Journey:

This journey was supposed to be 8 hours. It ended up being about 11 hours. (All Colombian buses seem to take at least an extra 2 hours than they say – they do like to stop a lot for snacks.) The bus was a little less luxurious than our one from Lorica to Medellin, but equally was less expensive at 45,000 COP and only an extra 20,000 for the surfboard.

Accommodation:

La Surcusal hostel. A really nice hostel located in the north of Cali. For some reason they had no record of our booking but luckily had spare rooms anyway. The manager was very friendly and recommended things for us to do (unlike the rude staff of Medellin.) Also, there was a free salsa lesson which Thomas persuaded me to try (much to my horror being a very uncoordinated, fall over my own feet, sort of person.)

Sights/activities:

Salsa dancing class

Salsa is really hard. Even a ‘basic’ step takes about half an hour to grasp. Also, there’s lots of spinning and after a while this makes you feel really dizzy. However, even though I was very nervous to try and we hadn’t quite mastered the moves by the end of the lesson it was still really fun. Warning: Cali is the capital of salsa in Colombia and so everyone is exceptionally good here.

Parque Artesanias Loma de la Cruz

Thomas, as well as being an obsessive surfer, also has an addiction to shopping. Therefore, in Cali he took the opportunity to buy a lot of presents for family, friends and himself (he’s a lot nicer to his family and friends than me.)

We went to an area called Parque Artesanias where there were lots of tourist market stalls in order for Thomas to get his shopping fix. We then had the struggle of finding a DHL in Cali (the taxi driver had to ask about 20 people for directions) and then posting a very expensive package to France.

San Antonio

This was the prettiest area in Cali. Beforehand, I had been a little disappointed in Cali as it was a bit grimy, but after visiting here it changed my opinion drastically. The houses were traditionally bright and colourful, there were lots of arty looking cafes everywhere (that were pretty expensive mind) and a park with a church sitting atop the hill giving excellent views over the city. If I was going to live in Cali it would be here (but I probably couldn’t afford it.)

Food:

We aimed to go on a Street Food Tour in Cali and set off early to get there for 11am. Unfortunately, we had stupidly forgotten to charge Thomas’ phone (or take another kind of map) so the phone ran out of battery, thus we had no map anymore, so wandered aimlessly around trying to find the right hostel where the tour left from. We never found it and our Spanish was too poor for people to understand what we were looking for. I bet this would have been a good tour if we’d found it and everything so you know if anyone goes there let me know what we missed.

Instead, we had a typical Colombian meal for lunch. We’ve worked out a typical meal normally consists of chicken or beef, rice, salad, chips and plantain (and also often came with soup as a starter.) It’s definitely filling and we’ve found eating at these areas to be a whole lot cheaper than going to the tourist restaurants. (You can get this type of food for maybe 10,000 COP each, and that normally includes a drink, whereas if you go to a tourist area they will charge you at least 20,000 COP for a main course.) Also note: Colombian burgers are pretty good too and cheap.

Drinks:

After our salsa lesson a few people from the hostel were going to go out for some drinks, so we went with them to somewhere I cannot remember the name of. This was a salsa club and everyone was very good at salsa. It was fun to watch but not to participate (I think we need a few, or a lot, more lessons first.)

Before coming here we stopped at an R&B club which was completely empty (but means they gave the girls free drinks to try and keep us there – with cherries in – ooooh.) Basically music that is popular in western countries is definitely not popular over here. Salsa is the only thing they are interested in, and fair enough, they’re amazing at it.

Summary:

We didn’t have very long in Cali but it’s not too necessary here as there aren’t too many tourist sites. It doesn’t cater to tourists in the same way some of the other Colombian cities do, but there are some beautiful areas and it’s THE place to go for salsa. Definitely the salsa lesson was my favourite thing we did here, it’s very different and makes you appreciate how hard it really is when you’re watching them!

Journey:

The longest journey so far (almost 12 hours I think in the end) but in the nicest bus so far too. The bus had wifi, seats with lots of legroom, and even some snacks. I don’t think you get buses this nice in Europe. The price was hefty at 86,000 COP pp (and of course an extra 50,000 for the surfboard – sigh.)

We were dropped off at the Medellin North Bus Terminal in the evening and we faced the task of trying to get a taxi, which should have been simple. But no, this was virtually impossible. There were so many people and so few taxis, and also no queueing system (confusing for a Brit as we love to form orderly queues) but eventually (half an hour later) we were picked up and taken to our hostel.

Accommodation:

Galeria Estacion Hostel. Our first disappointing hostel of the trip. Several of the staff were quite unfriendly and most only spoke Spanish, (although there were a couple of exceptions to this.) The room was absolutely tiny, and consisted of just a mattress on the floor, which was maybe supposed to look ‘minimalist’ and ‘arty,’ however just looked like they couldn’t be bothered. Another issue was that the breakfast portion was absolutely tiny (maybe suitable for a bird.)

However, there were some positives, like the location, very close to El Poblado metro station. Also, the wifi was good (although didn’t work at all on the last day.) Overall though, there are so many hostels in Medellin I would stay elsewhere next time.

Sights:

San Javier Cable Car

At the end of one of the metro lines is San Javier Station. We got off here and rode the cable car from this stop up into the hills of Medellin, for views over the whole city. The cable car goes over some of the poorer areas of the city, and so gave us the opportunity to see some of the favelas. This was definitely a little sad to see. The tourist areas tend to be the more wealthy areas, so you generally don’t see much of the poverty, thus the views from the cable car gave a different insight into the city.

Botanical gardens

Some beautiful gardens located right next to the University (just get off at the Universidad metro station and you can’t miss it – Medellin’s metro station makes travelling around the city really easy and cheap.) Medellin has lots of green spaces and this one is really nice to walk around for an hour or two (I’m now an old person who enjoys pretty gardens and walking.) Check out the butterfly house – it’s amazing.

Museo El Castillo

Not exactly a castle, but a house built in 1930 by a wealthy Medellin landowner. The house looks like a fairy princess castle (only way I can describe it) complete with red turrets. Apparently, it was based on the castles of the Loire Valley in France.

