Colombia

I invite you to vis­it the beau­ti­ful colo­nial town Carta­ge­na and our 50km in 5 days trek through the Colom­bian jun­gle to the Lost City (Ciu­dad Per­di­da). Fol­low me to bird rich cof­fee farms of Min­ca as well as the his­tor­i­cal and artis­tic dis­trict of Medellin — Comu­na 13. I promise, you will be amazed by how Colom­bia is so much nicer than how you might have thought.

Additional and useful information

• One of the best piz­za places for us in South Amer­i­ca was Beer & Laun­dry in Carta­ge­na. The name holds its promise. Not only can you have a beer and the most fan­tas­tic piz­za, but also get your laun­dry done in 2h while enjoy­ing your food. Dri­ven by a mar­ried cou­ple from Medellin which was lit­er­al­ly born for the hos­pi­tal­i­ty busi­ness, you will definet­ly enjoy your time here.
• Casa Vie­jas in Min­ca — what a great hos­tel. Vot­ed to be the sec­ond best hos­tel in whole South Amer­i­ca, you will be reward­ed with am amaz­ing view and pool in the coastal moun­tains. There are no super­mar­kets in the area, so you depend on their restau­rant. For­tu­nate­ly their food is great and rea­son­able! La vic­to­ria cof­fee farm, the old­est of its kind in north­ern Colom­bia, is just a pud­dle jump away and for those of you who demand to stay here more than a cou­ple of days — they‘re always search­ing for vol­un­teers in the hotel as well as in the cof­fee farm.
• One of our high­lights in Colom­bia was the Lost City Trek. In 2,5 days (one way) you are hik­ing through the jun­gle in order to final­ly reach “Ciu­dad Per­di­da”. Agen­cy­wise you don‘t have much choice. There are around six agen­cies in total and prices are fixed and con­trolled by the inde­ge­nious tribe which is inhab­it­ing the area around the site. We have cho­sen Expo­tur, which we felt was real­ly well orga­nized, enabling you to walk your own pace and pro­vid­ing more food and lux­u­ry than you would ever need on such a trip. Hav­ing com­plet­ed the Salka­n­tay Trek to Machu Pic­chu, this one of course was not easy, but definet­ly doable. Depend­ing on the sea­son, the heat and humid­i­ty can be more of a chal­lenge than the dis­tance itself.
• Medellin is such a mod­ern and inno­v­a­tive city. Espe­cial­ly stay­ing in Pobla­do or Mani­la dis­trict is incred­i­bly safe, even at night. The bar scene is amaz­ing with beau­ti­ful­ly designed restau­rants and cafes. Make sure to try out the Piz­za (yes, again) at Cafe Zor­ba of which we couldn‘t get enough of. Also vis­it­ing Comu­na 13, learn­ing about the his­to­ry and art as well as dri­ving with the cable cars and esca­la­tors is an absolute must-see. You might even attend a guid­ed tour like we did here.