I was in Colombia to celebrate my 34th birthday with a friend Clayton and it was as an incredibly fun trip. United Airline tickets were $497 each and we both spent less than $1,000 total for the trip.
Due to a series of unfortunate experiences as a result of the pandemic, this post will not be chronological. I'll start with Cartagena and end with Bogota but I hope you still find helpful information.
Cartagena, a city after my heart!
After a combined 24hrs of traveling and an unproductive time in Bogota, I got to Cartagena expecting the worst but knew my luck had changed as soon as I stepped off the plane. Bogota had been a cold and grey metropolitan city while Cartagena was a warm, windy, slow-paced beach city.
We stayed in the historic Walled City of Cartagena. The Walled City was vibrant with brightly colored colonial buildings, stone archways, cobble stone streets and a good mix of culture and luxury, behind a gray wall that told the story of centuries of wars, piracy and slavery.
Airport taxi rides to the Walled City were a flat-fare of 20,000 Colombian Pesos which was less than 6 USD at the time. We stayed here and to be honest it was one of my favorite Airbnb experiences.
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| Rest area by pool |
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| View from the top |
The building had 4 floors, a pool on the ground floor, an opening in the middle of the building that let you see the pool from the top floor, and a terrace with jacuzzi you could reserve for 2 hours at a time. We had reserved the terrace for 6-8pm one night and 10am-noon the next day. If you have time to reserve it for only one time slot, do it in the morning!
Due to the location of the Airbnb, we could see the steeple of oldest cathedral in Cartagena (Catedral de Santa Catalina de Alejandria) on one side and streets that led up to the Golf of Mexico on the other side of the terrace.
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| My favorite view |
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| A glimpse of the ocean in the distance |
Our host had also recommended a walk around the wall to take in more of the city and it was a fantastic idea. Walking South along the Northwest part of the wall, we could see the ocean and kite surfers. We then get up on Baluarte de la Santa Cruz to see panoramic views of the Walled City in contrast with the glassy view of high rise buildings in Cartagena’s downtown.
At the top of Baluarte de la Santa Cruz, there was a popular restaurant called Cafe Del Mar. It was the perfect location to watch the sunset however, the food and drinks were overpriced and service was poor. We only got appetizers and beer then left, even though we had planned to have dinner there. I only recommend going there for the view.
My favorite meal in Cartagena was at Buena Vida, Marisqueria Caribbean & Rooftop. I had opted out of the rooftop because it was a windy evening and I still regret that decision. However, the music was chill, the interior just quirky enough and my waiter was a total goofball who kept me laughing.
I spoiled myself with a giant glass of Michelada that comes with tajin on the rim and a breaded shrimp (x3) and mango skewer for 24.000. Then had grilled Octopus which came over creamy yucca purée with local farmers cheese and grilled veggies for 59.000 Pesos. Easily one of my top 3 meals, ever!
Our favorite past time was just walking through the narrow streets of the Walled City and admiring flowers hanging from bright buildings, rows of boutique stores, and just people watching.
All the streets were one-way and narrow as they were, we shared them with other pedestrians, motorcyclists, cars, taxis, horses and vendors with wheel barrows.
For breakfast one morning, we stumbled across the delightful little cafe, La Esquina Del Pandebono.
I usually don't have pastries for breakfast but whatever is good for the locals is good for me so we got pastries for about 3.200 each and juice for 4.500. The staff where really friendly and helpful. Besides us, it was only locals there so I highly encourage supporting them.
Another fun thing we did was taking leisurely walk to the beach along the Northeast part of the Wall, instead of a taxi. That part of the Wall had little windows where we found lovers cuddled up in each window in the evenings, watching the sunset and listening to the waves.
Outside the Wall, there was literally just a major street that separated the city from the ocean. However, there were some structures along the shore that made walking on that side of the road worth it.
I couldn't say no to a photo-op either.
We also walked pass some fishermen as they cleaned their nets, played with their dogs and just hung out after what must have been a long morning of work. I didn't take a photo of them out of respect but I swear it was heartwarming just watching them go about their business.
We had planned to swim but he water was REALLY cold and the waves so choppy that we just sat on the beach and people watched. You can rent an umbrella with chairs for a negotiable amount for an unlimited time from vendors on the beach. Those in the water were not allowed to swim past the rocks in the photo below.
