In spring 2017, Seraina decided that she wanted to travel. She found a job to earn the money she needed, I managed to schedule work the way I had to, and we slowly began making plans for a 3-to-5-months-long trip to start by the end of the year. A few months later, we moved out of the apartment I had lived in for the last four years and embarked on a 3.5-months-long journey that led us to Colombia, Mexico, and the United States. Our first stop was New York City. The city greeted us with freezing temperatures – we were equipped with the thinnest and lightest down jackets we could find.

This last part of my Colombian photo stories is a short flashback. In general, I was surprised how many people spoke English, especially on the Caribbean coast. I expected less people to do so, as I have experienced it that way in Ecuador, Perú and Bolivia earlier. However, it might still be quite hard to get around the country without speaking any Spanish.

I’d booked a quite expensive bed (46’000 COP/night) in Blue Almond Hostel, which basically consisted of one shared cottage in a cottage village sort of thing («cabañas»), the night before. I later heard from locals, that there are whole cottages on the island for half of what I paid, however, the cheapest ones are usually not bookable online. Most hotels/cottages on Providencia are owned and run by the same chain, which keeps prices high. Blue Almond was in the second biggest village of the island, called Aguadulce resp. Freshwater Bay in English. I had a nice little floor with a big bed for myself, it was extremely hot up there though, because the AC was below head level (but luckily above bed […]

The flight to San Andrés, operated by budget airline Viva Colombia, was quite uncomfortable, but alright, considering the price I’d paid. I wouldn’t wanna fly with them for a couple of hours though. From the very small airport, I took an expensive taxi (the airport was right next to the city and really close to the hostel) to El Viajero hostel (not that great an atmosphere, even though there was a nice rooftop bar; not all that cheap, but alright, for San Andrés is quite a bit more expensive than mainland Colombia).

I shared a colectivo from the desert to Neiva with two other travelers (11’000 COP each) and booked the 6:30 pm Bolivariano 2G Gold bus (supposed to be a premium bus with Wi-Fi, arriving in Bogotá around 10; 33’000 COP) to Bogotá. The bus never left – or even arrived. Probably because they hadn’t sold many tickets. After waiting for an hour, I had to take a crappy minivan instead, and arrived in Bogotá at 1 am.

The minibus from Salento to Armenia cost 3’800 COP, but we didn’t have to pay this time – he sort of forgot us after handing us the ticket. From Armenia to Cali, we sat in a minibus (20’000 COP) for 3-4 annoying hours (since we stopped so many times for people to get in or out). We stayed in El Viajero Hostel, which was quite a cool place to stay with a nice atmosphere and a great outside area with bar right next to the pool.

We took a direct bus (Expreso Brasilia, 86’000 COP – literally the last money in our pockets) from Tolú to Medellín. The bus ride was alright, just way too cold (as usual). In Medellín, we had troubles finding a hostel (they were all fully booked because of the Feria de las Flores) and ended up staying in a hotel for 235’000 COP (2 persons) the first night.

It’s definitely time for some new photos, it’s been (very busy) months since my last post. There we go, with the first part of this summer’s Colombia trip.
I arrived in Cartagena after a long trip via Luxembourg (train from Bern, modern & clean HI hostel, modern airport with free unlimited Wi-Fi), London Heathrow (stopover with 45mins of free Wi-Fi) and New York City (40$ AirBnB room in Jamaica, Queens). From Heathrow to JFK, I was in a huge and modern Boeing 777-300 with good food, service and entertainment system (and expensive Wi-Fi).