The gardens surrounding the building are very pretty, but the real attraction lies within the castle itself. The house has been preserved in its original state, the furniture, ornaments, clothing are originals from when the family lived in the house. It was a very interesting trip (history nerd alert) and not at all touristy, there were very few people there. Not overly expensive either at 12,000 COP pp.

Parque Berrio

We got off the metro station at Parque Berrio, which was basically the central area of the city, as there are a few places of interest here.

Firstly, there’s the Basilica de la Candeleria, the oldest church in Medellin. It’s a white church overlooking the central square in Parque Berrio. Not much more to be said about it really, but if you like churches and cathedrals it’s worth a look.

Then a little further down the street is the Plazoleta de las Esculturas, a public space in front of the Museo de Antioquia, housing 23 big sculptures made out of bronze. These aren’t just your average statues, they’re all ‘gordas’ or fat statues basically, and for some reason this makes statues far more interesting as they’re a little more quirky than normal.

Cerro Nutibara

Just outside the city centre is a hill, on top of which sits a mini town and a very impressive view of the city. At first we were stupid enough to think the view from the car park was the ‘good view’ we had heard about and were not too impressed. Fortunately, we found the real ‘good view’ which was indeed a good view.

Pablo Escobar Tour

This was our favourite activity in Medellin. I mean even if you’re not big Narcos fans (but why aren’t you – seriously) it’s an interesting insight into Medellin’s very recent history. We went with Paiso Road Tours, which is the official Pablo Escobar tour, and costs a rather large 65,000 COP each, but worth it.

Firstly, we were taken to Monaco building, the building Pablo and his family were in when the Cali Cartel bombed the apartment.

We then took a trip far up into the surrounding hills (and I mean very far up) to see the location of La Catedral, Pablo’s ‘prison,’ which is now a homeless shelter.

Finally, we went to the grave of Pablo Escobar. All in a van driven by none other than one of Pablo’s drivers (who answered our many questions very happily, and only looked mildly terrifying.)

The Medellin Cartel and the ensuing war with the government and the Cali Cartel caused absolute chaos and terror to this city, (watch narcos – do it) and to see how much the city has changed in just 20 years or so is amazing. It’s one of the cleanest, most modern cities we visited in Colombia, with its own very convenient and easy metro (a rarity in South America.) This tour was great in giving us more of an insight into Medellin’s bloody history.

Food:

I’m sure there are good areas for eating traditional Colombian food in Medellin but we didn’t really manage to find them. We’ve learnt that if you can find traditional Colombian food it’s a lot cheaper (you can get a big meal and drink for 10,000 COP or under – about $5.)

The area we were staying in was quite expensive but had a range of international cuisines, (Italian, Asian, American and so on.) We had burgers for one of our meals and the amount of different burgers you could choose from made a book (not kidding – it wasn’t a menu, it was an actual book.) Also, there were a range of cafes selling really good cake. Normally, Colombian bakeries have a wide range of sweet treats which tend to be a little disappointing but the cakes in Medellin were really good (expensive, but I’m willing to pay for good cake.)

Summary:

Medellin was a surprise. We weren’t expecting to like the city as much as we did. We hadn’t been expecting too much due to its very recent devastating history but it was modern, clean and had lots of beautiful parks. It could easily have been a city in a more developed country, yet still had the character of a Colombian city. It’s definitely one of my favourite places so far.

Journey:

The journey from Cartagena to Isla Fuerte was our most complicated yet. Our bus was at 5:30am and we had to get to the bus station, which was about half an hour away, so this meant a very early start for us. The taxi drive cost about 20,000 COP and dropped us at TCC (Cartagena’s big bus station.) One guy immediately tried to helpfully take our bags and direct us over to buy our tickets, and it took us a while to point out that we already had our tickets, at which point he dropped our bags on the floor and walked back in search of clients who hadn’t already bought their tickets.

We were travelling with Expresso Brasilia and found the correct bus without a hiccup. We even for once didn’t have to pay extra for the surfboard (hooray.) The journey took about 4 and a half hours (costing 38,000 COP each) and was pretty smooth. Thomas spent the whole journey fast asleep and snoring (kidding.)

The bus driver dropped us at Lorica, in the middle of a very busy road with no taxi in sight. Several people, spotting the very obvious gringo meat we were, pounced on us offering lifts to Paso Neuvo (the port to get to Isla Fuerte) and having little alternative we accepted one and got in to the smallest car imaginable (with a surfboard this is no easy task) and I spent an uncomfortable 40 minutes with my arm wedged behind the boards. Another 40,000 COP later (this journey cost us a small fortune) we reached a tiny ‘harbour’ with several tiny boats that were maybe big enough for 10 people maximum.

The ‘captain’ of one of these boats offered us a lift to the island for 80,000 COP. Now if you read the details on the hostel website they say you can get a boat for 15,000 pp, so 30,000 COP for both of us, so we were pretty appalled at this price. We managed to negotiate down to 60,000 COP but they refused to take us for any less so short of camping out on the mainland until they caved (which might have worked to be fair) we had little choice but to take this option.

The boat ride was very ‘refreshing’ and ended in us being absolutely soaked, with some of our money also ending up rather damp. After being dropped on the other side it was a short walk to our hostel where we were greeted by a huge array of dogs, virtually no people, a lot of palm trees and generally a very pretty part of paradise.

Accommodation:

La Playita Hostel. There’s very few options for places to stay which means our choice was very easy. There were some expensive hotels and La Playita offered far cheaper options (being the only hostel on the island.)

We couldn’t quite stretch to a private hut here so we opted to sleep in hammocks, which was only 30,000 COP pp/pn. Now at first this is quite a novelty and actually quite comfy too. However, the negative is that the mosquito nets and mosquitos themselves are a pain. Trying to get into a mosquito net is really difficult and if you move too much when in the net you can hear the fateful sound of the net ripping a little bit. By the end Thomas had a massive hole in the side of his net and was being eaten alive by the mosquitos so had to duct tape it back up, I felt pretty smug as the holes in my net were underneath so didn’t leave any mosquito gaps.

