When it comes to travelling outside of the USA, I have only really been to other parts of the America’s. Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, The Bahamas, Columbia, and if you’d consider Puerto Rico outside of the states too then there as well. On this page, I just wanted to go over my experiences in each of these places.
As of right now I have a list of places that I’d like to go after I go over my experiences in each place. I can provide a list of where I still would like to travel. Perhaps these are places you’d like to go as well.
I figured why not start with my favorite. I planned this trip only a month before buying the ticket. I had only been out of the country twice before. Once to Mexico for spring break and the other to the Bahamas as a graduation present after college with the family. I had never been able to travel abroad without someone with me. I even had a fear of it. My original plan was to have someone travel with me for about a week before we parted ways and I adventured on my own, but it didn’t end up working out that way.
When I asked everyone I knew if they wanted to go to Colombia, everyone said no. It didn’t matter that the flight was only 5 hours similar to a flight to California. It didn’t matter that the hostel we were staying at was on a river, with daily activities, and it was only $19 per night. Everyone was against it. Though I did have one person tentatively agree before backing out due to another engagement.
As a result, I ended up flying by myself with Avianca to Bogota, Colombia for a layer over less than an hour. I almost missed my transfer because at the time I didn’t quite have the grip on spanish that I do now, and I was confused that in this airport you had to exit the security checkpoint and reenter through the domestic flight side. I had a late flight to Santa Marta where I would arrive at midnight.
During all this time, I hadn’t been able to take a moment to switch out for some local currency to pay a taxi driver to the hotel. My worries at that point were, “Will my phone signal still work?” and “Will my credit cards still work?” Relieved, the answer to both was yes. My phone switched over to Claro which is the local provider. My card also seemed to work fine, though I was concerned about the conversion rate and the fees.
Once I withdrew the money at the ATM, I received the fastest, most jerky taxi right to the hotel. It was crazy how fast this man was driving to the destination. I arrived at the room at about 1 AM and was surprised to see that, unlike in The United States, they had the AC switched off.
The next day I got a taxi ride through an app I found recommended on Reddit and drove about an hour outside of the city to Rio Buritaca, where there is a hostel located about a quarter mile off the road. This place ended up being a 10/10 stay. It was only $19 per night but you received 5 star treatment. A greeting beverage, a wristband for electronically purchasing all of your food, access to so many activities such as the famous Lost City Tour up to the base of Pico Cristobal Colon, a sunrise hike, daily tubing, volunteer work and more. You had the option of two restaurants, a bar, a river side beach to relax and swim in, a volleyball court, and a small cliff to jump off of. Every few nights they would have a dance party, and on the non dance nights they would do trivia.
It took a few hours to get settled in. Meeting people can be a little scary especially when you are in a new country by yourself, but all that changed when I got into the water and spoke up to someone swimming next to me. From there I met more and more people. I even got invited to a “rave” that night.
All of a sudden I would be travelling to an unknown location with a group of Europeans that I had just met, but this was all part of the adventure right? So that night I followed the lead of the group of five or six people that I was with. We all climbed onto individual motos to get out to the main street. The trip was a few short minutes. Next we continued on the moto taxi down the street for another ten minutes. We were directed to get off of that moto and transfer to another that would lead us down a dirt path into the jungle. At this point, I was a bit worried of where these people were actually taking us.
Did we really know these moto taxi drivers? They were just friends of the other drivers. Did I even know these people? I watched as the first of our group hopped onto the back of a moto and disappeared up a hill into the dark, mountainous jungle. I followed shortly thereafter, trusting that these people would take me where they said. There ended up being so much separation between the moto taxis that I could neither see the one in front of us nor the one behind. For the time being it was just me, the driver, and the darkness of the Colombian jungle.
We road for sometime before I became worried. The lights of any civilization disappeared. In front of us, there seemed to be no sign of a rave. I expected to see a light of some sort out there in the jungle, but there was nothing. Even as we reached the crest of a large hill that provided a sight of the land below, I saw nothing. My nerves worsened and prompted me to ask, “Cuantos minutos mas?” to which he replied, “Treinta.”
