travel to see very little. I decided to go to Playa Blanca, but stay the night instead of a day trip. The beach is known for its crystal blue waters, white sand beaches and rustic accommodations. 
(more on that in a separate post)

When I returned to Cartegena, I spent most of my time walking the streets. The Red Bull Cliff Diving Championships were also in town though - and we got to watch these amazing divers jump off the convention center! Very cool, and unexpected, thing to watch!

Medellin, Colombia

Medillin is a BIG spread out city nestled in a valley. A metro line runs down the center and it seems like each stop is its own little village. It is impossible to visit all the neighborhoods and areas in just a few days. And it's not a city with a lot of sites, so you wouldn't need to or want to. It's a city to live in, not to be awed with a tourist show. 

I stayed in Poblado, specifically the Provenza area, which is a very up & coming, hip area. It seems to be a newly developed area, filled with restaurants, bars, cafes and boutiques. It's popular with the tourists, and expats, but also filled with professional Colombians (at least during the day). I didn't have to go far from my hostel for some great meals and awesome atmosphere. One of my favorites was Verdeo, a charmingly decorated vegetarian restaurant, hidden behind a park. It was nice to have international food and veggies - harder to come by in other Colombian cities and even areas of Medillin.

Upon arrival to my hostel, I befriended a guy from London named Ardash and we organized all of our tours together. The first morning we went on a walking tour through the downtown area. The best part of the tour was learning the history of the city and Colombia. I wasn't super knowledgeable about it before arrival. And most people only think of Medillin as the city of Pablo Escobar and drugs. There is so much more to it, and the tour guide did an amazing job enlightening is and making us feel the emotional connection to the history. 

plaza of lights in downtown

The city has some interesting conundrums, like prostitutes in front of the church where the guys go to pray for forgiveness after. 

We also saw the half finished building, the Paisas (Medillin people) were stubborn to let be finished by foreigners but then couldn't follow the plans left behind, resulting in plain concrete mixed with colorful and beautiful architecture. 

the white is the second part of the building

the completed side

The downtown area is also covered in sculptures by Fernando Botero, the famous Colombian artist. The best representation of the city's torrid history and current situation and promising future is two of his sculptures in a main square - at a concert in the 90s, a pipe bomb was placed inside one sculpture which injured and killed many. Instead of taking that sculpture down, they turned it into a monument honoring the victims and placed a new identical statue next to it, signifying a new beginning.

After the walking tour and a traditional Colombian lunch, we met up with my friends Andi & Dorothy, whom I met in Solento, and went on the cable cars for stunning views of the city and a glimpse of life in the poorer neighborhoods outside the center of Medillin.

The next day we went on a day trip to Guatape. It's a small town built around a lake, with many tiny islands scattered throughout. 

There is a huge rock overlooking it, which you climb up 750 stairs up for amazing views of this island archipelago. 

The islands have red clay beaches which show and they are filled with trees. 

We went into the city for lunch and some time to walk around. It is very small and manageable to see all the streets in an hour. I thought it was better as a day trip, unless it's summer and you can do water sports, but some like to spend a few nights here to chill out. The city is really colorful, a noticeable theme throughout the smaller towns and hillsides of Colombia.  We ended our time there with a boat tour around the lake, which was nice and relaxing. Being on the water and seeing these islands of red clay reminded me of our childhood summers on Lake Hartwell. 

The third day we started with a Pablo Escobar tour. He is still a controversial part of Medillin and Colombian history, and most of the locals are resentful of his glorification and would like to forget him and the havoc of the 80s and 90s. He's left a lot of marks on the city, but in reality it wasn't just him. There were other cartels involved and the activists who were out for revenge for their families also contributed to the violence. The tour didn't really show us any sights that were extremely cool to see, but it was very interesting to be taken through the history. Pablo was a huge owner of property, and we were shown some of his buildings - all big and white, a tribute to cocaine. They easily stood out from the typical brick architecture. It's actually now referred to as narco architecture. We took a tour that was pretty unbiased and based in fact (there is another that is run by his family). They tried to highlight multiple points of view. 

We were also shown Rosa Mystica, a beautiful site where the locals went to pray for miracles and the area is covered in plaques and offerings of thanks. At this location we were informed how the Colombian culture ties religion and violence together. Faith was used for protection while going to kill someone or getting a drug shipment through. They also used faith as blame for violence, by seeking out the church prior and saying if it is the will of the church, they would commit violence and ask for forgiveness in advance. A Colombian saying is:

"Who sins and prays evens the score"

The violence of Pablo Escobar also created some weird rules that are still laws today. Two men were not, and are not, allowed to ride on a motorbike in the city (because that increased the likelihood they would be shooting someone in a drive-by…like a woman can't shoot or drive). Mind you motorbikes are extremely popular and a main method of transportation in the city. Well during our tour, we witnessed two guys on a motorcycle and police were chasing them.

The tour ended with a visit to the house he was shot in and his gravesite.

That night we went on a huge pub crawl around la poblado area. It was very traveler gringo, but we had a lot of fun.

Due to the pub crawl, my last day in Medillin was off to a slower start. My two friends from California and my tour buddy Ardash set off for the north of the city to visit the parks there and the botanical gardens. We were super underwhelmed. The botanical gardens were more of a park and green space than an exhibit of cool plants. But we did see a HUGE iguana. 

And the other parks nearby were amusement parks or museums. We decided to head south and follow recommendations from an old neighbor who lived in Medillin now. He had given us some tips to see the real Medillin. Our first stop was another park, and we were really confused how this made the list - it was a zipline course and park. Very pretty, but not what I would have put on the local list for a 4 day visit in Medillin. We had a great laugh, and decided we'd try to zipline, but it was raining so we couldn't.

 We headed the nearest town area - 15 minutes away- and had a local lunch. We talked with an expat and who happened to be at the restaurant, and he agreed with the second recommendation we had. So we decided to go to Sabaneta - a neighborhood that would show us an older Medillin and cowboy way of life. It made our afternoon. The streets were charming and we enjoyed city in a cafe in the  main square sipping coffee.

One of the things I was warned of was that Medillin was full of beautiful women who were full of plastic and well dressed. Well I didn't see it. I also didn't go to any super local nightlife. But walking down the main streets and being in the subways, I wasn't impressed or overwhelmed

It was a hard choice to stay an extra two nights with friends or follow my plans to head to Cartegena. I wanted to see more of the famous Medillin nightlife, but I also didn't want to just eat and drink, and I wasn't quite sure about my plans to leave Colombia and I needed to get to Cartagena to solidify it.