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Saturday, February 13, 2016

Barranquilla. Colombia 28-31/01/16

How to get there: We flew from Medellin for £52 each and it took about an hour and a half to get there. A bus takes around 12 hours, probably more since they aren't very often on time.
Arriving to Barranquilla: We already had a hotel booked for the three nights, Hotel Casa Ballesteros, which is quite old but it's a comfortable stay with a swimming pool in a good area of Barranquilla, like 2 km away from the centre. The only criticism we have for the hotel is that the housekeeping staff went through our travel notes and books since they were all moved and open.

Church in the centre

Getting to Barranquilla was exciting for Oliver, arriving to Shakira's hometown. We arrived in Barranquilla during the build-up to carnival which also gave us something to do during our time there.
The first day, we decided to rest after the flight and the taxi to the hotel since it was already night time by the time we arrived. We did go to a restaurant next to the hotel to try some Colombian food properly, which we have to say, is not our favourite thing of the country.
The next day we were ready to explore! And due to Oliver's obsession with Shakira, we went to Pies Descalzos foundation which is a school for children in need. There's nothing else there but the school, so we couldn't donate anything by buying a souvenir or something of the sort. We then, headed to the centre of Barranquilla, to do some sightseeing and instead found ourselves looking for carnival t-shirts to watch the "guacherna" (a carnival parade) that night.
The guacherna started at 8pm and everyone was on the streets dancing to the music, watching behind the fence how the groups involved in the parade did the dance routines. Some were balancing bottles of alcohol on their heads while dancing, some were dancing on really high platforms and some inside cages. The costumes were colourful and creative but taking pictures of them could cost a few pesos.
We left early and the next day we only did one thing: we went to see the Shakira statue that is at the Boca stadium. The statue has been vandalized and it doesn't look like it did before, however the powerful message remains for the citizens of Barranquilla.
We couldn't do anymore this day and the reason is the illness that everyone has been talking about, spread by mosquitoes. Yes, Oliver got zika and he felt so bad, that was the end of our sightseeing in Barranquilla.

Pies Descalzos foundation

Carnival market

Stuck in traffic with the trolley

Carnival night market

Guacherna

Very tall people.

Girls dancing

We don't actually remember why they are glowing.

Shakira statue

Oli happily sat at the Shakira statue

Theatre in Barranquilla

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Medellin. Colombia 24-28.01.16

How to get there: We took a bus from Cali that cost COP50.000 per person and it took almost 10 hours including a stop for food on the way. The bus left at 2:30 pm and it had WiFi and sockets to charge your devices. We arrived late at night and took a taxi from the bus station to the hotel we had booked.
Arriving to Medellin: The hotel, Hawaii Hotel Suites is a new hotel still under building work in the centre of Medellin. It works as a hotel and a motel and every room of the hotel is themed. A simple room is COP70.000 per night and a suite like we got is COP120.000, hot tub in the room. But if you want to be in the more touristy area of the city you should try with El Poblado, south of Medellin where most hostels and big hotels are located.

