My American friends/fam begged me not to go to Colombia.
“Way too dangerous,” they said!
After spending 11 days there with my wife, I can conclusively say they were WRONG.
Myths Versus Reality
It is no longer Pablo Escobar’s Colombia
When Americans think of Colombia, the first image that springs to mind is Pablo Escobar and his meteoric rise to become one of the richest people in the world by supplying most of the cocaine that was consumed by Americans in the 80s and early 90s…which was a lot of cocaine.
But Colombia is not the same country Pablo left behind after he was gunned down on December 12, 1993.
During Escobar’s reign, Colombia was the most dangerous country in the world, and Medellin, the hub of his operation, saw more people murdered every year than any other city (which is what made getting to visit there so fascinating).
Today, the Colombian government and its general population are working really hard to get away from that reputation.
They want the world to know they live inside one of the most gorgeous countries on Earth that has almost every style of climate, from stunning Caribbean beaches to massive mountains to Amazonian jungle. They want people to think about drinking the best cup of coffee of their lives. They want to people to think about dancing the salsa and flower festivals and mind-boggling street food.
So please allow me to dispel this myth.
In our time there, we had not a single scare (other than one of our drivers going much faster than we would’ve preferred, lol). People were so, so kind everywhere we went! We felt treated like royalty.
$1 USD converts to roughly $3800 Colombian pesos
This is why we were treated like royalty.
When we arrived in the country, I withdrew $1,000,000 pesos ($260ish USD), and that got us through five days there. Everything was mega cheap, even when we obviously got charged the gringo price. But everything is negotiable there, especially when you are a hard-assed negotiator like my wife, haha.
It is no exaggeration to say that we spent half of what we would have spent had we simply driven four hours south and spent that time in Gulf Shores or somewhere equivalent.
So for half the price of a standard Alabama vacation, we got 10 flights, three boat rides, and all the taxis we needed. We got to visit the oldest castle fortification in the Americas (built in the 1580s), stroll through shops and taste incredible street food in the Old, Walled City in Cartagena, visit five islands in the Caribbean sea, swim with glow in the dark plankton, taste different kinds of coffee from a legit coffee and banana farm in the rural mountains of Colombia, and much more.
If you want to live extravagantly on a budget, I haven’t found anywhere that gives you a better bang for your buck.
A little Spanish goes a long way
Those of you who have been in my corner of the world for a long time know that I’ve dreamed of Spanish fluency since college.
Unfortunately, I have still yet to realize that dream, but I made a lot of strides with this trip. My Spanish is far from perfect, but I feel comfortable with the basics like ordering food, negotiating prices, and getting directions. That was more than enough.
Even if you aren’t fluent in the least, you can navigate just fine if you learn just those three things.
Americans and Europeans absolutely do get murdered and robbed there
But it’s not why you think.
If you spend any time researching Colombian safety online, you will get scared out of going. But here is the truth: the vast majority of those who get murdered and/or robbed end up that way for one of two reasons.
- They buy and use drugs. I must have been offered cocaine fifty times while we were there. But guess what? I didn’t buy any…and BOOM, I didn’t get murdered or robbed.
- They solicit prostitutes. In the back packing world, there is a designation called “sex-pats,” which is a play on “ex-pats,” which means ex-patriots, AKA people who have left their country to live in a different country. Lots of westerners travel to Colombia to meet beautiful Colombian women (of course, most of those who end up in this situation are men, since we are obviously the dumber sex).
But don’t these rules hold true in America, too? Aren’t your odds of being murdered and robbed drastically increased if you are doing illegal things and interacting with other people who are cool with doing illegal things?
The basic safety rule is this: don’t do dumb things and bad things won’t happen.
Easy peasy.
Okay, let’s move on to the fun part. The highlights.
Highlights
Coffee tour at Finca la Manchuria
If you love coffee like me, this is an unforgettable experience.
We were welcomed with the freshest fruit I’ve ever had in my life, then we were ushered around the entire farm (“finca” en español) and shown the entire process of making that delicious elixir from the seeds being planted all the way to tasting different varieties.
An epic experience.
And they have rooms to rent and pools and games. Those rooms cost $97/night for two people, including breakfast.
Instead of hitting an all-inclusive resort in the Dominican next time, we are going back here.
Street food and shopping in the old, walled city of Cartagena
The walled city is the heart of Cartagena.
It took us a full four days to explore all of the shops and different streets. The city and its walls were built around the year 1600. We got to walk atop those walls and overlook the Caribbean Sea. We bought very cheap and awesome souvenirs. We ate delicious food (like the famous arepas). We told lots and lots of different vendors “no gracias.”
And we told all the freestyle rappers who would rap to you and about you and then expect a generous tip “por favor, NO!”
Sunset on a Rosario island
Not much to say on this one.
We got stuck on a random island beach in the Caribbean and accidentally ended up seeing one of the most breathtaking sunsets of our lives.
Boxing in San Basilio de Palenque
San Basilio de Palenque is the first, free African community in the Americas.
It was established by runaway slaves around the year 1600 and officially recognized by the Spanish a few decades later (after a lot of blood shed). I was surprised to learn that boxing was their primary sport, so we were shown a fully built out boxing gym with multiple heavy bags, weights, lots of mitts and gloves, and two fully rings.
I got to put the gloves on and run some rounds on the focus mitts with the fellas. It was truly delightful to see the surprise on their face when they realize that I knew how to box. After that, they let me do extra rounds and told our translator how shocked they were.
This was without a question my favorite international martial arts experience.
Visiting the first fort built in the Americas- Castillo San Felipe de Barajas
El Castillo San Felipe de Barajas Is the first castle fortification built by Europeans in all of the Americas.
The first version of it was erected in the late 1500s. As a huge history nerd, it was fascinating to get to stand atop some of the guard posts with slits cut into them so arrows could be shot out but not shot in and imagine watching literal pirates of the Caribbean sailing up the coast coming to take everything you own.
And it was surprisingly unnerving to wander through the catacombs underneath and see little 5×5 cells where prisoners would be locked up.
Climbing the iconic rock at Guatapé
It didn’t disappoint. When I got to the top, I was drenched in sweat (Whitley wasn’t, of course) and absolutely stunned to see all of the people making the trek, especially so many that were way overweight who had obviously not practiced walking up stairs very much.
We learned from our taxi driver back to the airport this morning that a lady actually fell into cardiac arrest and died the day prior.
Insane.
Visiting Medellin given my fascination with Escobar
If you know anything about Pablo Escobar, you know he ran the Medellin Cartel (the largest cartel in the world when he was alive).
So the city of Medellin was his hub of operations. And it was so much more beautiful and impressive than I expected. It is dubbed “the city of eternal spring.” It is quite literally built into the sides of mountains and down into the heart of a valley. I never thought I’d look out my hotel window and see a mountainside lit up with thousands of houses and businesses…but we did in Medellin.
I’m sad to say we only budgeted two full days there because I was nervous about safety and had no idea how incredible it would be.
But it was a trip to actually be in what was once truly the heart of darkness.
If you are looking for an incredibly cheap trip you’ll remember for the rest of your life, I highly recommend Colombia.