The hostel itself was virtually empty, there were maybe 5 other people, but apparently it gets busier during high season. We enjoyed having the place to ourselves and using the sup boards and snorkelling gear. We did not enjoy the huge amount of chickens and cockerels who liked to venture into the sleeping area and cockadoodledoo in the ‘morning’ so loud that you either had a heart attack or almost fell out of the hammock.

The hostel was almost perfect but maybe requires a little more organisation, sometimes it was quite difficult to order food or ask for anything as nobody seemed to be around. It’s quite a new hostel so there’s still a little bit of tidying and bits of building going on too but overall it was a good place to stay.

Sights/activities:

The primary reason for us venturing so far off the beaten tourist track was for the surfing. Isla Fuerte is said to be the best place for surfing in Colombia.

Unfortunately, for us this was not the case and the sea was comparable to a pancake (when I said the sea was as flat as a pancake Thomas thought I was very strange – maybe not a French expression – possibly should have said crepe instead.) Thomas was unable to surf even the tiniest wave and so was doing his depressed no surfing face for the first few hours on the island. Eventually he cheered up with some food and a nap (he’s like a toddler.)

Paddle boarding

One morning we took two paddle boards for a couple of hours and went to explore some other areas of the island. I’d never tried this before so resembled bambi trying to stand up for the first time, but eventually got the hang of it. We passed several empty buildings, no people except a few fishermen, saw plenty of fish and a tree filled with huge birds (probably with a wing span of about 1.5 – 2m.)

Thomas inevitably got a little bored as there wasn’t much adrenaline involved and played a new game of catching me up and pushing my board violently with his paddle until I fell off, or tried to jump on to my board (ending with us both falling off.) Eventually I decided to paddle most of the way back on my knees instead which was a lot more stable during attacks.

Snorkelling

Just in front of the hostel was a good spot for snorkelling and we saw some pretty fish in the reef. The water wasn’t the clearest but there had been a lot of rain which might have had something to do with this. Thomas really liked this activity as he liked pretending to be a shark.

Exploring the island

The island is quite small (3.25km square to be exact) so it’s easy to wander around. The houses are bright and colourful and the people are also very friendly. It’s very authentic and feels like a ‘real’ slice of Colombia as we were definitely not in a tourist zone.

In the centre of the village was a tree called ‘the crying tree’ and apparently is where the villagers go if they have a problem. The tree is huge and has an eye drawn into the trunk. We were followed out of the hostel by one of the dogs who took us on a little tour to this tree and through the village (she was very well behaved and a very informative tourist guide.) There were no cars and instead the traffic was made up of multiple donkeys wandering the streets. Love it.

Food:

There isn’t really much of an option here. There’s not many places selling food (but maybe there are more in high season.) Fortunately the hostel sells some good food and for not terribly expensive prices, (although after Cartagena nowhere was going to feel overly expensive.) We had the same thing for every meal, arroz con pollo, or chicken with rice (although when I attempted this in Spanish they had no clue what I meant – think the English accent really doesn’t help my pronunciation.) It was great especially with the mango juice. Even better was a lady selling fruit juice in the little town and she made us one with pineapple and mango which was incredible and probably double the size of the one at the hostel.

Also, when ordering food at the hostel be prepared for it to take at least an hour for food to come – seriously – I’m not sure why it takes quite so long when there are only 5 guests.

Summary:

Not many people venture out to this island. In the lonely planet or online there is nothing written about this island, but I’m not sure why. It’s a beautiful piece of authentic Colombia. Don’t expect it to be completely clean or perfect as that’s not what it’s about, instead it’s very real. It’s good to come and explore and relax for a few days (we slept a huge amount) and there’s some fun activities to keep you occupied, but it’s not a big place and after a few days you do run out of new things to see/do (although this isn’t always a bad thing.) We would definitely come back (but next time when there are actually some waves.)

Journey:

Again, it was a pretty straightforward journey. We took a minibus to the bus station. (Where we had a slight panic as although we insisted our hostel had booked our bus, we didn’t have tickets and they didn’t really understand what we were saying) but in the end we were allowed to get onto another minibus (air conditioned) which took us straight to the centre of Cartagena. This cost us 24,000 COP each (but another 30,000 this time for the surfboard – seriously the bane of my life.)

Accommodation:

Mystic House Hostel. Basically every single hostel is located down this street – Calle Media Luna. It’s a great position in Getsemani, just 5 minute walk from the Old Town. The room was huge, had its own balcony (with hammock, anything with hammocks is a huge bomus) and also had air con. The hostel had a free breakfast too (albeit quite a small breakfast) and use of the kitchen. Also, staff were very helpful. We have yet to come across a bad hostel so when we do it will be a massive shock.

Sights:

Castillo de San Felipe

This is a huge fortress overlooking the walled old town which was built to try and protect the city from pirates, like that of Francis Drake, from pillaging the port. The fortress costs 25,000 COP each, and for that price the experience would be better if there was a brief overview of the history of the fortress (for history geeks like me) but there wasn’t so much as a plaque, even in Spanish. Although, you could pay an extra 17,000 COP for an audio guide, but we had already overspent hugely that day so we decided against this. Later I looked up a little on the history of Cartagena (thanks google for filling me in) and found it to have quite an interesting story. (See below.)

Old Town

I think our favourite thing to do in Cartagena was simply wander around the Old Town (and Getsemani area.) The houses lining the streets are painted beautifully bright colours, filled with equally bright flowers, and as well as houses there are many lovely cathedrals, historic buildings and green squares. It’s so picturesque and although everything in the Old Town is pretty expensive (think normal western prices), just walking around and browsing is enough.

