Have Itch, Will Travel

Most travelers with lots of time and little money travel across Latin America overland, taking long distance buses and chicken buses. But to travel between Colombia to Panama overland is nearly impossible due to the thick jungle in the area and the rebel guerrilla presence there. That leaves two choices; by land and by air. To go by air costs roughly 260USD which sounds a little bit cheaper than sailing, at just under 400USD. But factor the five days involved and the all inclusive package of sailing and consider this. It only takes five nights of accommodation at 12USD/night and a food budget of 16USD/day to make up the difference, nevermind the three day excursion in San Blas and the experience of a sea adventure. The Route From Cartagena, it is a straight two day sail to the San Blas Archipelagio. With a decent constant wind and waves behind us, we did it in an excellent 32 hours, arriving in San Blas at about midnight on the second day. The next two and a half days involved visi...

Jacob and Louise could've made money selling cigarettes. How many times did we hear from him, "Could ya pack me a Belmont, Lou?" while the cigarettes were nearby and Lou someplace else? And how many times did we see Lou dutifully tapping the cigarette with a practised death-look pointed at him, though softened with an edge of amusement? Sure, sometimes they mixed it up a bit. There was a bit of "Lou, could ya pack me a Belmont?" and "Could ya light it for me too?" once in a while. Tap tap tap . I swear they could've sold cigarettes, because after my days spent with them on the sailboat, I would walk past a Belmont ad and those words would resound in my head, and the image of Lou tapping the cigarette would float back in my mind's eye. Not that Lou didn't try her hand at selling things. I refer to her attempts at selling second-hand burritos with whiskey shots on the dodgy streets of Casco Viejo outside our Panama hostel. Maybe she should...

When I arrived in Cartagena in the middle of the night, I met a Chilean guy named Rodrigo who was also planning on doing a sailboat trip across the Darien Gap and to the San Blas Archipelagio. He spoke no English and a heavily accented Spanish, so it was slow going with conversation, but at least he knew which chicken bus to catch into town. I would've otherwise have paid for a cab. The chicken bus was more disco than chicken, with frills and other paraphernalia hanging about, swinging to the doof-doof music from cheap speakers while black lights hummed under the dash and colorful disco lights danced inside the cabin. It's driver was a cheery type, dancing as much as one can while seated behind the wheel, and he seemed more interested in enjoying the drive and the music, honking and waving at his bus driver friends, than picking up new passengers. Though I enjoyed the experience, in retrospect I would've been better off paying for a cab by myself. Rodrigo turned out to be ...

What could be more appealing than a cute colonial city of colorful bouganvilleas, pastel colored houses with wrought iron balconies on cobblestone streets? Than a turquiose Caribbean sea sighing against white coral beaches reflecting the heat of a tropical sun? Than a history of pirate attacks, for which a great fortified wall and cannons between the ramparts were built, and a treacherous manmade reef sunk at the mouth of the bay? Cartagena was everything a beautiful colonial city by the sea that I expected. Along the coast was the modern city and at its shore, a long white beach . It was the kind of beach I thought was nice enough to be packed on weekends, but today it was quiet, with swimmers and sun-worshippers spread sparsely along it. There was no esplanade of restaurants or cafes as I expected there to be, but lunch at a sandy kitchenette was more than satisfactory, if a little expensive. Outside of Cartagena was Volcan de Totumo , one of the most popular tourist sights to visit...

In Santa Marta , I stayed in a hostel called La Brisa Loca which was a really nice looking hostel; big, open, modern, with a decent bar area and a pool. But for such a big place, they really needed more cleaning staff or more attentive administration, because my dorm was never cleaned after the messy boys left. I walked about town and was wowed by the beach scene; hundreds of people cooling off in the gentle blue-green Caribbean, an island in the near distance and a cruise ship docked to the right. The beach itself was small, with waves breaking close to the esplanade , and the sand dark. In a lazy mood, I decided not to do anything during my short stay but people watch. Was it the vibe of the locals, most possessing that vibrant African heritage of love for music and fun, or the fact that Christmas was just around the corner, that lent the evening such an excitable atmosphere? The esplanade was lit up by lights and simply alive with people trying to beat the heat melting their icecr...

A couple of my dorm-mates, Jack from Oz and Linda from the Netherlands, and I enquired at the hostel for directions to the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquira . We were given a handy slip of paper with the necessary instructions. So we took the metrobus to the North Portal bus station where there was a small bus headed to Zipa. We got a bit lost in the little Andean town but eventually found the cathedral... at the top of many many stairs. The scenery around was lovely, of rolling hills and countryside. Linda was particularly excited about the hills! The cathedral was basically sets of crosses representing the Stations in alcoves and tunnels cut into the mountain which used to be a salt mine. With enormous caverns and colored lights backlighting crosses, it was pretty cool to take our own time climbing stairs and wondering what was around the corner. I wanted to explore more of the town of Zipa itself since it looked like a cute colonial town, but it was getting late, and we wanted to arrive b...

"Where are you headed next?" someone asked me. "Colombia," I told them. Travelers can be grouped into two distinct sets; those who tell you not to go because they have never been and they have heard that it is dangerous, and those who have been and encourage you to go because it is awesome. This person was the former. But I had heard from both sides already and was mostly interested in Cartagena, and so decided to only stop by Bogota for a night anyway. I'm not sure why I even made the assumption that I wouldn't enjoy the city, since previous experiences have shown me that "unpleasant" Lima and "dangerous" Quito, both of which I had planned to only stop by for a night or two, ended up being cities that I quite liked. I met up with Sonny who I met in Cali and we went for a walk around, visiting the various plazas where there were lively craft markets and the odd live performances, and then the larger Bolivar Plaza in the middle of the ...

I arrived in Cali, proclaimed "Salsa Capital", at about 2am and took a cab to a hostel that was mentioned in my guide book. It was full, and the lady I awoke at the ungodly hour was nice enough to point me in a direction towards another. Up the hill. I found Iguana Hostel and crashed in a hot stuffy dorm. In the morning, I met a bunch of friendly fellow travelers in the common dining room and decided that despite landing the only room with a window too small to crawl through, I liked the place. It had a little balcony out the back, a tv, internet and best of all, a kitchen and laundry service. I went for a walk exploring the town with Sonny, an archaeologist from Texas, and found that the city wasn't particularly exciting or pretty. It was actually confusing because it didn't have the typical layout of Latin American cities, of plazas and monuments. The whole place was more like a giant suburb where traffic honked incessantly and stalls were set up on every square ce...