Southern Colombia: Bogota, Salento, Cali and crossing the border to Ecuador

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 games until I had to walk up a hill so I just avoided that and by day 3 I was feeling much better by flooring the water.

People had said to me before ah you could probably skip Bogota and although it doesn’t have the same appeal of Medellin, we really liked it and found there was plenty to do to fill 3 days. We found it was cheaper then cities we had visited in Colombia and you can eat really well out if you chose wisely.

Things to do

1. Breaking borders tour: This walking tour isn’t like any other i had done. It is run by local gang members who have decided to leave a life of drugs and crime behind in favor of tourism. This was one of the best tours I’ve been on whilst traveling. The gang members have all served time in prison or juvenile detention centers for one thing or another and have set up this social project to improve their lives and the lives of others in the community to demonstrate that their are other options for young people when they come out of prison. One of the guides got 14 years in prison for homicide but was let out after 1. I asked him why and he said for being a good boy. Fair enough! The tour is very real and brings you to the slums of Bogota, an area forgotten about by the government which is only a ten minute walk from the main plaza and historical sights. The street art is symbolic of the past of this area and the guides explain the meaning of them and tell you what it was like growing up in the area. The tour costs $35,000 in English as you will need a translator provided or $25,000 in Spanish.

2. Free walking tour: This tour was another great tour which explained the history of Colombia and brought us to some of the main historical sights in Bogota.

3. Free Graffiti walking tour: We did this through the original company, the Bogota Graffiti Tour and had the same guide, Jeff, as the day before. He was excellent and showed us areas we wouldn’t have naturally stumbled upon around the city. The street art have really interesting stories behind them and are very impressive.

4. Hike or take the cable car to Monserrate: This is a hill that dominates Bogota and gives some impressive views of the city. You can walk up and I hear it takes about an hour but is really steep.Or be lazy like me and take the cable car up which costs €6 return. Only go up when the weather is clear, otherwise you will see nothing. At the top of the hill there is a church, a few stalls selling souvenirs, a restaurant and a magnificent view of Bogota.

5. The Gold museum: Bogota is most famous for its gold museum. The museum holds artifacts made from gold and other materials from all of Colombia’s major pre-Hispanic cultures.  It’s $4000 COP ( less than a euro) Tue- Sat and free on Sundays. It’s closed on Mondays. We went on a Sunday and were glad we didn’t pay into it. As much as I can appreciate the history behind these objects, I realised I’m not really into gold unless I’m wearing it.

6. Visit Museo Botero: Even if you’ve never heard of Fernando Botero, you’ll probably recognise his paintings and sculptures of chubby, over sized people and animals. The museum is free and houses some of Latin America’s most important international art collections. Nice to wander around for 40 minutes. What Susie and I took away from this day was that we don’t really like museums but even we could appreciate the art.

Where to stay

La Candelaria is the main tourist/backpacker area with hostels, restaurants and bars and it’s near the main historical areas. We stayed in Masaya Hostel, they are a chain that have sister hostels in San Augustin and in Quito in Ecuador. They have duvets, fluffy pillows, massive lockers, plug sockets beside each bed and privacy curtains. They had me at duvets. Good hostel that organise events each evening.

Where to eat

You can eat fairly cheap in Bogota. Best tip is to look out for the menu of the day. You can get a starter, a main and a juice for under €4.

• SPQR is an Aussie run restaurant in La Candelaria just around the corner from our hostel and has a small menu but does it all extremely well. The first day I got eggs benedict and Susie got french toast. The next day we came back for the menu of the day and got soup, a veggie burrito and a juice for €2.80. No idea how they were making money off that!

We were there from Sun- Tue so it was fairly quiet for going out but we heard on Tuesday’s there is a big night called Gringo Tuesdays in a club in Zona Rosa which sounds like fun. Unfortunately we caught a night bus to the coffee region that night so missed it.

Salento

Getting here from Bogota: There is no direct bus from Bogota to Salento, you either have to go through Armenia or Pereira. Armenia is closer to Salento so we took an overnight bus from Bogota at 10 pm to Armenia. The bus takes 7 hours and we arrived just after 5 am. The buses are actually lovely and recline a lot of the way back. We didn’t even go for the most expensive seats that turn into beds basically. I managed to buy a few sleeping tablets (was offered a box of 30) over the counter so with the help of one of those, I found the bus journey quite pleasant. Like zombies still have knocked out we boarded a bus to Salento from Armenia at 5.30 am and got dropped to the door of our hostel in Salento an hour later. The bus to Armenia cost $48,000 COP and then $3000 to Salento. All in 8 hours on buses and a nights accommodation cost €15.

Salento

This is a cute little colourful town that is famous for its coffee production and where most people stay to access the Cocora Valley.

Things to do:

1. Explore the Cocora Valley on foot or via horse back. This valley is home to the tallest wax palm trees in the world, Colombia’s national tree. The trees can reach up to 60m tall. The most popular hike takes about 5 hours and you can take a detour to Finca La Montana to get a hot chocolate and cheese (not great, like a milky chocolate cheese string). It costs 4000 COP and includes a hot drink. Its worth the extra effort to see the hummingbirds. Jeeps to the Cocora Valley leave every half an hour and cost 8000 COP return. Bring money to pay the 2000 and 3000 COP national park fees along the way.

3. Learn about coffee production on a coffee farm tour. We went to Don Ellis’s farm to sample the local coffee and learn about the production. This is a smaller family run farm. The tour was excellent and including transport there cost 15,000 COP. The tour was an hour long and we got to grind the coffee cherry and beans ourselves. Its a nice walk there or back and takes about an hour. Otherwise the jeeps leave the square frequently to the coffee farms. The last tours start at 4 pm.

