WE LOVE COLOMBIA!

We just ended our 3-week South American adventure by spending the last 7 days in Colombia.  We flew from Cusco to Lima, and from Lima had to fly back to Panama City in order to catch our flight to Cartagena, Colombia.  We only had a brief layover in Panama City, just barely enough time to grab a quick bite to eat before our flight to Cartagena.  If felt a little strange to be back in Panama on a layover, knowing that we were not there to stay.  After feeling a little tired and having done some fairly rigorous traveling in Peru the last couple of weeks, it would have been easy for us to skip Colombia and head back home to Boquete, but we plunged forward and headed off to catch our flight to Colombia, and I'm so glad that we did because we LOVED it!

Cartagena de Indias sits on the Caribbean coast and its colonial area (El Centro) lies within the Walled City and is lively, with bright-colored buildings with flowered balconies, several small plazas, an assortment of small quaint hotels, and a plethora of fabulous restaurants, all which give this area a casual and artsy feel.  In our eyes, Cartagena is right up there with Antigua (Guatemala), Granada (Nicaragua), Cusco (Peru) and San Miguel de Allende (Mexico), but in many ways less touristy, and that, along with its cool Caribbean vibe make it even better.  

While in Cartagena, we strolled through the colonial area, visited El Castillo de San Felipe (San Felipe Castle - the largest Spanish fort in the New World), sampled some of the best ceviche we've ever had, and enjoyed taking in some of the Caribbean culture and influence of the area.

We have heard that the islands off Cartagena are beautiful and make a fun visit from the city, but didn't have time to check them out this time around.  After a short 2-night stay in Cartagena we headed to one of Colombia's well-known national parks, Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona.  We stayed for 4 nights at a small Bed & Breakfast a few minutes drive outside of the park and used it as our home base, making a day trip into the park, another day trip to nearby Quebrada Valencia (a beautiful waterfall), and a final day trip to Palomino (another great beach town).  

Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona was stunning with its white-sand beaches and massive boulders jutting out from the sand, all backed by beautiful palms, dense jungle, and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta which is the highest coastal mountain range in the world (up to 19,000 feet)!  The only drawback were the crowds, which unfortunately detracted from the natural beauty of the area.  Regardless, the trip was well worth it, and we feel fortunate to have visited these beautiful areas and to have seen a small part of Colombia's many beautiful and interesting destinations.

We liked Colombia, and visiting this country which was new to us, was a nice way to end our South American adventure.  The people are friendly, travel is easy, the food is great (far better than Panama's), and the culture is vibrant and interesting.  We know that Colombia has so much to offer and realize that we just got a small taste of it, being that we only saw part of its Caribbean coast.  If at all possible, we'd love to check out other areas before returning to California, and it's a huge bonus that Cartagena is just a short 45 minute flight from Panama City, making many Colombian destinations very accessible to us while we're here.  We'll see...

A view of Cartagena

Cartagena's busy streets, colonial charm, and fabulous architecture

El Centro - Cartagena's colonial area within the Walled City.

More bright colors and flowered-covered balconies...

Caribbean influence in Cartagena.  The fruit these women cut up for me was so fresh and delicious!

I'm always amazed to see how these women balance giant bowls of fresh fruit and homemade sweets on their heads as they walk through the city selling their goods.

A fabulous view from the rooftop of our Cartagena bed & breakfast

Another great view of Cartagena

Matt and Monica enjoy shaved ice after visiting El Castillo de San Felipe, one of our favorite sites in Cartagena.  This fortress, constructed during the colonial era, is said to be the most impressive ever built by the Spaniards in any of their colonies.

Castillo de San Felipe

Exploring the underground tunnels that led to the cells was fascinating, if not a little eery...

After spending just 2 nights in Cartagena, we took a 4-hour drive to Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona and stayed at this Bed & Breakfast (Villa Maria) just a few minutes drive outside of the park.  The downstairs restaurant served great food, and we stayed in the "family room" upstairs.

This is the beautiful beach, just a short walk from Villa Maria.

