Santa Marta-so glad I went

Most folks go to Cartagena and tick off the Colombia Caribbean coast to-do.  Santa Marta often overlooked, to me had a lot of character, grit, and a sense of what Cartagena may have been like before the tourist masses. HOT town (in September anyway) that crackles with life and character. Never been to Havana, Cuba, but I imagine with the old coloured colonial buildings, the malecon and the desultory shuffle of the townsfolks doing there banking, shopping and hustling, it must be like this.

Street vendors, students, coffee vendors,men debating the soccer league for the World Cup elimination, this town has a lot of colour and life. Had no time, but it is also a great hopping point for Tayrona NP just to the east.


The facts
Stayed in historic district at the second unmarked boutique location of the Casa del Farol, where check-in is. Hotel staff then walked us to the Casa del Agua (Calle 18 Cra 4), two doors down on the block next door.  Booked on Booking.com about $100 a night with breakfast served by the lovely Deanna, who took great care of us as did Anthony, the front desk guy.

Bliss awaits! Gorgeously thought through decor, very Ibiza: white walls and lines with shades of khaki. Beautiful wood furniture and large kitchen on the ground entrance floor. Small dipping pool is also in the center. Room was on 2n (top) floor, sharing a siting area outside with the room opposite. It also had an off room terrace, window overlooking interior courtyard and pool, and the shower had a rainfall shower head and the skylight right above it. Roof top terrace (3rd floor) was reason I booked and spent one night there on deck chairs drinking beers with Nathalia and Christian from Santiago. Great night talking until 3am with them.

Casa de farol-check in for Casa de Agua

 Gorgeously comfortable and aesthetic.

Eats/drinks
Made in Spain: Calle 18 @Cra 3 on corner. Right across the street from the Farol, and also owned by the Catalan couple who own the two hotels. GREAT meal in an old colonial home. Ate in the interior courtyard which was less formal than the AC dining room that overlooked the street. Fab fod-langostinas a la jillo, callos, good wine, no room for dessert sadly.
This couple will open a hamburger joint on the Paza e los Novios, and another boutique hotel just off that square too.

Lunch in Taganga-a 'fishing village' 30 minutes by colectivo (COP 1200) from Cra 5 in Santa Marta. Must have been blissfully unspoiled at some point, but now just looks and feel like a backpacker bum hangout. Rumours of drugs and drinking fests, so glad I didn;t book here looking for the sleepy fshing village experience.  Beachside kiosks serving fish dishes abound, most hustle you to eat there. Setteld on Kisok #4, run by women. Good food of the staple fish, coco rice, fish soup and Aguila beers overlooking the beach.

Nice place for a lazy few and a meal, but wouldn't sleep here-Santa Marta offers more of a locals experieenc and vibe.

Side trip to Juan Camilo Pena's farm

Juan Camilo Pena owns More local, Chambo Challenge, Lanka Challenge. He's a business partner and we met for drinks in Bogota. as we talked about passions, the conversation lead to food and farming. His family has a farm outside of Bogota and he invited me to see it the next morning at the sparrows fart as he was planning a quick trip up there anyway to take of some business before he headed back to Canada. I leapt at the chance and spent a very early start (6am) with breakfast at a roadside stop  just across the presidential farm at a place he had been going to for years since the family had the land, el Cevercito. A bakery with fresh hot cheese breads, a Colombian breakfast staple.  Drove about 40 minutes north of Bogota to a town Tocancipa where the farm was tucked away about 3 km away. Met his caretakers Alvaro and his wife (Raquel?).

Very unique and memorable experience.

Villa de Leyva-Blissful village

Tucked a 4 or so hour bus rode from Bogota, this gem of a colonial town was one I was very glad I had on my itinerary. Cobbled streets, tonnes of walking and hiking opportunities.


My weekend was lucky timing of both the independent film festival and the regional kite flying competition.

The facts
Stayed: private adobe cabana in Finca La Mara about 1.5km out of town on Via Colorada. Easy and safe walk on dirt road to center. Booked through Booking.com for COP 161,000 a night (approx $90). Nice grounds, main house was lovely to hang in living room and where breakfast was served. Cabana was lovely cottage w/ alot of colour. They tout themselves as eco, which cheekily 'allows' them to charge a higher price, but really, it was more like a $60-70 a night place. Hot water was sketchy, but truly, Rocio who manages the place was a delight and the fireplace in our cottage was a bonus.

The current owner however is selling the place, which may be bought by a young couple we met who were also staying there when I was. Hope they keep it as a B&B and make the touch ups it needs. I'd stay here again for sure.

Eats/drinks
Loads across the center of won and side streets. Hard to pick.