Castle in Medellin

The centre of Medellin, just like Cali's, does not look like it should be the centre. Messy and dusty again, it looks like lots of shops just thrown together. We were staying in quite a safe area, where the tram goes in the city and we kept on enjoying the Colombian breakfast. The city has little to see other than buildings and museums, but since we get easily bored of museums, we decided to skip them and go for the plain sightseeing.
The centre has only one main thing to see which is the park. The park is quite small but pretty, and it would help if the surroundings were equally as pretty, however it is mostly a residential area where homeless people sleep. If you want to get out of the centre to different parts of Medellin, try the metro system, it is a cheap way to move around and it is quite safe, if you keep your hands in your pockets.
If you take the metro, go to the cable car system they've got in Medellin, it takes you right to the top of a mountain where you have panoramic views of the city and if you carry on with the last cable car, it will take you to a park at the top of the same mountain where you can do trekking and have a picnic if you fancy. In this cable car was where we met Leo (Brazil) and Dan (USA), who also wanted to see the view from the top and ended up in that park by chance. We spent a while with them and made arrangements to go to the football match the following day with them. We took them back to the centre where Dan bought a Nacional shirt for the occasion.
The next day me and Oli walked to El Poblado in the morning and saw where all the tourists had been hiding until then. El Poblado is simply a good place to get some food other than Colombian and to go out at night. We went for the food.
In El Poblado we saw the other face of Medellin, the busy, wealthy face that has got no time to smile or be friendly, unlike in the centre, where smiles and kindness were common.
That night we went to watch football, which will be in a different blog dedicated to it, and the next day, before taking a flight to Barranquilla, we went to the castle in Medellin, which was built following the architecture of French castles by its first owner, who died 8 months after it was built, and then it was passed onto a rich family, who started bringing furniture and decorations from Europe in order to make the castle a museum. Today it is a museum and it costs COP10.000 to get in per person with a guided tour in Spanish. Check the pictures out!

The centre of Medellin

El Poblado

View from Santa Fe Mall of El Poblado

Santa Fe mall in El Poblado

The cable car station

View from the cable car

Cable car view

Medellin from the air

Park at the top of the mountain

Bird at the park

Medellin in the distance

view from the cable car

At the top of the "slums" of Medellin

Medellin

Small gardens in El Poblado

Gardens in El Poblado

Castle in Medellin

Back of the castle

Gardens of the castle

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Cali. Colombia 21-24.01.16

How to get there: We got there by bus from Tulcan. At the border crossing we were offered a bus for COP55.000 each, and a taxi included in the price to get to the bus terminal. It took 12 hours to get there.
Arriving to Cali: There isn't much to Cali city centre, but what looks like a suburb with little organisation. On arrival we took a taxi to a cheap hotel in the centre. "Hotel Cali Real" is right in the centre and it does the work. The hotel hasn't got any air conditioning, so you rely on a fan to cool the room down. Mosquitoes love it.

The church at the square in Cali

The centre of Cali is, like I mentioned, messy. A hard place to get around as all the streets look just the same with street stalls and paper signs all over the place. We did enjoy the craziness for a while and went along with it strolling through the streets of the centre until we found a small area that finally had some attraction to our eyes. A church beautifully done overlooking a simple square where some sellers tried to make a living out of Guarapo (a drink made of sugar cane) and trinket.

After one night in this basic hotel, we researched and decided to move to an area closer to a football stadium, that looked neater and safer. The area of San Fernando is only two kilometres away from the city centre, but looks very different. While Cali looks old, disorganised and energetic, San Fernando looked new and neat but also quiet and sort of out of the life that Cali had.

We stayed at the hotel San Fernando Real. The hotel is a simple and straightforward 10/10. From the moment we walked through the doors, the staff offered help with our luggage, asked about our journey and gave us a room before the official check-in time. The room was as impressive as the welcoming: perfectly air conditioned, neat and spacious, it just didn't seem right for the price we paid. Complimented with a swimming pool, we couldn't think of a better option to spend our time until the football game.

San Fernando feels safe, even at night the streets are quiet and mainly empty. Even though it hasn't got much around it, but a square we decided to have regular walks around the area. Here we tried our first bit of Colombian desserts. The cake shop sold slices of cake separately, and they were delicious (a recommendation if you go to Cali).

Definitely we weren't left indifferent by Colombian food. From the minute we arrived we tried the famous breakfast dish "calentao de frijoles" which basically means beans and rice with eggs and fried banana, all thrown in a plate to make new unforgettable flavours.

Cali is the 9th most dangerous city in the world and even though we don't agree with it, we do agree that it is city of salsa, and everything around it is a reminder of it. The character of citizens is happy and carefree, and they are extremely friendly towards foreigners that come to visit, always wanting to know more. So even though, it might not have as much to see as other Colombian cities, it is where we received our first bit of local kindness and great food. So for a relaxing weekend, why not?