Within the Walled City, there was a corner just before the Museum of Inquisition where local artists selling some of their pieces. Mostly acrylic on canvas and really pretty.
The experience that stayed with me in the most in Cartagena was our tour of the Palace of the Inquisition, Cartagena Historical Museum. It cost 22.000pesos to get in and if you didn't read Spanish, you could get an English tour guide... for a tour guide for a negotiable amount.
I respect their efforts at preserving the ugly parts of their history so it is never forgotten and never repeated.
The long and short of it is that Indigenous people, African slaves and Jews were tortured and executed for idolatry, sodomy, blasphemy, sorcery, solicitation, being practicing Jews/Jews passing as Christians by the Catholic Church.
On the top floor, there are photos of old presidents and our guide was eager to tell us that Juan Jose Nieto (former Governor of Cartagena and elected President of Bolivar) was a "mulatto" who created a lot of laws for the freedom and liberties of slaves. However, due to colorism and Xenophobia, he is often depicted as white. Our guide stated very passionately “I’m not sure why they painted him white... he’s mulatto and we are proud of him as he is!”
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| Juan Jose Nieto |
It turns out that African slaves built the wall around the Walled City. Also, it has all been preserved so well that the only major change is that there is currently a road between the wall and the ocean.
Overall, I loved Cartagena and hope to return another time. I would love to see neighborhoods outside the Walled City, like Getsemani, and their business district/downtown looks like. Here are a few more photos.
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Bogota
Bogota was a completely different vibe, mostly because it is a metropolitan city but also because of it's mountainous topography which makes it significantly colder. Going through immigration was a nightmare because of COVID-19 protocols and I spent 2 hours in line. After immigration, I changed some money at the rate of 1USD for 3,260Pesos then bought a Tico sim with 2.5 GB and unlimited local calls for 7 days for 25 USD/ 85,000 (fixed price). We spent a night in Bogota, 2 nights in Cartagena then 2 more nights in Bogota before flying out.
Registered taxi to the Airbnb in the Usaquen neighborhood cost 70,000 Pesos. I’m pretty sure I was up-charged but it was late at night and I didn't want to take unnecessary risks. They took my passport information, documented the driver’s information and gave us both tickets so the safety was worth it. I was told by 2 different locals not to use Uber here because it is not regulated. A regulated alternative is the app Taxis Libres, which is what we used the entire time in Bogota. It lets you pay for your rides with cash to the driver - just be sure to see exactly what the fee is before the ride starts.
My Airbnb was meh so no recommendations. Usaquen is a neighborhood in the northern part of Bogota. It is famous for it's weekly Flea Market (Mercado de Las Pulgas) on Sundays where you can find street food, local hand-crafted goods and mementos as well as street dancers, jugglers, musicians etc who perform for tips. The Airbnb was a 15 minute walk to the flea market so the next morning, I bundled up to sightsee on my way there.
Unfortunately, when I got there, I found out the market was closed for the week due to COVID-19 regulations. There was literally no one in sight and it broke my little heart. I had been so excited about this market that I traveled on a Saturday so my first day of activities would start at the market.
I also couldn’t find anywhere to eat so I took a taxi to Abasto, rumored to be one of the best brunch places with Colombian and general Latin cuisine. However, there was no indoor dining due to COVID-19 so I just grabbed a ride to the airport. I was tired, hungry and disappointed.
I grabbed lunch at Qudres at the airport (I will end up eating at 2 more variations of this restaurant unintentionally). I had sides of patacon solo solito (fried green plantain) 3.600 pesos, chorizo with arepa 11.900 and a small fresh salad 7.400
Our luck in Cartagena came back with us and most of our experience in Bogota was incredibly better when we returned. First off, we used the Taxis Libres app to get a taxi from the airport, instead of registering with the airport to get a taxi and only paid 25,000pesos for the ride home.
We stayed here, on the 24th floor and the studio unit had huge windows around it with beautiful day time and night time views of the city. The Airbnb was in the Chapinero neighborhood which is centrally located, has a mix of fun bars, cafes, street food, fine dining, a large LGBTQIA+ community and still preserves the heart of Colombian culture.
