The Land of Gold & Coffee

Following my brother’s recent [first] trip to Colombia, K and I decided that we would make the journey to visit my extended family in September. In a somewhat serendipitous moment, though, we pushed our trip forward in order to join K’s parents and sister for a week-long stay in Cartagena & Bogota.
A quick aside… What started with entries about “a day in the life” of a dental student dentist, has apparently morphed into a travel blog. Not without a brief detour into cooking & baking, though; but alas, here it is – my fourth consecutive travel entry:

16,473 Steps
6.52 Miles

One of the things I was most excited about for our trip, was bringing my new Fitbit HR along for the ride; after all the walking we did in Europe last year, I was curious to see just how much traveling we’d be doing by foot during our South American retreat. Excited but tired (that 3:15AM alarm and a layover in Atlanta were taking their toll), we arrived in Cartagena to a warm, breezy welcome. After a bit of confusion about the address for the condo we had rented for the next few days, we met the house keeper and unloaded our luggage before setting out to explore the Old Town of Cartagena.

Surrounded by a 16th century stone wall to protect it from long dead enemies, the historical El Centro is a charming example of colonial architecture; bursting with churches, plazas, and mansions with their overhanging balconies, it's like stepping back in time. To the sound of drums, we ate arepas con queso under the shade of Plaza de Bolivar before returning to the condo to rest our [already] tired feet. That night, we emerged one more time in search of dinner, and stumbled upon a hidden gem after the first two restaurants we tried were packed full of people. With bellies full of chicken, rice, and fried plantains, there was not much left to do our first night in Cartagena than take a “hot” shower and get some sleep.

18,792 Steps
7.45 Miles
Climbing out of bed around 8AM, I was still the last one awake. Late the previous evening, K's parents and sister had made it to Cartagena while I was sleeping, and I found them perched on our roof top patio sipping coffee and snacking on pan de bono with K. Once dressed, the five of us ventured out into Old Town for some exploring. Upon our return, a friend of my uncle was waiting for us – our resident tour guide ready to show us around the city beyond the fortified wall. Past the Torre del Reloj, we hopped into taxis to Castillo San Felipe and then further to Boca Grande. From there, we walked FOREVER to lunch (unknown to us at the time, being burned to a lovely shade of lobster red), where we feasted on traditional Colombian food like ajiaco and bandeja paisa. In quite the food coma, we returned to the condo, said “adios” to Felipe, and napped. Still full from lunch, we emerged after the sun had set for popsicles paletas for dinner, a nice reprieve from the humidity in the night air.

6,456 Steps
2.56 Miles
Eager to not miss the opportunity for a day trip to the Islas del Rosario, we awoke Monday morning bright and early and headed to the docks. The first people in line, we were also the first to board our canopied speed boat. With the incredibly strong ocean wind, it took us an hour to get to Isla Rosario where K, his dad, and I wandered the outdoor aquarium and K's mom and sister snorkeled. By the time we had all boarded our boat (along with the other 50 people being chauffeured on the Elizabeth) we were starving. Another 45 min later, we finally arrived on the white sands of Isla Baru where we feasted on chicken (or an entire fish for K's parents), salad, patacones, and coconut milk rice. With happy bellies, we enjoyed the ocean breeze on the beach before embarking on the bumpy, windy, and wet journey back to Cartagena. Upon our return to the condo we all took much needed showers and naps before ending then night with dinner and gelato.

17,276 Steps
6.85 Miles
We finally slept in some the fourth day of our trip before the long trek out of El Centro to the Getsemani (another Cartagena neighborhood) for breakfast before heading to Las Bovedas for some shopping. On our journey through the Northwestern part of the city, we stopped by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s house (the famous Nobel laureate); wandering around Cartagena for the past 96 hours, you could see where his inspiration for Love in the Time of Cholera truly came from.
Once back in the central part of Old Town, we found ourselves at The Palace of the Inquisition. The museum had little in English, but was certainly something to do inside with much needed air conditioning. Exhausted from another day of walking in the sun, we returned to the condo for our daily nap before wetting our palates with some pre-dinner cocktails in Plaza Santo Domingo. With our appetites in tow, we headed to dinner for some arepa sandwiches before ending the night with post-dinner drinks on top of the old city wall.

10,589 Steps
4.19 Miles

While we had thoroughly enjoyed our time in Cartagena, we were certainly ready for a change in climate, and the cooler, mountainous Bogota was sounding very appealing half way through our vacation. After a brief hour and a half flight, we found ourselves greeted by the Andes Mountains before being picked up by my family and journeying to another uncle's parish, where we would be staying for the remainder of our time in Colombia. We filled our bellies with some sopa over conversation in broken Spanish/English and quick photos between bites. Once full, we ventured out into Bogota to the botanical garden, where we wandered through native plants and roses. That night, the entire extended family met us for dinner, where we ate crepes and gelato at the Vera Family’s favorite restaurant – Crepes & Waffles, before turning in for the night.

15,282 Steps
6.05 Miles
We met my uncle in his parish apartment for breakfast before leaving for Downtown Bogota. There, we spent the morning wandering Plaza de Bolivar (and then what seemed like all of downtown looking for a restaurant to have lunch) before exploring the collections at Museo del Oro and Museo Botero. We finished our Downtown exploration with a tram ride to the top of Monserrate, where the sun rays pierced the clouds, illuminating all of Bogota through the fog and haze of the city below.

13,388 Steps
5.31 Miles

Following daily breakfast with my uncle, we journeyed to Zipaquira to visit the Catedral de Sal, once proposed for one of the seven wonders of the modern world. Located within the tunnels of a salt mine, we walked past the Stations of the Cross before being greeted by a grandiose cathedral 200 meters below the surface of the Earth. We stopped for lunch on our way back to Bogota where we sampled chicharron, sausage, chicken, beef, morcilla (Colombia’s infamous blood sausage), criolla potatoes, fried yucca, and arepas.

That night we met the entire family for dinner at Andres Carne de Res – a MUST for anyone visiting Bogota. We drank and ate until we could barely move… and then we did move. A lot. Dancing the night away to the sounds of salsa, merengue, and cumbia rhythms.

7,753 Steps
3.07 Miles
Our final day in Colombia would be spent in Sopo at an uncle’s country home. Prior to the drive out, we stopped to see the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Lourdes, a church built in 1875 and recently renovated under the supervision of my uncle while he was serving the congregation as their priest. Known for its German stained glass windows, the Gothic church is a testament to the beauty of architecture and ornate design.

In Sopo, we admired the Colombian country side while eating, chatting, and passing time with family. We sampled native Colombian fruits like curuba, maracuya, granadilla, pitaya, and tomato de arbol. We laughed our way through the day until the sun had set on our last night in my father’s home country.