Palacio de la Inquisición

This museum sits in the heart of the Old Town right behind the Bolivar Plaza (each city so far we’ve found has a plaza named after Simon Bolivar – he’s a very big deal.) This museum aimed to show the torture methods and general gruesome facts/artefacts of the inquisition of Cartagena. The house of the inquisition itself is definitely worth a visit, however, the museum exhibits were a little limited (especially for having paid 19,000 COP pp) and again the English was a bit lacking. But overall, I would still recommend going here for a couple of hours.

Playa Blanca

This was our first big mistake of the trip. We had heard good things about this beach (and if you google it the pictures show beautiful white sands and blue sea) so, like the gringos we are, we decided to make the trip here. We were adamant that we didn’t want a tour we simply wanted transport to/from the ‘island’ (it’s hardly an island – you can get a bus there over a bridge.) We booked a bus leaving at 8am and that would bring us back at 3pm, and were told this included lunch. For 50,000 COP pp this was definitely a very expensive bus, but we agreed as there wasn’t really another way to get there.

The bus left from just outside the gates of the Old Town. They spoke a lot in Spanish but we got the gist that lunch was at 11:30 – 12:30 and we would be leaving at 2:45. We arrived at the beach and immediately realised this was quite a different version from the images we had seen of the beach beforehand. Instead, there were lines and lines of chairs and umbrellas (there was basically no sand left.) There were also hundreds of tourists on the beach, and we followed our group to our allocated seating area. At this point we wanted to turn around and go back to Cartagena.

We walked to the far end of the beach where there were rocks, and therefore no chairs, and found a little bay for swimming. The water was very clear and calm (much to Thomas’ disappointment – no waves means it is the most boring place on earth, which to be fair is sometimes quite accurate.) The rest of the day was spent feeling pretty bored and disappointed, so I plaited Thomas’ hair and gave him some pigtails. The highlight was lunch which was actually pretty good. But other than that I would never go back here again.

History of Cartagena (a very brief one): 

The city was founded in 1533, by the Spanish Commander Pedro de Heredia. The first Spanish settlers were sailors who had arrived from Cartagena, Spain and thus they named the town Cartagena de Indias after its Spanish counterpart.

Treasures were discovered in the tombs of the Sinus Amerindian tribe (the original inhabitants of the city) who buried their dead with their riches, and this led to the city prospering and establishing a reputation as a wealthy port. For this reason, the city was invaded many times by pirates like that of Francis Drake searching for treasure and riches.

In the 16th century the Spanish spent a huge amount of money on defending the city from attack, and so creating the fortress Castillo de San Felipe. At this time the port was the largest in the Americas, held lots of raw materials and also became of major importance in trading slaves, adding further to the wealth of the city.

Food:

The food here was hugely expensive. We went into a restaurant without looking at the menu and promptly decided that all we could afford there was a pudding each as a main course was the same price as it would be in a western country. After that we stuck to either eating at our hostel or the street food.

Our favourite Colombian food was empanadas and you could get these for about 2000 COP (at the maximum), they weren’t very big though so Thomas would normally have at least 5. There were also lots of street vendors selling things like chicken kebabs, burgers, and even paella too. This was definitely the cheapest way to eat.

However, on one occasion we decided to splurge a little and try ceviche (which is basically raw fish) at La Pezcetarian. It was really good (except Thomas thought the lemonade was too lemony and so that didn’t get his approval.)

Also worth a mention is there are lots of places in the Old Town selling Italian icecream. One of these sold vegan icecream which was actually really good. I got the banana flavour and it was amazing, it really tasted like genuine bananas.

Drinks:

We went out for drinks at Bazurto Social Club which was just outside the Old Town in Getsemani (basically every club/bar is in this area.) They charged us 10,000 COP for entry which wasn’t too bad. The most famous club in the area – Cafe Havana – is 25,000 COP. It was fun here and not too serious so you didn’t feel too out of place if you didn’t know how to do salsa. Like going for a meal in Cartagena, drinks too will be more expensive than in other areas of Colombia.

Summary:

This was our favourite place so far. The Old Town is absolutely beautiful and there’s plenty to see and do. Be prepared for higher prices and a lot of tourists and avoid Playa Blanca, no matter what the photos look like it doesn’t even vaguely resemble this in real life (unfortunately.)

Journey:

We took a minibus straight from our hostel in Santa Marta to Barranquilla. We were told this was a door to door service, however it was more a door to middle of a road in the centre of the city service, so we had to get a taxi the last 10 minutes to our hostel. This journey was very straightforward, and was in an air conditioned bus with a ton of space for 25,000 COP per person. There was a slight issue with trying to fit the surfboards in the bus (when is there ever not a surfboard issue?) but for an extra 10,000 COP the bus driver was happy for them to come aboard.

Accommodation:

The Meeting Point Hostel. Good, clean room. Staff were great. Pizzeria right at the front of the hostel (although can’t comment on the pizzas as we thought we would be clever and cook our own food for a bit – which didn’t turn out as well as it could have.) Biggest positive about this hostel though was the adorable puppy with ears like dumbo. Biggest negative is there was no free breakfast, which we didn’t appreciate.

Sights:

El Bolstillo (Pradomar) Beach

The obsessive surfer was thrilled that Barranquilla provided some surf (although fairly limited surf) and so we spent a lot of time at this beach. A beach club was situated right at Pradomar so there were places to sit and get food/drink. It was very quiet when we were there but maybe it gets busier at weekends/holidays. The beach itself is nothing too special with kind of grey/brown sand. The beaches around Santa Marta had definitely been far prettier.

City centre

We thought we should venture into the centre before we left. There was no need. It was busy, smelly and hot. There was absolutely nothing to see of any interest. We stayed for approximately half an hour. Thus, all I have in the way of photos for Barranquilla is some surfing photos.

Food:

We had been spending a quita a large amount of our daily budget simply on just food every day. Therefore, we decided to make full use of the kitchen provided at the hostel.

Our trips to the supermarket were fairly confusing as we didn’t understand what anything was. Eventually, we settled on some spaghetti, chicken, eggs, ham, bananas and some bread. We were pretty confident with these choices. However, our breakfast of bread, ham and bananas was a complete fail. The bread was made from a sweet dough but had a savoury type sauce in the centre (maybe tomato?) which isn’t a great combo, and the banana tasted definitely not like banana (because it wasn’t – it was plantain.) Note to self: don’t buy the giant looking bananas, they’re not bananas.

