Columbia: Soon To Be Discovered

After a short flight north from Panama City we arrived in Cartagena, Columbia. It took some time to clear customs and complete paperwork to bring Amadeus and Ewok into Columbia (we did “lots of paperwork” in Panama before leaving) then we were off to the old city for the next nine days. Cartagena is beautiful and so it was not hard to wait there for the SUV to arrive. During this time Amadeus hung out at the hotel mostly napping. Ewok however was a star around town – she was welcomed everywhere she went – restaurants, taxis. Folks took lots of photos of her!! Our only challenge in Cartegena was the high humidity of the tropical lowlands.

After reading The Lonely Planet section on how to travel safely in Columbia we were ready to venture onto the highways fully informed on how to best cope with all the “perils, dangers and annoyances” of numerous road checks, etc. To our surprise, at our first road check as we headed south, we were greeted by a friendly young man who was curious about us and he wanted to know if everything was o.k. As we traveled throughout Columbia we were pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the police and the military. The beautiful cities, the expansive landscape, the food and the wonderful people equally impressed us. Columbia was a wonderful experience!!!

The following i-movie captures some of the images along our route from Cartagena to Pasto (just south of Cali, near the Ecuadorian border).

Sharon
Quito, Ecuador
October 27, 2009