1. Cafe Chameleon: in a maze of cafes and restaurants on one of the corners of the main Plaza (Casa Quintero complex) Cra 9 @calle 12). Windows overlooked the Plaza, so a great vantage point. Had me some meat, well prepared, generous portions, clean and great service
2. Organic cafe in same Casa Quintero. Name escapes me. Long wait and a little manic, but wrth the wait of good food.
3. La Galleta: AWESOME pastry shop and cafe. Owners must have learned and worked overseas. Cakes and pastries were divine. The carrot cake was wonderful and the Milhojas with a draping of cajeta sauce was TO DIE FOR and not to be missed. Nice toilet too.

Colombia- an all too brief a stint!

Colombia evokes many an image of danger for the traveler. My experience couldn't be further from the truth. An amazing variety of countryside, cities, food, weather, ethnic groups and geographic zones, all sharing the one thread of warm and wonderful people. I will want to go back to keep exploring this magical country.

The facts:

Stayed at the Sofitel Victoria Regia  in the northern end of the city near the Chico and Parque 93 neighborhoods. Great location, couldn't be better to hop in and around the good parks, coffee shops, bars, shopping and restaurants. Very safe.

Carrera 13 @85. Booked in expedia for $193 a night for a 3-night stay special.

Eats and drinks Bogota:

1. Bogota Beer Company on Cra 13 and 85. Good outdoor patio, lively and great selection of beers. There is also one in Parque 93 neiggborhood 10 short blocks away and I spied another in the shopping mall area in the Calle 80 area.
2. Restaurente Di Lucca: next to hotel on Cra 13. Front pati and inside. Great food, good staff and reasonable prices.
3. Chairama: Calle 95 @ Carrera 11A. Peruvian fusion. Modern, clean, great back patio with "living" wall of plants . Good quality and well presented food. Lots of good restaurants on this street. Across from here is an organic restaurant.
4. Cafe Illy: Cra 15 @ Calle 87. Lovely spot on corner to watch morning workers walk to work or jog along park path.
5. Museo Botero: has a nice cafe in the back-courtyard, good coffees and people watching.
6. Cafe OMA. Likened it to a Denny's: relaible, predictable menu items. The one on Calle 93 @Cra 12 has a nice front outdoor area overlooking the park, so great people watching.

Getting around:

Easy once you get a hang of the Carrera and Calle grid system. Carrera's are like avenues with numbers getting larger east to west. Calles are like streets, getting higher as you go north.  Colectivo buses show the coordinates of where they run to, making it easy to just hop on one that heads in your general direction and street coordinates. COP1,500 per person.

Taxis: recommended by everyine I met to just have the hotel or the restaurant you are at to call one for you. Some have the taximetro, others just quote you the fare, so always ask before heading off in one to avoid surprises.

Coroico. Que rico!

We had 6 nights before our flight out of La Paz. Not long enough to merit the cost and time to go to Rurrenabaque in Bolivia's jungle, so we opted to see the Yungas, basing ourselves in Coroico for 3 nights.  Buses left from the Villa Fatima neighborhood and the bus cost $15B per person ($2.15-ish) and 4+ hours of winding, climbing, then partially dropping roads into jungle highlands.

It seemed hard to get any resrvation at even a hostel. The arses at Hostal Sol y Luna had this stupid system of requiring you to go to their La Paz office and pay in cash before granting you a reservation.  I asked if we could just walk-in when we arivd at Coroico, and they said the staff won't know if there is availability!  What if you were traveling from elsewhere in Bolivia and no from La Paz. Retards.


I ended up emailing El Cafetal who didn't take resos either, but at least he said there was space and to rock up when we arrived.$8 per person a night. We got a private room (#7) with a very old, funky and dark danky bathroom, whose shower trickled down hot water heated up by an electric widow-maker. Yeash!  The room was right on the verandah with stunning views of the Yungas mountains and valley, so what lacked in crisp cleanliness, was made up with the view and out of the way location of this hostal, located right next to the hospital.

Room #7 El Cafetal, Coroico

View from our door, Coroico

Weeks could easily be spent in Coroico, and being here for the patron saint festivities of Virgen de la Candelaria was an added plus, as we were treated to street dances and processions and partying by the villagers.  We hung out the Tienda on the plaza where the owners (los Gorditos) would banter with us as we sipped on beers and munched peanuts outside their store watching the world go by.

Looking forward to the German restauant I had read about, I learned from the Gorditos that he had died the week before: a stalwart mainstay of the village for decades sicne arriving from Germany (don;t mention the war!) Gutted, I turned to the gudiebook for plan B and there wasn't much to inspire-lame "Italian' pizza places dotted the square and all else seemed to have bland options, made harder still being with a vegetarian.  I overheard a young Italian guy talk to the Gorditos about their new place off the Plaza that had opened two night before. He was excited and pumped to have the locals try it out and took a pizza order from them.  Piqued, and hungry, we wended one block off the Plaza and had one of the best home made pasta meals ever. Excellent, and not least, the kids were full of vim, vigour and excitement to have you enjoy enjoy their home made pastas and sauces.