We arrived at Villa Maria in the afternoon and quickly headed to the beach, where Matt enjoyed kicking back in the sand, with the waves crashing in front of him.  Nice way to start out our time in the Tayrona National Park area!

The beach near Villa Maria had a great tropical feel to it, with a few thatched-roofed huts and traditional canoes, all backed by giant palm trees.

In the mornings, I enjoyed walking the long expansive beach near Villa Maria.  Unlike Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona (just a few minutes drive away), this beach was not filled with crowds.  In fact, while we were there, we rarely saw any people at all.

Greg and Matt spotted this gecko on the Villa Maria property.

They also found this big praying mantis (about 7 inches long).

Monica and Matt get a good night's sleep under their mosquito net at Villa Maria and enjoy sleeping in before eating eggs and arepas (a delicious thick Colombian pancake often filled with cheese or meat) for breakfast.

Palm trees were abundant along this part of Colombia's Caribbean coast.  

The walk to Quebrada Valencia, a beautiful waterfall in the area, was half the fun as we wondered through groves of banana and palm trees.

We came across this massive strangler fig along our way to Quebrada Valencia - pretty impressive!

Matt stands below the strangler fig.

Along our way to Quebrada Valencia, women were grilling arepas (cheese-stuffed corn pancakes), plantains, chorizo (sausages) and plantains with melted cheese.  By the end of the day, Matt had stopped at multiple stands and sampled quite a few arepas and chorizo.

Quebrada Valencia is certainly beautiful, but we arrived on a Sunday, and it was quite crowded.   Nonetheless, it was fun to see, and we enjoyed taking a quick swim to cool off and watching the locals jump off the higher rocks into the water below.

During our trip, we sampled some of the best ceviche, served Colombian style with fried corn kernels (cancha) and plantains.

This is one cool lizard!

One of our Colombian highlights was taking an all-day excursion to Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona.  We had the option of hiking through the park or going on horseback, and we decided to do a little of both.  On our way in we decided to go on horseback, and the ride was beautiful as our horses guided us along palm tree-lined paths to Tayrona's stunning beaches.

Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona is filled with these spectacular tall palm trees.  We loved hiking and riding horses along the paths from one beach to another.  

 Playa la Piscina - Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona

 Playa la Piscina - Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona

Kogi indians live up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains that border Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona.  Throughout our stay, we saw several Kogi indians in the area.  One of the managers at Villa Maria was very knowledgeable about the 4 different indigenous groups, and on our last day, was able to give us some great insights into the Kogi history, culture, and traditions.  The Kogi, who are descendants of the Tayrona people, are one of the few tribes that were never subjugated by the Spanish.  Originally, they lived on the coast, but when the Spanish arrived they retreated into the rugged Sierra Nevada and have retained their traditional farming culture and language to the present day.  Many of their villages prohibit the entry of outsiders, and most avoid any Western influence, including learning Spanish and attending schools.  

Matt and Monica at Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona

 Playa Cabo San Juan - Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona

The grainy sand is filled with brilliant specks of "fools gold".

Beautiful views at Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona - clear waters, white-sand beaches, endless palm trees, all backed by the Sierra Nevada mountains.

 Playa Arrecifes - Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona

Playa Arrecifes backed by jungle palms and the Sierra Nevada mountains

On our last day in the area we took one of the colectivos (small public bus) to Palomino, a small beach town with a friendly and laid-back vibe about a 40 minute drive from Villa Maria.  In this picture, Greg, Monica and Matt head to the beach along the dirt road, about a 20 minute walk from the bus stop. 

Passing a yuca plantation on our walk to Playa Palomino

It was fun to spend the day at Playa Palomino and to see another part of this Caribbean coastline.  

Beautiful Flower

After spending the day at Playa Palomino, we decided to take a "moto-taxi" back to the bus stop to catch our ride home - pretty fun!

It's time to leave Colombia and head back to Panama.  I wake up to the incredible view of this sunrise from the top floor of our bungalow at Villa Maria.  This is the perfect ending to a wonderful experience!