Plantain

Bananas

Summary:

Basically the only thing guide books will tell you about Barranquilla is not to go (unless you’re going for the annual carnival.) Lonely Planet goes as far as to describe Barranquilla as ‘one long, intensely hot traffic jam hemmed in by heavy industry and Caribbean swamps.’ At first I thought it was kind of a harsh description but now I think it’s probably quite accurate. Barranquilla isn’t a massive tourist area for a reason, unless this is your home or you work here there’s nothing much for you. In short, Barranquilla is perhaps best avoided for the tourist.

Journey:

 The flight to Santa Marta went very smoothly in comparison to our previous flight. This time we flew on Colombia’s equivalent to EasyJet – Viva Colombia. Although I don’t think even EasyJet have enforced this rule yet – we had to pay to use the overhead lockers on the plane (60000 COP about $20.) But you can’t complain as the flight itself was only about $40pp. Also, our baggage arrived safely at the other end this time so that was a huge bonus. Santa Marta was about 30 minutes from the airport and cost about 30,000 COP in a taxi to get there. Although how they managed to squash the damn surfboards in the taxi I have no idea.

Accommodation:

El Hostal de Jackie. I really liked this hostel. It had a pool, kitchen area, rooftop bar (where you also got a free breakfast.) The staff were again very helpful and the hostel was well located just around the corner from the main street in Santa Marta (although Santa Marta is very small so you can’t really ever be too far away from the central area.) 

Sights:

In Santa Marta:

Within Santa Marta itself there’s a beach (but probably best avoided as there are far prettier ones located just a short bus ride away.) The central area is very picturesque with lots of charming colourful buildings. The atmosphere is very relaxed too which kind of adds to the holiday feel of this city. You can walk around the whole city centre in about half an hour or less, it’s a tiny area. In general Santa Marta is a good base to use to explore other areas nearby as there are lots of buses/taxis coming to/from here.

Tayrona National Park:

Lots of people go to Tayrona for a few nights (there are places to stay within the park itself) but we only went for a day trip which is just as easy, however perhaps a little more limited as you can’t go as far into the park.

There are buses leaving Santa Marta (just behind the central market) that drop you off directly outside the entrance to the park. The receptionist at our hostel gave us a nice map showing us the direction to the bus stop and we set off. Now because somehow we always seem to manage to run into problems, en route we (Thomas) managed to lose the map and we spent a good half an hour and a couple of confusing conversations searching for this bus stop. Once eventually we got on the bus we paid 7000 COP each and the journey took around an hour and a half. Note: once the bus drivers hit the open road there’s no stopping them, it feels a bit like you’re on some sort of theme park ride.

We got off the bus right at the entrance, however although we (Thomas) had thought we had packed a copy of our passports, it turned out they weren’t there. Fortunately, I had memorised my passport number and this was sufficient for them to let us in. It’s quite an expensive entry fee (by Colombian standards) of 44,500 COP. There are then minibuses (costing 300that bundle as many people as possible into one (so you feel a bit like you’re playing a game of sardines) before they finally take you 5km into the park to the walking trails.

There’s only one way to go so the walking track is obvious. The path stretches through the forest and we saw so much wildlife on the way; there are loads of lizards, monkeys, massive ants, and we even spotted a beautiful green iguana. The nature is beautiful and after a while you reach the coast and walk along the edge of the ocean. The first point you reach is Arrecifes (where there are places to stay if staying overnight) which is maybe an hour and a half walk from the entrance. Then you walk along the edge of the ocean a little bit further (passing lots of worrying signs warning about alligators in the area – and saying not to touch them, which I hoped would be obvious?!) We then reached a little bay where people can swim called La Piscina. This was for us our final stop as we had left a bit later than we had planned, although apparently if you go a little further you reach a nice, yet supposedly more busy, spot called Cabo San Juan.

Tayrona is definitely worth a visit. It will be expensive but I would pay it again and again to see the beauiful nature and wildlife residing there. Note: Bring lots of water, bring food, LOTS of mosquito spray (I feel like I was eaten alive), leave early as it’s less hot, and bring passports. These were pretty much all things we didn’t do but should have.

Costeño Beach:

Again this is a good and easy day trip to do from Santa Marta, or there are places to stay here too. This was a bit more straightforward for us as we now knew where the bus stop was and simply got on the same bus as the previous day and stayed on a little bit longer than Tayrona. (Although the driver forgot about us and went past our stop, so we had to get on another bus to go back to the right place.) It’s then maybe a 20 minute walk from there or you can get on the back of a motorbike for 3000 COP. (If you do the walk look out for the giant blue crabs on the side of the road, they have huge pincers.)

The obsessive surfer was a little bit sad as the waves weren’t too great when we got there, however he was able to hire a board for 30,000 COP for half a day (since there is a surf school there) and attempt to do some surfing. (I think even if the sea is completely flat he will always try to surf.) The atmosphere was very relaxed and it looked a very chilled place to stay with lots of hammocks and a beautiful golden beach with palm trees.

Food:

The food in Santa Marta was definitely more expensive than in Bogota. In Bogota you could find a meal for about 10,000 COP but in Santa Marta you were looking at more like 20,000 COP at the cheapest (which is still really not that much to be fair, only about $7) There were some lovely looking restaurants though (definitely aimed at the tourists) that were maybe a bit more expensive. There were lots of different types of food from pizzas to mexican, but we were finding it quite difficult to find any authentic Colombian food.

The food again didn’t stand out, but we did have a really good crepe (from a little French – of course – creperie called Bienvenue.)

Drinks:

There were lots of places to find a drink and people watch in Santa Marta (which we really enjoyed.) There were lots of bars doing cocktail happy hours and the beers were really cheap (maximum 5000 COP for Club Colombia or Aguila, about $1.5.) Beer was often cheaper in these places than getting water or juice.

