I had about two weeks left in Colombia when I landed in Bogota so after some deliberation and lots of changing of plans we decided we would skip San Augustin and The Tatacoa Desert due to buses, time spend traveling and the fact we needed to be in Ecuador soon. If you have time though from what I’ve heard and seen both Tatacoa Desert are well worth budgeting time for and are slightly off the beaten track so it will be slightly cheaper and you will get away from hoards of gringos. Bogota We flew into Bogota from Medellin for less than $45 but you can also get night buses here from Medellin. If you’re arriving in to Colombia from an international flight it will probably land here. Bogota is a HUGE city home to more than 8 million people. It is the world’s highest capital and sits at 2640 m so the elevation can be a bit of a shock. I felt floored for the first two days here like I had no energy and as if I had smoked 50 a day for the last 10 years. It was all fun and…
Medellín is the second largest city in Colombia with a population of about 4 million people. It’s located in a deep valley with tall skyward buildings in the centre and tightly packed houses sprawling outwards from the center up the sides of the valley. The city sits at an elevation of 1500m. The city has undergone a massive transformation in recent years and it’s clear why it is such an attractive city for travelers to visit with it’s pleasant temperate climate (although it rained A LOT when we were there), great restaurants and lively bar scene, museums, walking tours and public artwork. Medellín is my favourite city in Colombia by a mile and there is just so much to do here. Getting there and away Medellín is located in the basin of a valley surrounded by mountains and difficult to get to over land, long bumping buses so I suggest flying into it if you’re coming up further north or south. From the Zona Cafetera or Bogota you can easily take a bus. It’s a 10 hour bus from Bogota and a 6 hour bus from he…
Colombia’s northern Caribbean coast is one of the most popular areas for travelers and is dominated by backpackers enjoying all this area has to offer. It’s easy to see why this region is so popular with beautiful beaches, cultural experiences, diverse cities, unique landscapes and great hiking. Three weeks is ample time and will allow you take your time and make more stops along the coast line but I spent two weeks in Northern Colombia and I managed to see the highlights and not feel too rushed. I started my Colombian journey in Sapzurro, a small tranquil coastal town on the Panamanian border. I arrived to Colombia via the San Blas Islands (see my post about the San Blas Islands), so we stopped for lunch on the beach in Sapzurro before heading on to Capurgana for the night. Capurgana is a short 15 minute boat ride from Sapzurro and very similar. These towns have a relaxed Caribbean vibe and jungle backed beaches. They are off the beaten track and there isn’t too much to do there so I wouldn’t recommend visiting them unless you are arriving from the San Blas Islands or…
The San Blas islands are a group of about 365 islands off the Carribean coast of Panama. There are lots of tours doing day trips to the San Blas islands and two main tours organising cruises around the San Blas islands as a method to travel between Colombia and Panama. I chose to go with San Blas Adventures as they transport the guests via a speed boat which means you sleep on the islands and minimise your time on the water and get more island time. I didn’t fancy sleeping on a boat either with people possibly being sea sick beside me. Couldn’t hack the idea of smelling other people’s vomit. No gracias. All you need to know about San Blas Adventures: It’s a 3 night, 4 day trip. It costs $399 (or $379 if you use this discount code: TWOWANDERINGSOLES) You sleep in hammocks for night 1 and 2 and have a bed on night 3. You spend day and night 1 and 2 and day 3 on the islands. Night 3 is spent in a traditional Kuna village. The tour includes all food and accommodation from day 1 to lunch…
Panama is an amazing country with so much to do. It has incredible islands with white beaches and transparent water, cloud forests, jungles and volcanos. It is the only place you can see the sun rise over the Pacific ocean and set over the Caribbean sea. Getting there and away: From Costa Rica: crossing the border at Sixaola in Costa Rica to Panama was very swift and painless. We were coming from Puerto Viejo and heading to Bocas del Toro. Get the bus for 45 mins from Puerto Viejo to Sixaola. Walk from the bus station to what looks like a shop someone’s house to pay the exit fee of $8 and walk to the bridge to get stamped out of Costa Rica. Walk across the bridge and fill out a form in immigration. Walk to the immigration office and get stamped into Panama. All took about 10 mins in total. Getting to Bocas del Toro you will need to take a collectivo to Almirante to take the boat to Bocas main island. They will charge you $10 but try haggle to $7. The boat to Bocas will take 40 mins and cost $10 open return or $6…
