Last updated on July 25th, 2015 at 04:31 am
It’s been over a month since we left Colombia and all three of us really miss it. After our longest travel day by bus, right after crossing the border into Ecuador we noticed a difference in the people and the culture.
Ecuador was calmer, more reserved, quieter. We admit there were times in Colombia we felt outside our comfort zones. We felt we needed to be aware of our surroundings more. We took more precautions before we went out to explore whatever city we were in.
The Spanish in Colombia is spoken fast and emphatically, the streets in the cities we stayed were crowded and busy, noisy. Alive.
There is an electric type of energy in Colombia. We felt it every time we stepped out the door or opened a window.
It made us excited and a little anxious every time we went out. It felt like a crush, my heartbeat would quicken and I got a kinda sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I felt such a strong pull at the same time, to go out and see things in Colombia. Moth to a flame kinda thing. Colombia is one hell of a beautiful flame. That kind of electric feeling wasn’t in the next country, Ecuador for us.
So here is the truth about Colombia.The greatness and the challenges, why we miss it as much as we do:
What was great?
The people.
Hands down, the best part about Colombia was the people. The people of Colombia are really the most beautiful, inside and out of all the places we’ve traveled. Their zest for life, friendships and helping out their fellow man, delicious food. And sharing, They live to share all that is loved and revered in their country. These qualities seem to be in every one of them.
They are truly generous people, and let’s not forget their infectious passion for futbol!!!!! We were so lucky to be in Colombia for the world cup. Rob has started to love futbol almost as much as hockey, almost. Colombianos have team spirit and passion like I have never seen or experienced before.
The environmental diversity.
There is such a wide range of climate, elevation, humidity, wildlife and things that grow within Colombia’s borders. There are 5 distinct regions in Colombia and they are like 5 different universes. We had time to visit 2.
- The Caribbean: Stretching from Cartagena to Santa Marta there are swamps, bays with white sandy beaches and coral paradises with islets of mangroves. The highest coastal mountain peak plunges down in a wild jungle crash to meet the surf. This region is hot!! Everything was super hot, the air, the people, the music, the food and the jungle.
- The Pacific: This region also has a wild coastal swathe of a jungle. This humid coast is one of the wettest in the world with 10000 mm of rainfall a year. We didn’t see a lot of rain the month we stayed because of weather due to “El Nino”. In stark contrast to the Caribbean region, this coast also has cooler, drier mountain cities. There are snaking mountain roads that deliver pristine lakes, waterfalls and architectural beauty that we did not expect to find in Colombia.
Colombia has tropical rainforests, snow-capped mountains, sultry Caribbean beaches and desert dry savannas. With such a range in altitude, you don’t need to travel far within Colombia’s borders to experience different climates. We traveled mostly by bus in Colombia and I am so glad we did because we got to experience dramatic climate changes.
In Cali, we took a day trip to the mountains outside the city with our Air BnB hosts. Senor Lopez was so proud of the diversity in Colombia. He watched our expressions as we climbed the first mountain saying to Makai, “just wait, it’s going to get cold”! And it did. The temperature and humidity dropped dramatically just 45 minutes outside sizzling Cali. Another benefit to such a range in temperatures is the stuff that grows. Oh my goodness….
The food.
With such lush fertile landscapes, a variety of deliciousness grows in Colombia. The papaya, mango, pineapple, avocado, bananas, plantains, the list goes on and on, all so plentiful and cheap!! The cultural influences in cooking are as varied as the climates in the country.
In the cities we stayed we had the opportunity to eat regional specialties. influences of Caribbean, Lebanese, Arabic, Mexican and our favorite, typical Colombian food. Our favorite Colombian dishes were sancocho (chicken soup with root vegetables), ajiaco (potato and corn soup with cream and capers), patacones(fried, smashed green plantains), arepas (fried flat bread made from corn) and chicharrones (fried pork rinds). Mmmm mmmm mmm mmmm yum.
We fell in love with Colombia. As madly and passionately as you can about a country. We think about Colombia every day, look for the food and the people in the new countries we visit. Why didn’t we stay in Colombia another 3 months? We only had to cross the border and we could have just come right back to explore the rest.
Here are the challenges we found in Colombia:
- Accommodation is expensive made more so for us because of our painful lack of Spanish. We didn’t have the language to negotiate effectively. Furnished rentals for 1 to 2 months at a time were uncommon as well. We did use Air BnB Sublets to find accommodation that was furnished and in good locations but the cost was at the top end of our budget. We had heard rentals in Ecuador were cheaper and more plentiful than in Colombia.
- Colombian Spanish was tough for us. Colombians speak fast and with a lot of emotion which added a little more excitement every time we went out and not always in a good way. We had learned from our reading and from fellow travelers that Ecuadorians spoke slower, clearer Spanish. There are also a lot of opportunities to take good, less expensive Spanish classes throughout Ecuador.