Summary:

We really enjoyed our time in Santa Marta. It was picture postcard pretty and a really good base to explore the surrounding areas – Tayrona is a must However, there is little to do in the town itself, and also be prepared for lots of tourists (and therefore tourist prices.)

Journey:

Our trip to Colombia definitely doesn't start in Bogota. Before that we had a rather stressful three flights to contend with (Hawaii to San Francisco, San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale, and Fort Lauderdale to Bogota.)

Three flights is a very tiring operation but all had gone fairly swimmingly until we reached check in for our final flight. They asked us for proof that we would be leaving Colombia and so I showed them all our documents (hostel bookings, flights from Peru to France etc.) but as we had not booked transport leaving Colombia they would not check us in. We then spent a very stressful half an hour trying to book a bus online (which was actually impossible) and in the end spent a fortune on a flight (which we would hopefully be able to refund - although this is still not certain.) 

We were pretty relieved therefore to finally reach Bogota, however after waiting some time at the baggage collection we gathered our bags were definitely not here. The process of trying to locate our bags was made a lot harder by the fact that we understood and could speak practically no Spanish. Eventually we were pointed in the direction of JetBlue airline offices who assured us they would call us tomorrow morning with news of our bags. By this point we were pretty exhausted and caught a taxi to our hostel - Casa Bellavista. 

Accommodation:

Casa Bellavista, La Candeleria. The people who worked here were very friendly and helpful and went out of there way to try and help us locate our bags. Nicely located in the La Candeleria district and in walking distance to most of the tourist attractions. (Which was great as getting a bus was pretty convoluted, and the one time we took a bus we ended up in a seriously dodgy area and very quickly hopped in a taxi and went back the opposite way again.) 

Sights: (there are lots of museums to see here. They are mainly all in Spanish, which he obviously greatly limited my understanding of the displays. Also there was way more to see in Bogota but we spent a huge amount of time at the airport trying to sort out our lost bags, so by the end of our stay we knew the airport much better than the city itself.) 

Museo del Oro (gold museum):

This was probably the most interesting museum we went to. Located centrally in La Candeleria, the museum is fairly self explanatory and filled with lots of gold artefacts. However, by about the fifth room with the same sort of gold artefacts on display, we were a little bored by it. Although if you understand more Spanish then it might tell you a bit more about the significance of the different pieces. 

National Museum of Independence or Flower Vase House (Casa del Florero):

Apparently this house is where the chain of events leading to Colombia's independence began.

In short, in 1810 Bogota's patriots formed a plan to wrest control from the Spanish. They needed an excuse to riot, and so they had an idea to ask the well known Spanish merchant Joaquín Gonzalez Llorente to borrow a flower vase (at the Casa de Floreres) for a celebration in honor of Antonio Villavicencio, a patriot sympathiser. They knew that he would refuse and thus this refusal would be enough to provoke a riot. (which he did, or even if he didn't they made this up to allow the riots to break out.) The people of Bogota took to the streets to protest the Spanish and this became known as Colombian Independence Day. 

The museum itself had some interesting displays (again none of which we could fully appreciate as there was no English) but the house itself was worth a look as it was a pretty Colombian house overlooking the main square. 

National Museum of Colombia:

This was probably the least interesting museum for us. This one probably had the least English and I thought it would tell a bit more about Colombia's history but instead it seemed to house lots of art and sculptures instead. 

Plaza de Bolivar (Bolivar Square):

The central square in Bogota with some huge historic buildings bordering it - the Palace of Justice, the National Capitol, Primary Cathedral of Bogota, and Lievano Palace (seat of the Mayor of Bogota.) The buildings date back from 1539 (when the cathedral was started.) The buildings are big and imposing but the thing that strikes you most is the sheer amount of pigeons in the square and they do not move, like seriously they're not going to move unless you virtually tread on them. 

Food:

There's so much choice here that you can eat pretty cheaply (you can easily get a decent meal for 10,000 COP pp.) Although if you're a coeliac or vegetarian you're going to struggle (vegans will die.) Your options are pretty much restricted to eating a variety of carbs (normally with meat inside) and since we don't speak Spanish we've just kind of pointed at stuff to try. At the moment we've worked out a couple:

Empanadas - kind of like a pasty, stuffed with different fillings, normally queso (cheese) or carne (meat.) These are pretty good and maybe my favourite 'Colombian' food so far. Especially if you go somewhere where they make them fresh, they're definitely better. 

Arepas - kind of like a potatoey crumpet. There's not really an easy way to describe these. I'm not too much of a fan. 

The food in Colombia isn't too amazing (as of yet) and is heavily based on carbs (be prepared to be served at least two different types with your meal.) However, the fresh fruit (especially mangos and bananas are really good.) 

Drinks:

Club Colombia beer is easy, cheap, light. The best thing about going for drinks or food here is that there's always a pretty good atmosphere. Bogota is a very lively city and even if you just wander around you will find shows on the street and lots of people everywhere. 

Summary:

Bogota is a huge vibrant city, I think the population is around 8 million. It's very lively and noisy, with everyone in a bit of a hurry. Everyone was pretty quick to dismiss Bogota but after seeing it firsthand I think it's well worth spending a couple of days here. Note: definitely don't wander too much from the tourist path here, stray too far and there are some violent areas about.

Best meal:

This should really be called best acai bowl not best meal. We became addicted to these and ate at least one every day. Our favourites were probably those from DaCove Diamond Head Bar. Seriously these were incredible, go here, live here. It’s just awesome. Our second favourite was from a cute little restaurant in Waikiki (but not actually ridiculously priced) called Heavenly Cafe. Expect to pay about $10 for a bowl and they are filling.

Worst meal:

Pizza and pasta from a food court in Waikiki. We should have steered clear but we didn’t. The pasta in particular was watery and bland and we weren’t at all full afterwards so had to go get a massive dessert from the Cheesecake Factory. (Actually quite a good restaurant, quite expensive but has about 30 different types of cheesecakes which in itself is awesome.)

