Taganga, Tayrona and the Lost City, Colombia

Its been so long since I have updated this its hard to remember what I did in this place. But I'll give it a go.

After Carnaval, we all headed to Taganga, which is a tiny fishing village on the northern coast near Santa Marta. It is an adorable little place, but full of backpackers. But lots of fresh juices and fish, so its ok.

Outside of Santa Marta is a national park known as Tayrona. It is absolutley beautiful, but a little pricey. I only stayed there for one night because I wanted to do the Lost City trek through the jungle. So I left everyone in paradise and headed out for my 6 day hike, which was incredible. I really, really enjoyed that trek a lot. It was a good hike, but we got to stop and swim and there was a lot of down time. So fun though.

Tayrona

Beach!

A huge and delicious fish

Sunset in Taganga

Start of the trek, it was so pretty!

Me and Lulu taking a snooze... yes she is real!

Swimming. This was so fun, there was a big cliff thing we all jumped off of.

Cute native jungle kid. I gave him my bracelet.

We crossed this river 9 times

Stairs in the Lost City

Lost City

The group... most of us.

City

And you got to play with guns

muddy feet

Carnaval!!!

Oh man. That was so fun! There were 8 of us who rented an apartment in Baranquilla, which turned out to be a really nice place. It was me, Dasha from CA/ Russia, Monica from Ohio, Greg from CA, Gavin, Mike, Alex and Roisin from Ireland.We got there on Saturday, hung out, missed the main parade which I am still bitter about, went out on Saturday night but nothing really worth mentioning.

The next day, we FINALLY got out of the house and went to watch the parade. It wasn't as crazy as I expected, but then again, the big parade was on Saturday, which we missed. We walked around the streets, drank, sprayed eachother with flour and foam and took lots of pictures. At one point, a pick pocketer got Gavin's camera and started running away. The people around us saw what happened and about 15 people started running after this guy. The cops saw and started running too. They caught him and everyone started cheering and making sure we got our camera back and offered everything they could to help. The people in Colombia are SO nice. It was a little odd sometimes though, people would stop us on the street and ask to take pictures with us. Not that many tourists come to Baranquilla Carnaval apparently.

All three days were just going to the parade during the day and then going out at night, so there really isnt much detail to go in to, so here are some pictures.

Gavin, Monica and Dasha

Parade

More parade

More parade

Third night out at the big outdoor concert

Mike, Dasha, Monica, Gavin, Greg, Roisin, Alex and Me

Me and Dasha making friends with the locals

The final day was the death of Joselito, meaning Carnaval was over. It was HILARIOUS. Everyone dressed in black and was crying through the street. It was probably my favorite parade

Some cute mourners

More funeral

cool dresses

Me and a local violently attacked

Gavin fell victim to the cutest kid ever

Overall, it was an amazingly fun time. We had a good group, everyone just wanted to have fun, next time its Brazil!!

Medellin

I didn't get to spend too much time in Medellin, but what I did see was pretty cool. The weather was nice, a little cloudy but a good temperature. Its known as the city of spring.

Medellin is set in a valley so on every side are these big green rolling hills. You can take a cable car up and over some of them, which gives you an awesome view of the city.

Downtown

Botero art

Not a very nice neighborhood, view from cable car

another hood

City

The next day, this guy John and I decided to go paragliding. It was awesome! It was so cheap too, $40. So you go up to the top of this hillside, they tie you up and you run as fast as you can of the mountain. It was the craziest feeling. Apparently, we didnt have very nice weather for it, but I still had an amazing time. But the more wind and turbulence there is, the more fun and tricks you can do, and we had no wind. Next time...

John running off

So high up!

Floating

Zona Cafetera

After Bogota, relunctnatly leaving, Justin and I took a bus to to Armenia in the coffee region of Colombia. So we arrived in Armenia at 5:30 am. We took a cab to "downtown" where a guy with one eye tried to follow us into the hostel, and settled ourselves, and took a little nap before we explored. When we finally woke up, we took a trip to Coffee Park!! We took the bus with hope in hearts that there would be a coffee fountain and streams of coffee and coffee sidewalks, but hearts were broken and it was just a place that had some coffee plants. lame. I even got in trouble on the go carts, cause I thought they were bumper cars and I kept running into people on purpse. They had to run out in the middle of the course and tell me to stop... how am I supposed to know the difference between bumper cars and go-karts... sheesh.

It was still fun, all the cheesiness we expected.

A ripe coffee bean

An old coffee plantation house

Justin after splash mountain, he was so happy.

After the coffe park, we headed back to Armenia... aka the most depressing city ever on a Sunday afternoon. We walked around for maybe 5 minutes before we decided to eat and stay as close to the hotel as we could. After eating, I suggested that we go into the local bar across the street from our hotel... HAH. That was awesome. Aguardiente. Must try.

The next morning, we headed for Solento... probably one of the best recomendations yet. We stayed at the only hostel in town, Plantation House, and had an amazing time. What a beautiful place. I know I say that a lot, but this really was. I see a lot of beautiful places and all of them are worth me saying that.

The view from my bed in the hostel

The second day, we went for a hike in the national park. Also amazing.

The start of the hike

One of the river crossings

Amazing

Wax palm trees

That afternoon, we went on a tour of the coffee plantation we stayed on and learned all about how coffee was grown and made and the differences throughout the region... but don't ask me how cause I couldn't repeat it worth squat.

The up and coming hotel on the plantation

The town of Salento is so cute. Its the town "of short streets and long memories" or something like that. It is really tiny, but so much character and charm, I could have stayed longer... again... but I must move on.

Salento

Thinking about how cool this place is

I fell in Love with Bogota

I loved Bogota! The only thing I would change is the weather, but other than that, I love it. I arrived on Sunday afternoon and the best host in the world, Felipe, came to pick me up. He showed me around a little and we ate and then I went to my hostel. I stayed in La Candeleria for the first few nights since its the touristy area and I am a tourist. Went to some museums, walked around, just explored. Mo and his friend Justin came on Tuesday, it was good to see them!

My Street

Bogota is HUGE

The Plaza

On Wednesday night, Felipe took us gringos out to dinner and then we went to a club. It was fun, he bought tequila so things got a little sloppy... on my part only. haha. On Thursday I moved to Casa Felipe, which was amazing! I wanted to move in and be the newest member of the family. His family was so nice and welcoming, thank you Felipe!

Night out

I hung out on the northern part of town Thursday through Saturday. Friday night was so fun! We went out and danced our little hearts out. Saturday we woke up and went to the Salt Mine Cathedral place. Which was also pretty amazing. It was a cathedral built in a salt mine. It was spooky.

Cathedral/salt mine

After the salt mines, we (Justin, Felipe and myself) decided to celebrate Valentines Day at Andres Carne de Res, which is probably the funnest place on earth. I almost changed my plans to stay in Bogota another night, just so we could hang out there longer. Its a restaurant outside of town that is just crazy. The people are crazy, the food is awesome, its just so entertaining and fun. I would go back just for that!

Delicious! Patacon, bananas with cheese

Valentines Day fun