It's that time again...

jill
Oct 12, 2019
3 min read

So I was watching some travel program...one of those random ones that come on early in the morning on weekends on local TV channels. This guy was wandering the streets of Medellin, Colombia talking about how the city has changed over the past ten years or so. The streets he was walking looked beautiful--so colorful! I had sort of been thinking about going somewhere in South America as my next adventure anyway, so I started paying more attention.

I got a travel book about South America and started trying to figure out where exactly to begin. The thing that makes me feel stupid is that because I've mainly travelled in Europe, I assumed the countries were closer together! WRONG. Even travelling WITHIN a country is time-consuming. So I realized that I needed to pick just one country and do it right...and since I was already curious about Colombia, I had my choice.

As I began to focus my research on Colombia, I learned a lot of fascinating facts. Colombia is the 4th largest country in South America, and is twice as large as Texas or France. They are only one hour behind Atlanta, and it is only about 5 hours to fly to Cartagena (6 to Bogota or Medellin). It is the only country in South America to be bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, the Carribean Sea, and the Pacific Ocean. The Andes mountain chain runs across it (hello, Alive!), as does the Amazon rainforest, and the Equator. It has beaches, mountains, AND rainforests--and that's just geographically speaking.

I decided I wanted to see Cartagena, Bogota, and of course, Medellin. They have really nice bus travel...but the shortest ride would have been around 11 hours. Turns out a flight between cities costs the same (sometimes less), and only takes about an hour, giving you more time in the actual city. It is actually not that expensive to get there from Atlanta either...about the same as flying to LA (sometimes even less).

Cartagena is basically a tourist town--a lot of cruise ships stop here as part of a Carribean cruise. It is also quite hot and humid all year round--sort of like Atlanta. I decided to give Cartagena three days.

Bogota is the capital of Colombia...but it also had the least amount of things I wanted to see. Because it is in the mountains, it can get quite cold...even when it is warm during the day. also, it starts to get a bit more dangerous here, because you are no longer in a touristy spot with lots of folks who speak English, etc...so I'm staying here for only two days.

Just 10-15 years ago, Medellin was considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Back in 1991, it was the murder capital of the world. Today, however, thanks in large part to the death of Pablo Escobar, it is being called one of the most innovative cities in the world. In fact, it is statistically TWICE as safe to visit Medellin than it is to visit New Orleans (where I've been multiple times). Not only that...it is known as the land of eternal spring--it stays at about 72-73 degrees YEAR ROUND. I'm staying here for five full days.

Of course, there is still some dangerous shit in Colombia...the fact that it borders Venezuela isn't helping right now. In these three large cities, there are parts of town you want to avoid, even during the day. But these things are easy to research ahead of time. Google is a magical tool. As always, I'm staying in AirBNBs, so I'll be staying with a local in all three cities, which will also help.

And Colombia is the home of one of my favorite authors, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez. And one of my favorite artists, Fernando Botero. And Atlanta Brave Julio Teheran :-) .

I can't wait.