Our 3 weeks in Colombia are at an end, we’ve travelled overland from one end of the country to the other – Ipiales on the Ecuadorian border to Maicao on the Venezuelan Caribbean coast border – and stopped off lots on the way. What they say Colombia is known for terrorist guerrillas, cocaine and for … More Adios Colombia – what they say and what we found
After asking around in Taganga we found a boat to take us 1 hour round the coast to Cabo San Juan de la Guia in the Tayrona National Park. The first couple of people we asked wanted a lot of money 50,000 and 40,000 each but then we met John hanging out on the beach … More Tayrona National Park – paradise in a hammock
We were determined to get a bus out to Cartagena bus terminal even if it was a mission because taking a cab was way too expensive. As it turns out it was pretty easy, we got up really early to get as much of the travelling done as we could before it got too hot, … More Taganga – now we’re in the Caribbean
The night bus to Cartagena took 13 1/2 hours, getting us in at 7:30am. It had the most leg room of any bus we’ve been on and even had a boys and a girls toilet which we thought was bliss (we all know that men struggle to pee in a stationary toilet, never mind on … More Hot in Cartagena
The bus station in San Gil was dead when we arrived but we sussed out that buses passing through tout for business on the main road just below the park. We also found a bus company office opposite who go to Bucaramanga every half hour, so on the morning we came to leave we dragged … More Bucaramanga & Giron – last of the Colombian highlands
We caught a collectivo back to Tunja and had our strangest bus experience yet – we found a tout for San Gil buses who went and found his mate, who made a call and got in a cab with us and took us to meet the bus that was stopped on the outskirts of town. … More Still in the Colombian Highlands – San Gil & Barichara
Leaving Bogota we were up reasonably early and squeezed ourselves onto a micro to the bus terminal. Once again we got straight onto a bus about to depart to Tunja and since no one else had taken them we took the 2 seats up front with the driver, which was quite exciting but also somewhat … More Walking in the Colombian Countryside – Villa de Leyva
On leaving Ibague we got a cab to the bus terminal and discovered that our hotel was only up the road from it, so easily walkable – one of the disadvantages of not having a map of the place. We got straight onto a bus to Bogota that was about to leave and even got … More Beautiful Bogota
We need to keep moving as we’ve still got some distance to cover yet and lots of things we want to see, so to get to Bogota we decided to hop there seeing as many places on the way as we could. First up was a 3 hour bus from Popayan to Cali (Colombia’s third … More Armenia & Ibague – hopping to Bogota
After queuing for what seemed like forever to leave Ecuador we walked over the bridge and were surprised to find only a small queue on the Colombian side (we’re guessing that a lot of Colombians only bother with immigration on the Ecuadorian side). It only took 20 minutes. The guidebook says to be prepared for … More Hola Colombia! Pasto & Popayan
Marie & Emma's Travel Journal 