Beauty up high - Minca

After a sad goodbye to my brother and his Sabrina we decided to go and relax a bit up in the hills of the Sierra. It was time to visit the cute mountain village Minca. We heard it must be a nice and quiet little village up the hills and good to go there for a day or two. We don't quite know what it is that is fascinating us about this "one or two days places", but as you may already were guessing, we ended up staying there more than a week. :-) It's a very beautiful place with good healthy food and a lot of hikes to do. The Victoria coffee farm serves an amazing carrot cake and they brew beer there. We did a lot of hiking and reading, and had a couple of beers and burgers at the fantastic Lazy Cat bar. It's a place well worth to visit to clear your mind from the rush of the city.

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

 

 

 

That's the way to do it! - Medellín

Really excited and a bit tired, after another long bus ride during the night (Philippe: still not my favorit way to travel :)) did we arrive in Medellín. Upon arrival in Medellín, it already got clear that this city is going to be different than Bogotá. Sice they have a metro (the only one in Colombia) it's super easy to get around. The bus terminal (not all though) is connected to the metro and it's super easy to get around. And best of all, the weather is great. It's warm but not hot and not too humid. Just what we love. We decided to stay central at El Poblado. Right decicion! Medellín is such a great city! Like all the people in Colombia told us, the people are super friendly and it's full of beautiful bars and amazing restaurants. The zona rosa, the area to go out, is huge and just a blast at night. It's also busy but the people are much more relaxed and due to the metro system, it's way easier to get around. There is another great way of transportation in Medellín.... Cable cars!!! Yeah that's right. To reach the pueblos up the hill they installed cable cars in the city. What an idea! A must do in Medellín. Great views over the city and a good opportunity for a chat with locals. One cable car goes directly to the Arvi National park. A great place to get some distance from the city with chilled hikes. This city has a loooot to offer. Take your time and get around. It's hard to belive that this was one of the most, if not the most dangerous city in the world, only a few years ago. Now that the narcos are "gone" it's a vibrant and charming city. A great change Colombia, a great change Medellín! One of our favorite big cities in the world so far. Till next time!

          

Guatape:

 

    

 

    

Our one day city - Bogotá

Another long bus ride from San Gil brought us to Colombia's capital Bogotá. The story for Bogotá is a short one. For us Bogotá is a one day city. The weather is most of the time crappy and and it's huge! Since you can't walk the distances, you have to take public transport or Uber. The insane traffic does not really make that a pleasant thing to do. It's loud, stinky and busy. Actually a bit like one of Philippe's favorite cities Bangkok, but with no charme. We didn't like Bogoá to much and were happy to go to another big city a bit further south. Medellín!!! We weren't sure about that, since Bogotà made us wanting to get away from big cities. It would come different. :-)

 

     

What a thrill! - San Gil

After some rest after Philippe's amazing birthday party we were ready for some relax time outside big cities. So next stop for us was San Gil near Bucaramanga. We heard it must be a nice place to relax and do extreme sports. Nice combo we thought and went. We immediately liked it and do highly recommend a visit there if you like small mountain villages but also like to have some action. We did some paragliding, river rafting and the highest platform bungee jump in Colombia with 70m! :-) It's really fun place with beautiful nature. We met some nice people from Estonia and Chile and had a great time. Ohh... Not to forget. Since it's in the region of Santander, they have fantastic coffee there. If you ever go, try the Loma Verde organic coffee (you'll find it in a coffee bar up at the cool shopping center.) Delicious!