COSTS: In-country: £1394.38 (£32.50 a day) // Out of country - £695.51 (see breakdown at the end)

DATE: 5th January 2023 - 11 February 2023

CURRENCY: Colombian Peso Col$

DURATION: 38 days

AGE: 21

TOP APPS: Workaway/Currency Converter/Reverso Contexto/Travel Spend

Medellin

Air Copa managed to lose my yoga mat, my makeup and my jewellery on the way from Jamaica; not a great start (also my fault for not securing them securely enough). Regardless, I met some nice American chaps at the airport and we got a taxi through tunnels and sparkling city lights to Medellin. I had booked an Airbnb in a fun party district called El Poblado so, while getting on with a uni assignment 😅, I could wander the streets and soak up the vibes.

After about a week I relocated to a more suburban location to continue with another assignment. Between working I made the most of the city with some wonderful days out. Some of the best moments are mentioned below. . .

Museo de Antioquia - beautiful paintings, music and the sun setting behind the gothic Rafael Uribe Uribe Palace of Culture
Sitting with my journal and a cocktail at Mamasita Medallo
Fab night out with a Peruvian called Pablo dancing to Bad Bunny and ending up at a trance electronic party
Going to a ball pit bar with a Colombian boxer who I met at Masaya Hostel

Getting awesome trenzas (braids) in preparation for carnival in Rio from a nice mum and her lovely daughter in a random house from a sign I’d seen on a lampost
Getting lost in a world of my own whilst wondering around the Cementerio Quial De La America - graves are seemingly in boxes stacked high on top of each other. There is artwork and statues and pain and loss.
Comuna 13 - street dancers, incredible views and cultural renewal (just a shame I met a horrid Italian lad)

Monteria

I stayed in this town in between Medellin and Santa Marta for a few days. My stay was made beyond lovely by Carla, the sweetest AirBnB owner ever 🤍

We had chats with wine on her balcony, we went out for dinner together (patacone burger!), she showed me around the town and told me her dreams of learning English and travelling like me.

Whilst brief I will never forget my time with her and wish you all the best wherever you are! Que dios te bendiga!

Also, here is the equivalent of a Tesco delivery in Colombia. . .

A note of observational excerpts from bus windows:

I love the countryside! Men getting their hair cut on porches, donkeys carrying goods, people selling yummy biscuits on the bus, preparing fish, kids playing, foreign playgrounds, a policeman pissing in a bush, cows standing in the middle of the equivalent motorway, hardware 'stores' hanging from strings between two trees, factories, people, new buildings, girls on the back of bikes holding speakers, faded advertisements, football games, skate-parks between streets, two birds of paradise/parakeets in a tree.

Santa Marta

An adventure which could have been done a little differently, it all starts with some very strong edible (cupcakes) on a 11-hour bus journey. After arriving and chatting with the taxista, crazy lil Cat bought aguardiente (the local firewater). Combine these factors with a rooftop party and you have a recipe for disaster.

I lost my phone and money was taken. The funny thing is when heading back to the store to get a receipt for the new phone I bought, the guy said ‘conozco el chico q tiene tu telefone’, he knew the guy who had my old phone! So trusting this fella with a wad of pesos, he went off and, to my surprise, came back with my old phone!! Therefore the whole saga resulted in a new phone arriving at home claimed on insurance, a new phone in Colombia and my old stolen phone! (Thank God for insurance fraud 😅).

The rest of my days were spent in a calmer hostel by the sea, where I worked on my studies and recovered, enjoying the local graffiti and the view of an international shipping port from my window as I learnt about trade and exchange rates.

Bogota

After catching a flight to the capital, I stayed at the lovely Masaya hostel and, again, studied, enjoyed the architecture, had a few nights out and a lovely reflective moment in a church. Also the food; yuca, morcilla, mais y patacones is tan buenooooooo 💛

Barbara

Located in Santander this typical Colombian town sweltered in the heat. I’d finally made it to the English school ‘Boomerang’ that I probably should have headed straight to when I arrived in Colombia. The week I passed here was wonderful.

I taught an 18-year-old boy English using the lyrics to popular rap songs, sunbathed on the roof and hung out with the friendly school cat. I stayed at the school and it did get pretty lonely in the evening but I was grateful for the wonderful teachers at the school who were curious as to how I’d learnt Spanish and who took me on an incredible day trip of waterfalls, through a parade in a country town, helped me try all types of local meats from the street side and helped me feel like a helpful human again. With that, I arrived back in Medellin and caught my flight to Rio for carnival in Brazil!!

Out-of-country cost breakdown

£ 440.51 Flight
£ 114 Travel Insurance
£ 0 Visa: visitors are allowed to stay within the 90 days without a visa
£ 189 Rough cost of phone and money stolen

Colombia

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