Best wave:

Pipeline and Sandbar (Thomas): Pipeline is THE place to surf in Hawaii (like at times 20 ft waves) although it wasn’t quite up to that standard when we were there. Thomas caught some nice waves here (before eventually breaking his board here.)

Queens (Issy): Actually caught a wave here that went over my head. Terrifying and seriously cool in equal measures.

Worst wave:

The best and worst day for Thomas was at pipeline where on the last day he broke his board colliding with another surfboard (fortunately all was repaired within the day.)

Best activity: (or activities – there were several. Listed from best to worst.)

Surfing (obviously at the top of the list)
Best beaches we found tended to be on the North Shore. In contrast if you’re a beginner head to the South (you can’t go wrong with Waikiki.)

Swimming with Sharks (Hawaii adventure diving)
Apparently this is a fun activity you know swimming with man eating creatures without any form of protection is just too much fun obviously.

Hike up Diamond Head
This is a pretty easy uphill walk and although it is filled with tourists the views over Honolulu are pretty spectacular. Also you climb up through an old bunker which is something a bit different.

Pearl Harbour
The USS Arizona memorial was primarily for a ship which took over 1000 men with her when she capsized after being hit by several Japanese tornados in the attack on pearl harbour in 1941. The memorial is particularly moving as the monument stands over the actual ship, inside of which the dead men are still entombed. Definitely worth a visit. And free too.

Worst activity:

Not applicable. Hawaii gets 5 stars.

Best beach:

Lani’s beach – very likely to see turtles here on the shore and in the sea. No matter how many turtles we saw it was always a bit of a shock to see these beautiful animals swimming only metres away.

Pinballs – we went surfing on the reef here and the water was really clear which meant you could see all the fish swimming underneath you.

Both of these beaches were on the North Shore which was generally less touristy and a bit more pretty.

Worst beach:

Again I can’t think of a worst right now. To me all the beaches were beautiful.

Best location:

Diamond Head – want to live here. Less touristy than Waikiki but still on the South Shore and near to Honolulu. Really pretty and really cool.

Also North Shore – really good waves, more locally, you can easily just be on your own on one of the beaches.

Worst location:

Not enough research done. Will have to go back to research this properly (shame.)

Best thing about a trip to Hawaii:

The surfing. The beaches. The super chilled atmosphere. THE ACAI BOWLS. Basically everything.

Worst thing about a trip to Hawaii:

That you eventually have to leave because the USA doesn’t do working holiday visas. This is not ok. Also Hawaiian airlines are the worst airline (read next blog.)

DCIM100GOPRO

After an awesome road trip around New Zealand I was concerned that Hawaii would be a tourist trap - overpriced, lacking personality and generally ruined by untasteful buildings. However, I was proved very wrong and I can't rave about Hawaii enough. This is truly paradise. Think golden sands, turquoise waters and very tall palm trees. Beaches with nobody on them apart from yourself. Surfers risking their lives to catch waves the size of a house (a pretty awesome show.) 

Locations:

North

The North Shore feels more authentically Hawaiian, no cities like Honolulu, it's more quirky with food trucks lining the streets, surfers everywhere, and it's easy to feel you are in a tropical island with jungle like scenery surrounding you. 

Haleiwa is worth a look and has some cool places to eat and shop too. A lot of surfer type stores but also some more authentic places to look for presents and souvenirs rather than simply buying everything from one of the ABC stores that you see every 2 minutes in Honolulu. 

Obviously everyone has to go see Banzai Pipeline while they are in the North. Even if surfing is not a sport you have any interest in, watching people risk their lives to surf on massive 5m waves is still something you can watch and appreciate. Also go to sunset beach too for even more humongous waves. 

South 

The South Shore is dominated by Honolulu and Waikiki and surprisingly this city is actually pretty cool. It's expensive yes and I'm not really sure where there are affordable places to go out (we tried - they wanted to charge us $30 to get in, which we didnt agree with, and so we ended up getting cheesecake and burgers and getting a taxi back at midnight instead - 100% the better decision.) It is touristy (as to be expected in Hawaii) but it's not too annoying. Everyone is on holiday and therefore generally happy and relaxed, which kind of sums up the atmosphere in Hawaii. The locals too are very friendly, helpful and chilled out. 

Waikiki beach is obviously very popular and is normally littered with tourists (I don't understand this - if you simply want to go to a beach to lie there all day why pick the busiest beach on the whole island? There are hundreds (no joke) of other beaches on this island. However, if you want to try surfing Waikiki is an awesome beach to go with some easy beginner level waves. I really enjoy surfing here, there's no current, the waves aren't too strong, and it's great for giving confidence. 

Food (if I could give three thumbs up here I would)

On the North there are food carts at the side of the road selling fresh produce - pineapples, coconuts and shrimps come up a lot but there's something for everyone. Whereas, as to be expected in a big city, Honolulu prices are generally a bit more expensive but if you avoid the touristy restaurants there are still some cool places to eat. 

Our favourite find in Hawaii has been acai bowls which are beautiful, taste amazing and are super healthy too (and also really won't break your bank) Special shout out to Heavenly Cafe and also Diamond Head Cove for some of the best ones we've tried so far (and we've tried a lot.) 

Activities 

Surfing 

Of course going to Hawaii would not be complete without taking to the water in search of waves which is pretty much the way the obsessive surfer would spend his whole life if it were possible. There are waves everywhere on the island (although the South is generally a bit friendlier for beginners.) Waikiki beach for surfing is like a party, be prepared to catch a wave along with the other hundred people there, and at some point probably crash into someone too. But what's cool here is that's ok, everyone's just out to have fun. We have also surfed at Queens, next to Waikiki, which is generally a bit less busy. On the North there are loads of beaches to choose from but it generally brings the big swell. If you're lucky you can even see a few turtles whilst waiting for a wave (which has happened a few times.) 