3. Walk to the mirador. This isn’t a spectacular view by any standards but gives a good view of the town and surrounding hills below.

4. Play tejo with the locals. This is a traditional Colombian throwing game where the aim of the game is to blow things up. The game consists of throwing a metal ball at a targets that contain gun powder and explode on impact. The targets are set in clay and the first to reach 21 wins.

Where to stay

El Viajero is a chain of hostels in Colombia and we’ve stayed in a few of them along the way and found them good. The hostel in Salento was no exception. Good free breakfast, kitchen, hot showers, bar and decent dorms. Cost about €10 a night.

Where to eat

If you only eat in one place it has to be Brunch. It’s a cafe that serves American and local food in American style portions. They do breakfast, lunch and dinner. Go hungry, portions are HUGE and try the peanut butter chocolate brownie.

From Salento we were heading south to Cali so caught the bus back to Armenia to get a 3 hour bus to Cali. The buses go fairly regularly to Armenia and from there go every hour or 30 mins to Cali.

Cali

Cali is the capital of salsa and previously had a bad rap security wise so was overlooked by travelers but I really liked this city and you could easily busy yourself for a few days wandering around food markets, practicing Spanish and taking salsa classes.

Things to do

1. Take salsa classes. You can’t go to Cali and not learn to salsa. There were free group lessons daily in our hostel, El Viajero. They were such a laugh and all levels welcome. During the class I met a few people who were heading to a salsa cub that night so it’s a great way to meet people.
2. Go out to a salsa bar. If you’re planning a visit to Cali, make sure you get there for the weekend and go out to a salsa club. Cali has great night life and the locals are incredible to watch. In typical Irish fashion, I swayed from side to side holding a beer bottle nodding to the music in the corner, too intimidated by the Colombian’s hips. I would need to dislocate mine to get them to move like that but after a while myself and the group of English lads I was out got involved with our own versions. The club we went to wasMalaMaña.
3. Go on the food tour. This tour was organised through the hostal and cost 35,000 COP. It’s more than I’ve ever paid for a walking tour but it was well worth it. Our guide was brilliant and brought us to the local market to sample all types of fruit and local dishes I’ve never tried or even heard of before. There is so much food on the tour it counted as lunch. It starts at 11 am and finishes around 2 pm.

5. Take the free walking tour around Cali. We didn’t get time to do this tour but I hear it’s a good way to explore Cali and it’s street art.

6. Hike the Cerro de las Tres Cruces. Over looking Cali are three crosses high in the mountains which give spectacular views of the city. It takes about an hour and robberies have been known to happen here along the way so don’t go alone or take any valuables with you.

Leaving Colombia by land

Cali was out last stop in Colombia. We debated heading to the desert and San Augustin but they were just too far out of the way and would have meant a lot of time on buses just for a day or two. There is a direct nightbus that goes from Cali to Ipiales, the border town before the Ecuadorian border. The bus was comfortable and cost 42,000 COP (€10) for 12 hours so we saved on a day and a night’s accommodation. We arrived to the bus station at 6 am and made our way to the church then to tick off our last thing on the Colombia list.

There is an incredible church, Las Lajas Sanctuary, located about a 15 min drive in a collectivo from the bus terminal in Ipiales. Its well worth the detour to see this stunning church built into the cliff face.

From the church you can get a collectivo either back to the bus terminal (2500 COP) and get a shared taxi (5000 COP) to the border or just get a taxi from the church to the border for 20,000 COP. We got the taxi from the church as it worked out well to split between two and only took 10 mins.

At the border we got stamped out of Colombia and walked over the bridge to get stamped into Ecuador. The border crossing in total took about an hour and a half. There were a lot of Venezuelans trying to leave Colombia but they had a separate line for Venezuelans so the process was fairly seemless. We arrived to the border at 8 am. Its recommended to get there early to avoid being stuck in queues for the day.

From Tulcan, the border town on the Ecuadorian side, we got a taxi to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Quito.

From the bus station we hopped on a bus bound for Quito which took 5 hours. Decent buses in Ecuador with wifi and reclining seats. One thing I’ll never understand is the people getting on the bus trying to sell you all sorts. This happens all through Central and South America. I’ve been offered everything from disco balls to woks to baby chickens. That said a non stick wok would have actually come in handy cause I seem to burn the arse out of every pot I put my hand on here. I blame the fact they are not non- stick. It’s a fairly poor business model but nonetheless, we were offered toothbrushes, socks and fruit by the sellers on the bus the minute we got out of the terminal.

We arrived to Quito bus terminal and got a taxi with a gas American lad we met at the border. The terminal is a 30 min drive from the city center in Quito. At about 5pm after a full 24 hours of traveling. Nothing was open on a Sunday evening in Quito so we had a romantic candle lit meal in the hostel and went to bed.

Time and cost breakdown:

• Cali to Ipiales: time- 12 hours, cost- €10.
• Ipiales to the church in collectivo: 0.80 c.
• Border to bus station in Tulcan: €1.50.
• Church to border in taxi: €3.
• Tulcan to Quito on bus: 5 hours, €5.
• Quito bus terminal to hostel: 30 mins, $15 between 3.

So in total we spent 24 hours hostel to hostel and cost €25 in total so definitely a way cheaper option than flying between Colombia and Ecuador and fairly easy.

Hope this was helpful to anyone doing the same route.

Thanks for reading.