Bogota

We arrived in Bogota at about 1:30 in the morning after piecing together a free ride, a por puesto (mini-bus), and a bus from Rio Claro. Once again, we were at altitude accompanied by a constant drizzle...brrr! One more cold stop before heading to the much anticipated Colombian islands of San Andres and Providencia.

First shocking impression aside, Bogota has turned out to be a really enjoyable city. While you don't want to be walking around late at night, during the day it's a bustling center for business, university students, tourists and everyone in between. There's loads to look at given the interesting mix of architecture ranging from ultra-modern to colonial. The free museums and the many cafès, parks, and plazas yielded a wonderful way to spend a couple days.

Yesterday, we made our way around a few of the museums...the Military Museum, Museo del Oro, and the National Police Museum. We found the latter to be the most impressive. It had rooms featuring their anti-narcotic, anti-kidnapping, and anti-guerrilla forces. There was also an entire floor dedicated to the drama of Pablo Escobar, the Medellin drug cartel, the Cali drug cartel and how the police force finally took them down. There was even a ceramic roof tile soaked with Pablo Escobar's blood.

Last night, we took a ride up the teleferico to Cerro de Monserrate, a mountain bordering the city. We were able to catch a clear view of the city's lights and rub elbows with Colombia's high class over a couple drinks at a swanky, pianist accompanied restaurant.

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria "El Doctor"

Rio Claro

On our way from Medellin to Bogota we decided to make a brief stop at El Rufugio Rio Claro. We were hoping to see some of Colombia's coffee zone, but unfortunately it was further south than we had time for this trip. While Rio Claro didn't have much in the way of coffee plantations, the refugio was in a killer location in the middle of the rainforest. To top it all off, our room had a close-up view of the jungle...well, I guess it was more like the jungle came right into our room.

Our first day there, we walked the river trail passing a cave called El Templo del Tiempo (The Temple of Time) and a couple different beaches. We played around a bit floating in the river's currents, but didn't attempt to cross it because there was a streak of umph in this river.

That night, there was a consistent downpour. Beside sleeping to the sound of rain in the rainforest, we were stoked because the second morning we were hoping to do a little river rafting. Get this...$10 US for two hours! When we awoke the river was moving much faster than the day before. While the rapids weren't crazy (probably only a level 2 at most), our driver was. Instead of steering the boat away from low-hanging trees, we would head straight for them. There were at least two times that my helmet came in handy preventing brain damage.

Unfortunately, we weren't aware that the first weekend in May is a national Colombian holiday. The refugio was booked full and our hopes for a second night there were quickly shot down. We hit the road to Bogota, but were pleasantly pleased with our experience in the Colombian jungle.

Medellin

First thing that comes to mind when the city Medellin is mentioned... Pablo Escobar, right? While we did know that Medellin is the second largest city in Colombia, we weren't exactly sure what to expect...maybe guerillas, maybe drug cartels, who knows?

Well, upon arrival it was confirmed that Medellin isn't on any lists of most charming cities in the world...let alone in Colombia. We started our search for a hotel in the city center. Turns out all of the hotels in the area rent rooms by the hour and most of them even have prostitutes in the front doorway ready to do business...gives one stop shop a whole new meaning, eh? Anyhoo, we were able to find a decent, clean, prostitute-free hotel to park our backpacks for a couple days.

I guess the highlights of Medellin would be the Museo Antioquia and it's surrounding plaza (both adorned with tons of Botero works), the metrocable (the city's public transport system includes cable cars), and most importantly its ultra-friendly citizens. Most people we met were pumped that we were giving Colombia and especially Medellin a looksee. I guess I can see where they were coming from because we didn't see any other foreign travelers while in Medellin.