Colombia : Feb 16 - Mar 4th (~16 days)

***sorry I realize this summary is quite dry.. i was mainly trying to get down the details of information/cost***

Here are pictures to make it more interesting :)

Costs: (1 Colombian peso = 0.0006 US dollars)
Roundtrip flight
International COPA/Aero Republica $576
Domestic LAN $168 + $15 foreign transaction fee
Cash Withdrawals $900
Lodging
Baranquilla - Hotel Fontamar ~$211/night x 3 total.
Parque Tayrona - 95mil COP total
Cartegena - 20mil COP/each x 3 nights
Bogota - 20mil COP/each x 3 nights
Meals were approximately $2.50/breakfast, $5/lunch, $15/dinner (including drinks at a nice place)
Pet sitting $20 x 2 +$10 tip = $50

February 16th -
Took a taxi ($8? don’t remember) to Union Station where we grabbed the Flyaway bus ($7) to the airport.
Bogota (2 nights) - Stayed at Ambar’s house. Went into town a bit, drank at a little bodega (forgot what they call these places, sombregitas or something?). They have a great system at the airport where you check in to the bus office and get the quote of the taxi fare. They give you a ticket and receipt, so be sure to keep the receipt so that if something should happen you’ve got record. We had a few crazy taxi incidences in Bogota and Baranquilla... Liz was ripped off on the way to Ambar’s house. The taxi driver kept aggressively arguing that there were airport taxes and ultimately overcharged her about $15 (i know, not much, but it’s quite a bit there). Another evening in Bogota, the taxi driver kept driving fast and was not listening to our requests to slow down. He pulled up next to another taxi driver and exchanged looks. Ambar promptly called her boyfriend providing a plate number and were were dropped off at the apartment with no events. While in Baranquilla, despite the taxi driver probably being aware that all businesses were shut down that week, he still took our money and dropped us off at the closed museum. We then asked for the nearest grocery store and he then quoted us a cost that seemed outrageous. He pointed us in one direction and said we could walk, but it would be far. We then hailed down another cab and he quoted us about the same amount, so we took his offer. He drove us 2 blocks the opposite way of where the other driver had directed us. We chewed him out for ripping us off and did not pay him.

February 18th -
Baranquilla (3 nights) - Flight to Cartegena, right outside the airport in the street behind the buses, found a minivan (almost a puerto-a-puerto) for 25mil (thousand) COP to Baranquilla. They quoted us one price, but we bargained to the (local)/correct price. I would recommend reserving with Marsol ahead of time.
We were dropped off near the bus stations and took a cab (10mil) to our hotel (which our bus driver had to ask numerous times where it was). We stayed in Baranquilla for Carnaval, which we actually missed most of due to being directed by our hotel to the wrong side of it, which was less interesting and on the tail end of it. Though we discovered on the last night where it was going on and walked around a bit. The hotel was not so great (refer to Trip Advisor review: Hotel Fontamar). Strangely, they spelled my name Liseth Raad despite it being spelled correctly on the reservation I made through easytobook. I would recommend going with a list of hostels and trying each one if you’re concerned about getting a hotel during Carnaval. Try El Prado area.
I stocked up on granadillas and plantain chips the whole trip :)

February 21st -
Parque Tayrona - We took a semi-puerta-a-puerta minivan to Santa Marta. Again I’d recommend making reservations with Marsol ahead of time. We went with some company that the Hotel reserved, which was fine (Coche Express) which cost 30mil COP. They kept trying to sell us on their private car which was 150mil COP total. The minivan was comfortable and sufficient. From Santa Marta, we were dropped off by the buses where we took a Micro (5mil) to Parque Tayrona. Parque Tayrona had an entrance fee 35mil COP. They confiscate plastic bags and alcohol/glass bottles, but they didn’t search us very much (though we heard from others that they had confiscated alcohol from them). From there you can either walk about a mile or so or take a van for 2mil COP to the entrance of the beach (I recommend the van because it’s yet another hour long hike to the first beach).
Arrecifes (10mil/night) - We stayed at this place for 1 night to break up the hike to Cabo San Juan. Supposedly this is the more posh of the closer ones; on the opposite side of where Don Julios (?) was... interestingly on our walk back we discovered there were many other places where you can camp. They had mosquito nets over their hammocks (bug repellant is helpful). The main guy who seemed to own or manage the place was a bit shadey and kept eating our snacks and trying to correct our posture (weird?!?). You can’t swim here due to the strong rip tides. Though it’s a nice beach to relax and spend one night. The fish dinner was 20mil (chicken/beef were 15mil if i remember right).
Cabo San Juan (20mil/night hammock; 25mil/ea/tent) - We stopped by La Piscina on the way to Cabo SJ. It’s the calmest of the beaches we visited. On the first night at Cabo, we stayed in a tent, since there werent’ any hammocks left. We stayed in hammocks the rest of the nights. There were shower facilities, a restaurant, bathrooms, a small store, and a storage/locker room. Lots of roosters running around. A stable with horses and donkeys. The dinner ranged from 15mil - 25mil (spaghetti vs. chicken/beef vs fish...). For lunch there were venders who walked around with their Styrofoam coolers selling patacones, empanadas, etc (arond 3mil COP)... one lady was selling banana bread everyday that was amazing... she also had chocolate bread, pineapple, and carrot (4mil)...
Here we played hours of telefunkin and shithead, layed out in the sun and swam all day with some hiking in between. The water was just a bit warmer than the ocean in Los Angeles... so chilly, but you get used to it. Goggles are a plus. Hung out with a couple of interesting siblings who were born in Colombia, adopted and raised by German parents in Spain.