Thirty more minutes?! But I had already been on this moto for a half hour, meaning we were only halfway to the destination. I had no choice at this point than to either trust this man was taking me to the right place, or jump off now into the darkness and hope I could find my way back to safety. I weighed the pros and cons, and thought that if I was confronted with something totally nefarious then I would take extreme measures. Until then, I would simply wait.
Another half hour passed by and to my relief, we stopped in an area with the guy that had left before me. Shortly thereafter, someone riding behind me arrived. The drivers pointed down the path and directed us to find a raft that would allow us to cross the river. We walked a couple hundred yards together, almost getting lost in the jungle, heading in the wrong direction. It wasn’t until we saw a line pulled taught across the river, that we knew we found the place we had to wait. We waited patiently for a bit before, a man emerged from the shadows of the calmly flowing river. He methodically pulled the line over his head and stood on a small five by five raft made of wood. He floated across the river, slowly.
This was our ride.
He directed us to sit on the raft and not move until we reached the other side. We followed the directions. He climbed back up and began pulling the sting to get us to the other side. We stopped in ankle deep what when he directed us to get off the raft. I slipped when dismounting and cut my foot on a rock. I was sure at the time, but it was a cut that wouldn’t heal for months. The man on the raft told us to walk about 15 minutes into the woods. Again we followed his direction.
We walked for a little and it became entirely quiet, but we stayed on the path. At last, the light returned gradually and was accompanied by sound. We walked toward it as our guide through the night. Finally, we reached the rave. The setting was not what I expected. For some reason I imagined a stage, and a production level high enough for Avicii by the way the others had described it. What I was met with was two tables by a river. One with a DJ booth and the other for drinks. There was a dance floor with rows of people dancing in a trance brought about by an unknown substance.
I looked at the setting and already knew I wouldn’t be able to last all night. It was only 8:00 PM after all and the moto taxis they wouldn’t be picking us up until 8:00 AM. I will admit that I had plenty of fun for the first six hours, though I never indulged in the other substances that kept everyone else awake. With just a few alcoholic beverages in my system, I began to lose energy around two or three in the morning. I hung out by the river, danced to the music, and chatted with new friends from across the world. With nowhere to really rest my head and nap, I tried and failed to get some sleep on the beach near the river.
When the sun came back up and the motos were coming back, I sleepily retraced my route. I walked back through the woods, crossed back over the river on the raft and hopped on a moto for my hour long ride back to the main road. About halfway back through the sleepy haze, the driver and I spotted a small girl, perhaps six or seven years old walking alone. The driver stopped and laughed as he thought it was crazy how far out she was in the middle of nowhere. He offered he a ride back to the main road and she accepted.
Now it was three of us on a 150cc dirt bike, bumping around on the rut filled mountainous road. I was scared the girl was going to fly off as the bike was definitely not made for three. She wrapped her arms around me and I locked her hands to ensure she didn’t move. After another 30 minutes, she hopped off and walked to her house, and I hopped off more transfer back to the hostel. I spent the rest of that morning either asleep or in the river.
I would be there for six days and in that time I would have more adventures. I would ride in rafts down the river, sharing a bottle of Jager with an Englishman who both climbed and jumped from a tree into the river. I would do a sunrise hike where I would see the biggest spiders, listen to the howler monkeys wake up and fill the valley with their song, and hang out with dogs, horses, and a girl shooting a documentary. At the peak of that hike we could see Pico Cristobal Colon, the tallest mountain in Colombia at over 18,000 feet.
I spent a lot of time with a really cool girl I met from Germany. Together we volunteered to do dance lessons with the local children where we were taught steps to La Bachata by Manuel Turizo. I partied at the hostel with friends and came in second at a pub quiz with only six Americans. The winning team was about 20 people from all across Europe. My time at Rio Buritaca was so special and it’s hard to believe how much happened and how many emotions you can experience in less than a week, but when that time came to an end, Medellin was next.
