I can’t believe we almost swerved passed Columbia because we
thought it was still a bit dodgy. Thanks to all of those people we met along
our travels who told us it was a country we really shouldn’t miss, we didn’t
and we are glad!
It’s one thing to read about a country which has experienced
so much turmoil but quite a different thing to hear it from the people
themselves. Despite this, they are some of the most friendly, welcoming and
upbeat people we have met. They know
their history has put many travellers off from coming (quite rightly) but they
are frank and very honest about their past, delighted you have made the journey
to their country and keen to make you feel very welcome.
You are generally greeted with ‘Hola Gringo’ (or Gringa),
not as a derogatory term, but instead as a welcome. Hello foreigner, rather
than its original use when the USA invaded Mexico. As the US soldiers wore
green uniforms, the Mexicans used to shout Gringo = green go home!
It takes a bit of getting used to initially, people will
enquire where you are going, walk you to where you need to be/give you advise
and don’t want anything in return.
Medellin, which is not the prettiest city in terms of
historical architecture, has to be one of my favourites! The neighbourhoods,
even in the barrios, are beautiful. Tree lined streets, little café’s to hang
out in and green spaces. I could definitely live in Medellin for a while (don’t
worry Sandy, Glenn’s not so keen). Who would have thought that a few years back
when it was the murder capital of the world? Paisas have got to be some of the
most generous people we met. Sharing beers with lotto ticket sellers, workmen
etc who couldn’t be earning that much, and them insisting on buying you drinks
and snacks and not wanting anything in return.
We managed to tick off a ‘first’ in Colombia
too….canyoning!. I cant say I’ll be doing it again in a hurry as I think I used
up a few lives jumping from boulder to boulder and Glenn practically carried me
across some of it! But we both really enjoyed the abseiling and jumping off
cliffs. Cant believe I just wrote that!
We also managed to do our first bit of horse riding on this
trip. Watching Glenn’s strategy for dealing with saddle soreness was something
to behold. A sort of Danny Dyer bowl, with a bit of camp mincing thrown in, I
should have videoed it but too busy hanging onto my mare.
We covered a lot in our 3 weeks but theirs is still a lot we
didn’t see. My only advice is to come, don’t be put off, you still have to be a
bit sensible but I can honestly say that I never felt threatened or uncomfortable,
unlike Ecuador.
Tourism has grown from 50,000 in the late 90’s to now well
over 4million, we hope you join the ranks.
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