Feb 26th
Cartagena (3 nights) - On our hike back out from Cabo San Juan, we went the 2 hours back to the entrance, so we opted for the donkey option. We paid 33mil to have they transport our large packs to the entrance (this was well worth it!). There were other options available (which we did not do) to leave by boat (2pm & 4pm) directly from one of the beaches for 40mil which would drop you off at Taganga; though we were tempted if we had more cash on hand. We found a taxi driver who had offered to take us to Santa Marta for 30mil, which would then cost another 30mil for a minivan to Cartagena. We instead opted instead for another tempting offer by a local bus which offered a ride to Cartagena; which was a poor decision as it had many stops along the way, a couple police checks, and a few bus transfers (we had to get out and get on another bus). All of which took 6 hours to get us home.
Finally at Cartagena, since we came earlier than originally planned, our hostel didn’t have a room for us, so we stayed at Iguana’s House (20mil each). This one was OK, but it was quite loud at night and smoke trickled into the room we were sleeping in. Though if it weren’t for staying here, we wouldn’t have met the nice gentleman who gave me information on the international film festival that was going on. We ended up going to the mall on a couple of days, ate at Crepes and Waffles and watched Kiseki Milagro one afternoon and Jardin de amapolas another afternoon. The actor who played the drug lord in Jardin de amapolas was in the audience and I was excitedly able to take a picture with him :)
One of the days we got a massage (50mil) which was somewhat amateur, but they used hot stones which was nice.
The last two nights we stayed at Casa Viena (http://www.casaviena.com/). I had already paid for one night in a triple $40 (they’re conversion rate seemed to be a bit off, but oh well) and the other night 2 of us shared a bed because they didn’t have space for 1 of us, but they were kind enough to allow us to do this. We did laundry on both nights (~27mil COP total). The first two nights dinner was subpar. Though the 3rd night we went to Plaza de la Macondo which had greata food (though charged 4mil for a small shotglass of guac!). The restaurant is painted in the inside and they had a dance group practicing their performances.
Oh and I’ve discovered I’m not keen on aguardiente the local liquor of Colombia.

-Feb 29th
Bogota (La Calendaria) (4 nights) - We stayed at Sayta (saytahostal.com), which was a really cute hostel with nice staff in a great part of town. Walking distance to alot of museums, plazas, etc etc.. The first night we ate at a mongolian restaurant, which, in Los Angeles would probably not have stayed in business... but for the only Mongolian restaurant in Bogota, it was OK. On Thurs we strolled around Plaza Bolivar, shopped at some artesenal markets and stopped by a museum (3k), where i bought a tapestry painted by the Shipibo people (indiginous amazonian culture in Peru). A friend of a friend put us on the guestlist of one of the bars he owned in a posh part of town, so we went and saw VHS vs Beta at Armando Records. Friday we went to the Botero museum, Cerro monseratte (14.4k COP round trip cable car), and went to an electronica party (50mil) at Teatrometro. It was nice to go out, the colombians seemed to love it.. wasn’t my cup of tea... Saturday we went to the Gold Museum (3mil COP) and ate at the museum cafe. We ate so much we didn’t eat dinner and instead had a drink at a nearby cafe/bar that had vino caliente con frutas which was quite yummy (9mil).

-Mar 4th
Left at 4:15am from the hostel, in the private car the hostel reserved for us for 30mil (taxi would probably have cost about 15mil, but oh well, it was nice to have it reserved ahead of time). Desk #19 Aeronautica has the tax exemption stamp, which you can be exempt from all taxes if you’ve stayed less than 30 days. Brentt picked us up :)

Souveniers -
Carnaval - mask, keychains
Bogota - Juan Valdez coffee, magnets, havaiannas, chocolate, doll
For me - 2 dresses
Other random expenses -
Ibuprofen 1.3mil for 10 pack of 800mg

Foreign currency exchange:
350 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90071(213) 624-3693
I had money left over and exchanged it here.