It was time to leave Colombia and South America. While we were quite sad about this fact we were also very excited about the way we would travel to Panama – on a sailing boat! Right off the Panamanian coast lies the turquoise tropical archipelago of San Blas. This paradise consists of 350 islands with white sand, palm trees, and nothing else. more „Sailing from Colombia to Panama“
We immediately fell in love with the romantic charme of Cartagena´s colourful colonial center. Sadly, there have been some bad experiences which impacted our time here negatively. more „Cartagena and Colombia´s Caribbean Coast“
4 days in the Colombian jungle. 4 days of mud, sweat, humidity, rain, river crossings and many mosquitos. 46 kilometer of up and downhill walking. Getting to Ciudad Perdida – the Lost City in the Sierra Nevada isn´t easy, but that´s why it is still magical. It was worth every step. more „Searching the jungle for a lost city“
At some point we had to leave our coffee farm paradise and moved on to Medellin. The former capital of drugs and crime is now the place to go among travellers and we were curious. The city we encountered was totally different from what we had expected. more „Medellin“
After Salento and the Cocora Valley we continued our journey through the eje cafetero to Santa Rosa and its termal baths as well as Hacienda Venecia, an actual working coffee farm. more „A journey through Colombia´s coffee region (Part II)“
Colombia´s largest area of coffee production is called the Eje Cafetero or Triángulo del Café. It is located about 200 km west of Bogotá, right between Cali and Medellin. It includes three departments of Colombia: Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío with their capitals Manizales, Pereira and Armenia. The region is supposed to have one of the most beautiful landscapes in the country. We travelled through the region for one week. more „A journey through Colombia´s coffee region (Part I)“
Nobody we met on our way to Colombia really liked its capital. So our expectations were really low when we got here. Surprisingly we liked it. But we have to admit we didn´t spend the time here that a city this size deserves. We only spent two days and didn´t leave the historic and touristic center Candelaria. more „Street art and good food in Bogota“
4.000 to 5.000 years ago two indigenous cultures lived in the river valleys of Rio Magdalena and the Cauca. The rivers were their highways and the headwaters of both rivers lie near San Agustin. It was here that these cultures met for trade and to bury their dead. Today there are more than 500 statues in the region, mainly linked to tombs. There are several archaeological sites to visit. Apart from that, the area around San Agustin is full of coffee and fruit plantations as well as beautiful scenery. more „The ancient statues of San Agustin“
While travelling through South America, we met many people that are more or less doing the same thing as we are. Everyone travels either from the south to the north or vice versa. We rarely meet people that just travel one country for three weeks. And absolutely everyone told us how amazing Colombia was. So even though we hadn´t seen enough of Ecuador yet, we had to move on to have enough time for Colombia. more „On the way to Colombia“