COLOMBIA, QUE MARAVILLA!
I'm not sure if it makes me a terrible Colombian but up until this trip, I had never even been to South America, much less Colombia. So, when my mom came up with the brilliant idea of taking a two week trip to Bogota, Cartagena and Medellin, I jumped at the chance. The entire trip was incredible but the white sandy beaches of Barù were the absolute high point. They had these wooden covered tables planted in the shallow water so that you could eat and drink while you bathed in the crystal blue water. Yachts and boats would pull up to anchor and it was an amazing party scene. Niall and I even rented a jet ski for an hour and zipped away around the Carribbean. I celebrated my 25th birthday on white sand, with fresh caught lobster, coconut fried rice, and fresh plantain chips and it was true bliss. I also highly recommend Medellin, the stunning garden city, as the Colombian center of innovation and culture. If you do end up visiting Antioquia, you better get bandeja paisa, as it's famously good in this region.
Next time I visit Colombia, I'd like to do a more adventure based trip, possibly visiting the coffee region, los Caños Cristales, and maybe parts of the Amazon Rainforest, do you have any bucket list Colombian regions to visit I should know about? If so, let me know in the comments!
I captured this trip with my Canon Rebel T5, and the colors were so vivid, it required little to no editing but when I did edit, I simply used VSCO cam.
Recommendations:
Lodging: Airbnb (it'll be the cheapest option, and one of ours even had a rooftop pool!) // Food: Al Agua Patos // Stuff to do: Bogota Graffiti Tours (free!) //
Tips/ Warnings:
- While tourism in Colombia is regarded as largely safe, still be careful and aware of your surroundings. If someone in your party speaks Spanish, all the better.
- Sometimes natives will take advantage of tourists and literally lead you to "tourist traps", for example when we were waiting for the Bogota Graffiti Tour, another man tried to siphon off the group and pretend he was the tour guide. Luckily, the real tour guides arrived and saved the situation but be wary of being ripped off!
- On the bright side, Uber is incredibly cheap here!
- You can't go wrong with street food!
- Lather on the mosquito repellent, this is one of the regions that's experienced Zika.