Thinking of traveling around central America but not sure how much time and money you need and where to go? Hopefully this post will help you! Central America is relatively small compared to neighbouring North America and South America. You can get around it easy enough on public buses and shuttles and cover alot of countries in a matter of weeks. Its cheap too, not south east Asia cheap but cheap. Guatemala and Nicaragua being the cheapest countries to travel in, maybe that’s why I spent the longest time in both of those countries but they were also my favourite countries too. Time of year to visit The dry season is from Dec to Mar and the high season with dry warm days and cooler than the hotter, wet and humid months from May until October. How long do I need? I spend just over 3 months in total in Central America and felt it was the perfect amount of time to explore the highlights of each country, get off the beaten track slightly and emerse fully in the culture of the countries. Of course I could have spent a lot longer and ideally I would have loved…
There is a reason why this country is known as the “rich coast”. It has everything from surfing, farming, volcanos, cloud forests, adventure activities and national parks home to 6% of the world’s total biodiversity. It is a small country and easily seen by car or public bus. Although the public bus system can seem a bit chaotic as there is no one local company or central station in San Jose. Getting there from Nicaragua? There are lots of shuttles and the public ticobus going from the cities to San Jose or popular destination such as Tamarindo, Monteverde or La Fortuna. We are tight, broke backers so we opted to cross the border at Penas Blancas on the chicken bus and continue to La Fortuna by chicken bus. However the chicken buses in Costa Rica are nothing like the old school buses elsewhere in Central America and you will usually get a seat and I haven’t yet been sat between a breast feeding woman and a man holding a box of baby chickens. From Panama: buses go direct between Panama city and San Jose. If you’re coming from Bocas del Toro…
Nicaragua embraces backpackers with volcanic views, colonial cities, incredible surf beaches, Caribbean seas and cloud forests. Nicaragua straddles both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts giving travellers options of diving in warm turquoise Caribbean waters and wild black sand surfing beaches. This wonderful country in the centre of Central America is boarder by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. It’s a relatively cheap country and it’s very easy to get around with reasonable shuttles or dirt cheap chicken buses. You won’t need to do any ten hour buses to get from one place to the next. Getting there If you come via air you will fly into Managua airport where you will be able to get buses to your next destination. Coming from El Salvador? Hop on a small boat from Potosí. Coming from Honduras or Coasta Rica? You can get local chicken buses or a Tica bus, which is a bus company that run coaches through Central America. We came from D&D brewery in Honduras all the way to San Juan del Sur in one day. We got a taxi to a petrol station to meet the Tica…
The one and only gym I hit up in my ten days in El Salvador was in Santa Ana. It was called Mega Gym. There were a few options of gyms in Santa Ana. Mega Gym was right opposite my hostel, in fact their 6am aerobics class served as a good alarm clock. I have never heard music so loud. Sounded like I was standing outside BCM in Magaluf minus the vomiting and semi naked teenagers. Aside from the music, it was a decent gym by Central American standards. It’s spread over one floor and a few rooms. Part of the gym with the one and only squat rack is outdoors. All the equipment hails from the 70s but is kept clean and fully functioning.They have four ellipticals and four stationary bikes in the cardio section. They had another room with treadmils but they were all out of service at the time. They have a good selection of weighted machines, cables and free weights. The outdoor area is the court yard provides some space to work out with free weights.It’s opening hours are 5am- 9pm Monday to Friday, I’m not sure about…
Surprisingly on this small island there is a gym. I opted for natures gym in La Ceiba and at Lake Yojoa where there was amazing hiking. Bush’s boxing and fitness center is the only gym in Utila and is located over Bush’s supermarket. The gym is basic enough like most of Central America’s. It’s small and all on one level. They had a few treadmills and an elliptical but the treadmills were out of service when I was there. They have a good selection of free weights, two squat racks, boxing bags and machine weights. They price it per hour rather then per day which is strange but I wasn’t kicked out after an hour so I reckon it’s not strict. For an hour it was $4. Opening hours are 7am-9pm Monday to Saturday…