Christmas lights in Medellín

Every year in Medellín the city is decorated with elaborate and creative light displays for Christmas. The lights are mainly along the river and the main Avenida La Playa, but also in the botanical gardens and many of the neighbourhood parks. This year the theme is the ecosystems of Antioquia. Usually the lights are turned on in early December, but I was lucky to see them for a few hours this week as they were illuminated specially for a lighting conference.

Lights along the river

Sierra Nevada and Ciudad Perdida

So far, the six-day trek to visit Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) has been the highlight of my time here. The Lost City is beautifully located up in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada and was the most important site for the indigenous people of the Tayrona region when the Spanish arrived. It is thought to have been founded around 800 AD making it 650 years older than Machu Picchu. The city was abandoned during the wars with the Spanish (who never knew the city existed). Most of the natives were slaughtered in battles or dying from European diseases and the people from the city dispersed. Unfortunately most of the original culture (such as crafting ceramics and gold, and the language) was lost. Some of the descendants of these people have returned to the region and now there are three distinct tribes in the Tayrona, the Kogis, the Arhuacos and the Asarios. The indigenous knew the “Lost” City existed and continued to use it for ceremonies and meetings. It was “discovered” in 1975 by a family of professional grave robbers who looted the city and excavated gold and ceramics. The presence of these treasures on the black market made other grave robbers (and eventually the government) aware that an indigenous city had been found. One of the original thieves became the first guide to the city (firstly for archaeologists, and then tourists) in the late 70’s. Access to the site (for both tourists and the natives) is now strictly controlled by the government. The indigenous have acknowledged the existence of many more “lost” cities in the Sierra Nevada but (understandably) will not reveal the location of them.

Kogi village

Flamingos in La Guajira

La Guajira is the northernmost province of Colombia, bordering Venezuela  Here we visited a small national park, a system of brine water lakes that is a sanctuary for hundreds of types of birds, including flamingos.  

Cartagena de Indias

Cartagena is the second oldest city in Colombia, founded by the Spanish in 1533. It was first a port for exporting gold and silver and then a major slave trading city. After Sir Francis Drake invaded and destroyed a large portion of the city in 1586, the construction of the fortifications (for which Cartagena is now famous) began, and the castle of San Felipe de Barajas was completed during the 17th century. Cartagena achieved independence from the Spanish in 1811, but continued to suffer invasions from the English and North Americans, outbreaks of cholera and famines. Now Cartagena is a popular tourist destination for the well preserved walled city and castle, Colonial houses with colourful balconies and Caribbean beach resorts.

through Córdoba and Sucre...

Leaving Antioquia we travelled through the regions of Córdoba and Sucre on the way to Cartagena, camping on the beaches in Coveñas and searching the artisan villages for hats.  

Arboletes

In the coastal town of Arboletes, we reached the border of Antioquia and Córdoba, wallowed in the mud volcano, relaxed on the beach and made new friends.

Necoclí

I woke to a nice view of the bay, out to the mountains on the other side of the gulf. After a strong breakfast of fresh papaya and bananas, eggs, arepas, and platano and some relaxing in a hammock with my morning coffee, we decided to use our day of relaxing to explore a bit. Our host gave directions and enthusiastic recommendations of beautiful places to see, including the possibility to see monkeys and macaws. 

Cestillal to Necoclí

After ten days in the mountains in peaceful Cestillal, getting well fed and spoiled, we got back on the bike to tackle the coast road to the Caribbean. It is a notoriously poor road, so we left early, expecting a long day of bumpy riding, leaving the cool mountains and descending into the flat hot farmlands of the northern-most part of Antioquia. The optimistic 5 hour estimate to drive the 200 km journey was of course in Colombian hours, which I have not yet found the translation for, something like double it, add an hour then you are still 20 min away...

Coming down the mountains

    

A visit to the village school

We were invited to the small high school in the village to talk about Australia and do some English with the students. All the kids were amazingly enthusiastic and excited to meet someone from so far away and hear about different places.

Photos of the village of Cestillal

Antioquian mountains on the trip to Cestillal

A day in the pueblito

Today was Sunday, the day of rest was surprisingly lively in the village. It is the day that the farmers come to town, and the villagers open the bars and shops selling basic groceries. Ladies bring out stalls into the streets selling hot greasy empanadas, and horses and mules line the streets (often loaded with bags of coffee or corn.

Adventure on horseback

My first real horse riding in ten years turned out to be quite an adventure. The clean mountain air refreshing the lungs and the spectacular views nourishing the soul, while my body was bumped and bruised and scratched for ten hours through jungles and up and down mountains.

Our guide Miro on Marijuano

                        

La comida! - The Food!

The best part of travelling for me is the food, and I want to try as many new things as possible. These days now I'm a stricter vegetarian it is more difficult. If it is not strange enough to be a foreigner, I also refuse to eat meat (and risk offending the kind locals always trying to feed me).

breakfast

Guatape

Our first trip out of the city was to visit the region of Guatape where there is a large lake (a flooded valley for water storage much like Windermere), rivers and waterfalls. And most famously, one large rock (la Piedra Piñol), a granite monolith that you can climb for a view of the lake and mountains.

View from the rock

First impressions

I am starting this blog for my nearest and dearest as my "letters home", as well as a diary for myself, while I'm on my Colombian adventure. I have now been here for a little over two weeks and my first impressions have been overwhelmingly positive. As the Colombian tourism board says "the only risk is wanting to stay"...