We got our antigen test for the trip back done at Colcan Labs. It was a frustrating experience (for no fault of theirs) because the forms were all in Spanish, no one spoke English and we were almost talked into paying for a PCR test. However, through Google translate, helpful staff and sheer luck, we got it all sorted. ***Antigen tests were 100,000 pesos with results ready in 4-6 hours, while PCR tests were 300,000 pesos with results ready in 24hours. You can return to the lab for a print out if you want a hard copy or if like Clayton, you misspell your email and don't get your PDF result.
Across the street from Colcal, we saw Maipore Panaderia Pasteleria and decided to go there for breakfast, instead of street food as we had planned.
Maipore is a bakery and cafeteria with all of the local breakfast delicacies our hungry bellies could have asked for. There were also no tourists in sight so we we thrilled to have hit a jackpot. The food was also pretty cheap.
I hade #5 on the picture menu which was a combo of chicken tamale wrapped in banana leaf, hot chocolate, 2 croissants and a slice of cheese for 7.500. I also got an arepa 1.600 and ate it all!
Clayton had Huevos de la casa (house eggs) 6.500 which consisted of eggs, corn, plantain, and sausage.
We a long taxi ride to the other part of Bogota and tried to visit the Gold Museum (Museo del Oro). However, we couldn't get in because again, due to COVID-19, we needed to have had a reservation and there was none available for that day. Later that day, we also tried to go to the Botanical Garden but it was closed due to COVID.
Fortunately for us, the Gold Museum is in the La Candelaria neighborhood which is a historic neighborhood and where Plaza Bolivar is also located. The walk to the plaza was only 10 minutes long and flanked with artisans which made it feel even shorter.
Plaza Bolivar (Bolivar Square) is the main square of the city. It actually existed before Columbia was a country and the area was inhabited by the indigenous Muisca (aka Chibcha) people.
On it's 4 sides, the Square currently houses the Palace of Justice, the National Capitol, the Lievano Palace and the Primary Cathedral of Bogota officially known as the Cathedral Basilica Metropolitan & Primate of the Immaculate Conception & Saint Peter of Bogota.
From the Plaza, we walked through some narrow streets, past more artisans and a pair of Llamas.
We continued to faff about, sightsee and stumbled across the La Copperia Gastropub. Clayton had a pint of one of a local IPA for 10.000.
If you are looking for a more westernized experience, Zona T is where you want to visit or stay. It is a neighborhood just a few blocks north of Chapinero. It has a mall, outlet stores, fun night life and an exhaustive number of fun restaurants and bars.
Rebember the airport restaurant I ate at called Qudres? Our Airbnb host and a friend who used to live in Bogota recommended that we go to Qudres D.C at the mall for the best meal of our lives. However, accidentally sat in La Plaza de Qudres (located in the same mall, on the 2nd or 3rd floor) and ordered drinks before we realized we were in the wrong Qudres.
The entrance to Qudres D.C was on the ground floor, in the far right corner of the mall.
The restaurant was pretty dark, with a theme that seemed gaundy, yet funky and exciting. The staff were also really friendly.
To start, we had arepa fiesta - basically, party arepas topped with cheese and served with 3 sides.
For dinner, I had Plato de frijoles (Plate of beans) that came with a platter of ground beef, pork skin (chicharron) so thick there was tender pork on the other end, sausage (chorizo), arepa, fried plantain, rice and avocado 29.800. My (2.5oz of silver Jose Cuervo) margarita somehow cost more than all that food at 33.000. I took 2 photos of my food and they both turned out blurry but I found a random photo from an online review that looks somewhat similar to it.
I did make a video an Instagram video of me having left overs for breakfast the next day so... there's that too
Clayton had Snacocho trifasico- drum stick, beef and pork rib, corn on the cob, vegetable stew, boiled plantain, white rice, chopped avocado and bone broth topped with diced onions and cilantro 46.800. His cocktail was Ladron de frutas (fruit thief) made of 75ml of Monkey Shoulder Whiskey, passion fruit, banana, lemon and peppermint for whopping 49.000! Hey, it was our last day on vacation and we were going big to go home. Also, in the grand scheme of things, 100K pesos = $30.