I flew into Medellin not knowing what to expect. The main reason I had come to Colombia was to experience the natural beauty surrounding Tayrona National Park near Rio Buritaca after I saw the Hostel on a Tiktok. I heard a lot about Medellin. Naturally, you grow up hearing the stories about the 90’s there and the Medellin cartel. You hear that the cities in Colombia aren’t safe. But I wasn’t prepared for the beauty.
Medellin sits in a valley entirely surrounded by mountains. These mountains, though they are incredibly tall, are still in a tropical climate zone, so there is still thick jungle at the peaks. The greenery permeates the city, but the city also climbs into the mountains. At night, the outline of the mountains twinkle from the inhabitants living there. As you walk through the city, the plants often line the streets, making you feel like you are truly in an urban jungle. It’s a perfect representation of a balance between nature and modern civilization.
From the first night I felt I had friends. In a split second decision that decided the course of my trip, I had decided against going to the table out front to talk with all of the others staying in the hostel, and instead go upstairs and lay in one of the hammocks. In the next hammock over laid someone else who spoke up and introduced himself. He described that he was from Bogota and he was staying here with a friend because they were meeting up with others going to a music festival called La Solar. His friend came up and joined the conversation. From there, we were clicking so they invited me to dinner with their friends in Provenza.
I had a tour of Guatape scheduled for the next day, but I took the invitation. I met more people from both Medellin and Bogota. The night overall was more low key, but so fun. The next day however was likely one of the best of my life. I had gotten the contact information of the others because they invited me to dinner the next night and to the music festival over the next couple days after that. I woke up in the morning for the tour to Guatape.
From the hostel, we met our guide and loaded into the van. On our trip to breakfast we were blessed with a live performance. He had been standing on the side of the road and we scooped him up, at which point he sang and played guitar for everyone. We then proceeded to the farms outside of the city where we went to someone’s home for a freshly cooked breakfast. After breakfast, the guide let us climb on the roof of the van as we drove along the countryside. We were educated on the area as we went through.
Our second major stop was at a bridge where we would be loaded onto a boat. But before that another guy in the group and I were going to jump off of the bridge into the water. I couldn’t build up the courage to do the backflip he did. I had never jumped from 50 feet. The only way to describe it was that the time from bridge to water was so long that I had enough time to jump, fall, then think to myself, “Oh my gosh, I’m still falling!”
We ate some snacks, got into the boat and cruised around the estuaries that surrounded Guatape. The guide talked about all the celebrities that owned houses on the water. I believe one of them was Maluma. We also got our first look at La Piedra del Peñol, a stone that rises 600 feet above the waterways. The only way to get to the top is by going the 700 steps.
After some drinks in the sun and hanging out with everyone on the boat, we made our way to actually climbing the top of the stone and getting the abilities to see all of the waterways which provide all of the water for the city of Medellin. Personally, I believe this to be one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in my lifetime.
For dinner, we piled back into the van and drove to a farm house. They cooked us fresh food they grew themselves and it felt like the most nutritious meal I have ever had. Everyone we met was so kind the entire time. We ate and talked, before finally arriving at the town of Guatape. The life and vibrancy of the architecture and people was simply beautiful. Every wall was painted unique. Every street looked a little different.
Our guide told us to get some alcohol so we could party on the two hour ride back to the city and that we did. I had my first complete interaction in spanish at the time which I was super proud of. It was just a simple, asking if the establishment was open, and directing the man to which kind of Aguardiente that I wanted for the ride home. The car ride was so much fun. Everyone had gotten pretty close throughout the day, so it was a good group to be together. I didn’t think the day could get any better, but the guys from last night told me to meet me out in Provenza after I was done.
I got my Uber and met them out for a meal, but the night didn’t end with just dinner. They introduced to me to a few more of their friends, a couple that they worked with and another girl was a rapper from the city. After the long day touring around Gautape, we ended the night celebrating a birthday party at La Oculta. One of the girls we were with knew people at the door, so we were able to skip the line, walk through the secret bookcase and go into the club which was electric. We partied all night and looking back, I don’t think I could imagine a more fun filled day.
This wasn’t everything from that trip or Colombia as a whole, just what I’ve had time to write so far. I want to return to South America as much as possible, but right now I also have others on my list where I’d like to go.