These 2 things made us decide to move on. We need to slow down and focus on our business and freelance work. Moving around as much as we did in Colombia made this tough. Given that we need to find accommodation cheaper than what we could find in Colombia to preserve our budget until we have a sustainable living coming in.
Slowing down will also afford us more opportunity to take a Spanish class and fit into a community to socialize more with Spanish speakers. Make more friends for us and Mak.
We learned 3 months is not enough time to see all Colombia has to offer. We will go back to Colombia to experience the regions we didn’t check out the first 3 months. In Ecuador we will focus on the business and the language and be better prepared for the interior of Colombia our next visit.
AWESOME!!! Las Lajas Sanctuary Colombia
Love reading your posts – and discovered you thanks to your Colombia posts. (and a nice surprise to also see you are Calgarians!) We’ve been living in Colombia for 3 months — and feel the same, especially the people, it’s pretty phenomenal – their generosity, friendliness and the fact they are so patient and happy when you at least make an effort to speak Spanish. Thanks again, love the reads! Doesn’t matter how long ago you were here, love your views.
Thanks Dorene! I am always so excited to meet fellow Calgarians living their dream. It looks like you and Troy are having an amazing Colombian adventure. We never made it to Medellín but it’s on our list to visit when we return to Colombia. We are still missing Colombia! But, our wanderlust took us to Eastern Europe and we still have a lot of unfinished business to attend to there for now. Your story is inspirational. I’m following your journey. Maybe we will see you on the road.
Nina, thank you for sharing your thoughts. I am in the process of choosing the place where I will move to live abroad…it Is currently btw Columbia, Spain, and Mexico ( 10 months of research and an international conference has determined these choices.) I wanted to live on the water but Cartegena sounds too hot, too touristy, and too pricey. I had reports from Correspondents currently in Medellin and other inland cities, that the c.o.l. Was low in Columbia, like $300-$400 for small apt…not what you found?
Thank you!
Hi Robin, we didn’t visit Medellin or Bogota so I can’t draw from experience in those places. We did spend time in Barranquilla, Cali, Taganga and Popayan and found rentals for two bedroom apartments to be between $600 and $800 USD a month.
I agree on the Spanish speaking there. On my last visit I was so humbled by my lack of Spanish that I enrolled in night classes the minute I was back in the states. Been studying Spanish for 2 years now and can’t wait to see how I fare on my return visit to Colombia in 2015!! Beautiful country though.
Lina your return to Colombia will be amazing! Good for you with 2 years of Spanish classes. No doubt you will fare better this trip.
I’ve never been to Colombia but I hear great things about it. I made a couple Colombian friends in Costa Rica and they are just the sweetest people. I love their Spanish accent! The food looks good too!
Samantha it as such an awesome experience! I feel we just saw the tip of the ice berg though. We will visit Colombia again for sure:)
WOW! You paint such a beautiful picture. I don’t know if I have ever thought about Columbia, but I do now. What a great experience for your family! Life and culture is the best education.
It’s all true Deborah! I am glad you are thinking about Colombia now. It really is an amazing place to visit.
It sounds as if you’ve thought through the process and now have a new game plan for returning to your chosen country – at some point. I always believe every thing happens for a reason, so perhaps it’s good that you’ll have this time to move forward – with a clearer plan and then when you’re supposed to, you’ll return.
So true Patti. Leaving Colombia really gave us perspective. It is definitely the front runner right now. It is really great that all we had read and researched about Colombia was true and in a lot if cases better than we expected. I am so glad we follow so many travel blogs, the key reasons we picked Colombia to visit first were because of bloggers opinions. We will go back but are entertaining a few other exciting ideas so we aren’t sure when.
Columbia is definitely up there on my list. It must have been difficult to leave. Great post and reflections of your time in the country.
Thanks Jess. It was hard to leave. I felt more emotional leaving Colombia than I did selling our house in Canada. Colombia definitely found a place in my heart.
This post has me missing Colombia too, and I’ve never been! I think soon it might be time to leave Asia and get myself to South America!
Silvia it was such a great experience. We had read and heard so many good things about Colombia before we traveled there. It still ended up being better than we we had expected. We love South America, definitely worth leaving Asia to check it out:)
Hey Tracey! Columbia sounds absolutely amazing. It is high on my list of countries to visit in South America and your post solidifies the deal. It’s all about the people and the food for me, and it seems Colombia rates highly on both. Of course, it looks beautiful too. So glad you had such an amazing time in your first country of the trip!
Thanks Sarah. It was so good! All of it. I am glad the experience was so good to, especially for Makai. He was comfortable there, not speaking Spanish and being fawned over by Colombians(because of his blond hair and blue eyes). It was the warmth of the people. They made our time there the best travel experience we have ever had.