After two wonderfully peaceful days in Jardin, we made our way to Medellín where our friend Erwin had kindly arranged for us to stay with his friend as we had been concerned about where we would stay during the really religious days of Semana Santa. This turned out to be an amazing surprise indeed. Not only did Carmello pick us up from the bus station he also took us to his favourite area for dinner so that we could catch a glimpse of Medellín’s famous nightlife (a rare thing for us indeed as we are often reverse vampires who melt in the dark). We had no idea that Carmello and Erwin had arranged for Erwin to come across from Bogota to show us around for the time he was off work during Semena Santa. On our first day, we walked into the centre from the apartment in the hills and did a bit of shopping and then slowly climbed the hill back to the apartment knowing that we didn’t really want to explore too much before Erwin arrived. Taking advantage of a free apartment we caught up on some blogging and had an easy day. The next morning Erwin arrived with his friends and almost immediately we were bundled up into the car (lets not forget Bogota is an 8 hour drive which he had done through the night) to head to Guatapé. Guatapé is a man-made lake about 2 hours outside of Medellín (on a good day). We weren’t going on a good day though and due to Semana Santa this trip took us the better part of 3 1/2hrs. After a delicious lunch we made the trek up the 740 steps to the top of El Peñon de Guatapé (15,000 COP/$6.80 AUD/5.10 USD) where you get the most incredible views of the region. Exhausted we decided Dani would brave the Colombian roads and drive back to allow the 3 who had travelled through the night to sleep in the back. The next morning it was decided that we would walk through the centre of Medellín and check out both Botero’s sculpture work and the cable car that takes you up what was once Medellín’s most dangerous suburbs. Botero very much believed in his art being accessible to the public so you do not have to pay to visit his sculptures they are just dotted around a square in the middle of the city and are definitely worth a look! The cable car is part of the metro system so it only costs the price of a metro ticket (4,600 COP/$2.10 AUD/1.60 USD) and is also quite a cool experience. Overall, we had a great time in Medellín, we know there was a lot more to do there that we didn't do but it bring Semana Santa our options became severly limited! After we bid farewell to our friends we took a few extra relaxation days in Medellín before taking the night bus to Cartagena. We had looked at both the bus and plane options because believe it or not in Colombian buses are as expensive as the cheap flights provided by Viva Colombia. We decided in the end to take the bus because this would save us on accommodation but did book a flight to Bogota from Cartagena as this would save us 24 hours on the bus, not either of our ideas of a good time! Knowing that the bus station in Cartagena is actually about an hours bus journey from the old city upon our arrival, we set out in search of the promised bus. It turns out that this is super easy to find as there is a small waiting room outside the station that will let you know when the bus arrives. Hungry and tired we jumped off the bus to a street full of hot and delicious snacks. Stocking up we set off into the heat (and boy was it hot!) The first place we found for a reasonable price was on the main street of Getsemani (this is a suburb about 10 minutes away from the walled city which is slightly more run down but still pretty and much cheaper) called Hotel Cartegena Real Inn. This place was ok but the showers were aweful and the room was hot as well as noisy. We decided it would do for the night and that we would search for somewhere better for the rest of our time there. Now, Cartagena has great name worldwide for it's beautiful architecture. This is somewhat true and it really is colourful and very pretty but we did find that it lacked some of the charm of other places we had visited in Colombia. It sort of had that ruined by tourists vibe. There were some amazing experiences we had there like our fantastic walking tour with Edgar who showed us a true passion for Colombia and the need to share the changes it has undergone with people around the world. On said walking tour, we met a really nice couple and shared travel stories over a drink that evening. Having found (what turned out to be a brothel, haha Riv strikes again) a slightly better guesthouse we moved around the corner the next day and set about finding what we had been looking for over half the continent. A cooking class! We signed up for Duran Duran’s cooking class (for more about the cooking class check out our Foodie Friday post about cooking classes around the world) and made a special request to learn how to make Colombian street food. Duran Duran could not have been more helpful in accommodating our special request and on the morning of the cooking class he picked us up from the guesthouse. Already in the car were another lovely gay couple from the States. We got on really well with the guys and we had a wonderful day cooking, drinking and eating. We ended up meeting them for a drink the next evening and had a wonderful time watching the sunset and meeting some of their friends at a roof top bar that overlooks the clock tower. Having spent a glorious few days in Cartagena it was time to head to our last stop in South America...Bogotá (Our flight to Bogotá was leaving early in the morning so we grabbed a cab to the airport and checked in. It turned out we could have slept a little longer that morning because all flights to Bogota were delayed (this had been a constant problem since we arrived in the Americas). We sent a quick message to our friend Erwin to say we were going to be late and eventually boarded the plane. Erwin met us at the airport and took us back to his apartment. We were so fortunate having Erwin to welcome us to Bogota and we had an amazing time just hanging out with him and his friends. We had one day where Erwin was going to be working so we decided this was when we would do the Bogota walking tour. This turned out to be a great decision because our guide Laura was absolutely fantastic and would go down as one of the best walking tours we had ever done. True to form on all Colombian walking tours she was more interested in showing us how Colombia had developed and how its reputation is no longer deserved than the money she earned from the tour. If you were only going to do one walking tour in Colombia this one would have to be it. We left with a new love for Colombia’s capital city and still very much in love with the country. On the day Erwin was not working he took us to the Salt Cathedral (50,000 COP/$21.17 AUD/16.74 USD) in a town about an hour away from Bogotá. It’s in an active salt mine and has the most incredible acoustics that on a Sunday can be truly appreciated when the choir is singing for Sunday services. If you have had the fortune of visiting the salt mines in Poland this is very different and is a modern church but still worth the visit. It was with heavy hearts that we bid farewell to Erwin and Colombia early the next morning. We were flying back to the UK to do some travelling around Europe before the summer wedding season that will see us attending 3 sets of friends weddings but, Colombia, we are not done with you! We have left a piece of our hearts with you forever and that crush has turned in to a full on love affair. It’s not goodbye it is see you soon. Budget Time $$$Budgeting in Colombia was an interesting task. While it was by no means the most expensive of our South American destinations, it certainly did not fit into the cheap category either. What made it different from almost every other country we had visited before was the fact that there was not one particular part of travelling around that was significantly more expensive or cheaper than another. What I mean by this is that often you find if transport around a country is a major expense then accommodation or food or entertainment is really cheap, so over the course of a couple of weeks it balances out. In Colombia, I noticed that everything is pretty middle of the road. Nothing feels like it is extortionately pricey but nothing is surprisingly cheap either. It is pretty much a country of value for money. In some ways during our trip we were incredibly lucky because having Erwin meant we escaped the possibility of unfeasibly high accommodation costs during a public holiday and the expense of transport to some of Colombia's highlight tourist spots!! Over the course of our three week stay in Colombia we managed to just squeeze in under our $70AUD/day budget which did include an internal flight, a cooking course and a chocolate making course but we would absolutely not have been able to have done this had it not been for the seven nights of free accommodation arranged for us by Erwin. Overall, it seems fair to say that Colombia is not a cheap destination in South America but it is also not an expensive one and if there was one country in the whole of the region that we visited that I would have been more than happy to blow the budget in then this would be it! From a savvy budgeter’s point of view a few things to really bare in mind are that: 1) Unlike most other countries internal flights are often as cheap if not cheaper than buses and given the size of the country and much more preferable alternative 2) Widespread international tourism is still a relatively new thing in Colombia so if you are willing to look and willing to ask you can often find yourself a good deal - they are very lovely and accommodating people, but don't take them for a ride! 3) Colombian produce is Colombia is often more expensive than it is outside of the country as the majority of it is exported, so if you are looking for authentic Colombian gifts for you or your family it might actually be more worth while to seek out locally made handicrafts than your expected coffee and chocolate idea! Budget Breakdown in AUD: Transport: $402.81 Entertainment: $327.10 Food: $251.29 Accomodation: $224.07 Souvenirs: $138.21 Drinks: $76.90 Miscellaneous: $20.56 Total: $1440.94 This is a daily budget of $32.75 per person per day. LGBT: Colombia is a very religious country however they take a very liberal view of their religious beliefs. We were welcomed everywhere we went and the gay men we met had nothing negative to say about being gay in Colombia. Our marriage was valid in Colombia and gay couples have the right to adopt here. Colombians are warm, accepting and open minded for the most part. As for trans rights there is legal recognition of changing your gender identity on legal paperwork and there is no need for psychiatric or physical examination to do so. There is also protection from discrimination and all LGBT people are allowed to join the military.
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