We were thrilled, vowing to eat there the next night, only to learn that because it was the holidays, they were heading to La Paz to pick up provisions and would be closed the Tuesday & Wednesday nights. Gutted again and left to muster meals with the places that were open-a choice of two virtually identical Italian' places 4 doors apart on the Plaza on either side of the Tienda. Lame pasta with runny sauce that compelled Mostafa to please 'thank them for the soup". I resorted to eating greasy fried chicken from a kiosk off the Plaza that were set up for the festivities and street dancing. Poor Mostafa had beer for dinner.

Los Gorditos of the tienda on the Plaza

The other German coffee shop was also closed (but we did get one breakfast of lovely morning pastries and coffee there!) so we strolled out of town about 15 minutes to Villa Bonita on Tuesday morning. Gorgeous gardens where they served breakfast, and I learned they also had rooms in the little houses dotting the property.  Learning of the vacancy in one of the cabanas, we stayed there the 3rd and last night.  It was nice too as it was on the opposite side of the outskirts of the village, so nice to get a flavor of that side of the mountains. $65B a night with an outside bathroom (down the spiral stair) including a Swiss influenced breakfast of meusli, eggs, organic home made bread, fresh juice and coffee. Wonderful place.

Villa Bonita, swiss bolivian owned gem in Coroico

La Paz. Not such a peaceful city!

Onwards to La Paz by bus from Copa is easy; loads of buses throughout the day for a few dollars, about 3 hours.  Nice ride as well as it climbs over the mountains, a ferry ride across the straits, and continuing to the higher altitude and density of humanity clinging to the sides of the canyon that is El Alto & La Paz.

We stayed in the Sopocachi neighborhood at La Loge, tucked in a laneway near the Alliance Francaise on Pasaje Medinacelli, off of Avenida 20 de Octubre. Cobbled tree lined streets, quiet, safe and lots of good quality restaurants from Peruvian, to Swiss, French, Argie and German.   La Loge is essentially 3 apartments, with fully stocked kitchen, TV, internet, big bedroom and clean bathroom. After 2+_ weeks of hotels, it was great to feel like we were i our home.  Breakfast was lovely fresh bread left hanging on our door, that we cold prepare with the fruit, juice, butter and jam in the kitchen.  There was the supermarket end of the street too.  $480B (approx $70 a night) a splash for Bolivia, but worth it.

La Comedie restaurant is downstairs. Great menu, well prepared French food.They also own the french cafe next door to the Alliance Francaise. Local cfe was La Terraza on 20 de Octubre and terrific fresh saltenas on 2 de Octubre right at the end of the laneway from La Loge.  Best meal was a Peruvian seafood place also on 20 de Octubre 2 blocks away. We went there twice to enjoy the divine chupe.

Copa Cabana. Finding respite from the traveler hordes

We arrived late afternoon and headed along on foot along the Costanera "road" (i.e. dirt).  A nice intro the place as it we wended away from the backpacker cluster along the stillness of this road overlooking Lago Titicaca, joined by the odd straggler Argie backpacker coming to/from a hostel run by Argentinians about 1.5km out of town.  Our place was the Ecolodge del Lago, about 1 km out of town, set back from the road with cabanas dotted up along the hillside set in lovely gardens. Very private with lovely views of the lake, our cabana was soare and lovely with a great modern bathroom; all run on solar power. 

Breakfasts were the expected combo of bread or toast, with eggs, coffee or tea and juice prepared by the family taking care of the place. We paid $720B for the three nights (approx $103, or $33 a night).  Given the many hostels there, it was likely on the spendy side, but the privacy, cleanliness, quiet and setting made this a bargain in my eyes. I am sure of we were to return, the town will have crept along the costanera, making this place less off-the-beaten path.

Amazing how little it tkes to actually get away from the backpackers who only seem to migrate wherever the LP guidebook tells them to go. In other words, the two block stretch of 6 de Agosto.  Head to the daily market, the church, or even the candle chapel on the side, and there was nary a sign of a tourist.  The weather was overcast and rainy so we passed on taking a ferry to Isla del Sol the whole stay, and opted to loiter around the town, climb up to Cerra Clavario, and relax.

Eating seemed limited if you didn't want to hang out with the tourists.  We got lucky and landed at El Emperador, one of the many kiosks on the costanera that served up lake trout, rice and other handlful of dishes. The owner was Balbina Elias whose mum had ad the same kiosk, and she and her husband served up a good fish and ice cld beers. Because we came back every day, she warmed up to us, sat with us, and shared village gossip, such as the jealousy of the other kiosk owners, and how everyone must serve the same menu so as not to outdo each other with any deviations or innovations. As she sat at a front table cleaning or peeling potatoes, she asked if I like peeling potatoes, hinting toward my taking the task on. Very cheeky. Day meals tended to be avocado and bread from the market, which kept things light and cheap. One dinner was at La Orilla, where the Bolivian owner grew up in the DC area, and wanted to come back to Bolivia, raising his child in a quiet town, so opened up this place. Great sense of service and quality food.