January 13-, 2020 Arrive in Cartagena, Colombia
-Cartagena: Stay 2 Days? Explore, get the Yellow Fever vaccine, chill out. It seems like the most touristy city in Colombia (often referred to as the ‘Cancun of Colombia’), meaning its 3-4x as expensive as any other city. Plus the Cancun of Colombia? I feel like I can only tolerate that for two days max, but who knows. Maybe it’ll be magical. Length is adaptable.
*The yellow fever vaccine takes 10 days to give you the okay to go rummaging through jungles and shit. So, I think the best way to go would be to spend those days in the cities that the CDC recommends you don’t need it for (include Cartagena, Cali, Medellin, and Bogota)*
Medellin- Funky city known for being the most dangerous in the world back in the day. Now, much less so. It’s cheap as hell, built into gorgeous mountains, and recently became somewhat of an ‘expat mecca’, according to google. From the way it’s described, it seems like the type of place I’d be down to chill for awhile after seeing how we like it. Lots of volunteer opportunities, plenty of places to stay, and the cheapest city in the country. Plus there’s lots of day trips around it, and easily accessible routes to other cities from it.
*If we stay in Medellin long enough that it exceeds 10 days → Guatape, a few other sick hikes around it
*If it’s under a week and we’re feeling to bop→ Cali - Known for salsa, which, sounds rad in my book for a day or two.
-Salento- Known for good fucking coffee and the coffee farm tours. Plus the town looks hella cute
-San Gil- The ‘Adventure tourism’ city. I mean, like, paragliding, white water rafting, and super intense hikes. Right up my alley.
Bogota - The biggest major city. It’s the NYC of Colombia in a sense. Lots and lots and LOTS of clubs and parties,
Okay from here, we’re realistically 2-3 weeks in minimum. There’s some places that on the way South, we wouldn’t have been able to go to because of the vaccine thing. The big ones are
-Santa Marta, specifically the Lost City Trek (a 4-6 hike through what’s apparently fucking beautiful, which ends with an ancient abandoned city. This is more of an expensive excursion, but as you guys know, this is something a bitch HAS to do. It costs 325$ for any length of the hike, I’d probably do the 6 day, because it includes accommodation, a native guide, food, water, blablahblah everything). Plus Santa Marta is also very beautiful, beachy, and cheap. But it’s also all the way up by Cartagena. Minca is also near Santa Marta which is FUCKING GORGEOUS. And also Tayrona national park is near here, (also beautiful)
We could fly from Bogota to Santa Marta for 25-40$ and then do all that cool stuff.
Also, of course, leaving room for recommendations from locals and other travelers. Everything is flexible. Anything is doable.