Mini-trip report on Colombia (Bogota & Cartagena)
 

I just returned Mar 19 from 10 days in Colombia . . . marvelous trip. Since there’s hardly any info available, I thought I’d post a short report.

We are two ladies, early 60s, fair, blonde . . . we don’t blend in. We do speak some Spanish, which we definitely used and needed. We spent 6 days in Bogotá and 4 in Cartagena. Now that we’ve been, we could have seen everything we wanted in Bogotá in 2 or 2.5 days . . . 4 was perfect for Cartagena. Next time, we would also visit Medellín and/or the coffee plantations region.

We stayed at La Casona de la Patio Amarillo and paid $47.65 for rm. 205. It was actually two rooms plus bath (shower, no tub). The main room had 2 twin beds and a set of bunk beds, desk/chair, TV, phone, lockable closets. The secondary room had 1 twin bed, nightstand, lamp. The rate included taxes and breakfast. The hotel personnel were exceptionally nice and helpful and the hotel is located in a nice, safe, residential-type neighborhood about half way between the Centro and the Zona Rosa. About 3 blocks away is a huge grocery store, shopping center, lots of excellent restaurants, and the Flores stop for the TransMilenio (their rapid transit system).

The 3 most important sites that we saw were the Gold Museum, the Botero Museum, and La Casa de la Moneda (currency museum and more) . . . oh, and the teleférico up to Monserrate was fun, too.

We flew to Cartagena on Avianca, $248 round trip, 1 hr flight. There, we stayed at Luci’s, a private B&B that stays filled from word of mouth. Luci’s is in the San Diego area of the old town and the old town is “the” place to stay, walking distance to almost everything and again, very safe. Luci’s only has 9 rooms and they open onto a beautiful, plant-filled patio. The price is $38 per room (inc. breakfast/taxes) and our room (#2) had 3 twin beds, lockable truck, sit-down dressing table/stool, big bath w/shower. It does not have a/c, only fans. Believe me, we are from Texas where everything is air conditioned . . . if we say we didn’t need it, you can bank on the fact that we didn’t need it.

We took the 4-hr Chiva tour of the city . . . a chiva is an old US school bus that has had the doors/windows knocked out and the seats have been replaced with long, bench seating. The buses are brightly painted and we had both Spanish and English-speaking guides. This was fun and a good way to get an overview of the city.

One day, we took at water taxi to Bocachica and visted the Fort of San Fernando . . . that’s the fort where part of “Romancing the Stone” was filmed. We had massages there ($8.84/hr) and a great fish lunch on the beach.

Another day we took a trip to the Mud volcano for a mud bath . . . one of the funnest things we’ve ever done. The bath is about the size of a wrestling ring and is on top of the volcano mound, you have to climb up rickety stairs to get to the top. A guy will take your camera to record the moment! You then climb down into the pit where a massage guy is waiting. The mud is thick, warm, kinda oily. You can’t sink, you just float on a thick layer of chocolate pudding . . . and get a great (and professional) massage for an hour. When you get out, you walk down to the lagoon where a lady will scrub you clean. Don’t miss doing this . . . this turned out to be the highlight of our trip.

Cartagena is a beautiful city, something to see at every turn. We did go over to the Bocagrande area (their Zona Rosa) where all the big hotels area, it was not nearly as pretty and interesting as the old town. And, you would have to take a taxi everyplace you went.

I’ve typed up my log and would be happy to share if anyone is interested. Email me at [email protected].

Buen viaje,
Sandy (in Denton)

Thank you for the interesting report. I live in Miami and has been considering going only to Cartagena for 4-5 days; however, I cannot find any reasonable package deals and/or air fares. The fares I am being quoted are over $500.00 for a round trip. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

We had a problem with airfare, too. We paid $804 from Dallas-Ft. Worth to Bogota and Continental had the best route for us.

I think I just saw an ad someplace where Avianca has a $400 sale. We flew Avianca from Bogota to Cartagena and it was fine.