Swimming with Sharks

The obsessive surfer put down his surfboard for a couple of hours to go shark diving (without a cage because who doesn't want to swim with these man eating creatures without any protection?) I think I would have to be paid to do this activity. However, thomas said it was amazing and you could get really close to these animals so maybe for those that like sharks it's a cool thing to do. 

Hiking 

Although the majority of our time has been spent surfing we have also managed to do one of the hikes in the South part of the island (and probably the hike every tourist does when they come to Honolulu.) We climbed the Diamond Head Crater (a really easy track - apart from the massive stairway at the end.) It gives amazing views over Waikiki and apparently you can even see whales from up here (in the right season.)

Best meal (cooked by us in the van):

Really not many to choose from here as we tended to live off instant noodles/soup as the van wasn't up to high levels of cooking. So Thomas' birthday breakfast which was fruit, some banana slices I had made before leaving the apartment and giant marshmallows (healthy start to the day.) 

Worst meal (cooked by us in the van):

The previously mentioned soup that we practically lived off was our least favourite food by the end of our trip. 

Best meal: 

Fergburger (Queenstown)

No other burger can quite beat this. If you ever go to Queenstown suck up the massive queues and get one of these. There is a reason for the queue.

Close second - the ice cream we were given at Foxton beach

Whoever was serving us we are immensely grateful for you handing us icecreams the size of Jupiter and that we're supremely tasty (rum/raisin and caramel fudge combo is awesome) 

Worst meal:

We love bakery type food - cakes, pastries, pasties. You name it we will have tried it but every time we got one of these from any New Zealand bakery we were disappointed. New Zealander's just have no idea how bakeries should be done. Sorry New Zealand.

Best beach:

Thomas would say Back beach in New Plymouth. This was a beautiful beach full of surfers (I think thomas liked it purely for the surfing reason.) For me, St Kilda beach in Dunedin was slightly more beautiful although maybe it was because we were very lucky with the weather here giving us beautiful blue sea and golden sands.

Worst beach:

There was a 'beach' in Kaikoura (which was more like a brown sludgy swamp water with rocks and branches everywhere and full of bees just waiting to sting you.) This was definitely not a good beach (although it had good surfing but why you would want to surf somewhere that looked like there could easily be some sharks/crocodiles/the Loch Ness monster hiding under the waters is beyond me) 

Best tourist attraction:

The Luge (Rotorua)

Real life mario kart can't really be beaten. The one in Rotorua is better than the one in queenstown as you can go faster and the track lasts longer. 

Worst tourist attraction:

Kayaking (Abel Tasman) 

This one was hard but if we had to redo our trip I would probably leave out the kayaking we did in Abel Tasman or maybe hire a kayak ourselves. It was way too expensive for what you got and kayaking in a water with no current doesn't really require much skill so a guide isn't too necessary. We also picked to do this on a day when it was cold and grey which maybe wasn't the best idea.

Best natural site (we couldn't pick one so we have three.) 

Mount Cook/Glaciers 

This area of New Zealand is known as the southern alps and with the snow covered mountains is classic picture postcard New Zealand. 

Tongrario 

This mountain was true lots of the rings country and was awesome to walk across. Although the walk itself was very busy and quite strenuous it is 100% worth it. 

Kaikoura mountain (I don't think this was as impressive but was overruled)

The uniqueness of Kaikoura comes from the fact that the ocean sits practically right next to some snow covered mountains but was it as amazing as Tongrario or Mount Cook (in my opinion not quite)

Worst natural site:

Lake Tekapo 

Seriously what's the hype about this lake? There were far more impressive lakes in New Zealand that were nowhere near as touristy. Don't bother going here.

Best city:

Dunedin

This was one of the biggest surprises for us. Neither of us had even heard of Dunedin before arriving in New Zealand but we were impressed right from the start. It was fun, quirky, had the ocean right on the doorstep and some beautiful surrounding landscape (the otago peninsula) filled with wildlife. What more could you ask for? 

Worst city:

Christchurch

Maybe Christchurch had a bit more personality before it was sadly hit by an earthquake in 2011 but it still feels kind of depressed and forlorn (and a little bit creepy.) 

Best surf:

Kaikoura/Dunedin

Although I couldn't venture into the water in Kaikoura (as I no longer had a surfboard at this point) Thomas raved about it and judging by the huge amount of people in Kaikoura to surf I think his feeling here is probably correct. Dunedin also gets a thumbs up here. 

Worst surf:

Greymouth

I can still picture thomas' little face as he stood on the edge of the sea and watched these perfect waves that had a current too strong to actually get to.

Best campsite:

Waiinu campsite (South Taranaki)

Beautiful views. Right on the beach and practically deserted (at least in low season.) Really good facilities and only $5 per site. No downsides here. 

Worst campsite: 

Kapiti Coast 

After paying $16 (way too much) for what we thought was a fairly average campsite we soon realised it was overrun by sandflies and didn't leave the van for the rest of the evening. Sandflies are evil. 

Best thing we did before travels:

Hobbiton (near Hamilton)

Who actually goes to New Zealand and doesn't go here? And why do they do this? Best day trip ever.

Top 3 overall locations:

Raglan 

This surfer town is very cool (even if you're not a surfer) and has excellent surf for those that do want to surf (from beginner to pro level.) 

Dunedin 

Biggest (good) surprise of the trip. Has a little bit of everything and has more personality than a lot of New Zealand cities. 

Queenstown 

Very touristy city but Queenstown is proof that not all touristy locations are bad. It is full of things to do (you could spend a couple of weeks here easily) and full of the best food in New Zealand. Although be prepared to spend a lot (it's just what happens here.) 

Worst 3 overall locations:

Tekapo

As previously stated it's just really boring, really touristy and with far better locations in New Zealand why would you choose to stay here?

Kapiti coast

There weren't many bad locations in New Zealand and this one wasn't exactly bad but it was a little boring. We got fed up after a couple of days and couldn't find much to do. (Although the giant icecream was from here so that's a massive reason to go here) 

Christchurch

Not too much to do here although it's still worth a visit but the city just feels a bit sad and doesn't have too much atmosphere.