Good luck,
Sandy (in Denton)

sandy b,
I loved your accounting of your trip to Colombia! I have been to Cali a couple of times on Operation Smile missions and loved it! It was a little scary as far as security goes, but a beautiful country and great people.
The massages sound outrageous and I wish I had the opportunity to do that volcanic mud dip. Wow!
Just wondering if you had any aguardiente on the Chiva? That licorish-tasing liquer that leaves ya spinnin'. Also had a stew called "ajiaco" not sure of the spelling on that, but, ah, what a great meal.
I made some great friends in Colombia and I hope the tourism improves as the politics improve there.
Suzie

Wow. You are adventurous. What made you want to go to Columbia and be brave enough to do it?

ssloantwo,no, didn't have the aguadiente on the chiva, I'm not into hard liquor . . . I'm strictly a beer/wine girl. Yes, I had the ajiaco more than once, great soup! I loved the combination of the 3 different kinds of potatoes, the corn, heavy cream, capers, avocado . . . mmmmmm, makes my mouth water just typing this!

missypie, didn't need to be brave to go to Colombia, felt safer there than I do in some parts of my own small city (in North Central Texas)! The worst thing about going to Colombia is the high airfare and the fact that it's hard to book accommodations as most budget places don't have websites or email . . . and the lack of guidebooks. We could not find one in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and ended up ordering from two different sites before we actually received one.

Go . . . go before everyone discovers how beautiful, friendly, cheap Colombia is and drives the prices up.

Buen viaje,
Sandy (in Denton)

You felt safer in Bogota than in Denton? Denton must have a side I've never seen! Seriously, all I hear about Columbia is drugs and kidnappings.

Missypie,

Denton is pretty safe but there are some areas here where I would not go at night!

Actually, I don't think twice about going to Dallas, just 30 mi. away, and my youngest daughter lived in DC for 7 yrs and I visited her at least 3 times/year . . . and those are two of the most dangerous cities in the USA.

If I listened to those who said "insert any place" is dangerous, I would not have gone (and had a great time) to Guatemala (3x), Nicaragua, El Salvador, Rio, Mexico (10x), Ecuador (2x), Honduras (2x), or most of the other 39 countries I've visited.

Life is too short and there's too many great places awaiting!

Buenos viajes,
Sandy (in "fairly safe" Denton)

Missypie,

"all I hear about Columbia is drugs and kidnappings"

How sad that people still make statements such as these and choose to believe them. If you travel to other parts of the world, all you'll hear is that Americans are lazy, not as well-educated, have no manners, etc., etc. Do you agree? Should people in other countries believe everything they hear about us?

Colombia is (and I've been there 9 times) a beautiful country with wonderful people. Sure, you hear about crime and drugs (by the way, they'll say they make cocaine but it's the Americans that buy it) but this holds true anywhere (i live in NYC and you hear it all.)

Thanks Sandy B for posting a wonderful report that will hopefully open people's eyes and let them see that there are many beautiful countries out there to see and that people shouldn't base their opinions simply on what they see on the news. Since when does the news report on the good things in Latin America anyway.

Sandy,
We're planning a trip to Colombia and are thinking about heading back to Cartagena--been there once already and were very impressed. We have kids now and are wondering if you'd recommend that B&B for families (they are 5 & 7). Also, I couldn't find anything on Luci's doing a web search--you have contact info?
Thanks.

sandy-b

I've traveled to a lot of countries and always feel safer there than in the US. But before I go I read up on the place on Internet travel forums and read how much crime and how unsafe the place is. Then I go there and I am pleasantly surprised. Honduras is the only place I felt unsafe.

Gate 1 Travel has a 4-5 day trip from Miami that is pretty cheap. I'm thinking of taking it myself.

Hello, my husband and I are planning on taking a quick 4 night trip late January from Florida but can't decide between Cartagena and San Juan, PR. Suggestions? Pros & cons?